Anonymous / 2008-07-31 00:00:00
The happy mother, shedding tears of
joy, but in vain attempting to get her thanks accepted, obeyed the
injunction.
As she and her friends disappeared, the old woman, turning to the awed
people who seemed more than ever disposed to look on her as a
supernatural being, said sternly--"Why linger you here? Are you
unmindful of your duties? See you not how the shadows lengthen?" These
words produced a magical effect: the deep emotions by which the mass had
been recently swayed were swiftly replaced by equally profound feelings
of a different nature, as cloud succeeds cloud in a storm-swept sky.
And now a singular scene was enacted. A procession was formed, headed by
the old men, bare-headed; the musicians followed, behind whom walked
with solemn step the younger members of the community. This procession,
emerging from the western border of the forest, slowly climbed the
slopes of the Rocque du Guet, and arriving at the summit bent its way
seaward, halting at the edge of the precipitous cliff.
The sun was nearing the horizon. The scene was one of unsurpassed
loveliness. Behind lay the central and southern portions of the island,
hushed as if their primaeval rocks were still tenantless.
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