Having heard this, the princess began to complain again: "The people say--and I am sure rightly--that there will soon be a great war, in which on one side will be the kingdom of Poland and all the nations speaking a language similar to the Polish tongue, and on the other side will be all the Germans and the Order. There is a prophecy about this war by some saint."
"Bridget," interrupted the scholarly abbot; "eight years ago she was canonized. The pious Peter from Alvastra and Matthew from Linköping have written her revelations, in which a great war has been predicted."
Zbyszko shuddered at these words, and not being able to restrain himself, asked: "How soon will it be?"
But the abbot being occupied with the princess, did not hear, or probably did not wish to hear, the question.
The princess spoke further: "Our young knights are glad that this war is coming, but the older and prudent ones speak thus: 'We are not afraid of the Germans, although their pride and power are great, but we are afraid of their relics, because against those all human might is powerless.'"
Here Anna Danuta looked at the abbot with fear and added in a softer voice: "They say they have a true piece of the holy cross; how then can one fight against them?"
"The French king sent it to them," answered the abbot.
There was a moment of silence, then Mikolaj of Dlugolas, called Obuch, a man of great experience, said: "I was in captivity among the Knights of the Cross; I saw a procession in which they carried this great relic. But beside this, there are many other relics in the monastery in Oliva without which the order would not have acquired such power."
The Benedictines stretched their necks toward the speaker, and began to ask with great curiosity: "Tell us, what are they?"
"There is a piece of the dress of the Most Holy Virgin," answered the wlodyka of Dlugolas; "there is a molar tooth of Marya from Magdala and branches from the bush in which God the Father revealed himself to Moses; there is a hand of Saint Liberjus, and as for the bones of other saints, I cannot count them on the fingers of both hands and the toes of both feet."
"How can one fight them?" repeated the princess, sighing.
The abbot frowned, and having thought for awhile, said: "It is difficult to fight them, for this reason; they are monks and they wear the cross on their mantles; but if they have exceeded the measure of their sins, then even those relics will refuse to remain with them; in that case they will not strengthen the knights, but will take their strength away, so that the relics can pass into more pious hands. May God spare Christian blood; but, if a great war should come, there are some relics in our kingdom also which will succor us."