DOI Artikel:
Frederic, Harold: The truce of the Bishop
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27806#0091
By Harold Frederic 87
“ They will be making peace with the English ? ” the chief
demanded.
“ They will be keeping their tongues behind their teeth,” said
the other briefly.
It was Turlogh’s turn to nod comprehension.
“ So it will be the end, then ! ” he said, musing aloud. “ We
have been true to God, and He will not restrain the hand of our
heretic enemies. I have been all my days loyal to my family ; I
have withheld nothing in their service; I have made my Dun-
beekin a tower of refuge for all my kinsmen when troubles
assailed them, and when their own fathers and brothers sought their
lives—and now you do be seeing their gratitude. You have it
from me, Goron, son of Tiarnan, there is not in Heaven nor on
earth any thankfulness for good deeds rendered.”
Goron looked into his lord’s sad old face and smiled. In stature
and girth he might have been Turlogh’s twin, but his garments
were of the coarsest, and his skin was burnt and tanned by the
life of a low-born man. His face, lean and pointed like the other’s,
was shrewd and bluntly single-minded. He stood well enough
with his chief, these many years, to speak in freedom.
“ I know only what I am told about Heaven,” he replied, ct but
the earth I observe with my own eyes. Men will get nothing
here but what they can take with their right arm. You have
made no one afraid of you, Turlogh, son of Fineen. You have
belonged to no man’s party, and marched with him to spoil and
waste all others. You speak the truth that your cousins found
refuge in Dunbeekin from the wrath of their fathers. But it was
true as well that these fathers would be coming next year to be
protected from the fury of their sons. Your walls were a strong
shelter for them both, in their day of need, but they left when it
was safe to do so without thanks to you in their hearts. They
have
“ They will be making peace with the English ? ” the chief
demanded.
“ They will be keeping their tongues behind their teeth,” said
the other briefly.
It was Turlogh’s turn to nod comprehension.
“ So it will be the end, then ! ” he said, musing aloud. “ We
have been true to God, and He will not restrain the hand of our
heretic enemies. I have been all my days loyal to my family ; I
have withheld nothing in their service; I have made my Dun-
beekin a tower of refuge for all my kinsmen when troubles
assailed them, and when their own fathers and brothers sought their
lives—and now you do be seeing their gratitude. You have it
from me, Goron, son of Tiarnan, there is not in Heaven nor on
earth any thankfulness for good deeds rendered.”
Goron looked into his lord’s sad old face and smiled. In stature
and girth he might have been Turlogh’s twin, but his garments
were of the coarsest, and his skin was burnt and tanned by the
life of a low-born man. His face, lean and pointed like the other’s,
was shrewd and bluntly single-minded. He stood well enough
with his chief, these many years, to speak in freedom.
“ I know only what I am told about Heaven,” he replied, ct but
the earth I observe with my own eyes. Men will get nothing
here but what they can take with their right arm. You have
made no one afraid of you, Turlogh, son of Fineen. You have
belonged to no man’s party, and marched with him to spoil and
waste all others. You speak the truth that your cousins found
refuge in Dunbeekin from the wrath of their fathers. But it was
true as well that these fathers would be coming next year to be
protected from the fury of their sons. Your walls were a strong
shelter for them both, in their day of need, but they left when it
was safe to do so without thanks to you in their hearts. They
have