Page - 169 - in The Forest Farm - Tales of the Austrian Tyrol

Before this image, on the right, was the deep grave, at the exact spot where, years ago, they had buried our mother’s two children who had died. A mound of freshly-dug earth lay on either side of the grave. Here the bearers let the coffin down to the ground and stripped it of all its finery; and it slid down into the pit as poor as it had left the cottage in the wood. “Thou to-day, I to-morrow; and so I am content,” murmured father. And the priest said: “May she rest in the Lord!” Then they cast clods of earth into the grave and went away, went to the inn, tasted bread and wine and talked of everyday things. When it was twelve o’clock and, according to custom, the bells began to toll once more, as a last farewell to the departed, the men and women of the forest set out to return to their mountain valley. We who belonged to one another sat together for a while longer and spoke sadly of the time that must now come and how to arrange for it. Then we took leave of one another: my father and brothers and sisters went home to the cottage in the wood, to live and die where mother had lived and died. Footnotes: [20] Fasting or abstaining from flesh-meat on Saturdays, in honour of Our Lady, is a custom, an act of voluntary discipline, prevailing almost exclusively in the German and Austrian Highlands.— Translator’s Note. [21] Hella, daughter of Laki and goddess of the dead, is the Persephone of Norse mythology.— Translator’s Note. THE END