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CHAPTER XIII Diana and the Children

There was in Florence in the oldest time a noble family, but grown so poor that their giorni di festa or feast-days were few and far between. However, they dwelt in their old palace (which was in the street now called La Via Cittadella), which was a fine old building, and so they kept up a brave show before the world, when many a day they hardly had anything to eat.

Round this palace was a large garden, in which stood an ancient marble statue of Diana, like a beautiful woman who seemed to be running with a dog by her side. She held in her hand a bow, and on her forehead was a small moon. And it was said that by night, when all was still, the statue became like life, and fled, and did not return till the moon set or the sun rose.

The father of the family had two children, who were good and intelligent. One day they came home with many flowers which had been given to them, and the little girl said to her brother:-

"The beautiful lady with the bow ought to have some of these!"

Saying this, they laid flowers before the stature and made a wreath which the boy placed on her head. Just then the great poet and magician Virgil, who knew everything about the gods and fairies, entered the garden and said, smiling:-

"You have made, the offering of flowers to the goddess quite correctly, as they did of old; all that remains is to pronounce the prayer properly,[1] and it is this:"

So he repeated the following Invocation to Diana:

Lovely Goddess of the bow!
Lovely Goddess of the arrows!
Of all hounds and of all hunting
Thou who wakest in starry heaven
When the sun is sunk in slumber
Thou with moon upon they forehead,
Who the chase by night preferrest
Unto hunting in the daylight,
With thy nymphs unto the music
Of the horn-thyself the huntress,
And most powerful: I pray thee
Think, although but for an instant,
Upon us who pray unto thee!'

Then Virgil taught them also the incantation or spell to be uttered when good fortune or aught is specially required.

Then he added. the conclusion:

If thou heedest our evocation
And wilt give good fortune to us,
Then in proof give us a token!

Three or four of these sounds were generally selected. They vary more or less, but seldom materially, from these. Sometimes visible manifestations, as, for instance, lightning, are requested. To see a white horse is a sign that the prayer will be granted after some delay. It also signifies victory.]

And having taught them this, Virgil departed.

Then the children ran to tell their parents all that had happened, and the latter impressed it on them to keep it a secret, nor breathe a word or hint thereof to any one. But what was their amazement when they found early the next morning before the statue a deer freshly killed, which gave them good dinners for many a day; nor did they want thereafter at any time game of all kinds, when the prayer had been devoutly pronounced.

There was a neighbor of this family, a priest, who held in hate all the ways and worship of the gods of the old time, and whatever did not belong to his religion, and he, passing the garden one day, beheld the statue of Diana crowned with roses and other flowers. And being in a rage, and seeing in the street a decayed cabbage, he rolled it in the mud, and threw it all dripping at the face Of the goddess, saying:

Behold, thou vile beast of idolatry,
This is the worship which thou hast from me,
And the devil do the rest for thee!

Then the priest heard a voice in the gloom where the leaves were dense, and it said:

It is well! I give thee warning,
Since thou hast made thy offering,
Sonic of the game to thee I'll bring;
Thou shalt have thy share in the morning.

All that night the priest suffered from horrible dreams and dread, and when at last, just before three o'clock, he fell asleep, he suddenly awoke from a nightmare in which it seemed as if something heavy rested on his chest. And something indeed fell from him and rolled on the floor. And when he rose and picked it up, and looked at it by the light of the moon, he saw that it was a human head, half decayed.[1]

Another priest, who had heard his cry of terror, entered his room, and having looked at the head, said:-

"I know that face! It is of a man whom I confessed, and who was beheaded three months ago at Siena." And three days after the priest who had insulted the goddess died.