Before summer had wilted pletely, life i came to an end in a way they had not imagined. One day Goldmund was roaming about the area with a slingshot, hoping to wing a partridge or some other fowl; their food had grown rather scarce. Lene was not far away, gathering berries, and from time to time hed pass near her and see her head, her brown neck rising out of her linen shirt, or hear her sing. Once he stole a few of her berries; then he wandered off and lost sight of her for a while. He thought about her, half tenderly, half annoyed, because she had agaiioned autumn and the future. She said that she thought she regnant and she could not let him go off again. Now it will soon be over, he thought. Soon Ill have had enough and wander on alone. Ill leave Robert, too. Ill try to get back to the big city when the cold begins, to Master Niklaus. Ill spend the wihere a spring Ill buy myself a new pair of shoes and walk and walk until I reach our cloister in Mariabronn and say hello to Narcissus. It must be ten years since I last saw him, and I must see him again, if only for a day or two.
An unfamiliar sound roused him from his thoughts, and suddenly he realized that all his thoughts and desires were already far away from here. He listened ily. The sound of fear repeated itself; he thought he reized Lenes void followed it, irritated that she was calling him. Soon he was close enough—yes, it was Lenes voice. She was calling his name as though i distress. He ran faster, still somewhat annoyed, but pity and waihe upper hand as her screaming tinued. When he was finally able to see her, she was kneeling in the heather, her blouse pletely torn, screaming and wrestling with a man who was trying to rape her. Goldmund ran forward with long leaps. All his pent-up anger, his restlessness, his sorrow broke out in a howling rage against the unknown attacker. He surprised the man as he tried to pio the ground. Her naked breasts were bleeding, and avidly the stranger held her in his grip. Goldmund threw himself upon him, his furious fingers grabbing the mans throat. It felt thin and stringy, covered with a woolly beard. With glee Goldmund pressed the throat until the ma go of the girl and hung limply between his hands; still throttling him, Goldmund dragged the exhausted, half-dead man along the ground to a few gray ribs of rock protruding from the earth. He raised the defeated man, heavy though he was, twice, three times in the air and smashed his head against the sharp-edged rocks, broke his neck, and threw the body down. His anger was still not fully vented; he would have liked to mahe man further.
Radiant, Le and watched. Her breasts were bleeding; she was still trembling all over and panting, but she soon gathered herself together. With a forlorn look of lust and admiratioched her powerful lover dragging the intruder through the heather, throttling him, breaking his neck, and throwing his corpse down. Like a dead snake, limp and distorted, the body lay on the ground, the gray face with u beard and thinning hair falling pitifully to one side. Triumphant Le up and fell against Goldmunds heart, but suddenly she turned pale. Fright was still in her; she felt sick. Exhausted, she sank into the blueberry bushes. But soon she was able to walk to the hut with Goldmund. He washed her breasts; one was scratched and the other bore a bite wound from the marauders teeth.
The adventure excited Robert enormously. Hotly he asked for details of the