Seize the day, p.51
Seize the Day, page 51
Boyan died, still waiting until the last for his eldest son Bika’s return. His youngest son, Reka, succeeded him.
There is an old Magori saying that if you live to an old age, you have not dared to live at all. In Boyan’s case that was not true. Born on the unending steppes to the east, he had traveled far south then west, to settle here beside the great river Danuvius, every year full of challenges and adventures. Rest in peace, Boyan, in the rich earth you have claimed for your people.
In time, Marcus fulfilled his promise and built a small temple to the One-God. Two years later a wandering priest took possession of it and expounded the true meaning of Christianity. Still, after many years, it could not be said that he gentled the Magori; rather he gave then a new shield of faith to protect them from enemies, real or imagined.
Epilogue
About two hundred years later, 440 AD or so, led by their king Attila, the Hun finally arrived. And as was prophesized, they devastated all the lands they crossed. At its height the Hun conquest stretched from the Caspian to the Adriatic Sea. They inflicted heavy damage on Rome from which the Empire never recovered. By 476 the Western Roman Empire was broken up into many warring kingdoms ruled by Barbarians. After Attila’s early, untimely death in 453, the Huns disappeared from history. There is no record of the Magori during these turbulent times.
In 982 by the Christian reckoning, ten tribes paused in the mountain pass of the great Carpathian chain and lifted Arpad on their shield to declare him leader of the united tribes. There was an old tale often told of a wide sunny land set like a jewel in the cauldron of mountains, where the grass was sweet and the water refreshing, full of woods, of marshlands and waterways, where a nation could find a home. The tale was called Bika-said. The tribes had chased this fairy tale for many generations. Over several hundred thousand strong, these people flooded the plain, riding their chains of fast horses, subjugating the land, dispossessing its inhabitants, making it their own.
In the year 1109, during the last years of the first Magyar Christian King Istvan, a first recording of the population by the monks encountered an oddity. At the confluence of the rivers Drava and Danube a dozen villages were discovered that spoke a language akin to the Magyar tongue, with the twist of a strange dialect. The names were also Magyar names, except for two very popular names given to boys: Marko and Septus. Oddly, the population had a long Christian tradition. Every year they celebrated a strange festival atop a hill they called Hope. In the cemetery carved into the post marking the graves was often the likeness of an awkward looking beast with a bloated body, long nose and big ears.
In 1225 in the same region, while digging a foundation for a monastery, the workers unearthed the large bones of two giant beasts which struck superstitious terror in them. The learned abbot later identified the remains as elephant bones. The question remained unanswered to this day, how had two elephants ended up in the great Hungarian plain?
The End
Parting Words from the Author
I really enjoyed writing this book. It got me to exotic places of the ancient world. I was always interested how two very different cultures interacted and resolved their differences, or not.
Of course it’s questionable how accurate the story is historically. But that concerned me less, as I was trying to mesh different time periods, attempting to juxtapose the Roman and the Magyar. This gave me a platform to test some of my opinions on the subject.
I hope you have enjoyed the story as well and wish the best for Marcus and Gitta, Septimus and Devo and their children. I put them through a lot and they deserve some happiness after all this.
It begs the question if you would want to spend a weekend amongst the Horsepeople, trying to fit in. It would be exciting, but perhaps it’s better just to read about it.
I enjoyed your visit and hope to meet up with you again in one of my other books. I can open the door for you to other periods of history.
If you would like to find out something more about me, please visit my website at www.seeWordFactory.com .
In any case, I wish you well,
Paul Telegdi
Paul Telegdi, Seize the Day
