Andreas Hofer: An Historical NovelMühlbach, L. (Luise)
History
Andreas Hofer: An Historical Novel
Mühlbach, L. (Luise)
Hofer, Andreas, 1767-1810 -- Fiction; Tyrol (Austria) -- History -- Uprising of 1809 -- Fiction
New cheers rent the air at this moment. A squad of peasants brought
the great imperial eagle, which they had taken down from the tomb of
Maximilian in the High Church of Innspruck. They had decorated it
with red ribbons, and carried it amid deafening acclamations through
the streets. On beholding the eagle of Austria, the excited masses
set no bounds to their rejoicings; they flocked in crowds to gaze at
it; citizens and peasants vied in manifesting their devotion to the
precious emblem; they blessed it and kissed it. No one was permitted
to stay a long while near it, for the impatience of his successor
compelled him to pass on. But an aged man, with silvery hair, but
with a form still vigorous and unbent, would not allow himself to be
pushed on in this manner. An hour ago he had fought like a lion in
the ranks of the Tyrolese, and anger and rage had flashed from his
face; but now, at the sight of the Austrian eagle, he was as mild
and gentle as a lamb, and only love and blissful emotion beamed from
his face. He encircled the eagle with both his arms, kissed the two
heads and gilded crowns, and, stroking the carved plumes tenderly,
exclaimed: "Well, old eagle, have your plumes really grown again?
Have you returned to the loyal Tyrol to stay here for all time to
come? Will--"
Loud cheers interrupted him at this moment. Another crowd of
Tyrolese came up the street, preceded by four peasants, who were
carrying two portraits in fine golden frames.
Deafening acclamations rent the air as soon as the people beheld
these two portraits. Everybody recognized them as those of the
Emperor Francis and the Archduke John. The peasants had found them
in the old imperial palace.
"John!" shouted the people in the streets, and in the houses which
the procession passed on its march through the city. Even the
Austrian eagle, which had been greeted so tenderly, was forgotten at
the sight of the two portraits, and all accompanied this solemn
procession of love and loyalty.
This procession moved through the whole city until it finally
reached the triumphal arch which Maria Theresa had ordered to be
erected in honor of the wedding of her son Leopold. The Tyrolese
placed the portraits of Leopold's two sons on this triumphal arch,
and surrounded them by candles kept constantly burning; every one
then bent his knee, and exclaimed: "Long live the Emperor Francis!
Long live our dear Archduke John!" Woe unto him who should have
dared to pass these portraits without taking off his hat! the
Tyrolese would have compelled him to do it, and to bend his knee.
"Well," they exclaimed, "there is our Francis, and there is our
John. Look, does it not seem as though he were smiling at us, and
were glad of being here again and able to gaze at us? Long live our
dear Archduke John!"
And they again burst into cheers which, if the Archduke John had
been able to hear them, would have filled his heart with delight and
his eyes with tears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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