The Yellow Rose.
by Mor Jokai.
CHAPTER I.
This happened when no train crossed the Hortobagy, when throughout the Alfold there was not a railway, and the water of the Hortobagy had not been regulated. The two-wheeled mill clattered gaily in the little river, and the otter lived happily among the reeds.
At the first streak of dawn, a horseman came riding across the flat Zam puszta, which lies on the far side of the Hortobagy River (taking Debreczin as the centre of the world). Whence did he come? Whither was he going? Impossible to guess. The puszta has no pathway, gra.s.s grows over hoof-print and cart track. Up to the endless horizon there is nothing but gra.s.s, not a tree, a well pole, or a hut to break the majestic green plain. The horse went its way instinctively. Its rider dozing, nodded in the saddle, first on one side, then the other, but never let slip his foot from the stirrup.
He was evidently a cowherd, for his shirt sleeves were tight at the wrists--wide sleeves would be in the way among horned beasts. His waistcoat was blue, his jacket, with its rows of b.u.t.tons, black, and so was his cloak, worked in silken flowers, and hanging loosely strapped over his shoulder. The slackly gathered reins were held in the left hand, while from the right wrist dangled a thick stock whip. A long loaded cudgel was fastened to the horn of the saddle in front. In the wide upturned brim of his hat he wore a single yellow rose. Once or twice the horse tossed its head, and shaking the fringed saddle cloth, woke the rider for an instant. His first movement was to his cap, to feel whether the rose was there, or if perchance it had dropped out.
Then removing the cap, he smelt the flower with keen enjoyment (although it had no rose"s scent), and replacing it well to one side, threw back his head as if he hoped, in that way, to catch sight of the rose.
Presently (and very probably to keep himself awake) he began humming his favourite song:
"If only the inn were not so near, If only I did not find such cheer In golden quart and copper gill, I would not linger, my love, until It ever should grow so late."
But soon his head fell forward again, and he went on nodding, till all at once, with a frightened start, he saw that the yellow rose was gone!
Turning his horse he commenced searching for the flower amid that sea of gra.s.s, and the yellow blossoms of cinquefoil, and st.i.tchwort, and water-lilies. At last he found it, stuck it in his hat, and continued his song:
"An apple-tree stands in my garden small, The blossoms it bears they hide it all.
Oh there where the full carnation blows, And a maiden"s heart with a true love glows Is the place where I would be."
And then he went to sleep again, lost the rose, and once more turned to look for it. When found this time, nestling among a cl.u.s.ter of pink thistle-heads, he nearly kicked the plant to pieces. Because--because it had dared to kiss his rose! Then he sprang back to the saddle. Now had this cowboy been superst.i.tious he would not have decorated his hat for the third time with the yellow rose. Had he understood bird language, he would have known what the hundreds of little larks were twittering as they rose up out of sight, to greet the dawn. "Wear not--wear not your yellow rose!" But this Hortobagy peasant was hard-headed; he knew neither fear nor superst.i.tion.
He had wasted a good deal of time, however, in seeking this rose--though possibly more in winning it--for at the watering-hour he should have reached the Zam herd. By this time the overseer must be cursing him roundly. Well, let him curse! When one has a yellow rose in one"s cap one is not afraid of an overseer!
The sudden neighing of his horse roused him. A horseman was approaching, whose steed, a bay with a white star, was evidently an old friend of its own. The rider was a "csikos," or horseherd, as could be seen by his wide flying sleeves, white cloak, tulip embroidered, the la.s.so thrown around his shoulders, and best of all, by the way he had saddled his bay--without a girth. The two herdsmen recognised one another, as well as their horses, and quickening their trot drew close together. Both men, though distinctly different, were of the true Hungarian type, such as were the first Hungarians who wandered in from Asia. The cowherd was broad-shouldered, thickset, and bony, his face roundish and his cheeks red, while there was something of impudence in the chin, mouth, eyebrows, and little waxed moustache. His chestnut hair was cropped short, and his eyes hazel, though at first sight seeming almost green.
The other, the csikos, was strong and square-chested, yet withal slightly built. He had an oval face, burnt to a golden bronze, with perfectly regular clear-cut features, eyes dark and shining, and a black moustache that turned up of itself. Over his shoulders his jet black hair fell in loose wavy ringlets.
The two horses snorted in friendly fashion, and the csikos was the first to hail his friend.
"Good day, comrade! You are up early. But maybe you have not slept at all?"
"Thanks. That"s true. There was someone to send me asleep and to wake me up!"
"And where are you from now?"
"Only from the Mata puszta. I was at the vet"s."
"At the vet"s? Better kill your horse at once."
"Why?"
"Than let the doctor and his old nag overtake it. He went by in his gig half an hour ago, jogging along towards the Mata herd."
"Well, well, comrade! The shepherd"s white donkey has often beaten your little bay mare."
"Hm"m. What a pretty yellow rose you have got in your cap, comrade!"
"Who wins one can wear one."
"And may he never repent it!"
The csikos held up his fist with a threatening gesture, till the wide sleeve slipping back disclosed a muscular sunburnt arm.
Then both riders putting spurs to their horses went their several ways.
CHAPTER II.
The cowboy trotted towards the herd, and soon the hills of Zam, the little acacia wood, and the three tall well poles began to peep above the horizon. But it is a good ride there! Presently he took the tell-tale rose from his cap, folded it in his scarlet handkerchief, and pushed it up the knotted sleeve of his coat.
The horse-herd meanwhile spurred his horse in the opposite direction, where a low lying line of bluish mist marked the course of the Hortobagy river. He was on his way to the rose-bush where the yellow roses grew.
For on the whole Hortobagy there was but one yellow rose, and that bloomed in the innkeeper"s garden.
Some foreigner had brought it from Belgium, they said; and its wonderful yellow flowers blossomed the whole summer through, from Whitsuntide to Advent, when there were still buds on the branches; yellow as pure gold they were, though their scent was more like muscatel wine than roses. Many a man had felt that scent rise to his head! And the girl who used to gather these roses, though not for herself, they called "The Yellow Rose" also.
It was quite a mystery where the old innkeeper had picked up this maiden, for wife he had none. Some stranger had evidently forgotten her there, and the old man had kept her till she grew into a delicate, slender flower. Her cheeks were not rosy like those of other girls, but a clear, creamy colour, not the tint of sickness, for the life glowed beneath, and, when she smiled, seemed to dazzle and shine like a fire within. Her mouth, with its turned-up corners, was made for laughter, and suited the darkness of her eyes, eyes so dark that none could tell whether they were black or blue, because if once a man looked into them he forgot all else in the world. Her hair was black, twisted into a plait, with yellow ribbon. Other girls damp their hair with quince juice to make it curly, but hers waved and curled of itself.
And the songs she knew! How sweetly she could sing when she liked! If happy she sang, if sad she sang, for there is a song for everything, and, without singing, a peasant maiden cannot live. Nothing makes the work so easy, the time pa.s.s so quickly, and the way so short. Early in the morning, when the sky was pink at sunrise, she might be heard singing as she weeded in the garden.
The old innkeeper did not concern himself with business, but had given the whole management of the inn into the girl"s hands. She served out the wine, cooked, did the accounts. He meanwhile looked after his beehives, and was busy now, for the bees were swarming.
Suddenly a horse"s hoofs resounded from the yard, the dogs barked in the joyous tone with which they were wont to greet an old friend, and the old man called out:
"Klari! go in! Don"t you hear the dogs barking; a customer must be here.
See to him!"
The girl dropped her striped gown, tucked up for weeding, put on her buckled shoes, washed her hands from the watering can, and dried them with her ap.r.o.n, which she then threw aside, for, under it, she wore another very wide and clean, and with the household keys dangling from her waistband. She untied her gay-coloured kerchief, and smoothed her hair with her moistened palms. Then she broke off a rose from the rose-bush, and stuck it in her hair at one side.
"Picking a rose again!" grumbled the old man. "Maybe only for a gendarme!"
"Why only? Why mayn"t a gendarme wear a rose in his shako as well as another fellow? Perhaps you don"t think him good enough? That depends on the gendarme."
But after all it was no gendarme whom the girl found sitting at one end of the long table, but the smartest csikos on the whole puszta--Sandor Decsi.
"Sandor!" screamed the girl when she saw him, and clapping her hands, "Sandor! you have come back, my darling."
He was standing there, drumming on the table with the empty gla.s.ses, and only looked up to call out in a most sullen fashion, "Bring wine."
"Sandor!" cried the girl.