Hier trieben Lockenbüschel, dorten Das Seidenzeug und blondes Haar. Wär’ sonst keins meiner Worte wahr, 1775 Ihr könntet mir doch glauben, Was ich erzähle von der Hauben. Wie jämmerlich sie ward zerrissen! Wollt ihr von einem Kahlkopf wissen? Kein kahlerer ward je gesehn. 1780 Sein Lockenhaar, so blond und schön, Das lag verachtet und zerstreut Rings auf der Erde weit und breit. Das kümmerte die Bauern nicht, Sie liessen noch den armen Wicht 1785 Die Beichte sprechen; gleich zur Stund Schob einer Helmbrecht in den Mund Ein Bröckchen Erd’[7] zu Schutz und Hut Vor Höllenfeuers heisser Glut. Dann hängten sie ihn an den Baum. 1790 [Notes: 4: Helmbrecht has had his eyes put out by a magistrate. 5: Of the ‘bands’ or ‘rings’ on the cow’s horns. She was seven years old. 6: At the beginning of the poem Helmbrecht’s elaborately embroidered hood is described at length. 7: This is not to be understood as a mockery of religion. A dying person might be shrived by a layman if no priest was at hand, a bit of earth or grass being substituted for the holy host.] +XXX. THOMASIN OF ZIRCLAERE+ A North-Italian cleric--Zirclaere was a village in the old duchy of Friuli--who wrote a rimed treatise on manners, morals, education, etc. He wrote first in _Wälsch_, _i.e._ Italian, or more probably French, and then in German. His German title, _Der wälsche Gast_, was a bid for the hospitable reception of the foreigner’s book in Germany. And it was well received, there being evidence that it was widely read for two centuries. The poem consists of 14,752 verses in ten books and was written in 1215. There is no poetry in it, but it is interesting as a specimen of medieval didacticism. _From the ‘French Guest,’ Book 3: Life’s compensations; riches and poverty._