The Greylock

The Greylock

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Title: The Greylock
Author: Georg Ebers
Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5590] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 17, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
GREYLOCK, BY GEORG EBERS ***

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THE GREYLOCK
By Georg Ebers

A FAIRY TALE.
Once upon a time there was a country, more beautiful than all other
lands and the castle of the Duke, its ruler, lay beside a lake that was
bluer than the deepest indigo. A long time ago the Knight Wendelin
and his squire George chanced upon this lake, but they found nothing
save waste fields and bleak rocks around it, yet the shores must
formerly have borne a different aspect, for there were shattered
columns and broken-nosed statues lying on the ground. Against the
hillside there were remains of ancient walls that once, undoubtedly, had
supported terraces of vines, but the rains had long washed the soil from
the rocks, and among the caves and crannies of the fallen stonework,
and ruined cellars, foxes, bats, and other animals had found a home.
The knight was no antiquary, but as he looked about him his curiosity
was excited: "What can have happened here?" he said, and his squire
wondered also, and followed his master. The latter led his horse to the
edge of the water to let him drink, for though he had seen many
watercourses in the land, he had found nothing in them save stones, and
boulders, and sand.
"What if this lake should be salt, like the Dead Sea in the Holy Land?"
the knight asked, and the squire answered:
"Ugh, that would be a thousand pities!" As the former raised his hand

to his mouth to taste the water, wishing indeed that it were wine, he
suddenly heard a strange noise. It was mournful and complaining, but
very soft and sweet. It seemed to be the voice of an unhappy woman,
and this pleased the knight, for he had ridden forth in search of
adventures. He had already been successful in several encounters, and
from George's saddle hung the tail-tips of seven dragons which his
master had killed. But a woman with a musical, appealing voice, in
great danger, offered a rare opportunity to a knight. Wendelin had not
yet had any such experience. The squire saw his master's eyes sparkle
with pleasure, and scratched his head thinking: "Distress brings tears to
most peoples' eyes, but there is no knowing what will delight a knight
like him!"
The waters of the lake proved to be not salt, but wonderfully sweet.
When Wendelin reached the grotto from which the complaining notes
came, he found a beautiful young woman, more lovely than any one the
grey- haired George had ever seen. She was pale, but her lips shone
moist and red like the pulp of strawberries, her eyes were as clear and
blue as the sky over the Holy Land, and her hair glistened as if it had
been spun of the sunbeams. The knight's heart beat fast at the sight of
her loveliness; he could not speak, but he noticed that her hands and
feet were bound with chains, and that her beautiful hair was entwined
about a circle of emeralds that hung by a chain from the ceiling. She
marked neither the knight nor the squire, who stood shading his eyes
with his hand in order to see her the better.
Hot rage took possession of the heart of Wendelin