A STORY FROM THE SAND-HILLS [7]
they were to go back from the land-dunes to the sand-dunes.
"Ours are better," said the old fisherman, Jurgen's foster-father;
"these have no strength."
And they spoke of the way in which the sand-dunes had come inland,
and it seemed very easy to understand. This is how they explained it:
A dead body had been found on the coast, and the peasants buried
it in the churchyard. From that time the sand began to fly about and
the sea broke in with violence. A wise man in the district advised
them to open the grave and see if the buried man was not lying sucking
his thumb, for if so he must be a sailor, and the sea would not rest
until it had got him back. The grave was opened, and he really was
found with his thumb in his mouth. So they laid him upon a cart, and
harnessed two oxen to it; and the oxen ran off with the sailor over
heath and moor to the ocean, as if they had been stung by an adder.
Then the sand ceased to fly inland, but the hills that had been
piled up still remained.
All this Jurgen listened to and treasured up in his memory of
the happiest days of his childhood- the days of the burial feast.
How delightful it was to see fresh places and to mix with
strangers! And he was to go still farther, for he was not yet fourteen
years old when he went out in a ship to see the world. He
encountered bad weather, heavy seas, unkindness, and hard men- such
were his experiences, for he became ship-boy. Cold nights, bad living,
and blows had to be endured; then he felt his noble Spanish blood boil
within him, and bitter, angry, words rose to his lips, but he gulped
them down; it was better, although he felt as the eel must feel when
it is skinned, cut up, and put into the frying-pan.
"I shall get over it," said a voice within him.
He saw the Spanish coast, the native land of his parents. He
even saw the town where they had lived in joy and prosperity, but he
knew nothing of his home or his relations, and his relations knew just
as little about him.
The poor ship boy was not permitted to land, but on the last day
of their stay he managed to get ashore. There were several purchases
to be made, and he was sent to carry them on board.
Jurgen stood there in his shabby clothes which looked as if they
had been washed in the ditch and dried in the chimney; he, who had
always dwelt among the sand-hills, now saw a great city for the
first time. How lofty the houses seemed, and what a number of people
there were in the streets! some pushing this way, some that- a perfect
maelstrom of citizens and peasants, monks and soldiers- the jingling
of bells on the trappings of asses and mules, the chiming of church
bells, calling, shouting, hammering and knocking- all going on at
once. Every trade was located in the basement of the houses or in
the side thoroughfares; and the sun shone with such heat, and the
air was so close, that one seemed to be in an oven full of beetles,
cockchafers, bees and flies, all humming and buzzing together.
Jurgen scarcely knew where he was or which way he went. Then he saw
just in front of him the great doorway of a cathedral; the lights were
gleaming in the dark aisles, and the fragrance of incense was wafted
towards him. Even the poorest beggar ventured up the steps into the
sanctuary. Jurgen followed the sailor he was with into the church, and
stood in the sacred edifice. Coloured pictures gleamed from their
golden background, and on the altar stood the figure of the Virgin
with the child Jesus, surrounded by lights and flowers; priests in
festive robes were chanting, and choir boys in dazzling attire swung
silver censers. What splendour and magnificence he saw there! It
streamed in upon his soul and overpowered him: the church and the
faith of his parents surrounded him, and touched a chord in his
heart that caused his eyes to overflow with tears.
They went from the church to the market-place. Here a quantity
of provisions were given him to carry. The