_How Owlglass brought it about that the Watch of Nurenberg fell
into the Water._
After leaving Erfurt, Owlglass dressed himself as a priest, and,
travelling about different parts, levied contributions wherever he
found ignorance and credulity, of which there was no lack. He carried a
death's head about with him, which he pretended was the skull of Saint
Brandonis, possessing miraculous virtue for the cure of all manner
of illnesses. He also pretended that he was collecting subscriptions
for building a church in honour of Saint Brandonis, and that all who
brought an offering would, by the intercession of the Saint, find
it restored to them a hundredfold before the year was over. When he
arrived at any town or village he sought to find out any prevailing
vice or sin, and would then give out that, from persons addicted to
this particular vice or sin, he could not accept any offering for the
Saint. By these means the offerings flowed in more abundantly than had
ever been collected, for those who felt themselves most guilty were
most eager, by their offerings, to prove their innocence. Thus Owlglass
got his pockets well filled and went to Nurenberg, where he determined
to rest for a time from his labours, and enjoy himself as long as his
money would last. After being there some time, and knowing all the
in's and out's of the place, he grew tired of idleness, and nothing
could satisfy him but a piece of mischief. During his wanderings he
had noticed that, in the evening, the town watchmen assembled together
in a cellar under the town-hall, and that to get from the town-hall to
the pig-market a small wooden bridge had to be passed, which crossed
the river called the Pegnetz. Bearing all this in mind, he waited
one night till the whole town was quiet, then, after breaking three
planks of the bridge, he went up to the town-hall and set up a furious
bellowing and shouting, at the same time striking the paved road with
an iron spiked stick till the sparks flew on all sides. This roused the
watch, and as he ran away, they chased him towards the pig-market.
Owlglass jumped over that part of the bridge where he had broken the
planks, and stopped on the other side, shouting to his pursuers, "O!
O! you pig-headed timber-toed rogues, is that the way you run? I see I
must needs wait for you!" This enraged the men, and all together they
rushed on the bridge, which giving way where he had broken the planks,
they fell one over the other into the Pegnitz. There he left them, and
turned his back upon the town of Nurenberg.
[Illustration: _The Watchmen of Nurenberg._]
[Decoration]