The _liebkosung_ of this murder-reeking Adelger, o'ersized with coagulate gore, is admirably horrible. [43] Nimmersatt (All-begehrend) as interpreted by Meinert, not Adelger. [44] Verses which recur, nearly, not only in #Y# 17-19, #W# 27, 28, but elsewhere, as in a copy of 'Graf Friedrich,' Erk's Liederhort, p. 41, No 15, st. 19. [45] There is no sense in _two_ doves. The single dove one may suppose to be the spirit of the last victim. We shall find the _eleven_ appearing as doves in #Q#. There is no occasion to regard the dove here as a Waldminne (Vilmar, Handbüchlein für Freunde des deutschen Volkslieds, p. 57). Cf. the nightingale (and two nightingales) in the Danish 'Redselille og Medelvold:' see 'Leesome Brand,' further on in this volume. [46] This ballad has become, in Tübingen, a children's game, called 'Bertha im Wald.' The three cries are preserved in verse, and very nearly as in #J#, #M#. The game concludes by the robber smothering Bertha. Meier, Deutsche Kinder-Reime, No 439. [47] #K#, or the editor, seeks to avoid the difficulty by taking the last line from the knight, and reading, "Mit Blut war er umronnen," an emendation not according with the simplicity of ballads. Another Swabian copy, Meier, p. 301, note, strophe 6, has: 'Wir müssen zu selbigem Bronnen Wo Wasser und Blut heraus ronnen.' [48] The last verses are these, and not very much worse than the rest: Mein Bruder ist ein Jägersmann, Der alle Thierlein schiessen kann; Er hatt' ein zweischneidiges Schwerte, Und stach es dem Falschen ins Herze. Ihr Mädchen alle insgemein, Lasst euch doch diess zur Warnung sein, Und geht doch mit keinem so falschen In einen so finsteren Walde. My brother is a hunting man, And all the small game shoot he can; He had a sword with edges two, And ran the heart of the false man through Ye maidens now in general, Let this be warning to you all; With man so false you never should Go to _so very_ dark a wood. [49] So in Rochholz, Schweizer Sagen, No 14, I, 23, a man who had killed eleven maids would, if he could have made up the number twelve, have been able to pass through walls and mouseholes. Again, a certain robber in Jutland, who had devoured eight children's hearts, would have acquired the power of flying could he but have secured one more. Grundtvig, D. g. F. IV, 16, note. [50] What will those who are so troubled about cork-heeled shoon in 'Sir Patrick Spens' say to the fire-arms in #L#, #N#, #S#? [51] A variety of #W#, cited in Schlesische Volkslieder, p. 26, has, 'Ach Ulbrich, Ulbrich, Halsemann, Halsemann, Lass du mich nur drei Gale schrei'n!'