and a
girl--The quarrel over Bobtail and Falcon is at last
settled--Thereupon the guests gather for the banquet--The
presentation of the betrothed couples to the generals.

MEMORABLE year! Happy is he who beheld thee in our land! The folk still
call thee the year of harvest, but the soldiers the year of war; old men
still love to tell tales of thee and poets still dream of thee. Thou hadst
long been heralded by the marvel in the sky and preceded by a vague rumour
among the folk; with the coming of the spring sun the hearts of the
Lithuanians were seized with a certain strange foreboding, as if the end
of the world were approaching--by a certain yearning and joyous
expectation.

In the spring, when the cattle were driven forth for the first time, men
noticed that, though famished and lean, they did not run to the young
corn179 that already made gay the fields, but lay down on the ploughed
land, and, drooping their heads, either lowed or chewed the cud of their
winter food.

The villagers too, as they ploughed for the spring grain, did not show
their wonted joy in the end of the long winter; they did not sing songs,
but worked lazily, as though forgetful of the sowing and the harvest. As
they harrowed, at every step they checked their oxen and their nags, and
gazed anxiously towards the west, as though from this direction some
marvel were about to appear. And they regarded anxiously the birds, which
were returning home; for already the stork had flown back to its native
pine and had spread its white wings, the early standard of spring; and
after it the swallows, coming on in noisy regiments, gathered above the
waters, and from the frozen earth collected mud for their tiny houses. At
evening in the thickets one could hear the calling of the woodcocks as
they rose from the earth; and flocks of wild geese honked over the forest
and, wearied, settled noisily down to feed; and in the depths of the dark
heaven the cranes kept up a continuous clamour. Hearing this, the night
watchmen would ask in dread whence came such disorder in the winged
kingdom, and what storm had driven forth these birds so early.

And now new swarms, like flocks of finches, plover, and starlings, swarms
of bright plumes and pennons shone bright upon the hills and came down
into the meadows. It was cavalry! In strange array, and arms never seen
before, came regiment after regiment; and straight across the country,
like m