Note: Translator Pauline Bancroft Flach died in 1966, less than 70 years ago. Therefore, this work is protected by copyright, restricting your legal rights to reproduce it. However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now. Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First book - IV. Diamante
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
But Giannita pointed in another direction. It
was not that she was to look at, not that.
Then she lowered her eyes and looked down into
the black valley. There the ground shone like
velvet, and the white Simeto foamed along in the
depths of the valley.
But still she did not turn her eyes in the right
direction.
At last she saw the steep Monte Chiaro rising
out of the black, velvet-lined valley, red in the
morning light and encircled by a crown of shady
palms. On its summit she saw a town flanked with
towers, and encompassed by a wall, and with all its
windows and weather-vanes glittering in the light.
At that sight she seized Giannita’s arm and asked
her if it was a real town, and if people lived there.
She believed that it was one of heaven’s cities,
and that it would disappear like a vision. She was
certain that no mortal had ever passed up the path
that from the edge of the valley went in great curves
over to Monte Chiaro and then zigzagged up the
mountain, disappearing through the dark gates of
the town.
But when she came nearer to Diamante, and saw
that it was of the earth, and real, tears rose to her
eyes. It moved her that the earth still held all this
beauty for her. She had believed that, since it had
been the scene of all her misfortunes, she would
always find it gray and withered and covered with
thistles and poisonous growths.
She entered poor Diamante with clasped hands, as
if it were a sanctuary. And it seemed to her as if this
town could offer her as much happiness as beauty.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
