The third day we reached Traunstein, where, although it was Sunday,
there was a great horse fair. We looked with interest at the gay
Tyroleans, with the cock-feathers in their pointed hats, singing
and yodeling in the streets with their sweethearts on their arms.
Every now and then they let fall some sarcastic comment on our
accoutrements, which were indeed laughable enough to these people,
who had never seen anything beyond their own chalets, and for whom
an excursion from their mountains to a fair in the nearest town is
a journey. It was noon when we stopped at Traunstein, and from
there to Salzburg is but five leagues. Before reaching the
fortress, however, you must pass the great custom-house on the
Bavarian frontier, and fearing we might be delayed there too long
by the stupid Austrian officials, and thus be prevented from
entering the city before the gates were closed, we resolved to wait
till the next morning and spend the night at Adelstaetten, a pretty
village about a league from Salzburg, and the last Bavarian post.
Night was falling as we approached a little wood which hid the
village from us. There we asked a peasant how far we had still to
go, and when he had answered our question he told us, evidently
with kind intention, that we should find good company in the
village, for a few hours earlier three journeymen laborers had
arrived there; and then he added that we should no doubt be glad to
meet comrades and have a gay evening with them. We were not
astonished to be taken for workmen, since every one who travels
here on foot, with a knapsack on his back, is understood to belong
to the laboring class. . .Arrived at the village, we were delighted
to find that the three journeymen were our traveling companions.
They had come, like ourselves, from Traunstein, where we had missed
each other in the crowd, and they were going likewise to sleep at
Adelstaetten, to avoid the custom-house. Finally, on Monday, at ten
o'clock, we crossed the long bridge over the Saala, between the
white coats with yellow trimmings on guard there. On the Bavarian
frontier we had hardly remembered that there was a custom-house,
and the name of student sufficed to pass us without our showing any
passports; here, on the contrary, it was another reason for the
strictest examination. "Have you no forbidden books?" was the first
question. By good fortune, before crossing the bridge, I had
advised Trettenbach to hide his song-book in the lining of his
boot. I am assured that had it been taken upon him he would not
have been allowed to pass. In ransacking Braun's bag, one of the
officials found a shell such as are gathered by the basketful on
the shores of the Lake of Neuchatel. His first impulse was to go to
the office and inquire whether we should not pay duty on this,
saying that it was no doubt for the fabrication of false pearls,
and we probably had plenty more. We had all the difficulty in the
world to make him understand that not fifty steps from the
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account