"I want to build a monastery, like Findelkind of Arlberg, and to
help the poor," said our Findelkind, valorously, though his heart
was beating like that of a little mouse caught in a trap; for the
horses were trampling up the dust around him, and the orderly's
grip was hard.
The officers laughed aloud; and indeed he looked a poor little
scrap of a figure, very ill able to help even himself.
"Why do you laugh?" cried Findelkind, losing his terror in his
indignation, and inspired with the courage which a great
earnestness always gives. "You should not laugh. If you were true
knights, you would not laugh; you would fight for me. I am little,
I know,--I am very little,--but he was no bigger than I; and see
what great things he did. But the soldiers were good in those
days; they did not laugh and use bad words--"
And Findelkind, on whose shoulder the orderly's hold was still
fast, faced the horses, which looked to him as huge as Martinswand,
and the swords, which he little doubted were to be sheathed in his
heart.
The officers stared, laughed again, then whispered together, and
Findelkind heard them say the word "crazed." Findelkind, whose
quick little ears were both strained like a mountain leveret's,
understood that the great men were saying among themselves that it
was not safe for him to be about alone, and that it would be
kinder to him to catch and cage him--the general view with which
the world regards enthusiasts.
He heard, he understood; he knew that they did not mean to help
him, these men with the steel weapons and the huge steeds, but
that they meant to shut him up in a prison; he, little free-born,
forest-fed Findelkind. He wrenched himself out of the soldier's
grip, as the rabbit wrenches itself out of the jaws of the trap
even at the cost of leaving a limb behind, shot between the
horses' legs, doubled like a hunted thing, and spied a refuge.
Opposite the avenue of gigantic poplars and pleasant stretches of
grass shaded by other bigger trees, there stands a very famous
church, famous alike in the annals of history and of art,--the
church of the Franciscans, that holds the tomb of Kaiser Max,
though, alas! it holds not his ashes, as his dying desire was that
it should. The church stands here, a noble, sombre place, with the
Silver Chapel of Philippina Wessler adjoining it, and in front the
fresh cool avenues that lead to the river and the broad water-
meadows and the grand Hall road bordered with the painted stations
of the Cross.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account