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Läsebok. N:o 92-93.
105
preparations were made for it. In the meantime, Macbeth
röde out with a few attendants, to see the oxen drag the
wood and the stones up the bill, for enlarging and
strengthening the castle. So they saw most of the oxen trudging
up the hill with great difficulty (for the ascent is very steep),
and the burdens were heavy, and the weather was extremely
hot. At length Macbeth saw a pair of oxen so tired that
they could go no farther up the hill, but fell down under
their load. Then the king was very angry, and demanded to
know who it was among his Thanes that had sent oxen so
weak and so unfit for labour, when he had so much work for
them to do. Some one replied that the oxen belonged to
Macduff, the Thane of Fife. »Then», said the King, in great
anger, »since the Thane of Fife sends such worthless cattle
as these to do my labour, 1 will put his own neck into the
yoke, and make him drag the burdens himself».
There was a friend of Macduff, who heard these angry
expressions of the King, and hastened to communicate them
to the Thane of Fife, who was walking in the hall of the
King’s castle while dinner was preparing. The instant that
Macduff heard what the King had said, he knew he had no
time to lose in making his escape; for whenever Macbeth
threatened to do mischief to any one, he was sure to keep
his word. So Macduff snatched up from the table a loaf of
bread, called for his horses and his servants, and was
galloping back to his own province of Fife, before Macbeth and
the rest of the nobility were returned to the castle. The
first question which the King asked, was, what had become
of Macduff? and being informed that he had fled from
Dun-sinane, he ordered a body of his guards to attend him. and
mounted on horseback himself to pursue the Thane, with the
purpose of putting him to death. Macduff, in the meantime,
fled as fast as horses’ feet could carry him; but he was so
ill provided with money for his expences, that, when he came
to the great ferry over the river Tay, he had nothing to
give to the boatmen who took him across, excepting the loaf
of bread which he had taken f’r o to the King s table. The
place was called for a long time afterwards, the Ferry of
the Loaf.
When Macduff got into his province of Fife, which is
on the other side of the Tay, he röde on faster than before,
towards his own castle of Ivennoway, which, as I told you,
stands close by the seaside; and when he reached it, the
King and his guards were not far behind him. Macduff
ordered his wife to shut the gates of the castle, draw up the
draw-bridge, and on no account to permit the King or any
of his soldiers to enter. In the meantime, he went to the
small harbour belonging to the castle, and caused a ship
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