The Three Perils of Man; or, War, Women, and Witchcraft, Vol. 3 (of 3)Hogg, James
History
The Three Perils of Man; or, War, Women, and Witchcraft, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Hogg, James
Historical fiction; Scotland -- History -- Robert II, 1371-1390 -- Fiction
"Thou darest not say there is," continued he; "but I know what thou
thinkest. Sit thou there in peace till this great trial of power be
over; and if thou darest for thy life invoke another name than mine,
thou shalt never stir from that spot dead or alive. But if thou takest
heed to this injunction, and cease from all petitions to, or mention
of, a name which thou mayest judge superior to mine, then shalt thou
be set at liberty to join thy friends."
I determined to attend to this,--but he waited not for my answer, but
strode away, looking now and then on the book of destiny, and at the
western heaven alternately. At length he exclaimed, "Yonder they come!
Yonder they rise in grand battalia! Noble and potent spirits! How
speedily have you executed your commission. Yonder comes the muster of
my array, and who shall stand against them!"
I looked towards the west when I heard him talking in such ecstacies,
but could see nothing save a phalanx of towering clouds, rolling up in
wreaths from the dun horizon. I had seen the same scene a hundred
times, and could hardly help smiling at his enthusiasm, especially
when he went over a long muster-roll of the names of spirits and
monsters whom he saw approaching in the cloud. 'It is a sign that
warlocks have clear een,' thinks I, quietly, 'for I see nothing but a
range of rolling and restless clouds.' However, he was so overjoyed
with the sight of this visionary array, that, having no other to
communicate with, he came rapidly up to me, and said, "Tell me,
droich, didst thou ever witness any thing so truly grand as the
approach of this host of mine?"
"You must first lend me the use of your eyes that I may see them,"
said I; "for, on my word, I see nothing save two or three files of
castled clouds, which I have seen an hundred times."
With that he lent me a blow with his rod, and said, though not
apparently in wrath, "Thou hast no brighter eyes, and no brighter
conceptions, than a hedgehog, but art a mere clod of the valley, a
worm; if I knew of aught lower to liken thee to, I would do it! Dost
thou see nothing like fleets and armies approaching yonder? Dost thou
not see an hundred and seven of the ships of the ocean above, coming
full sail, with colours flying, and canvas spread? Seest thou not
also, to the south of these, two files of behemoths, with ten thousand
warrior-spirits beside?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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