The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-14
THE BEAR PRINCESS.
FROM THE FRENCH.


formed a sort of canopy, perfumed with
their own fresh odor.
The house was a fine building with
white washed walls, and roof of red
tiles. 1t belonged to Scrbin's mother,
the Widow Lepk ,witsch, and was situ-
atcd in the Galician quarter of Zukoff,
not far rom the Custom -hous?, and very
near the woods.
Dame Lepkowitsch was powerful
:. woman, about forty years of age, whom
ever, bo ly both respected and fearel-
she was respc, ted because. ever since
the death of her husband, she had man.
aged the property and its dependencies
all by herself, cultivated her own fields
and carried on a little trade as we'll in
wood and tallow; her great gray eyes
made people afraid, as tEey heard her
voice harsh as the sound of knife
passing o:er gripdsto2e.
Not knowing how to read or write
herself, she had taken care to send her
son to s:hool at an early aye. Serbian
kept her accounts and read the papers to
her; for the good VIZ man, who coH'd
not make out single letter herself,
burned with curiosity to know what was
going on at Paris, at Vienna and other
remote places.
She loved Serbian as mother loves her
only child, but she took care not to let
him see it. Was it not enough to think
of to wo k for his future from morning
until EVENING"
Serbian was dreamer The only thing
which gave him delight was his violin
his mother h ID bought him the instru-
ment as an object OF distr; ct on--for she
thought her son was m lancholy only be-
cause he was too fond of solitude and
too much given to his own sombre
thoughts.
Dame Lepkowitsch was far from sus-
ptcting that h,r son needed a hand to
direct him, and that that hand must be
the hand of woman.
For the time being his mothers hand
was sufficient, but later on itwould ha e
to be another's; that was certain. Likt
child, he would have to be passed from
one hand to another, but the thing did
not seem at all ca y to do. for it did not
appear to please this great strong youth.
with his girls face ard blonde curls. He
seemed to have q horror of everything
that wore tra ling dresses and long hair; {;
and the moment that the fresh and beau
tiful face of young girl appeared before
him, or that sweet vol spoke to him,
he made his preparations to flee.
He never frequentcd the ia ern, never
went to balls; he was never seen at the
fountain, nor at the evening spinning
parties, nor at any OF the favorite resorts
of the other young men. None of those
amusements a tracted him. So that after
awhile, his mother became a little anX-
ious AID particularly when she saw him
sitting on the bench, as he was to day.
like some prince of fairy-tale bewitched
by fairy.
He had been sitting thus in broAn
strange noise fell upon his ears ard dis
turbed his reflections. A sound at once
ringing and yet melancholy seemed,
through the calm OF the evening, to come
from the market place, and break its
echoes magically against the h, uses and
among the gardens. There was gentle
harmony in the noisy concert.
Serbian got up, and, with his violin
and bow still in MS hand, he slowly fol
lowed the meloiiols summons, and cross
ing the huge gard ms, he reached the
Zukoff s:ret which leads to the market,
place.
There, compact crowd had TO: med in
circle-soldiers, servants, children
and in the middle stood Young girl of
great beauty. vino was making big
brown bear dance.
While the latter was turning clumsily
upon his hind legs, uttering grnnt Of
satisfaction from time to time, the young
girl was tapping tamborine, the booming
of which, blending with the argentine
clash of little bells, produced uniform
sound characterized by a sort of mclan.
choly fury.
The profile of tle 1.-THE young girl was
splendidly outlined against the bright
evening sky; it seemed like the head of
some Byzantine saint relieved against a
background of gold.
Her feet were shod with dainty red
moroc shoes; she wore short striped
tuni-, and round her neck, string OF
coral and silver pieces which fell over her
richly embroidered garment. A piece OF
rel cloth was gracefully twisted about
her handsome dark head, and gave her
face somewhat Oriental and prophetic
aspect.
The animal understood every one OF
her signs; he listened to her with the
blind obedience of slave who loves and
fears his mistress; he sat down and gave
his paw, rose up again, and the beautiful
girl st:od triumphant upon his rugged
back; he assumed all the posture, of a
clown, and, at another sigma, began to
perform kind of pa1tomimc. TO end
with, he threw himself OH the ground,
pretended to be dead, and the young
girl stretched herself upon him, in the
attitude of a conqueror that has over
thrown his enemy.
Serbian sto there without moving,
but he never took his eyes of her.
Don't 90 near her" cried neighbor,
the tailor Atlas Mensch, ''she is as proud
as she is wild. I know her well; they
call Ter the Bear-Princess. The best
advice I can give you is to keep out OF
her way"
This warning came too late. As the
young girl approached Serbian to pick up
the coins which had fallen at his feet, it
seemed to him that she had suddenly
pulled oat his heart, and hidden 1t away
under her magnificent dress. And when
she had again put the collar on the beat
and left the square with her animal, he