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to precipitate itself seaward, with its old tower: and a timorous person would have been afraid to put foot upon it, lest an addition of weight, so inconsiderable as that of the human body, should hasten a catastrophe which seemed at every instant impending.
Without troubling himself about such fantasies, the Udaller rode towards the tower, and there dismounting along with his daughters, gave the ponies in charge to one of their domestics, with directions to disencumber them of their burdens, and turn them out for rest and refreshment upon the nearest heath. This done, they approached the gate, which seemed formerly to have been connected with the land by a rude drawbridge, some of the apparatus of which was still visible. But the rest had been long demolished, and was replaced by a stationary footbridge, formed of barrel-staves covered with turf, very narrow and ledgeless, and supported by a sort of arch, constructed out of the jaw-bones of the whale. Along this “brigg of dread” the Udaller stepped with his usual portly majesty of stride, which threatened its demolition and his own at the same time; his daughters trode more lightly and more safely after him, and the whole party stood before the low and rugged portal of Norna’s habitation.
“If she should be abroad after all,” said Magnus, as he plied the black oaken door with repeated blows; — ” but if so, t we will at least lie by a day for her return, and make Nick a Strumpfer pay the demurrage in bland and brandy.”
As he spoke, the door opened, and displayed, to the alarm t of Brenda, and the surprise of Minna herself, a square-made j dwarf, about four feet five inches high, with a head of most portentous size, and features correspondent — namely, a huge, f mouth, a tremendous nose, with large black nostrils, which j seemed to have been slit upwards, blubber lips of an unconscionable size, and huge walleyes, with which he leered, sneered, r grinned, and goggled on the Udaller as an old acquaintance, t without uttering a single word. The young women could ct hardly persuade themselves that they did not see before their eyes the very demon Trolld, who made such a distinguished figure in Norna’s legend. Their father went on addressing fc this uncouth apparition in terms of such condescending friend- $ ship as the better sort apply to their inferiors, when they wish, for any immediate purpose, to conciliate or coax them, — a t tone, by the by, which generally contains, in its very familiarity, as much offence as the more direct assumption of distance and superiority.
“Ha, Nick! honest Nick!” said the Udaller, “ here you are, lively and lovely as Saint Nicholas your namesake, when he is carved with an axe for the headpiece of a Dutch dogger. How dost thou do, Nick, or Pacolet, if you like that better?
Nicholas, here are my two daughters, nearly as handsome as thyself thou seest.,; Nick grinned, and did a clumsy obeisance by way of courtesy, but kept his broad misshapen person firmly placed in the doorway.
“Daughters,” continued the Udaller, who seemed to have his reasons for speaking this Cerberus fair, at least according to his own notions of propitiation, — ” this is Nick Strumpfer, maidens, whom his mistress calls Pacolet, being a light-limbed dwarf, as you see, like him that wont to fly about, like a Scouric, on his wooden hobbyhorse, in the old story-book of Valentine and Orson, that you, Minna, used to read whilst you were a child. I assure you he can keep his mistress’s counsel, and never told one of her secrets in his life — ha, ha, ha!”
The ugly dwarf grinned ten times wider than before, and showed the meaning of the Udaller’s jest, by opening his immense jaws, and throwing back his head, so as to discover, that, in the immense cavity of his mouth, there only remained the small shrivelled remnant of a tongue, capable, perhaps, of assisting him in swallowing his food, but unequal to the formation of articulate sounds. Whether this organ had been curtailed by cruelty, or injured by disease, it was impossible to guess; that the unfortunate being had not been originally dumb, was evident from his retaining the sense of hearing. Having made this horrible exhibition, he repaid the Udaller’s mirth with a loud, horrid, and discordant laugh, which had something in it the more hideous that his mirth seemed to be excited by his own misery. The sisters looked on each other in silence and fear, and even the Udaller appeared disconcerted.
“And how now?” he proceeded, after a minute’s pause. “When didst thou wash that throat of thine, that is about the width of the Pentland Firth, with a cup of brandy? Ha, Nick! I have that with me which is sound stuff, boy, ha!”
The dwarf bent his beetlebrows, shook his misshapen head, and made a quick sharp indication, throwing his right hand up to his shoulder with the thumb pointed backwards.
“What! my kinswoman,” said the Udailer, comprehending the signal, “will be angry? Well, shalt have a flask to carouse when she is from home, old acquaintance; — lips and throats may swallow though they cannot speak.”
Pacolet grinned a grim assent.
“And now,” said the Udaller, “stand out of the way, Pacolet, and let me carry my daughters to see their kinswoman. By the bones of Saint Magnus, it shall be a good turn in thy way! — nay, never shake thy head, man; for if thy mistress be at home, see her we will.”
The dwarf again intimated the impossibility of their being admitted, partly by signs, partly by mumbling some uncouth and most disagreeable sounds, and the Udaller’s mood began to arise.
“Tittle tattle, man! “ said he; “trouble not me with thy gibberish, but stand out of the way, and the blame, if there be any, shall rest with me.”
So saying, Magnus Troil laid his sturdy hand upon the collar of the recusant dwarfs jacket of blue wadmaal, and, with a strong, but not a violent grasp, removed him from the doorway, pushed him gently aside, and entered, followed by his two daughters, whom a sense of apprehension, arising out of all which they saw and heard, kept very close to him. A crooked and dusky passage through which Magnus led the way, was dimly enlightened by a shot-hole, communicating with the interior of the building, and originally intended, doubtless, to command the entrance by a hagbut or culverin. As they approached nearer, for they walked slowly and with hesitation, the light, imperfect as it was, was suddenly obscured; and, on looking upward to discern the cause, Brenda was startled to observe the pale and obscurely-seen countenance of Norna gazing downward upon them, without speaking a word. There was nothing extraordinary in this, as the mistress of the mansion might be naturally enough looking out to see what guests were thus suddenly and unceremoniously intruding themselves on her presence. Still, however, the natural paleness of her features, exaggerated by the light in which they were at present exhibited, — the immovable sternness of her look, which showed neither kindness nor courtesy of civil reception, — her dead silence, and the singular appearance of everything about her dwelling, augmented the dismay which Brenda had already conceived. Magnus Troil and Minna had walked slowly forward, without observing the apparition of their singular hostess.
Chapter XXVIII
The witch then raised her wither’d arm,
And waved her wand on high,
And, while she spoke the mutter’d charm,
Dark lightning fill’d her eye.
Meikle.
“This should be the stair,” said the Udaller, blundering in the dark against some steps of irregular ascent — ” This should be the stair, unless my memory greatly fail me; ay, and there she sits,” he added, pausing at a half-open door, “ with all her tackle about her as usual, and as busy, doubtless, as the devil in a gale of wind.”
As he made this irreverent comparison, he entered, followed by his daughters, the darkened apartment in which Norna was seated, amidst a confused collection of books of various languages, parchment scrolls, tablets and stones inscribed with the straight and angular characters of the Runic alphabet, and similar articles, which the vulgar might have connected with the exercise of the forbidden arts. There were also lying in the chamber, or hung over the rude and ill-contrived chimney, an old shirt of mail, with the headpiece, battleaxe, and lance, which had once belonged to it; and on a shelf were disposed, in great order, several of those curious stone-axes,