"By my sword," said the governor, as he was returning home, "I will
investigate the causes of this mystery. I must know from whose mouth
proceeded the gentle breath, that smelt fragrant as the plants of
the east, and yet had force enough to extinguish the flame of the
consecrated taper, and even to confuse my head, as though I had been
drunk."
He instantly sent for Henry of Uxkull, bishop of Revel, and the Abbot,
of Pardis. Being arrived, they were entertained at a large oak table,
and quaffed wine from the family goblet. They listened to the fearful
story of their host, with their fat hands folded upon their huge
bellies, and shook their heads with significant silence.
Having well weighed the matter, knitted their brows and assumed an air
of importance, they finally agreed _that they knew not what to think of
it_. Each then waddled to his home and thought no more of the mysterious
cavern.
But it was not so with the General. He could not rest. His fancy was on
the rack, to account for the mystery. On the next morning, he despatched
letters to the Archbishop of Riga, to a learned canon, and two pious
deans of the holy church of Riga--stating "that a surprising incident
had obliged him to have recourse to their piety and wisdom, and
entreating that they would be at Revel on St. Egidius's day, to discuss
in Christian humility this weighty affair."
They came on the appointed day: for they were aware that the cellar
of the Governor contained excellent wine, and that his was no niggard
hospitality. The archbishop of Revel, and the Abbot of Pardis, were
likewise invited to assist, who failed not at the proper hour to present
themselves at the castle. An elegant repast had been prepared for them,
bumpers went cheerily round to the prosperity of Holy Church, and to the
perpetual bloom of the German order of religion. When their spiritual
stomachs were sufficiently gorged, the General thus addressed them:
"Reverend and pious fathers! thus and thus it happened to me and my
friend here, Gothard of Plettenberg," recounting his story--"What is
to be done to liberate the spirits who wander and breathe in the
subterraneous passage?"
"They must be driven out by force," replied the archbishop of Riga, "and
the power to do this was given to bishops from above."
"A wisp of hay should be steeped in holy water," added the canon, "with
which the steps of the dark passage should be sprinkled."
One of the deans advised that "the little chest with the Egyptian
hieroglyphics, which was kept as a relic in the convent of St. Bridget,
should be taken to the cavern.".
The other dean was of opinion that the spirits should be allowed to
continue without molestation so long as they only wandered and breathed.
The archbishop of Revel was also of the same sentiment, but the Abbot of
Pardis applauded this idea of the Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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