Through the Land of the SerbDurham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
History
Through the Land of the Serb
Durham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
Montenegro -- Description and travel; Serbia -- Description and travel
He then showed us up a wooden step ladder to a still tinier cavern, a
dim cabin almost filled up by his bed, whose not over white sheets
betrayed the unpleasing fact that Ostrog was still subject to nocturnal
attacks and much bloodshed. In a glass case on the wall hung his two
medals, one Russian, the other Montenegrin, and, next these, three
signed and sealed documents in Cyrillic characters. He began reading out
place-names in Montenegro, Bosnia, and the Herzegovina, pointing to his
medals, and would gladly have "fought all his battles o'er again," if we
could but have understood him. His great treasure he displayed last, a
large and handsome walking-stick elaborately mounted in gold filigree
set with plates engraved with the said names. His admiration for it was
unbounded, and he handled it respectfully. The rugged old giant, and his
trophies, standing huge in his tiny lair up in the heart of the
mountains, the light from the little window falling on his silver hair
and beard, the glittering filigree, the dim squalid background, his
pride and glee over his treasures, and the royal air with which he
showed them, conjured up a whole life-drama in one swift instant. He
broke the spell himself by putting the stick carefully back into its
case, and, bowing and crossing himself reverently before a little ikon
of Our Lady, led the way out to the chapel.
The entrance was a low, narrow, rough-cut slit; he bowed twice and
crossed himself, saw that we did the same, then stooped down and went
into a small irregular cavern, its rough-hewn walls rudely frescoed with
Byzantine figures. It was very dark; one small window, hacked through
the cliff face, and the narrow doorway alone lighted it. Upon the rough
ikonostasis he pointed out the figure of St. Vasili in bishop's robes.
Then slowly and solemnly he began lighting the candles, striking a light
with flint and steel. It took him a long time, and his age was betrayed
by his tremulous hands and evidently weak sight. When he had finished,
and the cavern was a-twinkle with tiny flames, he approached the shrine.
Removing the covering, he fumbled with the lock, opened it, and then
threw back the lid slowly and respectfully. There lay the embalmed body
of the saint; the slipper-clad feet, the embroidered robes, and the gold
crucifix on the breast, only, showing. Modern science and ancient faith
had combined for perhaps the first and the last time, and the face and
hands of the saint were neatly covered with carbolised cotton-wool. I
was jolted back into the twentieth century with a rough shock. The sense
of smell--perhaps because it is a wild-beast one--brings up its trains
of associations more swiftly than any other, and the life of the old
world and the life of the modern one leapt up in sharp contrast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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