The highly interesting collection of pictures at Combe Abbey, the seat of
the Earl of Craven, in Warwickshire, was, for the most part, bequeathed by
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the daughter of James I., to her faithful
attendant, William, Earl of Craven. The collection has remained, entire and
undisturbed, up to the present time. Near the upper end of the long gallery
is a picture which doubtless formed a part of the bequest of the Queen of
Bohemia, and of which the following is a description:--
Three quarters length: a female figure, standing, with long curling light
hair, and a wreath of flowers round the head. She wears a white satin gown,
with a yellow edge; gold chain on the stomacher, and pearl buttons down the
front. She has a pearl necklace and earrings, with a high plaited
chemisette up to the necklace; and four rows of pearls, with a yellow bow,
round the sleeve. She holds in her hands a large highly ornamented gold
horn. The back-ground consists of mountains. Underneath the picture is this
inscription:
"Anno post natum Christum 939. Ottoni comiti Oldenburgico in venatione
vehementer sitibundo virgo elegantissima ex monte Osen prodiens cornu
argenteum deauratum plenum liquore ut biberet obtulit. Inspecto is
liquore adhorruit, ac eundum bibere recusavit. Quo facto, subito Comes
a virgine discedens liquorem retro super equum quem mox depilavit
effudit, cornuque hic depictum secum Oldenburgum in perpetuam illius
memoriam reportavit. Lucretio de Sainct Simon pinxit."
The painting is apparently of the first part of the seventeenth century.
The ordinary books of reference do not contain the painter's name.
The same legend as that contained in this inscription, though with fuller
details, is given by the brothers Grimm, in their collection of _Deutsche
Sagen_, No. 541. vol. ii. p. 317., from two Oldenburg chronicles. According
to this version Otto was Count of Oldenburg in the year 990 or 967. [The
chronicles appear to differ as to his date: the inscription of the Combe
Abbey picture furnishes a third date.] Being a good hunter, and fond of
hunting, he went, on the 20th of July, in this year, attended by his nobles
and servants, to hunt in the forest of Bernefeuer. Here he found a deer,
and chased it alone from this wood to Mount Osen: but in the pursuit he
left his companions and even his dogs behind; and he stood alone, on his
white horse, in the middle of the mountain. Being now exhausted by the
great heat, he exclaimed: "Would to God that some one had a draught of cold
water!" As soon as the count had uttered these words, the mountain opened,
and from the {418} chasm there came a beautiful damsel, dressed in fine
clothes, with her hair divided over her shoulders, and a wreath of flowers
on her head. In her hand she held a precious silver-gilt hunting-horn,
filled with some liquid; which she offered to the count, in order that he
might drink. The count took the horn, and examined the liquid, but declined
to drink it. Whereupon the damsel said: "My dear lord, drink it upon my
assurance; for it will do you no harm, but will tend to your good." She
added that, if he would drink, he and his family, and all his descendants,
and the whole territory of Oldenburg, would prosper: but that, if he
refused, there would be discord in the race of the Counts of Oldenburg. The
count, as was natural, mistrusted her assurances, and feared to drink out
of the horn: however, he retained it in his hand, and swung it behind his
back. While it was in this position some of the liquid escaped; and where
it fell on the back of the white horse, it took off the hair. When the
damsel saw this, she asked him to restore the horn; but the count, with the
horn in his hand, hastened away from the mountain, and, on looking back,
observed that the damsel had returned into the earth. The count, terrified
at the sight, spurred on his horse, and speedily rejoined his attendants:
he then recounted to them his adventure, and showed them the silver-gilt
horn, which he took with him to Oldenburg. And because this horn was
obtained in so wonderful a manner, it was kept as a precious relic by him
and all his successors in the reigning house of Oldenburg.
The editors state that richly decorated drinking-horn was formerly
preserved, with great care, in the family of Oldenburg; but that, at the
present time [1818], it is at Copenhagen.
The same story is related from Hamelmann's _Oldenburg Chronicle_, by
Büsching, in his _Volksagen_ (Leips. 1820), p. 380., who states that there
is a representation of the horn in p. 20. of the _Chronicle_, as well as in
the title-page of the first volume of the _Wunderhorn_.
Those who are accustomed to the interpretation of mythological fictions
will at once recognise in this story an explanatory legend, invented for
the purpose of giving an interest to a valuable drinking-horn, of ancient
work, which belonged to the Counts of Oldenburg. Had the story not started
from a basis of real fact, but had been pure fiction, the mountain-spirit
would probably have left, not _silver gilt_, but a _gold_ horn, with the
count. Moreover, the manner in which she suffers herself to be outwitted,
and her acquiescence in the loss of her horn, without exacting some
vengeance from the incredulous count, are not in the spirit of such
fictions, nor do they suit the malignant character which the legend itself
gives her. If the Oldenburg horn is still preserved at Copenhagen, its date
might doubtless be determined by the style of the work.
Mount Osen seems to have been a place which abounded in supernatural
beings. Some elves who came from this mountain to take fresh-brewed beer,
and left good, though unknown money, to pay for it, are mentioned in
another story in the _Deutsche Sagen_, (No.43. vol. i. p. 55.)