Latest / Pirate / 030 - Chapter 8
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter eight of the Pirate by Sir Walter Scott. This
- 0:05Speaker 1: liprivox recording is in the public domain read by Dion
- 0:10Speaker 1: Jians Salt Lake City, Utah. The witch then raised her
- 0:15Speaker 1: withered arm and waved her wand on high, and while
- 0:20Speaker 1: she spoke the muttered charm, dark lightning filled her eye. Michel,
- 0:27Speaker 1: this should be the stair, said the u Dollar, blundering
- 0:31Speaker 1: in the dark against some steps of irregular ascent. This
- 0:36Speaker 1: should be the stair, unless my memory greatly fail me I,
- 0:42Speaker 1: And there she sits, he added, pausing at a half
- 0:46Speaker 1: open door, with all her tackle about her, as usual
- 0:51Speaker 1: and as busy, doubtless as the devil in a gale
- 0:55Speaker 1: of wind. As he made this irreverent comparison, he entered,
- 1:00Speaker 1: followed by his daughters, the darkened apartment in which Norna
- 1:05Speaker 1: was seated, amidst a confused collection of books of various languages,
- 1:11Speaker 1: parchment scrolls, tablets and stones inscribed with the strait and
- 1:17Speaker 1: angular characters of the Runic alphabet, and similar articles which
- 1:23Speaker 1: the vulgar might have connected with the exercise of the
- 1:27Speaker 1: forbidden arts. There were also lying in the chamber or
- 1:32Speaker 1: hung over the rout and ill contrived chimney, an old
- 1:36Speaker 1: shirt of mail with the head piece, battle axe and
- 1:40Speaker 1: lance which had once belonged to it, and on a
- 1:44Speaker 1: shelf were disposed in great order, several of those curious
- 1:50Speaker 1: stone axes formed of green granite, which are often found
- 1:55Speaker 1: in those islands, where they are called thunderbolts by the
- 1:59Speaker 1: common peace, who usually preserved them as a charm of
- 2:04Speaker 1: security against the effects of lightning. There was moreover to
- 2:09Speaker 1: be seen amid the strange collection, a stone sacrificial knife,
- 2:14Speaker 1: used perhaps for immolating human victims, and one or two
- 2:19Speaker 1: of the brazen implements called celts, the purpose of which
- 2:24Speaker 1: has troubled their repose. Of so many antiquaries, A variety
- 2:29Speaker 1: of other articles, some of which had neither name nor
- 2:33Speaker 1: were capable of description, lay in confusion about the apartment,
- 2:38Speaker 1: And in one corner on a quantity of withered seaweed
- 2:43Speaker 1: reposed what seemed at first view to be a large,
- 2:47Speaker 1: unshapely dog, but when seen more closely, proved to be
- 2:52Speaker 1: a tame seal, which it had been known as amusement
- 2:57Speaker 1: to domesticate. This uncouth fail favorite bristled up in its corner.
- 3:03Speaker 1: Upon the arrival of so many strangers with an alertness
- 3:07Speaker 1: similar to that which a terrestrial dog would have displayed
- 3:12Speaker 1: on a similar occasion. But Norner remained motionless, seated behind
- 3:18Speaker 1: a table of rough granite propped up by misshapen feet
- 3:23Speaker 1: of the same material, which, besides the old book with
- 3:27Speaker 1: which she seemed to be busied, sustained a cake of
- 3:31Speaker 1: the coarse unloavened bread, three parts oatmeal, and one of
- 3:36Speaker 1: the sawdust of fur, which is used by the poor
- 3:40Speaker 1: peasants of Norway, beside which stood a jar of water.
- 3:45Speaker 1: Magnes's troil remained a minute in silence, gazing upon his Kinswoman,
- 3:51Speaker 1: while the singularity of her mansion inspired Brenda with much
- 3:55Speaker 1: fear and changed, though but for a moment, the melancholy
- 4:00Speaker 1: and abstracted mood of Minna into a feeling of interest
- 4:05Speaker 1: not unmixed with awe. The silence was interrupted by the
- 4:10Speaker 1: u Dollar, who, unwilling on the one hand to give
- 4:14Speaker 1: his kinswoman offense, and desirous on the other to show
- 4:19Speaker 1: that he was not daunted by a reception, so singular
- 4:23Speaker 1: opened the conversation. Thus, I give you good, even cousin Norna.
- 4:29Speaker 1: My daughters and I have come far to see you
- 4:33Speaker 1: Norna raised her eyes from her volume, looked full at
- 4:37Speaker 1: her visitors, then let them quietly sit down on the
- 4:41Speaker 1: leaf with which she seemed to be engaged. Nay cousin said, magnus,
- 4:47Speaker 1: take your own time, our business with you can wait
- 4:50Speaker 1: your leisure. See here, Minna, what a fair prospect here
- 4:55Speaker 1: is of the Cape Scarce. A quarter of a mile
- 4:59Speaker 1: off You may see the billows breaking on it top
- 5:03Speaker 1: mast high our kinswoman has got a pretty seal too, here, silchy,
- 5:09Speaker 1: my man, whew, whew. The seal took no further notice
- 5:14Speaker 1: of the U dollars advances to acquaintance than by uttering
- 5:19Speaker 1: a low growl. He is not so well trained, continued
- 5:24Speaker 1: the U dollar, affecting an air of ease and unconcern
- 5:29Speaker 1: as Peter mccraus, the old piper of Stornaway, who had
- 5:34Speaker 1: a seal that flapped its tail to the tune of
- 5:38Speaker 1: caber Fee and acknowledged no other whatever well cousin, he concluded,
- 5:44Speaker 1: observing that Norna closed her book. Are you going to
- 5:47Speaker 1: give us a welcome at last? Or must we go
- 5:51Speaker 1: farther than our blood relations house to seek one? And
- 5:56Speaker 1: that when the evening is wearing late apace, dull and
- 6:01Speaker 1: hard hearted generation as deaf as the adder. To the
- 6:05Speaker 1: voice of the charmer, answered Norna, addressing them, why come
- 6:10Speaker 1: ye to me. You have slighted every warning I could
- 6:14Speaker 1: give of the coming harm, and now that it hath
- 6:18Speaker 1: come upon you, ye seek my counsel when it can
- 6:22Speaker 1: avail you nothing. Look, you kinswoman, said the u Dollar,
- 6:27Speaker 1: with his usual frankness and boldness of manner and accent.
- 6:32Speaker 1: I must needs tell you that your courtesy is something
- 6:36Speaker 1: of the coarsest and the coldest. I cannot say that
- 6:41Speaker 1: I ever saw an adder in regard there are none
- 6:45Speaker 1: in these parts, but touching my own thoughts of what
- 6:49Speaker 1: such a thing may be, it cannot be termed a
- 6:53Speaker 1: suitable comparison to me or to my daughters. And that
- 6:58Speaker 1: I would have you to know, for old acquaintance and
- 7:02Speaker 1: certain other reasons. I do not leave your house upon
- 7:06Speaker 1: the instant, but as I came hither in all kindness
- 7:10Speaker 1: and civility, so I pray you to receive me with
- 7:15Speaker 1: the like. Otherwise we will depart and leave shame on
- 7:19Speaker 1: your inhospitable threshold. How said Norna, dare you use such
- 7:26Speaker 1: bold language in the house of one from whom all
- 7:30Speaker 1: men from whom you yourself come to solicit counsel and aid.
- 7:37Speaker 1: They who speak to the rhyme Cannar must lower their
- 7:40Speaker 1: voice to her, before whom winds and waves hush, both
- 7:46Speaker 1: blast and billow. Blast and billow may hush themselves if
- 7:51Speaker 1: they will, replied the peremptory you dollar, but that will not.
- 7:56Speaker 1: I I speak in the house of my friend in
- 8:00Speaker 1: my own and strike sail to none and hope, ye,
- 8:05Speaker 1: said Norna, by this rudeness to compel me to answer
- 8:09Speaker 1: to your interrogatories, Kinswomen, replied Magnus Troyle. I know not
- 8:15Speaker 1: so much as you of the old Norse sagas, but
- 8:19Speaker 1: this I know that, when kempies were wont long since
- 8:24Speaker 1: to seek the habitations of the gall dragons and spay women,
- 8:29Speaker 1: they came with their axes on their shoulders and their
- 8:33Speaker 1: good swords drawn in their hands, and compelled the power
- 8:37Speaker 1: whom they invoked to listen to and to answer them.
- 8:42Speaker 1: I were it odin himself, Kinsman, said Norna, arising from
- 8:48Speaker 1: her seat and coming forward. Thou hast spoken well and
- 8:53Speaker 1: in good time for thyself and thy daughters. For hats
- 8:57Speaker 1: Thou turned from my threshold without extorting an answer. Morning
- 9:03Speaker 1: sun had never again shown upon you. The spirits who
- 9:07Speaker 1: serve me are jealous and will not be employed in
- 9:11Speaker 1: aught that may benefit humanity unless their service is commanded
- 9:17Speaker 1: by the undaunted importunity of the brave and the free.
- 9:22Speaker 1: And now speak, what wouldst thou have of me my
- 9:26Speaker 1: daughter's health, replied Magnus. Which no remedies have been able
- 9:31Speaker 1: to restore thy daughter's health, answered Norna. And what is
- 9:36Speaker 1: the maiden's ailment? The physician said, Troyle must name the disease.
- 9:42Speaker 1: All that I can tell thee of it is the silent,
- 9:46Speaker 1: said Norna, interrupting him. I know all thou canst tell me,
- 9:51Speaker 1: and more than thou thyself knowest. Sit down, all of you,
- 9:56Speaker 1: and thou maiden, she said, addressing Minna, Sit thou in
- 10:01Speaker 1: that chair, pointing to the place she had just left,
- 10:05Speaker 1: once the seat of Gervada, at whose voice the stars
- 10:10Speaker 1: hid their beams, and the moon herself grew pale. Minna
- 10:15Speaker 1: moved with slow and tremulous step towards the rude seat
- 10:19Speaker 1: thus indicated to her. It was composed of stone, formed
- 10:24Speaker 1: into some semblance of a chair by the rough and
- 10:28Speaker 1: unskillful hand of some ancient Gothic artist, Brenda, creeping as
- 10:34Speaker 1: close as possible to her father, seated herself along with
- 10:38Speaker 1: him upon a bench at some distance from Minna, and
- 10:43Speaker 1: kept her eyes, with a mixture of fear, pity, and anxiety,
- 10:47Speaker 1: closely fixed upon her. It would be difficult altogether to
- 10:52Speaker 1: decipher the emotions by which this amiable and affectionate girl
- 10:58Speaker 1: was agitated at the moment. Deficient in her sister's predominating
- 11:03Speaker 1: quality of high imagination, and little credulous, of course to
- 11:09Speaker 1: the marvelous she could not but entertain some vague and
- 11:13Speaker 1: indefinite fears on her own account concerning the nature of
- 11:18Speaker 1: the scene which was soon to take place. But these
- 11:22Speaker 1: were in a manner swallowed up in her apprehensions on
- 11:26Speaker 1: the score of her sister, who, with a frame so
- 11:30Speaker 1: much weakened, spirits so much exhausted, and a mind so
- 11:35Speaker 1: susceptible of the impressions which all around her was calculated
- 11:41Speaker 1: to excite, now sat pensively resigned to the agency of
- 11:46Speaker 1: one whose treatment might produce the most baneful effects upon
- 11:52Speaker 1: such a subject. Brenda gazed at Minna, who sat in
- 11:56Speaker 1: that rude chair of dark stone her finally formed shape,
- 12:01Speaker 1: and limbs making the strongest contrast with its ponderous and
- 12:06Speaker 1: irregular angles, her cheek and lips as pale as clay,
- 12:11Speaker 1: and her eyes turned upward and lighted with the mixture
- 12:15Speaker 1: of resignation and excited enthusiasm which belonged to her disease
- 12:21Speaker 1: and her character. The younger sister then looked on Norna,
- 12:26Speaker 1: who muttered to herself in a low, monotonous manner. As
- 12:30Speaker 1: gliding from one place to another. She collected different articles,
- 12:35Speaker 1: which she placed one by one on the table, And lastly,
- 12:40Speaker 1: Brenda looked anxiously to her father to gather, if possible,
- 12:45Speaker 1: from his countenance, whether he entertained any part of her
- 12:49Speaker 1: own fears for the consequences of the scene which was
- 12:54Speaker 1: to ensue, considering the state of Menna's health and spirits.
- 13:00Speaker 1: But Madnu's troil seemed to have no such apprehensions. He
- 13:04Speaker 1: viewed with stern composure Norna's preparations and appeared to wait
- 13:09Speaker 1: the event with the composure of one who, confiding in
- 13:13Speaker 1: the skill of a medical artist, sees him preparing to
- 13:18Speaker 1: enter upon some important and painful operation in the issue
- 13:23Speaker 1: of which he is interested by friendship or by affection.
- 13:28Speaker 1: Norna meanwhile went onward with her preparations until she had
- 13:33Speaker 1: placed on the stone table a variety of miscellaneous articles,
- 13:38Speaker 1: and among the rest a small chafing dish full of charcoal,
- 13:43Speaker 1: a crucible, and a piece of thin sheet lead. She
- 13:47Speaker 1: then spoke aloud, it is well that I was aware
- 13:51Speaker 1: of your coming. Hither I long before you yourself had
- 13:56Speaker 1: resolved it. How should I else have been prepared for
- 14:00Speaker 1: that which is now to be done? Maiden? She continued,
- 14:04Speaker 1: addressing Minna, where lies the pain? The patient answered by
- 14:09Speaker 1: pressing her hand to the left side of her bosom.
- 14:13Speaker 1: Even so, replied Norna, Even so tis the sight of
- 14:18Speaker 1: weal or woe, And you, her father and her sister
- 14:23Speaker 1: think not. This is the idle speech of one who
- 14:26Speaker 1: talks by guests. If I can tell thee ill, it
- 14:31Speaker 1: may be that I shall be able to render that
- 14:34Speaker 1: less severe, which may not, by any aid be wholly
- 14:39Speaker 1: amended the heart. I The heart touch that, and the
- 14:44Speaker 1: eye grows dim, the pulse fails, the wholesome stream of
- 14:48Speaker 1: our blood is choked and troubled. Our limbs decay like
- 14:53Speaker 1: sapless seaweed and a summer sun our better views of
- 14:58Speaker 1: existence are past and gone. What remains is the dream
- 15:03Speaker 1: of lost happiness or the fear of inevitable evil. But
- 15:08Speaker 1: the ron Kenner must to her work well. It is
- 15:12Speaker 1: that I have prepared the means. She threw off her long,
- 15:17Speaker 1: dark colored mantle and stood before them in her short
- 15:21Speaker 1: jacket of light blue wadmill, with its skirt of the
- 15:25Speaker 1: same stuff, fancifully embroidered with black velvet, and bound at
- 15:31Speaker 1: the waist with a chain or girdle of silver formed
- 15:35Speaker 1: into singular devices. Nornette next undid the filet which bound
- 15:41Speaker 1: her grizzled hair, and shaking her head wildly, caused it
- 15:45Speaker 1: to fall in disheveled abundance over her face and around
- 15:50Speaker 1: her shoulders, so as almost entirely to hide her features.
- 15:56Speaker 1: She then placed a small crucible on the chafing dish
- 15:59Speaker 1: already mentioned, dropped a few drops from a vial on
- 16:03Speaker 1: the charcoal below, pointed towards it her wrinkled forefinger, which
- 16:09Speaker 1: she had previously moistened with liquid from another small bottle,
- 16:14Speaker 1: and said, with a deep voice, fire, do thy duty.
- 16:19Speaker 1: And the words were no sooner spoken than probably by
- 16:23Speaker 1: some chemical combination of which the spectators were not aware.
- 16:28Speaker 1: The charcoal which was under the crucible became slowly ignited,
- 16:33Speaker 1: while Norna, as if impatient of the delay, threw hastily
- 16:38Speaker 1: back her disordered tresses, and while her features reflected the
- 16:43Speaker 1: sparkles and red light of the fire, and her eyes
- 16:47Speaker 1: flashed from amongst her hair like those of a wild animal,
- 16:51Speaker 1: from its cover, blew fiercely till the hole was in
- 16:56Speaker 1: an intense glow. She paused a moment from her toil,
- 17:01Speaker 1: and muttering that the elemental spirit must be thanked, recited
- 17:06Speaker 1: in her usual monotonous yet wild mode of chanting the
- 17:11Speaker 1: following verses, Thou so needful, yet so dread, with cloudy
- 17:17Speaker 1: crest and wing of red, Thou without whose genial breath
- 17:23Speaker 1: the north would sleep the sleep of death. Who dainst
- 17:27Speaker 1: to warm the cottage hearth, yet hurlst proud palaces to earth,
- 17:33Speaker 1: brightest keenest of the powers which form and rule this
- 17:37Speaker 1: world of ours. With my rhyme of runic, I think
- 17:41Speaker 1: thee for thy agency. She then severed a portion from
- 17:46Speaker 1: the small mass of sheet lead which lay upon the table,
- 17:50Speaker 1: and placing it in the crucible, subjected it to the
- 17:54Speaker 1: action of the lighted charcoal, and as it melted, she
- 17:58Speaker 1: sung old Rhymkenner to thy art, Mother Hertha sends her part,
- 18:05Speaker 1: she whose gracious bounty gives needful food for all that lives.
- 18:11Speaker 1: From the deep mine of the north came the mystical
- 18:14Speaker 1: metal forth, doomed amidst disjointed stones, long to sare a
- 18:21Speaker 1: champion's bones, disinhumed my charms to aid Mother Earth, My
- 18:27Speaker 1: thanks are paid. She then poured out some water from
- 18:31Speaker 1: the jar into a large cup or goblet, and sung
- 18:35Speaker 1: once more as she slowly stirred it round with the
- 18:39Speaker 1: end of her staff, girdle of our island's dear element
- 18:44Speaker 1: of water. Here thou, whose power can overwhelm broken mounds
- 18:49Speaker 1: and ruined realm on the lowly Belgian strand all thy
- 18:54Speaker 1: fiercest rage, can never of our soil of furlong, sever
- 19:00Speaker 1: from our rock defended land. Play then gently thou thy
- 19:05Speaker 1: part to assist Old Norna's art. She then, with a
- 19:09Speaker 1: pair of pincers, removed the crucible from the chafing dish
- 19:14Speaker 1: and poured the lead, now entirely melted, into the bowl
- 19:18Speaker 1: of water, repeating at the same time elements each other,
- 19:23Speaker 1: greeting gifts and powers attend your meeting. The melted lead,
- 19:29Speaker 1: spattering as it fell into the water, formed, of course,
- 19:33Speaker 1: the usual combination of irregular forms, which is familiar to
- 19:39Speaker 1: all who, in childhood have made the experiment, and from which,
- 19:43Speaker 1: according to our childish fancy, we may have selected portions
- 19:48Speaker 1: bearing some resemblance to domestic articles, the tools of mechanics,
- 19:54Speaker 1: or the like. Nornas seemed to busy herself in some
- 19:58Speaker 1: such researches, for she examined the mass of lead with
- 20:03Speaker 1: scrupulous attention, and detached it into different portions, without apparently
- 20:09Speaker 1: being able to find a fragment in the form which
- 20:13Speaker 1: she desired. At length, she again muttered, rather as speaking
- 20:18Speaker 1: to herself than to her guests. He the viewless will
- 20:23Speaker 1: not be omitted. He will have his tribute, even in
- 20:27Speaker 1: the work to which he gives nothing. Stern compeller of
- 20:31Speaker 1: the clouds, thou also shalt hear the voice of the
- 20:36Speaker 1: rhymkenner thus speaking, nor not once more threw the lead
- 20:40Speaker 1: into the crucible, where, hissing and spattering, as the wet
- 20:45Speaker 1: metal touched the sides of the red hot vessel, it
- 20:49Speaker 1: was soon again reduced into a state of fusion. The
- 20:53Speaker 1: sibyl meantime turned to a corner of the apartment, and
- 20:58Speaker 1: opening suddenly a wind which look to the northwest, let
- 21:03Speaker 1: in the fitful radiance of the sun, now lying almost
- 21:07Speaker 1: level upon a great mass of red clouds, which boating
- 21:12Speaker 1: future tempest, occupied the edge of the horizon and seemed
- 21:16Speaker 1: to brood over the billows of the boundless sea. Turning
- 21:21Speaker 1: to this quarter, from which a low hollow moaning breeze,
- 21:25Speaker 1: then Blue Norna addressed the spirit of the winds in
- 21:30Speaker 1: tones which seemed to resemble his own. Thou that, over
- 21:35Speaker 1: billows dark safely, sendest the fissure's bark, give him a
- 21:40Speaker 1: path and motion through the wilderness of ocean. Thou that
- 21:45Speaker 1: when the billows brave ye over the shelves, canst drive
- 21:50Speaker 1: the navy. Didst thou chafe as one neglected while thy
- 21:54Speaker 1: brethren were respected to appease thee sea. I tear this
- 22:00Speaker 1: full grasp of grizzled hair oft thy breath, hath threw
- 22:05Speaker 1: it sung softened to my magic tongue. Now tis thine
- 22:10Speaker 1: to bid it fly through the wide expanse of sky
- 22:14Speaker 1: mid the countless swarms to sail. A wild fowl wheeling
- 22:19Speaker 1: on thy gale, take thy portion, and rejoice spirit, thou
- 22:24Speaker 1: hast heard my voice. Norna accompanied these words with the
- 22:29Speaker 1: action which they described, tearing a handful of hair with
- 22:34Speaker 1: vehemence from her head and strewing it upon the wind
- 22:38Speaker 1: as she continued her recitation. She then shut the casement
- 22:42Speaker 1: and again involved the chamber in the dubious twilight which
- 22:47Speaker 1: best suited her character and occupation. The melted lad was
- 22:52Speaker 1: once more emptied into the water, and the various whimsical
- 22:56Speaker 1: conformations which it received from the operation were examined with
- 23:01Speaker 1: great care by the Sybil, who at length seemed to
- 23:05Speaker 1: intimate by voice and gesture that her spell had been successful.
- 23:11Speaker 1: She selected from the fused metal a piece about the
- 23:15Speaker 1: size of a small nut, bearing in shape a close
- 23:19Speaker 1: resemblance to that of the human heart, and approaching Minna
- 23:24Speaker 1: again spoke in song. She who sits by haunted well
- 23:29Speaker 1: is subject to the Nixy's spell. She who walks on
- 23:33Speaker 1: lonely beach to the mermaid's charmed speech, she who walks
- 23:38Speaker 1: round ring of Green offends the peevish fairy queen. And
- 23:42Speaker 1: she who takes rest in the dwarfy's cave, a wearied
- 23:47Speaker 1: weird of woe shall have by ring, by spring, by cave,
- 23:52Speaker 1: by shore. Minna troil has braved all this and more,
- 23:57Speaker 1: And yet hath the root of her sorrow and ill,
- 24:01Speaker 1: a source that's more deep and more mystical still. Mena,
- 24:07Speaker 1: whose attention had been laterly something disturbed by reflections on
- 24:13Speaker 1: her own secret sorrow, now suddenly recalled it and looked
- 24:18Speaker 1: eagerly on Norna, as if she expected to learn from
- 24:22Speaker 1: her rhymes something of deep interest. The northern sibyl meanwhile
- 24:28Speaker 1: proceeded to pierce the piece of lead which bore the
- 24:32Speaker 1: form of a heart, and to fix in it a
- 24:35Speaker 1: piece of gold wire by which it might be attached
- 24:40Speaker 1: to a chain or necklace. She then proceeded in her rhyme,
- 24:45Speaker 1: thou art within a demon's hold, more wise than hymes,
- 24:50Speaker 1: more strong than trolled. No siren sings so sweet as he.
- 24:55Speaker 1: No face springs lighter on the lee. No elfin power
- 25:00Speaker 1: hath half the art to soothe, to move, to wring
- 25:05Speaker 1: the heart, life blood from the cheek, to drain, drench
- 25:10Speaker 1: the eye, and dry the vein. Maiden. Ere we farther
- 25:14Speaker 1: go dost thou note me i or no minna replied
- 25:19Speaker 1: in the same rhythmical manner which, in jest and earnest,
- 25:24Speaker 1: was frequently used by the ancient Scandinavians. I mark thee
- 25:29Speaker 1: my mother, both word look and sign. Speak on with
- 25:34Speaker 1: the riddle to read it be mine now Heaven, and
- 25:39Speaker 1: every saint be praised, said Magnus. They are the first
- 25:43Speaker 1: words to the purpose what she hath spoken these many days,
- 25:48Speaker 1: and they are the last she shall speak for many
- 25:52Speaker 1: a month, said Norna, incensed at the interruption. If you
- 25:57Speaker 1: again break the progress of my spell, turn your faces
- 26:01Speaker 1: to the wall and look not hitherward again, under penalty
- 26:06Speaker 1: of my severe displeasure. You, Magnus Troyl, from hard hearted
- 26:12Speaker 1: audacity of spirit, and you Brenda, from wanton and idle
- 26:17Speaker 1: disbelief in that which is beyond your bounded comprehension, are
- 26:22Speaker 1: unworthy to look on this mystic work, and the glance
- 26:26Speaker 1: of your eyes mingles with and weakens the spell. For
- 26:31Speaker 1: the powers cannot brook distrust. Unaccustomed to be addressed in
- 26:37Speaker 1: a tone so peremptory, Magnus would have made some angry reply,
- 26:42Speaker 1: but reflecting that the health of Minna was at stake,
- 26:46Speaker 1: and considering that she who spoke was a woman of
- 26:50Speaker 1: many sorrows. He suppressed his anger, bowed his head, shrugged
- 26:55Speaker 1: his shoulders, assumed the prescribed posture, averting him head from
- 27:00Speaker 1: the table and turning towards the wall. Brenda did the
- 27:05Speaker 1: same on receiving a sign from her father, and both
- 27:09Speaker 1: remained profoundly silent. Norna then addressed Manna once more, mark
- 27:15Speaker 1: me for the word I speak shall bring the color
- 27:18Speaker 1: to thy cheek, this Latin heart so light of cost,
- 27:23Speaker 1: the symbol of a treasure lost. Thou shalt wear in
- 27:27Speaker 1: hope and in peace, that the cause of your sickness
- 27:32Speaker 1: and sorrow may cease. When crimson foot meets Crimson hand
- 27:37Speaker 1: in the Martyr's Aisle and in Orkneyland, Minna colored deeply
- 27:42Speaker 1: at the last couplet, intimating, as she failed not to
- 27:47Speaker 1: interpret it, that Norna was completely acquainted with the secret
- 27:51Speaker 1: cause of her sorrow. The sain conviction led the maiden
- 27:56Speaker 1: to hope in the favorable issue which the sybil seemed
- 28:00Speaker 1: to prophesy, and, not venturing to express her feelings in
- 28:05Speaker 1: any manner more intelligible, she pressed Norna's withered hand with
- 28:10Speaker 1: all the warmth of affection, first to her breast, and
- 28:14Speaker 1: then to her bosom, be doing it at the same
- 28:18Speaker 1: time with her tears, with more of human feeling than
- 28:22Speaker 1: she usually exhibited, Norna extricated her hand from the grasp
- 28:28Speaker 1: of the poor girl, whose tears now flowed freely, and then,
- 28:33Speaker 1: with more tenderness of manner than she had yet shown,
- 28:37Speaker 1: she nodded the leaden heart to a chain of gold
- 28:41Speaker 1: and hung it around Menne's neck, singing as she performed
- 28:46Speaker 1: that last branch of the spell, be patient, be patient,
- 28:51Speaker 1: for patience hath power toward us in danger, like mantle
- 28:56Speaker 1: in shower, a fairy gift you best may hold in
- 29:01Speaker 1: a chain of fairy gold. The chain and the gift
- 29:05Speaker 1: are each a true token that not without warrant. Old
- 29:09Speaker 1: Norna has spoken. But thy nearest and dearest must never
- 29:14Speaker 1: behold them till time shall accomplish the truths I have
- 29:19Speaker 1: told them. The verses being concluded, Norna carefully arranged the
- 29:24Speaker 1: chain around her patient's neck so as to hide it
- 29:28Speaker 1: in her bosom, and thus ended the spell, A spell which,
- 29:33Speaker 1: at the moment I record these incidents, it is known,
- 29:37Speaker 1: has been lately practiced in Zetland, where any decline of
- 29:41Speaker 1: health without apparent cause, is imputed by the lower orders
- 29:47Speaker 1: to a demon having stolen the heart from the body
- 29:50Speaker 1: of the patient, and where the experiment of supplying the
- 29:54Speaker 1: deprivation by a leaden one prepared in the manner described,
- 30:00Speaker 1: has been resorted to within these few years. In a
- 30:04Speaker 1: metaphorical sense, the disease may be considered as a general
- 30:08Speaker 1: one in all parts of the world. But as this
- 30:12Speaker 1: simple and original remedy is peculiar to the Isles of Toulet,
- 30:17Speaker 1: it were unpardonable not to preserve it at length in
- 30:21Speaker 1: a narrative connected with Scottish antiquities. A second time, Norna
- 30:27Speaker 1: reminded her patient that if she showed or spoke of
- 30:31Speaker 1: the fairy gifts, their virtue would be lost, a belief
- 30:35Speaker 1: so common as to be received into the superstitions of
- 30:40Speaker 1: all nations. Lastly, unbuttoning the collar which she had just fastened,
- 30:46Speaker 1: she showed her a link of the gold chain, which
- 30:49Speaker 1: Minna instantly recognized as that formerly given by Norna to
- 30:54Speaker 1: Mordaunt Mertown. This seemed to intimate he was yet alive
- 31:00Speaker 1: and under Norna's protection, and she gazed on her with
- 31:04Speaker 1: the most eager curiosity, But the sibyl imposed her fingers
- 31:09Speaker 1: on her lips in token of silence, and a second
- 31:13Speaker 1: time involved the chain in those folds, which modestly and
- 31:18Speaker 1: closely veiled one of the most beautiful as well as
- 31:21Speaker 1: one of the kindest bosoms in the world. Norna then
- 31:26Speaker 1: extinguished the lighted charcoal, and as the water hissed upon
- 31:30Speaker 1: the glowing embers, commanded Magnus and Brenda to look around
- 31:35Speaker 1: and behold her task accomplished. End of chapter eight.