[Illustration: Karl der Große--Nach dem Gemälde von Albrecht Dürer]
As Charlemagne, the mighty ruler of the Franks, rode one day from his
stronghold at Aix-la-Chapelle into the surrounding forest, his horse
is said to have suddenly trodden upon a spring. On touching the water,
the animal drew its foot back neighing loudly as if in great pain.
The rider's curiosity was aroused. He alighted, and dipping his hand
into the spring, found to his surprise that the water was very hot.
Thus Charlemagne, as the legend records, discovered the hot spring
which was to become the salvation of many thousands of ill and infirm
people.
The pious emperor recognised in this healthgiving spring the kind gift
of Providence, and he resolved to erect near the spot a house of God,
the round shape of which should remind posterity of the horse's hoof.
The building was soon begun, and Charlemagne saw with great
satisfaction the walls of the new minster rising high into the air. He
was not however destined to see its completion. When he died, he had
to leave the great Empire of the West to a feeble son, Lewis the
Pious. The latter was compelled to draw his sword against his own
children in order to assure for himself the crown he had inherited.
Many a great undertaking that Charlemagne had begun, remained
unfinished.
The building of the minster too was interrupted. The ground was left
desolate, and the walls and towers were threatened with decay before
they were finished.
It was quite useless for the honourable magistrate of the town to
apply for money to the charitable Christian inhabitants. Contributions
came in very slowly, and were never sufficient to finish the church.
The aldermen of Aix-la-Chapelle would very often seriously debate the
question, and discuss how they could remedy the grievous lack of money
and successfully effect the completion of the minster. They found
however that good counsel was just as rare as building material.
Once when they were met thus together, a stranger was announced who
said he had most important news to communicate. He was allowed to
enter the session room. After having duly saluted the Council, he said
modestly but without any shyness, "Gentlemen, my business, in a word,
is to offer you the money for the completion of the church." The
worthy aldermen looked in wonder first at the speaker, then at each
other.
They silently agreed in the opinion that the man before them looked
very suspicious in his quaint outlandish clothes and his sharp pointed
beard.
But the newcomer was not at all abashed by their suspicious looks. On
the contrary he repeated politely but firmly his proposal, saying:
"Honourable Sirs, I should like to help you out of your difficulty,
and will advance you the necessary thousands without even wishing to
be paid back."
At this frank offer the councillors pricked up their ears and opened
their eyes wide in astonishment. Before they could recover from their
amazement, the stranger continued: "I know well, you are all far too
proud to accept this great offer of mine without giving me a reward of
some sort. Therefore I require a small compensation. I demand the
first living being, body and soul, that enters the new minster on the
inauguration day."
On hearing this the honourable aldermen rose horrified from their
seats. Many of them made the sign of the cross or uttered a short
prayer, because nobody but the devil himself could require anything so
monstrous.
The eyes of the chairman shot a reproachful glance at the strange
speaker, and he muttered between his teeth: "Be off! your words are
giving offence."
But Master Satan, the stranger, stood calmly in his place: "Sirs,"
said he, "Let me answer you with a word from the scriptures, "Why are
you so fearful, oh ye of little faith?" On the field of battle the
sword mows down thousands of brave men. They fall often as victims to
the ravening ambition of a single man. You can even see fathers
fighting against their sons, brothers against their brothers, and
nobody thinks it unjust. Now you cry out, when I only ask for one
single living soul to be sacrificed for the welfare of the whole
community."
The eyes of the stranger looked round in triumphant joy when he had
finished, for he read a favourable reply in the puzzled faces of the
aldermen.
Many of them at once gave up their scruples, and after a few minutes
even the most cautious among them had no more objections to urge.
The offer was closed with, and Master Satan left the Town Hall with a
proud smile.
The next day the council was again gathered together anxiously waiting
for the promised sum.
It arrived promptly, rightly weighed and in good honest coin.
The joy of the aldermen was boundless.
* * * * *
Once more the workmen began the work of building the minster. They
worked very busily as if to make up for the long interruption, and
after three years the cathedral was finished.
On the day when the new church was to be consecrated, a great festival
was held in the town.
The distinguished company, secular as well as clerical, who appeared
at the inauguration ceremony, praised the magnificence of the minster,
the great liberality of the citizens, and more than all, the wisdom of
the Town Council.
The aldermen listened to the general praise with pleasure, and
accepted it as their due. They felt however bound to confess to each
other that they did not feel easy when they thought of the
inauguration day. None of them had spoken to anybody of Master Satan's
condition.
Only one of them, a henpecked fellow as malicious people said,
confessed the whole transaction to his wife. It is needless to say
that from that moment the whole town knew about the affair. On the
important day of the consecration of the minster many venerable
prelates, abbots, and monks, thousands of noble knights and lords who
had come as guests, and the whole population of Aix-la-Chapelle looked
forward to the fatal hour with beating hearts. It was a grand
procession indeed that marched on in ceremonious solemnity through the
streets. The gaily coloured flags waved merrily in the air, the
trumpets and clarions sounded cheerily. The nobility and clergy were
in their most gorgeous attire. On every side were the signs of joy and
thanksgiving.
But the hearts of the people were all oppressed, and many a sorrowful
eye gazed at the morning sky, as if expecting to see Satan flying down
with his bat-like wings.
When the aldermen in their bright robes joined the procession, the
general anxiety rose to the highest pitch.
Before the worthy councillors a bulky cage was carried by four stout
footmen. What was hidden under the covering nobody knew, but everybody
felt sure that it contained the victim.
When the procession reached the minster it stopped, the cage being
carried foremost.
At a sign from the mayor, one of the footmen quickly stripped off the
cover and exposed to view a howling hideous wolf. Two of the men
pushed the church door wide open with their long halberds, and the
fourth pushed the wolf skilfully through the open door. A terrible
noise arose suddenly within.
The devil had been waiting for his spoil, as a tiger that watches for
his prey.
When the wolf entered the devil darted towards it, but seeing that it
was only a beast he burst into a wild howl of rage.
He wrung the poor wolf's neck with the quickness of lightning and
disappeared suddenly, leaving nothing behind him but a strong smell of
sulphur.
A few minutes later the bells rang, and the whole magnificent
procession thronged into the church, duly to celebrate its
consecration.
* * * * *
While divine service was being held in the new minster and hymns of
praise and thanksgiving were offered at God's altar, the devil flew
with horrible maledictions over the country.
He swore an oath to punish with the utmost severity the population of
Aix-la-Chapelle who had so cunningly outwitted him.
In his flight he came to the sea-shore where he stopped a little, in
order to consider how he could best destroy the town. As he looked at
the sandy dunes the thought struck him, that he might bury the whole
town with all its prelates and abbots under such a hill. With a mighty
pull he tore one of the dunes from the shore, piled it on his
shoulders, and flew rapidly towards the doomed city. But the way was
much longer than Master Satan had thought. He began to perspire very
freely under his unwonted burden, and when from time to time the wind
blew a rain of loose sand into his eyes, he swore most horribly.
In the valley of the Soers not far from Aix-la-Chapelle he was obliged
to rest, as he was very tired after his exertions.
While he was thus sitting by the wayside wiping his forehead and
looking hot and weary, an old wrinkled woman came limping along, who
looked with suspicion at the man and his strange burden.
She wanted to pass by without saying a word, but the stranger stopped
her and said: "How far is it from here to Aix-la-Chapelle?" The woman
cast a sharp look at the speaker.
As she had reached years of discretion, being now in her
seventy-second year, she was shrewd enough to recognise in the man
before her the very devil in person. She was also quite sure, that he
must have some wicked plan in his head against the good town,
Aix-la-Chapelle.
Therefore assuming a very sad expression she answered in a complaining
voice: "Kind sir, I am so sorry for you, the way to the town is still
very long. Only look at my boots, they are quite worn from the long
way, and yet I got them new from the shoemaker at Aix-la-Chapelle."
Master Satan uttered something that sounded like a bitter curse. Then
he shook off the sandy dune from his shoulders and flew away in a
fury.
The old woman was for a moment terror-stricken, but when she saw the
fatal figure of the stranger disappearing, she was inexpressibly glad
at having saved the town and outwitted the devil himself.
If he had only looked a little more carefully he could have seen the
tower of the new minster not a mile off.
The sandy dune is still lying in the very same place where the devil
dropped it. Its name is "Losberg" or "Ridmountain," so called because
the town Aix-la-Chapelle got rid of a great danger.
The memory of the poor wolf is also still preserved. Its image is
engraved on the middle of the minster door, where you can also see the
big cracks produced by the devil's hammering it in his impotent anger.