--- title: Legends and Tales., part 11 — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · full text with trees · page 2 description: Legends and Tales., part 11, «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The Virgin Mary, for it was she herself, broke off clusters of the roses and formed a drinking-cup, and as the teamster would --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/12/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/) / Legends and Tales., part 11 # Legends and Tales., part 11 · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/12/) **2** I felt sure they would come to blows right over my head.[55](../../55/ "tree and pragmatics") Happily a melodious voice struck in, and interrupted the quarrel.[56](../../56/ "tree and pragmatics") "I am Don Carlos, the unhappy son of Philip of Spain, and the victim of priestly bigotry.[57](../../57/ "tree and pragmatics") The Inquisitors gained my royal father's permission to make away with me, a son who loved him truly.[58](../../58/ "tree and pragmatics") "I escaped, and History does not tell what became of me, simply because she does not know.[59](../../59/ "tree and pragmatics") I fled here to Princess Ilse for refuge, but I approached her at an unfavourable moment, and she transformed me into this spruce.[60](../../60/ "tree and pragmatics") If I could only be set free I would carry out my ideas of freedom."[61](../../61/ "tree and pragmatics") "You are too late, my young friend," cried Castiglione. "[62](../../62/ "tree and pragmatics") Your ideas have been carried out.[63](../../63/ "tree and pragmatics") You don't seem to have kept up with the history of events.[64](../../64/ "tree and pragmatics") Bismarck has set the Germans free, and cleansed the moral atmosphere of the whole empire, sent the Jesuits adrift, and put a bayonet into the hands of every eighty men in a hundred to keep them out."[65](../../65/ "tree and pragmatics") Here a deep sigh was heard.[66](../../66/ "tree and pragmatics") "Oh, I am tired with standing so long\![67](../../67/ "tree and pragmatics") Walking isn't half so fatiguing.[68](../../68/ "tree and pragmatics") Oh, how my back aches!"[69](../../69/ "tree and pragmatics") "Who are you?" cried Castiglione.[70](../../70/ "tree and pragmatics") "I am the Wandering Jew.[71](../../71/ "tree and pragmatics") They keep up the story of my wanderings, but I have stood here in this tree for ages, shivering or roasting."[72](../../72/ "tree and pragmatics") I felt quite bewildered, and almost afraid in the midst of this odd \_Gesellschaft\_, and shuddered as I thought more dreadful additions would speedily be made to it.[73](../../73/ "tree and pragmatics") Suddenly a radiant form stood before me.[74](../../74/ "tree and pragmatics") Such beauty no mortal eye ever beheld outside of a dream.[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") It was the Princess Ilse.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") Her long golden curls fell nearly to her feet, over a silvery-like robe almost transparent.[77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") Her eyes were deep violet with an expression none could describe.[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") Above her milk-white regal brow glittered a diadem of brilliants and sapphires.[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") Bracelets and rings of diamonds and pearls adorned her fair arms.[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") 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."[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") 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.[82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") This was an immense chamber, lighted by a chandelier of brilliants hung in the centre, and single lamp-shaped rubies and carbuncles hung along the sides and in the corners.[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") The floor was of white and red roses, which were not crushed by the tread, but remained ever in rich fulness.[84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") 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-tree, all bearing ripe fruits.[85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") At the left, flowers of every clime.[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") Fountains played, white-robed maidens moved among the fruit and flowers, or reclined on banks of violets and roses.[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") Soft music floated around us.[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") Between each arch was a seat.[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") Every seat was a bank of flowers, each different from the other.[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") Above each seat was a statue of a fairy of the Harz, alternately in mountain crystal and snowy alabaster.[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") At the upper end, under a majestic arch, stood Princess Ilse's throne.[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") The throne was one ruby, the canopy a single pearl, the steps leading up to the throne were emeralds.[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") Near the throne, in front of an arch, stood a table of silver, and two chairs of mountain crystal beside it.[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") The service was of gold, filled with the viands of the fairy world, and the choicest fruits and flowers.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") A group of fair maidens sat in a rose arbour playing harp, lute, and harpsichord, while others stood by the table in attendance.[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") A pearl plate was handed us, and Princess Ilse herself poured the crimson wine into gilded crystal goblets 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\![97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") I awoke, and there stood Josephine, poking a fern in my face.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") "Oh, Josie!"[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") I exclaimed, "you can never know of how much you have robbed me with that stupid fern!"[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") The Red-haired Trude[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") 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.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") 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 Ilse.[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") Nobody knew who the father was, but it was supposed--as people do in many cases--that he was some fallen and deposed Prince.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") During the absence of the Prince and Princess Ilse 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 entertained.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") Ralf "fell in love" with Trude, and a blissful summer was spent gathering wild fruits and flowers and hunting birds' nests among the mountains.[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") The nuptials were near, and the widow was busy with the bride's trousseau, when unexpectedly with Autumn arrived the foreign Prince and fair Ilse from their mysterious journey.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") Ritter Ralf, it must be confessed, was very naughty.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") With an eagle-eye he perceived the radiant charms of Princess Ilse, and poor Trude was forsaken.[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") 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."[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") The widow swore revenge, and consoled the weeping Trude, begging her only to wait till Walpurgisnacht\[1\] and her perfidious lover should be punished.[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") \[1\] Night before the first of May, when all evil spirits and witches, according to the legend, meet on the Brocken.[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") See Goethe's "Faust."[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") She made a league with the evil spirits of the mountains and the air, and devoted herself to the unholy arts of a witch.[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") Walpurgisnacht arrived, the widow stood on the 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.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") From the Brocken broke a terrible tempest.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") Awful thunders rolled, lightnings in fiery serpents cut their way through the heavens and mountains, and a tremendous flood swept down from the Brocken, destroying all in its course.[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") The coalers clung to the rocky walls, but Princess Ilse 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.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") 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.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/12/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/12/) - next →: [Legends and Tales., part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/13/) - ↑ back to [Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/)