one morning when they went up into a wild rocky place very high up on the hillside a number of big birds were seen coming over the mountain at a great height in the air, travelling in a northerly direction. they were big hawks almost as big as eagles, with very broad rounded wings, and instead of travelling straight like other birds they moved in wide circles, so that they progressed very slowly.
they sat down on a stone to watch the birds, and whenever[146] one flying lower than the others came pretty near them martin gazed delightedly at it, and wished it would come still nearer so that he might see it better. then the woman stood up on the stone, and, gazing skywards and throwing up her arms, she uttered a long call, and the birds began to come lower and lower down, still sweeping round in wide circles, and by-and-by [147]one came quite down and pitched on a stone a few yards from them. then another came and lighted on another stone, then another, and others followed, until they were all round him in scores, sitting on the rocks, great brown birds with black bars on their wings and tails, and buff-coloured breasts with rust-red spots and stripes. it was a wonderful sight, those eagle-like hawks, with their blue hooked beaks and deep-set dark piercing eyes, sitting in numbers on the rocks, and others and still others dropping down from the sky to increase the gathering.
then the woman sat down by martin's side, and after a while one of the hawks spread his great wings and rose up into the air to resume his flight. after an interval of a minute or so another rose, then another, but it was an hour before they were all gone.
"o the dear birds—they are all gone!" cried martin. "mother, where are they going?"
she told him of a far-away land in the south, from which, when autumn comes, the birds migrate north to a warmer country hundreds of leagues away, and that birds of all kinds were now travelling north, and would be travelling through the sky above them for many days to come.
martin looked up at the sky, and said he could see no birds now that the buzzards were all gone.
"i can see them," she returned, looking up and glancing about the sky.[148]
"o mother, i wish i could see them!" he cried. "why can't i see them when you can?"
"because your eyes are not like mine. look, can you see this?" and she held up a small stone phial which she took from her bosom.
he took it in his hand and unstopped and smelt at it. "is it honey? can i taste it?" he asked.
she laughed. "it is better than honey, but you can't eat it!" she said. "do you remember how the honey made you feel like a snake? this would make you see what i see if i put some of it on your eyes."
he begged her to do so, and she consenting poured a little into the palm of her hand. it was thick and white as milk; then taking some on her finger tip, she made him hold his eyes wide open while she rubbed it on the eye-balls. it made his eyes smart, and everything at first looked like a blue mist when he tried to see; then slowly the mist faded away and the air had a new marvellous clearness, and when he looked away over the plain beneath them he shouted for joy, so far could he see and so distinct did distant objects appear. at one point where nothing but the grey haze that obscured the distance had been visible, a herd of wild cattle now appeared, scattered about, some grazing, others lying down ruminating, and in the midst of the herd a very noble-looking, tawny-coloured bull was standing.
"o mother, do you see that bull?" cried martin in delight.[149]
"yes, i see him," she returned. "sometimes he brings his herd to feed on the hillside, and when i see him here another time i shall take you to him, and put you on his back. but look now at the sky, martin."
he looked up, and was astonished to see numbers of great birds flying north, where no birds had appeared before. they were miles high, and invisible to ordinary sight, but he could see them so distinctly, their shape and colours, that all the birds he knew were easily recognized. there were swans, shining white, with black heads and necks, flying in wedge-shaped flocks, and rose-coloured spoonbills, and flamingoes with scarlet wings tipped with black, and ibises, and ducks of different colours, and many other birds, both water and land, appeared, flock after flock, all flying as fast as their wings could bear them towards the north.
he continued watching them until it was past noon, and then he saw fewer and fewer, only very big birds, appearing; and then these were seen less and less until there were none. then he turned his eyes on the plain and tried to find the herd of wild cattle, but they were no longer visible; it was as he had seen it in the morning with the pale blue haze over all the distant earth. he was told that the power to see all distant things with a vision equal to his mother's was now exhausted, and when he grieved at the loss she comforted him with the promise that it would be renewed at some other time.
now one day when they were out together martin was[150] greatly surprised and disturbed at a change in his mother. when he spoke to her she was silent; and by-and-by, drawing a little away, he looked at her with a fear which increased to a kind of terror, so strangely altered did she seem, standing motionless, gazing fixedly with wide-open eyes at the plain beneath them, her whole face white and drawn with a look of rage. he had an impulse to fly from her and hide himself in some hole in the rocks from the sight of that pale, wrathful face, but when he looked round him he was afraid to move from her, for the hill itself seemed changed, and now looked black and angry even as she did. the ground he stood on, the grey old stones covered with silvery-white and yellow lichen and pretty flowery, creeping plants, so beautiful to look at in the bright sunlight a few moments ago, now were covered with a dull mist which appeared to be rising from them, making the air around them dark and strange. and the air, too, had become sultry and close, and the sky was growing dark above them. then suddenly remembering all her love and kindness he flew to her, and clinging to her dress sobbed out, "o mother, mother, what is it?"
she put her hand on him, then drew him up to her side, with his feet on the stone she was standing by. "would you like to see what i see, martin?" she asked, and taking the phial from her bosom she rubbed the white thick liquid on his eye-balls, and in a little while, when the mistiness passed off, she pointed with her hand and told him to look there.[151]
he looked, and as on the former occasion, all distant things were clearly visible, for although that mist and blackness given off by the hill had wrapped them round so that they seemed to be standing in the midst of a black cloud, yet away on the plain beneath the sun was shining brightly, and all that was there could be seen by him. where he had once seen a herd of wild cattle he now saw mounted men, to the number of about a dozen, slowly riding towards the hill, and though they were miles away he could see them very distinctly. they were dark, black-bearded men, strangely dressed, some with fawn-coloured cloaks with broad stripes, others in a scarlet uniform, and they wore cone-shaped scarlet caps. some carried lances, others carbines; and they all wore swords—he could see the steel scabbards shining in the sun. as he watched them they drew rein and some of them got off their horses, and they stood for some time as if talking excitedly, pointing towards the hill and using emphatic gestures.
what were they talking about so excitedly? thought martin. he wanted to know, and he would have asked her, but when he looked up at her she was still gazing fixedly at them with the same pale face and terrible stern expression, and he could but dimly see her face in that black cloud which had closed around them. he trembled with fear and could only murmur, "mother! mother!" then her arm was put round him, and she drew him close against her side, and at that moment—o how terrible it was!—the black cloud and the whole[152] universe was lit up with a sudden flash that seemed to blind and scorch him, and the hill and the world was shaken and seemed to be shattered by an awful thunder crash. it was more than he could endure: he ceased to feel or know anything, and was like one dead, and when he came to himself and opened his eyes he was lying in her lap with her face smiling very tenderly, bending over him.
"o poor little martin," she said, "what a poor weak little boy you are to lose your senses at the lightning and thunder! i was angry when i saw them coming to the hill, for they are wicked, cruel men, stained with blood, and i made the storm to drive them away. they are gone, and the storm is over now, and it is late—come, let us go to our cave;" and she took him up and carried him in her arms.
