---
title: Legends and Tales., part 7 — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · full text with trees
description: Legends and Tales., part 7, «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: It conducts us first past a number of ponds, which formerly supplied the self-denying monks with carp for their fasts, and now
---

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# Legends and Tales., part 7

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Legends and Tales., part 7 of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder: the whole text, 152 sentences and 2556 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself.

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**1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/8/page/2/)

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It conducts us first past a number of ponds, which formerly supplied the self-denying monks with carp for their fasts, and now swarm with speckled trout.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics")

Low willows adorn the banks, and bathe their locks in the waves, out of which a thick wood of slender reeds springs forth.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics")

Now the vale narrows, magnificent walls of rock rise, and picturesque waterfalls toss themselves down the stream.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics")

Suddenly the forest grows thin; the vale divides itself in two arms, and in the dale to the right, we see, close by the red-roofed forage-house for game, grey rocks and ruins.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics")

We ascend this dale, and stand by the ruins of the old church Michaelstein, the mother of the later Kloster.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics")

Beneath the ruins extends a wide cave, which gave rise to the building of the church.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics")

This cave served centuries ago as the dwelling-place of a hermit named Volkmar, and still bears his name.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") Others of like mind joined themselves to Volkmar, and thus arose the brotherhood, and the forest church.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics")

One can now scarcely trace the site of the walls; fruit-trees run wild, and lilacs mark the spot where once the Kloster garden lay, and besides, no trace of a human habitation where once good and holy men dwelt in the mountain solitude.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics")

This spot--this hermitage--was once a renowned shrine, and thousands flocked here to seek consolation, for in the cave was a grave where were said to rest the bones of the Virgin Mary.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics")

Let us enter the cave, which has two openings, one to the south-east, the other to the south-west; it is of considerable height and breadth, resembling a subterranean chapel, formed of cross-arches, and provided with niches.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") Near the west entrance is the far-famed tomb of Mary.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics")

The small forest church could boast the protection of the great of the earth.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") Papal bulls gave indulgences for forty days to all who prayed at, and brought gifts to, the shrine.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics")

The Empress Matilda, the wife of Henry the Fowler, endowed it with lands, and Kaiser Otto loaded it with favours, so that an enlargement became necessary, and hence an hour's distance down the valley the larger and more magnificent Kloster was built.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics")

From the charter granted by Kaiser Otto, we learn that this cave was not first occupied by Volkmar; but that a hermitess, Liutburga, dwelt in it long before.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") Romance has brought them together.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics")

Volkmar was a stately knight, and Liutburga the fairest of the maidens of the Harz, and they loved each other.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") In her heart lived only his image, and their souls were knit together.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics")

But the Kaiser challenged his knights to combat against the Wenden, who still clung to heathenism, and refused to recognize Christianity, or the authority of the Kaiser.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics")

Every true knight marched to the conflict, and Volkmar girded on his sword, and the scarf that Liutburga had woven for him, and bade farewell to his beloved.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics")

She stood on the battlements of her castle, and saw him ride away, and when she could see him no longer her sighs and tears burst forth.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics")

Before the image of the Virgin she knelt daily, and prayed for his return; but her petitions seemed unheeded, for troops of combatants returned from battle, but nowhere could she see the plumed helmet of Volkmar, and all were silent and sad at her questioning.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics")

An inexpressible sorrow seized her, she clad herself in mourning garments, grew paler than the flower that droops before the mighty frost, and refused to be comforted.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") She could no longer dwell among men, who understood not her grief, and sought the solitude of the forest.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics")

One day in her solitary ramble she discovered this rocky cave, and here she resolved to retire, and spend the remainder of her days in contemplation and devotion.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics")

But her sorrow gnawed at her heart, and she sank to the earth like a drooping flower.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") The death-angel came, and kissed away her tears.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics")

But Volkmar was not fallen in battle, but had been only severely wounded and taken prisoner by the Wenden, and led away into their deep forests, and it was long before they gave him back his freedom.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics")

He fled on the wings of love to the castle of Liutburga, and hearing of her retirement he penetrated the mountains to seek out the spot.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") At last he discovered the cave, and his heart was ready to burst with bliss.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics")

He called loudly her name, but no voice answered, only the echo of the mountains.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") He climbed the mountain, and reached the entrance to the cave.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") There lay Liutburga in the moss. "[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") She sleeps!" he thought.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics")

Yes, she slept.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") The cheeks were ashy pale, the eye broken, cold and still the lips; she awoke no more at his call.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics")

The birds of the wood had sung her death-song, and the trees had showered their leaves and blossoms over the still form.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics")

Volkmar returned no more to the world, which had nothing to offer his broken heart.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics")

Where Liutburga had dwelt in her grief was now his home; the crucifix before which she had knelt was his sanctuary, and henceforth he turned all his thoughts to God, and to the consolation of the sorrowing.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics")

That is the Liutburga of romance.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") The Liutburga of history\[1\] is indeed a highly interesting and noble personality, if less poetic.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics")

\[1\] See \_History of Blankenburg\_.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics")

Countess Gisela, of the Harzgau, whose seat was Blankenburg Schloss, after the death of her husband, Earl Unwan, built Kloster Wenthusen, and other convents and churches.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics")

Once on a journey she was overtaken by the darkness, and took refuge in a Kloster.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics")

Among the nuns who welcomed her, one, Liutburga, won her affections, and on leaving, Gisela took her home with her.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics")

After Gisela's death, Liutburga, with the consent of Bishop Thiatgrin, of Halberstadt, retired to this cave somewhere between 827 and 840, in which Bernhard, son of Gisela, built her a cell and a chapel.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics")

She was renowned for sanctity and good works, and endowed with a superior mind.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics")

A priest of the cathedral of Halberstadt wrote her biography more than a thousand years ago.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics")

We return to the later Kloster Michaelstein, which is not so rich in poetic legends.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics")

Not even a ghostly monk haunts the ruins, nor wanders by moonlight in the venerable cloisters.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") But on the mountains that surround the dale the two monks, Hans and Henning, still hold guard.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics")

Once the Abbot, fearing the attack of an enemy, sent the unfortunate brothers out to watch, with the command not to return till the enemy approached.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics")

No enemy came, and the Abbot forgot to recall the monks.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics")

They watched conscientiously till they became stone pillars, and stand still there.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") The face of one, Hans, is of admirable beauty.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics")

There is a legend that once, when the enemy stormed the gates, St. Michael suddenly appeared over the entrance in a flame, with countenance of wrath and drawn sword, at sight of whom every man fled.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics")

Reinhilde of the Königsburg.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics")

The Königsburg stood on the right bank of the Bode, on a mountain not far from Bodfeld.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") Originally it belonged to the Saxon Kaisers.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") The Sausenburg was on the left bank of the Bode, about an hour's walk from Elbingerode.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Of the latter nothing is now left save the hewings in the stone masses which formed its foundations.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") From the battlements of its tower the hunting castles Bodfeld and Königsburg could be seen.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics")

In this romantic neighbourhood, in the thick fir forest, stand the crumbling tower and scraps of broken walls of the Königsburg, overshadowed by the green veil of the wood, moss, ivy, and wild-flowers, and the mystic fascination of a time more than a thousand years ago.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics")

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