Produced by Thierry Alberto, Henry Craig, Leonard Johnson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GERMAN BY THOMAS CARLYLE. UNIFORM WITH HIS COLLECTED WORKS. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. MUSAEUS, TIECK, RICHTER. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL (LIMITED), 11 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. TALES BY MUSAEUS, TIECK, RICHTER. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY THOMAS CARLYLE. [1827.] LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL (LIMITED), 11 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. CONTENTS MUSAEUS: PAGE DUMB LOVE 3 LIBUSSA 58 MELECHSALA 98 TIECK: THE FAIR-HAIRED ECKBERT 159 THE TRUSTY ECKART 175 THE RUNENBERG 200 THE ELVES 220 THE GOBLET 238 RICHTER: SCHMELZLE'S JOURNEY TO FLAETZ 257 LIFE OF QUINTUS FIXLEIN 305 MUSAEUS. DUMB LOVE.[1] There was once a wealthy merchant, Melchior of Bremen by name, who used to stroke his beard with a contemptuous grin, when he heard the Rich Man in the Gospel preached of, whom, in comparison, he reckoned little better than a petty shopkeeper. Melchior had money in such plenty, that he floored his dining-room all over with a coat of solid dollars. In those frugal times, as in our own, a certain luxury prevailed among the rich; only then it had a more substantial shape than now. But though this pomp of Melchior's was sharply censured by his fellow-citizens and consorts, it was, in truth, directed more to trading speculation than to mere vain-glory. The cunning Bremer easily observed, that those who grudged and blamed this seeming vanity, would but diffuse the reputation of his wealth, and so increase his credit. He gained his purpose to the full; the sleeping capital of old dollars, so judiciously set up to public inspection in the parlour, brought interest a hundredfold, by the silent surety which it offered for his bargains in every market; yet, at last, it became a rock on which the welfare of his family made shipwreck. [1] Prefatory Introduction to Musaeus, _supra_, at p. 316, Vol. VI. of _Works_ (Vol. I. of _Miscellanies_).