Legends -- Rhine River; Legends -- Rhine River Valley
On arriving at Kreuzberg, he began his religious exercises by
confessing his sins to one of the monks belonging to the order of St.
Francis. Then according to custom he knelt in succession on one sacred
step after the other till he reached the chapel. His wife had
carefully put a candle in his pocket which he now lighted before the
image of St. Cassius. Having thus fulfilled all the duties prescribed
by the church, he turned homewards, well content with himself.
When he crossed the principal square of the town, where already at the
time the magnificent Minster stood, he entered this church to pray
once more, and to put another coin into the poor-box.
Twilight was creeping through the aisles, and a pilgrimage being not
at all an easy thing, our peasant soon fell asleep over his
prayer-book.
He only awoke, when, somebody pulled him by his sleeve. It was the
sexton with a big bunch of keys.
At first the peasant gazed drowsily at the unwelcome intruder, then
with astonished eyes he looked round about him, until at last it
dawned upon him, that he must get up and leave the church. Rousing
himself he made the sign of the cross, and left the Minster with
tottering steps. The night winds rustled in the old limetrees of the
square and seemed to whisper strange tales into the ears of the late
wanderer.
The peasant crossed the open space sulkily, and steered his way
towards the Sternthor, which led to Dransdorf. An ancient Roman tower,
the remains of the high fortifications erected by the soldiers of
Drusus eighteen hundred years ago, stands in the narrow lane, leading
from the minster-square to the Sternthor. To the tired wanderer this
tower seemed a splendid shelter, all the more so, as it would not cost
him a penny.
He entered it, and tired out with the weary day, he was soon fast
asleep as if he had never been stirred up from the bench in the
Minster. No sexton with noisy keys was to be feared, and yet in his
sleep the countryman had the sensation of somebody tapping him on the
shoulder. He sat up and looked round. To his amazement he beheld a
magnificent warrior standing before him, clad in a coat of mail with a
Roman helmet on his head. Two companions in similar array stood by his
side.
They nodded genially down to him, and it struck him that he had
already seen them somewhere else. After some moments he remembered the
pictures of St. Cassius and his friends in the chapel on Kreuzberg.
There was no doubt the three holy martyrs stood in person before him.
Our good peasant was so much awed at this discovery that he could not
utter a word, but on a sign from his mysterious visitors, he followed
them at a respectful distance.
They marched towards the Sternthor, straight into the building, the
walls of which were as thick as the rooms were long in the peasant's
humble little cottage. In the middle of a high vault there was a table
covered with sparkling gold.
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