Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3): Tales by Musæus, Tieck, RichterCarlyle, Thomas
General
Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3): Tales by Musæus, Tieck, Richter
Carlyle, Thomas
German fiction -- Translations into English
The happy couple lived in the enjoyment of unchangeable love; according
to the fashion of those times, when the instinct which united hearts was
as firm and durable, as the mortar and cement with which they built
their indestructible strongholds. Duke Primislaus soon became one of the
most accomplished and valiant knights of his time, and the Bohemian
Court the most splendid in Germany. By degrees, many knights and nobles,
and multitudes of people from all quarters of the empire, drew to it; so
that Vizegrad became too narrow for its inhabitants; and, in
consequence, Libussa called her officers before her, and commanded them
to found a city, on the spot where they should find a man at noontide
making the wisest use of his teeth. They set forth, and at the time
appointed found a man engaged in sawing a block of wood. They judged
that this industrious character was turning his saw-teeth, at noontide,
to a far better use than the parasite does his jaw-teeth by the table of
the great; and doubted not but they had found the spot, intended by the
Princess for the site of their town. They marked out a space upon the
green with the ploughshare, for the circuit of the city walls. On asking
the workman what he meant to make of his sawed timber, he replied,
"Prah," which in the Bohemian language signifies a door-threshold. So
Libussa called her new city Praha, that is Prague, the well-known
capital upon the Moldau. In process of time, Primislaus's predictions
were punctually fulfilled. His spouse became the mother of three
Princes; two died in youth, but the third grew to manhood, and from him
went forth a glorious royal line, which flourished for long centuries on
the Bohemian throne.
MELECHSALA.
Father Gregory, the ninth of the name who sat upon St. Peter's chair,
had once, in a sleepless night, an inspiration from the spirit, not of
prophecy, but of political chicane, to clip the wings of the German
Eagle, lest it rose above the head of his own haughty Rome. No sooner
had the first sunbeam enlightened the venerable Vatican, than his
Holiness summoned his attendant chamberlain, and ordered him to call a
meeting of the Sacred College; where Father Gregory, in his pontifical
apparel, celebrated high mass, and after its conclusion moved a new
Crusade; to which all his cardinals, readily surmising the wise objects
of this armament for God's glory and the common weal of Christendom,
gave prompt and cordial assent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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