The Talisman

ieved for the time their trusty steeds. Each seemed familiar with an employment which at that time was a part of necessary and, indeed, of indispensable duty. Each also seemed to posses

ty, rendered his war-horse scarcely less than his brother in arms. The steeds, therefore, suffered themselves quietly to be taken from their food and liberty, and neighed and snuffled fondly around their masters, while they were adjusting their accoutrements for further travel and additi

tain, and said to his pagan associate of the journey, "I would I knew the name of this delicious fountain, that I might hold it i

answered the Saracen, "by a name whic

not to one of them shall I attach hereafter such precious recollection as to this solitary fount,

of death, and neither man nor beast drinks of its waves, nor of the river

asque at his saddle-bow, and substituted the light riding-cap, termed in the language of the time a MORTIER, from its resemblance in shape to an ordinary mortar. They rode together for some time in silence, the Saracen performing the part of director and guide of the journey, which he did by observing minute marks and bearings of the distant

a living thing. Let me be pardoned to ask the name of the companion with whom I have this day encountered

lled Kenneth-Kenneth of the Couching Leopard; at home I have other titles, but they would sound harsh in an Easter

ve my descent from a line neither less wild nor less warlike. Know, Sir Knight of the Leopard, that I am Sheerkohf, the L

tian, "that your great Soldan clai

rd is victory," answered the paynim. "I am but as a worm before the King of Egypt and Syria, and yet in

, with maybe some fifty more men, archers and varlets included. Some have deserted my unlucky pennon-some have fallen in battle-se

thousand warriors mount on horseback-when I send another, an equal force will arise-for the five, I can command five thousand men; and if I send my b

or, "thou shouldst know, ere thou vauntest thyself, tha

liance, had he not changed the subject by adding, "And is bravery so much esteemed amongst the Christian princes that thou, th

place himself on the same rank with sovereigns even of the first degree, in so far as regards all but regal authority and dominion. Wer

" said the Emir, "in which a leathern belt and a pair of

aid the Christian; "then, perhaps, you will not h

the females of your chiefs an

ot be free, in all honourable service, to devote his hand and sword, the fame of his actions,

u described love as the highest treasure of the heart

h for thee to know that, as thou sayest, my love is highly and nobly bestowed-most highly-most nobly; but if thou wouldst hear of love and broken lan

aloft his lance, replied, "Hardly, I fear, shall I find one with a

gh there be in the camp certain Spaniards, who have righ

to do to come hither to combat the true believers, who, in their own land,

t," added he, smiling at the recollection of the morning's combat, "if, instead of a reed, you were inclin

e game is too rough for mere sport. I will never shun them in battle, but my head" (p

ered the Western warrior, "to which that which

overeign," said the Saracen. "

the Knight, "and honoured in the service; but not born his

tern soldier; "have you then

s of the two extremities of that island are engaged in frequent war, the country can, as thou seest, furnish forth s

he possession of them with those who have tenfold numbers at command, while he leaves a part of his narrow islet, in which he was born a sovereign, to the dominion of another sceptre than his. Surely, Sir Ke

of England had not set forth to the Crusade till he was sovereign of Scotland, the Cres

e muttered, "MEA CULPA! MEA CULPA! what have I, a soldier of the

l as Moslemah, had private feelings of personal pique, and national quarrels, which were not entirely reconcilable. But the Saracens were a race, polished, perhaps, to the utmost extent which their religion permitted, and pa

he naked plain, and varies the surface of the country, without changing its sterile character. Sharp, rocky eminences began to rise around them, and, in a short time, deep declivities and

nformed by the Emir that these were often the refuge of beasts of prey, or of men still more ferocious, who, driven to desperation by the constant war, and the oppression

fast, and the scene of the actual personal temptation, wherewith the Evil Principle was permitted to assail the Son of Man. He withdrew his attention gradually from the light and worldly conversation of the infidel warrior beside him, and, however acceptable his gay and gallant bravery would have

or devotional strain of thought, the feeling best becoming the Wilderness of the Temptation. With inconsistency enough, the Saracen also sung lays in praise of wine, the liquid ruby of the Persian poets; and his gaiety at length became so unsuitable to the Christian knight's contrary train of sentiments, as, but for the promise of amity which they had exchanged, would most likely have made Sir Kenneth take measures to change his note. As it was, the Crusader felt as if he had by his side some gay, licentious fiend, who endeavoured to

r sinful mortals. I will not tell thee for what awful reason this place-these rocks-these caverns with their gloomy arches, leading as it were to the central abyss-are held an especial haunt of Satan and his angels. It is enough that I have been long warned to beware of this

y taught amongst your Western tribes. I took no offence when I saw you gorge hog's flesh and drink wine, and permitted you to enjoy a treat which you called your Christian liberty, only pitying in my heart your foul pastimes. Wherefor

they should be bent on better things. But prayers and holy psalms are better fitting than LAIS of love, or of wine-cups, when men walk in this Valley of the Shadow

"for know thou speakest to one whose line and nation drew their

ble to maintain this blessed land of Palestine against so many valiant soldiers of God. I speak not thus of thee in particular, Saracen, but generall

the proudest trace their line so well as from the Dark Spirit, which would rather fall headlong by force than bend the kn

ut much wonder; yet not without a secret shudder at finding himself in this fearful place, in the company of one who avouched himself to belong to such a lineage. Natura

year, the youngest had scarce attained her thirteenth; and so like were they to each other that they could not have been distinguished but for the difference of height, in which they gradually rose in easy gradation above each other, like the ascent which leads to the gates of Paradise. So lovely were these seven sisters when they stood in the darksome vault, disrobed of all clothing saving a cymar of white silk, that their charms moved the hearts of those who were not mortal. Thunder muttered, the earth shook, the wall of the vault was rent, and at the chasm entered one dressed like a hunter, with bow and shafts, and followed by six others, his brethren. They were tall men, and, though dark, yet comely to behold; but their eyes had more the glare of those of the dead than the light which lives under the eyelids of the living. 'Zeineb,' said the leader of the band-and as he spoke he took the eldest sister by the hand, and his voice was soft, low, and melancholy-'I am Cothrob, king of the subterranean world, and supreme chief of Ginnistan. I and my brethren are of those who, created out of the pure elementary fire, disdained, even at the command of Omnipotence, to do homage to a clod of earth, because it was called Man. Thou mayest have heard of us as cruel, unrelenting, and persecuting. It is false. We are by nature kind and generous; only

nger wonder at your obstinacy in a false faith, since, doubtless, it is part of the fiendish disposition which hath descended from your ancestors, those infernal huntsmen, as you have described them, to love falsehood rather than truth; and I no longer marvel that your s

he ghostly halls of Tugrut, yet we are not willing, like other Moslemah, to pass hasty doom on the lofty and powerful elementary spirits from whom we claim our origin. These Genii, according to our belief and hope, are not altogether reprobate, but are still in the way of probation, and may her

language and structure, which some have thought derive thei

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by one who had just boasted himself a descendant of demons, sounded very like an address of worship to the arch-fiend himself. He weighed within himself whether, on hearing such blasphemy in the very desert where Satan had stood rebuked for demanding homage, taking an abrupt leave o

and bushes with so much agility as, added to the wild and hirsute appearance of the individual, reminded him of the fauns and silvans, whose images he had seen in the ancient temples of Rome. As the single-heart

Sir Kenneth to himself; "down wi

rms. The apparition, on which his eyes had been fixed for some time, had at first appeared to dog their path by concealing itself behind rocks and shrubs, using those advantages of the ground with great address, and surmounting its irregularities with surprising agility. At length, just as the Saracen paused in his song, the figure, which was that of a tall man clothed in goat-skins, sprung into the midst of the path, and s

cen, and, despite of his youth and activity kept him undermost, wreathing his long arms above those of his prisoner, who called out a

t in thy gripe if thou canst!" and in an instant he wrenched the Sara

hf, now seriously alarmed; "hel

h, for singing thy blasphemous hymns, not only to the praise of thy false prophe

ress and event, all that he had previously conjectured. He felt, however, at length, that it touched his honour to inte

for the time to be true companion to the Saracen whom thou holdest under thee; ther

aptized dog, to combat one of his own holy faith! Art thou come forth to the wilderness to fight for the Cr

lf, and, suffering the Saracen to rise a

and boasted agility can be foiled, when such is Heaven's pleasure. Wherefore, beware, O Ilderim! for know that, were there not a twinkle in the star of thy nativity which pr

them with the spirit of prophecy, yet I like not other men's hands on the bridle of my horse, neither upon my own person. Speak, therefore, what thou wilt, secure of any resentment from me; but gather so much sense as to apprehend that if thou shalt again proffer me any violence, I will strike thy shagged head from thy meagre shoulders.-and

he strangeness of the assailant, the suddenness of the scene-it was as if thy wild and wicked lay had raised

one grain more frantic, thy companion had been slain by thy side, to thy eternal dishonour

that strange figure was the devil; and being of thy lineage, I knew not what family secret

wert bound not the less to enter into combat with him in thy comrade's behalf. Know, also, that whatever there may be of foul or of fiendi

yet wasted figure before him-"this! Thou mockest

ered Sheerkohf; and ere the words had left his m

, and devil-worshippers. Avoid ye, avoid ye! Down with Mahound, Termagaunt, and all their adherents!"-So saying, he pulled from un

and heard the wayward muttering of Theodorick, who, after swinging his flail in every direction, apparently quite reckless whether it encountered the head

adman," said

mediate inspiration. "Know, Christian, that when one eye is extinguished, the other becomes more keen; when one hand is cut off, the other

ck of Engaddi-I am the torch-brand of the desert-I am the flail of the infidels! The lion and the leopard shall be my comrades, an

would have done him great credit in a gymnastic academy, but became his character of h

only place of refuge for the night. You are the leopard, from the portrait on your shield; I am the lion, as my name imports; and by t

constant exercise, he led the knights through chasms and along footpaths where even the light-armed Saracen, with his well-trained barb, was in considerable risk, and where the iron-sheathed European and his over-burdened steed found themselves in such imminent peril as the rider would gladly have exchanged for

in imitation of the Saracen, who gave him to understand that such was the custom of the place. The hermit, meanwhile, was busied putting his inner apartment in order to receive his guests, and there they soon joined him. At the bottom of the outer cave, a small aperture, closed with a door of rough plank, led into the sleeping apartment of the hermit, which was more commodious. The floor had been brought to a rough level by the labour of the inhabitant, and then strewed with white sand, which

arrangement as should invite the appetite of his guests. This appearance of courtesy, though mute, and expressed by gestures only, seemed to Sir Kenneth something entirely irreconcilable with his former wild and violent demeanour. The movements of the hermit were now become composed, and apparently it was only a sense of religious humiliation which prevented his features, emaciated

s thus employed, and he whispered in a low tone to Sir Kenneth, "The Hamako is no

g the refreshment which he had placed before his guests, and they proceeded to eat in silence as profound as his own. To the Saracen this gravity was natural; and the Christian imitated his taciturnity, while he employed his thoughts on the singulari

morsel, removed the fragments from the table, and placing before th

first words he had spoken-"the gifts of God ar

humble and placid behaviour, it seemed yet more impossible to think it consistent with the high consideration in which, according to what Sir Kenneth had learned, this hermit was held by the most enlightened divines of the Christian world. Theodorick, the hermit of Engaddi, had, in that character, been the correspondent of popes and councils; to whom his letters, full of eloquent fervour, had described the miseries imposed by the unbeli

stere devotion, and by the Turks and Arabs on account of the symptoms of insanity which he displayed, and which they ascribed to inspiration. It was from them he had the name of Hamako, which expresses such a character in the Turkish language. Sheerkohf himself seemed at a loss how to rank their host. He had been, he said, a wise man, and could often for many hours together speak lessons of virtue or wisdom, without the slightest appearance of inaccuracy. At other times he was wild and violent, but never before had he seen him so mischievously disposed as he had that day appeared to be. His rage was chiefly provoked by any affront to his religion; and there was a story of some wandering Arabs, who had insulted his worship and defaced his altar, and whom he had on that account attacked and slain with the short flail which he carried with him i

carried their complaisance towards him to an uncommon length, considering the fanaticism of the followers of Mohammed, in the midst of whom he was living, though the professed enemy of their faith. He thought also there was more intimacy of acquaintance betwixt the hermit and the Saracen than the words of the latter had induced him to

anders as well on the subject of names as upon other matters.

y many. In the field, and to soldiers, I am known as the Lion of the Mountain, being the name my good sword hath wo

aid with a solemn voice, "Blessed be His name, who hath appointed the quiet night to follow the

take themselves to the couches, which their host indicated by waving his

. The Saracen, if he had admired the strength of his adversary when sheathed in steel, was now no less struck with the accuracy of proportion displayed in his nervous and well-compacted figure. The knight, on the other hand, as, in exchange of courtesy, he assiste

the Christian, withdrawing from the contamination of the infidel's neighbourhood, placed his huge cross-handled sword upright, and kneeling before it as the sign of salvation, told his rosary with a devotion which was enhanced