Tales from the German. Volume II.

It was on a fine morning in February of the year 1534, that the journeyman armorer, Alf Kippenbrock, proceeded from Coesfeld toward the free imperial city of Munster. Already ha...

On christmas-eve, in the year 1628, Katharine, the wife of the merchant Fessel, of Schweidnitz, was standing in her large back parlor, with her infant upon her arm, arranging wi...

At Schweidnitz, on new year's eve, the Fessel family were gathered around the well lighted and richly covered table; but no one had an inclination to eat; for Dorn, the idol of...

The inconstant Ryno had one day been belated while engaged in the chase, which had become his favorite occupation since the destruction of his matrimonial peace. He had pursued...

Having soon become satisfied that no opposition was, in this case, to be thought of, Dorn obeyed. As he and his guards were passing through the streets, he saw many things which...

'Well, really, master Dorn, you begin the portentous new year upon which we are entering in a very worldly manner,' cried a reproving voice behind them. Faith shrieked with terr...

In the forenoon of the 20th January, 1629, a joyful bustle prevailed in Fessel's house. The floors and steps were carefully swept, strewed with a beautiful yellow sand, and ador...

Wrapped in his cloak, Oswald was yet sweetly and soundly sleeping upon the floor, before the only bed in the house, in which his fair companion was slumbering. A knock was heard...

It was the evening of the third christmas holiday. The snow-flakes were merrily whirling about out of doors; and in a well warmed room at Sagan sat the merchant's widow, Prudent...

The generalissimo of the converters, count Karl Hannibal von Dohna, with the governor, baron von Bibran, the Jesuit, Lamormaine, and some field officers, were sitting at a table...

Glowing with anger and sorrow, Graf von Waldeck, bishop of Munster, strode up and down in his gilded tent. At the door, with a pale malefactor face, stood poor Hanslein, in chai...

In the course of the next week Alf had sufficiently softened Eliza's anger: she had with a heavy heart learned to share her beloved husband's name with her unloved sister, and A...

Some days passed away; daring which Alf, without troubling himself much about the disturbances of the city, labored unweariedly in the workshop of the deceased Trutlinger, which...

While from the cathedral yard the trumpet blasts sounded through the streets as if they were blowing for the last judgment, Hanslein rushed into Alf's shop in complete armor. 'H...

In a low chamber in the little village of Friedland, eight days later, lay the aged Mrs. Rosen on the sick bed upon which the effects of her long confinement in the cellar, the...

On the following night Alf, installed in his new office and fully equipped, sat in an arm chair before the door of the royal sleeping apartments. He was even lightly slumbering,...

At the new gate, where the river Aa empties itself into the Ems, Alf had his watch as the chosen captain of the armorers. It was already deep night--he lay upon his field bed, a...

Some days later, Katharine was sitting with her children at the close of day and exerting herself to read by the fading twilight a letter of consolation which her imprisoned hus...

The disease which Hanslein had invented, in his well intended eagerness to save Alf, had seized him in good earnest. The disquiet of mind in which the youth had been kept throug...

'The morning is fine,' said Faith to Oswald after breakfast, as their venerable host seated himself with his bible upon his knee; 'and the valley here is so narrow and close tha...

At the head of the table, which had been beautifully adorned for the betrothal-feast, the red-bearded captain had seated himself in terrible majesty. Desiring, for the present,...

The next morning, when Alf's guard was relieved, he marched his men by the market place. Horrible was the sight which there awaited him. The square before St. Lambert's church w...

Idallan was restlessly tossing upon his solitary bed on the first anniversary of his marriage night, whilst the repudiated and suffering Daura rested in a distant chamber, steep...

About mid-day some time afterwards, Alf came from his workshop to the parlor. The dinner already smoked upon the table; but his two elected brides were standing at the window ea...

Alf was sitting in the twilight near the good Clara, narrating to her at full length the singular proceedings at the cathedral, at which he had been present, when his friend Han...

The day appointed for madam Fessel's interment was drawing to a close. A crowd of people had assembled in the parish church-yard, with weeping eyes and pallid faces, awaiting in...

This last specimen of fanatical rage had made such a decided impression upon the good Alf, that he no longer felt any special desire for that baptism which was to complete his s...

A countless multitude exultingly met the returning victors. The prophet Johannes Bockhold at their head, in white festival garments, with green branches of fir in their hands, t...

When she awoke she was sitting in a chair with her slumbering babe in her arms, and before her stood, with weeping eyes, an old Franciscan monk belonging to the city convent, up...

The next morning Alf stepped into the apartment of his kinsman, Gerhard Kippenbrock, to salute him. The good old man, a worthy butcher by calling, had by the overthrow of all es...

Some time afterwards, Alf was sitting arm in arm with his Eliza in the family sitting-room, while Clara was spinning near the window, and moistening the thread with her bitter t...

A fine June morning was shining upon the camp, as Alf and Clara stood waiting with their escort before the tent of the commander in chief. There came out of the tent a tall, mea...

The next morning the bishop entered the tranquilized city at the head of fifteen hundred horsemen. All the houses had been strictly searched; during which operation many a mad f...

Early in the morning Clara was awakened by a disturbance in the street and came from her chamber, when she saw the couple still there. She hastily disappeared with an exclamatio...

At Dulmen, in the hall of state, sat the prince-bishop upon his gilded throne. On each side of him were placed his counsellors and field officers. At a table covered with rich r...

Daylight had long since disappeared when Oswald and Faith alighted from their wagon at a solitary inn beyond the Bohemian boundary. 'Here you are for the present in safety,' sai...

Meanwhile Alf went on, truly and honorably discharging the duties of his office, although, after the first arrangement had been effected he had given up the personal guard of th...

Panting and foaming, the four black steeds drew up before the little inn at Aldersbach, which was now gaily decorated with evergreens. The happy old colonel stood in the door, r...

At Clara's request the previously arranged marriage was postponed. Alf's baptism, also, for which his desire daily decreased, had not yet taken place. The pretext for the delay...

Under a natural arch of primeval granite, in the most secluded recess of a wild and savage mountain, was situated the deeply indented cave of the sorceress, Hiorba. The cavern w...

The four hastened forth together. A sharp wind whistled over the market, while a raven, scared by the wanderers, arose with loud croakings from its snowy bed and with its heavy...

The next morning Alf returned from a visit to the royal orator Rothman, with whom, to make an end at once of all apprehensions, he had arranged that his baptism and his marriage...

Yielding to the voice of clemency, the worthy Oberstein sent messengers into the city to admonish them to surrender and save the lives of the starving people; but the answer whi...

The first rays of the morning sun were brilliantly reflected by the polished arms of Ryno and Idallan, as they rode gaily forth in search of adventures. It was not their first s...

Munster continued to sustain herself with a resolution worthy of a better cause. At the imperial diet at Worms, which the Romish king Ferdinand opened in April, 1536, great sums...

A year had passed from the stream of time into the ocean of eternity since the marriage of the two sisters, when Hiorba arose out of the rocks in the oak forest between the two...

Three months later, Frau Rosen was sitting in the little cottage of the weaver's widow in Friedland, with an expression of soil serenity upon her still pale countenance. On eith...

When the happy Clara opened her blue eyes on the first morning after her marriage, she saw that her young husband was already awake and sitting upright in bed as if in deep and...

'The duodecemvir, Dilbek, would speak with you,' announced an apprentice to the industrious Alf an hour afterwards. Surprised at the visit of a person whose name and office were...

Having obtained an honorable discharge from the army of the Diet, Alf settled himself with his young wife under the shadow of Fabricius's wing at Cassel, as a respectable armore...

'You cannot be a man!' cried the miserable mother. 'You must be satan disguised in the human form.' Convulsive spasms seized her. Her eyes closed, her lips became blue, and her...

The nine times nine moments had expired; the subterranean flames were extinguished, and the bright sun shone upon a magnificent palace encompassed by high walls, while its rays...

The gray-haired Hiorba was standing with her blooming daughters upon the ruins of an ancient castle. 'You will not listen to my warnings,' she sadly and affectionately remarked....

A crystal lamp, suspended from the arched ceiling of a lofty chamber, shed a soft moonlight over the silken tapestry of the bridal bed where Ryno was slumbering upon the bosom o...

On the subsequent morning Alf was standing in the king's anti-chamber awaiting his commands for the day. There came the high bailiff Krechting, a raging fanatic, a true second J...

The two knights rushed towards the veil, and both caught hold of it at the same moment. 'It belonged to the damsel saved by me, and is therefore mine!' exclaimed Idallan.

An alarm, as if the world were sinking, was now raised in Munster. The bells rung, the drums beat, and the armed masses ran together, filling the air with their wild shouts. Alf...

The next morning Katharine was sitting in her closet, with her infant at her breast. Over its rosy cheeks rolled the mother's tears in quick succession. Her other children were...

Softly creeping by the sleeping sentinels, climbing walls and wading through ditches, the three fugitives proceeded in the dead of the night, until they finally found themselves...

The multitude crowded the market-place, waiting to see what new thing was to be done there. Then sounded in the distance a solemn funeral march from the trumpets and horns, and...

The first glance of Oswald's opening eyes, when consciousness returned, was directed in search of poor Faith. She lay near him in a deep swoon. Flying to her aid, he applied sno...

Overcome by sorrow for his father's anger, and racked with anxiety for the fate of his beloved Faith, whom he could protect no longer, Oswald sat in the criminal's apartment of...

Transporting herself to the splendid seven-towered palace of the other sister, the sorceress entered Daura's chamber and awoke her from her sweet dreams of happiness with a kiss...

Ryno and Idallan still continued their insane struggle. Their helmets and scarfs were hacked to pieces, and hung in fragments about their shoulders. The green sward was already...

Mild toleration has spread its dove-like wings over the states of Austria for many long years since the period above referred to,--the colony of Huss's Rest is no longer to be f...