🧚 A Historical Tale., part 5

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.1

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.2

At the end of the first year they returned; they were become somewhat whiter.3

At the next visit, at the end of the second year, they were grown still whiter.4 They exhorted the brothers earnestly to perseverance and again left them.5

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?"6

But the younger reminded them of their promise.7 At last the second brother became undecided and restless, and finally the two resolved to remain no longer.8

They threatened to murder the youngest if he would not accompany them, and to save his life he yielded to their entreaties.9

At the proposal of the eldest, they took as much of the gold as they could carry with them.10

They reached Zellerfield with their wealth, agreed to keep all a secret, and began to live in luxury, each taking to himself a wife.11

The two elder brothers soon squandered all, but the youngest avoided their extravagance.12

The two elder, having lost all, determined to return to the treasure in the mountains, and compelled the youngest to go with them.13

They entered the familiar chamber with the table and chairs, but all was changed.14

Every object was draped in black, and on the table stood three mourning lamps.15

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.16

The youngest looked on in terror; but the ladies exclaimed, "Thou art a true friend, and innocent.17 Take what thou wilt and go home.18 But we must remain here until we find three rescuers."19

The Raven of Clausthal.20

A gentleman in Clausthal had a raven and a maid-servant.21

The raven carried off all the silver spoons, and suspicion fell on the poor girl.22 She was tried, and under torture confessed she had stolen them.23

She was executed, but before her death declared her innocence.24

Soon after new eave-troughs were put on the gentleman's house, and the spoons were all found where the raven had hidden them.25

The Bergmönch[1] and Wilder Mann.26 [2]27

[1] _Bergmönch_--mountain monk.28

[2] _Wilder Mann_--wild man.29

There are numerous traditions of the Bergmönch in the mining districts.30

He is always seen in the dress of a master-miner, with a silver mine-lamp in his hand.31

It is said he was a master-miner, and begged to be permitted to inspect the mines until the Judgment Day.32 The Monk's valley--Mönchsthal--near Clausthal, was his favourite retreat.33

In St. Andreasberg the tradition is, he was a monk who sought to open the mines there, but failed.34

According to this tradition, he completed nearly the entire canal at the base of the Rehberg,[3] 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.35

[3] _Rehberg_--stag mountain.36

Many wild tales are told of his bringing aid to the miners, and to the poor and distressed, and of his severity toward the wrong-doer.37

In the mining town Wildemann there is a tradition of a wild man who gave the place its name.38

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.39

The knight Claus, founder of Clausthal, once saw 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.40

The Nimrod of the Rehbergerklippe.41 [1]42

[1] _Rehbergerklippe_--cliff of the stag mountain.43

A legend of this gloomy wild mountain, at the base of which one drives from Clausthal to St. Andreasburg, lingers still with a poetic charm on and around its rocky walls, and is in harmony with its decorations.44

In the grey primeval days dwelt in this savage wilderness a mighty hunter, hard and rough as the rocks on which his house stood.45

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.46

Not even the peace of the Sabbath could check the delight of the huntsman in the chase, or restrain him from his continued persecution of the animals of the woods.47

A pious hermit admonished him frequently, and entreated 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 the hermit returned to his hermitage accompanied by the scornful derision of the ungodly hunter.48

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, only 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.49

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.50

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.51

The ground thundered beneath the horse-hoofs, and the mountains rang with the wild "hallohs!" of the riders, the cracking of whips, and the clashing of weapons.52

The hunted stag groaned, and escaped his pursuers with his last strength.53

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.54

And louder and nearer thundered the wild call of the hunters, the hunting horns came fearfully near, and as the hounds would seize their prey, the stag, in deathly terror, made the leap into the frightful deeps.55

And there arose a singular light, a dazzling splendour shone around the hunted animal, and unseen hands bore it softly below into the secure valley.56

But the hunters, with horse and hound, were driven by magical power to follow the stag.57

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.58

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.59

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.60

The Tanzteich[1] bei Zorge.61

[1] _Tanzteich_--dance pond.62

On the spot now covered by the Tanzteich once stood a stately Schloss with lofty walls and battlements.63

A rich knight, whose name has been drowned in the stream of time, dwelt in it in luxury and splendour.64