St. Norbert College Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College Teaching Supplement to Phantastes: The Annotated German Romantic and Other Influences Edition 1813 Phantastes Chapter 6: Der Zauberring (The Magical Ring) Friedrich Heinrich Karl Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/phantastes_influences Part of the Art Practice Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, European History Commons, Illustration Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, and the Nonfiction Commons Recommended Citation Karl, Friedrich Heinrich, "Phantastes Chapter 6: Der Zauberring (The aM gical Ring)" (1813). German Romantic and Other Influences. 7. https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/phantastes_influences/7 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Teaching Supplement to Phantastes: The Annotated Edition at Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. It has been accepted for inclusion in German Romantic and Other Influences by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PT BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg H), Sage 1891 /A.l^g^P/ SL^i^iJ^OS 3081 Interlibrary'Loloj Cornell University Library PT 2389.Z2 1876 Magic ring. 3 1924 026 193 981 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tile Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026193981 SIR OTTO AND THE PAGANS, p. 163 : THE MAGIC RING ^ ^tttijhtls %ommu Fs^ei^•^v^U DE LA MOTTE FOUQUfe ILLUSTRATED ^tfttbcm anil llcto Hork GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 1876 ^-H^^r^-*?^ CHABLES DICKEa-S ASD EVANS, CRTSTAI. PALACE PEESS. mj ti %\)t ©entre 9teat>er. ^HE writer of the following story applies himself in glad trembling to his task. There are people that laugh at a man who, in any of his doings, can fervently call God to his aid : nevertheless, the Author is not loth to con- fess that he has done so just this moment from the hottom of his heart. Ere this, it hath heen of service to him in similar undertak- ings, and he confidently hopes it may avail him now. For, like unto a teeming sea, wilh groups of wonder on its shores, with the hues of the rainbow upon its waters, with an ever- changeful current, and the richly-peopled clouds of heaven sweeping above it, doth this tale float in vision before me. "Well wot I the far track I have to steer; but of the single adven- tures to be encountered, I dream rather than I know. Haste thee, then, on board to me, gentle reader : and launch forth, of good cheer, with me on the waves. Or, maybe thou ill brookest the name of the good God whom I have called upon, or thou mightest well be content, I ween, witb ! 11 TO THE GENTLE EEABER. that which I shall give thee, with all that hath suggested or still may suggest itself. Know only, that what pleases thee best is not my own ; but that it is a certain swf et gift from above, which only becomes mine when I myself am better than lies usually within the compass of my degenerate natiU'e. Albeit, in tht following leaves, I give thee the very best that I can achieve ; and in so saying, I tender thee the pure truth, for which my word c3 honour stands pledged. To rasad, then, and to grove, to fight and to festival, to day of woe or of wedding, as they hereafter sb«ll unfold themselves, I welcome thee from the bottow of ray soul CHAPTER r. !\ j;f the favoured land of the Suabians, hard by the banks of the Danube, lies a beau- tiful mead; and there, one month of May, just as the last rays of the sun were taking leave of the flowers, strolled a young scion of knighthood, named Otto von Trautwangen. From the castle of his father. Sir Hugh von Trautwangen, that stood not far off, on a lofty hill, he used often to repair to this pleasant scene ; now amusing himself with the baited hook in the stream, and now shooting his cross- bow-bolts at mock dragons, witches, and co- bolds, which he fashioned for himself in many an uncouth form, painting them in gaudy co- lours, and then setting them up on the green plain, where he was sure of not injuring any one unawares. But to-day, bow and bolt lay by him on the grass, while he let his hook wanton gently over the smooth mirror of the waters, less, it would seem, for the sake of fishing, than in the listless play of thought, ihere was not perhaps even a worm upon it. Then Bertha von Liohtenried came that way ; she was his father's niece, and had been brought up with him from his earliest childhood in the castle. She sat down beside him on the sward, : ! 4 MAGTC RTNO. and asked him, half teasingly, yet in a tone of kind interest, wnat he might then bo sweetly be dreaming of. He scarcely knew himself, and still less could he say, since her pretty little face had been smiling on him from the water. It looked all too beautiful from out the flood ; and haply she thought the same of him, for she still kept smiling on his counterpart ; and thus did the two beauteous children hold parley, as it were, in the mirror with each other. When Otto had bethought him- self for a time, he remembered that a pilgrim in a red-cross mantle, passing on the other side of the river, had first made him so thoughtful. He told the maiden of this, and how very solemn it had seemed to him, that the palmer should ever keep his eye steadfastly before him, looking neither to the right nor to the left, as if hurried on by some irrepressible longing ; so that one could not even guess whether it was age or meekness, or fervent eagerness to reach his goal, that thus bowed down his head. Then he began saying, how fine and glorious a thing it was to travel far over land and stream and sea ; how end- lessly dear above every thing this must be to one ; and how, in such wanderings, travel itself was not so much a burden as that dreary resting all alone. "But you are not thinking of wandering thus?" said the maiden, with a trusting smile. " Heaven forbid !" answered the youth. " These low Innds here are all my goal, or rather my magic ring ; but only take care that j/om never leave them, my wondrously fair little cousin.' Bertha blushed so brightly, that it looked as if a tiny star had kindled in the wster, while she said to her young kinsman : " Since you are so very sure, then, we may venture a joke about parting. Let us sing that little farewell ditty that old Master Walther rhymed. We feel moie at ease, you know, and all the happier after it, for not really needing to leave each other." And Otto began to sing as follows : " Sweet home of our childhoo<!!, Dear place to us, I greet thee, but greet thee Bitterly thus. Bitterly thus, for oh ! adieu I How mournfully it linelleth ! And that thou art no more in \ipvr My tearful eyelid telleth." Bertha answered " Thou naughty distance, So smooth and so fair. How gladly I'd track thee How little I dare! ; : ; MAGIC RING. 5 For ah! the word's adieu ! adieu! Maiden must wait so lonely, And with her weeping eye bestrew The garden flow'rets only." Ti^j ceased their song ; for so large a train of pilgrims passed by on the other side of the stream, and in snch motley guise too, that the young people turned their whole attention that way. In the centre of the throng were beautiful women, conspicuous on costly-arrayed mules ; while a guard of warriors, with huge halberts, walked close at their side. Then, again, some there were who, in spite of the gray garb and the cockle- hat, might at once be said to come from court, their noble grace and seemly air matching so oddly with that of the burly pea- santry that pressed around or jostled through them. Yet honest burghers too might be seen in their numbers, of staid and goodly bearing, and limners and miustrels, as shown by the furniture of their craft, with which, far beyond the seas, on the very spot of His Passion, they hoped to serve God and their Saviour. At last, too, came knights on beauteous chargers, in full suits of burnished mail, the red cross on whose shoulders was their only token of pilgrimage. And just as the train arrived opposite the youth and the maiden, the ladies began singing the following strain : "The East! the East! oh! eastward hie, Leave care beneath the sable western sky The East is all of spangles set There, sweetly telleth many a flower Of hallowed crypt and relique bower; There, singeth Cedron's rivulet, And in its father's arms the flock doth lie; There, holy zeal and prowess meet. And die we ? oh ! such death is sweet. !' Then eastward, sisters, brothers, eastward hie They sang so sweetly and joyously, that the sun seemed as if he would rise again through his bright night-veil of crimson, and, wooed by the sound of their enthusiast lay, turn evening into morning for their sakes. And now, when the fairy tones had died slowly and solemnly on the ear, the knights threw in their merry war-strain.