which brides wear, when they look for the arrival of the bridegroom. At
her speech there was much wondering; and the prophetic spirit breathing
from it worked upon the general mind like a divine oracle, which the
populace blindly believe, and which thinkers alone attempt
investigating. The messengers of honour were selected, the white horse
stood in readiness, caparisoned with Asiatic pomp, as if it had been
saddled for carrying the Grand Signior to mosque. The cavalcade set
forth, attended by the concourse, and the loud huzzaing of the people;
and the white horse paced on before. But the train soon vanished from
the eyes of the spectators: and nothing could be seen but a little cloud
of dust whirling up afar off: for the spirited courser, getting to its
mettle when it reached the open air, began a furious gallop, like a
British racer, so that the squadron of deputies could hardly keep in
sight of it. Though the quick steed seemed abandoned to its own
guidance, an unseen power directed its steps, pulled its bridle, and
spurred its flanks. Fraeulein Libussa, by the magic virtues inherited
from her Elfine mother, had contrived so to instruct the courser, that
it turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from its path, but
with winged steps hastened on to its destination: and she herself, now
that all combined to the fulfilment of her wishes, awaited its returning
rider with tender longing.
The messengers had in the mean time been soundly galloped; already they
had travelled many leagues, up hill and down dale; had swum across the
Elbe and the Moldau; and as their gastric juices made them think of
dinner, they recalled to mind the strange table, at which, according to
the Fraeulein's oracle, their new Prince was to be feeding. Their glosses
and remarks on it were many. A forward knight observed to his
companions: "In my poor view of it, our gracious lady has it in her eye
to bilk us, and make April messengers of us; for who ever heard of any
man in Bohemia that ate his victuals off an iron table? What use is it?
our sharp galloping will bring us nothing but mockery and scorn."
Another, of a more penetrating turn, imagined that the iron table might
be allegorical; that they should perhaps fall in with some
knight-errant, who, after the manner of the wandering brotherhood, had
sat down beneath a tree, and spread out his frugal dinner on his shield.
A third said, jesting: "I fear our way will lead us down to the workshop
of the Cyclops; and we shall find the lame Vulcan, or one of his
journeymen, dining from his stithy, and must bring _him_ to our Venus."
Amid such conversation, they observed their guiding quadruped, which had
got a long start of them, turn across a new-ploughed field, and, to
their wonder, halt beside the ploughman. They dashed rapidly forward,
and found a peasant sitting on an upturned plough, and eating his black
bread from the iron ploughshare, which he was using as a table, under
the shadow of a fresh pear-tree. He seemed to like the stately horse; he
patted it, offered it a bit of bread, and it eat from his hand. The
Embassy, of course, was much surprised at this phenomenon; nevertheless,
no member of it doubted but that they had found their man. They
approached him reverently, and the eldest among them opened his lips,
and said: "The Duchess of Bohemia has sent us hither, and bids us
signify to thee the will and purpose of the gods, that thou change thy
plough with the throne of this kingdom, and thy goad with its sceptre.
She selects thee for her husband, to rule with her over the Bohemians."
The young peasant thought they meant to banter him; a thing little to
his taste, especially as he supposed that they had guessed his
love-secret, and were now come to mock his weakness. Therefore he
answered somewhat stoutly, to meet mockery with mockery: "But is your
dukedom worth this plough? If the prince cannot eat with better relish,
drink more joyously, or sleep more soundly than the peasant, then in
sooth it is not worth while to change this kindly furrow-field with the
Bohemian kingdom, or this smooth ox-goad with its sceptre. For, tell me,
Are not three grains of salt as good for seasoning my morsel as three
bushels?"
Then one of the Twelve answered: "The purblind mole digs underground for
worms to feed upon; for he has no eyes which can endure the daylight,
and no feet which are formed for running like the nimble roe; the scaly
crab creeps to and fro in the mud of lakes and marshes, delights to
dwell under tree-roots and shrubs by the banks of rivers, for he wants
the fins for swimming; and the barn-door cock, cooped up within his
hen-fence, risks no flight over the low wall, for he is too timorous to
trust in his wings, like the high-soaring bird of prey. Have eyes for
seeing, feet for going, fins for swimming, and pinions for flight been
allotted thee, thou wilt not grub like a mole underground; nor hide
thyself like a dull shell-fish among mud; nor, like the king of the
poultry, be content with crowing from the barn-door: but come forward
into day; run, swim, or fly into the clouds, as Nature may have
furnished thee with gifts. For it suffices not the active man to
continue what he is; but he strives to become what he may be. Therefore,
do thou try being what the gods have called thee to; then wilt thou
judge rightly whether the Bohemian kingdom is worth an acre of corn-land
in barter, yea or not."
This earnest oration of the Deputy, in whose face no jesting feature was
to be discerned; and still more the insignia of royalty, the purple
robe, the sceptre and the golden sword, which the ambassadors brought
forward as a reference and certificate of their mission's authenticity,
at last overcame the mistrust of the doubting ploughman. All at once,
light rose on his soul; a rapturous thought awoke in him, that Libussa
had discovered the feelings of his heart; had, by her skill in seeing
what was secret, recognised his faithfulness and constancy: and was
about to recompense him, so as he had never ventured even in dreams to
hope. The gift of prophecy predicted to him by her oracle, then came
into his mind; and he thought that now or never it must be fulfilled.
Instantly he grasped his hazel staff; stuck it deep into the ploughed
land; heaped loose mould about it, as you plant a tree; and, lo,
immediately the staff got buds, and shot forth sprouts and boughs with
leaves and flowers. Two of the green twigs withered, and their dry
leaves became the sport of the wind; but the third grew up the more
luxuriantly, and its fruits ripened. Then came the spirit of prophecy
upon the rapt ploughman; he opened his mouth, and said: "Ye messengers
of the Princess Libussa and of the Bohemian people, hear the words of
Primislaus the son of Mnatha, the stout-hearted Knight, for whom, blown
upon by the spirit of prophecy, the mists of the Future part asunder.
The man who guided the ploughshare, ye have called to seize the handles
of your princedom, before his day's work was ended. O that the glebe had
been broken by the furrow, to the boundary--stone; so had Bohemia
remained an independent kingdom to the utmost ages! But since ye have
disturbed the labour of the plougher too early, the limits of your
country will become the heritage of your neighbour, and your distant
posterity will be joined to him in unchangeable union. The three twigs
of the budding Staff are three sons which your Princess shall bear me:
two of them, as unripe shoots, shall speedily wither away; but the third
shall inherit the throne, and by him shall the fruit of late
grandchildren be matured, till the Eagle soar over your mountains and
nestle in the land; yet soon fly thence, and return as to his own
possession. And then, when the Son of the Gods arises,[15] who is his
plougher's friend, and smites the slave-fetters from his limbs, then
mark it, Posterity, for thou shalt bless thy destiny! For when he has
trodden under his feet the Dragon of Superstition, he will stretch out
his arm against the waxing moon, to pluck it from the firmament, that he
may himself illuminate the world as a benignant star."
[15] Emperor Joseph II.
The venerable deputation stood in silent wonder, gazing at the prophetic
man, like dumb idols: it was as if a god were speaking by his lips. He
himself turned away from them to the two white steers, the associates of
his toilsome labour; he unyoked and let them go in freedom from their
farm-service; at which they began frisking joyfully upon the grassy lea,
but at the same time visibly decreased in bulk; like thin vapour melted
into air, and vanished out of sight. Then Primislaus doffed his peasant
wooden shoes, and proceeded to the brook to clean himself. The precious
robes were laid upon him; he begirt himself with the sword, and had the
golden spurs put on him like a knight; then stoutly sprang upon the
white horse, which bore him peaceably along. Being now about to quit his
still asylum, he commanded the ambassadors to bring his wooden shoes
after him, and keep them carefully, as a token that the humblest among
the people had once been exalted to the highest dignity in Bohemia; and
as a memorial for his posterity to bear their elevation meekly, and,
mindful of their origin, to respect and defend the peasantry, from which
themselves had sprung. Hence came the ancient practice of exhibiting a
pair of wooden shoes before the Kings of Bohemia on their coronation; a
custom held in observance till the male line of Primislaus became
extinct.
The planted hazel rod bore fruit and grew; striking roots out on every
side, and sending forth new shoots, till at last the whole field was
changed into a hazel copse; a circumstance of great advantage to the
neighbouring township, which included it within their bounds; for, in
memory of this miraculous plantation, they obtained a grant from the
Bohemian Kings, exempting them from ever paying any public contribution
in the land, except a pint of hazel nuts; which royal privilege their
late descendants, as the story runs, are enjoying at this day.[16]
[16] AEneas Sylvius affirms that he saw, with his own eyes, a
renewal of this charter from Charles IV. _Vidi inter privilegia
regni literas Caroli Quarti, Romanorum Imperatoris, divi Sigumundi
patris in quibus (villae illius incolae) libertate donantur; nec plus
tributi pendere jubentur, quam nucum illius arboris exiguam
mensuram._
Though the white courser, which was now proudly carrying the bridegroom
to his mistress, seemed to outrun the winds, Primislaus did not fail now
and then to let him feel the golden spurs, to push him on still faster.
The quick gallop seemed to him a tortoise-pace, so keen was his desire
to have the fair Libussa, whose form, after seven years, was still so
new and lovely in his soul, once more before his eyes; and this not
merely as a show, like some bright peculiar anemone in the variegated
bed of a flower-garden, but for the blissful appropriation of victorious
love. He thought only of the myrtle-crown, which, in the lover's
valuation, far outshines the crown of sovereignty; and had he balanced
love and rank against each other, the Bohemian throne without Libussa
would have darted up, like a clipped ducat in the scales of the
money-changer.
The sun was verging to decline, when the new Prince, with his escort,
entered Vizegrad. Fraeulein Libussa was in her garden, where she had just
plucked a basket of ripe plums, when her future husband's arrival was
announced to her. She went forth modestly, with all her maidens, to meet
him; received him as a bridegroom conducted to her by the gods, veiling
the election of her heart under a show of submission to the will of
Higher Powers. The eyes of the Court were eagerly directed to the
stranger; in whom, however, nothing could be seen but a fair handsome
man. In respect of outward form, there were several courtiers who, in
thought, did not hesitate to measure with him; and could not understand
why the gods should have disdained the anti-chamber, and not selected
from it some accomplished and ruddy lord, rather than the sunburnt
ploughman, to assist the Princess in her government. Especially in
Wladomir and Mizisla, it was observable that their pretensions were
reluctantly withdrawn. It behoved the Fraeulein then to vindicate the
work of the gods; and show that Squire Primislaus had been indemnified
for the defect of splendid birth, by a fair equivalent in sterling
common sense and depth of judgment. She had caused a royal banquet to be
prepared, no whit inferior to the feast with which the hospitable Dido
entertained her pious guest AEneas. The cup of welcome passed diligently
round, the presents of the Princess had excited cheerfulness and
good-humour, and a part of the night had already vanished amid jests and
pleasant pastime, when Libussa set on foot a game at riddles; and, as
the discovery of hidden things was her proper trade, she did not fail to
solve, with satisfactory decision, all the riddles that were introduced.
When her own turn came to propose one, she called Prince Wladomir,
Mizisla and Primislaus to her, and said: "Fair sirs, it is now for you
to read a riddle, which I shall submit to you, that it may be seen who
among you is the wisest and of keenest judgment. I intended, for you
three, a present of this basket of plums, which I plucked in my garden.
One of you shall have the half, and one over; the next shall have the
half of what remains, and one over; the third shall again have the half,
and three over. Now, if so be that the basket is then emptied, tell me,
How many plums are in it now?"
The headlong Ritter Mizisla took the measure of the fruit with his eye,
not the sense of the riddle with his understanding, and said: "What can
be decided with the sword I might undertake to decide; but thy riddles,
gracious Princess, are, I fear, too hard for me. Yet at thy request I
will risk an arrow at the bull's-eye, let it hit or miss: I suppose
there is a matter of some three score plums in the basket."
"Thou hast missed, dear Knight," said Fraeulein Libussa. "Were there as
many again, half as many, and a third part as many as the basket has in
it, and five over, there would then be as many above three score as
there are now below it."
Prince Wladomir computed as laboriously and anxiously, as if the post of
Comptroller-General of Finances had depended on a right solution; and at
last brought out the net product five-and-forty. The Fraeulein then said:
"Were there a third, and a half, and a sixth as many again of them, the
number would exceed forty-five as much as it now falls short of it."
Though, in our days, any man endowed with the arithmetical faculty of a
tapster, might have solved this problem without difficulty, yet, for an
untaught computant, the gift of divination was essential, if he meant to
get out of the affair with honour, and not stick in the middle of it
with disgrace. As the wise Primislaus was happily provided with this
gift, it cost him neither art nor exertion to find the answer.
"Familiar companion of the heavenly Powers," said he, "whoso undertakes
to pierce thy high celestial meaning, undertakes to soar after the eagle
when he hides himself in the clouds. Yet I will pursue thy hidden
flight, as far as the eye, to which thou hast given its light, will
reach. I judge that of the plums which thou hast laid in the basket,
there are thirty in number, not one fewer, and none more."
The Fraeulein cast a kindly glance on him, and said: "Thou tracest the
glimmering ember, which lies deep-hid among the ashes; for thee light
dawns out of darkness and vapour: thou hast read my riddle."
Thereupon she opened her basket, and counted out fifteen plums, and one
over, into Prince Wladomir's hat, and fourteen remained. Of these she
gave Ritter Mizisla seven and one over, and there were still six in the
basket; half of these she gave the wise Primislaus and three over, and
the basket was empty. The whole Court was lost in wonder at the fair
Libussa's ciphering gift, and at the penetration of her cunning spouse.
Nobody could comprehend how human wit was able, on the one hand, to
enclose a common number so mysteriously in words; or, on the other hand,
to drag it forth so accurately from its enigmatical concealment. The
empty basket she conferred upon the two Knights, who had failed in
soliciting her love, to remind them that, their suit was voided. Hence
comes it, that when a wooer is rejected, people say, _His love has given
him the basket_, even to the present day.
So soon as all was ready for the nuptials and coronation, both these
ceremonies were transacted with becoming pomp. Thus the Bohemian people
had obtained a Duke, and the fair Libussa had obtained a husband, each
according to the wish of their hearts; and what was somewhat wonderful,
by virtue of Chicane, an agent who has not the character of being too
beneficent or prosperous. And if either of the parties had been
overreached in any measure, it at least was not the fair Libussa.
Bohemia had a Duke in name, but the administration now, as formerly,
continued in the female hand. Primislaus was the proper pattern of a
tractable obedient husband, and contested with his Duchess neither the
direction of her house nor of her empire. His sentiments and wishes
sympathised with hers, as perfectly as two accordant strings, of which
when the one is struck, the other voluntarily trembles to the self-same
note. Nor was Libussa like those haughty overbearing dames, who would
pass for great matches; and having, as they think, made the fortune of
some hapless wight, continually remind him of his wooden shoes: but she
resembled the renowned Palmyran Queen; and ruled, as Zenobia did her
kindly Odenatus, by superiority of mental talent.
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.
Thereupon, a cunning Nuncio started instantly for Naples, where the
Emperor Frederick of Swabia had his Court; and took with him in his
travelling-bag two boxes, one of which was filled with the sweet honey
of persuasion; the other with tinder, steel and flint, to light the fire
of excommunication, should the mutinous son of the Church hesitate to
pay the Holy Father due obedience. On arriving at Court, the Legate
opened his sweet box, and copiously gave out its smooth confectionery.
But the Emperor Frederick was a man delicate in palate; he soon smacked
the taste of the physic hidden in this sweetness, and he knew too well
its effects on the alimentary canal; so he turned away from the
treacherous mess, and declined having any more of it. Then the Legate
opened his other box, and made it spit some sparks, which singed the
Imperial beard, and stung the skin like nettles; whereby the Emperor
discovered that the Holy Father's finger might, ere long, be heavier on
him than the Legate's loins; therefore plied himself to the purpose,
engaged to lead the armies of the Lord against the Unbelievers in the
East, and appointed his Princes to assemble for an expedition to the
Holy Land. The Princes communicated the Imperial order to the Counts,
the Counts summoned out their vassals, the Knights and Nobles; the
Knights equipped their Squires and Horsemen; all mounted, and collected,
each under his proper banner.
Except the night of St. Bartholomew, no night has ever caused such
sorrow and tribulation in the world, as this, which God's Vicegerent
upon Earth had employed in watching to produce a ruinous Crusade. Ah,
how many warm tears flowed, as knight and squire pricked off, and
blessed their dears! A glorious race of German heroes never saw the
light, because of this departure; but languished in embryo, as the germs
of plants in the Syrian desert, when the hot Sirocco has passed over
them. The ties of a thousand happy marriages were violently torn
asunder; ten thousand brides in sorrow hung their garlands, like the
daughters of Jerusalem, upon the Babylonian willow-trees, and sat and
wept; and a hundred thousand lovely maidens grew up for the bridegroom
in vain, and blossomed like a rose-bed in a solitary cloister garden,
for there was no hand to pluck them, and they withered away unenjoyed.
Among the sighing spouses, whom this sleepless night of his Holiness
deprived of their husbands, were St. Elizabeth, the Landgraf of
Thuringia's lady, and Ottilia, Countess of Gleichen; a wife not
standing, it is true, in the odour of sanctity, yet in respect of
personal endowments, and virtuous conduct, inferior to none of her
contemporaries.
Landgraf Ludwig, a trusty feudatory of the Emperor, had issued general
orders for his vassals to collect, and attend him to the camp. But most
of them sought pretexts for politely declining this honour. One was
tormented by the gout, another by the stone; one had got his horses
foundered, another's armoury had been destroyed by fire. Count Ernst of
Gleichen, however, with a little troop of stout retainers, who were free
and unencumbered, and took pleasure in the prospect of distant
adventures, equipped their squires and followers, obeyed the orders of
the Landgraf, and led their people to the place of rendezvous. The Count
had been wedded for two years; and in this period his lovely consort had
presented him with two children, a little master and a little miss,
which, according to the custom of those stalwart ages, had been born
without the aid of science, fair and softly as the dew from the
Twilight. A third pledge, which she carried under her heart, was, by
virtue of the Pope's insomnolency, destined, when it saw the light, to
forego the embraces of its father. Although Count Ernst put on the
rugged aspect of a man, Nature maintained her rights in him, and he
could not hide his strong feelings of tenderness, when at parting he
quitted the embraces of his weeping spouse. As in dumb sorrow he was
leaving her, she turned hastily to the cradle of her children; plucked
out of it her sleeping boy; pressed it softly to her breast, and held it
with tearful eyes to the father, to imprint a parting kiss on its
unconscious cheek. With her little girl she did the same. This gave the
Count a sharp twinge about the heart: his lips began to quiver, his
mouth visibly increased in breadth; and sobbing aloud, he pressed the
infants to his steel cuirass, under which there beat a very soft and
feeling heart; kissed them from their sleep, and recommended them,
together with their much loved mother, to the keeping of God and all the
Saints. As he winded down along the castle road with his harnessed troop
from the high fortress of Gleichen, she looked after him with desolate
sadness, till his banner, upon which she herself had wrought the
Red-cross with fine purple silk, no longer floated in her vision.