^uiiMfriiirtikiiiyiMrt**^^
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 

 
 (Sis.
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES OF THE 
 HARZ MOUNTAINS.
 
 Entered, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, l>y MARIA ELISE T. T. LAUDER, in the 
 Office of the Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa.
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 HARZ MOUNTAINS, 
 
 NORTH GERMANY. 
 
 MRS. MARIA ELISE T. T. LAUDER, 
 
 Author of "EVERGREEN LEAVES ; OR, TOOFIE IN EUROPE." 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING ST. EAST. 
 
 C.W. COATES, MONTREAL, Qua. S. V. HUESTIS, HALIFAX, N.8. 
 
 LOKDOS : HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27 PATERNOSTER Row. 
 
 1885.
 
 Pr 
 
 Dedicated 
 
 (BY SPECIAL PERMISSION) 
 TO HER MAJESTY 
 
 MARGHERITA, 
 QUEEN OF ITALY.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 It was during my first summer visit to the Harz Mountains 
 that the idea occurred to me of making a collection of the most 
 interesting of the legends of this charming district. This ap- 
 peared to me all the more desirable, since no such collection 
 peculiar to this mountain range exists in English. 
 
 I wrote on the subject to the celebrated German author 
 Gustav Freytag, unfolding my scheme, which he highly ap- 
 proved, and he very kindly rendered me valuable assistance b.y 
 naming some of the books and these were not a few which it 
 might be needful to study, and the libraries where they would 
 be found. 
 
 From a vast mass up into the thousands of Sagen, or 
 legends and traditions, I chose the most interesting, giving 
 them as I found them, when they were only pure translations. 
 
 Some of the stories are, however, original, being founded on 
 some legend. 
 
 No mountainous district of Germany is, perhaps, so rich in 
 legendary lore as this most northern chain. Every ruin of 
 castle or Kloster, every mountain stream, is haunted by the 
 Fairies, Gnomes, Cobolds, .and Dwarfs, who guard hidden trea- 
 sures, and watch over the destinies of mankind, and in its moun- 
 tain recesses, captive princesses and fair maidens are supposed
 
 vm Preface. 
 
 to sigh for freedom, or the dead Kaiser, the old Redbeard, 
 awaits, surrounded with royal magnificence, the day of Ger- 
 many's greatest power. 
 
 There are numerous wild tales told of the sandstone moun- 
 tain, the Regenstein or Reinstein, from the times of the invading 
 Huns, down to later days, and its summit commands a wide 
 prospect over mountain and plain. 
 
 The immortal German poet Goethe, has rendered the witch- 
 haunted Brocken forever famous through his master-poem 
 "Faust." What visitor to its fog-crowned summit has not 
 shaken hands with the Spectre of the Brocken ? Down its mas- 
 sive slopes the limpid river Use tosses itself over huge, moss- 
 grown granite boulders, forming hundreds of tiny water-falls. 
 It was while rambling in this lovely vale the little poem 
 "Alone," was written, which I have put into the mouth of my 
 personal friend, the Countess von Omnesky, the mother of the 
 little Tatjana. 
 
 The Harz is the birth-place of the " Wild Hunter," of the 
 " Wild Army " of South Germany, of the Gold Crown, and of 
 the noble Briinhilda. The view from the top of the granite 
 mountain, the Hexentanzplatz, to the distant Brocken in clear 
 weather, and across to that mass of granite, the Rosstrappe, the 
 swift Bode leaping over huge blocks of fallen granite between, 
 and a thousand feet below, is one of the finest in these moun- 
 tains. This spot is the scene of the legend of Briinhilda. 
 
 On the summit of the Rosstrappe is a giant horse-hoof, 
 hewn in the solid granite, measuring nearly three feet. How 
 this mark came there is a mystery ; but it is supposed that it
 
 Preface. ix 
 
 was hewn by the Druid priests. In the Scandinavian mythology 
 Wodan's white steed was worshipped as well as the god 
 himself. 
 
 When Charlemagne, in the eighth century, compelled the 
 people of this district to embrace Christianity (by fire and sword) 
 the wild mountaineers are supposed to have fled before his vic- 
 torious forces, and to have entrenched themselves on the Ross- 
 trappe, where traces of their rude fortifications may still be seen. 
 They had no white steed to worship in this retreat, hence pro- 
 bably, the priests cut this rut of a horse-hoof, and invented the 
 story of Briinhilda and the Giant's White Horse, in order to im- 
 press the people with the mighty power of the Thunder-god, and 
 prevent them from entertaining any sympathy for the new 
 religion. 
 
 From this point the echoes of the horn through the moun- 
 tains are indescribably beautiful. 
 
 In the charming Ilsenthal, or valley of the Use, we found 
 the home of the fascinating Princess Use, who is fabled to dwell 
 in unearthly splendor in the mountain, the Ilscnstein, at the 
 foot of which the transformed offenders of the Princess sigh and 
 moan in the form of fir-trees. Should you, my dear reader, ever 
 enjoy their refreshing shade, may Princess Use be as gracious to 
 you as she was to me, and may your Dream under Princess Use's 
 Firs prove still more pleasant than mine. 
 
 TOOFIE LAUDER.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Legend of the Rosstrappe . . . . . . . . . . 1 
 
 The Golden Crown in the Bode Kessel . . . . . . 5 
 
 The Seven Springs of Thale . . 9 
 
 Legends of the Teufelsmauer . . . . . . . . 12 
 
 The Wunderstein . . . . . . . . . . 14 
 
 Charlotte of Blankenburg, Princess of Wolfenbiittel . . 15 
 
 The Grave under the Lindens near Blankenburg . . 20 
 
 Legends of the Regenstein . . . . . . . . . . 25 
 
 The Lost Sketch-book of the Regenstein Chapel . . . . 31 
 
 The Flower of the Lauenburg . . . . . . . . 46 
 
 The White Stag . . . . 52 
 
 The Fisherman of Treseburg . . . . . . . . 59 
 
 Legend of Volkmarskeller . . . . . . . . 66 
 
 Reinhilde of the Konigsburg . . . . . . . . 71 
 
 The Twelve Knights in the Schoneburg . . . . . . 78 
 
 The Gegensteine . . . . . . . . . . . 80 
 
 The Three Crystal Goblets and Three Golden Balls of 
 
 Schloss Falkenstein . . . . . . . . 86 
 
 Tidian's Hohle, or Cave . . . . . . . . . . 87 
 
 The Magdespmng and Magdetrappe . . . . . . 89 
 
 Sage of Schloss Questenberg . . . . . . . . 91 
 
 Barbarossa and the KyfFhauser . . . . . . . . . . 92 
 
 The Burgfraulein of Osterode . . . . . . . . 96
 
 xii Contents. 
 
 The Key-Fairy of the Giintersburg 100 
 
 Legend of the Devil's Mill . . . . . . . . . . 101 
 
 The Origin of the Rammelsberg Mine, near Goslar . . . . 103 
 
 Legend of the Hoppelberg . . . . . . . . . . 104 
 
 The White Lady . . 108 
 
 The Chapel of Roses 109 
 
 Princess Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 
 
 Princess Use and the Deluge . . . . . . . . 114 
 
 The Ilsenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 
 
 A Dream under Princess Use's Firs . . . . . . 116 
 
 The Red-haired Trude .... . . 120 
 
 The Wild Huntsman .... 123 
 
 The Origin of the Philippine . . . . 127 
 
 Graf Arno's Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 
 
 The Pebble .... ..138 
 
 The Monk and the Spring . . . . . . . . . . 144 
 
 Hildegard and the Hainerburg . . . . . . . . . . 146 
 
 The Three Stone Partridges . . 148 
 
 The Forester and the Enchanted Castle . . . . . . 149 
 
 The Steinkirche and the Hermit . . . . . . . . 155 
 
 The Nymph Ruma and the Weingarten Hohle . . . . 158 
 
 Legend of the Schildberg . . . . . . . . . . 161 
 
 Legend of Silberhohl . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 
 
 Lautenthal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 
 
 Eva Von Trotta . . . . 172 
 
 The Weingarten Hohle and the Three Men 201 
 The Bell-founder of Stolberg . . .... 207 
 
 The Colt's Cave .. .. 210 
 
 Legend of St. Christopher 210
 
 Contents. xm 
 
 The Maiden's Cave in the Spatenberg . . . . . . 112 
 
 The Three Brothers of Zellerfeld 214 
 
 The Raven of Clausthal 216 
 
 The Bergmonch and Wilder Mann . . . . . . . . 217 
 
 The Nimrod of the Rehbergerklippe . . . . . . 218 
 
 The Tanzteich Bei Zorge 220 
 
 The Dwarfs of the Sachsentein 223 
 
 The Burggeist of the Haarburg 232 
 
 The Three Wood-fairies 236 
 
 The Shepherds' Towers 241 
 
 The Treasure-hunters of the Sieberthal . . . . . . 246 
 
 The Enchanted Maiden of the Zorge . '. 248 
 
 The Accursed Maiden of Lichtenstein . . . . . . 249 
 
 The Great Hall in the Petersberg 250 
 
 Spar-die-Miih 250 
 
 The Dwarf-king Hibich . . 251 
 
 The King of Tipplers . . 257 
 
 The Needle's Eye . . 258 
 
 Legend of St. Hubertus . . . . . . . . . . 258 
 
 Bathilde Von Ballenstedt . 259
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES. 
 
 Legend of the Rosstrappe.* 
 
 AGES ago there ruled a king in Bohemia whose 
 castle stood on a lofty mountain, where the 
 thunder and the eagle found a home. 
 
 This king had a daughter, the golden-haired Brun- 
 hilda, the fame of whose marvellous beauty was spread 
 far and wide. 
 
 Mighty rulers and the sons of kings sought the 
 hand of the lovely royal maiden, and among the 
 numerous wooers came the son of the king of the 
 Harz, who won her heart ; and after the lovers had 
 sworn everlasting fidelity, the Harz-f- Prince returned 
 to his father to announce his betrothal and make 
 arrangements for the nuptials. 
 
 After his departure, there arrived a new suitor for 
 Brunhilda's hand, whom her father feared to reject. 
 This was one of those terrible giants who inhabited 
 North Europe. They were invincible, and wherever 
 they appeared, all yielded with terror to their might. 
 * Ross, a steed ; Trappe, a footprint. tHarz or Har^z.
 
 Legends and Tales of 
 
 This dreadful lover brought the Princess costly 
 gifts of gold, amber, and precious stones. The father, 
 after three days' Bedenkzeit* promises the Giant his 
 daughter. 
 
 Brunhilda thro\vs herself horrified on her knees be- 
 fore her father, weeping and tearing her hair ; but the 
 king, though moved with pity, assures her the Giant 
 has power to destroy him and his kingdom. 
 
 From this hour Brunhilda appeared composed. She 
 neither wept nor complained, but met her destined 
 bridegroom with a solemn dignity. Of a truly kingly 
 character, she constrained her agony to silence, but 
 hoped ever for deliverance through the return of her 
 Harz lover; still he came not. 
 
 Now the Giant had two steeds giant steeds one 
 white as the snows of the Northland, his eyes shining 
 like stars ; the other, the Giant's body-horse, black as 
 the night, with eyes like the lightning, at whose run- 
 ning his hoofs resounded like thunder, and the earth 
 trembled and shook. Both these steeds seemed in the 
 chase to overtake the storm, and keep time with the 
 lightning. 
 
 Brunhilda saw these giant steeds, and the thought 
 of flight occurred to her. 
 
 Was success possible ? She had never mounted the 
 snowy steed. 
 
 Great was the Giant's joy when Brunhilda begged 
 to ride with him. She mounted daily the terrible 
 * Bedenkzeit, time for consideration.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 
 
 animal, and soon could ride a race with the Giant on 
 the mountains. 
 
 At last the evening before the nuptials arrived, and 
 Brunhilda, having arrayed herself in white robes, a 
 golden crown, and a long white veil floating behind 
 her, and the amber and diamonds, the Giant's gifts> 
 welcomed the numerous guests who thronged the 
 royal palace, and looked lovingly upon the Giant 
 Brautigam,* who was overwhelmed with an unheard- 
 of bliss at the lovely vision. 
 
 At length the Princess rose and retired, the Giant 
 remained to drink of the costly wines. Suddenly he 
 heard the snorting and stamping of his war-steeds ! 
 He sprang up and looked down into the courtyard. 
 
 There sat Brunhilda in her glittering robes, the 
 golden crown still upon her head, her white veil and 
 golden hair fluttering in the wind, in her fearless 
 courage and queenly beauty, upon the snowy steed 
 before the open gates. 
 
 At sight of him she let loose her reins, and the 
 mighty steed shot forth, swift as the storm-wind, like 
 a streak of light, into the darkness of the night. 
 
 The Giant uttered a cry of fury that shook the 
 castle to- its foundations, seized his battle-axe, and 
 mounted his war-horse, crying : " If she flee to the 
 Nidhoggar-f- in the Schlangengrund \ I will bring her 
 hence !" 
 
 * Brautigam, bridegroom. Used only during the engagement, 
 t NidhOggar, the dragon in the old Cerman water-hell. 
 t Schlangengrund, valley of serpents.
 
 Legends and Tales of 
 
 And now begins the fearful race. Through 
 meadow and forest, over mountain and ravine, flee 
 the pursuer and pursued, the white steed always in 
 'advance, fleeing swift as a meteor through the heavens! 
 behind, the black steed, like a spirit from the eternal 
 darkness. 
 
 All through the night lasted the terrible ride. The 
 earth groaned and thundered, the forests trembled, the 
 birds and beasts fled in terror, long streaks of fire 
 swept through the grim darkness, and the snorting of 
 the steeds was like the roar of the Northwind. 
 
 At last dawn reflects her rosy blush over moun- 
 tain and wood. Brunhilda utters a cry of joy and 
 triumph ! There before her lies the Harz, her lover's 
 mountain home and future kingdom ! That distant 
 peak is the Brocken ! 
 
 She spurs on her noble steed till she reaches the 
 Hexentanzplatz,* when suddenly he stops, rears, and 
 plunges, and refuses to advance. Before her yawns 
 the terrible, rocky abyss of the Bode Valley, behind 
 she hears the deadly foe advancing, uttering the most 
 dreadful curses ! 
 
 What shall she do ? Forward over the wild abyss ? 
 Backward is to fall into the arms of the enemy. 
 
 The choice is not difficult. She turns his head to 
 the fearful chasm, and spurs him on. 
 
 Like an eagle, the noble animal leaps the yawning 
 abyss, lands safely on the other side, and impressing 
 
 * Hexentanzplatz, witches' dancing-floor.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 
 
 its giant hoof -print in the granite, sinks exhausted; 
 but the Princess loses her goldene Krone in the gulf 
 beneath, the Bode Kessel ! * 
 
 The Giant in rage and fury spurs on his dusky steed 
 to leap after her, but falls and is broken on the rocks, 
 and ever since, transformed into a hell-hound, he 
 guards the golden crown in the Bode Kessel. 
 
 The Princess, saved, dances for joy, and her foot- 
 prints are still to be seen in the solid granite. 
 
 The mountain has ever since been called the Ross- 
 trappe, and the Giant Bodo'f' gave his name to the 
 valley and river. 
 
 The Golden Crown in the Bode Kessel. 
 
 " Seht ihr die alte Lauenburg 
 Hoch auf dem Harze schvmmem ? 
 Durch Wildniss geht der Weg hindurch 
 Zu ihren wi'utten Triimmem. " 
 
 THE legend of the Gold-Krone in the Bode Kessel 
 is connected with a Countess of the Lauenburg. 
 In the days of the Crusades there dwelt here a fair 
 maiden, the daughter of the Earl von Lauenbunj, 
 
 <j O / 
 
 whose lover, Conrad von Regenstein, was a Crusader. 
 
 Instead of his speedy return, came tidings of his fall 
 
 in the bloody combat. The broken-hearted Braut 
 
 refused all other lovers, and to secure peace and free- 
 
 t ISodo the final o has been corrupted into c, Bode.
 
 Legends and Tales of 
 
 dom declared she would bestow her hand only on the 
 knight who could rescue Brunhilda's crown from the 
 fearful gulf, the Bode Kessel. 
 
 The news spread through all the plains of Germany, 
 from the North Sea to the Alps, and knights and 
 princes flocked to the banks of the Bodethal to learn 
 the extent of the danger in such an attempt, but no 
 man was even able to approach the brink of the fear- 
 ful chasm.* 
 
 The object of the maiden seemed gained, but, alas ! 
 she knew not what anguish destiny had assigned her. 
 
 Years had fled, and the Graf "f* von Lauenburg held 
 a fete in his castle. 
 
 Suddenly the notes of the warder's horn resound 
 proclaiming the arrival of a guest. 
 
 The young Countess looks out of a Gothic window 
 into the court, turns pale and trembles, as her strain- 
 ing eyes gaze upon the entering knight. 
 
 Yes ! She is not deceived ; that is the figure, the 
 noble bearing of her lost Crusader ! 
 
 " Conrad ! my Conrad ! " she cries, and rushes, frantic 
 with joy, into the arms of her returned lover. " Thou 
 dost yet live ! Thou liest not in the cold arms of 
 death ! " 
 
 " I live, am in thy arms ! " 
 
 * It must be remembered that the Bodethal was unapproachable, 
 no path whatever existing, until von Biilow caused the path to be 
 constructed in 1818, past the llosstrappe to the Devil's Bridge over- 
 looking the Bode Kessel. 
 
 t Graf Earl. It is not, however, so high as the title in England.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 
 
 No word more a long embrace. 
 
 The aged Earl has followed his daughter, and amid 
 their astonishment and joy, Conrad explains how he 
 was severely wounded and taken prisoner, and had 
 not for long years been able to escape. 
 
 The father leads the happy pair into the great hall, 
 and announces to the assembled guests the betrothal 
 of his daughter, and an early wedding-day. 
 
 Many crowd forward to offer their congratulations ; 
 but, in the background of the hall one sees a group of 
 knights with frowning brows. 
 
 At last one of the group approaches the Earl in the 
 centre of the hall, and cries : " You are in haste to 
 announce the betrothal and wedding-day. Has the 
 Regensteiner then brought up the Gold-Krone ? or 
 are you playing with so many nobles ? You are sur- 
 rounded by many who will demand that the bride- 
 groom fultil the conditions you yourself have named 
 or they will accuse you of treachery, and renounce 
 your allegiance." 
 
 Applause followed this stern address. The Earl, 
 surprised, glanced around the circle and met grim 
 looks and frowning faces. 
 
 But Conrad raised high his proud form, struck his 
 sword upon the floor, so that the hall rang with the 
 clang, and cried in a voice of thunder : " Who dares 
 speak of treachery to Graf Lauenburg ? Those con- 
 ditions were not made in jest or scorn ; his knightly 
 word is irreproachable. I will undergo the test, and will
 
 8 
 
 not lead my beloved home until I have redeemed it.' 
 
 Silence and astonishment filled the hall. But the 
 maiden, pale with terror, exclaimed : " What ! thou 
 will'st face the Terrible ? plunge thyself into certain 
 destruction, and me into fresh despair ?" 
 
 Conrad assures her the danger is not so great as 
 it appears ; that he is protected by an amulet, a cross 
 made from the true cross of the Saviour, that has de- 
 fended him from ocean perils, and rescued him from 
 the swords and dungeons of the Saracens, and imme- 
 diately prepares for the perilous rescue. 
 
 The day arrived, the Bode was bridged with ice, 
 hundreds of anxious spectators lined the rocks above, 
 the black nag floated from the Lauenburg and the 
 Regenstein. 
 
 Extreme unction had been administered in Kloster * 
 Wenthusen, and armed with a dagger for the combat 
 with the transformed Giant Bodo, and an iron chain 
 to bind him, with a look toward heaven, Conrad 
 plunged into the yawning gulf. 
 
 The waves closed over him and drew him down into 
 their shimmering bosom. 
 
 A long and anxious stillness then a horrible howl 
 burst forth from the gulf, drowning the roar and hiss 
 of the waterfall, growing every minute louder and 
 more terrible, as if a thousand wolves were engaged 
 in a death -grapple ; and the waters rose in mighty 
 billows, as if a storm-wind raged beneath. 
 * Kloxlrr, convent.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 
 
 Now a ray of sunshine bursts forth, making the 
 colossal rocks glitter like silver towers, and the water- 
 fall like dropping diamonds, and through the pearly 
 foam appears a hand holding the Golden Crown; 
 the howlings become weaker, and the whisper goes 
 round, " He has conquered!" And a loud voice rises 
 above the raging waves, " The Hell-dog lies in chains ! 
 The Crown and the beloved are mine !" 
 
 Hark ! What is that ? 
 
 The terrible howlings begin afresh, the hand 
 trembles and vanishes with the Gold- Krone, soon all 
 grows fearfully still, drops of blood rise to the surface, 
 then a whole stream the brave Crusader never 
 returns. 
 
 They found the amulet thrown up from the un- 
 fathomable deeps, and carried it to the unhappy 
 maiden, who without a tear turned her steps to the 
 holy retreat of Kloster Wenthusen, and was never 
 seen again. 
 
 The Seven Springs of Thale. 
 
 T)ETWEEN the red-roofed Thale and Dorf Nein- 
 -D stedt, one sees several low, round hills, here 
 and there overgrown with thorns and thickets, some- 
 times bare of all vegetation save short grass. 
 
 These mounds are graves of primeval days, in which 
 urns and bones have been found. 
 
 At the foot of these hills, in a semi-circle, are seven 
 small springs, which unite themselves in one tiny 
 brooklet, over which the train passes.
 
 io Legends and Tales of 
 
 On the summit of one of these hills once stood 
 seven trees, called the Seven Brothers, of which now 
 no trace remains. 
 
 Seven royal brothers came from England to woo 
 the seven daughters of the king of the Harz moun- 
 tains, the fame of whose beauty had penetrated even 
 to the English court. These princesses were called 
 the Sunbeams of the mountains ; and when the Eng- 
 lish princes arrived in the Felsenburg* of their royal 
 father, they found assembled there princes and nobles 
 from Saxony and Thuringia, Franconia and Bohemia, 
 from the banks of the Danube and the amber coasts 
 of the sea. 
 
 But the Sunbeams loved the English princes, and 
 promised to go with them to their father's court. 
 
 Then the German wooers were enraged, and said, 
 " Not without combat will we permit these strangers 
 to rob us of the glory of our land." 
 
 The brothers seized sword and shield, but the prin- 
 cesses rushed into their arms and hindered the combat. 
 
 At midnight, when the full moon shone, each 
 brother, with his affianced bride behind him on his 
 fleet steed, fled toward the rocky shores of England. 
 
 Suddenly the affrighted maidens see the glitter of 
 arms in the faint moonlight. 
 
 "What is that that glitters below on the plain?" 
 they cry. 
 
 " Fear not," said the youths, " 'tis the waves of the 
 
 Bode." 
 
 * Fi'luenbury Rocky fortress.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 1 
 
 "What is that whistling in the forest ?" 
 
 " The thrushes sing in the shadows of the foliage." 
 
 " Do you hear the rustling in the thicket ? " 
 
 " 'Tis but the frightened deer." 
 
 " What is that murmur ?" 
 
 " The spring gushing out of the rocks." 
 
 "And that whispering?" 
 
 " The wind !" 
 
 " You deceive us. Your eyes burn like the light- 
 ning ; you have seized both sword and shield I " 
 
 " Fear not ! We are with you ; our arm will defend 
 you ! " 
 
 Out of the thicket rush the concealed rivals ; a 
 furious combat follows ; the English princes are all 
 slain, their bodies burnt, and the ashes buried. 
 
 The princesses returned to their father's castle, but 
 hated the murderers of their English lovers. Every 
 day they went with the dawn to the spot where the 
 brothers lay in their deep slumber, and night found 
 them still there in tears. 
 
 Each princess planted a tree by her lover's grave* 
 and when seven moons were passed away, one evening, 
 as they sat by the graves, suddenly they felt a great 
 joy spring up within them : they wiped away their 
 tears, but from them seven springs bubbled up spark- 
 ling and clear. Smiling, they gave each other the 
 hand, feeling the hour of reunion was come, and in 
 the morning they were found dead, hand in hand.
 
 1 2 Legends and Tales of 
 
 Legends of the Teufelsmauer. * 
 
 ON the plain stretching away westward from the 
 once imperial Quedlinburg, is the Devil's Wall, 
 which rises in ragged rocks in the most fantastic 
 shapes and forms, sometimes a hundred feet in height, 
 mostly bare, but nearer to Blankenburg adorned with 
 foliage. 
 
 This is the backbone of a mountain chain once 
 extending from Blankenburg to Ballenstedt, which 
 has been mostly washed away by the tempests of 
 untold ages. 
 
 These rocks are a firm sandstone with a vein of 
 iron, containing impressions of fossils, shells, and 
 plants, and are sometimes in such forms as to re- 
 semble the ruins of castles or human figures. 
 
 These rent and torn rocks could not fail to possess 
 their legends. 
 
 In the time of Charlemagne there lived in Blanka 
 a maiden called Thusnelda.-f- The report of her charms 
 attracted the attention of the brave Egbert, who had 
 built on the Klus, \ near Halberstadt, a strong castle. 
 He won her affections, of course. 
 
 Just at this period the doctrines of the Christian 
 faith had penetrated into the Harz ; Egbert had be- 
 come a convert, and had won Thusnelda also for the 
 new faith. 
 
 But the lovers were betrayed to Thusnelda's father,* 
 
 * Tmfcl the devil ; Maue.r a wall, f Thtusnelda pronounced 
 Toognelda. Klun pronounced Kloos.
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 3 
 
 the wild and savage Luitprand, and he, in fury, having 
 promised her to a companion in arms, shut her up in 
 a gloomy room, deaf to all her entreaties, and laid in 
 wait for Egbert; but Egbert assembled all the Christian 
 knights of the neighbourhood, and set off in the night 
 to storm Luitprand's castle. 
 
 Suddenly a wall of rock rose before them, and they 
 were obliged to wait till morning, when lo ! as far 
 as they could see, only this formidable barrier that 
 blocked up their way. 
 
 Egbert encouraged his Braves to climb it ; but 
 when half way up, the giant rocks fell upon them and 
 crushed every daring knight to atoms. 
 
 This wall the devil had built to prevent the spread 
 of the new faith. 
 
 The other legend says the devil wished to divide 
 with Christ the empire of the world, and therefore 
 began this wall as the border between the two 
 kingdoms ; but the work was not finished at the time 
 agreed upon by the contracting parties, and the con- 
 tract was broken. The devil, in wrath at having 
 laboured so much for nought, broke in pieces his 
 partly-built defence. 
 
 There is a tradition that the holy Vehm,* or Fehm, 
 formerly held her court also in the Tcufelsmauer, not 
 far from the majestic Reinstein. 
 
 This celebrated tribunal had its origin in West- 
 
 * Vehm, or Fehm, old German for punishment. Vehm pro- 
 nounced Vame ; Fehm pronounced Fame.
 
 14 Legends and Tales of 
 
 phalia, the land of the Red Earth, and was one of 
 the most remarkable institutions of the middle ages. 
 
 The Fehm is said to have been instituted by 
 Charlemagne to prevent Saxony, which had been 
 forced by his arms to embrace Christianity, from 
 returning to Paganism. Others claim for it a much 
 greater antiquity.* 
 
 The Wunderstein. 
 
 THE vast plain north of the Harz mountains has 
 been the scene of countless knightly feuds and 
 battles. 
 
 In 1115 the battle of Welfsholz not far from the 
 village of Warnstedt, nestling in the shadow of the 
 Devil's Wall was fought between the Kaiser and the 
 allied princes of Saxony, in which the imperial forces 
 were routed. There is a legend that the battle was lost 
 through the Count von Mannsf eld, + who seeing his 
 
 o o 
 
 men flee,, exclaimed, placing his hand on a rock at his 
 side, " This rock shall turn into wax before I move 
 from the spot !" when immediately the soft wax 
 yielded to the pressure, and took the print of his hand, 
 and he fled in terror and fell under the Saxon swords. 
 
 There is another version of the story. 
 
 Before the battle, the Earl von Mannsfeld called his 
 men in a circle around him, and addressed them thus : 
 " My friends ! fear not because the enemy outnumbers 
 
 * See "History of the Fehm Tribunal; or, Secret History of 
 Westphalia." By Fr. P. Usener. Frankfort, 1832. 
 t Mannsfeld or Mansfeld.
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 5 
 
 us ; let the rebels come, we will betheir death-angel, 
 for, listen all of you, and doubt not of victory, for so 
 sure as my hand presses itself into this rock as if it 
 were dough, so sure will the victory rest with our flag 
 as long as I fight with you." 
 
 And before a thousand eager eyes he thrust his hand 
 into the stone, leaving a deep rut. 
 
 Enthusiasm inspired the souls of the soldiers at the 
 sight, and shouts of joy went through the ranks. 
 
 It is a fact that the brave Mannsfeld, impatient of 
 victory, rushed on before his men and fell. 
 
 In the old Kloster of Wenthusen in Dorf Thale 
 pronounced Tale is still preserved a mysterious 
 Wonderstone, which is said to protect the estate and 
 family from misfortune. By some mishap this stone 
 was once carried off, and disaster followed disaster till 
 it was brought back. 
 
 Charlotte of Blankenbiirpr, Princess of Wolfenbuttel. 
 
 ON the north side of the Harz mountains lies the 
 town of Blankenburg, the origin of which is 
 long prior to the time of Charlemagne, probably dur- 
 ing that of the Sassen. It existed during the stone and 
 bronze age, as has been proved by the discovery of 
 warlike implements which have been dug up in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 On a low mountain above the town stands Blan- 
 kenburg* Schloss, white and shining in the summer's 
 
 *&lank(nburg, the shining castle.
 
 1 6 Legends and Tales of 
 
 sun, and looks out on the vast plain, the Devil's Wall, 
 and the mountains. Its long suites of bright and 
 home-like apartments are adorned with many costly 
 works of art, the most precious of which being the 
 wondrously carved ivory crucifix in the chapel, by 
 Michael Angelo. With all this we have at present 
 nothing to do, but rather with the singular destiny of 
 a lady who was born here, whose portrait hangs in the 
 drawing and billiard room. 
 
 Duke Ludwig Rudolph, second son of Duke Anton 
 Ulrick of Brunswick, was presented by his father with 
 the Earldom of Blankenburg. He lived with his wife, 
 Princess Christine Louise von Oettingen, thirty years 
 in Schloss Blankenburg. 
 
 They were the parents of three princesses, noted as 
 well for goodness of heart as for grace and beauty. 
 The eldest was Elizabeth Christine, born in 1691. 
 The second, Charlotte Christiane Sophie, was a year 
 younger. The youngest, Antoinette Amalie, was born 
 in 1696. 
 
 The eldest, Elizabeth, was chosen at the age of 
 thirteen, by Kaiser Leopold, as consort of his son Carl 
 III., King of Spain, later Carl VI. of Germany. She 
 was the mother of the great Maria Theresa. The 
 young princess went over to the Romish faith, and 
 met her royal bridegroom in Barcelona, where they 
 were married. In consequence of this alliance with 
 the Imperial family, the Earldom was raised to a 
 Principality by Joseph I. It now belongs to the 
 Duchy of Brunswick.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 7 
 
 The second, Princess Charlotte, was chosen by the 
 Czar, Peter the Great, who spent some time here, as 
 consort for his son and throne-heir, Alexis. 
 
 The third, Antoinette, the loveliest of the three 
 sisters, married Duke Ferdinand Albert of Brunswick - 
 'Bevern. She is the ancestress of the now reigning 
 family of Brunswick. * 
 
 It is the history of the second sister, Princess 
 Charlotte, with which we have to do. Her marriage 
 with the Czarewitch Alexis took place in 1711, in the 
 great hall in Torgau. 
 
 The savage, vulgar Prince had made his character 
 still more degraded by a dissipated life. An uncon- 
 querable aversion to the amiable and refined Princess 
 led him to the horrible decision of poisoning her. He 
 made three attempts, all of which failed. 
 
 The inhuman treatment of this monster increased 
 daily, and no courtier dared to defend the unhappy 
 Princess against his brutality. He so far forgot his 
 manhood as frequently to strike, and even kick her. 
 
 At length, one day, the Czar and Catherine being 
 on a distant journey, Alexis rushed into Charlotte's 
 presence, made the most brutal demands, struck her 
 with his fists, kicked her repeatedly, and left her lying 
 insensible. 
 
 Directly after this revolting scene the raging mon- 
 ster set off on a journey, without troubling himself to 
 
 * Since this was written this line has become extinct, by the 
 demise of the late Duke of Brunswick, 
 
 3
 
 1 8 Legends and Tales of 
 
 learn the result of his barbarous and fiendish cruelty. 
 A premature birth was the result. 
 
 But now the friends of the Princess united for her 
 rescue ; the opportunity was too favourable to let 
 slip. 
 
 A courier was despatched to the Czar, and also to 
 Alexis, with the news of Charlotte's sudden death. 
 In his terror of the Czar, Alexis ordered an immediate 
 interment. The funeral followed as had been com- 
 manded', but the coffin contained only a wooden doll. 
 
 While all the courts of Europe put on mourning, 
 and the father wept for his untimely loss, and caused 
 a commemorative coin to be struck, Charlotte, with 
 the aid of confidential friends, especially the famous 
 Aurora von Konigsmark, escaped, weak and ill, from 
 her palace. With gold and jewels, and as much 
 money as could be commanded in the hurry, the 
 Princess left St. Petersburg with a single femme de 
 chambre and a faithful man-servant, reached Paris 
 unrecognized, sailed for America, and lived many 
 years in Louisiana. 
 
 Here she made the acquaintance of the Chevalier 
 d'Aubert or d'Auban who had been in St. Peters- 
 burg. One day, when alone with Charlotte, he fell on 
 his knees and confessed his recognition of her. 
 
 The Princess took from him the most solemn promise 
 of the strictest secrecy. 
 
 Not long after, the papers brought the news of the 
 tragical end of Alexis, the probability of his having 
 been beheaded.
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 9 
 
 Charlotte, however, resolved to remain as dead. 
 The death of her devoted man-servant, who had been 
 of such service, caused her many tears, and d'Aubert 
 devoted himself to her, became her chief prop and 
 stay, and at length the royal widow rewarded him 
 with her hand. 
 
 D'Aubert finally fell ill, and they returned to his 
 native France, where his recovery was her reward. 
 
 They were in the habit of walking in the gardens of 
 the Tuileries. One day, sitting there conversing in 
 German, chance led the celebrated Marshal Moritz* 
 von Saxony past them. Surprised to hear his mother 
 tongue so purely spoken by Americans, as he ima- 
 gined, he approached them, addressed the lady, 
 started, and instantly recognized the Princess Char- 
 lotte of Blankenburg, whom he had long years 
 reckoned among the dead. 
 
 Madame d'Aubert conjured him not to betray her 
 secret, told him her story, and how it had been chiefly 
 through his mother she had succeeded in escaping 
 from Russia. 
 
 Delighted at the double discovery, Moritz promised 
 to keep the secret three months, at the expiration of 
 which time he declared it to be his duty to communi- 
 cate the fact to the King of France, Louis XV. 
 
 D'Aubert being recovered, they sailed for 1'ile Bour- 
 bon. At the end of three months Moritz revealed the 
 secret to the French sovereign, and the governor of 
 
 * Moritz von Saxony was a son of Augustus the Strong of Saxony 
 King of Poland.
 
 2O Legends and Tales of 
 
 the island of Bourbon received forthwith the com- 
 mand to treat Madame d'Aubert with royal honours. 
 The King wrote to Maria Theresa, acquainting her 
 with the fabulous story of her niece. The Empress 
 wrote to Madame d'Aubert, beseeching her to leave 
 her husband and repair to the Austrian Court. This 
 the Princess refused to do, and remained on the island 
 till d'Aubert's death, in 1754. After the death of both 
 husband and daughter, she returned to Paris, settled 
 the affairs of her husband, and retired to Brussels, 
 where she received an annual pension from the 
 Austrian Empress. Charlotte lived a retired life, no 
 one but the now aged waiting-woman who had fled 
 with her having the remotest idea of her high rank 
 and astounding fate. Charlotte died in 1770. 
 
 The portraits of the three sisters and the great 
 Maria Theresa hang in Blankenburg Schloss. 
 
 The Grave Under the Lindens Near Blankenburg. 
 
 ' ' Sie ruhen bei cinander kiihl, 
 Waldvoglein sangen droben, 
 Grim Laub herunter fiel. " 
 
 MANY hundred years ago there lived a rich Earl in 
 the Unterharz, who was once sized with a severe 
 illness ; he made a vow that if he should recover, he 
 would consecrate his daughter to a convent life. 
 
 He recovered, and the young Countess in the first 
 bloom of her youth, entered the convent north of and
 
 The ffars Mountains. 21 
 
 near Blankenburg, where now two large lindens stand 
 close by the bleaching-place. 
 
 The maiden obeyed her father's command with a 
 heavy heart, for a young knight contested with heaven 
 his claim on the bride ; and however much the novice 
 knelt before the altar in burning tears and hand- 
 wringing, and besought heavenly aid in renouncing all 
 she had hitherto held dear, still her thoughts would 
 wander beyond the dark convent walls and lonely cell 
 to her lover. Nobis pacem only awakened a more 
 bitter pain, and the Ave, the Laudamus, the Gloria, 
 and all the Penitential Psalms only called up his image 
 before her soul. 
 
 Lindor was not less unhappy ; in vain he sought to 
 approach his Braut, wandered round and round the 
 convent walls, climbed the trees, and watched to catch 
 a glimpse of her, all in vain. The Abbess knew of the 
 love of the young novice, and watched her with Argus- 
 eyes, not out of holy zeal, for the convent had long 
 been ill-renowned for the impure life of its inmates, 
 but out of hatred to the maiden whose father she had 
 loved, but with an unrequited affection. She rejoiced 
 in the deep sorrow of the daughter of the now hated 
 Earl, whose pure, pious, unsoiled character enraged 
 her still more, in striking contrast to her own depravity 
 and corruption. One day the sorrowing novice, un- 
 happily, by accident discovered how unworthily the 
 Abbess filled her sacred office, and how great the im- 
 morality of the nuns had become, and the Abbess, to
 
 22 Legends and Tales of 
 
 render -Lina powerless to injure her, resolved to destroy 
 her. 
 
 She called together those nuns who were in her full 
 confidence, represented to them how they had to fear 
 betrayal from the novice Lina, and to defend them- 
 selves they must destroy her. 
 
 This would be most easily accomplished by per- 
 mitting a meeting with her lover after she had as- 
 sumed the veil, surprise her, accuse her of breaking 
 her vow, and then wall her up alive. 
 
 The reprobates approved of this diabolical plan, and 
 as soon as Lina's novitiate was ended, and she had 
 taken the final vows, they embraced the first oppor- 
 tunity, when Lindor was seen in the convent grounds, 
 by giving Lina permission to walk in the garden. 
 
 It was a sultry Saturday evening, the sun had set, 
 and had left, instead of a golden twilight, only a grey, 
 cloudy veil, which, increased by the mountain mists, 
 spread gradually over the entire heavens, proclaiming 
 a coming thunder-storm. 
 
 Lina, although she had long languished for fresh air, 
 found no relief. She glanced toward heaven, but both 
 moon and stars were hidden behind the dark clouds ; 
 the flowers hung sadly their drooping Heads, as if in 
 sympathy with the maiden doomed to a convent life. 
 She sat down much shaken on a seat of turf shaded 
 by two lindens, and the tears streamed from her 
 eyes. Suddenly she felt herself embraced. A cry 
 of delighted surprise escaped her, for it was Lindor,
 
 The ffarz Mountains. 23 
 
 her beloved. All sorrow and pain were forgotten in 
 the bliss of the meeting, and Lindor kissed the tears 
 from her burning cheeks. 
 
 A blissful moment the lovers embraced each other ; 
 then came a feeling of duty, of assumed vows, before 
 the soul of the bride of heaven, like a fiend of dark- 
 ness. She tore herself from his arms. 
 
 " Lindor ! Lindor !" she moaned, " I am lost to thee ; 
 our embrace is sin ! O God ! God of Love ! have 
 mercy on the sinner ! Lindor ! Lindor ! have thou 
 also pity ! Leave me." 
 
 " Leave thee ! Nevermore I" cried passionately the 
 youth ; " now thou art mine for ever. Thou shalt flee 
 with me, and no power on earth shall tear thee from 
 me. Thou art mine mine till death ! " 
 
 " And my oath," cried Lina ; " the oath I have 
 taken ? " 
 
 " Lindor turned pale. " So thou hast already taken 
 the vows art no longer novice ? Art irrevocably 
 chained to the convent?" he cried in horror, for even 
 love started back from the gulf that such an oath 
 had made between them, opposing their union. " Then 
 I am lost, my life-happiness is annihilated !" 
 
 " And mine too ! " sobbed Lina in his arms. 
 
 " Or wilt thou flee with me ? We will hide our- 
 selves far from our native land, where no searcher 
 can find us, and undisturbed we will be happy." 
 
 But Lina refused. " My oath ! my oath ! would it 
 leave us peace ? Would I not draw down thy soul to
 
 24 Legends and Tales of 
 
 perdition ? See, my anguish will soon be over, and I 
 will wait for thee above. Give me up for this life, 
 that God may grant us a blessed future, Lindor." 
 
 He gazed on the ground, and was silent. At last 
 he gave her the hand. " Let it be so," he said, strug- 
 gling for firmness. " Thou art still mine ; if not here, 
 there above." 
 
 Meanwhile the storm-clouds had blackened, and a 
 loud clap of thunder rolled over the heads of the 
 parting lovers. Both looked up, but did not see the 
 Abbess, who was watching them for their destruction. 
 
 " Now let us part for this life," said Lina, who felt 
 her soul elevated and strengthened. 
 
 "Must it be so ? Must I lose thee when I have just 
 found thee ?" 
 
 As they gave each other a parting embrace, Lina 
 could not tear herself from her lover's arms, and 
 cried, " O Father in heaven ! give me strength in this 
 parting hour, and forgive me if my love is sin ; but 
 if it is not sin, bless our union." 
 
 " Bless our union !" repeated Lindor. At this mo- 
 ment the Abbess, with her nuns, came forward, when 
 lo ! a flash of lightning lit up the darkness ; the lovers 
 stood in a sea of dazzling light. It seemed to them 
 they saw heaven open. Arm-in-arm, struck by the 
 stroke, they sank lifeless to the ground. Almost un- 
 hurt in appearance, they found them under the lin- 
 dens, heavenly joy painted on their faces, and there 
 they made their grave.
 
 7 he Harz Mountains. 25 
 
 The terrified Abbess had scarcely sprung back into 
 the convent when a stream of fire, after a terrific 
 thunder-clap, dashed the building to ruins, out of 
 which arose a pillar of dust and flame. 
 
 Only a few of the nuns were rescued. The Abbess 
 and her plotting nuns were found awfully disfigured \ 
 and now, it is said, the Abbess appears in form of a 
 serpent every seven years near the grave under the 
 Linden. 
 
 Legends of the Regenstein. 
 
 WHO that has visited the romantic Harz has not 
 climbed the lordly sandstone mountain, the 
 Reinstein, wondered at its vast chambers hewn in the 
 solid rock, and gazed in silent rapture on a prospect 
 more beautiful than that from the Brock en ? 
 
 In the year 479, according to the chroniclers, the 
 sharp contest between the tribes of Thuringia and 
 the Sassen* took place for the possession of the Harz 
 mountains. Melverich, King of Thuringia, with his 
 army, thirsting for war, crossed the mountains to re- 
 pulse the Sassen then dwelling on the north borders 
 of the Harz. 
 
 Near Wernigerode a bloody battle was fought, in 
 which the Thuringians were defeated, and five thou- 
 sand left dead on the field. 
 
 Perhaps the Hun stones still standing between 
 Heimburg and Benzingerode have reference to this 
 * Saxons.
 
 26 Legends and Tales of 
 
 fiery collision, and the ancient burial-places discovered 
 in the vicinity were the graves of those fallen in this 
 contest. 
 
 After the battle the Sassen recognized the fact 
 that to their leader, Hatebolt, they owed the victory ^ 
 and to prove their gratitude they offered to build him 
 a castle on the north borders of the Harz, in any 
 spot he might choose. So Hatebolt rode till he came 
 to a stone mountain, which was, as if by nature, 
 formed for a stronghold. It rose rugged and steep 
 from the sandy heath to a mighty rock, and formed a 
 row of impassable cliffs, the western summits of 
 which widened into a table-land sufficiently broad 
 for the site of a castle. 
 
 And Hatebolt pointed to the row of rocks, and 
 cried, in the language of the Sassen, " On this Regen- 
 stein* my Burg shall stand!" 
 
 That is the fortress whose magnificent position still 
 delights us, at whose ruins we gaze in amazement, in 
 whose halls and chambers, almost entirely hewn in 
 the rocks, we see the work of a far-distant time, when 
 comfort and luxury were unknown in this region. 
 
 From these grey ruins, from the grim vaults, the 
 half -fallen tower, and the deep dungeon, breathes the 
 spirit of the past, and whispers many a legendary note 
 in the ear. Is it the mysterious Devil's Hole in an 
 ancient vault, with the date 1090, near which house 
 spectres, whose employment it is ever to fill this four 
 * Regenstein, or Reinstein, row of rocks.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 27 
 
 feet deep and wide hole with stones ; or the opening in 
 one of the larger rock walls, which proclaims a con- 
 quest of the castle ; or the ruinated chapel, with its 
 tiny Gothic door and two windows, and the aumbry 
 still in the wall at the right on entering; the over-grown 
 moat to the east and south; the arched entrance, the 
 many half -broken flights of stone steps ? All this has 
 an untold mystic charm. 
 
 The opening in the wall was made at a seizure of 
 the castle, which tradition tells us was accomplished 
 by stratagem. 
 
 The besiegers had lain long before the stronghold 
 in vain, had stormed the walls and the stronger rocks 
 without success, and finally, evidently convinced that 
 the fortress was impregnable, had raised the siege. 
 And now there were feasting and joy, and the Earl 
 von Regenstein commanded the best wine to be 
 brought. But for security, in case of another attack, 
 he resolved to lay in fresh provisions, and accordingly 
 sent a messenger to the surrounding villages with an 
 order to the people forthwith to bring the needful 
 supplies. 
 
 In a short time a troop of peasants, men and women, 
 appeared, half-bent from the weight of baskets on 
 their backs, and tubs of butter and cheese under the 
 arm. The great gates were opened, the drawbridge 
 lowered, and the troop entered. But once inside, 
 they threw baskets and tubs to the winds, seized their 
 arms, drove back the surprised guard, and at the same
 
 time a party in ambush rushed over the drawbridge. 
 They cut down all that opposed them, but the Earl 
 was nowhere to be found. When he saw himself out- 
 witted, and that all opposition was useless, and every 
 issue from the fortress in possession of the enemy, he 
 caused himself to be sewed up in a bed, and let down 
 on the north and perpendicular side of the rocks with 
 ropes. The opening is still shown in one of the rocky 
 chambers through which he is said to have escaped. 
 
 Another legend is connected with the dungeon, 
 which is hewn deep down in the rocks. A captured 
 maiden had been imprisoned here, and had sat long 
 in the darkness of constant night, hearing no sound 
 save that of the raging storms that beat against the 
 rocks. Escape was impossible. One day she lay on 
 her bed of straw, and sought comfort in fervent prayer. 
 And there dawned a distant hope in her mind. She 
 listened to the storm, and heard the hail beat against 
 the rock walls of the dungeon, hence they must be 
 thin. Might she perhaps break through the rocks ? 
 They are only very porous sandstone. It is a bold 
 thought, no sooner awakened in her mind than put 
 in execution. She used the ring of the dungeon to 
 break away bits of the rock, and worked many moons 
 till she had an opening large enough to creep through. 
 But what was her despair to find she stood on a dizzy 
 height, and the fearful depth yawned beneath her. 
 Still she did not hesitate, but began climbing down 
 the smooth rocks, which offered only here and there a
 
 The Harz Mountains. 29 
 
 crevice to her aid. But Tradition, who believeth all 
 things and never faileth, says she reached the foot of 
 the mountain and her father's castle in safety. 
 
 Another legend relates how a wealthy countryman 
 had lent an Earl von Regenstein a large sum of money, 
 but when he came to demand payment was repulsed 
 with scorn and derision. Soon after the Earl did not 
 return from a predatory excursion, and many singular 
 reports were circulated concerning his death. The 
 countryman hoped for payment from the Earl's heir, 
 but he treated him more roughly than his predecessor 
 had done. The creditor, on his way home, heard sud- 
 denly a loud noise like the crackling of flames. He 
 looked around and saw a cleft in the mountain, from 
 which issued smoke. He went and looked in. It was 
 the mouth of a cave, in the deeps of which pitch and 
 sulphur flames with loud hissing enveloped each other, 
 and in the midst of this lire-gulf he saw a human 
 form, over which the flames swept without consuming 
 it, and which sought, wailing and moaning, to escape, 
 but fell ever back into the boiling heat, with wringing 
 of hands and tearing of hair. 
 
 He. soon recognized the Earl, who after some 
 minutes saw the creditor whom he had cheated at the 
 entrance to the cave, and broke out in lamentations 
 and entreaties. 
 
 " Oh ! see how I must suffer for my injustice. Have 
 pity on my anguish, forgive my crime. Take my 
 signet ring, go to my successor, tell him what you have
 
 30 Legends and Tales of 
 
 seen, warn him not to act as I have done, and to pay 
 my debt, that I may escape from this bed of flames." 
 
 The countryman hastened to fulfil the commission, 
 showing the signet ring. He was at once paid with 
 heavy interest, and the castle chaplain received orders 
 to read a mass for the suffering soul. 
 
 On his way home the countryman looked again into 
 the cave, but nothing more was to be seen either of the 
 flames or the guilty Earl. 
 
 The Spectre Maiden of the Regenstein still haunts 
 the ruins. 
 
 How solemnly the old ruinated fortress looks down 
 upon the plain bathed in the rich lights of sunset 
 And around the walls and the tower sighs a spirit 
 and sighs the storm. 
 
 Let thy stay there be short and cautious, for the 
 ruins are haunted by night. A maiden form rises 
 from the dark vault, and wanders to the tower, and to 
 the great gates, and an innocent countenance smiles 
 upon thee. Guard thyself well, O wanderer; gaze not 
 so deep in the mournful eyes; it is the Spectre Maiden. 
 She bows to thee in graceful greeting, she offers thee 
 the full lips to kiss, she beckons, she spreads out the 
 arms. Oh, follow her not ! Her breath is poison ! If 
 thou grant her the kiss, thou wilt fall an irrecoverable 
 prey to death. Her greeting, her beckon are not for 
 thee ; she waits here for her lover. 
 
 As Crusader, he marched to the Holy Sepulchre. 
 She is gazing after him from the tower 'waiting for his
 
 The Harz Mountains. 3 1 
 
 return by the broken drawbridge, and wanders ever 
 in search of him. 
 
 If she meet thee, she will fancy thou art her fallen 
 hero-lover. If thou dost follow when she beckons, she 
 will draw thee into an open grave with ice-cold arms. 
 
 Oh ! guard thyself well when in her sight, 
 For she haunts the Regenstein by night ! 
 
 The Lost Sketch-Book of the Regeustein Chapel. 
 
 THE Baronin von Felsen had led her young English 
 friend, May Rosemnore, through the ruins of 
 Schloss Regenstein, the authentic history of which 
 begins with Kaiser Henry the Fowler, till at last they 
 wandered to the tiny roofless chapel. 
 
 As May entered it through the Gothic door, scarcely 
 high enough to pass under without stooping, the first 
 object on which her eyes fell was a crimson morocco 
 sketch-book, closing like a pocket-book, nearly filled 
 with sketches. 
 
 The last two sketches were first, an arbour, in 
 which a lady and gentleman are seated ; the lady is 
 arranging roses from a basket before her, while her 
 companion reads to her. The last sketch is the empty 
 arbour; the book lies open upside-down on the table, 
 the roses are fallen on the ground. In the pocket was 
 a photo of a lady and gentleman together, the latter 
 in officer's uniform. 
 
 " What a contrast to these grim ruins, with all their
 
 legendary memories, is this elegant scrap of modern 
 art ! " exclaimed May. " I am sure there is some sad 
 history associated with this little book. Perhaps I 
 may find the owner." 
 
 " Warum nicht?" replied the Baronin. " The woman 
 in the Bible found her piece of silver, the shepherd his 
 lost sheep, Saul found his father's asses, Jochebed 
 found her baby, Joseph found his brethren, and poor 
 old Jacob found his long-lost Joseph, and the loser of 
 this sketch-book may be as fortunate." 
 
 A few days after this event the Baronin gave a 
 Kaffee to a large Gesellschaft, in the park of Schloss 
 Stolzstein. The company sat grouped here and there 
 under the clumps of old beeches and oaks, the deer 
 cast their shadows in the clear lake, graced with 
 swans, and somewhere in the background the music 
 of a military Capelle floated softly on the air. 
 
 Mary Rosenmore amused herself with a study of the 
 varied characters present, and with German manners, 
 which were new to her. 
 
 A maiden lady, the Baronin von Schattenthal, who 
 was staying at the castle with her young orphan 
 niece, interested her with her quaint humour and 
 sound common sense. 
 
 Little Amalia came out with her attendant to her 
 aunt. She was a lovely child, with long auburn curls, 
 and a dash of the French character, for her mother 
 was a Pole. 
 
 Finding that her aunt paid no attention to her
 
 The Harz Mountains. 33 
 
 toilette nor her curls, Amalia finally whispered, " See, 
 Tante, Gretchen has curled my hair." 
 
 "I see, my dear," said the Baronin ; "but it will do 
 you no harm if your hair does curl, if you are a good 
 little girl." 
 
 Amalia's crestfallen, puzzled look as she walked 
 away were amusing enough. 
 
 Soon after she came back with a very knotty 
 question. 
 
 " Tante, could all our family ride on an elephant at 
 once ? Gretchen says they could." 
 
 " Yes, child, several small families could ride on an 
 elephant at once." 
 
 But May was not left long at leisure to amuse her- 
 self with the pretty child. 
 
 Her hostess brought and introduced to her Baron 
 von Stammnitz, fresh from the Heidelberg University. 
 She soon found, however, that he was possessed of 
 much finer cultivated hair and moustache than mind. 
 He had dipped a little into the natural sciences, and 
 learned a smattering of some of the absurdities of 
 German Pantheism, and held himself competent to 
 solve the mysteries of creation, and moral relations, of 
 the universe and of mind, much better than the old- 
 fashioned Moses and the Prophets, or St. Paul. 
 
 It is this false moral training of the students of 
 Germany that will prove one of her greatest dangers 
 in the future. 
 
 Baron von Stammnitz had studied English, and 
 3
 
 34 Legends and Tales of 
 
 began at once to edify May by airing it. She expressed 
 her admiration of the Harz, its history and legends. 
 
 He replied, " Yes, the Harz is highly interesting, but 
 chiefly so through its old leg-ends." 
 
 But let us not be too hard on the Baron in this 
 respect, for the English often make as ludicrous errors 
 in German. The writer heard a young lady in Cologne 
 order Himmelfleisch, meaning Harnmelfleisch. She in- 
 tended to ask for mutton, but in reality ordered heaven's 
 meat. And the waiter, with his solemn, impenetrable 
 face, replied, " I regret we have not that dish." 
 
 A gentleman in Leipzig ordered Kinderbraten and 
 Pantoffel child roast and slippers! He wanted Rinder- 
 braten and Kartoftel roast beef and potatoes ! 
 
 People who drop their H's in English do the same 
 in German. An English girl driving away from Bal- 
 lenstedt, cried out, " Farewell, Arz ! " 
 
 At the hotel by the Radau waterfall an old man 
 ordered the Kellner* to bring beer, and called after him, 
 " Aber ell !" Hell he meant clear or white in contrast 
 to brown beer. 
 
 He had been parading about and ordering the Kellner 
 as if he owned the whole place, which made his missing 
 H all the more amusing. 
 
 But to return to the Baron. May spoke of the 
 towered village church nestling so confidingly in the 
 rich foliage, and regretted she had not yet seen the 
 interior, but hoped to the following Sunday. 
 * Kellner Gar9on, waiter.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 35 
 
 " Pray, Miss Rosenmore, you do not keep up that 
 absurd idea of going to church ? I have not been in 
 a church for five years. While they insist on preach- 
 ing the old fables that nobody believes any more, I 
 shall not go. I can attend to my religion much better 
 in my own room, or in the woods, where the trees form 
 nobler Gothic arches than any cathedral, from Koln 
 and Halberstadt down. Even meine Mutter told me 
 not to trouble myself about the Bible, for there was 
 no truth in it." 
 
 " Woe to any mother who could give such advice !" 
 cried May, in great excitement. She spoke of some of 
 the strongest proofs of the Divine origin of the Bible, 
 and asked the Baron if he could explain why it was 
 that Christian nations were the most elevated, those 
 without the light of revelation being the degraded ones. 
 
 " Oh !" said he, " such a view has something beauti- 
 ful in it ; but it is only a delusion, a transition period 
 in the history and development of mind, I might say, 
 the Raupenkleid chrysalis of education, out of 
 which the splendid and brilliant butterfly of free 
 thought breaks forth, and Science unfolds her golden 
 wings, and in her commanding presence, the old ortho- 
 dox Bible-faith can never again lift its head. 
 
 " There is an endless primeval matter, I may say the 
 Urkraft first cause of all things, which is scattered 
 in countless atoms in eternal space. 
 
 " From this primeval matter, during the course of 
 millions on millions of ages, slowly and gradually
 
 36 Legends and Tales of 
 
 unfolded beings, from the most insignificant to the 
 highest. From a scrap of mud, through the effect 
 of light and heat, perhaps by contact with some other 
 body, a frog was produced. Nearest related to the frog 
 stands the Labyrinthodonten, whose hand-like foot- 
 tracks have been found in the sandstone, and which 
 is decidedly the transition between these animals and 
 the higher species of the ape ; and from the ape, during 
 impossible-to-comprehend ages, man has sprung, at 
 first rough and animal, as we see to-day in savage 
 races, from step to step unfolding and rising, till we 
 have the Mensch of our present civilization and re- 
 finement." 
 
 All this was said with a foppish, self-satisfied air, as 
 if he were the personification of wisdom. May looked 
 at him in amazement, wondering at his shallowness. 
 
 At length she said, " Concerning origin and ancestors 
 I will not now dispute. If you deny the Bible, we 
 have no common ground of argument ; and if your 
 argument be true, we have after this life nothing. 
 Let proud Science beware lest she scorch her 'golden 
 wings' in the avenging. fire of Divine wrath. 
 
 " If you are content with the doctrine of man's 
 descent from an ape, originally, according to your own 
 argument, from a frog! I deny its truth, and claim 
 mine from an eternal, omnipotent and holy Creator, 
 and personal Father, not simply an eviges Sein eternal 
 state of being but something infinitely and incompre- 
 hensibly more exalted.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 37 
 
 Here the conversation was interrupted by the ap- 
 proach of the Baronin, accompanied by a tall noble- 
 looking lady attired in black. 
 
 May started, for it was the lady in the photo of the 
 lost sketch-book. Her friend introduced the stranger 
 as the Countess von Utnnesky, a lady of Russian birth, 
 but who had been partly educated in England, her 
 father having long filled an official position there under 
 the Russian Government. 
 
 The Countess was still young, only five-and-twenty, 
 of a pale, melancholy, but highly intelligent counte- 
 nance, and her sapphire blue eyes had a mournful, far- 
 away look in them, that touched one deeply. 
 
 Their conversation turned on the beauties of Harz 
 scenery, and its romantic ruins, and the Countess re- 
 marked she had only the other day visited the Regen- 
 stein, and during the day had lost an object, to her of 
 great value a sketch-book, filled by her late husband, 
 with the exception of the last sketch, which she had 
 herself sketched after his death. 
 
 May drew forth the sketch-book, which she had 
 purposely carried in her pocket, and handed it to her, 
 remarking she had recognized her from the photo at 
 the first glance, and explained how it had come into 
 her possession. 
 
 The Countess turned to the sketch in the arbour, 
 remarking, " We were sitting thus, when Karl was 
 summoned to join his regiment at the breaking out of 
 the last war between France and Germany. We had
 
 38 Legends and Tales of 
 
 only been married three weeks when France declared 
 war, and my joy was broken for ever. If you will not 
 be wearied, I will tell you the history." 
 
 May assured her of her deep interest and sym- 
 pathy, and they seated themselves under a magnificent 
 oak near the lake. 
 
 " My sister Olga and I were married on the same 
 day to two brothers, German officers, just three weeks 
 before the commencement of the war. We were in 
 Switzerland at the time of the mobilization of the 
 German army, and hastening to obey the call, we re- 
 paired to Berlin, where we took leave of one another, 
 never again all to meet in this world. 
 
 " Olga and I remained a short time in Berlin, but 
 after the reports of the battle bei Worth we grew too 
 excited to stay so far from the scene of action, and 
 accordingly went to Baden, taking only our maid with 
 us, and not wishing to go to an hotel, we took apart- 
 ments in a private pension kept by a family from 
 Edinburgh, two old maids and their brother, Mac Stab 
 by name ; and though I have travelled over nearly all 
 Europe their equal I have never met, and have reason 
 to believe Scotland or Germany could produce few 
 such creatures. 
 
 " You may imagine the difficulties of travelling in 
 time of war, with soldiers being transported to active 
 service, and the sick and wounded to hospitals ; and 
 we lost our luggage, consisting only of two trunks. 
 
 " We explained to the elder Miss Mac Stab, who
 
 The Harz Mountains. 39 
 
 wore a couple of pig-tail curls each side of her face, 
 that our trunks were lost, but we hoped would be 
 found in a day or two. 
 
 " The second day passed, but our missing trunks did 
 not appear, in fact never did ; and the third morning, 
 as poor Olga was descending the stairs for breakfast, 
 Miss Mac Stab attacked her, crying out : ' See the 
 painted Jezebel ! with her curls and diamond rings t 
 The impostor seeks to deceive honest folk with her 
 pretended wedding-ring and tales of lost luggage !' 
 
 " Olga, in perfect terror, pale as marble, came rushing 
 to meet me. She could not speak, and did not need 
 to, for I had heard what had passed. I took Olga 
 by the arm, and walked firmly to the breakfast-room. 
 Miss Mac Stab was arranging our breakfast- table as 
 we entered. I inquired if any letters were come. 
 
 " Miss Mac Stab glowered at us with an awful face, 
 and replied savagely, in coarse tones, ' Yes ! here is a 
 letter ; but you wrote and sent it to the post your- 
 selves ; nobody would write to the likes of - you. 
 Such grand pretensions, with your crests ! You'll 
 not get no more letters here ; I'll intercept them, and 
 expose your falsehoods.' 
 
 " We hastened to our rooms, and sent Paulina to 
 call a carriage. I knew there was an English clergy- 
 man in the place the Rev. William Samper and we 
 thought it better to acquaint him with our embar- 
 rassment, as we were alone, and ask his advice. 
 
 " Olga went, taking Paulina with her, and I re-
 
 4O Legends and Tales of 
 
 niained alone. There were two or three strangers 
 staying in the house who had also gone out ; hence 
 there was no one but the family at home. 
 
 " The day before, on going out for a dri\ 7 e, we had 
 locked our door, and the Mac Stabs denied our right 
 to lock any door, or even to keep any door-key. No 
 sooner had Olga gone, than .Miss Mac Stab, accom- 
 panied by her brother and sister, came upstairs and 
 entered my room without knocking. Mr. Mac Stab 
 demanded the keys. I told him I should not deliver 
 up the keys till I had done with the apartments, and 
 expressed my surprise at the insolence in thus enter- 
 ing my room unbidden, and the cowardice of such 
 conduct when no one was there to see or hear. Miss 
 Mac Stab, with one sweep of her hand, brushed all my 
 writing materials on the floor, and her no less amiable 
 brother seated himself, saying he should wait till he 
 had the keys. ' You will wait then,' I said, ' until my 
 sister and maid return.' 
 
 " ' My maid !' cried Miss Mac Stab. Just then a 
 loud ring hurried them all away. 
 
 " I locked my door till Olga returned. She had 
 seen Mr. Samper, and shown our letters, and he would 
 be with us in a few moments. He came and insisted 
 on our going with him, perfect strangers though we 
 were, at once to his house, assuring us Mrs. Samper 
 was expecting us, breakfast was being made ready, 
 and our rooms awaited us. 
 
 " The very atmosphere of their house was peace,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 4 1 
 
 and Mrs. Samper was like a mother to us, and the 
 noble Christian pair have the warmest place in my 
 memory and heart. The following day Mr. Samper 
 received a letter from the Mac Stabs, claiming 
 damages for a broken Sevres vase and an injured 
 piano, amounting to four pounds all, of course, ab- 
 solutely false. Mr. Samper wrote, declining any 
 further correspondence, and informed them the post 
 and the law were open. 
 
 " Karl and Franz, on hearing our story, sent them 
 a solicitor's letter, demanding an explanation of their 
 infamous conduct to two defenceless ladies. The re- 
 ply to this letter was absolute silence, and the sud- 
 den disappearance of the Mac Stabs from the town. 
 We found they had treated many badly, and had 
 sought in various instances, by driving people to leave 
 before the expiration of the time already paid for, or 
 by involving them in law proceedings, to gain money. 
 
 " We stayed a few days with the good minister, but 
 in a state of feverish excitement, watching the de- 
 scriptions of succeeding battles, and reading the lists 
 of wounded, dead, and missing, with a horrible fas- 
 cination. 
 
 " At last we could bear the uncertainty no longer, 
 arid assuming the dresses of nuns, we joined several 
 actual nuns and a couple of surgeons who were going 
 to France to follow the second army, in which Fran/ 
 and Karl served, to nurse the wounded, seeking them 
 out on the battle-h'eld, which was very necessary, for
 
 42 Legends and Tales of 
 
 there were not nurses and surgeons sufficient for the 
 need, and many died for the lack of nursing in time. 
 
 " At length came the terrible battle of Mars la Tour 
 St. Hilaire, or Vionville in the burning heat of 
 August the 16th it was and Major Franz Omnesky 
 was among the missing. Olga set off alone in her 
 wild grief, to search on the battle-field, knowing we 
 would not let her go ; and when we first missed her, 
 we had no idea how long she had been gone. 
 
 " Oh ! how shall I attempt to depict that dreadful 
 night-scene among the dead and dying on the field of 
 Mars la Tour ? The pale, ghastly faces looking up 
 to God's pure, blue heavens so fearfully calm above 
 all this human woe and anguish ! 
 
 " Among the heaps of the slain, stumbling over 
 horse and rider, we searched till night grew pale 
 before the dawn, and then we found what we sought 
 
 * o 
 
 and dreaded to find Franz dead, and Olga lying 
 with her head on his breast, in a deathly swoon, her 
 garments wet with dew, and her long, beautiful hair 
 falling over her dead husband's face. 
 
 " Olga never rallied ; the grief, exposure, and fa- 
 tigue were too much for her delicate frame and pas- 
 sionate love for Franz. We laid them both in one 
 grave, on a knoll, under a clump of limesthe two 
 brave hearts, so true and noble. 
 
 " Then came the 18th of August, that most mur- 
 derous of all the engagements of the war, the battle of 
 Gravelotte, in which the Kaiser commanded in person,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 43 
 
 with a brilliant staff, Prinz Friedrich Karl, Steinmetz, 
 Moltke, Roon, Bismarck being on it. 
 
 "Colonel Karl Omnesky was among the wounded, 
 and I hastened on to nurse him, as I hoped, to renewed 
 life and vigour, but the moment I saw him all hope 
 died for ever. Death was written on his noble brow, 
 but his great, deep violet eyes looked bravely and 
 tenderly as ever into mine. Oh those precious days ! 
 Golden is their memory, though so unspeakably sad. 
 
 " He was ready to go, awaiting eagerly the change 
 to the better land, but full of tender sympathy and 
 sorrow for me and his unborn child. 
 
 " He never was weary of hearing that wonderful 
 prayer of our Saviour, the seventeenth of St. John, and 
 the fifteenth of the First Epistle of the Corinthians. 
 
 " Often, accompanied by the harp he so loved, I 
 sang his favourite lines, my heart frantic with grief, 
 but outwardly calm, for God lent me strength. 
 
 " ' Bleibe bei mir vom Morgen bis Abend, 
 Derm ohne Dich kann ich nicht leben. 
 Bleibe bei mir derm die Nacht ist dunkel, 
 Und ohne Dich darf ich nicht sterben.' 
 
 " 'Abide with me from morn till eve, 
 For without Thee I cannot live. 
 Abide with me when night is nigh, 
 For without Thee I cannot die.' 
 
 " The noble-hearted Kaiser honoured my dying hus- 
 band, before the second army moved on, with a visit, 
 and the tear his Majesty brushed away did honour to 
 the Sovereign so deservedly beloved.
 
 44 Legends and Tales of 
 
 "In peace my poor Karl died, and I closed the 
 loving eyes and my heart died. 
 
 " I buried him beside Olga and Franz, and am 
 building a chapel over them. 
 
 " Five months after Karl's death my golden-haired 
 Tatjana was born. For her sake I strive to reconcile 
 myself to life. 
 
 " But, alas! my wealth and joy are a grave ! 
 
 " Sitting the other day in the enchanting valley of 
 the graceful Use, leaping proudly and gaily in a 
 thousand tiny waterfalls over the moss-grown stones, 
 as if conscious of her royal origin, I wrote the following 
 lines which express faintly my feelings, and which I 
 beg you to keep as a souvenir of our first meeting : 
 
 ALONE. 
 
 " The sun has set, the evening brightness fades, 
 The gloom increases in the forest glades ; 
 And a deep sadness all my soul pervades : 
 I am alone. 
 
 "A wild bird here and there still sings to cheer 
 His mate that nestles in the thicket near ; 
 But ah ! no voice of love falls on my ear : 
 I am alone. 
 
 "The gentle air plays with the rustling leaves, 
 Sweet with the fragrant odours it receives ; 
 My bosom with no whispered incense heaves : 
 1 am alone. 
 
 "A distant horn the evening silence breaks, 
 The mountain in soft echoes answer makes ; 
 No heart responsive to my voice awakes : 
 I am alone.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 45 
 
 " O'er rocky heights the Use, wild and free, 
 Hastes like an eager lover to the sea ; 
 But whither shall / turn for love? Ah me ! 
 
 I am alone. 
 
 " Still dreaming dreams I can to none impart, 
 I live with Nature and my own sad heart ; 
 Whatever comes of joy or suffering's smart, 
 I bear alone." 
 
 The following is the German translation : 
 
 Des Abends ros'ger Glanz erbleicht, das Land 
 Wird dunkel, dunkel wird's am Waldesrand ; 
 In mir aiich nachtet's, einsam ist die Hand : 
 
 Ich bin allein. 
 
 Ein Vogel heir und dort dem Weibchen singt, 
 Das nestlos nahe lauscht, wie's zu ihm klingt ; 
 Zu meinem Ohr kein Ruf der Liebe dringt : 
 
 Ich bin allein. 
 
 Die Blatter lispeln, sic umkost die Luft 
 Mit sanftem Spiel, einathmend ihren Duft ; 
 Wer fliistert Balsam mir in's Herz hinein ? 
 
 Ich bien allein. 
 
 Ein femes Horn ertont mit sanftem Schall, 
 Dcr Berg antwortet ihm im Wiederhall ; 
 Auf meinen Laut erwacht kein Herz im All : 
 
 Ich bin allein. 
 
 Es stiirzt die Use sich vom Felsbett her 
 In hast'gem Liebealauf hi nab ziiin Meer ; 
 Doch ich ? wohin ? die \Velt ist liebeleer ; 
 
 Ich bin allein. 
 
 Noch triium' ich Trauine, dochsie theilt kein Her/, 
 Allein mit der Natur und meinem Schmer/, 
 Kommt Freude mir, bricht Leid herein : 
 
 Ich trag's allein.
 
 46 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Flower of the Laiienburg. 
 
 T)ROKEN walls of the grey, long-past centuries, 
 J on the wooded mountains, a dilapidated tower, 
 moats overgrown with wild thorns, a few dark and 
 gloomy vaults, and half-fallen windows and arches 
 those are the small remains of the most magnificent 
 of the former castles of the Harz mountains, the ruins 
 of the ancient seat of the Counts-palatine, the Lauen- 
 burg. 
 
 In former days the spot lay much more desolate 
 than now ; the old ways and the delicious wood-paths 
 had not been opened up. 
 
 Heaps of rubbish and shapeless ruins lay scattered 
 everywhere ; scarcely could the wanderer break his 
 way through the creepers of the common virgin's 
 bower, and the prickles of the buckthorn over the 
 moss-grown walls, to the broken tower. 
 
 But the young people of Dorf Steckelnberg, at the 
 foot of the lower adjacent mountains, on which lie the 
 ruins of Schloss Steckelnberg, found their way easier ; 
 it was just the wild and savage character of the place 
 that attracted them, and it was very seldom that a 
 troop of merry boys did not choose the lonely ruins 
 as the scene of their games, and even timorous 
 maidens ventured to approach the haunted walls in 
 their search after berries and wild-flowers. 
 
 Once, more than a hundred years ago, on St. John's
 
 The Harz Mountains. 47 
 
 Day, a number of children from Steckelnberg were 
 scattered in the thickets around the ruins gathering 
 flowers and making wreaths and garlands, when 
 suddenly one of the boys uttered a cry of astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 The others ran to him, and lo ! there stood on the 
 edge of the tower walls, then rising only the height of 
 a man from the debris a wonderful flower, the like of 
 which the children had never seen before. 
 
 It looked so strange, and still seemed to gaze so 
 mildly and confidentially in the eyes of the children, 
 that they all at once fancied something supernatural 
 in the flower. 
 
 They had often heard their parents and grand- 
 parents relate how once, in the greyest times, a maiden 
 had been carried off by the Ritter of the Lauenburg, 
 and in the hour of her greatest danger had been 
 rescued from his power by transformation into a 
 flower, which bloomed every year a single day, and 
 the maiden came and wandered a single night through 
 the ruins. 
 
 " Might this be the flower ? " they asked. 
 
 At last one of the boys began climbing up the 
 tower walls to pluck it, when he heard a soft voice 
 murmur so clearly that all heard it, " Do not pluck 
 me." 
 
 The boy started back in affright ; but, vexed at his 
 fear, feeling sure a flower could not speak, he began 
 again to mount the tower ; but the same voice came
 
 48 Legends and Tales of 
 
 from the flower, " Do not pluck me," and the children 
 cried, " Give it up and come down ! " 
 
 This excited him still more, and stretching out his 
 hand to pick the flower, a hideous serpent raised its 
 head hissing from under the leaves, when the boy fell 
 back in deadly terror among thorns and fallen stones, 
 and was carried home with broken limbs. 
 
 Again, on a St. John's Day, the children of Steckeln- 
 berg played among the ruins of the Lauenburg, when 
 they saw again the wonderful flower, and heard the 
 same soft voice, " Do not pluck me." In affright they 
 fled down the mountain. 
 
 But a quiet little girl had remained behind, for it 
 seemed to her the flower did not say, " Do not pluck 
 me," but, " Pluck me." Hence she stood thoughtfully 
 gazing in the flower's clear eye, when again she heard 
 in soft tones, " Pluck me ! pluck me ! " 
 
 The maiden came nearer, the flower's glance grew 
 more loving, but under her leaves she saw the serpent- 
 head, which rose hissing and coiling. 
 
 Then she drew back her hand, and dared not touch 
 the flower, and as she fled she heard still the voice, 
 " Only pluck me ! " 
 
 The next day she went back, determined to obey 
 the voice, and pick the flower, but it and the serpent 
 had vanished. 
 
 Years lied. The little girl had grown to woman- 
 hood and became the Erdut of an honest but poor 
 youth.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 49 
 
 Then she recalled the wonder-flower and entreating 
 voice, and thought to herself she had missed her good 
 fortune through her disobedience. 
 
 This she related to her lover one day as they wan- 
 dered through the wood around the ruins. 
 
 And he strove to comfort her, and thought they 
 were enough in each other, and would be able to 
 support themselves without aid from the world of 
 enchantment ; but in his mind he thought she might 
 have gathered the flower, for tales were still told of 
 great treasures guarded by the maid of the Lauen- 
 burg, and he had himself already seen much of the 
 wonder-world, and the influence of higher powers over 
 human destiny. 
 
 Was he not a Sunday child ? * 
 
 He was present as the owner of the estate Winata- 
 husen in Thale, had removed the wonder-stone, on 
 which the good fortune of the estate hangs, and had 
 seen how sixteen horses and hundreds of men had 
 only with difficulty moved it ; while the heavens had 
 grown dark, and the storm threatened to destroy the 
 buildings, and only misfortune followed misfortune, 
 till the stone was restored to the ancient convent 
 estate. 
 
 He had also learned the power of enchantment 
 possessed by the dwellers of the caves in the Bode- 
 thal. 
 
 * In the Har/. it is said all children horn on Sunday are always 
 fortunate. 
 
 4
 
 50 Legends and Tales of 
 
 A dwarf of one cave had often brought him a 
 bundle of healing herbs for his sick mother, and he 
 knew that he always laid healing plants ready for 
 those who had entreated his help. 
 
 But the angry cobold, who in the form of a green 
 bottle-fly dwelt in another cave, had once nearly 
 thrown him headlong from the rocks as he gathered 
 plants, and he only saved himself by making the sign 
 of the cross three times. 
 
 He had also seen the blue flame in the garden of 
 the Kloster estate in Thale, which marked the spot 
 where treasures were hidden. 
 
 While indulging in these reminiscences a low ex- 
 clamation from his companion aroused him from his 
 reverie. 
 
 She grasped him by the arm, and pointed to the 
 ruins. There, above the tower, rose amid the slender 
 grass, in wonderful beauty, white as a lily and as 
 graceful, the Flower of the Lauenburg, which had just 
 been the subject of their conversation and their 
 dreams. 
 
 She seemed to bend her white corolla in greeting, 
 and like a low melody to call down to them, " Pluck 
 me ! pluck me !" 
 
 The lovers gazed a moment, surprised, at each other ; 
 and, as if the glance had filled him with enthusiasm, 
 the youth then hastened forward, and raised his arm 
 to gather the flower, 
 
 At this moment the serpent^head raised itself,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 5 i 
 
 terrible to behold ; the scales of the coiled body 
 seemed to bristle, and resemble a coat of mail ; the 
 vicious eyes burned in rage, and the sharp tongue 
 pointed at them like a poisoned arrow. 
 
 Terrified at the sight, he lost his courage, forgot to 
 cross himself, and, seizing the hand of the maiden, 
 turned to flee. 
 
 But she held him back ; she stood lost in thought a 
 moment ; then pressing his hand warmly and glancing 
 toward heaven, she approached fearlessly the tower, 
 and stretched forth her hand firmly to pluck the 
 flower. 
 
 And see! the serpent, though hissing more furiously, 
 drew slowly back its head, and as she plucked the 
 flower fled, and at the same moment the whole scene 
 changed. 
 
 Where the flower grew, now stood, sweetly smiling, 
 in swan-white garments, a graceful maiden, who looked 
 kindly on the lovers, and, pointing to a vault at the base 
 of the tower, in which glittered gold and silver vessels 
 of all sorts, stooped and handed one piece after another 
 to the astonished lovers, who took the costly gifts as 
 in a dream. 
 
 When they had all they could carry, she waved the 
 hand in farewell, as bidding them to depart, and 
 vanished.
 
 5 2 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The White Stag. 
 
 LONG centuries ago a peculiar appearance attracted 
 the attention of the inhabitants of Dorf Trese- 
 burg. 
 
 Every morning stood, high on the summit of the 
 Hagedornberg, which rises perpendicular to the banks 
 of the Bode, a White Stag, and gazed fixedly below 
 into the valley. 
 
 He stood hours at a time, and had done so over a 
 hundred years, without any variation or the faintest 
 sign of age. Wonderful as this was, it was still more 
 remarkable that no one had ever been able to come 
 near him, although various sportsmen had attempted 
 it, not even when they waited in the early morning on 
 the spot where he was wont to appear. 
 
 They waited in vain, and yet at the same time the 
 villagers below had seen him as usual. 
 
 So it had come that for a whole generation no one 
 had sought to come near the W T hite Stag. Hence every 
 one shook the head doubtfully when one day an herb- 
 gatherer of the village, named Weidemann, declared 
 that he had not only been near the stag, but that the 
 animal had come close to him, leaned against him, 
 eaten of the plants he carried, and finally had followed 
 him part way down the declivity of the mountain. 
 
 The herb-gatherer, however, was known to be a man 
 of veracity, and they soon became convinced of the
 
 The Harz Mountains. 53 
 
 truth of his statement ; for no sooner had he climbed 
 the Hagedorn than the White Stag ran to him, and 
 walked trustfully by his side, ate from his hand, and 
 followed his steps. 
 
 This excited all the more surprise inasmuch as the 
 stag avoided everybody else. Weidemann was sur- 
 prised himself at this confidence, which grew every 
 day ; and it seemed to him, when the stag gazed at him 
 with its clear eyes so winningly, as if it would speak, 
 and only language failed. 
 
 At last, he said one day to his wife, "There is some- 
 thing the matter with the White Stag, and he longs to 
 tell. If I only could know what it is !" 
 
 " That is not so difficult," replied his wife. " Just 
 ask old Fischersche, who will be able to tell thee." 
 
 Fischersche was, according to some, a wise, good 
 old woman, according to others a witch, who lived in 
 a hut a little out of the village, never leaving it, alone 
 and without friends, avoiding men and shunned by 
 them in return but only till they got into some 
 trouble; when illness or some accident had befallen 
 them, then they sought out old Fischersche, related 
 their trouble, and found ever help and counsel, or herbs 
 and healing draughts, before which every sickness 
 fled. 
 
 To her the herb-gatherer applied, told her what had 
 happened, and begged for an explanation of the 
 matter. 
 
 Fischersche bent her ice-grey head and remained a
 
 54 Legends and Tales of 
 
 while sunk in thought. At length she said : " It is a 
 wonderful history of the White Stag ; my aged grand- 
 mother told it me over a hundred years ago, but I 
 cannot now remember it perfectly ! I only know that 
 it is an enchanted young noble, the son of an Earl, but 
 how it all hangs together has escaped me. But we 
 will soon learn. I will ask my ravens." 
 
 So saying, she opened the windows of the hut, one 
 towards the north, the other to the south, and mur- 
 mured a few unintelligible words, and uttered one 
 piercing whistle. 
 
 Soon the beating of heavy wings was heard, and a 
 hoarse croaking, and a pair of huge primeval ravens 
 flew down, and sat, one on the north, one on the south 
 window, and cried : 
 
 "Kra! kra! kra h ! 
 Wir sind da ! " 
 
 And Fischersche addressed them in a loud voice : " Ye 
 good ravens, ye are as old as the Harz and the 
 primeval forests, and ye know all things ; hence ye 
 shall tell me the history of the White Stag." 
 
 Then one raven flapped his wings, nodded with his 
 head, opened his bill and cried : 
 
 "Kra! kra! kra h ! 
 Ich weisa wie es geschah ! " 
 
 " The son of an Earl had fallen in love with the 
 daughter of the Ritter who dwelt ages ago in Schloss 
 Treseburg, and came every day and stood on the
 
 The Harz Mountains. 55 
 
 summit of the Hagedorn, and gazed across to the 
 Treseburg, to see if he could catch a glimpse of the 
 maiden, or a greeting from her. 
 
 " It happened once that he met there a noble white 
 stag, and being a passionate lover of the chase, he 
 threw his spear, killing the animal on the spot. 
 
 "Just as he was about to detatch the splendid 
 antlers, to hang up in his castle for a pair of antlers 
 was his coat of arms the Waldfrau, the powerful 
 queen of the forest and all game, suddenly broke forth 
 from the underbrush with indignation and wrath, for 
 the dead stag had been her favourite, and cursed the 
 youth in words of fury : 
 
 " ; Thou bloodthirsty man, thou shalt henceforth no 
 more hunt, but be hunted ; thou shalt be thyself a 
 stag in the place of the one thou hast killed and thou 
 shalt wander in these preserves centuries long.' 
 
 " And at these words the Earl's son was transformed 
 into that of the stag, and that is the White Stag of 
 the Hagedorn." 
 
 The raven nodded three times with his head in con- 
 firmation of his tale, and remained silent. 
 
 And Fischersche asked further : " Say on, raven 
 who knowest all things, if and how the enchantment 
 may be broken." 
 
 Immediately the other raven rose, flapped his wings 
 and cried : 
 
 "Kra! kra! kra h! 
 Ja! ja! ja!"
 
 56 . Legends and Tales of 
 
 " It was a deed of blood ! Blood can break the en- 
 chantment. If a hunter who has never shed blood 
 gives him blood that belongs neither to man nor beast, 
 and he both drinks and eats it at the same time, the 
 enchantment of the White Stag is broken." 
 
 Fischersche would enquire further, but the ravens 
 both remained silent, shook their heads, spread their 
 rustling wings, and flew forth, one up, the other down 
 the roaring Bode, to their Hort* in the steep rocks 
 of the Bodethal, which still bear the name of the 
 Rabenstein.f 
 
 When the ravens had disappeared, Fischersche sank 
 in deep thought, and seemed to forget the presence of 
 Weidemann. 
 
 "That is a dark saying," she at length said, 
 breaking the silence, and muttered thoughtfully to 
 herself. *' Just wait, just wait, I begin to see through 
 the thing. How was it then ? Who can break the 
 enchantment ? " 
 
 " A hunter who has never shed blood," replied 
 Weideman. 
 
 " And where may we find such an one ? " 
 
 " Probably nowhere." 
 
 Fischersche looked at him oddly, while a smile 
 flitted over her wrinkled face 
 
 " Tell me, then, hast thou ever shed blood?" 
 
 The man started at the question. 
 
 * Safe retreat in the rocks; usually applied to the eagle, 
 t Ravens' cliffs.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 57 
 
 " God forbid ! " cried he hastily. " How canst thou 
 imagine anything so dreadful of me ? " 
 
 " Well, well, I did not mean it so badly. I know 
 now where I am, and listen well. Thou thyself canst 
 break the enchantment. Thou art called Weide- 
 mann,* because thy ancestor was ranger to the knights 
 of the Treseburg ; and dost thou not say thou hast 
 never shed blood ? So a Weidemann is found, and it 
 is clear why the White Stag has approachad thee : he 
 sees in thee his deliverer." 
 
 The good Weidemann was speechless with astonish- 
 ment, but doubted not the truth of Fischersche's 
 words. 
 
 "But the blood," he said meditatively "the blood 
 that I must give him both to eat and drink ; the blood 
 that shall neither be of man nor beast whence shall 
 it come ? " 
 
 " That is thy affair," said Fischersche, dryly. " That 
 belongs to thy department ; for if the blood must not 
 belong to the animal, perhaps it might be found in the 
 vegetable kingdom. Reflect upon it thyself." 
 
 And Weidemann leaned his head on his hand in 
 deep thought. 
 
 Suddenly his face grew bright, he sprang up and 
 almost fell on the neck of old Fischersche. 
 
 " I have it ! I have it ! " he exclaimed joyfully. "That 
 is the Hypericon, or St. John's Wort. It drops blood 
 
 * W eMlf.ma.nUi or Waidemann, signifies sportsman hunter 
 ranger.
 
 on St. John's Eve and St. John's Day, and to-morrow 
 will be St. John's Day, and the flower grows abun- 
 dantly by my garden fence." 
 
 Accordingly the next morning he cut a bunch of 
 the St. John's Wort, in which at this time all wonder- 
 power lies, and carried it to the White Stag on the 
 Hagedorn. The stag sprang impetuously forward to 
 meet him, and hardly had he eaten the plants, when 
 the stag took the form of a stately youth, in knightly 
 gold-embroidered doublet, streaming plume in his 
 barret, and baldrick worked in gold and antlers. With 
 beaming countenance and sparkling eyes he embraced 
 the astonished Weidemann, and cried : " Have thanks, 
 thou honest man ; thou hast released me, and shalt not 
 go unrewarded. My father, when I return home, will 
 bestow a rich reward on the deliverer of his son. But 
 tell me. I see there only ruins where once a strong 
 castle raised its towers. Who has destroyed it, and 
 where is the radiant daughter of the Treseburg ? " 
 
 "Ah, Herr!" replied the herb-gatherer sadly, "so 
 long as I can remember, and my parents and grand- 
 parents, no castle has stood there, and neither knight 
 nor maiden has dwelt in its broken walls. Dost thou, 
 then, not know that long centuries have passed since 
 thy enchantment began ? " 
 
 "Centuries?" cried the young noble in horror. 
 
 " Yes, centuries ! " exclaimed a scorn-laughing voice, 
 and the Waldfrau stood before them ; " that is thy 
 punishment for thy criminal deed. Now go and seek
 
 The Harz Mountains. 59 
 
 thy lordly family and thy beloved ; thou wilt find 
 them mouldering in the vault of the dead. 
 
 " Thou inayest find rest, now thy enchantment is 
 broken. But thy punishment is not yet at an end. 
 Every seven years, on this day, thou shalt take the 
 form of my slain White Stag for a single day, and 
 appear on this spot." 
 
 With these words the Waldfrau vanished. 
 
 The youth shuddered, and said, deeply sighing : 
 " Is it so ? Is my age so far in the past ? Then truly 
 I have nothing more to find in life. Neither can I 
 find treasures at home to reward thee, honest man. 
 Thou must be content with my bald rick, all that I 
 can give thee, with God's blessing." 
 
 And giving him the baldrick, he walked away and 
 was seen no more. 
 
 And sometimes still, on St. John's Day, the W'hite 
 Stag is seen on the Hagedorn, gazing with fixed eyes 
 into the peaceful vale. 
 
 The Fisherman of Treseburg. 
 
 FROM the windings of the Bode, a huge greenstone 
 rock rises steep and rugged, partially overgrown 
 with the Planta genista, or wild broom, and creeping 
 plants, nearly its entire base being washed by the waves 
 of the clear mountain stream. 
 
 On its summit, half hidden by moss and wild thorns
 
 6o 
 
 are grey ruins of a castle, of which no trace of its 
 history is left to us save its name the Treseburg. 
 
 At the foot of this massive rock, on the opposite 
 bank of the Bode, stood, nearly two hundred years 
 ago, a small cottage, in which dwelt a poor but good 
 fisherman, who earned but a scanty subsistence from 
 the fruits of his toil. 
 
 At that time thousands of strangers did not, as now, 
 visit the sublime rocky valley, to enjoy its wild and 
 savage grandeur, and its trout and merlins, and the 
 poor man, though naturally of a contented mind, often 
 murmured at his poverty. 
 
 Also the romantic situation of his cottage satisfied 
 him no longer, and when he looked across the Bode 
 to the mighty rock, and the ruins on its top, all sorts 
 of foolish and ambitious thoughts crowded his mind. 
 
 These reflections were all the more bitter since there 
 was a tradition in the village that he himself was 
 a descendant of the ancient Hitter who once ruled in 
 the Treseburg. 
 
 And in fancy he pictured the old Schloss in its 
 former state, throned on the proud rock, with giant 
 round tower, and arched entrance gates, and Gothic 
 windows, the battlements covered with soldiers in steel 
 harness, with sword and lance. 
 
 Thus he frequently sat hours at a time by his nets, 
 lost in dreams, ever glancing again across to the wild 
 ruins, and wishing the long-vanished centuries back 
 airain.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 61 
 
 Once it was a St. John's Day lie saw a Grau- 
 mannchen* on the other side of the stream, who evi- 
 dently wished to cross, but did not venture to wade 
 through, since the waters had risen in the late thunder- 
 storm, and there was at that time no bridge. 
 
 GraumJinnchen seemed in great embarrassment ; 
 this awakened the pity of the fisherman, and he called 
 across that he would come and carry him over the 
 water. 
 
 He waded over and did as he had said. 
 
 Graumannchen was much pleased at this kindness, 
 thanked the fisherman in the warmest terms, and said, 
 " Thou art a good, obliging man, and since thou hast 
 fulfilled my wish, I could wish that thou also hadst a 
 wish or two that I might grant." 
 
 " Ah !" said the fisherman, " every one has wishes. I 
 have just one, but it cannot be realized." 
 
 " Only one ?" said Graumannchen. " I would grant 
 thee willingly two or three. But what might be thy 
 wish ?" 
 
 " My greatest wish," replied the fisherman, " is to be 
 set back five hundred years, in order that, instead of 
 that heap of ruins across there, the Treseburg might 
 raise its proud battlements and tower." 
 
 " Well," said Graumannchen, " that can easily 
 
 happen," and he bade him close his eyes for a minute. 
 
 He did so, and on opening them again ga/ed around 
 
 him in wonder, for there opposite on the dark rock 
 
 *Oraunuinnchfn Little grey man ; a dwarf wood fairy.
 
 62 Legends and Tales of 
 
 stood the Treseburg, that he had so often seen in 
 ruins. Really and truly there it stood, with white 
 walls, colossal round tower at the entrance, battle- 
 ments shimmering in the sunlight, and squires glitter- 
 ing in steel, with sword and lance. 
 
 The fisherman almost devoured the singular picture 
 with his eyes, and in his admiration could not turn 
 away his gaze, till Graumannchen put an end to his 
 puzzlement with the question, "Thy wish is granted; 
 art thou satisfied ? " 
 
 The fisherman hesitated, for it seemed to him at the 
 moment as if he might add another wish. At the same 
 time the immediate fulfilment of his wish appeared to 
 have its shady sides, for the soldiers who stood on the 
 walls of the castle grew noisy, and called down to 
 him with abusive and threatening words, and com- 
 
 o * 
 
 manded him at once to bring up all the fish and other 
 articles of provision which he had, or his last hour was 
 come. 
 
 Some even, as if in joke, bent their cross-bows toward 
 him, and one pointed iron bolt lodged in the trunk of 
 a rotten tree close by him. 
 
 Finally the fisherman replied, " Yes, the fulfilment 
 of my wish is delightful, and the Treseburg is a right 
 stately Schloss ; but I should like, as my ancestors 
 once ruled there, to be transplanted into the position 
 of my ancestor who lived there five hundred years ago, 
 in exactly the same circumstances." 
 
 " Very well," said Graumannchen ; " also this wish
 
 The Harz Mountains. 63 
 
 can be granted," and bade him again to shut his 
 eyes. 
 
 When he opened them he found himself in a spa- 
 cious hall, its stone walls adorned with armour and 
 arms, and on a massive oak table lay also arms, 
 partly broken, partly covered with fresh blood. 
 
 From without, a wild deafening noise penetrated 
 to the hall, mingled with loud shouting, sometimes a 
 piercing cry of pain, and the clashing of arms. 
 
 He lay himself, in steel armour, on a bench, but 
 one arm was free from armour, and he felt a burning 
 pain in it, and, to his terror, he observed a gaping 
 wound, as from the blow of a sword, stretching from 
 the shoulder to the elbow, and the warm blood trick- 
 led down. 
 
 Just then a door opened, and an old squire entered 
 and said, " I left you a moment to prepare an oint- 
 ment for your wound, in order that you may yourself 
 appear on the walls and defend the Schloss. The 
 danger is great, Herr ! Listen ! They are storming 
 again already, and our men are so weak from hunger 
 and thirst, they can scarcely stand. 
 
 " I have obeyed your command, gestrenger Herr 
 your Lordship and, in case of the worst, have buried 
 the treasures in the small vault, three times seven 
 paces from the tower westward, and three times seven 
 paces from the entrance gates to the south. But 
 hark ! The gates are burst in ! We are lost !" 
 
 And the old man hastened away. The transformed
 
 64 Legends and Tales of 
 
 fisherman grew dizzy, and felt extremely uncom- 
 fortable. 
 
 But he had little time for reflection, for the tumult 
 grew louder and came nearer. The door of the hall 
 was broken in with heavy blows, and with loud shouts 
 a troop of men, dripping with blood, rushed in and 
 threw themselves in ra.ge upon him, crying : " We have 
 thee at last, thou foul knave ! thou who hast robbed 
 and murdered so many. At last the hour of retribu- 
 tion has come." 
 
 And the leader cried : " Fasten a rope to the arch of 
 the gates, give him an hour to say his prayers, but 
 in the deepest dungeon, and then hang him for a 
 punishment and a warning." 
 
 And strong arms seized him and threw him in the 
 dungeon on damp straw. 
 
 There he lay, and could not for some time collect 
 his thoughts ; but when he came to his full senses 
 a deep sorrow seized him to see what he had brought 
 upon himself through his foolish wish. Now he must 
 die as a criminal, separated from wife and children, 
 who would never know what had become of him. 
 
 " Ah ! " cried he in anguish. " Graumannchen ! 
 Graumannchen ! why hast thou done this ? If thou 
 hast granted rne, fool that I was, two wishes, so grant 
 me the third the only one I have to return home," 
 and hot tears rolled down his face. 
 
 But when he had dried his eyes, and opened them 
 again he drew a long breath, for he lay on the banks
 
 The Harz Mountains. 65 
 
 of the Bode beside his nets, which had filled with fish ; 
 and of Schloss and Hitter was nothing to be seen 
 only the ruins as ever. 
 
 Graumnanchen stood by him, pressed his hand, and 
 said, with a friendly smile : " Willst thou be hence- 
 forth contented, or hast thou still another wish ?" 
 
 " Nein ! Nein!" cried the fisherman decidedly, "I 
 have not a wish but to remain what I am my life 
 long." 
 
 Graumannchen took his departure with a smile > 
 and the fisherman's dreams of castle and knight with 
 him. 
 
 For many years he related only to his wife what 
 had happened, but as he grew old he told the history 
 to his sons, that they might learn therefrom the same 
 lesson as himself. 
 
 They laughed to themselves, and held the whole 
 story for a dream, save one brother, who found some- 
 thing very remarkable in it, and when he had a 
 leisure hour he climbed the rock where the Treseburg 
 had stood, observed the direction of the walls and the 
 moat, and removed the moss, underbrush, and thorns. 
 At last he seemed to have found what he sought. 
 
 One clear moonlight night he mounted with hook 
 and shovel to the ruins : there, where once the tower 
 had stood, he measured three times seven paces to 
 the west from the tower, and the same distance from 
 the gate southward. Then he began to dig, and soon 
 came to a vault. 
 5
 
 66 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The following day the villagers, who had gone to 
 gather sticks, found a vault broken in, and a half- 
 rotten chest open, but empty, and on the ground 
 around lay scattered gold and silver coins with an 
 unknown stamp. 
 
 Legend of Volkinarskeller. 
 
 ON the borders of the wood stand the ruins of the 
 ancient Kloster Michaelstein, which we pass, 
 and go up the valley, the brook acting as our guide. 
 
 It conducts us first past a number of ponds, which 
 formerly supplied the self-denying monks with carp 
 for their fasts, and now swarm with speckled trout. 
 
 Low willows adorn the banks, and bathe their locks 
 in the waves, out of which a thick wood of slender 
 reeds springs forth. 
 
 Now the vale narrows, magnificent walls of rock 
 rise, and picturesque waterfalls toss themselves down 
 the stream. 
 
 Suddenly the forest grows thin ; the vale divides 
 itself into two arms, and in the dale to the right we 
 see, close by the red-roofed forage-house for game, 
 grey rocks and ruins. 
 
 We ascend this dale, and stand by the ruins of 
 the old church Michaelstein, the mother of the later 
 Kloster. 
 
 Beneath the ruins extends a wide cave, which gave 
 rise to the building of the church.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 67 
 
 This cave served centuries ago as the dwelling-place 
 of a hermit named Volkmar, and still bears his 
 name. Others of like mind joined themselves to 
 Volkmar, and thus arose the brotherhood, and the 
 forest church. 
 
 One can now scarcely trace the site of the walls ; 
 fruit-trees run wild, and lilacs mark the spot where 
 once the Kloster garden lay, and besides, no trace of 
 a human habitation where once good and holy men 
 dwelt in the mountain solitude. 
 
 This spot this hermitage was once a renowned 
 shrine, and thousands flocked here to seek consola- 
 tion, for in the cave was a grave where were said to 
 rest the bones of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 Let us enter the cave, which has two openings, one 
 to the south-east, the other to the south-west ; it is of 
 considerable height and breadth, resembling a sub- 
 terranean chapel, formed of cross-arches, and provided 
 with niches. Near the west entrance is the far-famed 
 tomb of Mary. 
 
 The small forest church could boast the protection of 
 the great of the earth. Papal bulls gave indulgences 
 for forty days to all who prayed at, and brought gifts 
 to, the shrine. 
 
 The Empress Matilda, the wife of Henry the Fowler, 
 endowed it with lands, and Kaiser Otto loaded it with 
 favours, so that an enlargement became necessary, and 
 hence an hour's distance down the valley the larger 
 and more magnificent Kloster was built.
 
 68 
 
 From the charter granted by Kaiser Otto, we learn 
 that this cave was not first occupied by Volkmar ; but 
 that a hermitess, Liutburga, dwelt in it long before. 
 Romance has brought them together. 
 
 Volkmar was a stately knight, and Liutburga the 
 fairest of the maidens of the Harz, and they loved each 
 other. In her heart lived only his image, and their 
 souls were knit together. 
 
 But the Kaiser challenged his knights to combat 
 against the Wenden,* who still clung to heathenism, 
 and refused to recognize Christianity, or the authority 
 of the Kaiser. 
 
 Every true knight marched to the conflict, and 
 Volkmar girded on his sword, and the scarf that 
 Liutburga had woven for him, and bade farewell to 
 his beloved. 
 
 She stood on the battlements of her castle, and saw 
 him ride away, and when she could see him no longer 
 her sighs and tears burst forth. 
 
 Before the image of the Virgin she knelt daily, and 
 prayed for his return ; but her petitions seemed un- 
 heeded, for troops of combatants returned from battle, 
 but nowhere could she see the plumed helmet of Volk- 
 mar, and all were silent and sad at her questionings. 
 
 An inexpressible sorrow seized her, she clothed her- 
 self in mourning garments, grew paler than the flower 
 that droops before the mighty frost, and refused to be 
 comforted. She could no longer dwell among men, 
 "Pronounced Venden.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 69 
 
 who understood not her grief, and sought the solitude 
 of the forest. 
 
 One day in her solitary ramble she discovered this 
 rocky cave, and here she resolved to retire, and spend 
 the remainder of her days in contemplation and 
 devotion. 
 
 But her sorrow gnawed at her heart, and she sank to 
 the earth like a drooping flower. The death-angel 
 came, and kissed away her tears. 
 
 But Volkmar was not fallen in battle, but had been 
 only severely wounded and taken prisoner by the 
 Wenden, and led away into their deep forests, and it 
 was long before they gave him back his freedom. 
 
 He fled on the wings of love to the castle of 
 Liutburga, and hearing of her retirement he pene- 
 trated the mountains to seek out the spot. At last 
 he discovered the cave, and his heart was ready to 
 burst with bliss. 
 
 He loudly called her name, but no voice answered, 
 only the echo of the mountains. He climbed the 
 mountain, and reached the entrance to the cave. 
 There lay Liutburga in the moss. " She sleeps !" he 
 thought. 
 
 Yes, she slept. The cheeks were ashy pale, the eye 
 broken, cold and still the lips ; she awoke no more at 
 his call. 
 
 The birds of the wood had sung her death-song, and 
 the trees had showered their leaves and blossoms over 
 the still form.
 
 70 Legends and Tales of 
 
 Volkmar returned no more to the world, which had 
 nothing to offer his broken heart. 
 
 Where Liutburga had dwelt in her grief was now his 
 home ; the crucifix before which she had knelt was his 
 sanctuary, and henceforth he turned all his thoughts 
 to God, and to the consolation of the sorrowing. 
 
 That is the Liutburga of romance. The Liutburga 
 of history * is indeed a highly interesting and noble 
 personality, if less poetic. 
 
 Countess Gisela, of the Harzgau, whose seat was 
 Blankenburg Schloss, after the death of her husband, 
 Earl Unwan, built Kloster Wenthusen, and other 
 convents and churches. 
 
 Once on a journey she was overtaken by the dark- 
 ness, and took refuge in a Kloster. 
 
 Among the nuns who welcomed her, one, Liut- 
 burga, won her affections, and on leaving, Gisela took 
 her home with her. 
 
 After Gisela's death, Liutburga, with the consent of 
 Bishop Thiatgrin, of Halberstadt, retired to this cave 
 somewhere between 827 and 840, in which Bernhard, 
 son of Gisela, built her a cell and a chapel. 
 
 She was renowned for sanctity and good works, and 
 endowed with a superior mind. 
 
 A priest of the cathedral of Halberstadt wrote her 
 biography more than a thousand years ago. 
 
 We return to the later Kloster Michaelstein, which 
 is not so rich in poetic legends. 
 
 * See Ilixtory of Blankenburg,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 71 
 
 Not even a ghostly monk haunts the ruins, nor 
 wanders by moonlight in the venerable cloisters. 
 But on the mountains that surround the dale the 
 two monks, Hans* and Henning, still hold guard. 
 
 Once the Abbot, fearing the attack of an enemy, 
 sent the unfortunate brothers out to watch, with the 
 command not to return till the enemy approached. 
 
 No enemy came, and the Abbot forgot to recall 
 the monks. 
 
 They watched conscientiously till they became 
 stone pillars, and stand still there. The face of one, 
 Hans, is of admirable beauty. 
 
 There is a legend that once when the enemy 
 stormed the gates, St. Michael suddenly appeared 
 over the entrance in a flame, with countenance of 
 wrath and drawn sword, at sight of whom every man 
 fled. 
 
 Reinhilde of the Konigsburg. 
 
 rriHE Konigsburg stood on the right bank of the 
 -L Bode, on a mountain not far from Bodfeld. 
 Originally it belonged to the Saxon Kaisers. The 
 Sausenburg was on the left bank of the Bode, about 
 an hour's walk from Elbingerode. Of the latter 
 nothing is now left save the hewings in the stone 
 masses which formed its foundations. From the 
 battlements of its tower the hunting-castles Bodfeld 
 and Konigsburg could be seen. 
 
 * Pronounced Hunts.
 
 72 Legends and Tales of 
 
 In this romantic neighbourhood, in the thick fir 
 forest, stand the crumbling tower and scraps of 
 broken walls of the Konigsburg, overshadowed by 
 the green veil of the wood, moss, ivy, and wild- 
 flowers, and the mystic fascination of a time more 
 than a thousand years ago. 
 
 Desolate stand the ruins of the once imperial hunt- 
 ing-seat, the moat so thickly overgrown with the 
 buckthorn that no human foot would willingly at- 
 tempt to tread it. 
 
 A light sighing stirs in the foliage like a ghostly 
 breath from the primeval days. 
 
 Dost thou remember the time when we listened to 
 the rustling and moaning of the fir-trees, like echoes 
 of the voices of olden times ? In our dreams we saw 
 the ancient Konigsburg in splendour, heard the forest 
 ring with the noise of the hunt, saw the troop of 
 huntsmen ride back to the castle, among them many 
 a knight, earl, and prince, and foremost rode the 
 Kaiser, with his blushing daughter Reinhilde. 
 
 How radiant was the royal maiden, her green veil 
 floating on the breeze, her clear eyes ga/ing fearlessly 
 around her, her sweet face smiling like a bright 
 morning in spring ! 
 
 The Kaiser bends to her and whispers in her ear. 
 
 Why do her blushing cheeks turn pale ? What has 
 caused the smile to vanish so suddenly from her face, 
 and the tears to rush to her eyes ? 
 
 She turns in fear, and looks upon her following
 
 The Harz Mountains. 73 
 
 train. Why does a noble, knightly countenance there 
 also turn pale ? 
 
 The Kaiser glances in surprise at - his blushing 
 daughter. 
 
 " Dear little Reinhilde, have I grieved thee ? Hast 
 thou understood me ? Two princes beg the honour 
 of thy hand." 
 
 Reinhilde raises her eyes with firmness to his and 
 replies : " Dear father, forgive, but I do not seek for 
 crowns. Thou thyself hast not hidden from me how 
 heavy is the crown. Thou hast often told me that 
 only love makes happy ; and I have found a love 
 deep and pure, and could shout for joy ; a heart, a 
 knightly heart, is mine. Oh ! do not tear this true 
 and noble heart from mine." 
 
 The Kaiser frowns, and the anger-vein swells on his 
 brow as he replies : " Dost thou dare to speak thus to 
 me, thou shameless girl ? Who is the low knave, the 
 insolent coxcomb, who has dared to raise his eyes to 
 the Kaiser's daughter ? My rage shall crush him ; 
 ruin on his head who has robbed me of the joy of 
 my old age the heart of my daughter." 
 
 All stand aghast at the Kaiser's wrath, all save one 
 noble knight, who steps fearlessly forth from the circle, 
 with head proudly raised, a youth of manly beauty, 
 the blond locks falling on his shoulders, the blue eyes 
 blazing in just indignation, approaches the Kaiser, 
 and cries, " Herr Kaiser, it was not a ' knave.' At 
 the breach on the bloody field thou hast said, ' Brave
 
 74 Tales and Legends of 
 
 Werner, thou art my bravest hero !' And thou hast 
 chosen me as companion for thy kingly son. Oft hast 
 thou said to me, ' For Werner's faithfulness where 
 shall I find a worthy reward ?' Herr Kaiser, now 
 thou hast the reward ; take back the word of scorn ; 
 listen to the voice of love ; make two hearts happy." 
 
 Gently Reinhilde clasps the lather's hands ; but the 
 anger-vein swells higher on the imperial brow. 
 
 " Throw the traitor in the deepest dungeon, in 
 chains!" he cries; "and thou, whom I disown as 
 daughter, get out of my sight ; let me never see thee 
 again ! " 
 
 The Kaiser sets spurs to his steed and rides to the 
 Schloss, the attendants bring the unhappy knight to 
 the dungeon, Reinhilde faints and sinks from her 
 steed in the grass, and soon no sound is heard save 
 the sighing in the firs. 
 
 With heavy head resting on his arm, the Kaiser 
 sits alone in the great hall of the Konigsburg. 
 
 Suddenly he starts wildly to his feet ; was that a 
 moan that fell upon his ear ? No, 'tis only the rattle 
 of the hoarse weathercock. Hark ! surely that is a 
 cry of anguish. He listens in agony. 
 
 "No, no !" the watcher cries from the tower. He 
 hears the moaning of the tempest, and rain and hail- 
 stones beat against the windows. 
 
 In heartrending tones the Kaiser cries, " Reinhilde ! 
 It was too hard and cruel ; a loving word had been 
 better."
 
 The Harz Mountains. 75 
 
 Quickly he calls his old servant. " Alter,* bring me 
 my little daughter." 
 
 The servant trembles in terror, and tears burst forth. 
 
 "What ailsthee, Alter?" cries the Kaiser. 
 
 " Herr Kaiser, thou knowest thy little daughter is 
 not here ! Thou hast disowned her." 
 
 The Kaiser stares at him in horror, " Reinhilde not 
 here ? Since when ?" 
 
 " Herr Kaiser, since yesterday. She has not re- 
 turned to the Schloss ; her steed came back without 
 its rider. We sent out messengers, but none have 
 found her." 
 
 The Kaiser turns pale. 
 
 " And thou hast not told me till now ! Reinhilde, 
 Reinhilde not here ? Merciful God ! Reinhilde, my 
 child ! Lost in the forest in storm and tempest ! Up ; 
 ring the alarm ! To horse ! to horse ! Let loose the 
 hounds in the forest ; let the horns resound that my 
 child rnay know the father calls. Bring me my steed> 
 I will myself ride forth into the storm." 
 
 And a thousand torches light up the forest, and the 
 echo of a thousand voices rings far and wide. And 
 the Kaiser's voice combats with the storm as he cries, 
 "Reinhilde! Reinhilde! my little daughter !" 
 
 At length despair seizes the father's heart, he throws 
 himself to the earth in wild agony, beats his brow and 
 tears his hair, while a troop of attendants stand weep- 
 ing around him. 
 
 * Old man.
 
 76 Legends and Tales of 
 
 With a sudden light in his face, he springs to his 
 feet and exclaims, " Back to the Schloss ! There is 
 one who will find Reinhilde, but that one pines in the 
 dungeon. He has loved her like me. I know his love 
 is true ; the God of love will be with him ; lie will find 
 my little daughter." And the Kaiser commands, :< Let 
 Werner be set free ! And when he finds Reinhilde, 
 she herself shall be his reward ; let her be his wife, 
 and he my son !" 
 
 In the dark mountain cave, on the hard, cold ground, 
 kneels the silver-haired hermit Volkmar, and without 
 before the entrance, by the image of the Virgin, Rein- 
 hilde, pale and trembling, is kneeling, in prayer. She 
 vows to become the bride of heaven if the Kaiser does 
 not relent. 
 
 The good old man, when she came yesterday telling 
 him all her sorrow, received her lovingly, and gave her 
 a secure refuge in his peaceful retreat. " Stay here> 
 my daughter," he said ; " hope and trust in God." 
 
 Hark ! The horns are heard, and Volkmar rises 
 hastily from his knees and cries, " Quick, in the cave> 
 Reinhilde, that no one see thee ; the way leads close 
 by the Virgin's shrine." 
 
 The searchers come, and cry, "God greet thee, Volk- 
 mar! Hast thou not seen the Kaiser's daughter ?" 
 
 And Volkmar replies, " I have only seen a bride of 
 heaven, who is resting in the cave." 
 
 They ride on, and Volkmar asks the trembling
 
 The Harz Mountains. 77 
 
 Reinhilde, " Hast thou heard ? They are seeking 
 thee." 
 
 " My father has disowned me. I stand alone. Only 
 in the Kloster can I find a home." 
 
 And now a single man approaches, stops by the 
 entrance, throws himself on his knees before the shrine 
 of the Virgin, and as Reinhilde hears the voice she 
 trembles and turns pale, for the Kaiser it is who prays. 
 
 She exclaims in anguish, " It is my father, but I do 
 not answer, for he has disowned me his child. I stand 
 in the world alone. Only in the Kloster can I find a 
 home." 
 
 The Kaiser rides forth with his train, and a knight 
 comes on foot and alone, kneels before the shrine and 
 prays, and at the sound of his voice Reinhilde's eye 
 grows bright. 
 
 His prayer ended, his voice rings mightily through 
 the forest as he cries, in love and longing, "Reinhilde! 
 Reinhilde !" 
 
 And a silvery voice answers, "Who calls Reinhilde?" 
 
 The Kaiser, who is yet near, turns in joyful surprise 
 in the direction of the voice. " Merciful Heaven !" he 
 cries, "hast thou heard our earnest petitions ?" 
 
 See ! From the dark cave issues a light form, and 
 a cry of joy resounds through the whole forest. And 
 in a blissful embrace kneel before the Kaiser Werner 
 and Reinhilde.
 
 78 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Twelve Knights of the Schonelwrg. 
 
 ABOUT a Stunde* from Treseburg, up the Bode, 
 lies the picturesque foundry village Attenbrack ; 
 the spot where in the old days Schloss Schoneburg 
 looked down from its high, steep mountain seat into 
 the vale below. 
 
 On three sides the mountain rises steep from the 
 Bode, being scarcely approachable save from the south 
 side ; and in wild confusion lie scattered over the 
 mountain sides shapeless heaps of fallen stones, the 
 sole ruins of the once stately castle ; of walls and 
 vaulted chambers no trace remains. 
 
 On the south side the height is connected by a 
 narrow tongue of land with the vast forests that cover 
 the high table-lands of the Harz. 
 
 Seldom is the spot trodden by the foofc of man, ex- 
 cept by some benighted traveller, some inquisitive 
 student of history, and the passionate lover of wood 
 and mountain solitude. 
 
 More frequently resounds the tread of the hunter in 
 this lonely spot, and of the herdsman, who pastures 
 his cows in the beech forest. 
 
 Once a herdsman stood, on St. John's Day, on the 
 narrow path leading to the then not entirely fallen 
 
 * Stunde, speaking of distance in Germany, signifies the distance 
 a man can walk in an hour. It is about a German mile, which is 
 equal to four and seven-tenths of an English mile.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 79 
 
 walls, and dreamed of the days of the past, of the 
 Burg and its knights, dames, and maidens, and the 
 treasures that were said to lie concealed under the 
 ruins. 
 
 The forest rustled mysteriously, mingled with the 
 dreamy tinkling of the cow-bells. 
 
 Suddenly it seemed to him he heard a rumbling 
 noise and loud merry laughter. This was wonderful, 
 but what he saw was still more astounding. For, 
 stealing forward and looking over the broken walls, 
 he saw twelve knights in antique costume, who 
 amused themselves with the game of skittles. 
 
 The herdsman was not sure whether he was awake 
 or dreaming. He rubbed his eyes, and looked be- 
 wildered around him, but it could be no illusion, for 
 there stood the oaks and beeches, every tree of which 
 he knew, there grazed his herd to the music of their 
 jingling bells, the dogs cowering watchfully near, and 
 from the valley could be heard the rattle of the 
 foundry. 
 
 He saw it all clearly, for it was mid-day, and there 
 within the mouldering walls the twelve knights played 
 on, and he heard the rolling and bouncing of the 
 balls. 
 
 But he had not much time for observation, for the 
 knights caught sight of him, and beckoned him to 
 approach. 
 
 He did so trembling. 
 
 They treated him gruffly and severely, and com-
 
 8o. Legends and Tales of 
 
 manded him to set up the fallen pins, and he was 
 obliged to yield. 
 
 Perhaps an hour had passed in this employment, 
 when lo ! no ball more rolled, and looking up to see 
 the cause of the delay, the knights had vanished ! 
 
 It was not a dream, for all the pins lay there before 
 him ; but knowing that his neighbours in Attenbrack 
 would hold him for a dreamer without proof, he 
 decided to take the pins home with him. 
 
 But they were so large and heavy, he could not 
 carry them all, so he took only the king. 
 
 All listened incredulously to his tale of the knights 
 and old dress, and feared he was not quite right in 
 his head. 
 
 Then he drew forth from his pocket the pin, as 
 proof; but it was so heavy he could not hold it, and 
 it fell to the ground with a clear ring ; when, lifting 
 it up, it was found to be pure gold. 
 
 No one doubted longer, but all hastened to the 
 ruins to get the other eight pins ; but they were all 
 only of wood of light Taxus wood. 
 
 Tlie 
 
 IN the midst of the bright landscape opposite Schloss 
 Ballenstedt rise the two huge boulders called the 
 Gegensteine, which mark the eastern termination of 
 the Devil's Wall. 
 
 The taste and passion for the wonderful and mys-
 
 The Harz Mountains. 81 
 
 terious are too strong in the human mind to permit of 
 these majestic rocks being without their Sage. 
 
 In the time long ago, when all this district was 
 covered with dense forests, swamps and morasses* 
 where now ripen the golden corn, fruits, and every 
 blessing that crowns the husbandman's toil, and 
 wild beasts preyed on the around-lying mountains, 
 evil spirits practised their devices in the Gegen- 
 steine. 
 
 In the distance one could see during the night, 
 especially at midnight, now fiery balls, now flames of 
 fire rising in the air, and could hear death cries, 
 or the most delightful tones, which the evil spirits 
 employed to decoy unwary mortals to destruction. 
 
 Many who ridiculed the idea of danger, paying no 
 heed to friendly warnings forced their way through 
 thorns and thickets to behold the mystery, and 
 returned no more. 
 
 They were carried by demons through the air, and 
 one heard their moanings of despair without the 
 power to save them. 
 
 Only he who was consecrated to God could approach 
 the Gegensteine unharmed. 
 
 One morning a farmer rode before sunrise from 
 Ballenstedt to Quedlinburg, to offer prayers and obtain 
 absolution in the convent church, only just founded 
 by the Kaiserin Matilda for in Ballenstedt there 
 was neither church nor pater. 
 
 Lost in devotional thoughts, hence without fear, he 
 6
 
 82 
 
 rode quietly along ; an irresistible languor seized him 
 and he fell asleep. 
 
 The nag, feeling no longer the hand guiding the 
 reins, turned aside to seek for himself a fresh break- 
 fast, stood still, and began to graze. 
 
 The farmer awoke. He rubbed his eyes in amaze- 
 ment, for he found himself in an unknown spot, in a 
 dark thicket, without road or path ; all round him 
 towered mighty rocks, that almost shut him in. He 
 heard the roaring of water outside, beneath him a rag- 
 ing din, and before him yawned an awful chasm. 
 
 The farmer had never heard of such a wild and 
 savage scene so near his place of residence, and fancied 
 he had been transplanted through enchantment to 
 some distant land. Anxiously he gazed around him, 
 convinced himself he was not dreaming, for the sun 
 was shining upon the savage rocks, and his nag grazed 
 unconcerned. 
 
 The thought occurred to him he might be in the 
 domains of wicked spirits, and a cold shudder ran 
 over him ; but he lacked the courage to turn back, 
 fearing some monster might follow him. He was 
 indeed in a painful position, for it was out of the 
 question that he should remain where he was. 
 
 Meanwhile the terrible din and roar had ceased, all 
 grew peaceful, the birds sang joyfully in the sunlight, 
 and all notion of danger vanished from his mind. 
 
 He gained confidence as he looked around him to 
 mark the place, resolving next day to bring his
 
 The Harz Mountains. 
 
 wife and children to see it, and convince them that all 
 the tales about the terrors of the Gegensteine were 
 untrue. 
 
 " But what may there be in the cave yonder ? " he 
 thought. 
 
 He would like to know, and now arose a struggle 
 between curiosity and fear. 
 
 " I will venture it ! " he cried, dismounted, tied his 
 horse to a tree, and went with light steps, as if afraid 
 some one might hear him, over the fallen rocks, and 
 stretched his neck to look into the cave. 
 
 " Jesus, Mary, and Joseph ! " he cried, clapping his 
 hands together above his head ; " what do my eyes 
 see ? " And what did they ? 
 
 In the middle of the pit, or cavern, a large brewer's 
 copper, full of gold pieces, every one as large as the 
 palm of the hand. 
 
 Upon it rested a silver tray with a border of fiery 
 carbuncles, and letters and figures in the centre formed 
 of garnets. 
 
 Beside the copper lay a new driving whip, and on 
 the other side lay a savage black bull-.dog. 
 
 The farmer stood with crossed arms for at least ten 
 minutes, gazing at the immense treasures, thinking 
 what was to be done to secure them without falling 
 into the power of the savage guard the dog. 
 
 At last he exclaimed, " I will attempt it. I will not 
 take much, but I must have the whip ! " 
 
 Encouraged, he walked into the cave, his eye always
 
 84 Legends and Tales of 
 
 fixed on the dog, till at last he reached the copper ; 
 the dog did not move ; he plunged both hands into 
 the gold coins, filled his pockets, and with two leaps 
 .reached his horse, where he sank down overcome with 
 terror and joy. 
 
 Recovered, he emptied his pockets, counted the 
 glittering coins, and dreamed thereby of a happy 
 future. 
 
 His horse neighed and pawed the ground impa- 
 tiently. 
 
 " Patience, old nag ! " he cried ; " I must have that 
 beautiful whip." And again he descended emboldened 
 into the cave, seized the whip, and turned to go, when 
 his eye fell again upon the tempting gold ; he could 
 not resist the allurement, and plunged both hands 
 twice into the copper. 
 
 At the second handful the dog rose and ground his 
 teeth in rage ; but Jacob had lost all fear, and cried, 
 " Growl away ; but one must have all good things 
 three times, and I shall take another handful." 
 
 But as he did so the eyes of the dog shot fire, an 
 awful groaning, and noise, a raging storm, thunder, 
 lightning, with cracking of the rocks, broke forth in 
 fury. The earth trembled, the rocks fell upon each 
 other, trees were rent into splinters, torrents burst 
 from the rocks, and the heavens enveloped themselves 
 in night and flames. 
 
 The unlucky farmer never knew how he got out of 
 the cave ; only, as he came to himself, he remembered
 
 The Harz Mountains. 85 
 
 having seen the Gott-sei-bei-uns* in the midst of a 
 terrible confusion and fire-rain in giant form, sur- 
 rounded by a thousand imps, rise out of the pit, holding 
 in one claw the copper, with the gold, in the other the 
 tray. 
 
 Was he or had he been dreaming ? No, for had he 
 not the whip in his hand ? 
 
 But the tremendous weight in his pockets weighed 
 him down. Rejoiced to think of his treasure, he dived 
 into his pockets for the gold and what did he find ? 
 
 For every piece of gold a pebble, as large again, and 
 not one piece of gold ! 
 
 He stared at the stones, crying and trembling with 
 pain and distress. 
 
 Still weeping, he mounted his horse, reached home, 
 sank exhausted, laid himself down in his bed, from 
 which he never rose ; and in a fortnight he lay in his 
 grave. 
 
 Since then the foul fiend has guarded his treasures 
 in the Gegensteine, and in only one way can the en- 
 chantment be broken and the treasure won. 
 
 When a maiden, born on the ocean, pure as the 
 dawn, comes here alone at the midnight hour of 
 Hallowe'en, kneels and with raised hand calls her own 
 name aloud three times, and then entreats the Most 
 High to break the enchantment, and annihilate the 
 
 * Gott-sei-bei-uns "God be with us." A name given to the 
 devil ; since when he appeared in disguise to deceive people, he 
 is said to have used this hypocritical expression.
 
 86 Legends and Tales of 
 
 monster in the rocks, they shall sink at her prayer, 
 the treasures of gold and gems shall rise to the surface, 
 become the maiden's possession, and the hobgoblin 
 shall vanish for ever. 
 
 The Three Crystal Goblets and Three (Jolden Balls of Schloss 
 Falkenstein. 
 
 THE Lady von Falkenstein was once summoned 
 by the Berggeist* to attend the Queen of the 
 Gnomes in her extremity. He conducted her through 
 long dark subterranean passages to her fairy Majesty ; 
 and, after the birth of a son, the Queen presented her 
 with three golden balls and three crystal goblets, with 
 the warning to preserve them well, for the fate of the 
 Asseburgs was closely connected with^them. 
 
 The three golden balls have been unhappily lost, and 
 only two goblets remain. 
 
 Two sons of the family when visiting their widowed 
 mother at Wallhausen, besought her to permit them 
 to drink out of these mysterious goblets, which she 
 imprudently allowed ; and as they struck their glasses 
 together with a merry prosit, one was* shattered. 
 
 Deep melancholy seized the youths, and during their 
 drive home the wild horses plunged with the carriage 
 into a deep abyss, where the youths were found broken 
 in pieces. 
 
 Since then the two remaining ghostly gifts have 
 
 * Berggeist spirit of the mountains.
 
 The ffarz Mountains. 87 
 
 been sacredly preserved one, of green-yellow glass, 
 in Hinneburg ; the other, of mountain crystal, in Fal- 
 kenstein. 
 
 Tidian's Hohle, or Cave. 
 
 BELOW Schloss Falkenstein, in the valley where 
 the gentle Selke winds through her flower-strewn 
 paths, the shepherd of the Graf von Falkenstein grazed 
 his sheep on the dew-gathering meadows. 
 
 It was the morning of St. John's Day, and every 
 Harzer knows that St. John's Eve and St. John's Day 
 are rich in miracles in these mountains, and unfold 
 many a mysterious flower. 
 
 Not only at this time is the St. John's wort gathered, 
 which is said to bear a red dewdrop at midnight 
 hence called St. John's blood and to be a sure remedy 
 against every disease ; but also the Spring-ivurzel, or 
 caper-spurge, which bursts open gates, and even opens 
 the earth and the rocks; the magic wand Wun- 
 schelrutlie Aaron's rod which points out the spot 
 where buried treasures or the precious metals lie 
 hidden ; aid the Wunderbiume marvel of Peru 
 which opens the eyes of him who is so fortunate as to 
 find this wonder-flower, so that he sees sunken or en- 
 chanted castles, and discovers untold riches in gold, 
 diamonds, and rubies. 
 
 Tidian found a tiny blue flower, attracted to it by 
 its perfume and its beauty, which must have been one
 
 88 Legends and Tales of 
 
 of the miracle-working plants, for no sooner had he 
 stuck it in his hatband than a never-before-seen cave 
 in the side of the mountain opened its splendours to 
 his dazzled eyes. 
 
 He entered it, his mind full of tales of buried trea- 
 sures, filled his pockets with the glittering sand and 
 stones, with the intention of offering them for sale to 
 a jeweller in Aschersleben. 
 
 They proved to be more valuable than he had hoped, 
 and the jeweller begged him to sell to no one but 
 himself. 
 
 The fame of this gold speedily spread, and it hap- 
 pened that Graf von Falkenstein himself visited the 
 goldsmith, when by chance this gold was spoken of. 
 
 "Yes," said the jeweller, "it is indisputable that 
 Tidian's gold is as good again as any other." 
 
 "Tidian's gold !" cried the Earl, surprised. "Why 
 do you give it that name ? " 
 
 " The man from whom I buy it is Tidian." 
 
 Instantly it occurred to the Earl that his shepherd 
 Tidian had lately grown rich, and he might be the 
 seller. His avarice awoke ; he hastened home, and 
 demanded to know the cause of Tidian's wealth. 
 
 True of heart, the shepherd told him everything, 
 showed him the concealed way to the cave, and in 
 company they carried away much of the costly trea- 
 sure ; till at last avarice awaked the fear in the mind 
 of the Earl that Tidian might at some future time re- 
 veal the secret to some one else.
 
 The Hars Mountains. 89 
 
 This thought left him no peace. At length, to make 
 himself secure of the entire wealth of the cave, he put 
 out Tidian's eyes and shut him up in the castle 
 dungeon. 
 
 Then the Earl hurried alone to the cave ; he did not 
 know that the flower which Tidian wore in his hat 
 caused the cave to remain open. 
 
 The unhappy shepherd tore the flower in pieces, 
 stamped upon and cursed it and the cave, and wished 
 it to close and never again to open until, among the 
 descendants of the Earl, a lame, a dumb, and a blind 
 Falkenstein had ruled. 
 
 Immediately the cave shut with a thundering noise, 
 and the greedy Earl wanders there yet, for the en- 
 chantment is not yet broken. 
 
 The Magdesprung* and Magdetrappe.t 
 
 IN the valley of the Selke, that fair Undina of the 
 Harz, near Alexisbad, rises the majestic rock 
 Magdesprung; and opposite, on the other bank of .the 
 river, the Magdetrappe, both of which are so famed in 
 fable. 
 
 In the latter rock one sees the impressions of giant 
 feet, and Romance attempts to account for them. She 
 is at least as competent to do so as anybody else. 
 
 * Maytlespruny maiden's leap. 
 \-Mayletrappe maideu'a footprint.
 
 90 Legends and Tales of 
 
 A giant virgin of the grey primeval times saw from 
 the Magdesprung her lover on a mountain on the 
 opposite bank. 
 
 Her ardent love draws her to him, but she cannot 
 climb the steep rocks, nor swim the Selke, then a 
 torrent. 
 
 So she dares for what will not love dare ? to leap 
 over the wide space that divides the two rocks, leaving 
 the impress of her feet in the rock, since called the 
 Magdetrappe. 
 
 Another Sage has a totally different motive. 
 
 A maiden of the Huns, a disciple of Diana, roaming 
 fearlessly through the vale, hears from the Magde- 
 sprung a cry of distress. She recognizes the voice that 
 cries for aid, and her eagle eye perceives her friend 
 being dragged away by two mountain robbers. 
 
 Her blood boils, and in the anguish of her soul the 
 brave Hun maiden leaps the abyss, falls like an aveng- 
 ing angel upon the villainous mountaineers, with two 
 blows of her spear pierces them both to the heart, and 
 conducts her friend and favourite for she is said to 
 have been a Hun Queen home to her parents.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 91 
 
 Sage of Schloss (Jiiestenberg.* 
 
 THE Ritter Knaught had a lovely little daughter, 
 whose chief pleasure was to gather wild-flowers 5 
 for this purpose she went often with her nurse into 
 the forest. But one day her nurse lost sight of her, 
 and not being able to find her, hastened in great terror 
 to the castle to give the alarm. 
 
 The Ritter summons all his retainers with a horn, 
 and they storm through the forest whole nights and 
 days, but of the lost child no trace. 
 
 At last one day, as the father gazes from the battle- 
 ments of the castle, he sees people approaching bearing 
 the Maien.f hears their shouts of joy, and in their 
 midst beholds his lost Rosamund, decked as Queen of 
 May! 
 
 A coaler had met the child wandering through the 
 wood, took her at first for an angel, and in his hut 
 the retainers had found her. 
 
 The happy father bestowed gifts lavishly, and in- 
 stituted an annual Volksfest, and called his castle 
 Questenberg. 
 
 To this day a popular festival is held here, but 
 whether connected with this tradition is uncertain. 
 
 *Queaten wreaths or garlands of flowers. 
 
 \-Maien green branches of the birch used to deck the Maypole, 
 and in Thuringia and other parts of Germany the churches at 
 Pentecost.
 
 92 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The youths of Agnesdorf have the right by an 
 ancient statute, of digging up . a young oak on the 
 Questenberg ;* the tree must be carried, and after it 
 is planted is decorated with wreaths of flowers. 
 
 They then go in procession to the parsonage, con- 
 duct the pastor to the church, when Divine service is 
 held ; after which all return in procession to the 
 newly-planted oak, and after all have partaken of re- 
 freshments they dance around it, and the youths 
 shoot at the target. 
 
 Barbarossa and the Kyffhaiiser. 
 
 ON this mountain that overlooks the Golden Plain, 
 arnid the beech and oak woods that clothe it, 
 stand the ruins of a square tower built of red sand- 
 stone, broken walls and arches of the ancient gate- 
 
 ' O 
 
 way, gables, and the remains of the chapel of the 
 fortress, where the first Electors and Emperors of 
 Germany held their court. 
 
 Tradition and romance linger with an irresistible 
 fascination around these lonely ruins. 
 
 Tradition tells us that Barbarossa never died, but 
 remains enchanted in the heart of the Kyffhauser. 
 
 He sits in an ivory chair by a marble table, his 
 head resting upon his arm, and his long, red beard has 
 overgrown the whole table like moss. He wears the 
 
 * The custom of digging up the young oak is now limited to once 
 every fifteen years.
 
 The Harz Mountains, 93 
 
 imperial mantle, and the knightly forms of his old 
 courtiers, like spectres, come forth from their rocky 
 chambers and place upon his aged uncovered head 
 the oldest crown of Germany glittering with diamonds. 
 His innocent daughter is the only attendant, or, ac- 
 cording to other legends, a dwarf. 
 
 The Kaiser's eyes are closed, but at times he seems 
 to awake from his enchanted slumber, and new life 
 seems to animate the stiffened limbs. But he cannot 
 awake, nor rise from his seat, nor leave the enchanted 
 chamber until Germany's enemies are fallen and she 
 is free. He seemed about to throw off the enchanted 
 fetters in the days of Maximilian, again in Luther's 
 time. 
 
 At the time of the Rhine Treaty, and when the first 
 Napoleon won the brilliant victories of Ulm, Auster- 
 litz, and Jena, the eyes of the old Redbeard sparkled 
 with anger and grief, and at his cry of rage, lightnings 
 flashed through the dark chambers of the KyfF hauser, 
 thunders rolled through its rocky caverns, and Bar- 
 barossa slumbered again till the great victory of the 
 Allies in the " Battle of the Nations"* awaked him, 
 and at the death of Napoleon on St. Helena he broke 
 the enchantment, and Napoleon sits in his place. 
 
 There are many versions of this legend. 
 
 One holy day, a miner rambling to the Kyffhauser, 
 to rest under the trees and indulge in devotional re- 
 flections, saw, as he reached the ruined tower, a monk 
 
 * V ijlka nchlachl battle of Leipzig.
 
 94 Legends and Tales of 
 
 with a long grey beard, who addressed him, saying ; 
 " Come ! I have long expected thee ; thou shalt see 
 the enchanted Kasier. Graumannel has brought me 
 the Springwurzel* and I must have a mortal to accom- 
 pany me ; no evil shall befall thee." 
 
 The monk leads him to a green spot surrounded 
 with walls, forms with the staff which he carries a 
 circle around him and his companion, takes from his 
 pocket a gold-coloured velvet book, and begins to 
 murmur and read, no word of which the miner under- 
 stands. 
 
 Suddenly there is a terrible clap of thunder. The 
 mountain cracks, the circle on which they stand be- 
 comes loose, and sinks slowly into the mountain ; the 
 miner, in terror, clings to the cowl of the monk. At 
 last they reach firm ground. 
 
 Now they go through a long dark passage to great 
 brass gates. The monk touches them with the Spring- 
 wurzel, and immediately they open. They enter an 
 aisle, lighted by a brilliant lamp, and again stand 
 before a door. 
 
 The monk cries, " Hephata ! " and the doors open. 
 
 They enter a large, brilliantly-lighted, magnificent 
 chapel ; the walls are of marble ; the altar is of beaten 
 gold, and its eternal lamp bathes all in a wondrous 
 light. 
 
 The miner cannot gaze enough at the marvellous 
 sight, crosses and recrosses himself ; the monk kneels 
 *See Tidian's Cave,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 95 
 
 at the golden altar and says an Ave Maria. Then he 
 rises, commands his companion to remain standing in 
 the middle of the chapel, and approaches the door op- 
 posite the one by which they had entered. 
 
 At his mighty word this door opens also. 
 
 The imperial chamber, or throne-room, is brilliaritly 
 lighted ; on the glittering golden throne, in imperial 
 robes, sits Barbarossa,* sad and silent. 
 
 The monk approaches the enchanted sovereign and 
 bows reverently. 
 
 The Kaiser returns the greeting graciously, and the 
 monk lifts with great solemnity some object from the 
 ground, again bows low before the monarch, and re- 
 tires slowly to the door, seizes the hand of the aston- 
 ished miner, who has gazed as in a dream at the 
 splendour of the enchanted chamber, leads him to the 
 green circle, which begins at once to rise, and soon 
 reaches the summit of the mountain. 
 
 The miner draws a long breath, receives two small 
 metal rods from the monk, who exclaims, " Gelobt sei 
 Jesus Christ!" and before the bewildered man can 
 respond, " In Ewigkeit !" the mysterious monk has 
 vanished. 
 
 * Barba, the beard ; Rossa, red.
 
 96 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Bnrgfraulein * of Osterode. 
 
 ONE Sunday morning early, a poor linen weaver 
 was walking to Osterode. 
 
 Aurora showed her gaily laughing and blushing 
 face above the green mountains, a balsamic freshness 
 floated over the valleys and streams, the peaks of the 
 woody heights swam in the blue ether, and the dew- 
 bathed mountain flowers sparkled in the sun's golden 
 splendour. The songs of the birds rang out of the 
 thickets, and soft chimes rose from the villages sum- 
 moning to worship and praise a mild, blissful peace 
 hovered over the entire scene. 
 
 It was long before the wanderer noticed these sur- 
 rounding beauties of the morning, for a heavy sorrow 
 lay at his heart. A beloved wife lay at home ill, six 
 hungry children waited with her anxiously for his re- 
 turn, and he must return with empty hands. 
 
 His rich cousin, from whom he had hoped for assist- 
 ance, had repulsed him with cruel words, and now his 
 future lay dark and hopeless before him. 
 
 But as the sun rose higher, as all Nature bloomed 
 and sent forth her frankincense of praise, and the 
 streams murmured of peace, he grew more composed. 
 
 " How glorious ! how wonderful !" he thought, as 
 he stood still and ga/ed around him ; " and what a 
 mystery it is that only man is so often shut out from 
 * tturyfraultin- castle fairy.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 97 
 
 the universal enjoyment of creation. Why should he 
 be crushed to the earth, and provide in sorrow and 
 pain for his bodily sustenance, while the birds sing 
 and the flowers bloom free from care ? Doth He not 
 clothe the lilies, and give the rose and violet their 
 perfume and exquisite hues ? Can the Eternal Father 
 care less for an immortal soul ? No, no, never !" 
 
 He began again to move forward, singing that 
 noblest hymn in the German language, which has 
 been so perfectly translated by John Wesley, begin- 
 ning 
 
 " Befiehl Du Deine Wege."* 
 
 When he came to the lines 
 
 "Avj! auf! Gib Deinem Schmerze 
 Und Sorgen gute Nacht. 
 Lassfahren, was das Herze 
 Betriibt und traurig macht ! "- 
 
 he quickened his pace with a firmer tread and lighter 
 heart. 
 
 Perhaps he would have sung on to the end of the 
 hymn, had not a voice, clear as a silver bell, greeted 
 him with " Guten Morgen!" 
 
 The singer looked in the direction of the voice, and 
 stood like one transfixed at the sight of the vision 
 before him. 
 
 On the banks of the brook which flowed past his 
 
 * Commit thou all thy ways. 
 
 7
 
 98 Legends and Tales of 
 
 path sat a lovely maiden clad in white, and bathed 
 her marble-white feet in the crystal water. 
 
 Before he could recover from his astonishment, the 
 figure rose and approached him, saying in a voice of 
 the most delicious melody 
 
 " Thou sangst just now a beautiful song, that was 
 made for the troubled. May help be as near every 
 one who sings it as to thee ; for know, thou art come 
 at a most happy hour. It is only permitted me once 
 a year to be at this spot ; and whoever meets me here 
 and deserves it as thou, him I make happy if wealth 
 can make him happy. Listen, then : when the bells 
 ring midnight, leave thy cottage, and climb the moun- 
 tain in silence to the ruins of Burg Osterode. Between 
 the sunken walls thou wilt find a flower ; pluck it, and 
 instantly all the treasures of the heart of the mountain 
 will be revealed to thine eye, from which thou mayst 
 take as much as thou wilt. Go now thy way, and 
 carry comfort and hope to thy wife. My time is 
 expired." 
 
 The slender form, the pale, loving face, transparent 
 as moonlight, the long'golden hair, were in a twinkling 
 vanished. 
 
 Wonderfully cheered, the weaver hastened home 
 and related his vision to his suffering wife and little 
 children, and they waited with impatience for the 
 appointed hour. At last the leaden-footed hours had 
 passed it was midnight. 
 
 The weaver kissed his wife and hastened forth. It
 
 The Harz Mountains. 99 
 
 was a glorious night. The full moon shone, the quail 
 sang her nightly song. The picturesque ruin con- 
 trasted wonderfully in its dark grey masses with the 
 cloudless blue of the heavens and the silver moon- 
 light. 
 
 A peculiar light shone out of an arched chamber ; 
 he followed it, and there sat the pale maiden, adorned 
 with a wreath of white roses in her hair. She raised 
 her jasper-blue eyes, looked kindly on him, and 
 beckoned him to approach and gather the shining 
 flower. 
 
 The weaver obeyed and tremblinglv plucked the 
 
 lily. 
 
 Hardly had he the flower in his hand when a fearful, 
 rumbling sound arose in the heart of the mountain 
 the ground close to his feet sank crashing into the 
 depths, and a huge cauldron rose in flame, filled to the 
 brim with glittering gold pieces. The maiden bade 
 him take what he would, for he was so overcome with 
 astonishment and terror that he could not move. 
 
 At her friendly voice he recovered from his fear, 
 filled pockets and hat with the coins, bowed low and 
 reverently, left the magic chamber, and hurried back 
 to his cottage and the sun rose on two happy people. 
 Every anniversary of the day they went to the ruins 
 to thank the fairy, who, however, ever afterward 
 remained invisible.
 
 ioo Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Key Fairy of the Grimstersburg. 
 
 AT midnight, when the moonlight rests on the 
 rustling oaks, or the winter snow glitters and 
 winds howl, there rises a white form from the ruins 
 of this robber Schloss, a wreath of flowers around the 
 head, and in the girdle a bunch of keys. 
 
 Centuries ago a convent stood near, and a monk 
 belonging to it, longing to possess some of the 
 treasures of the underworld, was once bold enough, as 
 the bells rang midnight, to climb to the spot where 
 the fairy dwelt. 
 
 He used the formula employed to open the gates of 
 the spirit-world, and instantly, white as a swan, rose 
 the virgin beautiful to behold. 
 
 "What dost thou desire?" she asked. 
 
 The monk approached her too boldly, begging for 
 the jewels of the depths, and she gave him such a 
 blow with her keys that he fled in terror, and never 
 dared to visit the place again. 
 
 Soon after, as a shepherd was feeding his sheep on 
 a meadow near, a blooming, quiet maiden came and 
 gathered flowers, which she bound in a garland > 
 approaching him, and looking kindly at him, she let 
 a flower fall. He picked it up and put it in his 
 hatband. 
 
 The maiden departed smiling, but beckoned him to 
 follow her. 
 
 Soon they reached the summit of the Giintersburg.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 101 
 
 They entered a subterranean passage, a door opened, 
 and the youth beheld the wonders of the fairy-world. 
 Gold and precious stones glittered in the soft starlight 
 that illuminated the vaulted chambers. 
 
 "Take what thou wilt," said the fairy; "but choose 
 wisely." 
 
 He filled his pockets with gold and costly jewels, 
 but in his rapid movements the flower fell from his 
 hat. He looked around seeking the door and rushed 
 out, hearing only the words, "Forget not the most 
 beautiful treasure," and never stopped till he had 
 reached the meadow and his sheep. He emptied his 
 pockets of the precious treasures, when lo ! they were 
 worthless stones. 
 
 Legend of the Devil's Mill. 
 
 THE summit of the Ramberg, or Victor's Hb'he, is 
 strewed with gigantic ruins of the primeval 
 rocks, and is called the Brocken of the Unterharz* 
 
 Two huge granite boulders, lying as if they had 
 been placed there by hands, are the remains of the 
 Teufelsmiihle. 
 
 At the base of the mountain, in the ages long ago, a 
 miller possessed a windmill. 
 
 But the mill, an inheritance from his great-great- 
 grandfather, was in a tumble-down condition, and 
 when the wind blew from the north or west the sweeps 
 
 * Unterharz Lower Harz. The Brocken is in the Oberharz 
 Upper Harz.
 
 IO2 Legends and Tales of 
 
 stood motionless, for mountain and forest intercepted 
 the " breath of God." 
 
 Often the miller had sat on the summit of the 
 mountain, and thought how nice it would be if the mill 
 only stood there in the free, full breeze, with a strong 
 tower, built from the materials that lay scattered 
 around in superfluous abundance. 
 
 Once, as he sat and mused in the twilight, the bats 
 and owls just beginning their nocturnal rounds, a 
 huge, swarthy labourer suddenly appeared before him, 
 greeted him with a Gott-sei-bei-uns ! and told him he 
 would build him a mill, as soon as the miller signed a 
 promise with blood to be his in thirty years. 
 
 Want, avarice, and vanity won the day with their 
 unholy counsel, and the bond was signed. 
 
 Suddenly scores of little black figures issued forth 
 from the darkness of the night, and began to work 
 among the rocks ; trees were cut down with a stroke, 
 chisel and hammer rang on the granite, and the work 
 went forward with the rapidity of enchantment. 
 
 The fear of the miller rose to despair, and as he saw 
 the roof and the huge sweeps set up and finished, and 
 the last millstone rolled to its place, he seized it with 
 the power of a deadly terror, threw it from the rollers 
 with such force, that it rolled down the mountain. 
 
 Then the black wings of the arch-fiend unfolded and 
 spread themselves, he soared high in the air, let fall 
 the millstone on the miller, who was buried beneath 
 it and the ruins of the mill, broken to atoms.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 103 
 
 The Origin of the Rammelsberg Mine, near Goslar. 
 
 THE rich treasures of the Rammelsberg were 
 discovered in 970, according to tradition, by 
 accident. 
 
 Otto the Great hunted in the forest. His squire 
 Ramra dismounted, tied his horse to a tree, and 
 went after some game that had been shot. The 
 impatient animal pawed and stamped, and his rider 
 returning, found a glittering piece of silver ore laid 
 bare. 
 
 Another story is, that the discovery was made by a 
 servant-girl in the mill at the base of the mountain. 
 
 She arose one morning before daybreak, and went 
 out to gather wood, when she saw a fire burning on 
 the mountain. She hurried to the spot, and found 
 several men with white beards sitting around it. 
 
 Approaching them, she asked permission to take 
 some of the burning coals to kindle her fire. 
 
 o 
 
 They gave no answer, but sat motionless, and gazed 
 upon the ground. 
 
 At last she took some coals, saying to herself, " No 
 answer means yes," carried them home and laid them 
 on the hearth, but they would not burn. This she 
 repeated several times, but the coals, once thrown on 
 the hearth, refused to burn. 
 
 At last it became broad day, and a great heap of 
 gold lay on the hearth, and on the spot where she had
 
 IO4 Legends and Tales of 
 
 seen the fire, lay only pebbles. Search was made, 
 and the wealth of the mountain discovered. 
 
 A similar tradition, with slight variations, is told 
 of the Burgmukle, or castle mill, near Aschersleben, 
 on the Wolfsberg. 
 
 The tradition is quite as probable that Askanas, 
 grandson of Noah, died on the Wolfsberg in 1964 
 after the Creation, having left the East a few centu- 
 ries previous, to escape idolatry. 
 
 Legend of the Hoppelberg. 
 
 MANY and mighty tribes as the Wenden, Katten, 
 and Sassen once dwelt in the Harz. 
 
 Bloody battles have been fought for the possession 
 of this district, whose dense forests and impassable 
 valleys afforded not only defence, but the pleasures 
 of the chase. 
 
 We find proofs of their existence here in huge 
 mounds filled with human skulls and bones, and in 
 the names of some of her villages, as, for example, 
 Dorf Kattenstedt. 
 
 These primeval mountaineers were most disturbed 
 by a wild and powerful monastic tribe of giant si/e and 
 strength, who frequently broke into the mountains, 
 plundered their huts, murdered children, women, and 
 old men, and led away the strong men into slavery. 
 
 Sometimes they only came in small numbers, but 
 the terror of their name went before them, and
 
 The Harz Mountains. 105 
 
 caused the inhabitants, despite their peculiar bravery, 
 without opposition, to flee into the ravines and caves, 
 while the enemy took possession of all they could 
 lay hands on. 
 
 One called these giant people the Huns. No other 
 race possessed such immense size and terrible strength. 
 They were held to be unconquerable, and mighty 
 magicians. Nevertheless, it happened that once when 
 a body of these giants broke into these mountains, 
 the bravest of the inhabitants united in defence 
 against them ; clad in steel, with shield and spear, 
 they marched to meet the advancing foe. 
 
 The Huns, surprised at opposition, and the sight of 
 the huge weapons of the mountaineers, hesitated to 
 begin the attack. 
 
 Then the king of the Huns came forward and cried, 
 in scorn, " Do you fear these dwarf figures ? Tarry 
 here ; I alone will fight their whole army, which ex- 
 tends itself beyond our view. As the storm-wind 
 breaks in pieces the trees of the mountains, so shall 
 these fall before my strong arm." 
 
 He seized his lance and battle-axe, hurled his jave- 
 lin into the thickest ranks of the enemy, his arrow 
 to that point where their leader stood, and stormed 
 after them down the hill like a rock suddenly broken 
 from the mountain's side, crushing and destroying all 
 on his way, defending himself against the cloud of 
 arrows that met his advance with his hu^e shield. 
 
 o 
 
 His followers remained on the summit of the hill
 
 106 Legends and Tales of 
 
 and followed with flashing eyes their hero king, that 
 they might be ready to hasten to his aid if in danger. 
 
 The crashing of his sword, as it rent helmet of oak 
 and coat of mail, resounded above the wild cry of the 
 combatants and the clashing of shields. 
 
 Unceasing was his way through the ranks, and 
 dying and maimed marked his path. At last he 
 reached the spot where the commander stood sur- 
 rounded by his braves, and here his progress was 
 arrested. 
 
 Stubborn is the conflict ; surrounded and shut in, 
 his position seems terrible ; and the onlooking Huns 
 cry out, " Shall we hasten to his aid ?" 
 
 And others answer, " No, no ; he would be enraged 
 if we deprived him of the glory of being the sole 
 conqueror. But see ! see ! The enemy grows weak ; 
 now he totters ; our king wields more quickly, more 
 mightily his arm ! They sink ! They fly ! Victory ! 
 Victory ! Great is the glory of our tribe, and of our 
 mighty champion." 
 
 They raise the song of triumph, and march to meet 
 the royal conqueror, who leans upon his spear, and 
 looks upon his advancing army without going for- 
 ward to receive it. 
 
 He gives them a sign ; they raise his helmet and 
 loosen the coat of mail ; and the hero sinks lifeless 
 on his bloody shield. 
 
 Strong and deep is the sorrow of his people, and 
 loud are the lamentations of woe.
 
 The J-farz Mountains. 107 
 
 At length one of the elders of the tribe exclaims 
 " Why do we lament the fallen ? Is not death the, 
 destiny of all, and is there a more glorious death than 
 that of the conqueror in the hour of victory? Let us 
 make a grave for our king on the field of his victory, 
 a grave that shall not only receive his ashes, but pro- 
 claim his victory to the most distant centuries." 
 
 And they did so. They made a funeral pile, and 
 laid the victor, borne upon his shield, upon it, and the 
 Huns formed a circle around the burning wood and 
 sang the death-song, led by the bards. 
 
 " The people shall see their king no more. And 
 the halls of his palace must remain forever desolate. 
 Never again shall the people hear his voice, but in 
 their hearts he shall dwell forever." 
 
 The flames grow less, the death-song ceases. In 
 silence they gather the ashes in the sacred urn, lay 
 the shield upon the ground, the urn upon it, and his 
 armour above it. 
 
 Many lay upon the sacred heap what is held most 
 dear, hunting spear or battle-axe. And now the 
 whole tribe sets hand to the work. 
 
 " We will build," they said, " a grave which neither 
 man can destroy nor storms and tempests wash away." 
 
 And they heaped rock on rock, and levelled whole 
 hills to the plain to pile up the giant grave to a giant 
 king, and called it the Hero's Grave. 
 
 And that is the Sarylery* or Coffin mountain. 
 
 * This mountain has the form of a coffin, which may account for 
 the origin of the name.
 
 io8 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The White Lady. 
 
 THE Blakenburg family ghost is called the White 
 Lady. A portrait bearing this name hangs in 
 the castle, said to be a likeness of a Countess of 
 Orlamiinde. The legend is as follows : 
 
 The Earl Otto von Orlamiinde died in 1340 
 several dates are given and left a young and beauti- 
 ful widow, Agnes by name, a duchess by birth, and 
 the mother of two little children, a son of three, and 
 a daughter of two years. 
 
 The widow lived alone in the Plassenburg, and 
 thought often it were better to marry again. 
 
 One day a remark of the Earl, Albert the Hand- 
 some von Niirnberg was repeated to her : " I would 
 willingly espouse the fair Countess Agnes, but for the 
 four eyes." 
 
 The Countess fancied he meant her two children. 
 Seeing they stood in the way of her marriage, she re- 
 solved to free herself of them, and engaged a man 
 named Hager, with promises of rich gifts, to murder 
 them. 
 
 The murderer is said to have confessed his crime on 
 the rack. According to another tale, the Countess 
 murdered them herself by sticking pins in their sculls. 
 
 Her guilty spirit cannot rest, but wanders in Orla- 
 miinde and Blakenburg. Her appearance always 
 betokens death in the family.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 109 
 
 Frau Berta is also called the White Lady. She 
 haunts the imperial royal palaces, and also Darmstadt 
 and Carlsruhe.* 
 
 As family ghost she harms no one, greets every one 
 she meets, never speaks, and always wears a white 
 veil and carries a bunch of keys in her girdle. 
 
 The Chapel of Roses. 
 
 IT was a stormy, dismal winter night, when a 
 teamster drove with a heavy load of wine along 
 the almost impassable road near the little mountain 
 church of Elend,-f- at the foot of the Brocken. 
 
 The disc of the moon blinked only seldom through 
 the dark clouds, which, restless, and ever succeeded by 
 new ones, chased each other across the heavens. 
 
 A sharp north wind shook the bare branches of the 
 trees that grew thick on both sides of the way, blew 
 the snow into the ravines, and heaped it into huge 
 snow-drifts, which threatened the traveller unac- 
 quainted with the locality with danger. 
 
 The wind grew every moment more sharp and cut- 
 ting, the snow deeper, and the difficulty greater for 
 the tired horses to draw their weary load. 
 
 Often the teamster stood and listened, and gazed 
 into the darkness in search of some shelter, and called 
 for help, and heard the echoes of his own voice ring 
 deep in the snowy wood, but all remained desolate, 
 dumb, and awful. 
 
 * Carls, Charles; Ruhe t rest. t Eland, pronounced Aylend.
 
 1 10 Legends and Tales of 
 
 No bark of a dog that so rejoices the nightly- 
 wanderer, no lowing or neighing of friendly stall. 
 
 The silence of death reigned ; only now and then 
 the dark wings of some nocturnal bird of prey flut- 
 tered over his head, and a ghostly rustling was heard 
 among the dry underbrush ; the stars seemed like 
 silent, cold eyes looking down on the weary man and 
 horses, the clouds scudded silently past, and the snow, 
 too, was silent as a spirit. 
 
 The lonely traveller grew more terrified, and urging 
 on his horses, the waggon suddenly sank in a deep 
 place, and no efforts of the tired animals could move 
 it from the spot. Loud cried the deserted man for 
 help. No one heard. In despair he wrung his hands 
 and besought the Virgin to aid him in his distress. 
 
 Suddenly he heard a rustling in the thicket, and a 
 female form, like the silver moon when she appears 
 above the peaks of the mountains, glided out of the 
 darkness into view, slender as the fir-tree of the 
 Hartz, rosy as the early dawn, fresh as meadow-dew, 
 beautiful as eternal youth. 
 
 A lustre like a sunset in spring, or an Alpine glow* 
 on the eternal snow, floated around the heavenly form 
 and breathed on the rigid snow masses a soft glimmer 
 like a fairy light. 
 
 . Terrified, the teamster gazed at the radiant Virgin, 
 who with an enchanting, heavenly smile approached 
 
 *This Alpcnf/liiht'n, or Alpine glow, on the eternal snows of the 
 Alps, is gorgeous beyond the possibility of description, only the eye 
 may picture its glorious majesty.
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ \ I 
 
 the sunken waggon, and with a single touch drew 
 waggon and horses out of the deep place. 
 
 Surprised by the mysterious vision, and cheered by 
 the unexpected aid, the teamster endeavoured to thank 
 his helper and deliverer, and expressed his regret that 
 he had neither cup nor goblet in which to offer her a 
 draught of wine. 
 
 At these words the strange apparition touched a 
 shrub that stretched forth its dried, thorny branches, 
 when instantly leaves and buds burst forth, and soon 
 the whole shrub was loaded with most beautiful roses, 
 that breathed forth a wondrous and unwonted per- 
 fume. 
 
 The Virgin Mary, for it was she herself, broke off 
 clusters of the roses and formed a drinking-cnp, and 
 as the teamster would return it filled with wine, the 
 vision had vanished. 
 
 Meanwhile the horses had gone on with the waggon, 
 which they now drew with perfect ease, but stood still 
 before the chapel of Elend, and could not be brought 
 from the spot. 
 
 The teamster entered with reverence the oratorium, 
 to thank the Almighty for his deliverance, when lo ! 
 he recognized in the figure of the Virgin his deliverer, 
 and placed the rose drinking-cup as a costly relic 
 before her shrine. 
 
 With amazing rapidity the fame of the miracle of 
 the Church of Roses spread over Germany, and it 
 became one of the most frequented and sacred shrines.
 
 1 1 2 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The original of the rose-cup was sent to Rome ; but 
 first an exact copy of it was made in clay and pre- 
 served in Elend. 
 
 The most wonderful miracles continued to be per- 
 formed ; the devotees swarmed to the mountain church, 
 so that it was enlarged, and seven doors were cut in 
 its walls. 
 
 Princess Use. 
 
 beautiful Princess Use, daughter of King Using 
 -L of Schloss Ilsenburg, having ridden to the chase 
 with her royal father, and her lover the Ritter Ralf, 
 lost her way on the wild mountains, and came at 
 nightfall to the gates of the fairy world, over which 
 the Fairy Queen of the mountains rules. The Queen 
 met her with kindness, and invited her to enter her 
 gorgeous crystal palace. 
 
 Hesitating and with fear she followed the powerful 
 sovereign ; gnomes and cobolds attended everywhere 
 with homage. 
 
 Beautiful Use tarried a whole year in the richly 
 adorned subterranean world, witnessed the mysterious 
 government, policy, and life of the fairies, the creations 
 and destructions by the king of the giants, the hostile 
 relations of the Fairy Queen to the Giant King, the 
 unhappy loves of her children Rumar and Romar, and 
 what she could not understand the amiable Queen 
 explained to her, and introduced her fully to the fairy 
 world.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 113 
 
 But all the splendour and glory of this fairy realm 
 could not still Use's longing for her beloved Ralf, and 
 the light of the upper world. 
 
 She demanded her return, which her fairy Majesty 
 granted, but threatened her with destruction should 
 she ever reveal to mortal what she had seen. 
 
 Princess Use returned to the friendly light of day 
 and rejoiced in the fidelity of her lover. 
 
 But he threatened her with the loss of his love if 
 she did not tell him where she had been so long a 
 time, and what she had seen. 
 
 The two lovers seated themselves on the soft moss. 
 Use laid her lovely head upon Ralf's breast, and gazed 
 up into his face with her wonderful and faithful eyes ; 
 Ralf laid his hand upon her shoulder, and beautiful 
 Use began her tale. 
 
 With caresses she betrayed the secrets entrusted to 
 her, and described the magnificence of the Fairy 
 Queen. 
 
 The new moon rose and the stars appeared one after 
 another in the dark-blue heavens ; fair Use chatted on, 
 related the legends of the Harz of the giants and 
 dwarfs. 
 
 Ralf listened at first in silent astonishment, and 
 hung enraptured on the tales from her beautiful lips, 
 then he began to dream and fancy, and at last fell 
 asleep. 
 
 In the grey of the morning, as he awoke, he heard 
 still the murmuring tones of the Princess, and as he 
 8
 
 114 Legends and Tales of 
 
 turned to salute the princely maiden, he saw, instead 
 of Use, a crystal-clear bubbling spring illuminated with 
 the dawn. 
 
 The water sprang gaily out of the soft moss, and 
 murmured ever in a thousand leaps and tiny, water- 
 falls over the moss-grown rocks adown the vale. 
 
 Deepest despair seized Ralf's spirit ; he knew 
 now what he had done, and what had become of Use 
 through her betrayed secret, a clear pure stream 
 doomed for ever to ripple and murmur through the 
 mountains. 
 
 Ealf built a cottage near the spring, and when the 
 new moon rose Use awaited him by the mossy bank, 
 leaned her head caressingly on his breast, and he heard 
 her sweet prattle till the blushing dawn spread her 
 radiance over the silver ripplets, and then the fairy 
 virgin vanished in the blue air. 
 
 Princess Use and the Deluge. 
 
 PRINCESS ILSE, says another legend, in order to 
 escape the general deluge, fled with her lover to 
 the Brocken. But before they had reached that witch- 
 haunted mountain, and just when standing on the 
 rocky wall connecting the ILsenstein with the Wester- 
 berg, the rock on which they stood was rent asunder 
 in order to separate the lovers, whereupon they both 
 leaped together into the floods,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 1 5 
 
 The Ilsenstein. 
 
 THIS lordly cliff and the Westerberg were once 
 connected, it is said, by a granite wall, which was 
 rent asunder by flood and storm from the Brocken ; 
 and according to one legend, Princess Use issues from 
 the rock at dawn, when the weather is mild, robed in 
 white satin, her long golden hair floating around her 
 like a veil, a diadem of mountain crystal adorning her 
 regal brow, lays aside her costly array, bathes in the 
 crystal stream, and combs her golden hair. 
 
 Whoever is so happy as to meet her at the right 
 moment, she calls with friendly voice, takes him by the 
 hand and leads him before the Ilsenstein, which at her 
 command opens, when she conducts him to her palace 
 in the heart of the mighty rock. 
 
 There the most unheard-of splendour rivets his as- 
 tonished gaze ; the floors, walls, and ceilings glitter 
 with gold, silver, and precious stones ; the lofty arches 
 are supported by columns of mountain crystal ; while 
 carbuncles illuminate the vast chambers with a soft 
 light. 
 
 In the most magnificent of these chambers will the 
 happy mortal find the most delightful entertainment ; 
 and when a youth, pure, and free from all guilt, bathes 
 in the Use at the same time as the Princess, she will 
 be free from the enchantment. 
 
 Whoever approaches her with impure heart, she
 
 1 1 6 Legends and Tales of 
 
 sprinkles with water, and instantly he turns into a tir 
 
 tree. 
 
 ' ' Es stehen der Tannen gar viele 
 In Hires Bades Ncih, 
 Es hat sie atle verzaubert 
 Die keusche Wasserfee!" 
 
 " And many a fir tree's deepest shade 
 Falls o'er the crystal stream ; 
 Enchanted by the pure mermaid, 
 Their fate to moan they seem." 
 
 A Dream Under Princess Use's Firs. 
 
 IT was during the heat of August, when my friend 
 Josephine and I sat long chatting on a moss-grown 
 stone under Princess Use's dark evergreens. 
 
 Finally she went to gather some ferns and wild- 
 flowers, and I fell asleep. 
 
 Then I heard a deep voice above me say, " I am 
 Castiglione the magician. I approached the Princess 
 Use with the guilt of falsehood on my soul, and she 
 transformed me into the fir against which you are 
 leaning. If she would only break the enchantment, 
 and set me free, I would lead an honest, truthful life. 
 Plead with her to release me." 
 
 " How can I do that ?" I asked. " I never expect to 
 see the Princess." 
 
 "Oh yes, you will. You will see her to-day." 
 
 Another voice joined in " I am Booth, of Lincoln 
 renown. People never knew what became of me. I
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 1 7 
 
 came here to the Harz mountains, hoping to find 
 favour with the noble Use after my heroic deed in free- 
 ing my country from a tyrant ; but the Princess called 
 my act murder, and I have been a sighing fir tree ever 
 since." 
 
 " And you deserve it," cried Castiglione. 
 
 " Pull the beam out of your own eye, please," replied 
 the infuriated Booth. " You dare to reproach me, 
 you, who did not hesitate to add the last drop of an 
 infant's blood to make your elixir of life ? What 
 insolence !" 
 
 I felt sure they would come to blows right over my 
 head. Happily a melodious voice struck in, and inter- 
 rupted the quarrel. 
 
 " I am Don Carlos, the unhappy son of Philip or* 
 Spain, and the victim of priestly bigotry. The In- 
 quisitors gained my royal father's permission to make 
 away with me, a son who loved him truly." 
 
 " I escaped, and History does not tell what became 
 of me, simply because she does not know. I fled here 
 to Princess Use for refuge, but I approached her at an 
 unfavourable moment, and she transformed me into 
 this spruce. If I could only be set free I would carry 
 out my ideas of freedom." 
 
 " You are too late, my young friend," cried Castig- 
 lione. " Your ideas have been carried out. You don't 
 seem to have kept up with the history of events. 
 Bismarck has set the Germans free, and cleansed the 
 moral atmosphere of the whole empire, sent the Jesuits
 
 f 1 8 Legends and Tales of 
 
 adrift, and put a bayonet into the hands of every 
 eighty men in a hundred to keep them out." 
 
 Here a deep sigh was heard. 
 
 " Oh, I am tired with standing so long ! Walking 
 isn't half so fatiguing. Oh, how my back aches !" 
 
 " Who are you?" cried Castiglione. 
 
 ' I am the Wandering Jew. They keep up the story 
 of my wanderings, but I have stood here in this tree 
 for ages, shivering or roasting." 
 
 I felt quite bewildered, and almost afraid in the 
 midst of this odd Gesellachaft* and shuddered as I 
 thought more dreadful additions would speedily be 
 made to it. 
 
 Suddenly a radiant form stood before me. Such 
 beauty no mortal eye ever beheld outside of a dream. 
 It was the Princess Use. Her long golden curls fell 
 nearly to her feet, over a silvery-like robe almost trans- 
 parent. 
 
 Her eyes were deep violet with an expression none 
 could describe. 
 
 Above her milk-white regal brow glittered a diadem 
 of brilliants and sapphires. Bracelets and rings of 
 diamonds and pearls adorned her fair arms. 
 
 Extending her swan-white hand, with a ravishing 
 smile, she said, " Come, I will show thee my home, my 
 palace, and thou shalt dine with me." 
 
 We entered the Ilsenstein under a gigantic arch of 
 mountain crystal ; a group of white-robed maidens met 
 us, and attended us to the great throne-room. 
 "Society or company.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 119 
 
 This was an immense chamber, lighted by a chande- 
 lier of brilliants hung in the centre, and single lamp- 
 shaped rubies and carbuncles hung along the sides 
 and in the corners. 
 
 The floor was of white and red roses, which were not 
 crushed by the tread, but remained ever in rich fulness. 
 
 On each side of this regal chamber were sixteen 
 colossal Norman arches, through which one saw, on 
 the right advancing up it, a garden of every sort of 
 fruit-trees, all bearing ripe fruits. 
 
 At the left, flowers of every clime. Fountains 
 played, white-robed maidens moved among the fruit 
 and flowers, or reclined on banks of violets and roses. 
 
 Soft music floated around us. Between each arch 
 was a seat. Every seat was a bank of flowers, each 
 different from the other. 
 
 Above each seat was a statue of a fairy of the Harz, 
 alternately in mountain crystal and snowy alabaster. 
 
 At the upper end, under a majestic arch, stood 
 Princess Use's throne. 
 
 The throne was one ruby, the canopy a single pearl, 
 the steps leading up to the throne were emeralds. 
 
 Near the throne, in front of an arch, stood a table of 
 silver, and two chairs of mountain crystal beside it. 
 
 The service was of gold, filled with the viands of 
 the fairy world, and the choicest fruits and flowers. 
 
 A group of fair maidens sat in a rose arbour playing 
 harp, lute, and harpsichord, while others stood by the 
 table in attendance.
 
 1 20 Legends and Tales of 
 
 A pearl plate was handed us, and Princess Use her- 
 self poured the crimson wine into gilded crystal gob- 
 lets bearing her monogram in diamonds and sapphires, 
 touched her glass to mine, and saying, " I drink to thy 
 happiness," she pressed her own glass to my lips, 
 when lo ! I awoke, and there stood Josephine, poking 
 a fern 'in my face. 
 
 " Oh, Josie ! " I exclaimed, " you can never know of 
 how much you have robbed me with that stupid fern ! " 
 
 The Red-haired Trude. 
 
 AT a time when very few men lived upon the 
 earth, when towns and villages were few and 
 very widely separated, when there were no roads in 
 the mountains, and before Romulus and Remus were 
 rescued by the motherly wolf on the yellow Tiber, or 
 Nausikaa fell in love with Odysseus, there stood a 
 house on the site of Schloss Ilsenburg, inhabited by a 
 widow and her daughter Trude. 
 
 Deeper in among the mountains stood an old stone 
 Schloss on the granite wall connecting the Ilsenstein 
 and the opposite-lying Westerberg, which had been 
 bought, and was inhabited by a father and his fair 
 daughter Use. 
 
 Nobody knew who the father was, but it was sup- 
 posed as people do in many cases that he was some 
 fallen and deposed Prince. 
 
 During the absence of the Prince and Princess Use
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 2 1 
 
 on a journey, a stranger, handsome and gay, without 
 money, sack, or scrip, but rich in self-confidence and 
 flattering words, sought hospitality of the widow and 
 her daughter, and was warmly received and enter- 
 tained. 
 
 Ralf " fell in love " with Trude, and a blissful sum- 
 mer was spent gathering wild fruits and flowers and 
 hunting birds' nests among the mountains. 
 
 The nuptials were near, and the widow was busy 
 with the bride's trousseau, when unexpectedly, with 
 Autumn, arrived the foreign Prince and fair Use from 
 their mysterious journey. 
 
 Ritter Ralf, it must be confessed, was very naughty. 
 With an eagle-eye he perceived the radiant charms of 
 Princess Use, and poor Trude was forsaken. 
 
 The widow reproached him with his perfidy, but he 
 replied, " The eagle mates but with the eagle, and 
 though I have fled from a severe father, I am of noble 
 blood, and have found a Braut of my own rank." 
 
 The widow swore revenge, and consoled the weep- 
 ing Trude, begging her only to wait till Walpur- 
 gisnacht * and her perfidious lover should be punished. 
 
 She made a league with the evil spirits of the 
 mountains and the air, and devoted herself to the 
 unholy arts of a witch. 
 
 Walpurgisnacht arrived, the widow stood on the 
 
 * Night before the first of May, when all evil spirits and witches, 
 according to the legend, meet on the Brocken. See Goethe's 
 " Faust."
 
 1 22 Legends and Tales of 
 
 balcony of her house and invoked the demons and 
 witches, who swept through the night, which rested 
 black as destruction on the mountains, heavy as the 
 day of wrath and vengeance. 
 
 From the Brocken broke a terrible tempest. Awful 
 thunders rolled, lightnings in fiery serpents cut their 
 way through the heavens and mountains, and a tremen- 
 dous flood swept down from the Brocken, destroying 
 all in its course. 
 
 The coalers* clung to the rocky walls, but Princess 
 Use looked calmly on the wild scene, saw the rocks 
 rent on which her father's castle stood, and it, her 
 lover, father, and servants all swept away ; and as she 
 too was about to perish, a tall manly form, with 
 majestic head and black locks probably the Fairy 
 King seized her in his strong arms, wrapped her in a 
 white mantle, and vanished. 
 
 Poor Trude, from the balcony by her mother's side, 
 saw her faithless Ralf carried down the torrent, threw 
 herself over after him, and when the flood had subsided 
 the widow found them in each other's arms, washed 
 up on the banks of the river. 
 
 * These coalers are charcoal burners. In the Harz and other 
 mountainous districts of Germany, they dwell in little huts close by 
 the scene of their labours. They frequently make an important and 
 striking figure in the wild stories of those regions.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 123 
 
 The Wild Huntsman. 
 
 EARL EBERHARD VON WURTEMBERG rode 
 one day alone into the forest to amuse himself 
 with the chase. Suddenly he heard a loud roar and 
 noise, as of a hunter riding furiously past. He was 
 terrified, dismounted in haste from his horse, and, ap- 
 proaching a tree, as if for defence, cried aloud to the 
 imagined huntsman, asking if he intended violence. 
 
 " No," replied the now visible form of the hunter ; 
 " I am a man like thyself, and stand before thee quite 
 alone. I too was formerly a noble. 
 
 " I found such pleasure in the chase, that I besought 
 God to permit me to hunt until the judgment-day. 
 Unhappily my sinful wish was granted, and for four 
 hundred and fifty years I have hunted the same deer. 
 But my race and name are known to no one." 
 
 Thereupon the ghostly hunter vanished. 
 
 Hans von Hackelberg, a master of the hunt in 
 Brunswick, had an unhappy dream one night on the 
 Harzburg. It seemed to him in his dream as if he 
 struggled with a huge wild boar, which conquered him 
 after a long combat, and that he died of his wounds. 
 
 He could not drive this terrible dream from his 
 mind. Shortly after, he encountered a boar in the 
 Harz similar to the one in his dream. He attacked 
 him. The struggle remained long undecided. At 
 length Hans conquered, and slew the animal. Re-
 
 1 24 Legends and Tales oj 
 
 joiced to see the boar stretched at his feet, he kicked 
 the tusk with violence, exclaiming, " Thou shalt not 
 yet kill me \" 
 
 But he had struck with such force that the sharp 
 tooth pierced his boot and wounded his foot. 
 
 At first Hackelberg paid no attention to the wound, 
 but continued the chase. On his return, however, 
 the foot was so swollen that the boot had to be cut 
 off. He hastened back to Wolfenbiittel, but the 
 vehicle shook the foot so that he was obliged to stop 
 on the way at Wiilperode, where he died. 
 
 Before his death he expressed a wish that he might 
 hunt for ever, and his wish was granted. 
 
 The Tut-Osel, or Tut-Ursel, always accompanies 
 him. 
 
 At midnight, when in storm and rain, Hackelberg, 
 with horse and dogs, tears through the Thuringian 
 Forest, the Harz, and the Hackel Forest, the niffht 
 
 O 
 
 or death-owl flies before him, which the people call 
 the Tut-Osel. 
 
 The wanderer, when he hears the ghostly hunt, 
 listens in terror to the barking of dogs, and hears the 
 hu ! hu ! of the chase, and the uhu ! of the death-owl. 
 
 In a Kloster in Thuringia lived, in the primeval 
 days of convents, a nun called Ursel Ursula who 
 always disturbed the choir of nuns by her howling 
 singing ; hence she was called Tut-Ursel. But after 
 her death she disturbed them even more than in her 
 lifetime, for at eleven every evening she poked her
 
 The Harz Mountains. 125 
 
 head through a hole in the church tower, and tooted 
 dreadfully ; and every morning at four she joined her 
 voice in the matin-song. 
 
 For some days the holy sisters bore this lament- 
 able disturbance ; but at last, one morning, one of the 
 nuns whispered in fear to her neighbour, "That is 
 certainly the Ursel !" 
 
 Instantly the music ceased, their hair rose to moun- 
 tains, and the nuns rushed out of the church scream- 
 ing: "Tut-Ursel! Tut-Ursel!" And no punishment 
 could induce a single nun to enter the church again 
 until a Capuchin monk from a monastery on the 
 Danube, noted for his sanctity, was summoned. 
 
 He condemned Tut-Ursel to banishment in the 
 Harz, and to bear the form of a death-owl. 
 
 Here she encountered Hackelberg, and found as 
 much delight in the hu ! hu ! of his eternal hunt as he 
 in her uhu ! and so they hunt for ever in company. 
 
 Another story is that the screech-owl is a nun, 
 who was false to her vows, and left her convent to 
 follow Hackelberg. 
 
 The origin of this legend belongs to the ancient 
 pagan days. It is even disputed that a person called 
 Hackelberg existed, and if so, the legend is ages older 
 than the sixteenth century, the time when he is said 
 to have lived. 
 
 The Wild Hunter the Wanderer was Wodan 
 himself in the pagan days. 
 
 At the introduction of Christianity, wo find a new
 
 126 Legends and Tales of 
 
 development of the ancient myths. Wodan becomes 
 the foul fiend, then the godless Hunter, and the 
 Wandering Jew. In the Black Forest, the eternal 
 Hunter and the eternal Jew are regarded as the same 
 person. They both always carry a Groschen in the 
 pocket. In some parts of Germany the harrows are 
 placed in the field with the teeth together, that the 
 Wanderer may rest himself. According to some au- 
 thorities, he may only rest on Christmas night, and 
 then only when he finds a plough in the field ; only 
 on that he may sit down.* 
 
 Every seven years the Huntsman passes over the 
 seven mining towns of the Harz, and woe to him 
 who calls after him. 
 
 According to one legend, the Wild Huntsman met 
 Christ at a river where He sought to quench His 
 thirst, and would not permit Him to drink ; he also 
 drove Him from a cattle-trough ; and when the 
 Saviour found water in a horse's foot-print, and would 
 drink there, he drove Him away. As a punishment, 
 he is doomed to wander for ever, and eat only horse- 
 flesh. This is the pagan legend Christianized. In 
 West and South Germany we find the Wild Army. 
 Odin, or Wodan, was the god, too, of armies, and 
 always went out from Walhalla at the head of his 
 ghostly array, while his nine Walkiiren conducted the 
 fallen heroes back to Walhalla. 
 
 * The harrow and th"e plough shew his connections with Wotan's 
 or Wodari's steed,
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 2 7 
 
 The Origin of the Philippine. 
 
 ONCE, long centuries ago, a Princess lived in Schloss 
 Hohenstein who was very fond of almonds, but 
 was firmly resolved never to marry, so she invented 
 the following plan. 
 
 She caused every prince who came a-wooing and 
 her suitors were countless to eat the half of a double 
 almond, and she ate its twin half. And then she 
 said, " If you can induce me to take anything from 
 your hand without saying 'J'y pense,' I am ready 
 for marriage with you ; but if, on the other hand, 
 I can lead you to receive any object from my hand 
 without you repeating those saving words, you shall 
 have your head shaved, and forthwith leave my . 
 dominions." 
 
 But there was a trick in the stipulation, namely, the 
 etiquette of the royal court forbade any person, on 
 pain of death, to hand anything direct to the Princess, 
 but rather to the lady-in-waiting, who presented it to 
 her mistress. 
 
 But if the Kaiser's daughter chose herself to hand 
 any one anything, who was there to forbid it ? 
 
 Thus it was for the luckless wooers a bitter sport, 
 for let them exert themselves as they would to beguile 
 the royal maiden into taking anything from their 
 hands, the inevitable lady-in-waiting spoiled their 
 sport,
 
 128 Legends and Tales of 
 
 But when Princess Huldigunde determined to get 
 rid of a certain adorer, she grew so engaging that he 
 became perfectly enchanted, and as he sat beside her, 
 intoxicated with joy, she seized either a pomegranate, 
 or an egg near her, and handed it to him, saying softly, 
 " Keep this as a souvenir." 
 
 As soon as the wooer took the object, it sprang open* 
 and a frog, or a hornet, or bat flew into his hair or face, 
 and in his fright he forgot to say, "J'y pense!" 
 And then he was shaved on the spot, and away with 
 him. 
 
 This went on for years, and in all the kings' houses 
 princes wore wigs. It happened at last that a foreign 
 prince saw Huldigunde, and found her fair, and saw 
 through the trick. 
 
 A friendly fairy had given him an apple, which he 
 was to smell once a year, when a prudent idea should 
 occur -to him. 
 
 Just at the time when he first saw Huldigunde, it 
 was time to smell the apple ; he smelt, and it occurred 
 to him that if he would win the game through give 
 and take, he must neither give himself nor take any- 
 thing from her. 
 
 He caused his hands to be bound to his girdle, went 
 with his marshal to court, and declared his wish to eat 
 almonds. 
 
 Huldigunde liked this Prince, and commanded al- 
 monds to be handed him. Then his marshal took them 
 and put them in his mouth.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 29 
 
 The Princess inquired why he carried his hands in 
 his girdle. 
 
 He replied that the etiquette of his court was still 
 more severe than at hers ; it was not permitted him 
 to take anything with his hands, only with his feet or 
 head. 
 
 " In that way," cried Huldigunde, " we shall never 
 settle the game." 
 
 Prince Otto only shrugged his shoulder, and replied, 
 " Only when you graciously condescend to take some- 
 thing from my boots." 
 
 And the court stood aghast at the bold idea. 
 
 " Why did you come to Schloss Hohenstein with such 
 a stupid etiquette ?" cried the Almond Princess. 
 
 " Because you are so beautiful," cried Otto ; " and if 
 I cannot win you I can look at you." 
 
 So Otto remained at the castle, and Huldigunde liked 
 him better every day. ' She tried daily to beguile him 
 into setting a hand free with offerings of fruit, flowers, 
 even her bracelet, but Otto nodded to his marshal, who 
 received them. 
 
 Then she dropped her handkerchief ; but Otto lifted 
 it with the toe of his boot, and swung it carelessly 
 to and fro, and she stooped and took it from his 
 boot. 
 
 So a whole year passed away, and the Princess said 
 to herself, " An end must be made of this matter." So 
 she told Otto she had the best garden in the world, 
 and proposed to show it to him the next day. 
 9
 
 130 Legends and Tales of 
 
 It was time for the Prince to smell the apple again ; 
 and a brilliant idea came to him. 
 
 As they entered the garden, Otto exclaimed, " It is 
 wonderfully beautiful here ; and in order that we may 
 accompany each other without any disturbing element, 
 I pray my Princess to adopt the etiquette of my court, 
 and permit her hands to be bound one hour ; then we 
 shall both be secure, and nothing disagreeable can 
 happen to either of us." 
 
 Huldigunde consented, and they walked side by side 
 with their hands bound. 
 
 The birds sang, the sun shone warm and clear, and 
 from the trees the red cherries hung down to their 
 cheeks. 
 
 Huldigunde looked wishfully at the ripe fruit and 
 cried, " What a pity you cannot pluck me any." 
 
 But Otto replied, " Want knows no law,'' 5 took a 
 cherry in his mouth and offered it to her. The 
 Princess could only put her mouth to his to take the 
 cherry, and when she had the fruit between her lips 
 and his kiss with it could not at the moment say, 
 "J'y pense." 
 
 And Otto cried, "Good morning, Philippine!" drew 
 his hands from his girdle, and threw them around her 
 neck.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 131 
 
 Graf Arno's Capture. 
 
 A RNO, the wildest and most powerful robber knight 
 JuL of the Harz, dwelt securely enthroned in his 
 strong Burg, the Arnstein, which lay on the Felsberg 
 like an eagle's nest, from whose strong walls the old 
 eagle flew daily forth for robbery and murder. He 
 and his castle were inaccessible ; frequently, when the 
 inhabitants of the neighbourhood had united to storm 
 his nest, he had sent them home with bleeding heads, 
 and each time punished them by making worse dis- 
 turbance than before. 
 
 The citizens of the near-situated Aschersleben suf- 
 fered most by these raids ; for when in the sweat of 
 the brow they had cultivated their fields, and rejoiced 
 in view of the approaching harvest, Arno would swoop 
 down like a bird of prey, and gather the rich grains 
 and fruits into his barns ; and when the wealthy mer- 
 chants of Magdeburg, Aschersleben, and Nordhausen, 
 reckoning how they could make what was worth fifty 
 per cent, bring a hundred, travelled past, he took pity 
 on their problem-solving souls, and relieved their 
 weary brains of the difficult calculations and the bur- 
 den of sales by carrying off their goods to his castle 
 sometimes, indeed, the merchants themselves, whose 
 friends redeemed them with heavy sums. 
 
 Often he kidnapped maidens, and it was not at all 
 unwelcome to him,' as one day, while he lay in vain in
 
 132 Legends and Tales of 
 
 wait for booty, a troop of young girls showed itself 
 near the woods where he lay hidden. 
 
 It was then, and is still in some Harz villages, the 
 custom on the wedding day of a youthful pair to lead 
 the bride out upon a mountain or a meadow, where 
 her friends seek to take from her the bridal wreath. 
 Dancing and singing they follow the fleeing bride, 
 who strives to keep her treasure as long as possible, 
 hides behind hedges and underbrush, till at last they 
 rob her of her wreath and carry it in triumph to the 
 bridegroom. 
 
 It was such a bridal party that issued this day from 
 the gates of Aschersleben to enjoy the fun after the 
 fashion of their ancestors, for the fairest flower of 
 Askania, Ida, a merchant's daughter, celebrated her 
 wedding. 
 
 How her bridal veil and ribbons fluttered and 
 shimmered in the wind and sun, as she in the joy of 
 her heart, light of foot as a fawn, flew over the 
 meadow, pursued by her laughing companions. 
 
 Shouts of merriment and scraps of song rang over 
 the laughing landscape to the wood where Arno lay 
 concealed, watching the charming scene. 
 
 " Little maiden ! " thought he, " if no train of 
 waggons comes that I prefer, I can take thee ; that is 
 not difficult, and costs no blood." 
 
 And as the train came near, and the bride, ever in 
 advance, would hide in the thicket, he seized her and 
 bore her pitilessly away. The other maidens searched
 
 The Ha rz Mounta ins. 133 
 
 long in vain, till at last they caught sight of the 
 fleeing robber with his booty. 
 
 What consternation ! what lamentations ! Breath- 
 less they fled back to the town, proclaiming the 
 dreadful news with loud cries. 
 
 All became uproar, women ran moaning through 
 the streets, girls locked themselves in their rooms* 
 as if the robber were behind them, the older citizens 
 talked and reasoned, the younger swore revenge, and 
 the members of the town council moved with solemn 
 steps and imposing mien toward the town hall, where 
 the walls of the dark council chamber should become 
 silent witnesses of all the wisdom of their puffed-up 
 pride and self-importance. 
 
 Evening came on, the council chamber was lighted ; 
 the palate of each worthy member of the council 
 rebelled against the fatigue of a longer sitting, and at 
 last the Biirgermeister raised his voice and addressed 
 his colleagues : " It is necessary, honourable gentle- 
 men, that we come to a decision, and as it has been 
 proved, through reliable witnesses, that the robber of 
 the bride is our dangerous neighbour, the Earl von 
 Arnstein, and the crime has been committed within 
 the territory of our town, and as such a crime is 
 punishable witli death, we sentence the said Arno to 
 death by the hangman, do we not ? " 
 
 " Yes, your worship ! " cried the chamberlain. 
 
 " Of course ! " said the syndic. 
 
 " Certainly ! " echoed the town clerk.
 
 134 Legends and Tales of 
 
 " Certainly ! " agreed every member of the council 
 unanimously. 
 
 " If we take into consideration," continued the 
 Bin-germeister, " how much damage the said Arno of 
 Arnstein has caused, death by the sword is too mild. 
 Shall he not die on the wheel, or be quartered ? " 
 
 "Of course !" said the chamberlain, with a knowing 
 nod. 
 
 " Certainly! " agreed the syndic. 
 
 " How wise ! " cried one part of the councillors > 
 " How just ! " another. 
 
 " I am of opinion." resumed the Biirgermeister> 
 " that the execution should take place immediately, 
 before the said Arno does any more mischief. 1 ' 
 
 " Of course ! of course ! " cried the assembly. 
 
 " But but a " resumed his worship, hesitating 
 and undecided, " we must first have the criminal in 
 our power, and that is not so easy a matter. Can 
 any one offer advice as to what is to be done ? " 
 
 Silence ! All were dumb. At last one cried, " We 
 must take him prisoner ! " 
 
 "Quite right," voted the councillors ; " he must be 
 taken prisoner." 
 
 " That also is my opinion," said the Burgermeister. 
 "Nevertheless it is no easy matter to accom- 
 plish. We could march out at once with all the 
 armed men we possess, and storm 
 
 " Yes, yes," cried the syndic, " we will storm the 
 nest!"
 
 The Harz Mountains. 135 
 
 " We will storm it !" exclaimed the town clerk, with 
 a look intended to be brave. 
 
 "How wise ! how heroic !" was the praise on every 
 lip, while the Biirgermeister continued his interrupted 
 address : " But we have already experienced the fact 
 that the Arnstein is not easy to seize. By force 
 nothing can be done." 
 
 " No, by force nothing can be done ! " echoed the 
 assembly as one man. 
 
 " We might attempt to take him by strategy," con- 
 tinued the orator ; " but Arno is cunning as a fox, and 
 we should probably only expose our town to more 
 robbery if he discovered that we were trying to way- 
 lay him." 
 
 " Certainly ! certainly ! " agreed every mouth. 
 
 " Hence I give it as my opinion," concluded the 
 Biirgermeister, " that as force and stratagem would 
 only bring upon us expense and danger, and the 
 result is uncertain, that that a that we allow the 
 matter to rest as it is, and leave the criminal to the 
 punishment of Heaven. Do you not think so, gentle- 
 men ?" 
 
 " Certainly, your Worship, certainly ! How wise ! 
 how mild ! how forbearing ! " shouted the assembly. 
 
 The Biirgermeister rose with official dignity, dis- 
 missed his colleagues with a wave of the hand, and 
 the exhausted councillors were in the act of retiring, 
 when the unhappy bridegroom rushed breathless into 
 their midst.
 
 136 Legends and Tales of 
 
 " What is decided ? " he cried hastily, and seized the 
 syndic by the arm. 
 
 "What's that to you ?" growled that dignitary, who 
 felt himself insulted by such familiarity. " How do 
 you dare to force yourself unbidden into the council 
 chamber ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, gentlemen," stammered the 
 bridegroom, surprised. " I come to give you a capital 
 piece of advice the idea just occurred to me." 
 
 Every face grew long from assumed dignity. 
 
 " What ! you will give advice ? You to us ?" 
 
 But as the young man entreated them to hear him, 
 the Biirgermeister permitted him to speak, provided 
 he would be short. 
 
 The bridegroom unfolded his plan, which, though 
 unwillingly, was approved of. 
 
 Meanwhile, Arno concluded that his robbery of the 
 bride was undiscovered, and was strengthened in this 
 idea, as some days after he saw a group of maidens, 
 decked in bridal array, issue forth from the town to 
 the same meadow. 
 
 Suddenly he resolved to carry off one of them, 
 and when they had danced themselves weary and had 
 thrown themselves down on the grass to rest, he 
 rushed out of the wood, and, like a vulture, swooped 
 down upon his prey. 
 
 But, to his astonishment, the maiden, instead of 
 resisting, held him fast, and the others drew forth 
 daggers and attacked and killed his retainers. Re-
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 3 7 
 
 sistance was useless ; he could not free himself from 
 the powerful arms of the disguised soldier. They 
 dragged him to Ascher.sleben, and shut him up in a 
 cage, where he starved to death. 
 
 The bridegroom put on Arno's armour, and the 
 troop, concealed in loaded waggons, were conducted to 
 the Arnstein by the disguised bridegroom. The 
 warder saw the train approaching, and at once opened 
 the gates to admit it. 
 
 Too late, when all were within the walls, he dis- 
 covered his error. Soon they had possession of the 
 stronghold, and the bride was restored to the bride- 
 groom. 
 
 The cage they still show in Aschersleben, and the 
 meadow is still called the Dance meadow. 
 
 There is a tradition of another knight of Arnstein, 
 who, cold and cruel to all who in the least displeased 
 him, was buried in the now ruined chapel. His ghost 
 still haunts the ruins. 
 
 His second wife, a cruel step-mother, who oppressed 
 her beautiful step-daughter, keeps him company. She 
 is the spinner of the Arnstein, doomed to spin on till 
 her web breaks, when her spirit will be set free. 
 
 Whether the ghostly monk bore relation to this 
 cruel pair we are not told. He visits the ruins, prob- 
 ably nightly, but can only be seen every seven years 
 by those who were born on St. John's Eve. His duty 
 is to chastise idle and deceitful servants.
 
 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Pebble. 
 
 AN old, poor, but honest man left his cottage to 
 gather sticks and healing herbs in the wood 
 for sale in the neighbouring town. 
 
 He soon had a huge bundle of sticks bound together 
 for his weary, bent back bent from the burden of 
 toil and of years and a luxuriance of the healing 
 woodroofs made gathering them a light task ; but 
 when he reached the town everybody said, " What's 
 the need of wood now, when it is summer ?" 
 
 And the apothecary declared, " It is June, and the 
 blossoms have already absorbed all the strength of 
 the plants. You must bring them henceforth in May.' 
 
 No one had an ear for the entreaties of the distressed 
 man, and he set off for home hopeless and dis- 
 couraged. He saw no way of deliverance out of his 
 deplorable condition, no relief for his suffering wife. 
 'Yes," he sighed, "if the bell in Wimmelburg had not 
 been melted in the last fire, the bell through which 
 God, the good Father, cured every sick person who 
 heard its tones, there might be help for my poor 
 wife ; or, if it is not all a fable, of the great treasure 
 which the monks buried in Sittichenbach, and we 
 could find it ; or, if it is true about the hidden 
 treasure in Eisleben, that only he can find who can 
 watch four-and-twenty days and nights without 
 closing his eyes. Oh ! I could watch the time, for
 
 The Harz Mountains. 139 
 
 sorrow keeps me awake every night. But all these 
 tales must be only fancies, and the benevolent fairies 
 in these mountains, who used to help the poor when 
 they were near despair, are most likely long since gone, 
 or else my trouble would have brought them to my 
 relief. And with men, oh! with men there is no pity!" 
 
 It seemed to him, during these reflections, as if a 
 long, giant, shadowy form brushed past him in the 
 twilight, whispering in his ear, " Do not despair." 
 
 He looked up, but saw nothing save the shadow of 
 the oak under which he sat, heard nothing save the 
 sighing of the evening wind in its branches. 
 
 With a tear in his eye, he took the bundle of wood 
 on his back and went on. A moment after he saw a 
 shining object on his path. "Ei! what a beautiful 
 pebble !" he thought. " I will take it home for the 
 children to play with." 
 
 It was already late when he reached his cottage, 
 and mother and children were asleep. The thought 
 of their distress when they awoke caused him to try 
 what he could do in the village, but all were deaf to 
 his entreaties. It was a very dark night, and return- 
 ing home from the village and opening the cottage 
 door he almost sank down from terror, for it was light 
 as if the house were on h're. He opened the door 
 leading into the court ; there it was as if all were in 
 flames. He stood astonished, and gazed at the won- 
 derful light, observed the direction whence it came, 
 and perceived it camo from the little room in which 
 he had laid the pebble on the window bench.
 
 140 Legends and Tales of 
 
 He recollected the stone be had picked up, and the be- 
 lief in a good mountain spirit, and hurried to the room- 
 
 The varied splendid colours of the pebble quite 
 dazzled his eyes; he wrapped it in a cloth and 
 hastened to his neighbour Bergmann, who knew all 
 the stones of the Harz, and showed it to him. 
 
 Bergmann examined it well, and said, " I don't 
 know this stone, but it must be worth money. Come 
 with me to-morrow to the town, and if you only get a 
 Thaler* for it, it is some help." 
 
 The following day they went to a jeweller, a Jew, 
 and offered him the stone. Hardly had he cast eyes 
 on it than he started, and cried, " Wonderful ! How 
 did you come by the stone?" 
 
 The poor man was so frightened he was unable to 
 reply; but Bergmann, who had more experience, said, 
 " It does not matter where the stone comes from ; you 
 need only tell us how much you will give for it." 
 
 "Well!" replied the Jew, "shall I have it for a 
 hundred Thaler ?" 
 
 "How much ?" cried the .finder, who could hardly 
 believe his ears. " I am not in a mood for jokes ; say 
 
 *) / 
 
 honestly how much you will give." 
 
 " What, did I say a hundred Thaler ? " replied the 
 Jew, for he thought the apparent anger of the seller 
 had another cause. " I beg pardon ; I meant to say a 
 thousand Thaler." 
 
 *A Thaler is equal to three Marks, a Mark has the value of a 
 shilling. The Franc of France, the Lire of Italy, and the Mark are 
 nearly equal in value.
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 4 1 
 
 The two friends were speechless with astonishment; 
 Bergmann, however, answered, " How could you make 
 us such an offer ? Give us the stone, for you will not 
 pay what it is worth." 
 
 " Indeed you are right," said the Jew with a low 
 bow. " You must be joking with poor Levi, for you 
 must know I could not command a sufficient sum to 
 buy so costly a jewel." 
 
 The amazement of the two friends increased every 
 moment, for the Jew was known to be one of the 
 richest men in the place. Bergmann, however, replied 
 with caution, " You have guessed it ; we only make a 
 joke of the matter, and came really to beg you to 
 recommend a purchaser." 
 
 " Why should I not ? " replied the jeweller . " But 
 as true as I am an honest Jew, there is only one per- 
 son in the whole German Empire that could purchase 
 the jewel, and that is Fugger* in Augsburg." 
 
 " And how high do you value it?" 
 
 " Well," said Levi, after having put his spectacles 
 again on his nose, and examining the stone carefully 
 " if I am to give my honest opinion, it is worth three 
 kingdoms." 
 
 The finder almost lost his equilibrium, while Berg- 
 mann put his hand to his head to see if it stood in the 
 right place. "Three kingdoms, did you say ?" 
 
 "Three kingdoms; and the purchaser could make 
 money in the transaction." 
 
 An hour after the two friends stood before the 
 * Pronounced Fooger.
 
 142 
 
 treasurer of the Prince, for the finder could not make 
 up his mind to undertake the journey to Augsburg 
 until he had provided for his wife and children, 
 and asked him if he would advance a hundred 
 thousand Thaler on the jewel, till they could sell it to 
 Fugger. 
 
 But the treasurer was a vicious and avaricious man, 
 who resolved to have the stone at any price, even by 
 force if necessar}-, and as the friends would leave him, 
 he threatened to throw them into prison if the stone 
 were not delivered to him as his property for the 
 hundred thousand Thaler. 
 
 To prevent unpleasantness they consented, and 
 went home laden with gold. 
 
 Mother and children were provided with every com- 
 fort, and soon after went to live in Aschersleben, 
 for they could not be happy among people who had 
 refused assistance in their need, but fawned upon 
 them now they were become rich. 
 
 The Jew received a handsome sum, and Bergmann 
 was independent for life through his grateful friend. 
 
 But how did matters go with the dishonourable 
 treasurer ? His punishment was swift and terrible. 
 
 The next day he broke a piece from the stone, the 
 tenth part of it, and presented himself before the 
 Prince. 
 
 " Your Highness has given me a command to pur- 
 chase jewels, as precious and costly as were to be 
 found, that you might present them to the Princess of
 
 The Harz Mountains. 143 
 
 the adjoining dominions, and thereby win her hand 
 and realm. 
 
 " 1 have not been able to find anything costly enough, 
 and hence only one thing remains to be done. I pos- 
 sess a stone of priceless value, an heirloom of my 
 family, which one of my ancestors took from a Ma- 
 homedan Sultan. I will resign it, however painful it 
 may be. Only look at it and judge if any female heart 
 could withstand such splendour. The Princess will 
 bestow her hand upon your Highness, and I only ask 
 in payment a few towns and villages, and a thousand 
 acres of forest, and a thousand acres of arable land. 
 Judge if I am unreasonable." 
 
 " Thou shalt have it ; thou shalt have more than 
 thy demand !" cried the Prince, as he beheld the glit- 
 tering jewel, and embraced the treasurer, called him 
 friend and brother, and commanded his secretary to 
 draw up the documents giving the treasurer the half 
 of his kingdom. 
 
 The treasurer went joyfully home, dreaming of 
 princely honours, for had he not still a greater part of 
 the stone in his possession ? 
 
 Meanwhile the Prince called his favourite courtiers 
 and showed them the stone. No one spoke for as- 
 tonishment. At last one of the surveyors of the mines 
 remarked how wonderful it was that many pebbles 
 possessed such brilliant colours, and it was to be re- 
 gretted that they faded in a few days. 
 
 " What ? a pebble ? " cried the Prince.
 
 144 Legends and Tales of 
 
 " Yes, your Highness, only a pebble." 
 
 " A pebble ? Not a precious stone ? Then I have 
 been deceived." 
 
 " Has your Highness bought it at a high price ? 
 Such stones are found in the earth, but the sunlight 
 soon fades the colours." 
 
 " I have promised the treasurer half my kingdom 
 for the stone." 
 
 Command was given to arrest the treasurer, but a 
 friend had given him warning, and he had fled. They 
 pursued him, the Prince at their head, found the un- 
 happy man, deceived as well as deceiving, in a tree, 
 and shot him dead on the spot. 
 
 The Monk and the Spring. 
 
 IT was at Whitsuntide of the year 1292, as tradition 
 tells us, that the town council of the free, imperial 
 Miihlhausen issued a proclamation, that whoever could 
 discover and conduct a spring into the upper town } 
 which suffered much from fires through want of water, 
 should be richly rewarded ; and in case he had com- 
 mitted a crime, he should be pardoned. 
 
 At that time a monk of Kloster Reifenstein sat in 
 the dungeon of the Rabenthurm * now called the 
 Adlerthurm-f- under sentence of death. 
 
 In the days of his freedom, when he had gone on 
 
 * Rabenthurm raven tower. ^Adle.rthurm eagle tower.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 145 
 
 affairs concerning his convent from Pfaffenrode to St. 
 Daniel, he had often seen a spring among the hills. 
 
 The proclamation of the council penetrated to his 
 criminal cell, and he recalled this spring to his memory, 
 and felt a wild longing through it to regain his free- 
 dom. 
 
 But the spring bubbled up in a deep valley, and a 
 long chain of hills lay between it and the town. 
 
 And the monk thought and studied, for before his 
 soul stood the fragrant dishes of his convent and the 
 costly wines, as attractive as the fleshpots of Egypt 
 to the Jews ; but with this vision stood the hangman, 
 hand-in-hand with the impossibility of moving this 
 spring through these hills, grinning in diabolical glee. 
 
 He tossed restlessly on his bed of straw, longing for 
 the dawn. 
 
 Now he sank into an uneasy slumber, disturbed by 
 the most frightful dreams. The Rabenthurm seemed 
 to quake and tremble, he heard distant thunder, and 
 saw the glare of the lightning. 
 
 Now the foul fiend stood by his 'miserable bed 
 tempting him. 
 
 In exchange for his soul, he promised to conduct 
 the water of the spring to the upper town, and pro- 
 duced a roll of parchment containing a plan of the 
 work. 
 
 At length the unhappy man consented to the pro- 
 posals. 
 
 Again he dreamed of his childhood, of his dead 
 10
 
 146 Legends and Tales of 
 
 mother, of the fields and woods where he gathered the 
 first daisies and violets of spring ; and now again he 
 listened to the raging storm. 
 
 At break of day the monk opened the fatal roll 
 Judge of his astonishment and joy, as he saw the way 
 marked out over hills and through ravines, by which 
 the spring could be conducted with little difficulty to 
 the place required. 
 
 He immediately made his proposals to the' council- 
 
 His freedom was promised him if the work suc- 
 ceeded, and a body of labourers was given him for 
 the carrying out of his plan. 
 
 And soon the crystal stream gladdened the thirsting 
 upper town with an abundance of water. 
 
 But the monk, so soon as he had fulfilled his con- 
 tract, disappeared, and even gratitude could find no 
 trace of him. He was never seen again. 
 
 Hildegard and the Hainerbtirg. 
 
 IN the thirteenth century there lived in Miihlhausen 
 a respectable locksmith, who was also an alder- 
 man. 
 
 This Herr Adam had six sons and an only daughter, 
 Hildegard, who was the loveliest maiden of all the 
 plains of Germany. 
 
 The father's pride and joy were in these children, 
 but his happiness was doomed to annihilation.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 147 
 
 A wild and lawless knight of the Castle Hainerburg 
 surprised Hildegard alone at home, her father and bro- 
 thers being absent in the terrors of a fire in the city, 
 and carried her off in a deadly swoon to his castle. 
 
 Inexpressible rage filled the hearts of the citizens 
 at the news of this violence, and they agreed to unite 
 in the coming week for the destruction of the castle. 
 
 But the father, distracted with grief, determined at 
 once to rescue his child. 
 
 The very next night, the Ritter of the Hainerburg 
 being absent on some villainous scheme, the father, 
 with his six sons, knelt in the church of the Virgin, 
 and besought her aid in his bold project. 
 
 And the petition was heard, for midnight was hardly 
 past before the knights left behind in the Burg had 
 been overpowered by the strong arms of the avengers 
 of innocence, and thrust into the deepest dungeon. 
 
 They prayed again for strength ; and now the walls 
 and towers fell thundering in the moat, for the 
 Virgin had appeared on the battlements, encouraging 
 them, and their strength had become superhuman. 
 
 And when morning dawned, the sun illuminated 
 only a shapeless mass of ruins, and on the ruins the 
 conquerors knelt and thanked heaven for the given 
 strength. 
 
 Great were the jubilee and gratitude of the citi- 
 zens when they saw the fallen fortress, and great 
 their praise of the victors. 
 
 The fair Hildegard retired to the Brlicken Kloster,
 
 148 Legends and Tales of 
 
 where she died ; and still the maidens of Mlihlhausen 
 sing many a song of her beauty and singular fate at 
 the joyful dance of the Kirchweihfest* 
 
 The Three Stone Partridges. 
 
 ON a flying buttress of the colossal Marienkirche, 
 in Mlihlhausen, are three stone partridges, and 
 I am about to explain to you how they came there. 
 
 At the time when Germany was in the middle of 
 the great Reformation contest, two prelates sat to- 
 gether with their well-filled for the empty ones 
 were speedily filled wine-cups before them, and dis- 
 cussed the pros and cons of the Reformed doctrines, 
 and whether Miihlhausen was likely to adopt the 
 Lutheran creed. 
 
 At last one of the reverend prelates grew angry, 
 and exclaimed : " Those three partridges now turning 
 on the spit in the kitchen will fly, before the faith of 
 the heretical Augustine monk will gain power in this 
 good city." 
 
 But, lo ! scarcely were the haughty words uttered, 
 when a cooing and a fluttering of wings were heard. 
 
 The prelates fled in affright, seeing themselves robbed 
 of their dinner. The partridges flew forth and settled 
 
 * In Germany an annual festival is held in commemoration of the 
 dedication of the church of the place, called the Kirchweihfest 
 dedication festival. Feasting, dancing, and universal merriment 
 are the order of the day. Friends'are invited from far and near 
 and it is an occasion of general re-union in the parish,
 
 The Harz Mountains. 149 
 
 on a buttress, where they were turned to stone, and 
 remained as heralds of the dawn of a better day. 
 
 
 
 The Forester and the Enchanted Castle. 
 
 THE forester of Scharzfels* with his gun on his 
 shoulder, was one day sauntering through the 
 wood, when, as he turned a corner, he saw three men 
 in a young plantation, digging, and thereby doing 
 much mischief. 
 
 Already a strong oath was on his lips as the figures 
 turned round, and, through their odd, foreign appear- 
 ance, frightened back every expression of anger. 
 
 One was a tall from the weight of years not much 
 bent grey-headed old man. His bald head, from 
 which, on each side, short silver locks hung down ; 
 a long white beard falling over his breast ; the lean, 
 stern features, and the black robe, gave him the ap- 
 pearance of an anchorite. 
 
 The second was a strong, powerful youth, with 
 flaming eyes. An odd-shaped pointed hat rested on 
 his curly black hair, and an uncultivated beard 
 covered the lower part of his face. 
 
 The third was a noble, imposing form the fearless 
 countenance framed in a thousand auburn locks of 
 curly hair ; the eye was full of fire and courage ; the 
 bold lips full of power. 
 
 All three looked at the approaching huntsman with 
 
 * The ruins of this castle are among the most imposing in these 
 mountains.
 
 150 Legends and Tales of 
 
 so much firmness and composure that he was only 
 able to inquire : " What are you doing here, gentle- 
 men ? You are trampling under ^oot the young 
 growths ; and with your scraping and digging, you 
 will destroy many a thriving tree." 
 
 One of the strangers replied to this address mildly ; 
 regretted that they had certainly caused a little 
 damage, but that was unfortunately not to be pre- 
 vented, since they sought just on this very spot cer- 
 tain stones which were absolutely necessary to them, 
 and that they were come from a great distance to 
 make the search. 
 
 They expressed themselves, however, willing to 
 make indemnification, if the forester would only 
 make his demands. 
 
 A further conversation betrayed to the forester that 
 the strangers were Venetians, and the result of it was 
 that he permitted them to depart without hindrance, 
 or without accepting the smallest indemnity. 
 
 Several years passed away ; but every St. John's 
 Day the forester saw and spoke with the same three 
 strangers. 
 
 At last, one sultry summer afternoon, he threw 
 himself down under a tree, and soon sank into a 
 deep sleep. 
 
 How long he had slept he could not tell. As he 
 opened his eyes he saw himself in a perfectly strange 
 place, in which, directly before him, rose a stately, 
 wonderful castle, surrounded by a high wall.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 5 1 
 
 Terrified, the forester gazed around. It was certain 
 that he had never before seen the neighbourhood, and 
 that he had bee transplanted from Scharzfels to the 
 spot by enchantment. 
 
 In the anguish of his spirit he said the Creed, the 
 Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, prayers for storms, and 
 all the others he could think of, all mingled in the 
 wildest confusion, like one who had taken leave of his 
 senses. 
 
 But whether it was that he had left out a word, or 
 was not earnest and devotional enough, the castle and 
 its enclosing walls stood immovable. 
 
 The terrified man knew of nothing better to do than 
 to resign himself to his fate, and to observe more closely 
 his surroundings. 
 
 Dark cypresses rose behind the stone walls, and fig 
 trees thrust their wonderfully crooked fingers forward, 
 as if they would draw him in ; shining lizards crept up 
 the wall, glanced at him with their glittering eyes, 
 and then wriggled hurriedly into the garden, which 
 he could see through a grated gate under a great 
 arch. 
 
 Behind and among the shrubbery and trees he 
 could see all sorts of marble figures; goat- footed 
 heathen gods, making awful faces ; small hump-backed 
 dwarfs with cocked hats ; hunters with puffed-out 
 cheeks blowing the horn ; ladies with farthingales and 
 horse-heads ; urns around which salamanders, dragons, 
 and other poisonous worms, with open jaws and red
 
 152 Legends and Tales of 
 
 tongues, dragged their slimy lengths ; and many other 
 indescribable, diabolical objects. 
 
 Among all these grinning creatures strutted a pea- 
 cock, in which certainly pride made a most ridiculous 
 figure, as he craned his beautiful neck in the brilliant 
 sunlight, and dragged his gorgeous tail alas! by 
 means of the ugliest feet and legs ever made. 
 
 Suddenly the gilded, grated door flew open, an old 
 Moor came out, bowed low before the forester with 
 his hands meekly crossed before him, invited him by a 
 wave of the hand to follow him, and both entered the 
 garden. 
 
 Intoxicating clouds of perfume floated toward him 
 from every bush and hedge. 
 
 Wonderful, never-before-seen flowers nodded to him 
 in greeting from their slender stalks, and bent before 
 him their lovely heads. 
 
 Brilliant birds flew from branch to branch before 
 him, and sang with almost human voice. 
 
 Then an ugly sea-cat threw itself down from some 
 tree, with its winding tail twisted around some branch, 
 ground the teeth with a horrid grin, and sprang back 
 into the thick foliage. 
 
 From a side path a purple stork came forward with 
 solemn gravity, twisted the long neck up and down to 
 affected compliment, scraped with his thin legs behind 
 him, and then walked resolutely before the forester 
 and the conducting Moor, looking almost constantly 
 back to see if they were following.
 
 The Harz Mountains, 153 
 
 In one of the marble basins a stone vintager upset 
 continually the cask, and the clear, foaming new wine 
 that streamed from the bung-hole bubbled up in the 
 face of the sipping boy ; in another an idol, ending in 
 a fish's tail, blew out of a shell the clear stream in the 
 air, and the dust of drops shone in the light like dia- 
 monds and rubies. White temples with ivy-entwined 
 pillars glittered behind the hedges. 
 
 The forester followed like one in a dream, resisting, 
 yet drawn on by an irresistible, enchanting power, 
 until they reached a colossal castle, built in a style 
 perfectly unknown to him. 
 
 He climbed a marble flight of steps, and went on 
 over costly carpets, so soft and smooth that he could 
 not hear his own steps. 
 
 The fragrance of balsamic spices floated delightfully 
 on the air from censers in every chamber. 
 
 Richly- worked tapestry covered the walls, the softest 
 cushions invited to repose, the light, like a soft twilight, 
 fell through green windows, and composed the spirit 
 to a sweet calmness and peace. 
 
 From the lofty ceiling rare birds warbled their 
 delicious melodies in golden cages, and a grey parrot 
 sat on his perch and pecked with his crooked bill the 
 golden wires of his hated cage. 
 
 Here the Moor stood still, threw open a folding- 
 door and pushed the benumbed forester into a great 
 salon. 
 
 In this vast chamber he stood fascinated, like one
 
 154 Legends and Tales of 
 
 under enchantment, and gazed upon the extraordinary 
 objects on every side. Around the costly chamber, 
 near the magnificent walls, stood all sorts of animals in 
 life-size, in beaten gold, a perfect imitation of nature. 
 Amazed, the forester gazed at the beautiful forms. He 
 never could have satisfied his eyes with looking ; and 
 who knows how long he might have stood there, if 
 through another door the three men had not entered 
 whom he had so often seen near Scharzfels ? 
 
 They approached him, pressed his hand in the most 
 friendly manner, and enquired how the chamber 
 pleased him, and which piece he would choose. 
 
 After he had expressed his astonishment at the way 
 he had been introduced into the castle, the forester, in 
 reply to the question as to what object he should prefer 
 if permitted to choose, said he would unhesitatingly 
 select the stag with the beautiful antlers. 
 
 After some conversation, the eldest of the three said : 
 "You have known us many years, and are aware that 
 we went frequently to Scharzfels to search for metals 
 and stones, which you stupid Germans do not prize, 
 but which are, notwithstanding, of great value. We 
 have now sufficient wealth, but we would wish to 
 thank you for your forbearance, and entertain you as 
 an honoured^ guest." 
 
 The forester was conducted to a salle a manger 
 glittering with gold, silver, and crystal. The rarest 
 exotics beautified the table, and stood in graceful 
 baskets and vases in every part of the apartment.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 155 
 
 The most delicious viands and oldest wines were 
 served, and not till a late hour did the merry party 
 seek repose. The forester sank, in his silken couch, 
 quickly into the arms of friendly sleep. 
 
 On awaking he looked in surprise around him, for 
 he lay under the shady beech in full view of Schloss 
 Scharzfels. 
 
 "What a droll dream !" he cried, springing up and 
 brushing the grass and moss from his clothes. But 
 he stood as if transfixed, as he beheld the stag he 
 wished for the golden stag with great diamond eyes 
 lying in the grass beside him ! The three men he 
 never saw again, not even on St. John's Day. 
 
 The Steinkirche* and the Hermit. 
 
 IN the grey days long ago, when paganism ruled the 
 land, there stood on the hills near the cave called 
 the Steinkirche altars to the gods. 
 
 Bright were the fires to Krodo in the darkness of 
 the night, and on the opposite cliffs rose the fire pillar 
 in honour of the goddess Ostera.'f 
 
 The crackling flames illuminated the country and 
 the mountains, and invited the inhabitants of the near, 
 lying vales and heights to the wild customs, the bloody 
 sacrifices, and the raving dance of heathenism. 
 
 * Steinkirche stone church. 
 
 t From Oslf.ro. we have the name Eaater.
 
 156 Legends and Tales of 
 
 Then came from a southern land a hermit to this 
 district. He beheld the smoking sacrificial altars, he 
 heard the songs of the reeling, staggering heathen, and 
 with a slow and solemn tread he climbed the mountain. 
 
 The peculiar, reverence-awaking appearance of the 
 stranger produced quiet among the raging throng- 
 One seated himself here, another there, another leaned 
 on his spear, and all listened in silence and attention 
 to what the strange figure might have to say to them. 
 
 And as the tempest with hollow moans and wails 
 sweeps over the tree-tops, so the aged stranger lifted 
 up his voice, and preached to the assembly the Chris- 
 tian faith with ever-increasing enthusiasm. 
 
 At first they heard quietly his earnest words ; but 
 as he began to condemn the gods so dear to them, and 
 challenged them to break in pieces their idols, and 
 turn to the worship of the only true God, their rage 
 kindled. 
 
 They sprang to their feet, forced him to silence, and 
 after a short consultation voted unanimously that the 
 blasphemer of their gods must die. 
 
 In a few moments the trembling old man was seized 
 by the giant forms, and led down from the summit of 
 the mountain to a place suitable for the execution. 
 
 The hermit sent up a petition to the Almighty for 
 strength and courage in the trying moment, released 
 himself from their arms with a Samson strength, 
 seized from one standing next him a wooden battle- 
 axe, and thus addressed the bloodthirsty multitude :
 
 The Harz Mountains. 157 
 
 " So sure as I with this weak tool split this firm 
 rock, so sure as this wood produces a temple for the 
 worship of the one eternal God in this immovable 
 mass of stone, so true is the word, the gospel, which I 
 proclaim to you." 
 
 When he had uttered these words, he struck with 
 trembling arm the rough cliff, and lo ! the firm rock 
 yielded like soft clay to the weak blow of the wooden 
 axe ! 
 
 And at this moment the sun shone forth from behind 
 thick clouds, bathing rocks and wood with a warm, 
 rosy light, and the birds in a thousand voices sang the 
 praises of Creator and Father. 
 
 And the hearts of the wild Sassen* were opened > 
 with one mind they sank on their knees in reverence 
 and adoration before the God of the white-headed old 
 man who had received the power to work such a 
 miracle. 
 
 They vowed to a man henceforth to forsake the 
 worship of Krodo, to remain true to the new faith, 
 followed the venerable hermit to the banks of the 
 Oder, and were baptized into Christ's death and resur- 
 rection, and from every side the people flocked to 
 hear the words of the apostle. 
 
 Thus was formed in the rugged, steep cliff the 
 primeval cave, the Steinkirche, the meeting-place of 
 the first Christians of this neighbourhood. 
 
 Old German for Saxon.
 
 158 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Nymph Ruina and the Weingarten Hohle. 
 
 IN the middle of fruitful fields and green meadows 
 not far from Schai'zfels rises the ball-shaped 
 alabaster Romerstein, on whose summit ragged cliffs 
 rise in the air resembling the ruins of a castle. 
 
 In the days before authentic history a race of giants 
 dwelt hereabout, who, fearing the mountain-spirit,* 
 piled up these cliffs and constructed thus a giant for- 
 tress, of which these cliffs are the proud remains. 
 
 Romar, a blooming youth of this race, was once 
 hunting in a neighbouring forest for deer or wild boar. 
 
 The soft air fanned gently his glowing face, the 
 birds sang in the thicket, and the gentle influence of 
 the hour led him to slacken his pace. 
 
 Suddenly he stood still before a maiden asleep on a 
 mossy bank under the rustling trees. 
 
 Silently admiring, Romar gazed at the sleeping 
 beauty, and the sweetest emotions filled his breast, till 
 the stranger opened her eyes and beheld him, uttered 
 a scream of terror, sprang up, and fled into the thickest 
 of the forest. 
 
 A moment Romar stood rooted to the ground ; then 
 coming to his senses, he followed the fleeing maiden, 
 and, soon overtaking her, quieted her fears by kind and 
 
 * fierr/yeist.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 159 
 
 honest words ; and this first meeting gave rise to many 
 others. All suspicion, every fear vanished, and love 
 speedily filled the maiden's heart. 
 
 Romar inquired after the descent of his beloved, and 
 turned pale as he discovered that she was a nymph, 
 and the daughter of the Berggeist, so hostile to his race, 
 and a river goddess, and dwelt in the neighbouring 
 mountain lake. 
 
 The nymph reassured him, told him she was her 
 father's favourite, and he had never refused her a 
 single request, and certainly would not refuse his con- 
 sent to their union 
 
 Accordingly, during the absence of the Berggeist, 
 they were married. 
 
 A long time had passed, and Romar slept one day 
 under an oak near Ruma, who held a lovely boy in 
 her arms. Her father, returning from his journey, 
 stepped out of the thicket, and came suddenly upon 
 them. 
 
 His first glance at the pair told him what had hap- 
 pened, and a smothered tone of anger forced itself 
 from his trembling lips. 
 
 Terrified, the nymph sprang up, and as she saw her 
 secret discovered, and her father so enraged, she rushed 
 toward him and entreated him to be calm. Romar 
 now came forward and sought from the old mountain 
 god reconciliation ; but the latter only became more 
 enraged. 
 
 A wave of his hand called whole troops of well-
 
 1 60 Legends and Tales of 
 
 armed dwarfs together, who were commanded to lead 
 away mother and child ; while others so maltreated 
 Romar, that he only escaped, covered with wounds, to 
 the Giant Castle. 
 
 The Berggeisfc now tormented his unhappy daughter 
 every hour to give up her husband. But her love for 
 Romar only increased, and her father in his insane rage 
 seized the child, broke it in pieces on the rocks, cursed 
 and swore because he could not take the same measures 
 with his mother, created with a wave of his hand the 
 cave, the Weingarten Hohle, banished her into it, and 
 left her with a laugh of scorn. 
 
 Banished into the earth, shut up in a cave, the 
 entrance guarded by malicious cobolds, the wretched 
 Ruma sought to reach Romar, and a succession of cav- 
 ings in proves her efforts to set herself free ; but her 
 watchful father always thrust her back into the depths 
 of the earth. 
 
 At last, after long years, she succeeded, by a subter- 
 ranean way, in escaping from her father's dominions, 
 as a full stream to spring into the light of day, and at 
 a time when he, by the decree of an inscrutable destiny, 
 had been attacked by a sort of torpor, she reached 
 her old residence, the Nymph's lake, and was reunited 
 to her faithful husband. 
 
 The river which springs from the mountain on the 
 border of the Gyps Mountains is called, in honour of 
 the faithful, loving nymph, the Ruma. Still its waters 
 redden with the blood of her innocent child.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 6 1 
 
 The cliffs of the ruinated Giant Castle wear mourning 
 still, and bear the name of the hero, the Romerstein, 
 or Romar's rock. 
 
 Legend of the Schildberg. 
 
 NOT far from the Lautenthal there existed in the 
 pre-historic times the Schloss Schiltberg, or 
 Schildberg, of whose builders, destroyers, and history 
 we know next to nothing. All we know is that the 
 Kaiser Frederic I., in war against Henry the Lion, 
 took the castle in 1180. 
 
 On the rugged, precipitous rocks stand the ruins of 
 a dilapidated tower, now half veiled by clouds and 
 mists, now echoing the roar of the savage tempest. 
 
 Beneath, in the still valley, is a half-sunken grave, 
 and a weeping willow spreads sadly her branches over 
 it. Above, on the wild rocks, once stood a strong 
 castle, whose walls hid many a deed of horror and 
 crime. Below, in the peaceful vale, there was a small, 
 simpla hermitage, where an old hermit had dwelt alone 
 long years. 
 
 From the high fortress the robber-band of knights 
 rode down the mountain, for they perceived the long- 
 desired prey in the distance. 
 
 Beneath, by the quiet hermitage, appeared the pious 
 old hermit, looked reprovingly upon them, and shook 
 his silver-white locks. 
 
 " Ye wild knights ! " he cried, " ye shall no longer 
 11
 
 1 62 Legends and Tales of 
 
 bring disgrace and shame upon the honour of knight- 
 hood. No longer shall ye march forth to rob and 
 plunder. Know, thou leader of thy robber-troop, thy 
 time is expired. Enter my hermitage, confess, and 
 take the communion, for thou shalt never again ride 
 living into the valley." 
 
 But the proud knight fell into a rage at the solemn 
 admonition. " Punish the old bird of ill omen ! " he 
 cried in a fury, and rode away. 
 
 Now the hermitage chapel is wrapped in flames, and 
 the aged hermit sinks to the ground from many 
 wounds. 
 
 Dying, he stretches forth his hands in pain, and 
 cries after the retreating knight, " Ride on, ride till the 
 judgment day; ride every night through the forests, 
 till thy horse sinks exhausted under thee, and may 
 no pious one meet thee, but only the foul fiend of 
 perdition !" 
 
 Mourning, the robber-band rode back to the high 
 castle, for their leader had fallen wifch his horse and 
 broken his neck. 
 
 They laid him in the still vault, but he cannot enjoy 
 the peace of the grave. When the moonbeams fall 
 soft and pale on castle and rocks, he tears in a wild 
 gallop on his black horse below into the quiet 
 valley. 
 
 To the grave of the hermit is the ghostly ride, and 
 there, a grey, bleeding shadow, stands the murdered 
 old man.
 
 The Harz Mountains. \ 63 
 
 And a ghostly voice whispers, " Ride on, wicked 
 knight, till the day of eternal retribution ; but do not 
 terrify the good only the wicked. And where the 
 stumbling of thy horse once brought thee death, 
 there shall thy ride end there shalt thou stumble 
 every night." 
 
 Already long the castle has laid in ruins ; but the 
 knight rides ever, without rest, on a wild black steed 
 from its lonely tower to the hermit's weeping-willow- 
 shaded grave ; and the enchantment can only be 
 broken when the robber-knight, on his night ride, 
 meets one more wicked than himself. 
 
 Legend of Silberhohl. 
 
 IN the neighbourhood of Leesen lies a spot called 
 Silberhohl. It is almost round, and several feet 
 deeper than the ground around it, and quite over- 
 grown with swdinp-rnoss. People go by with a 
 shudder, for there is something the matter with the 
 place. 
 
 Centuries ago a stately castle stood on the spot, 
 in which there were always much drinking, gambling, 
 and wild merriment. 
 
 The nobles of the castle acted as if they owned the 
 whole world ; and everything did belong to them that 
 they could take by force, for they lived by robbing, 
 and were guilty of much violence and cruelty.
 
 164 Legends and Tales of 
 
 One could say with truth, there was not a single 
 good heart in the Burg except the young girl Jutta. 
 Everybody loved her ; and often, when the robbers 
 had marched out to plunder, she would visit the poor 
 and the sick, and even the robbed, giving them food 
 and the money she had saved. The suffering and 
 poor called her Saint Jutta. 
 
 Once the robbers had committed a monster crime. 
 Covered with the blood of those they had robbed, 
 they returned laden with booty to the castle. 
 
 Soon the goblets stood on the oaken tables, and 
 the unholy, lawless revel began. 
 
 Suddenly the most terrible thunder rolled, a mighty 
 flash of lightning swept the hall, the earth quaked 
 and opened, the walls trembled, the tower shook and 
 fell with an awful noise that was heard miles away. 
 All sank in the gulf, which closed again, and nothing 
 was left of the castle but a deep round spot where it 
 had stood. 
 
 Many came to see the place so marked by a Divine 
 vengeance, and every one said, " Poor Jutta !" 
 
 Not long after the destruction of the Burg, a poor 
 woman in a neighbouring village fell ill. She wept 
 sore, for her three little children cried for bread, and 
 she could work no longer. 
 
 The mother folded her hands and prayed. Then 
 she said to herself, " Oh ! if the dear Jutta were only 
 alive !" 
 
 Then the door was opened softly ; a light form
 
 The Harz Mountains. 165 
 
 wrapped in a white veil, with a gleaming diadem in 
 her hair, came forward to the bed. 
 
 " Jutta!" cried the poor mother. 
 
 The figure waved the hand, glanced kindly at the 
 sleeping children, set down a peculiar shaped basket on 
 a table, drew a cross over the mother, and vanished. 
 
 A deep sleep fell on the poor woman, and when 
 she awoke the next morning she found the basket 
 full of gold pieces. 
 
 Lautenthal.* 
 
 " Harmonieen heir' ich klingen, 
 Tone susser Himmelsruh." 
 
 " Harmonies I hear resounding 
 Tones of sweet, heavenly music. 
 
 WHY dost thou sit so lonely on the declivity of 
 the mountain, innocent daughter of the Felsen- 
 burg ? Why does the cloud of care rest on thy coun- 
 tenance ? Why dost thou gaze with such sad long- 
 ing into the vale below ? 
 
 The light of thy eyes is dimmed by a tear ; heavy 
 and anxious rests thy curly head on thy snowy 
 arm. As the heavenly glory crowns the head of a 
 martyred saint, so the splendour of sunset bathes thy 
 form. Deep and great must be the anguish that fills 
 thy breast, and yet thou dost endure speechless and 
 silent. Not a sigh breaks from thy swelling heart 
 
 * The valley of the lute.
 
 1 66 Legends and Tales of 
 
 not a lament from thy lips, not a sad note from the 
 strings of the lute that lies hushed before thee. 
 
 Weep no longer, child of grief ; brighten thy sad- 
 dened countenance. He for whom thou art waiting 
 the beloved of thy soul will come ; he will come 
 with the quick step of love, and his glance will chase 
 away grief and care from thy soul. 
 
 Hark ! Already it rustles in the wood, already his 
 tread resounds on the rocks ; he climbs the mountain. 
 
 With the bliss of the purest love he clasps the 
 sorrowing maiden in his strong arms and yet thou 
 remainest in mourning and tears ! 
 
 Fairest of the blue-eyed daughters of the Harz, is 
 thy heart cold in presence of the flame of love, as 
 the ice of the Brocken is proof against the sun of 
 the spring-time ? 
 
 Ah ! not cold and hard was her heart. Pure and 
 tender, as the dewdrops in the lily, it lay in her inno- 
 cent breast, and adorned the morning of her life, till 
 the sunny fire of love smiled down upon her. Then 
 a never-before-imagined bliss trembled through the 
 pure flower, her heart was filled with joy, the clear 
 dewdrop dissolved in love. The dewdrop belongs to 
 the sunbeams, and the heart of the maiden to the 
 youth she loves. 
 
 But fate was not favourable to the lovers fate, 
 the destroyer of so many blissful bonds. 
 
 Jutta* was the daughter of a noble whose Schloss lay 
 
 * Pronounced Yootta.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 167 
 
 near Leesen, and Ernst the son of an old warrior, who, 
 after having fought many a battle in his youth and 
 won many honours, now poor, weak from wounds, and 
 forgotten by the world, had retired into solitude, to 
 spend the remainder of his days in memories of his 
 active life, and in the education of his only son. 
 Under his guidance Ernst grew up strong and free, a 
 true son of the Harz, lofty of stature and of an exalted 
 mind, with a noble heart and countenance, with a 
 fearless glance and bold design. 
 
 Where the Innerste, which springs from the Baren- 
 bruche, approaches her issue from the Harz, she 
 quickens her course, flowing among steep, well-wooded 
 mountains in youthful mirth, or silently over sands, 
 playing with the water- violets, which from the damp 
 moss bend their blue heads in the crystal ripples. 
 Beautiful rises on either bank the forest. Here grow 
 mighty firs, whose roots spring from the metal-rich 
 gray wacke ; there, slender beeches in the clay-slate ; 
 yonder, maples with their lovely leaves. Wild lettuce, 
 yellow and red, grows next the round shave-grass, and 
 the water-lily and mallow rock themselves on the 
 fragrant banks ; on the rocky mountain wall shimmers 
 the white-browed swallow-wort, the saxifrage, and the 
 yellow wall-pepper ; from the mossy ground of the 
 forest spring the flaming purple toad-stool, the agaric, 
 and the pale goafs-beard. 
 
 The classic wood-singers fill the air with wondrous 
 melodies.
 
 1 68 Legends and Tales of 
 
 From the topmost branches of the firs, where he has 
 built his nest, the tiny greenfinch sings his little song. 
 Beneath, on the river-banks, sounds the soft flute-like 
 voice of the white-breasted plover, the whistling of the 
 thistle-finch ; and the blackbird and linnet, the cross- 
 bill and thrush make the green halls merry with their 
 ringing voices. 
 
 In this valley, on the rushing, roaring Innerste, stood 
 the cottage of unhewn trees and stones, covered with 
 moss, in which father and son led a contented life. A 
 small garden surrounded it, in which Ernst loved to 
 work ; there he listened to the tales of his father, or 
 hunted in the mountain forests. 
 
 One day, as he had gone in the direction of Goslar, 
 a singular howling fell upon his ear. He listened, 
 recognized the howl of a wolf, mingled with the 
 piercing neighing of a horse in deadly terror, and at 
 the same time saw a rider tearing in fear over the 
 mountains, without giving any heed to his calls. 
 
 He hurried in the direction of the neighing and 
 howling, where he heard at the same time a female 
 voice crying for help. 
 
 A large wolf hung on the neck of the almost pros- 
 trate horse, on whose back sat a charming maiden. 
 
 To see this, and with practiced hand to throw the 
 javelin in the body of the beast of prey, that he sank 
 at the feet of the horse, was the work of an instant. 
 Quickly the youth thrust his hunting-knife in the 
 beast, and the bowlings ceased.
 
 The Harz Mountains, 1 69 
 
 The maiden was saved, and looked gratefully upon 
 her deliverer and what a look ! An unspeakable 
 bliss penetrated his breast, he stood speechless before 
 the pure rescued maiden, and his whole soul hung on 
 her eye. 
 
 It was not the rosy cheek, not the crimson lips, that 
 wounded his heart so deliciously, but her eye. 
 
 The horse was not able to carry her home, her 
 servant had fled, and Ernst undertook to conduct her 
 to her father's Burg. Arrived there, not all the 
 entreaties of the rescued maiden could induce him to 
 enter, but already it was difficult to tear himself 
 away. 
 
 The impression she had made did not escape her 
 notice, and as she gave him her hand at parting, 
 carried away by the depth of her own emotions, she 
 yielded to his entreaties to meet him sometimes, and 
 promised with tears in her eyes. 
 
 Ernst hunted no more on the mountains, but stood 
 dreaming on a high spot whence he could see her 
 father's castle. And when he espied Jutta with her 
 lute descend into the castle garden, and wander into 
 the wood, he rushed to meet her, and lived a blissful 
 hour in listening to her voice and lute, and she at last 
 confessed she loved him with all her heart. 
 
 But now a rich earl sought Jutta's hand, and the 
 lord of the Felsenburg promised this suitor his 
 daughter, because his debts were so great that only a 
 wealthy son-in-law could save his estates.
 
 1 70 Legends and Tales of 
 
 In vain Jutta threw herself at her father's feet and 
 declared she loved a handsome, good, and noble youth 
 of ancient race. 
 
 " Is he rich ? " was the father's sole question. 
 
 " No ! " Alas, " no ! " Ernst was in despair, and 
 Jutta wept hours at a time, which only spoiled her 
 pretty eyes without doing her the least good. 
 
 Jutta at last resolved to give up Ernst for her 
 father's benefit, but she would see him once more, and 
 assure him that her filial love could not lessen her 
 affection for the choice of her heart. 
 
 That was what caused her sadness as we first saw 
 her, and Ernst, as he rushed towards her, must have 
 had some presentiment of the coming trouble in her 
 resolve. But she could not tell him her purpose, and, 
 as they parted, whispered, " to-morrow we will see 
 each other again." 
 
 The following day was nearly gone, and evening had 
 sent on her shadow before her. Jutta strengthened 
 herself for her sad walk with a prayer, took her lute, 
 and went through the garden into the forest, to the 
 spot where she usually met her lover. 
 
 Ernst was not yet there. She walked some dis- 
 tance in the direction of his cottage to a projection of 
 the mountain, whence she could look down into the 
 vale, and waited there for him. 
 
 Lost in her sad thoughts, her fingers swept lightly 
 the strings of the lute, calling forth soft melodious 
 notes. Finding comfort in the tones, the harmonies
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 7 1 
 
 grew louder and louder, and she listened with joy to 
 the tones, now fancying them the voice of the nightin- 
 gale or thrush. 
 
 At last her hands swept wildly over the strings in 
 the strength of her sorrow. 
 
 Meanwhile Ernst had approached. He listened 
 amazed to the tones, which floated to meet him, sound- 
 ing entirely different from anything he had ever heard 
 from Jutta's lute before. 
 
 It was as if a clear harmonious voice called back 
 every note that flew from the strings. 
 
 Slowly and in indescribable purity the harmonies 
 echoed through the mountains, and just where Ernst 
 stood the sweet tones trembled in the air, as if the 
 whole vale were one great harp. 
 
 " Can there be a cave here," thought Ernst, " which 
 has such a wonderful echo?" and turned over a moss- 
 grown stone with his foot. Who shall describe his 
 astonishment as he saw a white shimmering stone 
 before him, which extended so deep as he removed the 
 moss ? 
 
 His exclamation brought Jutta to his side, who at 
 the sight threw herself into his arms with tears of joy. 
 
 " We are saved ! It is silver ! " they both exclaimed 
 in the same breath. 
 
 Of course the earl received a Korb* Ernst and 
 
 * Korb basket. Er hat einen Korb bekomnen, is the German 
 " He has been rejected," "he lias got the mitten;" that is, " he has 
 got the basket."
 
 172 Legends and Tales of 
 
 Jutta were married. Ernst became the director of the 
 mine, loaded with honours for his discovery, and ever 
 since the valley has been called the Valley of the 
 Lute. 
 
 Eva yon Trotta. 
 
 A HISTORICAL TALE. 
 
 ON one of the border mountains, on the western 
 slopes of the Harz, in gloomy desolation, rise the 
 grey ruins of the old Schloss Staufenburg, which still 
 remind us of a most romantic though sad history. 
 
 Home-like, and at the same time sublime, silent and 
 solitary, must have been this now destroyed seat of 
 Kaisers and princes in the mysterious Middle Ages. 
 Its position is fascinating, surrounded on three sides 
 by high wooded mountains with a wide view open to 
 the south, which was then probably partially shut out 
 by the primeval dense forests, now, however, extend- 
 ing over the little mining town of Gittelde and the 
 picturesque mountain landscape to Osterode and the 
 high-seated Schloss Herzberg. 
 
 The magic of this picture is greatly enhanced by 
 the soft lights of sunset, and the dim, serni-transparent 
 mists, which like a floating veil half hide its beauties, 
 and fill the excited fancy with a mysterious presage of 
 that poetic something we call the Past. 
 
 The mountain on which are decaying bits of walls, 
 where, until a few years ago, a strong square tower
 
 The Harz Mountains. 173 
 
 eighty feet in height, with openings here and there, 
 looked solemnly down on the vale is cut off sharp, 
 on the east, west, and south sides from its wooded 
 brethren that rise high above it, only on the north 
 side sloping gradually to its base ; and it is on this 
 side one climbs to the spot where Kaiser Henry the 
 Vogler, or Fowler, had a decoy for birds. 
 
 The halls trodden by royalty, the boudoirs where 
 beauty ruled eight hundred years ago, are fallen into 
 green ruin ; the death-owl hoots, and bats and lizards 
 house among their overgrown stones. 
 
 Many of these ruins on the borders of the Harz 
 mountains remind us of Henry the Fowler, who built 
 them to defend the plains and homes of this part of 
 Germany from the wild and lawless Huns. As Duke 
 of Saxony he is said to have lived here with his 
 duchess, in this hunting-scat, when he was chosen 
 Kaiser of the holy Roman Empire in 920 ; several 
 other places, however, claim the honour. 
 
 Later the Staufenburg came to the Earls of Katlen- 
 burg, who had their seat near ; and after the extinction 
 of this house it fell into the hands of the mighty Duke 
 Henry the Lion, of Saxony and Brunswick, before 
 whose sword even the powerful Barbarossa trembled, 
 and remained in the possession of his descendants, 
 several of whom wore the imperial crown. 
 
 The Harz forests with their rich stores of game 
 
 o 
 
 attracted not seldom the hunt-loving princes of Bruns- 
 wick to their deep shades, and horn and hound and
 
 1 74 Legends and Tales of 
 
 the wild ho ho ! hio hi! of the hunter were heard over 
 mountain and vale. 
 
 Then came a calmer period for the old Staufenburg, 
 as the retired seat of princely widows, and here lived, 
 in the fourteenth century, the Duchess Elizabeth, 
 widow of William the Younger. 
 
 Oblivion at last sits green a couple of centuries in 
 this solitude, till it is chosen as the hiding-place of a 
 sinful love, and wild tales came to be told among the 
 simple mountaineers of a White Lady who haunted 
 the castle. 
 
 On the grey stone balcony stood, one summer day 
 in 1537, two persons in close conversation. 
 
 The lady, arrayed in white, was of remarkable and 
 striking beauty. A tall form of the most perfect 
 symmetry, brilliant white complexion, cheeks of a 
 delicate rose, very large clear blue eyes, dark brown 
 hair falling in luxuriant natural curls, and a dainty 
 hand and foot, made her the delight of every eye that 
 looked upon her. 
 
 The grace of all her movements seemed akin to 
 poetry and music, and the expression of her radiant 
 countenance betokened a noble and amiable mind. 
 
 Her companion, Duke Henry the Younger, of Bruns- 
 wick-Liineburg-Wolfenbuttel, clasped one of her tiny 
 hands glittering with diamonds, in his own, stroked 
 her magnificent hair, and gazed into her face with 
 silent rapture. 
 
 It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon, and the
 
 The Harz Mountains. 175 
 
 coffee table, according to German custom at this hour 
 stood in the garden below draped in white, a silver 
 coffee service glittered on the table, fragrant mountain 
 strawberries lent a rich bit of colouring, and by one 
 cup lay a spray of white roses. 
 
 The broken fountain suggested a feeling of loneli- 
 ness, and the high old grey stone walls enclosing the 
 castle shut it out or in from the world beyond, and 
 all the events now transpiring behind them were a 
 profound secret. The white robed figure was literally 
 dead and buried to the world, which had "assisted'' at 
 her funeral. 
 
 "Oh, Henry!" exclaimed Eva von Trotta, for the 
 youthful form belongs to no other than this Fair 
 Rosamond of Germany, " you strive to comfort me, 
 but in vain. All your words of kindness and pas- 
 sionate love, cannot crush the worm that is gnawing 
 at the thread of my life cannot silence the voice of 
 conscience. I must open my heart to you to-day, for 
 every visit you make me here I tremble to think may 
 be the last. And yet it is all wrong all wrong, 
 Henry; every visit, every gift from your dear hand is a 
 sin against the good and noble-minded Duchess, once 
 my motherly friend, a sin against your lawful children." 
 
 "Dear Eva," said Henry, interrupting her, "our 
 children are lawful. I gave you my left hand at the 
 altar, the wedding-ring and its diamond keeper glitter 
 on this little hand I hold in mine. The Church has 
 consecrated our union."
 
 176 Legends and Tales of 
 
 " That is only a hollow pretence. I see it all now. 
 Look at this beautiful Prayer Book in gold and pre- 
 cious stones, and the Bible* with my name in gold on 
 its cover," she continued, pointing to a small table 
 where they lay. 
 
 " They were among your gifts on our our our 
 marriage day. I come and sit here when alone, 
 where I can look out on the mountains, and read 
 them and seek consolation, but lind none. They 
 are a silent reproach to me. You had no right 
 to give them, nor I to take them. And in my Bible 
 I opened yesterday to St. Paul's words : ' the husband 
 of one wife.' They pierced like daggers to my heart. 
 Henry, Henry, I ought to flee this spot, and never see 
 you more ; and yet I cannot. I should die if I did not 
 see your dear face sometimes, and hear your. 
 
 "My darling Eva, put away these harrowing 
 thoughts ; they are shortening your precious life." 
 
 " Oh ! why did we meet ? or meeting, why was it 
 not earlier, when our love had been no sin ? When 
 I recall the affection and confidence of the Duchess, 
 and reflect on my base, false friendship, my face 
 burns with pain and shame. The world would curse 
 me ; she would too, if she knew. The watch I wear, 
 that you gave me that last morning in the ante- 
 chamber when I was on duty as lady-in-waiting, re- 
 minds me of the flight of time, and the unceasing 
 
 * Luther's Bible appeared two years before this scene. Eva was 
 Protestant.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 7 7 
 
 approach of a coming judgment. I never look upon 
 it without a throb of bitter anguish. ' Nothing that 
 loveth or maketh a lie ' shall enter heaven and my 
 life 7s a lie. Oh, Henry ! I shall perish eternally, 
 and my noble boy will grow up to curse my memory;" 
 and leaning her head on Henry's breast, she wept 
 bitterly. 
 
 Probably Henry's own reflections were not of the 
 most agreeable and consoling character, as he was 
 thus compelled to recall his injustice and sin in his 
 neglect of the Duchess. He gave, however, no ex- 
 pression to his misgivings, but only said pointing 
 to the coffee-table : " Let us think of this no more ; 
 dry up these childish tears, and let us go down 
 come, dear." 
 
 " My tears are not childish, Henry, only useless- 
 But the world will discover our dreadful secret, the 
 Duchess and her powerful father will complain to 
 Kaiser and Pope, your visits will be forbidden and 
 what will become of me and my boy ?" 
 
 " Eva, I will do what I before proposed, before you 
 came here. I will seek a divorce from the Duchess, 
 and we will be married in the face of the empire, and 
 your boy, my favourite son, shall be my heir to the 
 ducal throne." 
 
 " God forbid ! " cried Eva in feverish, wild excite- 
 ment, clasping her hands and looking up to heaven, 
 in which attitude she presented such an enchanting 
 grace and beauty that Henry caught her in his arms 
 12
 
 1 78 Legends and Tales of 
 
 and covered her face and hair with kisses, calling her 
 by every endearing name he could think of. 
 
 " No, Henry ; never, never will I be guilty of such a 
 gigantic wrong. My son shall never be your heir, shall 
 never supplant your first-born son and lawful heir. 
 My noble Eitel* is noble in character as in name; he 
 would never consent, no more than I. But I live in 
 constant terror of discovery." 
 
 " Do not fear that, my darling ; every servant here is 
 bound by a solemn oath ; your faithful nurse Magda 
 is the only one who is permitted to leave the castle, 
 and she does so in the deepest disguise. The priest 
 at Gandersheim who united us at the convent altar is 
 bound by his priestly vows, and the heavy bribe I 
 gave him, to silence. The Abbess, too, who managed 
 the details of your funeral, and the artistic priest who 
 made your wax effigy and the plague-spots with ink 
 on your white face and hands, are both bound by the 
 most solemn oaths. None of these will ever betray us, 
 and no one else knows our secret we are safe. 
 
 Henry was right. Though this relation continued 
 seven years, and ended only through Eva's death, no 
 one discovered the secret ; he himself revealed it in 
 his partial love for her only son, whom he sought to 
 make his heir. But the lovers little imagined that 
 one person knew Eva was not lying in the damp vaults 
 of the convent, and that they would be at the mercy 
 of this discoverer. 
 
 *Eild Noble.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 179 
 
 Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance 
 of the little Eitel Henry, a princely boy, who inherited 
 his mother's striking beauty, his long brown curls 
 falling over his shoulders. 
 
 " Come, Mutterchen,* coffee is ready, and I have put 
 some white roses for you, and Babette has brought 
 mountain strawberries ; come come, Papa," and the 
 little fellow put up his mouth for a kiss. The mother 
 stooped and covered his head and face with passionate 
 kisses, and Henry, springing forward, enclosed them 
 both in a tender embrace. 
 
 Behind came nurse Gretchen in snowy cap and 
 apron, with a lovely babe in her arms, and both 
 parents sprang forward as if each would be the first to 
 seize the child. 
 
 To a stranger who had not been behind the scenes 
 it was an innocent and pure family scene, betraying 
 nothing of the wrong and bitterness these relations 
 had caused. To explain further, we must go back in 
 our history to Eva's childhood, and her introduction to 
 the court of Henry the Younger, Duke of Brunswick, 
 and his Duchess Maria von Wiirtemberg. 
 
 A lovely spring morning dawned joyously over the 
 castle of the Marshal Adam von Trotta or Troth of 
 Brandenburg, but sorrow housed within it, for the lady 
 of the castle must die. The invalid reclined on a huge 
 old-fashioned sofa, propped up with silken cushions, 
 surrounded by her husband, her two sons, and her 
 
 * Little mother a term of endearment expressed by the diminutive, 
 which form is frequently employed in the German language.
 
 180 Legends and Tales of 
 
 young and only daughter Eva. It was a large and 
 richly-furnished chamber, hung with rare paintings, 
 but the most charming pictures of all were the views 
 its windows commanded. 
 
 The dying mother kissed and dismissed her children, 
 knowing it was for the last time. The manly youths 
 kissed the mother's emaciated hand and silently 
 retired, but Eva flung herself sobbing on her breast, 
 and refused to be comforted. 
 
 At last the Marshal led her from the room. 
 
 " We are alone for the last time," said the invalid, 
 as the Marshal returned, putting her hand in his- 
 " Move me nearer the window, that I may look once 
 more on the park I love so well." 
 
 After a pause she exclaimed, " My poor motherless 
 Eva! as she will be before this morning's sun goes 
 down. I can leave my sons with more resignation, for 
 they are noble youths, and able to fight the world's 
 battles ; but Eva has the dangerous gift of an unusual 
 beauty, and the world is full of snares and traps for 
 such as she promises to be." 
 
 " She is your image when I brought you home a 
 young wife.* She has your eyes, your brown curls, 
 now touched with grey, and to me dearer than ever. 
 In her I shall see your form and face every hour." 
 
 " Nurse Magda has promised me never to leave her, 
 
 * In Germany one never says Kraut bride after the marriage ; 
 but die junge Fran young wife. Kraut is employed during the 
 engagement.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 181 
 
 and her foster-sister Alice, who is strongly attached to 
 her, will be of great assistance in watching over her as 
 they both grow older. Keep Eva with you as long as 
 you can, but in the event of a campaign send her to 
 your brother." 
 
 The speaker, exhausted, sank into a peaceful slumber, 
 and when the setting sun illuminated the chamber, its 
 golden beams fell upon the face of death. 
 
 They laid the mother in the old family vault ; hus- 
 band and children brought immortelles and roses for 
 her coffin, and left her to her cold but safe repose. 
 
 The Marshal did as his dying wife had counselled, 
 and kept Eva in the parental castle till her sixteenth 
 summer. The bud had blossomed into a wonderful 
 flower, the pride of the desolate father's heart. 
 
 But the time has arrived when the soldier must go 
 forth to battle, and Eva is sent to her aunt and uncle 
 for a visit of indefinite length. At this period, un- 
 decided as to Eva's home, and depressed with fears 
 and anxieties regarding her future, business calls the 
 Marshal to the Court of Brunswick,* then held in the 
 ancient Castle of Wolfenbiittel,-f and this visit is des- 
 tined to decide the fate of the youthful Eva. 
 
 The piety and amiability of the Duchess Maria 
 made such a deep impression on the mind of the 
 statesman and soldier, that he entreated her to become 
 the guardian of his motherless daughter. Her Trans- 
 
 * Bruno's Wyck Bruno's settlement, or town, 
 t Wolfenbuttel wolf's cave.
 
 1 82 Legends and Tales of 
 
 parency consented, and Eva became first lady-in- 
 waiting to the Duchess. 
 
 Little did the father imagine he was thrusting his 
 child into the wolf's den, for a worse example of a 
 false and neglectful husband than Henry the Younger 
 of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel it were not easy to find. 
 
 The Duke and Duchess were in no wise congenial 
 spirits. Henry was a handsome man of fiery temper 
 and hot blood, loved both chase and feud, possessed 
 more physical strength and beauty than mind or virtue, 
 troubled himself little with the duties of government 
 or the interests of his subjects, leaving affairs of State 
 to his minister. 
 
 Henry had no sympathy for prayers and church- 
 going, neglected his pale, youthful wife, seldom visit- 
 ing the wing of the gloomy old castle she occupied 
 except when etiquette demanded his presence. 
 
 In this deplorable state of things Eva von Trotta 
 appeared at Court. She stood in the courtyard by 
 her father's war-horse to take leave of him, promised 
 to be good, which promise she fully intended to keep ; 
 the stern old soldier kissed her, sprang on his horse, 
 brushed away a tear which defied all his iron firmness, 
 stormed over the drawbridge, and never saw his fair 
 child again. 
 
 Suddenly it began to be reported at Court that 
 Henry had bridged over the cleft between himself and 
 his high-born wife. He was seen every evening at her 
 side in the stone balcony, whence they could look down
 
 The Harz Mountains, 183 
 
 into the courtyard and witness the sports of the 
 courtiers and the drilling of steeds, and his conjugal 
 attentions were most edifying to witness ; while the 
 new maid of honour, Eva, stood behind the seat of 
 her ducal mistress, a picture of bewildering love- 
 liness. 
 
 But the Court did not permit itself long to be de- 
 ceived by the royal hypocrite. It was not the pale, 
 pious Duchess who had so suddenly fascinated Henry, 
 but the maid of honour, radiant in black Genoa velvet 
 and silver spangles, into whose clear blue eyes Henry's 
 brown ones looked so willingly. 
 
 It soon became perfectly well known to Henry 
 when Eva was on duty in the antechamber of the 
 Duchess, and half-hidden by the heavy hangings of the 
 deep windows, he chatted with her by the hour, and 
 no favourite maid dared tell her royal mistress who 
 entertained the lady-in-waiting while she sat alone. 
 
 At last, one day, the Mistress of the Robes, who had 
 more than once reproved Eva for frivolity, and whose 
 curiosity had got the better of her dignity, listens and 
 hears Henry ask Eva to meet him in the evening at 
 ten o'clock in the linden allee for a walk to the arbour 
 at the end of it, and the thoughtless girl consents. At 
 the same time she sees Henry present her with a watch 
 and his portrait. 
 
 Horrified, she at once informs the Duchess of this 
 proposed rendezvous, and persuades her to accompany 
 her in disguise to the arbour at the appointed hour,
 
 1 84 Legends and Tales of 
 
 where, concealed behind the thick foliage, she might 
 learn what was best to be done. 
 
 Later on this same day Eva sat alone in her boudoir 
 gazing at the portrait, an exquisite enamel set in 
 diamonds. It was a beautiful chamber, adorned with 
 frescoes and paintings, mirrors, panellings, books and 
 flowers. 
 
 Opposite where Eva was sitting hung a life-size 
 portrait of Duke Henry the Lion in tapestry. The 
 old nurse, Magda, had just left her beloved young 
 mistress, and Eva held the portrait in her hand, while 
 a tumult of emotions shook her heart. 
 
 She was interrupted by a knock, and slipped the 
 portrait hastily out of sight. It was her foster-sister 
 Alice, who was her favourite maid. 
 
 "Why do you disturb me at this hour, Alice?" 
 inquired her mistress, who struggled to conceal her 
 emotion. " You know I am in the habit of spending 
 this hour alone." 
 
 " Pardon, gracious lady, but I have something to tell 
 you which admits of no delay," replied Alice, who 
 had caught a glimpse of the portrait, and noticed the 
 agitation of her mistress. " I wish to leave the Court. 
 It is my wish to enter the convent of Gandersheim. 
 I intend to become a nun." 
 
 " Become a nun ! When did that insane idea enter 
 your head ?" 
 
 " I am weary of the Court I am unhappy here. 
 Let me go."
 
 The Harz Mountains. 185 
 
 Alice did not tell her of the Court gossip she had 
 overheard, and that grief and pain drove her to the 
 convent. 
 
 " Magda will not leave me, Alice ; why will you ? 
 Stay with me. You knew my dear mamma ; you are 
 nearly of my own age ; I should miss you sadly." 
 
 " No, I have determined to take the veil ; it is my 
 calling. Let me go." 
 
 Eva sighed, and replied, rising and laying her hand 
 on Alice's shoulder, at the same time glancing 
 nervously at the portrait of Henry the Lion, " I am 
 not happy either, dear Alice. Oh ! I wish I had never 
 left my uncle's castle, and the protection of my 
 brothers. Why was I doomed to lose my mother ? 
 You seem to me more like a friend than a servant, 
 Alice; how can I do without you, my foster-sister?" 
 
 Again Eva paused and listened. Suddenly the 
 portrait of Henry the Lion advanced into the room, 
 and Duke Henry stood in the opening it had left in 
 the wall. Eva flushed, turned pale, and stood in con- 
 fusion, while Alice looked on in bewildered amaze- 
 ment. But Henry said carelessly, " The Duchess is 
 coming, Fraulein von Trotta ; I am only a minute in 
 advance." 
 
 Alice saluted and retired, muttering to herself, " It 
 is true, then, and worse than I thought. A secret 
 door. And what does that portrait mean ? I wonder 
 if mother knows all this." 
 
 The following day Alice departed for the convent.
 
 i 86 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The castle clock was ringing ten when two muffled 
 figures stole through a postern gate of the garden 
 wall behind it into the park, and, concealed by the 
 darkness, hastened through by-paths to the lime-tree 
 arbour. Here they waited some time, when at last 
 steps and voices were heard approaching through the 
 lime-tree avenue. 
 
 Eva was saying, " Do not ask me to stay at Court, 
 Henry. I cannot, I must go at once. The courtiers 
 are talking ; Alice insists on leaving me. I know it is 
 out of sorrow she condemns me who am so far inno- 
 cent. Think of my youth I am only sixteen. My 
 mother is dead, my father absent. Oh, I cannot de- 
 ceive the Duchess. She has been so kind to me, and 
 she is so good. I shall return your presents, which I 
 should never have accepted, and go back to my uncle's 
 little castle." 
 
 " And forsake me, and leave me to loneliness and 
 wretchedness ? Oh, Eva ! pity me and remain." 
 
 " And bring disgrace and misery and ruin upon 
 you and myself, and anguish to the Duchess ? Maria's 
 royal father is all-powerful with the Kaiser, who would 
 betray you to the Pope, and you would be excom- 
 municated I do love you, Henry but it is too late. 
 If we had met earlier we might have belonged to each 
 other. I would live shut out from the world for ever 
 for you, and you alone, and, safe from disturbance and 
 discovery, would be happy." 
 
 " How very noble and self-sacrificing we would be !"
 
 The Harz Mountains. 187 
 
 exclaimed the Duchess, coming forward from her con- 
 cealment. " And such is my reward for my affection 
 bestowed upon a motherless maiden ! To such a shame- 
 ful conversation must I listen between her and my 
 husband. But I have the power to punish you both, 
 and I will use it ; " and the Duchess and her attendant 
 speedily disappeared in the darkness. 
 
 The storm had broken upon them. The two figures 
 stood in the arbour, motionless as marble, while Maria 
 hastened to send messengers immediately to her father 
 and other princes, acquainting them of Henry's perfidy. 
 
 But Eva at bay seems suddenly to have changed 
 her character. She forgets her former scruples, and 
 with a single move checkmates her rival, but at what 
 a cost ! She proposes perhaps the most extraordinary 
 plan that ever entered a human brain, and all the more 
 astounding as coming from a girl of sixteen. 
 
 " What is to become of me ?" at last exclaimed Eva, 
 starting from the stupor of terror the sudden appear- 
 ance of the Duchess had caused. " There is not a 
 place where I can go where disgrace and shame will 
 not follow me." 
 
 " I will seek a divorce, declare the children of the 
 Duchess illegitimate, and we will be married." 
 
 " Under the ban of Kaiser and Pope ! " cried Eva, 
 wringing her hands in despair. 
 
 After a pause, in which Eva remained buried in 
 thought, she resumed, " I have a plan, Henry, but the 
 world shall know nothing of our secret. You shall
 
 1 88 Legends and Tales of 
 
 give me your left hand, but I must die I mean seem 
 to. I shall resign my office at Court and retire, osten- 
 sibly to return to my uncle's. On the journey I will 
 be attacked with the plague in the convent of Gander- 
 sheim, and die in a few hours ; and then there must be a 
 public funeral ; the world and the Court shall see me 
 buried. I leave the carrying out of the details to you. 
 Leave Wolfenbiittel on some plausible plea, and in 
 your absence I will retire. Dead to the world, I will 
 live only for you." 
 
 Henry, enraptured, caught her in his arms. 
 
 " My darling Eva ! will you indeed do that ! Oh ! 
 then I am happy, and could defy the world. Here is 
 the seal of our bond," and he placed a diamond ring on 
 her finger. 
 
 They walked arm-in-arm Bunder the silent lindens 
 back to the castle. The moon had risen, and bathed 
 the night in her mystic light ; the stars looked mourn- 
 fully down on the betrayed maiden. Was there no 
 hand to save her from this ruinous step no voice to 
 warn the betrayer of his sin ? 
 
 The following day, after a stormy scene between 
 the Duke and Duchess, Henry left the castle to attend 
 to business, as he said, and on his return found that 
 the new maid of honour had resigned her office and 
 left the Court. 
 
 The Capuchin convent of Gandersheim, situated in 
 the Duchy of Brunswick, on the river Gande, enjoyed
 
 The Harz Mountains. 189 
 
 an equal rank with the abbeys of Driibeck and Qued- 
 linburg. The Abbesses of these three mitred convents* 
 had a seat and vote in the Reichstag, and during the 
 earliest period of their existence the Abbesses were of 
 the blood-royal, and only princesses and daughters of 
 the nobility were admitted into their sacred retire- 
 ment. 
 
 This imperial convent Gandersheirn, once endowed 
 with such wealth and power, was founded by Duke 
 Ludolf of Saxony in the last half of the ninth century. 
 It obtained its greatest power under the Ottos, and the 
 imperial princesses were often sent here for their educa- 
 tion, or for security in times of danger. To this ancient 
 convent I must beg my readers to accompany me. 
 
 It is midnight. A fearful tempest sweeps over the 
 mountains. The Wilde J'dgcr\ is out with his ghostly 
 train, and Tut-Ursel'sl howlings ring through the 
 darkness. 
 
 The rain beats against the windows of the convent 
 as if it would force an entrance, flashes of lightning 
 illuminate the night, and the thunder shakes the old 
 building in its fury, as if it would uproot its very 
 foundations. 
 
 Before a convent altar stands a bridal pair. The 
 bridegroom places the nuptial ring on the bride's hand ; 
 kneeling they receive the priest's blessing, the young 
 
 * Mitred convent* those which had a right to a seat and vote in 
 the Reichstag. . f Wild Hunter. 
 
 * Tut Urwl Tooting Ursula the nun who broke her vow.
 
 IQO Legends and Tales of 
 
 wife rises Frau von Kirchberg, and after remaining 
 some days in concealment in the convent, she escapes 
 in the disguise of a monk to Schloss Staufenburg. 
 
 Meanwhile tidings reach the Court at Wolfenbiittel 
 that the retired Court lady has been attacked with a 
 virulent plague on her homeward journey, and has 
 expired after a painful illness of only a few hours. 
 
 The Court is aghast at the news ; Henry retires to 
 his private apartments. Duchess Maria, softened to 
 hear of the lady Eva's death, sends members of her 
 Court to attend the funeral. 
 
 And now we have the second act of the drama in 
 old Gandersheim. 
 
 The convent church is brilliant with a thousand 
 tapers. High on a rich catafalque before the great 
 altar stands Eva's coffin in a blaze of light. The face 
 of the dead is of a wondrous beauty, the long brown 
 curls fall over the breast, the small white hands, marked 
 with plague-spots, are crossed above the still, cold 
 heart. 
 
 The nuns, the Abbess at their head, chant the 
 mournful dirge, and the organ weeps and wails as if it 
 were the very soul of sorrow. The courtiers wear the 
 deepest black, and are completely overwhelmed with 
 the awful solemnity of the scene. 
 
 Through all the ceremony the novice Alice seems 
 like one in a dream. The suddenness of the thing is 
 to her incomprehensible. Only a few days ago she 
 took leave of her foster-sister, and now she ijazes on 
 
 '. O
 
 The Harz Mountains. 191 
 
 the dead ! Finally the coffin is lowered ; they are 
 about to close it for ever, when Alice, before the Abbess 
 or the two priests, who alone knew the truth, can 
 prevent her, rushes forward with a cry of agony and 
 kisses the cold hands in her sorrow. Suddenly she 
 discovers they are only wax ! Conscious of the danger 
 to herself if she betrays her discovery, she weeps and 
 sobs louder than ever, and must be almost forcibly 
 removed. They bear the coffin to the convent vaults, 
 the courtiers return to the Court to picture the mar- 
 vellous beauty of the departed Eva to the Duke and 
 Duchess. 
 
 In the meantime the novice Alice is no novice. She 
 ponders over the matter in secret. 
 
 " Eva is not dead," she reflects. "Where can she be? 
 What can it all mean ? I will find her if I walk every 
 inch of the Harz mountains. I will disguise myself as 
 an old woman, a seller of lace ; thus I can gain admit- 
 tance everywhere. But I must get away from here 
 without exciting suspicion." 
 
 As the result of these soliloquies, Alice informs the 
 Abbess she must relinquish her plan of becoming a 
 nun, at least for the present, and go to her mother, 
 who must be in great distress at the sudden loss of 
 her nursling. 
 
 But on her arrival at the castle of Wolfenbiittel, 
 Magda has disappeared, and no one knows what has 
 become of her. 
 
 For a period of four years, Alice, disguised in a
 
 192 Legends and Tales of 
 
 grey wig, with an artificial hump on her back, sought 
 Eva, wandering from castle to castle, from town to 
 town through the mountains ; but without discovering 
 the faintest trace of Eva or nurse Magda. 
 
 The princes of the House of Brunswick were, as I 
 said before, passionate lovers of the chase, and Henry 
 the Younger was no exception to his race. But 
 suddenly this penchant increased to such an extent 
 that his time was almost entirely absorbed with this 
 pastime. 
 
 He began to be absent weeks and even months in 
 his favourite Harz. 
 
 At length these long absences excited the suspicions 
 of the Court and the Duchess. Tales came to their ears 
 of a lady in white, who had been seen at the deserted 
 old Staufenburg. Spies were sent out several times to 
 watch the castle, but no discovery was made. Eva 
 remained dead to the world. 
 
 Alice, who heard these reports, knowing what others 
 did not, that Eva was not in the vaults of the convent 
 at Gandersheim, resolved to make a visit to the 
 Staufenburg, thinking it very likely the reports of the 
 lady in white were not simply wild mountain tales, but 
 having some truth in them. This she felt to be all the 
 more probable, since in all her ramblings from town to 
 castle no trace of the lost girl was to be found. 
 
 Accordingly Alice made her way to the Staufen- 
 burg, and after watching from the thick woods three 
 whole days she saw her mother, Magda, issue from a
 
 The Harz Mountains. 193 
 
 small postern door in the outer walls, so hidden by 
 trees and underbrush as to be unseen when shut. 
 
 Alice hastened to meet her, secure of her disguise, 
 and told her she had a special message from the 
 Master to the Lady Eva, and must speak with her 
 alone. 
 
 Magda, terrified, exclaimed, " Who are you ? Whom 
 do you mean by the Lady Eva?" 
 
 " I am one who knows all the secret, and that the 
 beautiful maid of honour, Eva von Trotta, does not lie 
 in her coffin. Better if she did. But my message is 
 pressing and admits of no delay. My orders are to 
 deliver it to the lady alone. Admit me here, and 
 leave the door unlocked that I may let myself out 
 again." 
 
 Magda stared at the old hump-backed woman and 
 her basket and hesitated ; but seeing she knew the 
 secret, at last concluded all was right. 
 
 " Follow me," she said ; and opening the postern 
 door and pointing out to her an outer flight of stone 
 steps leading down to a garden, continued, " mount 
 those steps leading to the stone balcony. You will 
 find the lady you seek in her boudoir, which you enter 
 from that open door. She is alone. I will wait for 
 you here, for I dare not leave the gate open. It might 
 be discovered, for I have seen people prowling about 
 here lately a good deal." 
 
 Alice did as directed. Arrived on the balcony she 
 paused and gazed at the graceful but passive figure 
 13
 
 194 Legends and Tales of 
 
 half reclining in a fauteuil in full view of the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 Eva is now in her twenty-first year, and lovelier 
 than ever. Her face and hands are so white as to 
 seem almost transparent ; her curls fall in rich masses 
 over her white silken robe ; her blue eyes have a 
 strange far-away look in them that strikes Alice to 
 the heart. 
 
 Suddenly Eva becomes aware of the presence of a 
 stranger, starts out of her pensive reverie and exclaims, 
 " Who are you ? How did you get in the garden ?" 
 
 " I met a servant at the postern gate in the wall," 
 replied Alice in a constrained voice. " I told her I 
 had a special message for you." 
 
 " From Henry ? Then you know all ! Quick ! 
 quick ! What is it ? 
 
 Alice hesitated, for she was so moved at sight of 
 her playmate and foster-sister, she could not com- 
 mand her voice to speak. 
 
 " Why are you so long ? Speak. I will reward you 
 richly if you bring me good news from Duke Henry." 
 
 " I do not bring you a message from Henry of 
 Brunswick, but from God," said Alice, slowly and 
 solemnly. " Leave this castle, forget Henry, return to 
 the path of duty and virtue, and seek forgiveness." 
 
 " Who are you ? " cried the terrified Eva, springing 
 from her seat. " If the Duke did not send you, who 
 did ? Oh ! I am betrayed ! Magda ! Magda ! What 
 have "you done ?"
 
 The Harz Mountains. i 95 
 
 "Do not fear, White Lady of the Staufenburg, I 
 will not betray you. I have sought you four long 
 yeais, because I love you, and would save you from 
 a life-long wretchedness. I was at your imagined 
 funeral, and discovered the farce, but no mortal save 
 myself knows of my discovery. 
 
 " Who are you ? Why do you come here ? to 
 threaten, to torment me ? Do you want money ?" 
 
 " Why do I come ? You are in danger. The 
 Duchess has spies ; stories of a White Lady in the 
 Staufenburg are come even to the Court. The Duke's 
 long absences excite suspicion. He is watched. 
 Think of the storm that will burst upon .you both if 
 you are discovered. Leave here before it is too 
 late." 
 
 " Why do you interest yourself for a lonely creature 
 like me, dead and buried ? " 
 
 "You do not know me how could you? My own 
 mother did not recognize me," and Alice threw off 
 hump and wig, and stood before Eva, a tall, well- 
 formed girl, nearly her own age. 
 
 " Alice ! " cried Eva, rushing to her, and seizing her 
 in her arms. " I thought you were a nun in the con- 
 vent of Gandersheirn. You are come to stay with me. 
 Oh ! say you are corne to stay." 
 
 " No, I will not stay here. I have sought you all 
 this time as an old lace-seller, to warn and save you. 
 If you will give up Henry and leave this den of sin, 
 I will follow you wherever you go. Oh ! what words
 
 196 Legends and Tales of 
 
 can I use to induce you to leave here? Eva! Eva! 
 it is your foster-sister, your truest friend, who entreats 
 you. Henry is your worst enemy. He has trodden 
 your honour and name in the dust, but you consented, 
 and destroyed what you might have been for ever. 
 But repentance is left, and there is all eternity to 
 come. 
 
 " How can you stand before God ? how can you dare 
 pray? You desecrated the holiest; virtue and inno- 
 cence you have made the tools of vice ; you have stolen 
 the monstrance from the altar ; you swore a false oath 
 before the altar of the Highest. Talk of a left-handed 
 marriage. It is an insult to Heaven's laws. Eva ! 
 Eva ! once my pure and dear playmate, the darling of 
 your dead mother's heart, come away with me now 
 now. No one is here to betray our flight. We will 
 go to some distant land, and I will stay with you so 
 long as we both live. Follow your true friend. It is 
 the voice of Heaven you hear. Forget the unworthy 
 murderer of your youth and purity." 
 
 Eva trembled and turned pale. " What would be- 
 come of my children ? " she cried, wringing her hands 
 in anguish. 
 
 " Children ! have you children ? " 
 
 " Yes, three. See, that is my noble Eitel with the 
 long brown curls, playing in the garden." 
 
 " God will protect them. You can do nothing for 
 them even if you remain. They are in the power of 
 their father. Come, come ; oh, listen to the voice of
 
 The Harz Mountains. 197 
 
 warning before it is too late," and Alice seized Eva's 
 hand as if she would lead her away. 
 
 " I cannot ! I cannot ! I love Henry. Love his 
 princely magnanimity, his bravery, his noble pride 
 even that which others hate in him I love. For him 
 I have robbed the Duchess of her husband, deceived 
 my brave father and my brothers, desecrated God's 
 altar, sacrificed life, youth, honour, happiness ; I live 
 only for him. I cannot deceive him, cannot atone for 
 one sin with another." 
 
 " I must save you, then, by telling your brothers 
 where you are. They will punish the vile Henry 
 before the whole German Empire." She released Eva's 
 hand and turned to go. 
 
 With a scream Eva sprang forward, threw herself 
 down before Alice, clasped her knees and cried, " Be 
 merciful, Alice ; have pity on my misery. God is 
 merciful. Do not you be cruel. Do not betray me. 
 I am crushed and bruised, the peace of my mind and 
 heart destroyed. I could not be more wretched. 
 What good would it do to betray me ? and in betray- 
 ing Henry, you destroy me, rob me of the only earthly 
 protection I can ever hope to enjoy. Magda is a 
 mother to my children as she was to me. She would 
 not betray me. 
 
 " My mother was your nurse, hence has a mother's 
 feelings for you. I will not stay here. If I should 
 see Henry, I should forget all respect for his person as 
 Duke, and give him a piece of my mind. I will keep
 
 198 Legends and Tales of 
 
 your secret, but I warn you of a coming danger. Then 
 I can be of more service to you without than if I 
 stayed here. God help you. I will not betray you." 
 And hastily assuming her disguise, for footsteps were 
 heard approaching, she hurried away. 
 
 Three years passed away after this interview, and 
 Eva remained securely hidden ; but Henry's absences 
 from Court grew longer and more frequent, and at last 
 one of the courtiers resolved to penetrate the mystery. 
 
 He followed Henry to the Staufenburg, watched 
 four whole days in the thick woods, and the evening 
 of the fourth day, to his utter amazement, recognized 
 Eva von Trotta in the stone balcony by Henry's side. 
 The secret was out ! He hastened to the Duchess 
 and told her what he had seen. Maria sent authorized 
 messengers to the convent of Gandersheim, the coffin 
 bearing Eva's name was broken open, and lo ! a 
 wooden figure with wax mask and hands ! 
 
 The Duchess communicates this discovery to the 
 King of Wurtemburg, her father, letters of reproof are 
 sent to Henry from him and the Kaiser, and the 
 Pope threatens him with excommunication. 
 
 Henry hastens to Eva with the dreadful news ; but 
 Alice has been before him, and Eva is prepared with 
 another plan. 
 
 " Tell them to search the Staufenburg, and they will 
 discover their mistake. Tell them I am dead it is 
 true. Magda shall conduct the children to Kirchberg, 
 and with Alice's aid they and every trace of my
 
 The Harz Mountains. 1 99 
 
 having been here will vanish. I have a secure hiding- 
 place." 
 
 "Where, Eva?" 
 
 " You shall know to-morrow on your return from 
 Gandersheim, Henry." 
 
 She took an affectionate and reluctant leave of him, 
 calling him back two or three times before she could 
 let him go. 
 
 Then she sent for her children, wept over them, and 
 gave her directions to Magda and Alice, and cut off 
 Eitel's long curls that he might not be recognized, his 
 resemblance to her with his long hair being so 
 striking. 
 
 After she had dismissed them, Eva returned to her 
 boudoir and wrote a note to Henry. Then she took 
 a small flask from her writing-table, poured its contents 
 in a glass of water, and reclining in her fauteuil, 
 drank it. 
 
 Henry, on his return the following morning, has- 
 tened to Eva's boudoir. 
 
 Seeing Eva seated, and not springing up as usual 
 to welcome him, he supposed she had fallen asleep 
 and so she had ; but a sight of her face revealed the 
 dreadful truth. She had taken poison. The empty 
 flask lay on the writing-table beside her ; near it a 
 note addressed to himself. He tore it open. It only 
 contained a few words. 
 
 " I told you, rny beloved Henry, I had a secure
 
 2oo Legends and Tales of 
 
 hiding-place. I meant the grave. Tell them I am 
 dead. They cannot follow where I am going. I 
 would not bring ruin on you and your dominions. 
 Oh, Henry ! be good to my children, and never 
 attempt to make Eitel your heir. My sin was loving 
 you. Farewell. 
 
 " Yours in death, EVA." 
 
 Duke Henry had the broken-hearted girl only 
 twenty-three buried in the garden of the Staufen- 
 burg, returned to Court and insisted on a search of 
 the castle. They did search, of course discovering 
 nothing, and the mystery was still impenetrable. 
 
 The Duchess Maria died a few months after her 
 rival, and nothing was ever known of the well-guarded 
 secret, until Henry himself betrayed it in his partiality 
 for his favourite son Eitel Henry Eva's only son and 
 eldest child. The Duke besought the Pope to recog- 
 nize him as the heir to the ducal throne, offering a 
 heavy bribe. His Holiness consented, the more 
 readily since the Duke's lawful heir, Henry Julius, had 
 become a Protestant. 
 
 But Eitel proved himself, as his mother had said, 
 noble in character as in name. He absolutely refused 
 his consent to this injustice, and lived in retirement on 
 the estate Kirchberg, which the Duke had given him, 
 the name of which Eva's children bore. The Kirch- 
 bergs, however, soon became extinct. 
 
 The learned Duke Henry Julius, founder of a
 
 The Harz Mountains. 201 
 
 university, never forgot the refusal of his noble ille- 
 gitimate brother to deprive him of his birthright, 
 and ever remained his warm friend. 
 
 There were two castles in the Harz mountains, both 
 of which bore the name of Staufenburg; that near 
 Zorge, an hour and a half from the beautiful ruins of 
 Convent Walkenried. It is said to have been occupied 
 during the Thirty Years' War. When built or by whom 
 destroyed are matters of conjecture. The Staufenburg 
 of our tale is near Gittelde. Some derive the name 
 from the idol Stuvo, or Stuffo, once set up on the 
 mountain. The mountain was so steep that Staufen, 
 or Stufen steps were used in climbing it, hence 
 probably the name. 
 
 The Weingarten Hohle and the Three Men. 
 
 FT1HERE is perhaps no cave in all Germany con- 
 -L cerning which so many legends and traditions 
 are in the mouth of the people as this Weingartenloch. 
 
 A plank crosses over a black piece of water from 
 the outer portion of the cave farther into the darkness, 
 far from human help and human voices. 
 
 The tradition is, that whoever crosses that beam will 
 be given over to the Evil One, who governs there, and 
 sits, between heaps of gold and silver, by a table, with 
 a great book before him, in which he writes the name 
 of every person who approaches him.
 
 202 Legends and Tales of 
 
 But when three enter together, and draw lots with 
 one another, two of them may depart laden with 
 treasures, and only the third, upon whom the lot has 
 fallen, must remain behind, and is torn in a thousand 
 pieces by the demon. 
 
 Two men from some distant country had often 
 entered the cave, and had always succeeded in enticing 
 a third to accompany them, who always fell into the 
 hands of the Gott-sei-bei-uns, since they arranged it 
 that the lot fell to him. 
 
 Finally, it struck the inhabitants as something very 
 remarkable that those who had entered the cave with 
 the two strangers never returned, and henceforth they 
 failed to find a follower. 
 
 Then they entered the hut of a poor man in Dorf 
 Osterhagen, who had a wife and eight children, and 
 challenged him with brilliant promises to follow them 
 into the cave. 
 
 The man, whose name was Schlosser, felt little in- 
 clination for the expedition, and absolutely refused, 
 even if they offered him eighty Thaler. 
 
 But the wife called her husband into another room, 
 and said to him : " Thou knowest that I love thee 
 dearly, and would sink from sorrow and anguish 
 if thou shouldst be torn from me ; but we have eight 
 children, and no bread in the cupboard, and no money, 
 and with the money the strangers offer thee we 
 should have enough for our whole lives ; so go with 
 them, and be sure no evil will befall thee."
 
 The Harz Mountains. 203 
 
 And she opened a cupboard, took out a plant, sewed 
 it in his shirt in three different places, made a sign of 
 the cross above each place, and said, " That which I 
 have sewed in thy shirt is origanum,, a sure defence 
 against all enchantment, and even the devil ; so go in 
 peace, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 And Schlosser embraced his wife and children, and 
 went with the two men, who looked, scornfully laugh- 
 ing, at each other, after having laid eighty glittering 
 new Thaler on the table. 
 
 They wandered on until they had reached the beam 
 the fatal beam where they stood still, and the men 
 warned Schlosser solemnly, if his life was dear to him, to 
 utter no sound till they had passed the next two caves. 
 
 Schlosser promised, and the three crossed cautiously 
 the dangerous bridge, and entered a cave filled with 
 the most horrible vermin. 
 
 Bombinas and salamanders seemed to be giving a 
 ball. Bats fluttered thick as a hailstorm through the 
 air. Terrible serpents and dragons coiled hissing 
 around each other, The most hideous brood of nature 
 was Hocked together, and swarmed around the feet of 
 the three men entering, as if to form a wall to hinder 
 their entrance. 
 
 With firmness the three went directly forward 
 toward a second cave, which was large and lofty, and 
 lighted with a magical splendour. 
 
 At the right, against the rocky wall, shimmering
 
 204 Legends and Tales of 
 
 with gold and silver, stood a couch of red velvet em- 
 broidered in gold, and on the silken cushions lay a 
 sleeping maiden of such super-terrestrial beauty, that 
 Schlosser could not take his eyes from the picture, and 
 was drawn forward by force by his companions. In 
 the next cave they stood still, drew a long breath, 
 looked anxiously at each other, and put down their 
 lamps. 
 
 " Now, dear friend," said one of the men to Schlosser, 
 " the moment is come. In a quarter of an hour we 
 may become rich and happy, or for ever lost in per- 
 dition. Immeasurable wealth is in the cave we are 
 about to enter, but only two of us can become pos- 
 sessed of the accumulated treasures, or ever see the 
 light of day again ; the third, on whom the lot falls, 
 must remain as a sacrifice to the dark ruler of the sub- 
 terranean world. Be firm and follow us ! " 
 
 Schlosser felt as if paralysed by lightning at the 
 terrible disclosure, and without knowing what he did, 
 he followed the two, who went on before, and knocked 
 three times on a small iron door. 
 
 Cracking, it sprang open, and a blood-red splendour 
 shone forth in the great space which they now entered. 
 Gold, silver, and precious stones lay in colossal heaps 
 on every side, and the place sparkled and shone so, 
 that even the anxious Schlosser's heart was filled with 
 
 ,iy- 
 
 But now from a corner a man of lofty stature came 
 forward, with sparkling, burning eyes, black, bristly
 
 The Harz Mountains. 205 
 
 hair, dark, bushy eyebrows, and a crooked, arched 
 hawk-nose. 
 
 In a frightful, peculiar manner he twitched his 
 yellow face; and his garments were strange and odd. 
 A fiery-red gold-bordered mantle hung in bunchy 
 folds from his shoulders ; a broad, drooping Spanish 
 hat, with a long, waving red plume, sat sideways on 
 his head, and a long rapier hung at his side. 
 
 With a slight bow he passed the three men, and 
 vanished through the iron door, by which they had 
 entered. 
 
 The two men now challenged Schlosser to help 
 them fill their sacks, and as soon as that was done 
 they returned through the iron door, which shut with 
 a loud crash behind them. 
 
 " I cannot tell how it is with me to-day," said one 
 stranger to his friend. " I am filled with fear, and 
 my teeth chatter, and it creeps like fire in my veins. 
 If only some misfortune does not meet us !" 
 
 "Thou art very foolish," replied the other. "Is it 
 not the eighteenth time that we have been here, and 
 we have always known how to turn and shuffle that 
 the lot fell on the accompanying third person ? And 
 where could we have found a better companion than 
 that fellow there, out of whose eyes the most charm- 
 ing simplicity and stupidity look, so that a child might 
 deceive him ? " 
 
 He would have added more, but Schlosser, who 
 went on before, uttered a cry of horror, and the hearts
 
 206 Legends and Tales of 
 
 of the two friends sank within them, although what 
 they saw they had seen already eighteen times. 
 
 On the fatal beam over the foaming water stood 
 the devil himself, with all the terrors peculiar to his 
 dark majesty. Great burning eyes rolled like wheels 
 of flaming fire in his awful face, a shaggy-haired hide 
 clothed the spirit of the bottomless pit, and the fearful 
 claws were extended to seize his prey. 
 
 With trembling hand the elder of the two strangers 
 produced the cards ; but however falsely he shuffled 
 them the death-card fell to him, and he began to 
 quake, and grew as pale as the chalk of the wall. 
 
 Under the pretext that something had been 
 omitted, the stranger shuffled again ; but, to his 
 terror, the death-lot fell, not upon Schlosser, but his 
 own friend. 
 
 " The third time it will surely fall on the fellow," 
 thought the stranger to himself, and began under all 
 sorts of excuses to shuffle again. 
 
 The foul fiend raised himself to his greatest height, 
 breathing flames of fire from mouth and nostrils, 
 and cried in a hollow, smothered voice, like the 
 sound of distant thunder : " Only once more can ye 
 draw lots, no more. Over that person there," point- 
 ing to Schlosser, "I have no power; he is defended, by 
 a plant which he carries on his person, from every 
 danger ! " 
 
 The two old sinners turned paler than ever, and
 
 The Harz Mountains. 207 
 
 looked despairingly at each other ; but the devil waved 
 his hand, and they drew lots for the third time. The 
 lot fell on him on whom it had fallen the first time. 
 
 Like a tempest Satan threw himself on the despairing 
 man, seized him with his claws, rose with him in the 
 air, and tore him to pieces. 
 
 With swelling breast, breathless, Schlosser till now 
 had looked on all that had passed ; but at this fearful 
 sight the last spark of firmness failed him ; he closed 
 his eyes and sank lifeless on the ground. 
 
 When he awoke he was lying before the entrance 
 to the cave ; near him a sack filled with beaten gold 
 and silver. 
 
 He looked in vain for his companion, who must 
 have already gone away, if the terror caused by the 
 awful fate of his friend had not killed him. 
 
 Schlosser was as if paralysed, and could scarcely 
 drag himself to the village near by. 
 
 He, however, soon recovered, moved from Osterhagen 
 to Andreasburg, where he built a handsome house, and 
 never forgot that it was through his wife's forethought 
 that wealth and happiness had been won. 
 
 The Bell- Founder of Stollwrg. 
 
 THE traditions of the apprentice's pillar in Roslin 
 Chapel, and of the bell-founder in Breslau, bear 
 a strong resemblance to this of Stolberg. 
 
 There was once a bell-fouixler in Stolberg who was
 
 208 Legends and Tales of 
 
 a master worthy of honour, skilled in counsel and 
 deed. 
 
 He had already cast many bells, yellow and white, 
 the poem tells us, for churches and chapels, to the 
 praise and glory of God. 
 
 And his bells rang so full, so clear, and pure intone ; 
 he cast love and faith in with the metal. 
 
 And Stolberg desired also a work from his hand, 
 and the master employed every means to produce a 
 perfect bell for his place of residence. 
 
 But it was as if the Evil One had a hand too in the 
 work, for the cast was a perfect failure. 
 
 Vexed, he threw the bell aside, commanded his six- 
 teen-years-old apprentice to prepare everything for a 
 new cast on a certain day, so soon as he returned, and 
 then departed to visit his father, who was also a bell- 
 founder, to relate his failure and ask his advice. 
 
 The thoughtful apprentice reflected unceasingly on 
 the cause of the failure of his so skilful master in the 
 last bell. 
 
 After long speculation he discovered the cause, 
 sprang up joyfully, worked day and night, and soon 
 the bell stood without a flaw before the youth's de- 
 lighted eyes. 
 
 His heart beating high with joy. he went to meet 
 his master, and found him sitting on a stone resting 
 from the fatigue of his long walk. This stone tradition 
 still points out in the Steigethal, moss-grown, with a 
 bell and a club hewn in it.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 209 
 
 The apprentice could not keep his secret, and with a 
 countenance shining with joy, told his master that he 
 had already cast another bell, which was perfect, and 
 of the sweetest tone. 
 
 Then the veins on the master's forehead swelled with 
 shame ; rage and fury to find himself excelled by his 
 pupil filled his usually mild heart. 
 
 He sprang from the stone, seized his cane, and gave 
 the youth such a powerful blow on the head that he 
 sank bleeding, with glassy eyes, in the grass. 
 
 The master fled as if chased by the Furies. 
 
 His anger cooled at the sight of the blood ; fearful 
 pangs of conscience seized the strong man, he repented 
 his rash deed, turned hurriedly back, hoping he might 
 yet quench the stream of blood, and save the unhappy 
 boy. 
 
 He had soon reached him, but no help was possible 
 Despairing he fled. 
 
 Unsettled and a fugitive like Cain, he wandered the 
 whole night in the forest, and when the morning 
 dawned he had made his decision.' 
 
 He returned to Stolberg, presented himself before 
 the tribunal, accused himself of his crime, and de- 
 manded punishment. 
 
 Deep was the regret, but blood demands blood, and 
 he heard his sentence of death with unmoved com- 
 posure. 
 
 14
 
 2io Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Colt's Care. 
 
 DURING the Seven Years' War the soldiers stole all 
 the horses. 
 
 A farmer concealed a handsome colt-in a cave in the 
 Steigethal, or valley of the Steige, and fed it with great 
 care. After the departure of the enemy he hastened 
 to the cave to take home the animal, but it had grown 
 so much it could no longer go through the entrance, 
 and he was compelled to kill it. And the cave is called 
 the Colt's Cave unto this day. 
 
 Legend of St. Christopher. 
 
 IN the Goslar Cathedral, of which now but a small 
 remnant remains, once existed a colossal wooden 
 statue* of this renowned Saint with the Christ-Child 
 on his back. 
 
 St. Christopher once walked from Goslar to Halber- 
 stadt and Harzburg, and on the way shook on the 
 ground a pea which had got into his shoe. 
 
 The pea grew, and became the sandstone rock called 
 the Clus.f 
 
 The interior of the rock was hewn into a chapel to 
 the Virgin, which was a shrine of great celebrity. 
 
 A Schloss once stood on the Clus, traces of which 
 are still to be seen. 
 
 * There is such a statue still to be seen in Cologne Cathedral, 
 t Civs Pronounced Cloos.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 211 
 
 The Maiden's Care in the Spatenberg, near where once 
 stood the Spatenburg. 
 
 A YOUNG citizen of Sondershausen had, although 
 honest, industrious, and skilful, fallen into great 
 embarrassment. 
 
 Merciless creditors threatened with seizure ; entire 
 ruin stared him in the face ; he saw himself already 
 in fancy with wife and children abandoned to bitter 
 want. 
 
 He took a walk into the country in order to seek 
 relief for his oppressed heart for a few short hours. 
 
 Soon he was alone with his sorrow in the wood 
 solitude. 
 
 He climbed the Goldner, till he had reached the 
 summit of the Spatenberg, where the green-grass 
 carpet and the shade of the old beeches invited him to 
 a short repose. 
 
 He might have perhaps given expression to his 
 trouble in loud lamentations. 
 
 However that may be, he at last prepared to go 
 farther, when suddenly he observed a lovely maiden, 
 who, clad in mourning garments, and weeping, sat on 
 a moss-grown stone at the entrance to the Jungfern- 
 loch, or Maiden's Cave. 
 
 His sympathy at this .sight was awakened in pro- 
 portion to his own melancholy. He could not restrain
 
 212 Legends and Tales of 
 
 himself from approaching the graceful figure, and 
 inquiring the cause of her grief. 
 
 She, however, was of opinion that her sorrow was 
 much too great to permit of her troubling any one else 
 with it, and declared she could only find a mitigation 
 of her woe in drying up the tears of others. 
 
 She told him she had, unseen, perceived what 
 troubled him, and it afforded her soul sweet comfort 
 to know that she could help him. 
 
 After she had made this statement to the astonished 
 man, she bade him follow her into the cave. 
 
 When they had gone through several dark, gloomy 
 passages, they entered a wonderfully lighted chamber, 
 in the centre of which stood a chest filled with gold 
 and treasures, from which the maiden's companion, at 
 her command, must take as many pieces of money as 
 were sufficient for relief from his embarrassment. 
 
 At the same time he must solemnly promise that at 
 the expiration of a year, at a certain hour, he will 
 return the same sum to the same place, because, as a 
 result of his failing to do so, she herself would suffer 
 great injury. 
 
 He promised, and the maiden dismissed him. 
 
 Of course he was now freed from his anxiety and 
 distress, and from this day everything he undertook 
 prospered. 
 
 Not only was he able to satisfy all the demands of 
 his creditors, but also at the stated time, agreeably 
 with his promise, to return the received loan.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 2 1 3 
 
 But he could not go in his every-day dress to his 
 benefactress, and the untruthful tailor neglected to 
 deliver the red Sunday coat as promised. 
 
 At last he determined, though he had failed to 
 reach the spot at the fixed hour, not to fail in the day. 
 
 As he climbed the Burgweg castle road it seemed 
 to him that the tops of the beeches sighed mourn- 
 fully. He drew near to the cave with painful appre- 
 hensions. 
 
 No maiden was to be seen. He entered the cave, 
 and found himself at last in the lighted chamber. 
 
 But what must he see ? The benevolent maiden 
 lay on the ground dying, her countenance distorted 
 with sorrow and pain. 
 
 Dreadful gloom enveloped the frightened man. 
 Only the treasure in the chest glittered dismally. 
 
 A long-drawn sigh trembled through the chamber. 
 He threw the too-late-brought money, at the same 
 time crossing himself, into the trunk, which imme- 
 diately closed, and with the dead maiden disappeared. 
 
 An awful roaring arose. Benumbed with terror, he 
 fled from the chamber, that fell in behind him, and 
 through the passages, that seemed to him suddenly 
 falling into ruins. 
 
 A tumbling stone struck him so violently t>n the 
 heel that he was always obliged to wear slippers after, 
 and from that day he never recovered his spirits.
 
 214 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Three Brothers of Zellerfeld. 
 
 THERE once lived three brothers in Zellerfeld 
 who were hunters. They went together one day 
 hunting to the Schalk, when the youngest saw three 
 partridges, and shot one of them. 
 
 He thought he had struck the bird, but it flew away, 
 and he followed it to the top of the mountain where it 
 disappeared. 
 
 The young hunter searched the spot carefully where 
 the bird had vanished, and found an opening, which 
 he marked, and then went back and called his two 
 brothers. 
 
 All three entered the opening, and came soon to a 
 large room containing a well-served meal on the table, 
 and chairs placed ready. 
 
 The three seated themselves, ate, drank, and found 
 all excellent. 
 
 After they had partaken of the repast, three 
 beautiful ladies in rich attire entered, and told the 
 brothers they were accursed and doomed to remain 
 forever under the earth. But if they would remain 
 there three years without seeing the light of day, they 
 would be released. 
 
 The ladies promised them the best table during the 
 time, and conducted them to see their treasures, and 
 pointing out three casks filled with gold, promised 
 each one.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 215 
 
 They also told them they must now become black, 
 and would only visit them once a year, exhorted the 
 brothers to firmness, and left them. 
 
 At the end of the first year they returned ; they were 
 become somewhat whiter. 
 
 At the next visit, at the end of the second year, they 
 were grown still whiter. They exhorted the brothers 
 earnestly to perseverance, and again left them. 
 
 The first half of the third year passed happily, but 
 in the last half the eldest brother grew impatient, 
 and asked : " Why should we remain here any 
 longer ?" 
 
 But the younger reminded them of their promise. 
 At last the second brother became undecided and 
 restless, and finally the two resolved to remain no 
 longer. 
 
 They threatened to murder the youngest if he would 
 not accompany them, and to save his life he yielded to 
 their entreaties. 
 
 At the proposal of the eldest, they took as much of 
 the gold as they could carry with them. 
 
 They reached Zellerfeld with their wealth, agreed 
 to keep all a secret, and began to live in luxury, each 
 taking to himself a wife. 
 
 The two eldest brothers soon squandered all, but the 
 youngest avoided their extravagance. 
 
 The two elder, having lost all, determined to return 
 to the treasure in the mountains, and compelled the 
 younger to go with them.
 
 2 1 6 Legends and Tales of 
 
 They entered the familiar chamber with the table 
 and chairs, but all was changed. 
 
 Every ohject was draped in black, and on the table 
 stood three mourning lamps. 
 
 The three ladies entered, now coal-black, and silent, 
 and sad ; they were followed by three men, who cried, 
 pointing to the eldest brother, " Thou perjured rascal !" 
 seized him, quartered him, and packed him in a barrel, 
 likewise the second. 
 
 The youngest looked on in terror ; but the ladies ex- 
 claimed, " Thou art a true friend, and innocent. Take 
 what thou wilt and go home. But we must remain 
 here until we find three rescuers." 
 
 tfhe Raven of Clausthai. 
 
 A GENTLEMAN in Clausthai had a raven and a 
 maid-servant. 
 
 The raven carried off all the silver spoons, and sus- 
 picion fell on the poor girl. She was tried, and under 
 torture confessed she had stolen them. 
 
 She was executed, but before her death declared her 
 innocence. 
 
 Soon after new eave-troughs were put on the gentle- 
 man's house, and the spoons were all found where the 
 raven had hidden them.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 2 1 7 
 
 The Bergmonch* and Wilder Mann.t 
 
 rjlHERE are numerous traditions of the Bergmonch 
 JL in the mining districts. 
 
 He is always seen in the dress of a master-miner, 
 with a silver mine-lamp in his hand. 
 
 It is said he was a master-miner, and begged to be 
 permitted to inspect the mines until the Judgment 
 Day. The Monk's valley Monchsthal near Claus- 
 thal, was his favourite retreat. 
 
 In St. Andreasberg the tradition is, he was a monk 
 who sought to open the mines there, but failed. 
 
 According to this tradition, he completed nearly the 
 entire canal at the base of the Rehberg, J called the 
 Rehberger Graben, which conveys all the water to St. 
 Andreasberg for the working of the Samson mine, 
 but became bankrupt through the undertaking. 
 
 Many wild tales are told of his bringing aid to the 
 miners, and to the poor and distressed, and of his 
 severity towards the wrong-doer. 
 
 In the mining town Wildemann there is a tradition 
 of a wild man who gave the place its name. 
 
 Once a robber from the Thuringian Forest lived 
 here in a cave with a wild woman ; they were clothed 
 with moss and the branches of fir-trees. 
 
 The knight Glaus, founder of Clausthal, once saw 
 
 * Bergmtinch mountain monk ; or, aa employed here, miner- 
 monk. 
 
 t Wilder Mann wild man. Rehberg stag mountain.
 
 2 1 8 Legends and Tales of 
 
 this wild man on the Wildmann's Cliffs, with a fir-tree, 
 torn up by the roots, in his hand, and a bear on his 
 back. 
 
 The Nimrod of theHRehbergerklippe.* 
 
 A LEGEND of this gloomy wild mountain, at the 
 base of which one drives from Clausthal to St. 
 Andreasberg, lingers still with a poetic charm on and 
 around its rocky walls, and is in harmony with its 
 decorations. 
 
 In the grey primeval days dwelt in this savage 
 wilderness a mighty hunter, hard and rough as the 
 rocks on which his house stood. 
 
 Hunting was his pleasure and passion, and daily 
 he ranged, with his men, the wood, which resounded 
 with the barking of dogs and the notes of the horn, 
 which filled the clefts and caves of the rocks and 
 mountains with a thousand-voiced echo. 
 
 Not even the peace of the Sabbath could check the 
 delight of the huntsman in the chase, or restrain him 
 from the continued persecution of the animals of the 
 woods. 
 
 A pious hermit admonished him frequently, and en- 
 treated him not to disturb God's peace of the holy 
 day with his tumult and noise ; but the sportsman 
 closed his ears to the warnings of the old man, and 
 
 * Rehbergerklippe cliff of the stag mountain.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 2 1 9 
 
 the hermit returned to his hermitage accompanied by 
 the scornful derision of the ungodly hunter. 
 
 The evening of an October Sunday fell softly over 
 the mountains; the tops of the fir-trees, rocks and 
 mountains were bathed in the golden splendour of 
 sunset ; on the whole scene lay deep silence, onl}' the 
 waves of the Oder murmured in the distance their 
 eternal song ; only the timid game left its secure 
 hiding place, stole cautiously with light, slow steps 
 out of the thickets, and sought the spicy plants or the 
 cooling spring. 
 
 Then resounded suddenly the noise of the hunt in 
 the distance ; the game so peacefully refreshing itself 
 fled in terror, and the tumult increased every instant. 
 
 A snow-white stag flew with the rapidity of the 
 wind over the mountains, pursued by the hunters on 
 foot and on horseback, and surrounded by the barking 
 pack of hounds. 
 
 The ground thundered beneath their horse-hoofs, 
 and the mountains rang with the wild "hallohs!" of 
 the riders, the cracking of whips, and the clashing of 
 weapons. 
 
 The hunted stag groaned and escaped his pursuers 
 with his last strength. 
 
 The noble animal stood breathless on the brink of 
 the abyss which is called after him the Stag Cliff, and 
 started back in fear and trembling from the black 
 gulf. 
 
 And louder and nearer thundered the wild call of
 
 220 Legends and Tales of 
 
 the hunters, the hunting horns came fearfully near, 
 and as the hounds would seize their prey, the stag in 
 deadly terror, made the leap into the frightful deeps 
 
 And there arose a singular light, a dazzling splen- 
 dour shone around the hunted animal, and unseen 
 hands bore it softly below into the secure valley. 
 
 But the hunters, with horse and hound, were driven 
 by magical power to follow the stag. 
 
 From the rocky cliff the whole company leaped 
 into the depths, and huge blocks of granite and high 
 pines sank after them and buried their mangled bodies 
 in eternal night. 
 
 From that time it has been a haunted spot, full of 
 untold horrors, and the wanderer hastens by in fear 
 when darkness is closing in on the mountains. 
 
 And at midnight when the death-owl hoots and 
 soars over the vale on heavy wing, and the fantastic 
 moonlight transforms the dry trunks of the trees into 
 grey spirits of the night, the giant forms of hunters 
 brush past, and the firs whisper, then roar, and a 
 smothered crash rushes on like the swelling waves of 
 the sea. 
 
 The Tanzteich* bei Zorgc. 
 
 ON the spot now covered by the Tanzteich once 
 stood a stately Schloss with lofty walls and 
 battlements. 
 
 A rich knight, whose name has been drowned in 
 
 * Tanzteich dance pond.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 2 2 1 
 
 the stream of time, dwelt in it in luxury and splen- 
 dour. 
 
 Every dawn brought a new festival, and even night 
 was turned into day ; but neither discipline nor virtue 
 ruled in the brilliant assemblages of his numerous 
 guests. 
 
 Once the lord of the castle gave a brilliant enter- 
 tainment. The merriment of the guests rang out into 
 the night ; in the wildest dance mingled men and 
 women, youths and maidens, and loud music smothered 
 the rolling thunder which could be heard in the 
 distance. 
 
 And the night grew darker, and the waves of the 
 Zorge murmured with a hollow moan, and the flowers 
 grew wet with dew. 
 
 The heavens gathered blackness, the water of the 
 river seemed to sing a death-song, and the flowers on 
 its banks to weep. 
 
 Then the lightnings covered the mountains with 
 flames, making the darkness still more terrible. 
 
 An old man stole softly and slowly up to the castle. 
 His garments betrayed the greatest poverty, but his 
 countenance was noble, and his thin locks were drip- 
 ping with rain. 
 
 He entered, but the servants paid no attention to 
 him, but sat drinking. 
 
 He mounted the stone stairway, and reached the 
 ball-room, where ^knights and ladies whirled in the 
 dance regardless of the storm.
 
 222 Legends and Tales of 
 
 He did not venture to enter, but stood timidly near 
 the door, hoping that some one might take pity on his 
 condition. He did not stand long unobserved. 
 
 The master himself perceived him, but his heart was 
 not touched with pity. 
 
 With a countenance red with anger, he pounced upon 
 the trembling man, thrust him out of his humble pos- 
 ture, and cried in a voice of thunder, "Insolent beggar! 
 how couldst thou dare to enter my castle ? Thou shalt 
 pay dearly for thy impudence, and go down more 
 quickly than thou earnest up ! " 
 
 And he seized him, dragged him to a window, and 
 threw him, amid the laughter of the guests, into the 
 depths below the castle. 
 
 But the beggar stood suddenly in the midst of a 
 wonderful light, and cried in an awful voice, before 
 which all merriment died, and the hot blood turned to 
 ice : " Cursed are ye who despise the poor, and give 
 them over to death ; cursed be this spot with all your 
 pleasure and luxury ; ye shall sink this very hour in 
 night and darkness ! " 
 
 And lo ! scarcely were the words uttered, when a 
 hissing flash of lightning, like a fiery serpent, pierced 
 the castle, a fearful clap of thunder followed, the earth 
 opened, the castle sank in the hidden deeps, and was 
 seen no more. 
 
 Only the lonely wanderer hears in the stillness of 
 the night a gloomy noise like distant merriment and 
 shouting, mingled with smothered groans and a hor- 
 rible dirge.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 223 
 
 The Dwarfs of the Sochsenstein. 
 
 ON the spot where the few houses forming Dorf 
 Neuhof now stand lay, centuries ago, a farm- 
 house built of stone and ornamented with oddly-twisted 
 chimneys. 
 
 A green meadow valley lay before the house, on 
 which fat, comfortable-looking cows were grazing ; 
 well-scoured milk-pails hung on the garden fence, 
 fruit-trees were trained on the house- walls, a powerful 
 dog lay basking in the glowing sunshine before the 
 door ; from the well-populated barn-yard one heard 
 an animated conversation among the feathered tribes* 
 where a peacock was chairman, and made short 
 emphatic speeches, and a turkey-cock filled the office 
 of crier; in short, all bore the stamp of wealth and 
 comfort. 
 
 And yet the owner of all, Herr Adam Neubauer, 
 walked discontentedly up and down his room. 
 
 His sharp eye had long observed that pilfering hands 
 had laid hold of his field-products, and it had pained 
 him excessively that one would steal from him, for he 
 had never permitted the needy to depart with empty 
 hands ; but in the last night so much had been stolen 
 from his pea-field that his hitherto silent displeasure 
 broke forth in expressions of anger. 
 
 " Anna," said he to his wife, a blonde of perhaps 
 thirty years, with soft features and gentle dove eyes,
 
 224 Legends and Tales of 
 
 " them knowest I am patience itself, but that is too 
 bad that is too bad. The people take advantage of 
 my forbearance and kindness, and it is time to let them 
 see that I can also be angry. The first one I catch 
 stealing, if he has only taken one ear, shall be so pun- 
 ished that he will forget to come again, thou mayest 
 depend on it ! " 
 
 " But, dear husband," replied Frau Anna, in a gentle 
 voice, for she had not seen her husband so excited for 
 a long time, " do not excite thyself so. Certainly it is 
 vexatious when wicked men lay hands on our pro- 
 perty ; but as all the people of the earth are not 
 purely honourable, if thou wilt appoint guards, thou 
 wilt soon have the pleasure of seeing the thieves face 
 to face." 
 
 " It is just that that makes me so angry," answered 
 Neubauer "that all the appointed sentinels do not 
 help in the least. Since eight days, our servants, well 
 hidden, have watched; but no one has shown himself, 
 and nevertheless as much has been stolen as" before. 
 What is to be done ?" 
 
 Anna heard with surprise this puzzling communica- 
 tion, and after many suppositions on the subject she 
 went out shaking her head, to direct household mat- 
 ters, and Adam remained alone in his vexation. 
 
 The evening of the same day the heavens had 
 greatly changed. It had been sultry all day, and now 
 dark, silver-bordered clouds rose over the Harz, united 
 and formed a colossal black wall.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 225 
 
 It grew darker and darker. Hollow rolled the dis- 
 tant thunder, the dazzling lightnings flamed, and great 
 drops fell. Fearfully raged the storm in the tops of 
 the firs and beeches, and drove dust and gravel in 
 wild whirls up the mountain path, on which now a 
 wanderer, with hair wildly blowing in the wind and 
 fluttering garments, descended. 
 
 Not a ray of light pierced the clouds save the fire 
 of the lightning, followed ever more quickly by the 
 deafening claps of thunder ;* in torrents the clouds now 
 poured their streams on the mountains, the firm rocks 
 seemed to quake to their foundations ; it was as if the 
 Dies /?'ce were come. 
 
 Shivering with the cold rain, the wanderer hastened 
 to the house of Adam Neubauer, which, by the flashes of 
 the lightning, he had long perceived in the distance. 
 
 He had to wait long before his knocking was heard, 
 for the storm turned the weathercock with a rattling 
 
 O 
 
 noise, shook the tiles of the roof, and threw at intervals 
 an open-hanging shutter violently to and fro. 
 
 At last the hospitable door was opened, and the 
 honest house-father received the stranger a perhaps 
 sexagenarian of lofty stature, powerful frame, with a 
 shrewd countenance and snow-white hair with the 
 greatest readiness ; and Frau Anna hurried away to 
 look out dry garments from her husband's wardrobe, 
 
 * No word-painting could describe a thunder-storm on the moun- 
 tains. The writer witnessed such a storm when driving up the 
 Brocken. Just in front of the carriage the lightning rent a large 
 lir to ribbons, and it was almost impossible for the horses to advance 
 
 15
 
 226 Legends and Tales of 
 
 and to order from larder and cellar a strengthening, 
 refreshing repast. 
 
 The stranger soon found himself comfortable, and 
 Herr Adam took so much pleasure in his guest that 
 he became confidential by the first glass, and speedily 
 related to him his losses in the fields with all 
 particulars. 
 
 The guest listened attentively, and then went out 
 for a few minutes to look at the neighbourhood. 
 
 He shortly returned, took his staff, thanked Neu- 
 bauer for the hospitable reception, and said : " Ye 
 were to me as to a near relative, me a perfect 
 stranger ; hence, hear as a reward my counsel. If ye 
 would discover the thieves who rob your fields, go 
 out at midnight and strike about in the air with a 
 willow rod, and ye will soon see the cunning rascals. 
 And now farewell !" 
 
 He disappeared through the door and left his host 
 in the greatest amazement at his odd advice. 
 
 True, his astonishment gave place to scornful 
 laughter, and Adam concluded to himself not to 
 permit himself to be made a fool of ; but as he found, 
 several hours afterwards, that a new robbery had been 
 committed, he decided, nevertheless, to follow the 
 stranger's advice. 
 
 It was a glorious still night. In the shadows sang 
 the queenly nightingale. The full moon shone in the 
 cloudless heavens. 
 
 The precipitous wall of the Sachsenstein stood in
 
 The Harz Mountains. 227 
 
 shadowy contrast against the star-powdered blue, 
 and seemed in the magical moonlight as if silvered. 
 
 Herr Adam stood early in his peafield watching, 
 and as the bell in the neighbouring Sachsa rang out 
 the midnight hour, he struck, as the stranger had 
 advised, with the willow rod he had brought with him 
 up and down in the air, and soon saw, with the greatest 
 amazement, two tiny beings, who, with folded hands 
 and terrified mien, looked up to him. 
 
 If they had taken advantage of Adam's surprise, 
 they might have made their escape ; but fear and 
 terror rooted them to the spot till he had recovered 
 himself, seized them with a firm hand, and asked in a 
 stern voice who they were, and where they came from. 
 
 "Ah !" replied one of the little creatures, "we are 
 poor dwarfs, who house there in the Sachsenstein, and 
 never do anybody any harm. But hunger drove us 
 this time to take some peas from your field. We beg 
 you to forgive us, and we will make good the damage 
 we have done." 
 
 " Of course you will," answered Herr Neubauer, who 
 observed closely the little men, of whose acts and 
 deeds he had already heard so much; "but the reckon- 
 ing will be large, for you have long done mischief to 
 my property. First of all, tell me how it happened 
 that my watchers did not discover you, nor T myself 
 till I struck with the willow rod ? " 
 
 " We possess Nebelkappen," * said one of the two 
 
 * Nebdkappfn magical caps ; literally, fog caps. Like the 7*arn- 
 in the Nihrlungenlied, that renders the wearer invisible.
 
 228 Legends and Tales of 
 
 dwarfs, "which render us invisible to the human sight. 
 You knocked them off our heads with the willow rod, 
 and then we became visible. Will you permit us to 
 look for them ? " 
 
 " Certainly not," returned Adam. " Do you fancy I 
 shall be so stupid as to put the means into your hands 
 of escaping ? No, no ; you follow me into my house, 
 and will not regain your freedom till you have paid me!" 
 
 The dwarfs wept, and pleaded so pitifully to be 
 released, that Adam's mild heart grew soft ; but a 
 glance at his field hardened it again, and he took his 
 
 O 
 
 trembling prisoners home with him. 
 
 The next morning the two guilty dwarfs were 
 examined, who related that they, governed by a king, 
 had dwelt for untold ages in the caves of the Harz, 
 more especially in the Sachsenstein, and had been 
 happy ; but now subterranean floods and landslips 
 had caused them heavy losses, so that they had been 
 compelled to appropriate the possessions of men for 
 their necessities. 
 
 They would, however, never again venture to do so, 
 and once more expressed their willingness to pay for 
 the damages they had caused, and begged to know the 
 sum demanded of them. 
 
 " If I should reckon all the mischief you have 
 caused," said Herr Adam, " a pretty long account 
 would be the result ; but I demand only the value of 
 the peas, and if you pay me three Gulden I will set 
 you at liberty."
 
 The Harz Mountains. 229 
 
 The dwarfs were well satisfied with this demand, 
 but protested that they had neither money nor 
 articles of value with them, and begged permission to 
 go and bring the money. 
 
 But Adam could not be induced to permit this. 
 Even to keep one as hostage, and allow the other to 
 depart, he absolutely refused. 
 
 " Well, then, give us a rose-leaf and a pin," begged 
 the dwarfs. " We will write to our king, and he will 
 undoubtedly at once release us from our painful 
 position." 
 
 After some reflection, Adam permitted his wife, 
 who looked at him with beseeching eyes, to bring the 
 required objects. 
 
 As soon as the dwarfs had bescribbled the rose-leaf, 
 they handed it to him with directions to carry it to 
 the Sachsenstein, and blow it in through one of the 
 crevices, and a reply would speedily follow. 
 
 The features of the little creatures grew cheerful as 
 they heard that their odd letter had been posted as 
 directed, and they became merry and contented, 
 although the day passed without anything happening 
 for their release. 
 
 But when night came on, and the moon and stars 
 shone in a clear sky, the door of the room opened 
 suddenly in which Adam sat with his prisoners, and a 
 troop of handsome dwarfs, neatly dressed, entered. 
 
 At their head walked the king himself, in gold and 
 purple, and wearing a sparkling crown.
 
 230 Legends and Tales of 
 
 As soon as the prisoners beheld their sovereign 
 they knelt reverently before him, and remained in 
 that humble position until the monarch motioned 
 them to rise. The presence of the pygmean ruler was 
 indeed so commanding, that Herr Neubauer himself 
 
 O ' 
 
 involuntarily uncovered his head before him. 
 
 At last the king broke the silence, and said : " Ye 
 have made two of my subjects prisoners, and I am 
 come to interest myself on their behalf, for they are 
 otherwise good men, who now only through pressure 
 of circumstances have been led astray to do you 
 damage. Moreover, that ye may see that I approve 
 of your demand, I will cause ten times as much to be 
 paid." 
 
 His Majesty signed to one of his suite, who imme- 
 diately approached, and counted from a bag which he 
 carried under his arm thirty shining new Gulden, and 
 laid them on the table. 
 
 Adam opened his eyes on seeing so much money. 
 He had already decided in his mind to set the delin- 
 quents free without ransom, as soon as he had 
 frightened them a little. 
 
 Surprised at the royal generosity, he at once pro- 
 claimed to the prisoners their liberation, who sprang 
 up with eyes shining with joy, fell at the feet of the 
 Dwarf King, and thanked him for their freedom in 
 the most touching expressions of gratitude. 
 
 After the king had graciously raised them from 
 their knees, he turned again to Adam, and said : " I
 
 The Harz Mountains. 231 
 
 thank you that you have not harmed these poor people, 
 and notify you that in future you have nothing to fear 
 from us, for on St. John's Eve I shall march from 
 this place over the bridge with my subjects. Already 
 for a long period the subterranean water floods have 
 threatened to drive us from the Sachsenstein, which 
 we have inhabited so long, and I shall leave only a 
 few of my people, in order not to wholly lose this 
 ancient possession ; from them, however, you will 
 suffer no molestation." 
 
 The sovereign bowed graciously and departed, 
 attended by his train. The two released prisoners 
 followed with joyful gestures, hand in hand. 
 
 St. John's Eve, Frau Anna and her husband, full of 
 curiosity, together with the servants, hid themselves 
 near the bridge to see the dwarfs march over. 
 
 Scarcely had the darkness come on, when the pro- 
 cession appeared in sight, a well-ordered company, and 
 the concealed heard their march till the rising of the 
 sun, and the noise thereof was like the light trampling 
 of a flock of sheep. 
 
 Since that time nothing has been seen or heard of 
 the dwarfs, and not only here but everywhere they 
 are vanished ; but their memory lives in the mouth of 
 the people, and when the icy north wind blows, and 
 the snow beats against the windows, young men and 
 maidens gather around the fire in confidential chat, and 
 to the rattling of the wheel tell of the deep clefts of 
 the mountains, where in eternal night the dwarfs
 
 232 Legends and Tales of 
 
 once held their weddings, and where gnomes and 
 nymphs and fairies in darkness dwell. 
 
 The Biirggeist* of the Haarburg. 
 
 THE mountain called the Haarburg, which has 
 a summit of only small circumference, bore in a 
 long-forgotten time a fortress, which, like most ancient 
 castles, consisted of a single strong tower. 
 
 In its walls were housed the first lords of Werni- 
 gerode. But the mountain on which the present 
 Schloss Wernigerode stands was adorned only with 
 the primeval forest. 
 
 For centuries the occupants of the Haarburg felt 
 themselves happy in the grey giant tower, until a 
 Graf Bodo dwelt in it. He was the father of a 
 numerous progeny, and the tower grew too small for 
 all the children and domestics, and he often felt a 
 wish to have a more capacious dwelling. 
 
 An addition to the tower was not to be thought of, 
 in consequence of the small space on the mountain 
 summit ; and one evening, as he sat with his wife before 
 the entrance to the Haarburg, and looked out on the 
 beautiful landscape, he said to her, pointing toward the 
 mountain where the present castle stands : 
 
 " What thinkest thou ? Would it not be well if we 
 could live yonder ? The mountain has plenty of 
 space ; and there would be room to build spacious 
 
 * Burygrixt patron spirit.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 233 
 
 salons and chambers, and even a chapel, and a single 
 moat around the whole ; then we should be able to 
 entertain our friends, as many as could come. What 
 is thy opinion ?" 
 
 The lady of the castle quite agreed with her hus- 
 band. They conversed long on the subject, and only 
 separated as darkness began to settle over the vales 
 and mountains, and the benevolent Luna hung out 
 her silver lamp. 
 
 The night was lovely, and the Countess could not 
 rest or sleep. She opened the window, and gazed at 
 the shining moon, sank in thought, and did not 
 observe that the moments fled swiftly, and midnight 
 and the owls hovered over her head. 
 
 Then, out of a corner of the chamber, with light, 
 noiseless steps, issued an odd being, a little man, with 
 an old, wrinkled face, a long grey beard, but with not 
 disagreeable features. 
 
 His attire consisted of a grey coat and a pointed 
 hat, and he carried a staff. 
 
 Silently the figure approached the thinking, dream- 
 ing Countess, on whose form the soft moonlight fell, 
 and then twitched gently her garment with his tiny 
 hand. 
 
 Alarmed, the Countess turned round, but lost all 
 fear so soon as she beheld the form of the grey man. 
 
 She had recognized the Burggeist, who appeared 
 seldom, but always brought happiness with him, and 
 inquired in a gentle voice :
 
 234 Legends and Tales of 
 
 " What wilt thou from me, thou good spirit ?" 
 
 " I saw thee at such a late hour sitting in troubled 
 thought," replied the patron spirit, in a melodious 
 voice, " and came to ask the cause of thy sorrow. 
 What trouble lies so heavily at thy heart ?" 
 
 " No sorrow troubles me," said the countess, smiling, 
 " Only a wish moved my soul." 
 
 "And what might that be?" inquired the spirit 
 with strained attention. 
 
 " My husband," replied the Countess, " would wish 
 this fortress on that spacious mountain opposite. He 
 declares that we cannot live longer here ; and I must 
 say, after due reflection, he is perfectly right." 
 
 " Does it no longer please thee here ?" asked the 
 dwarf, with a quick-clouding face. " Ye men are right 
 difficult to please ! Thy ancestors have dwelt here for 
 ages, happy and .contented, and now ye would forsake 
 the tower that has sheltered thy race so long. Ye are 
 very ungrateful. If I had known that that was all 
 that troubled thee, I should not have left my hiding- 
 place. But it is already late ; seek thy couch and rest 
 well !" 
 
 The spirit vanished, and the Countess followed his 
 advice; but troubled dreams sported around the head 
 of the sleeping lady, and fantastic scenes passed before 
 her fancy. 
 
 It seemed as if she saw the dwarf from her window 
 go out at the entrance of the tower, large as a giant, 
 striking in the air with his hands all sorts of odd sijms
 
 The Harz Mountains. 235 
 
 and motions, and with a powerful voice she heard him 
 cry: " Slide on ! Slide on!"* 
 
 And hardly were these words out of his mouth 
 when the Haarburg was raised on unseen hands from 
 its foundations high in the air, so high that the 
 Countess was seized with giddiness, and awoke in 
 terror. 
 
 As she opened her eyes it was already light ; but 
 the sun had not yet risen above the mountains, so she 
 could only have slept a short time, but felt so much 
 strengthened and refreshed that she rose, dressed, and 
 went to the window to enjoy the fresh morning. But 
 who shall describe her amazement when she saw the 
 town of Wernigerode directly beneath, and on closer 
 observation found that the old tower Haarburg had 
 been moved in the night to the mountain where her 
 husband had so earnestly desired to have it. 
 
 As soon as her first astonishment had passed, the 
 Countess hastened to her still slumbering husband, led 
 him to the window, and feasted her eyes on his bound- 
 less astonishment and joy. 
 
 Filled with gratitude, she called the benevolent 
 dwarf, to thank him ; but he did not answer the sum- 
 mons, and has never been seen in the new Schloss. 
 
 " Ilitck< itlrh ! Riickf <Uch /"
 
 236 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Three Wood-Fairies. 
 
 THE great plain north of the Harz mountains was 
 not always the smiling, fruitful tract of land the 
 eye now beholds. 
 
 A great lake covered a large portion of it ; the 
 ground around this lake was swampy and unfruitful, 
 and dense forests shut out the sunlight. 
 
 But the deep shadows of these woodlands, where 
 the foot of man seldom wandered, this sacred stillness, 
 undisturbed by the noise and bustle of human life, was 
 notwithstanding peopled. 
 
 Creatures of tender form and rare beauty not so 
 ethereal as the air, not so material as man danced 
 lightly, as if borne by the breezes, through the woods, 
 which were their possession, intimately interwoven 
 with their existence, for they grew with the trees which 
 they inhabited, and drooped- and died with them. 
 
 When the moon mounted her blue throne, and cast 
 her pure silvery glance over the silent and noble 
 forest, it was as if a light shiver fell on the trees, as 
 if they became animated, and assumed the forms of 
 maidens, who in the pale light skipped upon the 
 mountains, or descended to the lake or the Bode, to 
 visit their neighbours the mermaids, still and innocent 
 as themselves, who swam the light waves radiant in 
 the smile of Queen Luna. 
 
 But as time went on these pleasant reunions were
 
 The Harz Mountains. 237 
 
 interrupted by the human race, which penetrated the 
 forests, mercilessly cut down everything that stood in 
 the way of its selfish ends, and made these peaceful 
 regions the stage of its vain ambitions and aims, never 
 dreaming that with every tree that was hewn down 
 a life more pure and beautiful than its own was 
 destroyed. 
 
 Soon the joy at these nightly assemblies was 
 changed to sorrow, and when the moonlight called the 
 fairy forms of wood-nymphs and mermaids into life, 
 they wept together over their vanished sisters and 
 friends, and not one was sure that the following day 
 the same sad fate would not be her destiny. 
 
 A powerful Kaiser was come into the district with 
 a vast retinue and an army, had built himself a Burg 
 on the banks of the Bode, and bestowed the land on 
 his followers, who were to cut down trees, drain swamps, 
 and transform the wilderness into a fruitful plain. 
 
 The woods gave place speedily to a bare tract, and 
 the maiden circle grew ever smaller. There, on the 
 mountain west of Thale, where in its bosom the ante- 
 diluvian giant animal skeletons were found, an old 
 warrior had received permission from the Kaiser to 
 clear the land. 
 
 He toiled unweariedly, dug the soil, felled the trees 
 one after the other, till of the sacred grove only three 
 trees were left standing. 
 
 " Now, only these three trees left," thought he to 
 himself, stretched himself wearily in the gross to rest
 
 238 Legends and Tales of 
 
 a minute and strengthen himself for the last stroke ; 
 but fatigue overcame him, so that he sank into a deep 
 sleep, and only awoke when the moon and stars shone 
 in the heavens. 
 
 Then he saw three maidens sitting under the green 
 roof of a maple tree, silent and mournful ; their eyes 
 were wet as if dewdrops hung in the drooping eye- 
 lashes ; they uttered complaining words in soft tones 
 like the rustling of the night wind in the leaves. 
 
 " Let us take leave of each other," lisped softly the 
 voice of one ; " our time is come. When the rosy dawn 
 awakes he will come who cut down our sisters ; and 
 as they are fallen, so must we. Desolate will be the 
 spot that saw us so oft united in joy, lonely the moon- 
 light that shone on our dance. The nymphs of the 
 lake and the mountain stream will look out for us, 
 longing for our coming, and ask, 'Where are our 
 friends of the mountain ? Why do they not descend 
 when the Queen of the stars illuminates our palace ? ' 
 Happy sisters, ye are as yet safe from our mourn- 
 ful fate, for ye are secure in your retreat from the 
 barbarian ! " 
 
 " Weep not, sister ! " said another, with light moan- 
 ing ; " weep not over our inevitable destiny. To see 
 that we must die grieves me not, for all our beloved 
 are gone on before us ; but that we are the last of 
 our race, and our line becomes with us extinct, that 
 it is that fills my heart with woe. 
 
 " That our race might continue I would live on, and
 
 The Harz Mountains. 239 
 
 if I could appear in person to him who will come in 
 the morning with his axe to annihilate us, I would 
 entreat him for the blessing of life, and he would not 
 refuse my entreaty. 
 
 " But only night gives us being comprehensible to 
 men ; the day confines us stiff and without form in our 
 narrow house." 
 
 " Ah ! if we could only appear to him ! " added the 
 third ; " if we could only appear and beg him for life, 
 we should not plead in vain; I have seen him mourn 
 too, have heard him lament the beautiful forest. 
 
 " And what benefit would it be to him to destroy us 
 also ? What benefit has it been to him that he has 
 destroyed our sisters ? Will the products of this soil 
 repay the labour of tillage ? But we would gladly, 
 though invisible, help him to cultivate the land during 
 the hours when we have a form, if he would take pity 
 and spare the last of a great race." 
 
 The old soldier, who had listened in surprise to this 
 singular conversation, could contain himself no longer. 
 
 " By the sword of my Kaiser ! " he cried, springing 
 to his feet, " cursed be the hand that should do you 
 an injury, ye innocent beings.; destroy you I will not, 
 no, but protect and defend you with my goods, blood, 
 and life. 
 
 " But who are ye ? Was it a dream that charmed 
 my senses ? " 
 
 Terrified, the maidens had vanished at his first 
 words.
 
 240 Legends and Tales of 
 
 Now their voices resound from the trees as they 
 reply to his question. 
 
 " No dream has deceived thee. Thou has seen the 
 last of the wood-nymphs who adorn this mountain. If 
 thou wilt protect them, so spare the trees of the wood 
 that still stand ; they will thank thee." 
 
 Dawn broke over the mountains, the voices were 
 silent ; they sighed in the morning wind, but the 
 soldier could not understand the tones ; at first he was 
 inclined to hold all for a dream, but what he had heard 
 stood so clear in his mind that he finally doubted no 
 longer, and zealously defended the three trees. 
 
 On his dying bed he commended them to his sons, 
 and charged them never to sell the land. 
 
 Long the fields near the three trees thrived above 
 all others, and at night three maiden forms could be 
 seen following the plough in the moonlight. 
 
 But alas ! the trees and land came into the hands of 
 an owner who held the story of the three wood-fairies 
 for a fable, and he cut the trees down. 
 
 Since then the mountain has been barren and fruit- 
 less, and the three sisters have never been seen with 
 the plough again.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 241 
 
 The Shepherds' Towers. 
 
 TWO shepherds in Quedlinburg, father and son, poor 
 but honest people, were once watching their flocks 
 on the green meadows. 
 
 It was a lovely morning ; the lambs played with the 
 wild flowers, the birds sang so joyfully in the neigh- 
 bouring wood, the breezes were so mild and odorous, 
 that the hearts of the shepherds were filled with an 
 unusual gladness, and they both began to play a sacred 
 air on their reed pipes. 
 
 The bells of the royal convent began to ring, and 
 their melodious harmonies penetrated the heart, power- 
 ful and irresistible as a voice from heaven. 
 
 " There is something glorious in such a solemn 
 chime," said the elder shepherd to his son, who sat 
 near him. " The tones seem to come down to us from 
 the eternal heights, and remind us of our duty and our 
 better home." 
 
 "It is indeed true," replied the younger. "The 
 chimes possess an incomprehensible power over the 
 mind, and awake the inner life to devotion and holy 
 reflections ; and I never look across to the towers 
 whence those bold and fearless tones rise on the air, 
 without seeing in them landmarks pointing to heaven." 
 
 " Oh, what a pity !" added the father, "that our new 
 
 church in the New Town must stand so long without 
 
 either tower or bells. What a pity that a work to 
 
 God's honour must remain unfinished, while the rich 
 
 16
 
 242 Legends and Tales of 
 
 build palaces and heap up treasures. How willingly 
 every poor person in the town would contribute, if 
 thereby the edifice could only be completed. But 
 without a special blessing from God, many years may 
 pass away before the church is finished." 
 
 "Father!" cried the son, interrupting the conversa- 
 tion, " where are our dogs ? I don't see them by the 
 flock, and still the faithful creatures have never yet 
 left their post without our commands. What can have 
 started them and allured them away ? Where shall 
 we find them again ?" 
 
 "Yonder, my son!" said the father, whose eye had 
 swept exploringly the neighbourhood, pointing toward 
 the near forest. " I see them running as fast as possible 
 toward the wood ; they scent game, no doubt, and are 
 on the track." 
 
 And they both whistled, and called the dogs by 
 name, but in vain, for the hitherto so obedient animals 
 only turned their heads slightly at the sound of the 
 well-known voices, and then continued their wild race. 
 
 Astonished at the unwonted disobedience, and 
 anxious lest they might lose the dogs, the shepherds 
 decided to follow them to the borders of the wood. 
 The flock was feeding quietly in a meadow, and there 
 was no danger of its wandering away. 
 
 The border of the wood was soon reached, but no 
 trace of the dogs was to lie seen. They had already 
 penetrated the thick underbrush, and a stripe in the 
 dewy grass showed the way they had taken.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 243 
 
 " Wilt thou remain here, father, and watch that no 
 wolf come out of the wood and scatter the flock ? " 
 said the son, and hurried on in the direction the dogs 
 had taken. 
 
 The father remained standing, keeping his eyes on 
 the lambs ; but it was not long before he heard the 
 missing dogs bark, and fancied he heard also the voice 
 of his son. 
 
 He listened. He was not mistaken. The son called 
 with all his might his father's name, who, terrified 
 lest something dreadful had happened, hastened after 
 the voice. 
 
 The way he had to take was perfectly strange to 
 him, although he had often been in the same wood 
 before ; also the forest seemed very much altered ; in 
 the place of the young, slender trees, stood primeval, 
 mighty oaks, and under their deep shades, through an 
 opening in the trees, rose the grey dilapidated walls 
 of a ruined church. 
 
 At the entrance to this church, half hidden by wild 
 briars, trees, and ivy, he saw his son standing with a 
 look of amazement and with an uncertain air, for he 
 too had never discovered these ruins, and curiosity and 
 fear of enchantment fought a sharp contest in his 
 breast. 
 
 The arrival of the father, however, put an end to all 
 fear, and after a short consultation, whether they should 
 enter the desolate, ghost-like ruins, curiosity triumphed, 
 so much the more, since they observed that the track
 
 244 Legends and Tales of 
 
 of the dogs led through the bushes into the wall. With 
 considerable effort they made their way through the 
 rank weeds and thorns, and reached a high portal 
 fallen in on one side. They went through it, and saw 
 themselves surrounded by a dim twilight, since the 
 openings in the arch ceiling were insufficient to light 
 the interior, and the slender arched windows were so 
 overgrown with ivy and other plants that they stood 
 in a green night. 
 
 They could scarcely distinguish the spot where the 
 altar had stood, and where masses of broken, scattered 
 stones betrayed the fury of the storm that had de- 
 stroyed it. 
 
 Approaching the spot, they were seized with tremb- 
 ling as they discovered an old crucifix in the wall, and, 
 bending the knee, murmured a prayer. 
 
 A noise startled them ; looking around they per- 
 ceived the dogs behind a portion of the broken altar, 
 scratching and digging, without troubling themselves 
 at the presence of their masters, as if they had been 
 fastened by enchantment to the spot. 
 
 The shepherds approached the corner where they 
 were scraping and pawing, and looked attentively at 
 the hole growing every moment larger and deeper 
 in the ground, and soon a sheet-iron chest became 
 visible. 
 
 The dogs barked as if for joy at the discovery, 
 stopped their work, and sprang barking from one 
 shepherd to the other.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 245 
 
 The shepherds set to work to lift out the chest, 
 which they found tremendously heavy. It contained 
 a mass of gold and silver coins with a stamp of a time 
 long past. 
 
 Before they could recover from their astonishment, 
 the dogs began again to scratch the ground in the 
 same spot, and soon a second chest came to view, in 
 which the shepherds found golden goblets, candle- 
 sticks, and other sacred vessels of immense value. 
 
 Not till now were the dogs satisfied, but as the 
 second chest was opened they hurried back to the 
 flock, and displayed an unwonted zeal to fulfil their 
 duty. 
 
 The two shepherds repaired to the Abbess of the 
 St. Servatius Convent in Quedlinburg, related what 
 had occurred, and expressed a wish that two towers 
 should be built on the Nikolai* church with the 
 found treasure. 
 
 At the news of the wonderful discovery, half the 
 town went out to the wood to see the spot where the 
 treasure had been found. But no ruin was to be dis- 
 covered ; all was vanished without leaving a trace, and 
 even the shepherds could not find the spot again. 
 
 If the treasure in their possession had not proved to 
 the contrary, they would have held the whole thing 
 for a dream. 
 
 The Nikolai church still stands, shaded by old lin- 
 dens, and at its west end the shepherds' two towers, 
 
 Nikolai-St. Nichola*.
 
 246 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The figures of the two shepherds and their dogs, 
 hewn in the stone, still look down upon the ancient 
 imperial city from these towers, where they were 
 placed so many centuries ago as memorials of a some- 
 what unusual unselfishness. 
 
 The Treasure-hunters of the Lieberthal. 
 
 MANY centuries ago there lay in the valley of the 
 little river Sieber, where now is the Long 
 Meadow, copper-works. 
 
 A mass of scoria, the greater part of which has been 
 employed on the chaussee, once marked the spot. 
 
 The owners of these works, who are said to have 
 been very rich, together with the works vanished in a 
 single night. 
 
 The following morning nothing remained to be seen 
 but this huge heap of scoria. 
 
 It was said the owners had buried their treasure in 
 it before their disappearance. 
 
 Soon after that event, a blue name was seen every 
 night between eleven and twelve on this heap of 
 scoria, which a black man endeavoured to keep burn- 
 ing until midnight. 
 
 The report of a Goldfeuer* in the Sieberthal soon 
 spread, and many saw the name, but no one was bold 
 enough to attempt to gain the treasure. 
 
 At last a man from Lonau, who had experience in 
 
 * Goldfeuer Goldtire.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 247 
 
 treasure-seeking, determined to attempt it, and engaged 
 several workmen to assist him in the undertaking. 
 
 On the way to the spot he commanded his men : 
 " Let no one speak while digging, or all is lost."* 
 
 They all promised, and gave him the hand as pledge. 
 
 Meanwhile they arrived at the spot, the work began, 
 and soon they came to a huge cauldron filled with 
 Holland ducats, which it was necessary to raise. 
 
 Just as they had raised the vessel to the surface 
 they heard wheels. 
 
 The workmen paused and listened, when lo ! a 
 carriage appeared drawn rapidly by four doves. 
 
 The driver cried, " Guten Abend! Geht's gut?"f 
 But not a soul replied. 
 
 Directly after came a fellow in a trough along the 
 same road, saying hurriedly: " Shall I not also come?" 
 and made the most desperate efforts to reach the dove- 
 drawn carriage. 
 
 One of the workmen laughing, cried mockingly : 
 " The poor devil must also drive ! " 
 
 Hutsch ! In an instant blue flame and cauldron had 
 vanished ! 
 
 The men stood gazing at each other with long faces, 
 when instantly their hair turned grey, and they all 
 soon died of grief and vexation. 
 
 * A search for all objects under enchantment must be conducted 
 in silence. If one speaks, the charm is immediately broken. 
 
 tGood evening ! How are you ?
 
 248 Legends and Tales of 
 
 The Enchanted Maiden of the Zorge. 
 
 T IKE Princess Use, she sometimes appears as a 
 J-J serpent. On the Hohegeissberg, near the river 
 Zorge, the White Maiden of the Staufenburg* is seen 
 every seven years with a bunch of keys. 
 
 Once came a shepherd from Kloster Walkenried-f- and 
 pastured his flock in the vicinity of the mountain. 
 
 Early in the morning the White Maiden stood on 
 the cliffs, making her footprints in the rocks, and sang 
 gaily. 
 
 When she had finished her song she descended to 
 the shepherd, and asked him if he would rescue her 
 from the enchantment. 
 
 He replied he would gladly if he could. 
 
 She told him she would return the next morning, at 
 first in the same form, which he now saw, after which 
 she would become a serpant. If he would kiss her in 
 her serpent form, she would be free. 
 
 The shepherd promised solemnly. 
 
 The next morning she appeared again on the cliffs 
 and sang as before. 
 
 When the sheep had all filed past, the maiden de- 
 scended from the rocks, came to him as a serpent, and 
 sprang upward toward him, that he might give her 
 the serpent-kiss, but he turned aside in horror. 
 
 The serpent suddenly vanished with such a shriek 
 
 * The Staufenburg bei Zorge. 
 
 tThe extensive ruins of Walkenried are the most picturesque 
 convent ruins in North Germany. The style of architecture is that 
 Gothic known as Early English.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 249 
 
 of anguish that the shepherd was ever afterward per- 
 fectly deaf. 
 
 She is seen on the Staufenburg bei Zorge every 
 seven years at Easter, with a bunch of keys and a 
 Pomeranian dog white as snow. 
 
 She waits from eleven to twelve for a rescuer, and 
 when the time is expired the dog barks. 
 
 This dog is said to have been her lap-dog before the 
 curse. 
 
 There is a Harz legend that the Ascension took 
 place from the mountain of the Staufenburg. 
 
 The Accursed Maiden of Lichtenstein. 
 
 NOT far from Lichtenstein is a spring, where 
 once a shepherd rested always at noonday and 
 watered his flocks. 
 
 One day, when he sat there as usual, a serpent came 
 from under a stone and looked kindly at him. 
 
 At first he was seized with terror, but at last felt 
 quite at home with her. 
 
 The second day she came again, from her head half 
 in human form addressed the shepherd, and told him 
 he must take courage the next day and kiss the 
 serpent, when he would thereby become always fortu- 
 nate and happy. 
 
 She came the third day from under the stone, crept 
 up to him, and raised her head to kiss him. 
 
 At first he was filled with disgust, but taking 
 courage he shut his eyes and kissed her.
 
 250 Legends and Tales of 
 
 And there stood before him no longer a serpent, but 
 a beautiful girl, and more a princess. 
 
 Then the shepherd forsook his sheep, went with the 
 maiden to the king, who gave him the princess to 
 wife. 
 
 The Great Hall in the Petersberg. 
 
 ONE day a child plucked a flower on the Peters- 
 berg, near Goslar, while playing. 
 
 Then the mountain opened, and the child came into 
 a great hall, where many noble steeds neighed and 
 tossed their proud heads, and the viands were served 
 on gold and silver. 
 
 All who sat there wore golden crowns, and a silver 
 plate was given the child to take home. 
 
 The parents of the child sought the Wunderblume, 
 that they might also see this chamber, but failed. 
 
 These guests of the mountain are the old Kaisers 
 who once held their Court in Goslar. 
 
 Spar-die-Muh.* 
 
 AT the north end of the Bergstadt } Lautenthal 
 lies the Bielstein. 
 
 Below, at the north-west end of the town, the little 
 river Innerste flows northward towards the Bielstein, 
 and along its base. 
 
 * Spare the trouble. t Mining towii.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 251 
 
 Above this bend in the stream, where it turns to 
 flow along the base, only a few steps from the stream, 
 is a cave called the Zwergloch, or Dwarf-cave. 
 
 The level place at the foot of the Bielstein bears the 
 name of Spar-die-Miih. 
 
 In the cave dwelt in earlier times three dwarfs, who 
 often lent the people of Lautenthal money, and also 
 gold and silver plate for weddings and baptisms. 
 
 Now it happened once that these borrowed objects 
 were not returned. So when the people came again 
 to borrow, they heard a voice call, " Spar-die-Mlih ! " 
 
 And from that time the dwarfs declined to oblige 
 the neglectful citizens in any way, and since then the 
 place has been called Spar-die-Miih. 
 
 The Dwarf-King Hibich. 
 
 THE Hibichenstein, near Grund, consists of two 
 colossal limestone cliff's leaning against each 
 other, which are said to have been formed in the dis- 
 tant days when giants lived in the Hercynia Sylva,* 
 from a pebble which a giant threw out of his shoe. 
 
 In the Hibichenstein dwelt dwarfs, who often at- 
 tended the children in Grund. 
 
 Their King Hibich was ages old, with shaggy hair 
 
 * The Hercyuia Sylva of the Romans was of greater extent than 
 the Har/ mountains. It included the Schwarzwald, Thuringeu, 
 Bohemia, and the Mar/..
 
 252 Legends and Tales of 
 
 like a bear, a very wrinkled face, and a long ice-grey 
 beard, which possessed magical power. 
 
 He always carried a silver miner's lamp that shone 
 clear as the sun, and wore a golden crown. 
 
 Although so small, he could stretch himself much 
 larger. 
 
 Formerly his dwarf majesty was allowed to appear 
 in the upper world every five hundred years, but he is 
 no longer permitted to leave his subterranean abode. 
 
 He protected the forests, and played serious jokes 
 upon those who did them any injury. But he was 
 benevolent and kind to those in distress who com- 
 plained to him of their trouble. 
 
 Once a miner's wife whose husband had long lain 
 ill, went from Grund into the wood to gather cones for 
 the baker, who gave her bread for them. 
 
 When she had entered the forest, Hibich came to 
 her and asked : " What seekest thou here ? " 
 
 Then she told him all her want and distress, where- 
 upon he gave her a plant to cure her husband, and 
 pointed out to her a spot where she would find plenty 
 of cones. 
 
 Arrived there, she could at first find none, but 
 directly the cones began to fall in showers from the 
 trees, not striking her, however, but all falling into 
 the basket. 
 
 When she lifted the basket to put it on her back) 
 she found it much heavier than the cones had ever 
 been before.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 253 
 
 Returning to the spot where the King had first met 
 her, he asked her if she had found cones. Then she 
 told him what had happened, and the Dwarf-King 
 revealed to her that his people had done it, and added 
 the cones were pure silver. 
 
 He told her she was to take a sufficient number of 
 them to make herself and her sick husband comfort- 
 able, and to provide for her children, and with the rest 
 she was to build a church in Grund ; but by no means 
 to forget the healing plant. 
 
 The sick man became "healthy as a fish " from the 
 hour when he made use of this powerful herb. 
 
 In the forester's house in Grund lived in the olden 
 days a forester who had lost his wife early, and had 
 an only son, a good-hearted youth, only somewhat 
 over-inquisitive and indiscreet. 
 
 One Sunday afternoon the forester's son, with his 
 friend, the son of a miner, went into the wood for a 
 walk. 
 
 As they reached the Hibichenstein they fell into a 
 conversation concerning its height, and the miner's son 
 said he should like to see the person who could climb 
 to the top. 
 
 The other said that was nothing, he would do it ; 
 but his friend endeavoured to dissuade him from his 
 purpose, saying no one who had climbed up could ever 
 get down again, but was always found the next day 
 broken to pieces at the base. 
 
 He was not be dissuaded, and climbed to the
 
 254 Legends and Tales of 
 
 summit, where he found a large level space, and began 
 to dance and shout for joy, and called to his friend to 
 climb up. But the other shook his head, and told him 
 not to forget he had to come down. 
 
 Finally, when his joy had cooled, the forester's son 
 decided to descend, but could not leave the spot, for 
 the Dwarf-King Hibich held him enchanted to the 
 rock for his presumption. 
 
 He called to his friend and entreated him to go and 
 tell his father. 
 
 Then the forester came with his gun and would shoot 
 his son down. 
 
 But as he was about to fire, came Hibich and de- 
 manded what he was going to do ; and as he replied 
 he was going to shoot his son down from the 
 mountain, the King advised him not to attempt any- 
 thing so foolish. 
 
 Again he took aim, when it began to thunder and 
 lighten, and the rain poured down in torrents. 
 
 Night came on, and the forester was obliged to go 
 home till morning. 
 
 Hardly had he gone when the dwarfs arrived, all in 
 miners' dress, and each carrying a mine-lamp. 
 
 They had the most skilful ladders, which they placed 
 one on the other, and now they held together as if 
 they had been glued. 
 
 As soon as this ladder was ready, and reached the 
 top of the Hibichenstein, a dwarf stood at each side and 
 lighted the way.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 255 
 
 The forester's son must now seat himself on the 
 shoulders of the dwarf on the topmost rung of the 
 ladder ; and see ! the ladder is wide enough to permit 
 them to descend between the thick line of lamp-bear- 
 ing dwarfs on either hand. 
 
 No sooner had they reached the base than dwarfs, 
 lights, and ladder had vanished. 
 
 Then came the old Hibich, took him by the hand, 
 and said : " As thou hast been on the summit of the 
 Hibichenstein, and hast suffered so much anxiety and 
 terror, thou shalt also see the Dwarf-King's castle." 
 
 Then they entered through a great arched door into 
 the mountain, and the King conducted him to a large 
 room, where stood chairs and a table. 
 
 The walls glittered with pure ore, the ceiling was a 
 single piece of ponderous spar, white as the driven 
 snow, and from it hung a chandelier of mountain 
 crystal and precious stones. 
 
 The floor was strewed with branches of firs, and the 
 panels shimmered with gold and jewels. 
 
 In the centre of this superb chamber stood a table 
 of hematite; before it a silver chair, upon which the 
 Dwarf-Kinj; seated himself, and commanded his com- 
 
 O 
 
 pan ion also to sit down. 
 
 Then he struck with a silver rapier upon the table 
 of hematite, which produced a tone the sweetness of 
 which was never heard before. 
 
 A thousand tiny female forms appeared in answer 
 to the summons, bearing strawberries and raspberries ;
 
 256 Legends and Tales of 
 
 and while the King and his guest partook of the fruit, 
 the dwarf maidens played the most delicious music. 
 
 Afterward costly wine was brought in silver gob- 
 lets. 
 
 When the repast was ended, Hibich led his young 
 visitor into an adjoining chamber, on one -side of 
 which was silver, on the other gold, and at the royal 
 command, " Silver ! " " Gold ! " the forester's son 
 must take of the metal named till he was laden with 
 wealth. 
 
 Then the Dwarf-King said : " Wilt thou do me a 
 favour ? Namely, never to permit any one to shoot at 
 birds on the Hibichenstein ; for in this way bits of the 
 rock are broken off. 
 
 " As long as the great Hibichenstein remains the 
 great, my crown is secure ; but so soon as it becomes 
 the little Hibichenstein, I lose my crown, and can never 
 appear on the earth again." 
 
 The youth promised, and Hibich conducted him to 
 another chamber, where stood a delicious bed of 
 fragrant moss, wished him Gute Nacht, and promised 
 to wake him early. 
 
 The forester's son had slept but a short time, as it 
 seemed to him, when he was waked up suddenly. It 
 was early dawn, and he shivered, exclaiming, " How 
 cold it is ! " 
 
 He lay under a bush at the foot of the Hibichen- 
 stein, but all the gold arid silver that the Dwarf- King 
 Hibich had given him was heaped up beside him.
 
 The Harz Mountains. 257 
 
 The King of Tipplers. 
 
 A LEGEND is told in Ellrich of an Earl von 
 Klettenberg not the devoted founder of the 
 Huy Wald Abbey, whose forsaken wife built Kloster 
 Walkenried. 
 
 The Earl rode one Sunday morning to Ellrich, as an 
 invited guest to a grand banquet, where all the guests 
 were to drink for a wager, the reward being a chain 
 of gold. 
 
 They drank for hours, till all were hors de combat 
 save four knights. 
 
 Three of these leaned against the wall, and only 
 the Earl von Klettenberg stood upright ; to him there- 
 fore, the victory was awarded. 
 
 He resolved to show himself to the people as the 
 winner, and commanded his horse to be brought. 
 Four of his attendants lifted the Earl into the saddle, 
 and he rode through the village. 
 
 As he reached the St. Nicholas Church, he heard 
 the chanting of vespers, rode through the open door 
 into the church and spurred on his horse till he had 
 ridden through the congregation, whose vesper-chant 
 changed to terror and dismay. 
 
 But as he reached the steps of the altar, all the four 
 horse-shoes fell off, and the horse and his rider sank to 
 the ground. 
 
 The four huge horse-shoes were nailed to the church 
 17
 
 258 Legends and 7 ales of 
 
 door, where they remained for centuries, and the awful 
 tale was oft related to trembling listeners. 
 
 At last a fire destroyed the church, and the four 
 horse shoes are unhappily lost. 
 
 The Needle's Eye. 
 
 NEAR Kloster Ilfeld, close by the chaussee, stands 
 on a mountain a huge boulder, which has a small 
 hole through the centre. 
 
 All the servants from Nordhausen and the other 
 surrounding places, when they drive into the forest 
 the first time for wood, must creep three times through 
 this hole which is only done with difficulty; and as 
 they creep in, and on the opposite side out, their 
 comrades lash them with their whips. 
 
 If the new-comer will not indulge in this pastime, he 
 must pay money. 
 
 The new pupils in the high school at Ilfeld mfcst 
 also, as a joke, creep through the Needle's Eye. 
 
 This stone a giant is said to have thrown out of his 
 shoe. 
 
 Legend of St. Hubertus. 
 
 ST. HUBERTUS, the Patron Saint of the house of 
 Anhalt, was a passionate lover of the chase. 
 One day, hunting in the old oak wood on the 
 mountain Hubertushb'he, which lies between Gernrode
 
 The Harz Mountains. 259 
 
 and Ballenstedt, when about to shoot a deer, the Saint 
 saw a cross rise from the head of the animal, when he 
 immediately lost his passion for hunting, and accord- 
 ing to the legend, " his only game became eternity and 
 heavenly bliss." 
 
 Hat hi Id e von Ballenstedt. 
 
 IN the Saxon Chronicles we are told that Ludwig, 
 King of the Franks, took Schloss Ballenstedt, 
 and carried away captive the fair daughter of the Earl 
 of Askanien." 
 
 " Dost thou not hear the snorting of steeds \ 
 Franks are marching through the wood 
 From the destroyed castle ; in their midst 
 
 The captive daughter. 
 Yes, like smothered tones of anger, 
 It rustles in the foliage of the oaks. 
 Sadly they shake their tops, 
 As if they knew of the robbery."
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 Is this neat little volume dedicated by special permission to the 
 young Queen Margherita, of Italy MRS. LACDER has collected 
 about seventy of the most interesting stories and legends current in 
 Germany about the doings of dwellers in the great Har/ Mountains 
 in the olden times. The narratives of daring adventure, love, and 
 wondrous doings, are related in appropriately simple terms, and 
 these are sure to rind many charmed readers, especially among young 
 people. Though MRS LATHER has not gone out of her way to adorn 
 the stories which was wise she has supplied explanatory notes, 
 which will be valued by readers unacquainted with Germany and 
 the German language. Liverpool Daily Courier. 
 
 MRS. LATDKK lias made a collection of every species of tale, super- 
 natural or not, long or short, which can in any way IHJ attached to 
 the Harz Mountains. Some are undoubtedly legends, some are 
 mere anecdotes, and not a few are apparently historical tales of the 
 writer's own invention. . . . The child is to be envied who 
 learns to read from such a collection. Thf Saturday Ilerirw. 
 
 This is an excellent book to take up and dip into at moments 
 of ease. Xor will it be enjoyed by boys and girls alone. Thf 
 A cculemy, 
 
 la a collection of quaint traditions connected with the district 
 of the Harz. The stories, of course, vary widely in their character. 
 Some are sweet and pleasant, refreshing to the reader as i- an oasis 
 in the midst of a rugged forest to the weary traveller ; others are 
 wild and stern, like the region that gave them birth. On the whole, 
 the legends are well told, and the book will while away pleasantly 
 an idle hour. ])undcf Advrrtiter, 
 
 These legends are told briefly and simply. Some of them are 
 beautiful enough to warrant a few more pages. (.Jla&yoir J/rraltl.
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 These legends have the usual Teutonic flavour of the grotesque 
 and sentimental, and they appear to be fairly well done into English. 
 The taste for this kind of literature is an acquired one, but it exists, 
 and may be indulged with more safety than some other cravings, of 
 the imagination. Literary World. 
 
 Probably no district is more celebrated for its legendary associa- 
 tions than the Harz Mountains ; it is not, therefore, surprising that 
 MRS. LAUDER is able to fill upwards of 250 pages with her transla- 
 tions. The vast plain north of the Mountains has been the scene 
 of countless knightly feuds and battles, and to this fact may be 
 attributed many of the legends that have been handed down from 
 the early ages. Cook's Excursionist. 
 
 A collection of stories which are not only interesting in them- 
 selves, but valuable as showing the kind of romances that are cur- 
 rent in the region to which the book relates. The stories are all 
 short, and they are all good good, that is to say, in the sense that 
 they all have something to tell, and tell it well. Many of them are 
 of a ghostly character, and are marked by a good deal of simplicity 
 of narrative. Edinburgh Scotsman. 
 
 Containing about seventy narratives of the class known as Sagen, 
 being for the most part traditions which are not wrought out into 
 the dramatic form of fairy tales, but are rather the crude materials 
 of such compositions. The myths of the Kyffhauser of Princess 
 Use, and of the White Lady of Orlamiind, are included in the 
 volume. There is no preface, so that the source whence the stories 
 are derived is not communicated to the reader, an omission which 
 should be made good in any future issue. Church Times. 
 
 Lovers of old German stories will thank " TOOFIE LAUDER" 
 heartily for having collected together so charming a volume of 
 "Legends and Tales of the Harz Mountains." Whether the name 
 " TOOFIE LAUDER" signifies a lady or a gentleman, we have no 
 means of guessing, but we should fancy that the graceful style of 
 the book comes from a woman's pen. Contemporary Literature. 
 
 "Alone" is an exquisite little poem, woven out of the true stuj}, 
 and put into the mouth of the broken-hearted young widow whose 
 husband has fallen in the late war with France. Schellwien, poet and 
 philosopher.
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 I am proud to see our beautiful legends of Germany honoured by 
 so elegant a translation into the English language. 6 'forge Ebera, 
 the celebrated writer of " Egyptian Talett," d-c. 
 
 There is not much soul-selling in this collection of legends ; and 
 the only case in which a diabolical compact occurs is that of an 
 unfortunate man who, unlike Faust with his lease of life and pleasure, 
 disappears immediately after the fulfilment of his first and only 
 wish. Th5 victim is a monk lying under sentence of death. . . 
 . . If, however, there are not many stories of the Faust type in 
 the "Legends and Tales of the Harz Mountains," they abound in 
 mystery of one kind or another ; and most of them contain some- 
 thing about love. But young ladies, are won without the winner 
 having to atone for his success in the world below ; and as a rule 
 the persons who have dealings with the supernatural are the better, 
 not the worse for it. ... The legends are told, for the most 
 part, in a page or two some in even less space ; and the work if 
 written in a simple style which in tales of a mournful character 
 lends itself readily to pathos. St. Janus Qattltt. 
 
 This book contains a collection of delightful old legends and folk- 
 lore stories, connected with the wildest and most romantic moun- 
 tains of Germany. They are full of literary and poetic beauty, ami 
 cannot fail to interest both old and young. Some are of an histori- 
 cal nature, others mythical, and so old that their origin is lost in 
 the mist of ages. They read like poems of the infant world. The 
 Legend of tin- Kosstrappe and Brtlnhilda is of this class. The 
 Legend of the Golden Crown relates to the recovery of Briinhilda's 
 crown. Charlotte of Blankenburg, in its strange and wonderful 
 incidents, surpasses the fictitious plots of the novels of the day. 
 Eva von Trotta is another historical tale, and is deeply interesting. 
 The mythic legends especially will be read with pleasure by every 
 lover of folk-lore. We would like to take them one by one and give 
 our readers an explanatory analysis of them, but s|mce will not per- 
 mit. We cannot, however, refrain from saying a few words con- 
 cerning one of tin- most delightful stories in the book, that of 
 Princess Use. . . . What follows is beautifully told. . . 
 "The moon rose, and the stars appeared one after another in the 
 dark-blue heavens ; fair Use chatted on." . . . In conclusion,
 
 OPINIONS OF THE 
 
 we should say that this volume will be read with pleasure by both 
 old and young, and that it will make an excellent gift book. 
 St. John's Daily Telegraph. 
 
 . Further, the legends have been given with great fidelity 
 and beauty, and I wish the fascinating book a brilliant success, not 
 only because of the great amount of study and labour required in 
 the preparation of such a work, but also for its high merits. 
 Gustav Freytag, the widely-known German author. 
 
 . . According to MRS. LAUDER, another version of the legend 
 makes the Wild Huntsman the god Woden of the Norse mythology. 
 But on the introduction of Christianity he becomes the Foul Fiend, 
 then the godless hunter, and finally the Wandering Jew. Only on 
 Christmas night may he rest in his unending flight, and then only 
 when he can find a plough in the field on which he may sit down. 
 , , , A contribution to Canadian literature we will consider it, 
 though written in Germany, published by a London house, and 
 dedicated to Queen Margherita, of Italy. It will afford charming 
 reading for the holidays. W. If. Withrow, author of " The Cata- 
 combs of Rome." 
 
 It might truly be called an international workj seeing the stujf 
 is German, the writer English, and it is dedicated to an Italian 
 Queen. German Criticisms.
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 EVERGREEN LEAVES; 
 
 TOOFIE IN EUROPE. 
 
 MRS. MARIA ELISK T. T. LAUDKR. 
 
 "A pleasant, chatty description of a lengthened tour through 
 Great Britain and Wales.''
 
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