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Read Ebook: Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands; The Rhine to the Arctic; A Summer Trip of the Zigzag Club Through Holland Germany Denmark Norway and Sweden by Butterworth Hezekiah
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Ebook has 1456 lines and 63009 words, and 30 pages
"The poor thing must be sick," he said; "I will make haste to kill her."
To his great astonishment, the goose made answer:--
"Stop my breath, And I will cause your early death."
Then he knew that the goose was some enchanted being, and he resolved to spare her life.
"You have not always had feathers on you, as now?" said the dwarf.
"No; I am Mimi, daughter of Waterbrook the Great."
"Prithee be calm; I will be your friend; I know how to pity you. I was once a squirrel myself."
Now the duke made a great feast, and invited the prince. The prince was highly pleased with the ducal dishes, and praised the cook.
"But there is one dish that you have not provided," said the prince.
"What is that?" asked the duke.
The duke ordered the dwarf to make the rare dish for the next banquet.
The dwarf obeyed.
When the prince had tasted, he pushed it aside, and said,--
"There is one thing lacking,--one peculiar herb. It is not like that which is provided for my own table."
The duke, in a towering passion, sent for the dwarf.
"If you do not prepare this dish rightly for the next banquet," he said, "you shall lose your head."
Now the dwarf was in great distress, and he went to consult with the goose.
"I know what is wanting," said the goose; "it is an herb called Sneeze with Delight. I will help you find it."
The dwarf took the goose under his arm, and asked of the guard, who had been placed over him until he should prepare the dish, permission to go into the garden.
They were allowed to go. They searched in vain for a long time; but at last the goose spied the magic leaf across the lake, and swam across, and returned with it in her bill.
"'Tis the magic herb the old woman used in the soup," said the dwarf. "Thank the Fates! we may now be delivered from our enchantment."
He took a long, deep sniff of the herb. He then sneezed with delight, and lo! he began to grow, and his nose began to shrink, and he was transformed to the handsomest young man in all the land.
He took the goose under his arm, and walked out of the palace yard. He carried her to a great magician, who delivered her from her enchantment, and she sneezed three sneezes, and became the handsomest lady in all the kingdom.
Now, Mimi's father was very rich, and he loaded Jamie with presents, which were worth a great fortune.
Then handsome Jamie married the lovely Mimi; and he brought his old father and mother to live with them in a palace, and they were all exceedingly happy.
"What is the moral of such a tale as that?" asked one of the Club.
"If you have any crookedness, to find the magic herb," said Charlie.
Charlie Leland, the President, closed the exercises with some translations of his own, which he called "Stories in Verse." We give two of them here; each relates an incident of Eberhard, the good count, whom German poets have often remembered in song.
THE RICHEST PRINCE.
In a stately hall in the city of Worms, A festive table was laid; The lamps a softened radiance shed, And sweet the music played.
Then the Saxon prince, and Bavaria's lord, And the Palsgrave of the Rhine, And W?rtemberg's monarch, Eberhard, Came into that hall to dine.
Said the Saxon prince, with pride elate, "My lords, I have wealth untold: There are gems in my mountain gorges great; In my valleys are mines of gold."
"Thou hast boasted well," said Bavaria's lord, "But mine is a nobler land: I have famous cities, and castled towns, And convents old and grand."
"And better still is my own fair land," Said the Palsgrave of the Rhine: "There are sunny vineyards upon the hills; In the valleys are presses of wine."
Then bearded Eberhard gently said, "My lords, I have neither gold, Nor famous cities, nor castled towns, Nor convents grand and old.
"I have no vineyards upon the hills, In the valleys no presses of wine; But God has given a treasure to me As noble as any of thine.
"I wind my horn on the rocky steep, In the heart of the greenwood free, And I safely lay me down and sleep On any subject's knee."
Oh, then the princes were touched at heart, And they said, in that stately hall, "Thou art richer than we, Count Eberhard; Thy treasure is greater than all."
EQUALITY.
The banners waved, the bugles rung, The fight was hot and hard; Beneath the walls of Doffingen, Fast fell the ranks of Suabian men Led on by Eberhard.
Count Ulric was a valiant youth, The son of Eberhard; The banners waved, the bugles rung, His spearmen on the foe he flung, And pressed them sore and hard.
"Ulric is slain!" the nobles cried,-- The bugles ceased to blow; But soon the monarch's order ran: "My son is as another man, Press boldly on the foe!"
And fiercer now the fight began, And harder fell each blow; But still the monarch's order ran: "My son is as another man, Press, press upon the foe!"
Oh, many fell at Doffingen Before the day was done; But victory blessed the Suabian men, And happy bugles played again, At setting of the sun.
THE SECOND MEETING OF THE CLUB.
CONSTANCE.--THE STORY OF HUSS.--BISMARCK AND THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT.--THE STORY OF THE HEART OF STONE.--POEM.--SEVEN NIGHTS ON THE RHINE: NIGHT FIRST.
The second meeting of the Club was opened by Mr. Beal with an account of Constance, and of the great Council that convened there in 1414.
"Lake Constance! How our heads bent and our feelings kindled and glowed when we beheld it! It is the most beautiful lake that Germany possesses. It is walled by snow-capped mountains, whose tops seem like islands in the blue lakes of the skies. Quaint towns are nestled among the groves of the shore; towers, with bells ringing soft and melodious in the still air. The water is like emerald. Afar, zigzagging sails flap mechanically in the almost pulseless air.
"There is color everywhere, of all hues: high, rich tones of color; low tones. Piles of gems on the mountains, gloomy shadows in the groves; a deep cerulean sky above, that the sunlight fills like a golden sea. At sunset the lake seems indeed like the vision that John saw,--'a sea of glass, mingled with fire.'
"The town of Constance, once a great city, is as old as the period of Constantine. When Charlemagne went to Rome to receive the imperial crown, he rested here. Here a long line of German kings left the associations of great festivities; here those kings passed their Christmases and Easters. Here convened brilliant regal assemblies. Here the ambassadors from Milan appeared before Barbarossa, and delivered to him the golden key of the Italian states.
"The Council was called to choose a pope, and to reform the Church. The town for four years became the centre of European history. Hither came kings and princes; the court of the world was here.
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