"How can I explain it to thee? Now, something like this: 'The wishing-god and Sälde herself live here. May malicious beings never approach!' This Lady Sälde who lives here, I will see," said Liuthari with decision; and, with the help of shield and knee, he pushed the middle slabs inwards, so that the whole erection of stone fell with a loud crash into the garden.
The young man stepped quickly across the threshold.
"This is no spell that scares away; it invites and entices in. Here dwells happiness. The god of wishes himself has led me here. And we dare to approach--for we certainly are not malicious creatures."
"Who knows whether the master of the house may not think us so?" said the old man thoughtfully, shouldering his spear, and following his young friend, who impetuously, as if driven by a god, stepped towards the inner door of the house, behind which--it was only closed by a dark yellow curtain which fluttered in the wind--a faint glimmer of red light seemed to beckon one in. Yet, in spite of all his haste, Liuthari noticed a rose-bush, which, loosened from its support, lay helpless on the sanded path. He carefully put it back in its place, remarking, "it would be a pity if it were trodden down."
CHAPTER XVII.
Liuthari sprang up the four steps in one bound and pushed back the curtain. But farther went he not: he stood as if spell-bound, as if rooted to the ground at the sight which presented itself to him.
He indeed drew back a step as if alarmed; in his astonishment, his spear struck the ground and threatened to escape from his right hand. For towards the king's son, with a noble step, as an alabaster Hebe might have stepped down from her marble pedestal, advanced Felicitas.
She carried her slumbering child tenderly on the left arm, pressing it to her bosom; her wondrously beautiful face was yet paler in the agitation of the moment; in the right hand she carried a flat silver vessel, filled with red wine.
"I bid you welcome, O strangers, as our guests, at the hearth of my husband. He is absent. I am quite alone in the house. Protect me and my child."
Liuthari found no words; with wide-opened eyes and a beating heart he looked at the beautiful woman before him.