Legends -- France; Legends -- Germany; Legends -- Rhine River Valley
In trembling tones the nurse related what she had seen to Franz and
Amina. The Baron was scornful, and ridiculed the whole affair as a
dream. But the cunning Amina, though she did not believe that a ghost
had visited the child, thought that perhaps her rival was not really
dead, and her old hatred and jealousy were reawakened. So she told her
husband that she intended to see for herself whether there was any truth
in the fantastic story, and would sleep that night in the nurse's bed.
She did not mention her suspicions, nor the fact that she carried a
sharp dagger. She was roused in the night, as the old woman had been, by
the sound of a cradle being rocked. Stealthily drawing the curtains, she
saw the white-robed form of the dead, the black mould clinging to her
hair, the hue of death in her face. With a wild cry Amina flung herself
upon Kunigunda, only to find that she was stabbing at a thing of air, an
impalpable apparition which vanished at a touch. Overcome with rage and
fear, she sank to the ground. The wraith moved to the door, turning
with a warning gesture ere she vanished from sight, and Amina lost
consciousness.
In the morning the Baron sought his wife in vain. He found instead a
missive telling of her ghastly experience, intimating her intention of
retiring to a nunnery, and closing with an earnest appeal to her husband
to repent of his crimes.
The Baron, moved with remorse and terror, followed Amina's example; he
sought in the mountain solitudes a hermitage where he might end his days
in peace, and having found such a cell, he confided his little son to
the care of the pastor of Wedenschied, and retired from the world in
which he had played so sorry a part.
The Blind Archer
Another legend connected with the ruined stronghold of Fuerstenberg is
the following. Long ago, in the days when bitter feuds and rivalries
existed between the owners of neighbouring fortresses, there dwelt in
Fuerstenberg a good old knight, Sir Oswald by name, well versed in the
arts of war, and particularly proficient in archery. He had one son,
Edwin, a handsome young man who bade fair to equal his father in skill
and renown.
Sir Oswald had a sworn foe in a neighbouring baron, Wilm von Sooneck,
a rich, unscrupulous nobleman who sought by every possible means to
get the knight into his power. At length his cunning schemes met with
success; an ambush was laid for the unsuspecting Oswald as he rode past
Sooneck Castle, attended only by a groom, and both he and his servant
were flung into a tower, there to await the pleasure of their captor.
And what that nobleman's pleasure was soon became evident. Ere many days
had elapsed Oswald was informed that his eyes were to be put out, and
soon the cruel decree was carried into execution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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