Allan and the Ice Gods by H. Rider Haggard

Author:H. Rider Haggard [Haggard, H. Rider]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781905432820
Amazon: 1905432828
Publisher: Dodo Press
Published: 2005-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XI

LALEELA

Wi leapt to the beach, and seizing the canoe by a hide rope which was

attached to its prow, dragged it over the hard, wet sand, as, being

very strong, he could do easily enough, till it was well above high-water mark. Then he ran to the rock and clothed himself swiftly in his

girdle of dressed seal fur and his hooded cloak of gray wolfskin which

he wore when out hunting, slipping his hand through the loop of the

ax, for, after all, who knew what might lie beneath that covering?

Also, about his shoulders he hung the bag in which when he went abroad

he kept food for a day or two and his tools for making fire. Then he

returned to the canoe and, with a beating heart, for like all savages

he was frightened of the unknown, drew off the fur wrapping from her

who lay senseless, and stared down.

Next instant he staggered back, for never had he seen and never had he

dreamed of a woman so beautiful as this that the sea had brought to

him. Tall she was, and shapely. Young, too, and all about her hung the

matted masses of her yellow hair. Though somewhat blue with cold and

reddened where the weather had caught it, her skin was of the

whiteness of snow; her face was oval and her features were fine and

well cut. Her eyes he could not see because they were shut, at which

he rejoiced, for had they been open he would have known that she was

dead; but he noted the long curling eyelashes which lay upon her

cheek, also that they were not yellow like her hair, but dark, indeed,

almost black in hue.

She was clothed, but in a fashion that was strange to him, for beneath

her breast, supported by straps across her shoulders, was a long

garment blue in colour made of he knew not what, that was tied in at

the waist with a girdle of fur to which were sewn polished stones and

beautiful little shells that glittered. Also about her neck was a

string of amber rounded into beads and pierced, while on her feet were

sandals made fast with broidered thongs. Lastly from her shoulders

hung a long cloak, also deep blue in colour and of the same soft

unknown stuff as was her gown, and with this a bag worked like the

sandals.

Yes, Wi staggered back, muttering:

“The Sea-witch! The Sea-witch herself. She who brings curses, no

woman. Now what says the tale—that such should be thrust back into

the sea, taking their curse with them. I will thrust her back into the

sea.”

He drew near again and touched her cheek with his finger tip, as

though expecting to find it vapour, which he did not, for he asked

himself,

“This one has flesh like women. Have sea-witches flesh like a

woman’s?”

Just then the Sea-witch shivered and made a little moaning noise.

“And can they shiver?” went on Wi, “they who are said to live upon the

ice? Surely first I should warm her who can suffer and bring her back

to life. I can always kill her afterward if I find that she is a witch

and not a woman.

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