🧚 Legends and Tales., part 13

"Yes, your Worship!" cried the chamberlain.1

"Of course!" said the syndic.2

"Certainly!" echoed the town clerk.3

"Certainly!" agreed every member of the council unanimously.4

"If we take into consideration," continued the Bürgermeister, "how much damage the said Arno of Arnstein has caused, death by the sword is too mild.5 Shall he not die on the wheel, or be quartered?"6

"Of course!" said the chamberlain, with a knowing nod.7

"Certainly!" agreed the syndic.8

"How wise!" cried one part of the councillors; "How just!" another.9

"I am of opinion," resumed the Bürgermeister, "that the execution should take place immediately, before the said Arno does any more mischief."10

"Of course! of course!" cried the assembly.11

"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.12 Can any one offer advice as to what is to be done?"13

Silence!14 All were dumb.15 At last one cried, "We must take him prisoner!"16

"Quite right," voted the councillors; "he must be taken prisoner."17

"That is also my opinion," said the Bürgermeister. "18 Nevertheless it--is--no--easy matter--to accomplish.19 We could march out at once with all the armed men we possess, and storm----"20

"Yes, yes," cried the syndic, "we will storm the nest!"21

"We will storm it!" exclaimed the town clerk, with a look intended to be brave.22

"How wise! how heroic!" was the praise on every lip, while the Bürgermeister continued his interrupted address: "But we have already experienced the fact that the Arnstein is not easy to seize.23 _By force nothing can be done.24

"No, by force nothing can be done!" echoed the assembly as one man.25

"We might attempt to take him by strategy," continued 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 waylay him."26

"Certainly! certainly!" agreed every mouth.27

"Hence I give it as my opinion," concluded the Bürgermeister, "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.28 Do you not think so, gentlemen?"29

"Certainly, your Worship, certainly!30 How wise! how mild! how forbearing!" shouted the assembly.31

The Bürgermeister rose with official dignity, dismissed 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.32

"What is decided?" he cried hastily, and seized the syndic by the arm.33

"What's that to you?" growled that dignitary, who felt himself insulted by such familiarity. "34 How do you dare to force yourself unbidden into the council chamber?"35

"I beg your pardon, gentlemen," stammered the bridegroom, surprised. "36 I come to give you a capital piece of advice--the idea just occurred to me."37

Every face grew long from assumed dignity.38

"What! you will give advice?39 You--to us?"40

But as the young man entreated them to hear him, the Bürgermeister permitted him to speak, provided he would be short.41

The bridegroom unfolded his plan, which, though unwillingly, was approved of.42

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.43

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.44

But, to his astonishment, the maiden, instead of resisting, held him fast, and the others drew forth daggers and attacked and killed his retainers.45 Resistance was useless; he could not free himself from the powerful arms of the disguised soldier.46 They dragged him to Aschersleben, and shut him up in a cage, where he starved to death.47

The bridegroom put on Arno's armour, and the troop, concealed in loaded wagons, were conducted to the Arnstein by the disguised bridegroom.48 The warder saw the train approaching, and at once opened the gates to admit it.49

Too late, when all were within the walls, he discovered his error.50 Soon they had possession of the stronghold, and the bride was restored to the bridegroom.51

The cage they still show in Aschersleben, and the meadow is still called the Dance meadow.52

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.53 His ghost still haunts the ruins.54

His second wife, a cruel step-mother, who oppressed her beautiful step-daughter, keeps him company.55 She is the spinner of the Arnstein, doomed to spin on till her web breaks, when her spirit will be set free.56

Whether the ghostly monk bore relation to this cruel pair we are not told.57 He visits the ruins, probably 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.58

The Pebble.59

An old, poor, but honest man left his cottage to gather sticks and healing herbs in the wood for sale in the neighbouring town.60

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?"61

And the apothecary declared, "It is June, and the blossoms have already absorbed all the strength of the plants.62 You must bring them henceforth in May."63

No one had an ear for the entreaties of the distressed man, and he set off for home hopeless and discouraged.64 He saw no way of deliverance out of his deplorable condition, no relief for his suffering wife. "65 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.66 Oh!67 I could watch the time, for sorrow keeps me awake every night.68 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.69 And with men, oh! with men there is no pity!"70

It seemed to him by these reflections as if a long, giant, shadowy form brushed past him in the twilight, whispering in his ear, "Do not despair."71

He looked up, but saw nothing but the shadow of the oak under which he sat, heard nothing save the sighing of the evening wind in its branches.72

With a tear in his eye, he took the bundle of wood on his back and went on.73 A moment after he saw a shining object on his path. "74 Ei! what a beautiful pebble!" he thought. "75 I will take it home for the children to play with."76