The Bond of Friendship

I never heard a bird sing here, and never did the men dance here to the sound of the bagpipe; but the place was sacred from olden times. Its very name reminded of that, for it was called Delphi. The dark, solemn mountains were all covered with snow. The brightest, which gleamed in the red evening sun the longest, was Parnassus. The brook close by our house rushed down from it, and was also sacred, long ago. Now the donkey makes it muddy with its feet, but the current rolls on and becomes clear again.

How well I remember every spot and its deep sacred solitude!

In the middle of the hut a fire was lit, and when the hot ashes lay high and glowing, the bread was baked in it. If the snow was piled up high round our hut and almost covered it, then my mother seemed to be her brightest. She would hold my head between her hands, kiss my forehead, and sing the songs she never sang at other times, for our masters, the Turks, did not like them. And she sang: "On the summit of Olympus, in the fir tree forest lived an old stag; its eyes were heavy with tears. It wept red, yes, and even green and light-blue tears. Then a roebuck came by and said, 'What ails you, that you cry so, that you weep red, green, yes, even light-blue, tears?' The stag replied, 'The Turk has entered our city. He has fierce dogs for the hunt, a goodly pack.' I will drive them away across the islands,' said the young roebuck. 'I will drive them away across the islands into the deep sea!' But before evening the roebuck was slain, and before nightfall the stag was hunted and killed."

When my mother sang this her eyes became moist, and a tear hung on the long lashes. But she concealed it, and turned our black bread in the ashes. Then I would clench my fists and say, "We'll kill the Turks!"

But she repeated the words of the song, " 'I will drive them across the islands into the deep sea!' But before evening the roebuck was slain, and before nightfall the stag was hunted and killed."

For several days and nights we had been alone in our hut, and then my father came home.