Something heavy but kindly fell upon Joseph's shoulders and something light touched his cheek.
Looking up quickly from a survey of his garments, now more ragged and dusty than ever, he perceived that the weight was the hand of the man in black and that the lightness had been a kiss upon his cheek from the man's companion—her cheeks were Bushed and her eyes bright and her lips were still close to him. He was somewhat dazed from the shock of going to earth so quickly with the dog, but he thrilled with pleasure and happiness from the kindly touch and the kiss.
He stepped back to brush himself, and then gazed squarely at the man and girl.
His cheeks grew rosy with that first meeting of eyes. For in the man's there was an ocean of gratitude and a suggestion of a tear, and the girl's eyes blazed forth frank admiration.
You were so quick, she exclaimed. "Would that I could spring like that. It was brave of you—"
His tongue found no words. Boys of fifteen, even if aged by experience, have little to say when praise is bestowed so freely.
Moreover the man gave him no opportunity. "Remarkable," he said, "remarkable. As swift a leap as I ever saw," and then blinking with his eyes as if the light hurt them, added, "or hope to see."
It was nothing, Joseph stammered. "Often in the Ukraine I have dispersed dogs in a fight." And then thinking that this perhaps sounded like boasting, said further, "As do many boys of my age in that country."
From the Ukraine? The man in black looked at him with interest. "How do you happen to be so far from home?"
Tartars or Cossacks burned our house. We have been traveling this day more than two weeks in a cart only to find ourselves homeless here. Father had kinsfolk in this city, but the head of the house is dead and the others are away.
Where are your people now?
In the market place.
H'm, the man muttered to himself, "homeless and in the market place. And what will they do?"
The boy shook his head. "I think that my father will find us some shelter," he said finally. "He was thinking—" He hesitated, for he had been taught never to speak of troubles before strangers, though the girl peered straight into his eyes with great kindness and sweetness.
There is something curious here, thought the man. The boy's face has a high degree of intelligence and his speech is the speech of one who has listened to good words. A noble action this—I think in good faith that the whelp might have had his teeth in the child's throat.
Looking down upon the boy he said, "You have rendered us a noteworthy service, you have saved my niece from much painful injury; will you not accompany us to our home that we may hear your whole story and perhaps in our turn—"
The boy's face reddened. "Nay," he said, "I wish no reward. What I did—"
The girl caught him up. "Indeed you do my uncle wrong. He meant but this: we live humbly, will you not come and rest for a moment until you may join your people?"
I ask pardon, the boy said quickly.
Whereat the man laughed, for their speech and expression had been over serious for children, though it still was an age when children grew to be men and women often over a single night. In some provinces girls of fourteen or fifteen were considered grown women and even given in marriage. Boys at that age had seen much of the rough side of life, of war and battle and cruelty.
I will go with you, Joseph added, kissing the cuff of the gown of the man in black as he had always been taught to do in his home.
They turned to the left past the Church of the Franciscans, to the right through a short lane, and then to the left again into the most curious street of the world of that day.
It was the Street of the Pigeons, famed throughout all Europe as the dwelling place of scholars, astrologers, magicians, students, and likewise doctors, brothers of the Church, and masters of the seven arts. In the worst end of the street, the upper end near the city wall, clustered the squalid dwelling places that were once the homes of Jewish refugees, fleeing from persecution in all parts of the world. Terrible poverty had existed there, and when the Jewish inhabitants finally moved to their own city, Kazimierz, across the river, the buildings which they left were scarcely fit for human beings to live in. They were, in the first place, very old and out of repair—they were built for the most part of wood, though the fronts on the streetswere sometimes of brick covered with rough cement or mortar. The upper stories usually overhung, and the roofs were covered with loose boards nailed in place, serving instead of tiles or shingles. Rickety staircases on the outside of these buildings led from the streets or from interior courts up to the dwelling places on the third and fourth floors, where, at the time of this story, lived family literally heaped upon family in terrible disorder and poverty.
Thieves and murderers crouched there in hiding during the day, bands of lawless men had their haunts there in cellar or attic or other den. A fire in the year 1407 had swept through this street and through St. Ann's, clearing out many of these undesirable places, but unfortunately not destroying all of them.
In the lower end of the streets on the side toward the University of Krakow there was more respectability, since students and masters of the university inhabited there. A large students' bursar, or dormitory, stood near the corner where Jagiellonska now meets the Street of the Pigeons. In this lived many students; others put up near by in groups or with private families, since it was not until late in the 1490's that the authorities compelled the students to live in university buildings.
The prestige of the various colleges and the reputation of the men who taught there had drawn to Krakow not only genuine students but also many of the craft that live by their wits in all societies, in all ages—fortune tellers and astrologers, magicians and palmists, charlatans, necromancers, and fly-by-nights who were forever eluding the authorities of the law. Here, somewhere on the Street of the Pigeons, they all found lodging.
In the rooms above the street, in the kitchens beneath the street,these men plied their trades. Self-termed astrologers read in the stars the destinies of the gullible; they foretold happiness to trusting peasant girls who came to them for advice in their love matters; they prophesied disaster to mer-chants who, held by fear, might be induced to part with much money; they cheated, they robbed, and often on provocation they killed, until after many years they gave the street a certain unsavory reputation. Against the machinations of these men the influence of the university was ever working, and the first great blow that many of these magic crafts and black arts received was struck by Nicholas Kopernik, better known as Copernicus, many years later, when Joseph Charnetski was a very old man; Copernicus, working with rough implements, even before the telescope had been invented, proved to men for the first time that the heavenly bodies, stars and planets, move in the skies according to well-fixed and definitely determined laws, subject only to the will of the Creator of the universe, and that they have nothing to do with the destinies of individuals.
All about them in the street flitted men dressed in long robes like that of the guardian of the little girl, though all the robes were not alike. Some were clerical, with closed front and collar; others were open and flowing, with great sleeves like a bishop's gown; some were of blue, some were of red, some were of green. Joseph noticed one robe of ermine over which was worn a chain of heavy gold, at the end of which hung suspended a great amethyst cross.
They passed a house, part wood and part stone, where were gathered at opened doors a great group of young men in plain black robes, much less sumptuous than some others which they had seen, all the members of the group engaged in a lively altercation, as theguardian informed the boy and girl, concerning the movement of the stars. One was contending that the firmament of stars moved for one hundred years to the west—another (and this was backed by a written argument from the old Alphonsian tables from Spain) that the stars moved constantly in one direction without change.
Passing this group they came to a dwelling the front of which was stone. The door was set back from the street and flanked by short projecting buttresses on either side, put there as if to caution the emerging inhabitant to look carefully to right and left before proceeding—a caution not unwise at night. The windows above were not only crossed by wooden shutters that opened and closed like doors, but also barred with iron. The man in black took from the folds of his gown a huge brass key, which he fitted into the outside door, turned it in the lock with some labor, and then threw the portal open.
They stepped over a small board which served as a threshold, and passed through a dark passageway which led to an open court. At the end of the court was the flat wall of a monastery, without windows or doors. On the right was a low, one-story building, and on the left rose a ramshackle structure of wood, four stories high. Outside this building, leading to the apartments on the second and third floors, was a wooden staircase hitched to the wall by wooden clutch supports and strengthened by a single wooden upright. In the middle of the court was an old well with a bucket on a rope attached to a wheel.
The staircase creaked as they ascended, and seemed to Joseph to swing just a little. It gave him such a dizzy sensation that he clutched at the wall, fearful lest the whole structure should becomeloose and topple down. But the man only smiled as he saw the boy's sudden movement and assured him that the staircase was safe enough. They went up one flight, past the first landing, and then on to the second. Here they stopped and the man reached into his gown for another key, a smaller one this time.
Just as they were entering the apartment on the third floor opposite this landing, Joseph noticed that there was still one more floor above them, even though the main staircase ended with the third floor. The entrance to this top door, which appeared to have been at one time a loft or storeroom, was gained by climbing a crude ladder like staircase with a single rail, which was fastened at a slight angle against the wall. The door to which these steps led was directly above the farther end of the landing, and to Joseph's surprise, appeared to be of metal. From its shape and size the boy decided that it was a window that had been changed into an entrance, while at its right a square aperture had been cut in the wall, probably for the purpose of giving light. In an instant they were in the apartment where the man and girl lived, and Joseph had no further chance to study the loft which in some unexplainable manner had aroused his curiosity.
This apartment was stuffy and poorly lighted, but the furnishings were not poor. There were tapestries and great oaken chairs, a heavy table in the middle of the room, several huge chests, and a sideboard upon which some silver glistened.
The girl ran quickly to a shutter and threw it open, where-upon the light streamed in through a myriad of small glass panes set in lead. Quickly she set before Joseph and the man in black, small goblets which she filled with wine; a few pieces of broken breadwere placed before them on the table, and they all ate, Joseph rather voraciously, although striving to disguise his hunger.
Now tell us your story, the man bade him.
Joseph related it briefly, emphasizing for the most part the arrival of his father and mother and himself in the city that morning, and the dilemma that faced them in procuring lodgings.
The man in the black robe listened attentively, and when the boy had finished he struck the table a light blow. "I think I have it," he said. "Wait here for me and take what refreshment you will. I will be back in a few moments." He went out through the door and hurried down the stairs to one of the apartments below.
The girl pushed her chair closer to Joseph's and looked up into his eyes.
What is your name? she asked.
I am Joseph Charnetski.
Joseph, she said. "I like the name much. Mine is Elzbietka."
My father is Andrew Charletski, continued Joseph, "and we lived in the country of the black lands in the Ukraine. It was lonely in our neighborhood, for the nearest neighbor was sixty staja away, yet we never felt fear of Cossack or Tartar, though others did, for my father always treated them well. We were therefore surprised not long ago when there came to us a former servant, a friendly Tartar, who said that we were in some danger, and although my father laughed, I know that he gave the report some credence, since he took the Tartar aside and talked with him privately for a long time. He is not one to reveal his fear, however, and we remained in our house as before, with the warning all but forgotten by my mother and me.
Then one night before we went to bed, my mother, who wasworking upon some sewing, saw a man's face peeping in through the thatch at one corner of our house. It was a face that she had never seen before; it was not one of the servants of our place or any place next to ours; it was a villainous face and it made such an impression on her that she screamed aloud, alarming us all.
Yes? the blue eyes were full of interest.
That night my father came into the room where I was sleeping, bade me dress quickly, and in a short time led me and my mother through a little door in the rear of the house that I had never seen opened before, since it had always been fastened with nails. Outside this door we found ourselves in a passageway dug out of the earth like a cave, and through this we crept until we emerged into a shed some distance from the other dwellings where two of our best horses were hitched to a cart. That my father had already taken such precautions unknown to us assured me that he had feared something, the nature of which he had kept from us.
But you know now?
Nay-the most curious part is yet to come. My mother and I climbed into the wagon, where a goodly supply of food had been stored, while my father, moving swiftly, wielded a forked stick with such effect, in one corner of the shed, that he soon unearthed a pile of vegetables which had been covered over with tree branches and leaves in order to preserve them. I thought at the time that he was about to put some of them into our wagon for food, but to my surprise he chose only one.
And that—
A pumpkin.
A pumpkin! But why—
I know no more about it than you. When everything else in our wagon had been eaten, Father refused to give it up—this was ten days later, of course, when we were on the last stages of our journey; and once, indeed this very morning, a man who had evidently pursued us from the Ukraine offered my father the pumpkin's weight in gold in exchange for it—but my father refused.
Did you learn whose face your mother saw in the thatch?
That I did not, but what came later proved that my father had acted wisely in leaving our house secretly and in a hurry. For when we stopped in a village a few days later to rest our horses, we saw a neighbor who had traveled from our part of the country on horseback. He had passed our place on the day after we left. Every building had been burned to the ground, he told us, and the land itself looked as if a battle had raged there; the wheat was down and the crops were burned, and holes had been dug everywhere, as if the invaders had hunted for hidden treasure.
Your father has the pumpkin now?
It is safe in his possession—though why he refused its weight in gold I cannot see. But I think he would not be pleased that I have told all this about it, although I know that the secret is safe with you. Now tell me something of yourself. This man whom you called uncle—is he your father's brother?
That he is. My mother and father died in the plague that spread through the town when I was small. He is a master of arts in the university and a very great scholar, she added proudly. "His name is Nicholas Kreutz, and among those most famed in the university in alchemy he is indeed the greatest. He is not a servant of the Church, though a good Christian, and he seeks, as do many others, the secretsof his craft."
The scholar-alchemist appeared suddenly in the doorway and smiled at them.
I have just ascertained, he said, seating himself at the table, "that if it pleases your father, there is a haven for you all here in this very house. There is not much to pay, and a shelter, however lowly, is better than the sky when light falls. Your father might sell his pair of horses—horses bring a good price at present, I hear—and he could live here until some suitable employment appears. Unless," he added, "the place is too humble—"
Indeed that cannot be, said the boy eagerly. "Gladly at this minute will he welcome ally roof for the sake of my mother, who is somewhat tired after the long journey from the Ukraine. I cannot go too swiftly to tell him of this news. But only assure me that you are in sober earnest about this matter."
Elzbietka sprang up from her chair. "Did you but know him as well as I, you would not doubt."
At that the alchemist enveloped her with his long arms, from which hung the black sleeves of his gown, until she smiled out from the embrace at Joseph like one caught between the wings of a great raven or crow.
Hurry and tell your people, she commanded him, "and bring them back here. Indeed, I never knew what a mother was. If I but please her—"
That you will, shouted Joseph. "I will go as soon as Pan Kreutz unlocks the door for me below."
Tell your people that it is the door beneath us that is unoccupied, directed the alchemist as he let the boy out through thegate. "There are only two rooms there, a large and a small one, but they will serve your purposes for the time, I believe."
Joseph thanked him with all his heart and set out on the run for the market place. The Street of the Pigeons seemed to unwind before him as he ran, and he was soon in the street leading directly to the Cloth Hall.
Turning there, past one corner of the Town Hall, he ran directly by the cloth markets and headed for the little church near which his father had unloosed the horses. But no sooner had his eyes fallen upon the wagon and his father and mother standing in it, than he stopped suddenly in astonishment. Then, like an arrow leaving a bow, he darted forward, for what he saw set his heart beating faster than it had beaten in all that eventful day.
The stranger that they had left in the mud by the roadside that morning stood by the side of the wagon with a crowd of ruffians at his heels, threatening and shouting at Pan Andrew and his wife. The stranger carried a huge club, and the ruffians, of whom he appeared to be the leader, were armed with staves and stones and were shouting angrily, as if intent on harming the man and woman above them. Pan Andrew, in facing them, had stepped in front of his wife, to shield her if stones were thrown; and the sight of the resistance, and the cries of the leader and his attackers, soon brought a huge crowd surging about the wagon, for it was now close on to noon, and the morning's business of the market was well-nigh finished and many citizens and farmers were eating or resting in the shade of the trees about the square.
Joseph darted through the crowd and leaped up on the wagon, to stand by his father's side.
Ha, we have the cub as well, shouted the one who had boasted of the name Ostrovski in the early morning. "He is a wizard like unto the father, and a witch like the mother, for it was he who made my horse fly straight up to heaven this morning with a blow upon the flank."
At that, a great skulk in the crowd let fly a stone at the three, which missed Pan Andrew but narrowly.
Magicians, wizards, witches, hooted the crowd.
It is the man who is the worst, shouted the self-named Ostrovski. "It is he who hath bewitched my brother and cut off his head and changed the head into a pumpkin. If he be honest, let him deliver that pumpkin over to me in the sight of all, that I may give Christian burial to my brother's brains.... An' he will not, let him face my charge. He is a wizard, yea, and one condemned by Church and court and precept. At him! Kill him! But save me the pumpkin which is the head of my brother!"
Absurd as these accusations seem today, they did not seem so in the fifteenth century. For men were then but beginning to see the folly of many superstitions and cruelties that had been prevalent since the Dark Ages; they believed that certain persons had malign powers such as could transform others into strange animals; they thought that by magic, men could work out their spite upon others in horribly malicious ways; that food could be poisoned by charms and milk made sour.
And to raise the cry of wizard against a man, no matter how peace-loving and innocent he might be, was enough to start rough and brutal men, yes, and women, too, into active persecution and unlawful deeds.
This was the method that the stranger had adopted in order to get his revenge upon Pan Andrew, and not only revenge, but that which he sought even more keenly, the possession of the pumpkin that the country gentleman had refused to deliver to him early in the day. He had been about the city seeking out certain friends or followers in order to raise the cry of wizard, and then he had with them searched through the city until they came upon Pan Andrew and his wife.
The pumpkin, the pumpkin—it is my brother's head, he kept shouting.
Pan Andrew, on his side, only smiled back derisively upon him, and gathered in the pumpkin where no man could seize it without taking as well a blow from his heavy sword, and the attackers, being more cowards than men, made no attempt to approach the wagon at the side that he was facing. Some, armed with large stones, were, however, sneaking around to get behind him, and others in front were preparing to send a volley of missiles upon him, when there rushed into the turmoil a man of venerable appearance, clad in a brown robe with large puffy sleeves and pointed hood. He was of moderate stature, firm of gait, and bore himself like a man in the prime of life.
A priest he might have been, a brother of some order he seemed, but a scholar he was certainly, for there was that in his face and a droop to the shoulders that proclaimed him a man of letters.
Cease—cease—cowards all! he shouted in a commanding tone of voice. "What persecution goes on here?"
The man and the woman and boy are workers in magic, wizards and a witch, said the leader roughly. "Keep your hands off,for we are admonishing them."
Wizards and witches—fiddlesticks! shouted the newcomer, pulling himself up in the wagon until he stood beside Pan Andrew. "This is but an excuse for some such deed of violence as this city has seen too much of in the past twelve months. To attack an honest man—for to any but a blind man he appears as honest—a weak woman, and a defenseless boy—Cowards all, I say! Disperse, or I will call the king's guards to disperse you."
It is Jan Kanty himself, said one of the rioters in a loud whisper that all about him heard. "I'm off, for one." And throwing his stick to the ground, he took to his heels.
If there had been no magic in Pan Andrew, his wife, or his boy, there was magic in the name of Jan Kanty, and a very healthy magic, too, for at once every hat in that crowd came off, and men began to look askance at each other as if caught in some shameful thing.
The good Jan Kanty, was whispered on every side, and in the briefest second imaginable the crowd had melted until there remained not one person, not even the leader of the ruffians who had begun the attack.
約瑟夫感到一股厚重且溫柔的力量壓在自己的肩膀上,同時還有某種東西輕柔地觸碰著他的臉龐。
約瑟夫掃了一眼自己的衣服——比之前更破爛邋遢了,然后快速仰起頭看去,發(fā)現(xiàn)肩頭的力量來自那位黑衣男人的手,而那絲輕柔來自男人的同伴給他的一個吻——她的臉頰通紅,眼睛明亮,雙唇還貼在他的臉旁。剛才和狗猛地摔在地上,讓他有些暈眩,但這友善的撫摸和親吻讓他的心里洋溢著興奮和喜悅。
他后退一步,整理了一下自己的衣服,然后正視著眼前的男人和女孩。
眼神的交匯讓他臉紅起來。那男人的眼中充滿感激,熱淚盈眶,而女孩的眼里燃燒著坦率的敬仰之情。
“你的動作真快啊,”她興奮地叫道,“我要是能像你那樣跳躍該多好啊。你真勇敢——”
約瑟夫不知道說什么好,他才十五歲,即使是閱歷豐富的成年人,面對如此誠懇的贊揚也會不知所措。
還沒等約瑟夫開口答話,男人也贊嘆道:“太棒了,太棒了!我從未見過如此敏捷的身手?!彼f話的時候快速地眨著眼睛,好像是被光晃到了似的。
“這沒什么,”約瑟夫結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說道,“我在烏克蘭經(jīng)常把狗打跑。”感覺到自己的話可能有吹噓之嫌,他又補充說,“在我們那兒像我這么大的男孩都是這樣的?!?/p>
“你是從烏克蘭來的?”黑衣男子好奇地問道,“那你怎么會大老遠來這里呢?”
“不知道是韃靼人,還是哥薩克人,燒毀了我家的房子,我們趕著馬車,走了兩個禮拜,才到了這里,卻發(fā)現(xiàn)我們在這里也無依無靠。我父親在這里有個親戚,可是這個人已經(jīng)死了,他的家人也都搬走了。”
“你的家人現(xiàn)在在哪里?”
“在市場上?!?/p>
“嗯,”男人喃喃道,“無家可歸……在市場上……那你們有什么打算?”
約瑟夫搖了搖頭,“我覺得父親應該會給我們找個住處,”他終于說道,“他正考慮……”他猶豫了一下,父母從來不讓他在陌生人面前談論自家的困境,雖然眼前這位姑娘看他的眼神是那么溫柔,那么甜美。
“這其中必定有蹊蹺,”男人想道,“這個男孩很聰慧,他的談吐表明他是一個受過良好教育的孩子。而且他的行為實在是很高尚——我完全相信剛才那畜生可能會一口咬到這孩子的喉嚨。”
他低頭看著約瑟夫,說道:“謝謝你剛才出手相助,多虧了你,我的侄女才沒有受到傷害,你是否愿意到我們家,給我講講你的故事,或許我們可以……”
男孩的臉漲紅了?!安?,”他說,“我不想要什么回報,我做的……”
女孩打斷了他,“你誤解我叔叔了。他的意思是,我們家雖然有些寒酸,但你愿不愿意來休息一下,再和你的家人會合?”
“請原諒?!蹦泻⒘⒖袒卮?。
看著這兩個孩子過于嚴肅的言辭和表達,男人大笑起來。雖然他知道,這個年齡的孩子往往會一夜之間就長大成人。在有些地方,十四五歲的女孩已經(jīng)被視為成熟的女子,并可以談婚論嫁;這個年齡的男孩子大多見過了人世滄桑,經(jīng)歷過戰(zhàn)爭和殘酷的現(xiàn)實。
“我愿意和你們一起?!奔s瑟夫說道,之后他按照家教禮貌地在黑衣男子的袖口上親吻了一下。
他們左拐經(jīng)過方濟會教堂,又向右穿過一條短巷,接著又左拐走進了那時候世界上最為神秘的街道。
這就是聞名歐洲的鴿子街,這里聚集著大量學者、天文學家、魔法師、學生,還有醫(yī)生、教會兄弟以及那些精通七藝[1]的大師。街道最為破敗的一頭靠近北面的城墻,那里的房子骯臟污穢。猶太難民曾經(jīng)為了逃避迫害,從世界各地來到這里聚居。這里一直都是貧窮的根據(jù)地,原來的猶太居民最終搬到了他們自己的城市,河那邊的卡其米日市,而他們留下的房屋幾乎不適合人居住。首先,它們年久失修,大部分都是木建筑,僅僅面朝街道的一面用磚頭砌成,外面粗略地涂了一層水泥或是砂漿。樓房通常搖搖欲墜,房頂連瓦片也沒有,只是用木板稀稀拉拉地固定著。樓房外面的樓梯東倒西歪,從街上或者院子里延伸到三四層的住處,住在那里的人家都貧困潦倒,幾乎是人摞人地住在一起。
白天,盜賊和惡棍在那里藏身,目無法紀的人們出沒在木屋、閣樓或者地窖里。一四零七年的一場大火蔓延了整條街道,一直燒到圣安巷,燒掉了許多不堪入目的地方,可惜沒有燒干凈。
鴿子街的南端面對著克拉科夫大學,那里就體面多了,因為學生和大學的老師們居住在那里。一座巨大的學生宿舍坐落在亞蓋洛大街和鴿子街交匯的拐角處,許多學生都住在那里,還有一些學生居住在外面,也有的寄住在平民人家。因為直到十五世紀九十年代,校方才規(guī)定學生必須在校內(nèi)居住。
各個學院的聲譽以及學校教師的威望不僅吸引了大量聰穎的學生,而且吸引了形形色色的江湖術(shù)士——占卜師、占星師、魔法師、手相師、江湖郎中、巫師,還有一些總能逍遙法外的騙子。他們都在鴿子街找到了自己的一席之地。
這些人的蹤影無處不在,街上的房間里、地下室的廚房里,到處都是他們交易的場所。占星師通過描述星星的位置變化,為輕易上當?shù)娜私庾x他們的命運。要是農(nóng)家少女請他們預測自己的姻緣,他們就取悅她們,說她們要交桃花運了;商人上門的時候,他們總是哄騙他們說將有災難來臨,引誘商人出更多的錢來破財免災。他們欺詐搶劫,被激怒時甚至會殺人,幾年后,他們就臭名昭著了。多年后,當約瑟夫·恰爾涅茨基成為一名年邁老者的時候,克拉科夫大學才揭穿了這些人的陰謀詭計,一個名叫尼古拉斯·哥白尼的人揭穿了這些騙術(shù)和上不了臺面的伎倆。在望遠鏡被發(fā)明之前,哥白尼用簡陋的工具第一次向人們證明了天體、恒星和行星在宇宙中是按照固定規(guī)律運行的,而且它們的運動從宇宙初期就沒有變過,與人們的命運更是沒有任何關(guān)系。
他們周圍的人都像小女孩的監(jiān)護人一樣穿著長袍,不過樣式不太一樣。其中有神職人員,他們緊系著前襟和領子,也有人穿著袖口寬大的袍子,像是大主教穿的法衣一樣前襟敞口,隨風飄蕩,有些袍子是藍色的,有些是紅色的,還有些是綠色的。約瑟夫還看到一個人穿著貂皮的袍子,袍子上掛著一條金鏈子,下端吊著一個巨大的紫水晶十字架。
他們路過一間木石混合結(jié)構(gòu)的房子時,一大群年輕人正聚集在那里,他們也身穿樸素黑袍,但遠不如之前路上的人們穿的華麗。這些人正在進行一場激烈的辯論,黑衣男人告訴兩個孩子,他們在討論星星的運動。其中一人說星空一百年來一直在向西移動,另一個人說星星自古以來都朝著同一個方向運動(這個說法源于西班牙古老的《阿方索星表》[2])。
這之后,他們來到一座正面由石頭砌成的房子前面,房子的大門內(nèi)縮,兩側(cè)由突出的低矮建筑支撐,似乎是為了提醒住戶在繼續(xù)前行之前先仔細瞧瞧左右兩側(cè)——這個提醒在晚上尤其有必要。上方的窗戶不僅裝有木遮板,可以像門一樣開合,還安裝著鐵護欄。黑衣男人從袍子里取出一把巨大的銅鑰匙,插到門鎖中,用力一擰,大門打開。
他們跨過低矮的木門檻,穿過一條黑暗的通道,進入了開放的庭院。庭院的后面就是修道院平坦的外墻,上面沒有門窗。庭院的右側(cè)是一座低矮的平房,左邊是一座搖搖晃晃的木結(jié)構(gòu)建筑,總共有四層。樓外面,有一道由木樁子支撐的靠著墻的樓梯,通往二層和三層。院子中間有一口老井,井口的轱轆上纏著繩子,上面還掛著一只木桶。
他們登上樓梯,腳下發(fā)出吱吱呀呀的聲響,約瑟夫甚至感到了輕微的晃動。他感覺一陣暈眩,然后緊緊扶住了墻,擔心樓梯會突然松動,轟然倒塌??吹郊s瑟夫這突然之舉,男人笑著讓他放心,這樓梯絕對安全。他們經(jīng)過二樓,爬上三樓,然后男人從長袍里又掏出另一把鑰匙,這把比剛才那把小了一些。
正當他們要進入三樓房間的時候,約瑟夫注意到再往上還有一層,但是上樓的主樓梯到三層就沒有了。看上去那上面應該是一間閣樓或者儲藏室,要想上去需要爬上一段簡陋的樓梯,那里只有一側(cè)扶手,傾斜著固定在墻上。木梯的盡頭就是頂樓的門,令約瑟夫吃驚的是,那居然是一面金屬房門。從這扇門的大小和形狀看來,這應該是由窗戶改造的,因為門右面的墻上還被鑿出一個方孔,大概是透光用的。約瑟夫感覺這個閣樓有著難以捉摸的神秘,但他們隨即走進了男人和小女孩居住的屋子,他的疑惑也暫時擱置。
眼前的房間悶熱昏暗,但擺放的家具卻很講究。墻上掛著繡帷,地上擺著大橡木椅子,房子正中間是一張圓桌,還有幾只大箱子,墻邊的餐具柜上還擺著閃閃發(fā)光的銀器。
小女孩一進屋就迅速跑到窗邊,打開了窗戶,光線隨即透過眾多小小的玻璃窗格照射進來。她很快又拿來兩只小高腳杯,斟滿酒放在了約瑟夫和黑衣男子的面前,桌上還有幾塊碎面包。他們坐在桌旁,吃了起來。約瑟夫雖然盡力掩飾自己的饑餓,但依舊吃得狼吞虎咽。
“現(xiàn)在給我們講講你的故事吧?!蹦腥藢s瑟夫說道。
約瑟夫簡短地講述了自己的經(jīng)歷,重點說了他們一家人到達克拉科夫那天早上發(fā)生的事情,以及他們所面臨的尷尬處境。
男人專心地聽著,約瑟夫話音剛落,他就輕擊了一下桌子,說道:“我有主意了,你在這兒等我一下,也可以休息一會兒,我去去就回?!彪S即走出門去,匆匆下樓,去了二層的一個房間。
女孩把自己的椅子拉到約瑟夫的旁邊,抬頭看著約瑟夫的眼睛。
“你叫什么名字?”她問道。
“我叫約瑟夫·恰爾涅茨基?!?/p>
“約瑟夫,”女孩說,“我非常喜歡你的名字。我叫埃爾茲別塔?!?/p>
“我父親是安德魯·恰爾涅茨基,”約瑟夫繼續(xù)說道,“我們本來住在烏克蘭的鄉(xiāng)下,那里的土地都是黑色的。我們沒有鄰居,離我們最近的鄰居也有六十英里遠呢。不過,我們并不像其他人那樣怕哥薩克人和韃靼人,因為我父親對他們很好。不久前,我家以前的一個仆人,他是一個善良的韃靼人,他來我家告訴我們將有危險,我們都很吃驚。我父親當時哈哈大笑,但我知道他一定很重視這個消息,因為他把那個韃靼人帶到一旁,私下聊了很長時間。不過,我父親從來不把恐懼表現(xiàn)出來,我們和往常一樣生活,我母親和我很快就把那個警告給忘得一干二凈。
“有一天睡覺前,我母親正在縫補衣服,她看到一個男人正從我們房子角落的茅草堆往屋里偷看。我母親從沒見過那個人,他既不是我們的家仆,也不是附近人家的人。他有一張邪惡的臉,把我母親嚇得尖叫了一聲,我們?nèi)紘樍艘惶?。?/p>
“???”埃爾茲別塔的藍眼睛里充滿了好奇。
“那天夜里,我父親來到我的房間,把我叫醒,讓我趕快穿好衣服,接著就把我和我母親帶到了房子后面的一扇小門前面,這扇小門一直都用木條釘死,那是我第一次見那扇門打開。出了門我們就進入了一條像山洞一樣的地道,我們順著地道一直往前爬,最后來到了一個獨立的小棚子,我們家的兩匹快馬套著一輛馬車在那里拴著。原來,在我們毫不知情的情況下,我父親已經(jīng)做好了準備。這件事讓我確定父親有所擔心,而他瞞著我們的事情一定很危險?!?/p>
“那你現(xiàn)在知道了嗎?”
“沒有,最奇怪的事情我還沒說。我和我母親爬上馬車,車上已經(jīng)備好了充足的食物,而我父親快速走到棚子的角落,用力揮起耙子開始刨東西,不一會兒,他就從用來覆蓋保護的樹葉和樹枝下面挖出了一堆蔬菜。我以為他要放些蔬菜到車里作為食物,但令我吃驚的是,他只選了一樣東西?!?/p>
“那是?”