Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/41

Rh Zbyshko, who amidst the laughter had preserved an unshaken dignity, spoke up with equal seriousness, without rising from his knee,—

"I vow to her that when I reach Cracow I will hang my shield in front of an inn, and on it a declaration, which a cleric learned in letters will write for me: that Panna Danusia, daughter of Yurand, is the most beautiful and virtuous among the damsels who inhabit all kingdoms. And should any man deny this I will do battle with him till I perish or he perishes, unless he should prefer to go into slavery."

"Well done! It is clear that thou knowest knightly customs. And what more?"

"And, since I have learned from Pan Mikolai that Panna Danusia's mother yielded her last breath through the act of a German with peacock-plumes on his helmet, I vow to gird my body with a hempen cord, and, though it should eat me to the bone, I will not remove the cord till I have slain three German knights, torn three such plumes from their helmets, and placed them at the feet of my lady."

At this the princess grew serious and inquired,—

"Art thou not making this vow to raise laughter?"

"So help me God and the Holy Cross," answered Zbyshko, "I will repeat this vow in the church before priests."

"It is praiseworthy to give battle to the fierce enemy of our race, but I grieve for thee, since thou art young and mayst perish easily."

Then pushed forward Matsko of Bogdanets. Till that moment, like a man of past times he had merely shrugged his shoulders; now he thought fit to speak.

"As to that be not troubled, gracious lady. Death in battle may meet any man, and to a noble, whether old or young, this is even praiseworthy. But war is no wonder to this lad, for though years are lacking him, it has happened him more than once to fight on horseback and on foot with lance or axe, with a long or a short sword, with a shield or without one. For a knight to make vows to a damsel whom he looks on with gladness is a novel custom, but as Zbyshko has promised his three peacock-plumes I make no reproach. He has harried the Germans, let him harry them again; and if from that harrying a pair of German heads should burst, he will have only the more glory."

"I see that the affair is not with some common youth," said the princess, and she turned to Danusia. " Sit thou in

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