Pagina 48 di 788

Short were the greetings that the Judge bestowed upon his nephew.

With dignity he offered him his hand to salute, and kissing him

on the temple he gave him a hearty welcome; though out of regard

for the guests he talked little with him, one could see from the

tears that he quickly wiped away with the sleeve of his

kontusz,13 how he loved young Thaddeus.

After the master all, both men and beasts, were returning home

together from the harvest fields and from the grove, from the

meadows and from the pastures. Here a flock of bleating sheep

squeezed into the lane and raised a cloud of dust; behind them

slowly stepped a herd of Tyrolese heifers with brazen bells;

there the horses neighing rushed home from the freshly mown

meadow. All ran to the well, of which the wooden sweep

ceaselessly creaked and filled the trough.