Shadow of a Hero

LEGEND

Naming the Hero

IN THE DAYS when the Turks ruled Varina there was a farmer of Talosh who had one son and one daughter. Then a second son was born, and when this child was four months old the farmer and his wife left their elder children in the care of an aunt and set out for Potok, so that the child might be brought good fortune by being given his name by the Bishop Supreme in the Cathedral of St Joseph on the Feast of St Valia.

As they passed over the shoulder of Mount Athur a great storm arose and they were forced to take shelter in a cave, where came also for refuge a young priest, a bandit¹ and a scholar. The storm did not abate, so they saw they would all have to spend the night where they were. The farmer’s wife, being a prudent woman, had packed good stores and was able to cook them a meal, but there was an old feud between the clans of the bandit and the scholar and when they had drunk a little wine these two began to quarrel. The scholar’s tongue was very sharp, and there might well have been murder done if the priest had not threatened both men with an implacable curse if they failed to hold their peace. When the time came to sleep he lay down between them, so that neither should harm the other.

Next morning the storm raged still more fiercely, and the farmer and his wife wept at the knowledge that it was now the Feast of St Valia and they would miss the naming-mass, and the child lose his fortune. But the priest said, ‘I will name the boy. My name is Father Pango, and before he is a grown man I myself will be Bishop Supreme. Moreover, this mountain is the heart of Varina, as much as any cathedral. All that is done in Potok is done with the will and consent of the Turks, but here on the mountain we are a free people. So let these two gentlemen stand sponsor, for neither a scholar nor a bandit calls any man master. And the child’s fortune shall be this, that he shall live to see Varina a free nation.’

So it was agreed, and while the mountain shook with the storm they named the child Restaur Vax.

After that, the woman cooked the naming-feast and they ate and drank in fellowship, and fell to wondering what life the child might have, since his elder brother would inherit the father’s farm.

‘He has a good forehead,’ said the scholar. ‘I think he will lead a life of writing and study.’

‘He has sturdy arms,’ said the bandit. ‘He will lead a life of valour and of battle.’

‘I see wisdom in his eyes,’ said the priest. ‘I think he will serve his people and his God.’

So to settle the matter the scholar took his seal-ring and the bandit took a silver buckle from his coat and the priest took an amber bead from his rosary and they tied them over the blanket where the child lay, to see which he should choose. But when the child saw them glinting in the firelight he laughed with pleasure, and with one sure movement put up his hands and grasped all three.

¹ In both Formal and Field Varinian the word ‘bandit’ has a range of meanings, from armed highway robber to patriotic rebel. Since one man might well be both robber and rebel, this reflects the historical facts.