Our Little German Cousin

  CHAPTER V.

  THE BEAUTIFUL CASTLE

  "FATHER'S coming, father's coming," cried Bertha, as she ran down thesteps and out into the street.

  Her father had been away for two days, and Hans had gone with him. Theyhad been to Heidelberg. Bertha and Gretchen had never yet visited thatcity, although it was not more than twenty miles away.

  "Oh, dear, I don't know where to begin," Hans told the girls thatevening.

  "Of course, I liked to watch the students better than anything else.The town seems full of them. They all study in the university, ofcourse, but they are on the streets a good deal. They seem to have afine time of it. Every one carries a small cane with a button on theend of it. They wear their little caps down over their foreheads on oneside."

  "What colour do they have for their caps, Hans?" asked Gretchen.

  "All colours, I believe. Some are red, some blue, some yellow, somegreen. Oh, I can't tell you how many different kinds there are. Butthey were bright and pretty, and made the streets look as though itmust be a festival day."

  "I have heard that the students fight a good many duels. Is that so,Hans?"

  "If you should see them, you would certainly think so. Many of thefellows are real handsome, but their faces are scarred more often thannot.

  "'The more scars I can show, the braver people will think I am.' Thatis what the students seem to think. They get up duels with each otheron the smallest excuse. When they fight, they always try to strike theface. Father says their duelling is good practice. It really helps tomake them brave. If I were a student, I should want to fight duels,too."

  Bertha shuddered. Duelling was quite the fashion in Germanuniversities, but the little girl was very tender-hearted. She couldnot bear to think of her brother having his face cut up by the sword ofany one in the world.

  "What do you think, girls?" Hans went on. "Father had to go to thepart of the town nearest the castle. He said he should be busy forseveral hours, and I could do what I liked. So I climbed up the hill tothe castle, and wandered all around it. I saw a number of English andAmerican people there. I suppose they had come to Heidelberg on purposeto see those buildings.

  "'Isn't it beautiful!' I heard them exclaim again and again. And I sawa boy about my own age writing things about it in a note-book. Hetold his mother he was going to say it was the most beautiful ruin inGermany. He was an American boy, but he spoke our language. I supposehe was just learning it, for he made ever so many mistakes. I couldhardly tell what he was trying to say."

  "What did his mother answer?" asked Bertha.

  "She nodded her head, and then pointed out some of the finest carvingsand statues. But she and her son moved away from me before long, andthen I found myself near some children of our country. They musthave been rich, for they were dressed quite grandly. Their governesswas with them. She told them to notice how many different kinds ofbuildings there were, some of them richly carved, and some quite plain.'You will find here palaces, towers, and fortresses, all together,' shesaid. 'For, in the old days, it was not only a grand home, but it wasalso a strong fortress.'"

  COURTYARD OF HEIDELBERG CASTLE.]

  "You know father told us it was not built all at once," said Gretchen."Different parts were added during four hundred years."

  "Yes, and he said it had been stormed by the enemy, and burned andplundered," added Bertha. "It has been in the hands of those horridFrenchmen several different times. Did you see the blown-up tower,Hans?"

  "Of course I did. Half of it, you know, fell into the moat during oneof the sieges, but linden-trees have grown about it, and it makes ashady nook in which to rest one's self."

  "You did not go inside of the castle, did you, Hans?" asked Gretchen.

  "No. It looked so big and gloomy, I stayed outside in the prettygardens. I climbed over some of the moss-grown stairs, though, and Ikept discovering something I hadn't seen before. Here and there wereold fountains and marble statues, all gray with age."

  "They say that under the castle are great, dark dungeons," said Bertha,shivering at the thought.

  "What would a castle be without dungeons?" replied her brother. "Ofcourse there are dungeons. And there are also hidden, undergroundpassages through which the people inside could escape in times of warand siege."

  "Oh, Hans! did you see the Heidelberg Tun?" asked Gretchen.

  Now, the Heidelberg Tun is the largest wine-cask in the whole world.People say that it holds forty-nine thousand gallons. Just think of it!But it has not been filled for more than a hundred years.

  "No, I didn't see it," replied Hans. "It is down in the cellar, and Ididn't want to go there without father. I heard some of the visitorstelling about the marks of the Frenchmen's hatchets on its sides. Oneof the times they captured the castle, they tried to break open thetun. They thought it was full of wine. But they did not succeed inhacking through its tough sides."

  "Good! Good!" cried his sisters. They had little love for France andher people.

  That evening, after Hans had finished telling the girls about hisvisit, their father told them the legend of Count Frederick, a braveand daring man who once lived in Heidelberg Castle.

  Count Frederick was so brave and successful that he was called"Frederick the Victorious."

  Once upon a time he was attacked by the knights and bishops of theRhine, who had banded together against him. When he found what greatnumbers of soldiers were attacking his castle, Count Frederick was notfrightened in the least. He armed his men with sharp daggers, andmarched boldly out against his foes.

  They attacked the horses first of all. The daggers made short work, andthe knights were soon brought to the ground. Their armour was so heavythat it was an easy matter then to make them prisoners and take theminto the castle.

  But Frederick treated them most kindly. He ordered a great banquet tobe prepared, and invited his prisoners to gather around the board,where all sorts of good things were served.

  One thing only was lacking. There was no bread. The guests thought itwas because the servants had forgotten it, and one of them dared toask for a piece. Count Frederick at once turned toward his steward andordered the bread to be brought. Now his master had privately talkedwith the steward and had told him what words to use at this time.

  "I am very sorry," said the steward, "but there is no bread."

  "You must bake some at once," ordered his master.

  "But we have no flour," was the answer.

  "You must grind some, then," was the command.

  "We cannot do so, for we have no grain."

  "Then see that some is threshed immediately."

  "That is impossible, for the harvests have been burned down," repliedthe steward.

  "You can at least sow grain, that we may have new harvests as soon aspossible."

  "We cannot even do that, for our enemies have burned down all thebuildings where the grain was stored for seed-time."

  Frederick now turned to his visitors, and told them they must eat theirmeat without bread. But that was not all. He told them they must givehim enough money to build new houses and barns to take the places ofthose they had destroyed, and also to buy new seed for grain.

  "It is wrong," he said, sternly, "to carry on war against those whoare helpless, and to take away their seeds and tools from the poorpeasants."

  It was a sensible speech. It made the knights ashamed of the way theyhad been carrying on war in the country, and they left the castle wiserand better men.

  All this happened long, long ago, before Germany could be calledone country, for the different parts of the land were ruled over bydifferent people and in different ways.

  This same Count Frederick, their father told them, had great love forthe poor. When he was still quite young, he made a vow. He said, "Iwill never marry a woman of noble family."

  Not long after this, he fell in love with a princess. But he could notask her to marry him on account of the vow he had made.

  He was so unhappy that he went into
the army. He did not wish to live,and hoped he would soon meet death.

  But the fair princess loved Frederick as deeply as he loved her, and assoon as she learned of the vow he had made, she made up her mind whatto do.

  She put on the dress of a poor singing-girl, and left her grand home.She followed Frederick from place to place. They met face to face onebeautiful evening. Then it was that the princess told her lover she hadgiven up her rank and title for his sake.

  How joyful she made him as he listened to her story! You may be surethey were soon married, and the young couple went to live in HeidelbergCastle, where they were as happy and as merry as the day is long.