Calvin Synod Herald, 1993 (93. évfolyam, 2-6. szám)
1993-05-01 / 3. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 4 -REFOMflTÜSOK LAPJA ONE FATAL DREAM -Portion of the 18th historical miniature on Stephen Bocskay-With Historical Insight A Seqment From The March of Truth The Tfyj of a ‘Prince, ‘With ‘Two Qoid-TmSroidered T[ames "For the true religion and for the liberty of the Fatherland." Prince Bocskay's motto "I have a bad feeling! I’m afraid something tragic is bound to happen!" joined old Madam Belsius in a low and mysterious tone. "Oh, mother! Have you been dreaming again?" "Yes, Elizabeth! I again had a prophetic dream last night," continued the old woman looking square in her daughter's eyes, "and I wish you had more respect for dreams. 'Nations that have no visions, perish'; and that's what the Bible says; and so do people, who have no dreams. And remeber, too, how often my dreams have been verified." "The dream I had last night was more like a vision than a dream. A vision it was...an omen... I may say! The ancient 'legend of the wonder-deer' came to life in a form of a vivid dream. I saw the wonder-deer running as swift as the wind through highlands and lowlands, meadows and forests. I saw the two mystic heroes on horseback chasing him with a terrific speed day and night. Often they thought their shooting arrows reached him, but they never did. Often they shouted with joy; 'the wonder-deer is ours', but it was not. Soon I noticed that the two heroes on horseback wer not the two ancient knights of the legend: Hunor and Magyar; but Prince B ocskay, with the diamond crown on his head, and young Gabriel Bethlen." "No, No, Mother!" exclaimed the daughter, "no more of your symbolic dreams!" "Elizabeth! Dreams come nearer to real life than most of us will ever realize," returned the old woman promptly, opening her eyes for a moment; then closing them again, she went on with the story of her dream: "Night came again. The forest was dark. A yellow half-moon grinned with malignity in the sky. And lo, behind the wonder-deerchasing horsemen, two monstrous bird-like creatures flew in the air, chasing them in turn. One had the shape of an eagle with two heads; the other that of a big, black, bloodthirsty hawk; both of them with claws of half yard length. The horses were rushing down a slope...and then they came to a swiftly running brook. And look!...in the brook it was not water that flowed, but blood; red, steaming, streaming blood. The wonderdeer overjumped the brook with no moment lost. But the horses came to a sudden stop. On the sudden halt the diamond crown fell off from the Prince's head and tumbled into the stream of blood. The monstrous eagle and the hawk swooped the Prince into their claws of half yard length. Young Gabriel’s horse then jumped over the stream from fright and followed the wonder-deer, that had disappeared in the forest. Then I woke up!" "Frightful! Terrible!" whispered Madam de Alvinczy, shaking like a leaf. "I hope, no explanations and no symbols, Mother!" exclaimed the indignant daughter. "There is no need fro explanation! The dream explains itself!" rejoined the old woman opening her eyes. "And as to the symbols...they are easily understood. The wonder-deer: Liberty, the half moon: the Turk, the double-headed eagle: Vienna, the black hawk: Rome. The fallen crown...that, oh, I do not like. I wish I never would have had this dream!" "Dreams mean nothing, Mother; they have no bearing on life." "My dreams, my daughter, never lie! Though this is one time I wish they did! That fallen crown,...that eagle with the doublehead,...that big, black hawk,...I wish I never would have seen." Publisher's Note: "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is the cherished heritage of the American way of life, and yet how many Americans know the throbbing factual story behind this heritage? In this most intersting and informative book, Dr. Szabó has immortalized the twenty great heroes of the Reformation period whose images are carved in stone in Rietchel's monument at Worms and Bouchard, Landowski's at Geneva.
