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270 FLORINDA AND YORINGAL. |
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getting that they must not go near'the castle. Presently, Florinda looked up, and saw the walls of the castle close by, and was almost dead with terror. The next moment Yoringal missed Florinda; she had been turned into a nightingale, and began to sing "jug, jug, jug," with the sweetest music. Just then a night owl with glowing eyes flew over them three times, each time screeching loudly. Then Yoringal found he could not move, there he stood like a stone; he could neither speak nor cry, nor move hand or foot.
The sun went down, and the owl flew into a bush, and from thence presently came forward a crooked old woman, thin and sallow, with great red eyes, and a hooked nose that almost touched her chin. Muttering to herself, she took hold of the nightingale, and carried it away on her hand. In a little while she returned, and said in a hollow voice : " I greet thee, Zachiel, when the moon in a basket shines, bind, loose Zachiel till the good hour comes."
Then was Yoringal free, and he threw himself upon his knees before the woman, and prayed her to give him back his Florinda; but she told him he would never have her back again, and went away. Yoringal cried and wept, and wailed by turns : "What, oh ! what shall I do ?" he exclaimed, but all to no purpose.
At last he went away to a distant town, and hired himself to tend the sheep. Here he remained for a long time. He could not go home without Florinda, though he sometimes went round by the castle—not too near—but there were no signs of her.
At length he dreamed one night that he had found a blood-red flower, in the middle of which was a large and beautiful pearl. He had plucked the flower, and while carrying it to the castle, he knew he was safe from all witchcraft or sorcery. He dreamed also that through this flower he had got back his dear Florinda.
In the morning, when he awoke, he rose hastily, and hurried away over mountain and valley to seek for such a flower as he had dreamed of. He had begun to give up all hope, when on the ninth day of his search, early in the morning, he found the blood-red flower, and in the centre was a dew-drop, as large and as beautiful as a pearL
With this flower he travelled day and night till he came to the castle, and, when he arrived within a hundred paces, he found |
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