Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-07-23
How Da1fino
Said Adiet1 va
BY gabrielle D'ANNUNzIo.
oOprrlrA., lD0s. By DAILY s.Ory Pub. CO.

A LONG the coast he was known SIM
~ ply as Dalfno. and the name was
appropriate. In the water he looked
for all the world like a dolphin, his
back bent by years of hard labor as a
seaman, his body Drowned by the sun
and sea breeEeS, and his head covered
with coarse bristly hair. 1t was a
grand sight to see him throw himself
from the rocky ledge at Forrini, and,
darting through the air, plunge into
the sea like a seahawk with broken
wing, and, as he came to the surface
again, his large, clear fishlike eyes
sparkled in the sunlight. Perhaps it
was a still more interesting sight to
see him clinging to the ropes at the
mast's top, when the wind whistled
through the rigging filling the sails
almost to bursting, and the angry
waves beneath him ragged like infuri-
ated beasts anxious to devour him.
Dalfno was both fatherlesS and
motherless. His mother had been dead
for some 20 years, and his father
had fallen victim to the sea on an
awful night when the sky was dark
ened by tempest breeding clouds and
the winds came like raging demons
from the deserts of Lydia. From that
moment the wide expanse of the sea
belonged to him and his life seemed to
be bound up with it. Helistened to the
roaring waves as If they had something
wonderful to tell him, and spoke to
them as he would speak to a human
being. He eonfded everything to the
sea and often dispelled the gloomy
hours by singing to himself little
snatches of song.
Father sleeps there" he said to
Zarra one day, "and I wish to go and
join him. He is waiting for me, 1
know, for l saw him yesterday"
"You have seen him?" asked Zarra,
raising her large black eyes to his.
Eyes, there-yonder on the point of
those rocks. The sea was smooth as
glass. saw him plainly and he looked
at me-"
A shudder passed through the girls
body. What a beautiful creature this
Zarra was! Straight and slender as a
mast, nimble in her movements as a
panther, with set of regular, pearly
white teeth, and bosom that rose
md fell like field of golden grain be-
fore a gentle breeze.
She and Dalfno had always been
kind to one another. They had played
together in the sand, captured the I'M
wary crabs along the shore, and waded
out into the shallow water. The sun
and the sea had witnesses them a
thousand times kiss each other, had
heard them shout in joyful glee, and
join in singing the sweet little songs
they knew. o, tender youth, how soon
cannot the sea change such tenderness
to the hardness of steel!
Zarra always sat and waited for him
in the evening when the setting sun
would tint the western sky with rosy
color. and reflected from the clouds
would overspread the surface of the
sea with a violet hue as if wine had
been poured into the water. Soon the
sails of the fisher boats would appear
In the distance like a flock of whites
winged birds. Dalfno's boat was in
variably Ia advance of the others, and
| with its orange red sails swelling in
the breeze, would approach the shore
with the speed of an arrow. DalfinO
made fine appearance as he stood at
the rudder, firm as granite statue.
"Oi" Zarra would cry: Good catch
today"
He shouted her an answer. The sea
gulls at the approach of the boats
would rise from the rocks with COM
planning shrieks, because they were
disturbed, and take fight TO more
deserted place. In a little while the
coast became animated again and all
astir at the return of the fishermen
from their days labor.
But the sea air made them both sick
With what fascination they regarded
one another-she standing on the edge
Of the boat, he reclining on the deck at
her feet, the sea the while making mel.
low music as the waves broke upon the
rocks on the shore.
"What thought Is there in your
look this evening, Zarra9" asked Dial
fno, softly. "Listen, I declare you are
one of those mythical beings with q
body half human, half fish, who live
far, far, out in the sea, and who, wher
they sing, sit upon the rocks, their
long glossy hair floating in the wind
| n - N hafno q r