Page:Libussa, Duchess of Bohemia; also, The Man Without a Name.djvu/38

This page has been validated.
22
Libussa.

He departed sorrowfully, and went next to the sister Therba. He knocked, and asked for an audience. The porter came to the window of his lodge, and said, “If thou hast gold in thy pouch, to present to my mistress, she will teach thee one of her adages, by which thou mayest learn thy destiny; but if thou hast none, go and gather as many grains on the shore of the Elbe as the tree has leaves, as the sheaf has ears, and the bird has feathers, and then come here, and I will open to thee the gate.” Dispirited and disappointed, the youth sneaked away, especially as he had heard that the seer Krokus had gone to Poland, to arrange as arbitrator a quarrel between two grandees.

He did not expect a better reception from the third sister; and when he saw her paternal palace from a hillock in the distance, he did not dare to approach it, but hid himself in a copse, to ponder in solitude upon his grief. But he was soon aroused from his reverie by a noise resembling the trampling of horses. A doe broke through the bushes, pursued by a lovely huntress and her maids upon stately horses. She threw a dart, which flew buzzing from her hand through the air, but without hitting the game. The lurking youth quickly seized his cross-bow,