The King's Sons, George Manville Fenn [uplifting books for women .txt] 📗

Alfred shook his head, but he managed to repeat the Latin words straightforward, and after a while pick them out when asked. Then the monk proceeded to get out his colours so as to ornament the big initial letter of what Alfred had learned in Latin as well as in English was “The History of the Good King Almon.”

Then came the most interesting part of the lesson, for, after Swythe had placed his colours ready—red, yellow, and blue—all in powders ground up so fine that it was necessary to shut out the breeze which came in at the window, Alfred learned how the monk made his brushes, by taking a tuft of badger’s hair and tying up one end carefully with a very fine thread of flax.

“Now watch me,” said the old man, and Alfred looked closely while Swythe took a duck’s quill out of a bunch, cut off the hollow part, and then lightly cut off the end where it had grown from the duck’s wing. Then the tuft of badger’s hair was held by its tied end and passed through the monk’s lips so as to bring the hairs together to a point, which was carefully pushed into the most open part of the quill and screwed round till the whole of the tuft was inside. Then a thrust with a thin piece of wood sent the hairs right through, all but the tied-up ends; and Swythe held his work up in triumph—a complete little paint-brush.

“How clever!” cried the boy eagerly; “but how did you get that badger’s hair?”

“Saved,” said Swythe, “when the dogs killed that badger last year.”

“And the ducks’ quills?”

“I picked them up when the ducks were plucked by the scullion.”

“You did not tell me how you made that black paint.”

“By holding a piece of slate over the burning wick of the lamp till there was plenty of soot to be scraped off and mixed up with gum water made from plum-tree gum, the same as I am going to use to mix up these colours, you see.”

As he spoke Swythe took a clean mussel-shell and placed in it a tiny portion of scarlet powder.

“That’s a pretty colour!” said the boy. “What is it?”

“The colour made by burning some quicksilver and brimstone together in a very hot fire till it is red, and afterwards I grind it up into fine dust. Now,” he said, “I’m going to mix this up with gum; and then we’ll paint all the back of the parchment behind the big letter red.”

Alfred watched the monk’s clever touches with the point of his little brush till there was a great square patch upon which the letter seemed to stand.

“Beautiful!” cried Alfred. “Now it’s done!”

“Oh, no,” said Swythe; “that’s the beginning! Now we’ll paint the scroll.”

“Why do you say we” said the boy. “It is you.”

“It’s we, because you are helping me,” said the monk. “Very soon you will be doing letters like this, and then I shall help you.”

Alfred sighed.

“Are you going to paint that scroll red too?”

“No: purple,” was the reply, and Swythe took up another little packet, which he opened slowly.

“Why, that’s blue,” cried Alfred.

“Wait a moment!” said Swythe, taking up another clean mussel-shell, into which he put a tiny patch of the bright blue dust. “Now you shall see it turn purple.”

Taking up the brush, whose hairs were thickly covered with red paint, he poured a few drops of gum water into the shell amongst the blue powder, mixed all together with the red brush, and to the boy’s great delight a beautiful purple was the result.

Then the leaves that had been sketched in had to be done, and while the boy wondered another shell was taken, the brush carefully washed, and a little of the blue dust was mixed with some yellow, when there was a brilliant green, which the monk made brighter or darker by adding more yellow or more blue.

The big ornamental letter was now becoming very bright and gay, Alfred looking upon it as finished; but Swythe went on.

“It’s very wonderful!” said the boy. “You seem as if you can make any colours out of red, yellow, and blue.”

“So will you soon!” said Swythe, smiling, and still painting away, till at the end of a couple of hours, which seemed to have passed away like magic, the monk began to carefully clean his brush with water.

“That’s done now!” cried Alfred, with a sigh of as much sorrow as pleasure, for he felt it to be a pity that the task was finished. “But do you know, Father Swythe,” he continued, as he held his head on one side and looked critically at the staring white letter with its beautiful ornamentation, “I think if I could paint and painted that letter I shouldn’t have left it all white like that.”

“What would you have done, then?”

“I should have painted it deep yellow like a buttercup—a good sunny yellow, to look like gold.”

“Well done!” cried the monk. “Why, that’s exactly what it is going to be. It isn’t finished, but I’m not going to paint it yellow. I’m going to paint it red first.”

“I don’t think I shall like that,” said the boy, shaking his head.

“Wait and see!” said the monk, and once more mixing up a little red with gum he carefully painted the white letter scarlet, and held it up.

“There!” cried the boy triumphantly; “it looks now almost like the back patch, and you’ve spoiled it all.”

“Umph!” grunted the monk, re-opening the window and laying his work in the sun to dry. “Wait a bit.”

“Yes, I’ll wait,” said the boy, watching the shiny wet paint turn more and more dull; “but I don’t like it.”

Swythe washed his brush carefully again, and as soon as the paint was dry went carefully over the letter part with gum, so delicately that the red colour was not disturbed nor the background smeared.

“Yes,” said the boy, still watching; “that looks a little better, because it looks shiny, but it was better white. Do paint it yellow now.”

“I told you I’m going to make it yellow,” said Swythe, laying his work well out in the sunshine to get thoroughly dry.

Then, taking it from the window-sill and shutting out the breeze again, Swythe placed his work ready and took out, from a snug corner, a tiny book made by sewing together about half-a-dozen leaves of parchment, and upon opening this very carefully Alfred saw within a piece of brilliant shining gold.

“Oh, how beautiful!” cried Alfred, making a dart at it with his hand. But, as if he expected this, Swythe put out his own hand and caught his pupil’s just in time, creating such a breeze, though, that the very thin gold leaf rose up at the corner and fell over, doubling nearly in half.

“There, you see how fine it is!” cried Swythe.

“I’m very sorry—I did not know,” said the boy sadly; and then he looked on in wonder, for the monk bent down, gave a gentle puff with his breath, and the gold was blown up, to fall back into its place.

“Why, I thought it would be quite hard and heavy,” said Alfred.

“And it’s twenty times as thin as the parchment!” said Swythe. “Now then, suppose we make the letter of gold.”

Alfred did not speak, but watched with breathless interest while the monk took his knife and carefully cut a long strip off one edge of the gold leaf, and then, dividing it in four, took it up bit by bit on the blade, and laid the pieces along the letter, cutting off edges and scraps that were not wanted, and covering up bare places so carefully and with such great pains that at last there was not a trace left of the gummed letter, a rough, rugged gold one being left in its place.

“There!” cried Swythe, when he had covered the last speck, and all was gold leaf; but Alfred shook his head.

“It looks very beautiful,” he said; “but I don’t like it. The edges are all rugged and rough.”

“So they are!” replied Swythe, and, taking now a clean dry brush, he began to smoothe and dab and press gently till there was not a trace left of where the scraps of gold joined or lay one over the other, all becoming strong and perfect excepting the edges, where the gold lay loose, till, quite satisfied with his work, the monk passed his brush briskly over the letter, carrying off every scrap of gold outside the gummed letter, and leaving this clean, smooth, and glistening.

“Oh, Father Swythe,” cried Alfred, clapping his hands, “you are clever! It’s beautiful!”

“You like it, then, my boy?” said the old man gravely. “You shall soon be able to do that with your light fingers.”

The boy looked down at his hands and then took up the pen the monk had laid down, dipped it in the ink, and tried to make a letter.

“Well done,” said Swythe, smiling; “that is something like O. Now make another, and try if you can make it worse than the last.”

The boy looked up at him sharply.

“You are laughing at me!” he said.

“Well, if I am, it is only to make you try and do better. Go on again!”

The boy hesitated before looking hard at the letter he had tried to imitate, and then tried once more.

“Ever so much better!” cried the monk. “Come to me every day, and try like that, and in a very short time you will be able to read and write.”

Chapter Six. The Great White Horse.

Encouraged by these words of the monk and the smiles and praises of the Queen, Alfred made rapid progress, which, oddly enough, grew quicker still from the way in which Bald and his brothers ridiculed him and laughed at his attempts, for their gibes angered him, but only made him work the harder, and with results which Swythe told the Queen were wonderful. Six long weary weeks had passed away since Ethelwulf had gone with his little army against the Danes, and only once had news been received, so that Queen Osburga’s face grew whiter, thinner, and more sad day by day, till one evening when, after a long hard day’s work with the monk, the pair went up to the top of the highest hill near to watch for the appearance of a messenger. Swythe could see no sign of anything.

“There is no news,” he said sadly. “Let us go back. The Queen is waiting to hear what we have found.”

“There is news,” cried the boy excitedly. “I can see the points of spears right away there in the valley. Look, the sun shines upon them and makes them glitter.”

“Yes, I see now,” cried Swythe excitedly. “Quick, let’s try and run, boy. The Danes! The Danes! We must get the Queen away into the woods so as to be safe.”

“Why not stop in the big house, and shut up every window and door? We must fight. You can fight, Father Swythe?”

“I, my boy?” said the monk sadly. “Yes, with my tongue. No, I am only a man of peace. All we can do is to fly for our lives. There are not twenty strong fighting-men, Fred, my son, and those who are coming against us must, from the spears and shining iron caps with wings like the Norsemen wear, be quite a thousand. Quick! You can go faster than I. Run on first and warn the good Queen that it is time to fly!”

Alfred nodded his head quickly and started off to run; but at that moment it struck him that it would be foolish to run and give the alarm without being sure. The monk had declared the force to be the enemy, but the boy wished to see for himself, and, darting sidewise, he ran down the hill, bearing to his right, till by stooping he could keep under cover of the gorse-bushes and approach quite near to the coming army.

It was a