The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, volume 2 (of 2): By His Wife, Isabel BurtonBurton, Isabel, Lady
History
The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, volume 2 (of 2): By His Wife, Isabel Burton
Burton, Isabel, Lady
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Scholars -- Great Britain -- Biography
"'_On the evening of the 20th,_ the servant-wenches being still
affrighted, the steward (Schreiber), one Antoni Glanitschinigg, and
the man Hansche, before mentioned, with six other persons, were in
the chamber. When all lay down to rest, the steward locked the door
and put out the lamp. The ghost at once came and violently dragged a
chair backwards. Whereupon quoth Antoni: "I confess that I am a great
sinner; nevertheless, I dare address thee, and ask thee, in God's
name, what more dost thou want?"
"'To this question no answer was vouchsafed by the ghost, although
the steward repeated it a second time and a third time. He then rose
up and advanced towards the apparition, which was seen standing near
the window, thinking to discover whether it was a true ghost, or some
person playing a trick. It vanished, however, before he could lay hand
upon it. The steward went out with one of the servant-wenches to fetch
a light; and, whilst so doing, he heard the ghost speaking in the room
he had left. When the lamp came nothing was found. Then all those
present knelt down and prayed. After their devotions the light was
extinguished, and the ghost reappeared, crying out, with weeping and
wailing, "Ankha! Ankha! Ankha! help me." The wench asked, "How can I
help thee, O good spirit?" Whereupon the ghost rejoined, "With thirty
Masses, which must be said at the altar of St. Anthony, in the church
of Jagnenz," which church is in the parish of Schäffenberg.'
"Jagnenz is a church in the valley of the Sapotka, a small stream
which falls into the Save river, about half a mile west of
Weixelstein. Schäffenberg is the hereditary castle of the well-known
county of that name. Wrunikh is another little church, remarkably
pretty, near Weixelstein. Apparently the ghost served to 'run' Jagnenz
against all its rivals.
"'Hearing these words from the ghost, the steward again inquired, "O
thou good spirit, would it not be better to get the Masses said sooner
by dividing them, part at Jagnenz, the other at the altar of Saint
Anthony in Wrunikh?" Whereto the ghost made an answer, "No! Ankha!
Ankha! only at Jagnenz, and not at Wrunikh!" The steward continued,
"As this ghost refuseth to answer me, do thou, Ankha, ask it what and
why it suffers, etc." Then Ankha addressed it: "My good spirit! tell
me wherefore dost thou suffer?" It replied, "For that I unrighteously
used sixty gulden (florins); so I, a poor widow body, must endure this
penalty." Ankha further said, "Who shall pay for these thirty Masses?"
The ghost rejoined, "The noble master" (of the castle), and continued,
"Ankha! Ankha! I am so weary, and dead-beat, and martyred, that I can
hardly speak."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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