Pagina 620 di 788

The mass began. The little sanctuary could not contain the entire

throng; the folk kneeled on the grass, gazing at the door of the

chapel, and bared their heads. The white or yellow hair of the

Lithuanian folk was gilded like a field of ripe grain; here and

there a maiden's fair head, decked with fresh flowers or with

peacock's feathers, and with ribbons flowing loose from her

braided hair, blossomed among the men's heads like a corn-flower

or poppy amid the wheat. The kneeling, many-coloured throng

covered the plain, and at the sound of the bell, as though at a

breath of wind, all heads bent down like ears of corn on a field.