Page:Libussa, Duchess of Bohemia; also, The Man Without a Name.djvu/34

18 She also knew how to prepare odoriferous scents, so sweet and pleasant that she attracted with them the spirits which inhabit the fathomless space beyond the moon, and they became submissive to her in order to inhale with their fine organs the delicious vapours; but when she threw nauseous scents upon the censer, she could have driven thereby Zihim and Ohim from the desert.

Miss Therba was as clever as Circe in finding out magic words and conjuring formulas, which were powerful enough to rule the elements, to raise a storm, to stir up a whirlwind, to excite a tempest, bring down a shower of hail-stone, or even to create an earthquake. She used these arts to frighten the people, that they might honour and fear her like a goddess; she knew, in fact, what weather the people wanted better than sage Nature herself. Two brothers once quarrelled, for they could never agree in their wishes. The one was a husbandman, and always wanted rain for the growth of his plants; the other was a potter, and always wanted sunshine to dry his earthen pots, which rain destroyed. As Heaven could never satisfy them, they went one day with rich presents to the residence of the sage Krokus, and confided