The Talisman

by Sir Walter Scott

Overview

King Richard I, of England, known as 'Lionheart', leads the Third Crusade to the Holy Land. A truce is declared between his forces and those of the Saracens under Saladin, just prior to the abandonment of the Crusade; and during this trucethe events of the present story take place. The "Talisman" itself is a pebble of wonderful healing powers carried by Saladin. Sir Kenneth, a Scottish Crusader, rides alone through the Dead Sea desert of Syria, when he is suddenly attacked by an Emir of the Saracens. The Scot is victorious and the two warriors declare a friendly truce. They ride together to the cave of Theodorick, a fanatic monkish recluse, who at first lays violent hands upon the Saracen, but finally receives them both hospitably. The Crusader is charged with a secret message to the hermit'from the Council of Princes; and while the Saracen sleeps, the knight and monk go to a neighboring chapel and witness a mass. Among the veiled worshippers is Lady Edith Plantagenet, whom the knight loves and under whose colors he has fought. She recognizes him by dropping a rosebud at his feet. The Saracen, who calls himself Ilderim, an Arabian physician, has heard that King Richard lies ill of a fever; and he thereupon states that he can heal the royal invalid ...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783849645618
Publisher:	Jazzybee Verlag
Publication date:	09/15/2014
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	346
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright, and historian who also worked as a judge and legal administrator. Scott’s extensive knowledge of history and his exemplary literary technique earned him a role as a prominent author of the romantic movement and innovator of the historical fiction genre. After rising to fame as a poet, Scott started to venture into prose fiction as well, which solidified his place as a popular and widely-read literary figure, especially in the 19th century. Scott left behind a legacy of innovation, and is praised for his contributions to Scottish culture.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER I -They too, retired To the wilderness, but 'twas with arma. Paradise Regained. The burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its highest point in the horizon, when a knight of the Red Cross, who had left his distant northern home, and joined the host of the Crusaders in Palestine, was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, or, as it is called, the Lake Asphaltites, where the waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an inland sea, from which there is no discharge of waters. The warlike pilgrim had toiled among cliffs and precipices during the earlier part of the morning ; more lately, issuing from those rocky and dangerous defiles, he had entered upon that great plain, where the accursed cities provoked, in ancient days, the direct and dreadful vengeance of the Omnipotent. The toil, the thirst, the dangers of the way, were forgotten, as the traveller recalled the fearful catastrophe, which had converted into an arid and dismal wilderness the fair and fertile valley of Siddim, once well watered, even as the Garden of the Lord, now a parched and blighted waste, condemned to eternal sterility. Crossing himself, as he viewed the dark mass of rolling waters, in colour as in quality unlike those of every other lake, the traveller shuddered as he remembered that beneath these sluggish waves lay the once proud cities of the plain, whose grave was dug by the thunder of the heavens or the eruption of subterraneous fire, and whose remains were hid, even by that sea which holds no living fish in its bosom, TALISMAN Jj bears no skiff on its surface, and, as if its own dreadful bed were the only fit receptacle for its sullen waters, sends not,like other lak'iS, a tribute to the ocean. The whole land around, as in the ...