It does you honour to think so highly of your craft; but--do not get
impatient if I keep harping upon the same string--now if a patrician
really came and sued for your daughter? When a thing is brought right
home to a man it often looks very different from what he thought it
would." "Why, i' faith," cried Master Martin somewhat vehemently, "why,
what else could I do but make a polite bow and say, 'My dear sir, if
you were a brave cooper, but as it is'"---- "Stop a bit," broke in
Spangenberg again; "but if now some fine day a handsome Junker on a
gallant horse, with a brilliant retinue dressed in magnificent silks
and satins, were to pull up before your door and ask you for Rose to
wife?" "Marry, by my faith," cried Master Martin still more vehemently
than before, "why, marry, I should run down as fast as I could and lock
and bolt the door, and I should shout 'Ride on farther! Ride on
farther! my worshipful Herr Junker; roses like mine don't blossom for
you. My wine-cellar and my money-bags would, I dare say, suit you
passing well--and you would take the girl in with the bargain; but ride
on! ride on farther.'" Old Spangenberg rose to his feet, his face hot
and red all over; then, leaning both hands on the table, he stood
looking on the floor before him. "Well," he began after a pause, "and
now the last question, Master Martin. If the Junker before your door
were my own son, if I myself stopped at your door, would you shut it
then, should you believe then that we were only come for your wine-
cellar and your money-bags?" "Not at all, not at all, my good and
honoured sir," replied Master Martin. "I would gladly throw open my
door, and everything in my house should be at your and your son's
service; but as for my Rose, I should say to you, 'If it had only
pleased Providence to make your gallant son a brave cooper, there would
be no more welcome son-in-law on earth than he; but now'---- But, my
dear good sir, why do you tease and worry me with such curious
questions? See you, our merry talk has come abruptly to an end, and
look! our glasses are all standing full. Let's put all sons-in-law and
Rose's marriage aside; here, I pledge you to the health of your son,
who is, I hear, a handsome young knight." Master Martin seized his
glass; Paumgartner followed his example, saying, "A truce to all
captious conversation, and here's a health to your gallant son."
Spangenberg touched glasses with them, and said with a forced smile,
"Of course you know I was only speaking in jest; for nothing but wild
head-strong passion could ever lead my son, who may choose him a wife
from amongst the noblest families in the land, so far to disregard his
rank and birth as to sue for your daughter. But methinks you might have
answered me in a somewhat more friendly way." "Well, but, my good sir,"
replied Master Martin, "even in jest I could only speak as I should act
if the wonderful things you are pleased to imagine were really to
happen. But you _must_ let me have my pride; for you cannot but allow
that I am the skilfullest cooper far and near, that I understand the
management of wine, that I observe strictly and truly the admirable
wine-regulations of our departed Emperor Maximilian20 (may he rest in
peace!), that as beseems a pious man I abhor all godlessness, that I
never burn more than one small half-ounce of pure sulphur21 in one of
my two-tun casks, which is necessary to preserve it--the which, my good
and honoured sirs, you will have abundantly remarked from the flavour
of my wine." Spangenberg resumed his seat, and tried to put on a
cheerful countenance, whilst Paumgartner introduced other topics of
conversation. But, as it so often happens, when once the strings of an
instrument have got out of tune, they are always getting more or less
warped, so that the player in vain tries to entice from them again the
full-toned chords which they gave at first, thus it was with the three
old gentlemen; no remark, no word, found a sympathetic response.
Spangenberg called for his grooms, and left Master Martin's house quite
in an ill-humour after he had entered it in gay good spirits.
_The old Grandmother's Prophecy._
Master Martin was rather ill at ease because his brave old customer had
gone away out of humour in this way, and he said to Paumgartner, who
had just emptied his last glass and rose to go too, "For the life of
me, I can't understand what the old gentleman meant by his talk, and
why he should have got testy about it at last." "My good friend Master
Martin," began Paumgartner, "you are a good and honest man; and a man
has verily a right to set store by the handiwork he loves and which
brings him wealth and honour; but he ought not to show it in boastful
pride, that's against all right Christian feeling. And in our guild-
meeting to-day you did not act altogether right in putting yourself
before all the other masters. It may true that you understand more
about your craft than all the rest; but that you go and cast it in
their teeth can only provoke ill-humour and black looks. And then you
must go and do it again this evening! You could not surely be so
infatuated as to look for anything else in Spangenberg's talk beyond a
jesting attempt to see to what lengths you would go in your obstinate
pride. No wonder the worthy gentleman felt greatly annoyed when you
told him you should only see common covetousness in any Junker's wooing
of your daughter. But all would have been well if, when Spangenberg
began to speak of his son, you had interposed--if you had said, 'Marry,
my good and honoured sir, if you yourself came along with your son to
sue for my daughter--why, i' faith, that would be far too high an
honour for me, and I should then have wavered in my firmest
principles.' Now, if you had spoken to him like that, what else could
old Spangenberg have done but forget his former resentment, and smile
cheerfully and in good humour as he had done before?" "Ay, scold me,"
said Master Martin, "scold me right well, I have well deserved it; but
when the old gentleman would keep talking such stupid nonsense I felt
as if I were choking, I could not make any other answer." "And then,"
went on Paumgartner, "what a ridiculous resolve to give your daughter
to nobody but a cooper! You will commit, you say, your daughter's
destiny to Providence, and yet with human shortsightedness you
anticipate the decree of the Almighty in that you obstinately determine
beforehand that your son-in-law is to come from within a certain narrow
circle. That will prove the ruin of you and your Rose, if you are not
careful Have done, Master Martin, have done with such unchristian
childish folly; leave the Almighty, who will put a right choice in your
daughter's honest heart when the right time comes--leave Him to manage
it all in his own way." "O my worthy friend," said Master Martin, quite
crest-fallen, "I now see how wrong I was not to tell you everything at
first. You think it is nothing but overrating my handiwork that has
brought me to take this unchangeable resolve of wedding Rose to none
but a master-cooper; but that is not so; there is another reason, a
more wonderful and mysterious reason. I can't let you go until you have
learned all; you shall not bear ill-will against me over-night. Sit
down, I earnestly beg you, stay a few minutes longer. See here; there's
still a bottle of that old wine left which the ill-tempered Junker has
despised; come, let's enjoy it together." Paumgartner was astonished at
Master Martin's earnest, confidential tone, which was in general
perfectly foreign to his nature; it seemed as if there was something
weighing heavy upon the man's heart that he wanted to get rid of.
And when Paumgartner had taken his seat and drunk a glass of wine,
Master Martin began as follows. "You know, my good and honoured friend,
that soon after Rose was born I lost my beloved wife; Rose's birth was
her death. At that time my old grandmother was still living, if you can
call it living when one is blind, deaf as a post, scarce able to speak,
lame in every limb, and lying in bed day after day and night after
night Rose had been christened; and the nurse sat with the child in the
room where my old grandmother lay. I was so cut up with grief, and when
I looked upon my child, so sad and yet so glad--in fact I was so
greatly shaken that I felt utterly unfitted for any kind of work, and
stood quite still and wrapped up in my own thoughts beside my old
grandmother's bed; and I counted her happy, since now all her earthly
pain was over. And as I gazed upon her face a strange smile began to
steal across it, her withered features seemed to be smoothed out, her
pale cheeks became flushed with colour. She raised herself up in bed;
she stretched out her paralysed arms, as if suddenly animated by some
supernatural power,--for she had never been able to do so at other
times. She called distinctly in a low pleasant voice, 'Rose, my darling
Rose!' The nurse got up and brought her the child, which she rocked up
and down in her arms. But then, my good sir, picture my utter
astonishment, nay, my alarm, when the old lady struck up in a clear
strong voice a song in the _Hohe fröhliche Lobweis_22 of Herr Hans
Berchler, mine host of the Holy Ghost in Strasburg, which ran like
this--
Maiden tender, with cheeks so red,
Rose, listen to the words I say;
Wouldst guard thyself from fear and ill?
Then put thy trust in God alway;
Let not thy tongue at aught make mock,
Nor foolish longings feed at heart.
A vessel fair to see he'll bring,
In which the spicy liquid foams,
And bright, bright angels gaily sing.
And then in reverent mood
Hearken to the truest love,
Oh! hearken to the sweet love-words.
The vessel fair with golden grace--
Lo! him who brings it in the house
Thou wilt reward with sweet embrace;
And an thy lover be but true,
Thou need'st nor wait thy father's kiss.
The vessel fair will always bring
All wealth and joy and peace and bliss;
So, virgin fair, with the bright, bright eyes,
Let aye thy little ear be ope
To all true words. And henceforth live,
And with God's richest blessing thrive.
"And after she had sung this song through, she laid the child gently
and carefully down upon the coverlet; and, placing her trembling
withered hand upon her forehead, she muttered something to herself, to
us, however, unintelligible; but the rapt countenance of the old lady
showed in every feature that she was praying. Then her head sank back
upon the pillows, and just as the nurse took up the child my old
grandmother took a deep breath; she was dead." "That is a wonderful
story," said Paumgartner when Master Martin ceased speaking; "but I
don't exactly see what is the connection between your old grandmother's
prophetic song and your obstinate resolve to give Rose to none but a
master-cooper." "What!" replied Master Martin, "why, what can be
plainer than that the old lady, especially inspired by the Lord at the
last moments of her life, announced in a prophetic voice what must
happen if Rose is to be happy? The lover who is to bring wealth and joy
and peace and bliss into the house with his vessel fair, who is that
but a lusty cooper who has made his vessel fair, his masterpiece with
me? In what other vessel does the spicy liquid foam, if not in the
wine-cask? And when the wine works, it bubbles and even murmurs and
splashes; that's the lovely angels chasing each other backwards and
forwards in the wine and singing their gay songs. Ay, ay, I tell you,
my old grandmother meant none other lover than a master-cooper; and it
shall be so, it shall be so." "But, my good Master Martin," said
Paumgartner, "you are interpreting the words of your old grandmother
just in your own way. Your interpretation is far from satisfactory to
my mind; and I repeat that you ought to leave all simply to the
ordering of Providence and your daughter's heart, in which I dare be
bound the right choice lies hidden away somewhere." "And I repeat,"
interrupted Martin impatiently, "that my son-in-law _shall_ be,--I am
resolved,--_shall_ be none other than a skilful cooper." Paumgartner
almost got angry at Master Martin's stubbornness; he controlled
himself, however, and, rising from his seat, said, "It's getting late,
Master Martin, let us now have done with our drinking and talking, for
neither methinks will do us any more good."
When they came out into the entrance-hall, there stood a young woman
with five little boys, the eldest scarce eight years old apparently,
and the youngest scarce six months. She was weeping and sobbing
bitterly. Rose hastened to meet the two old gentlemen and said, "Oh
father, father! Valentine is dead; there is his wife and the children."
"What! Valentine dead?" cried Master Martin, greatly startled. "Oh!
that accident! that accident! Just fancy," he continued, turning to
Paumgartner, "just fancy, my good sir, Valentine was the cleverest
journeyman I had on the premises; and he was industrious, and a good
honest man as well. Some time ago he wounded himself dangerously with
the adze in building a large cask; the wound got worse and worse; he
was seized with a violent fever, and now he has had to die of it in the
prime of life." Thereupon Master Martin approached the poor
disconsolate woman, who, bathed in tears, was lamenting that she had
nothing but misery and starvation staring her in the face. "What!" said
Master Martin, "what do you think of me then? Your husband got his
dangerous wound whilst working for me, and do you think I am going to
let you perish of want? No, you all belong to my house from now
onwards. To-morrow, or whenever you like, we'll bury your poor husband,
and then do you and your boys go to my farm outside the Ladies Gate,23
where my fine open workshop is, and where I work every day with my
journeymen. You can install yourself as housekeeper there to look after
things for me, and your fine boys I will educate as if they were my own
sons. And, I tell you what, I'll take your old father as well into my
house. He was a sturdy journeyman cooper once upon a time whilst he
still had muscle in his arms. And now--if he can no longer wield the
mallet, or the beetle or the beak iron, or work at the bench, he yet
can do something with croze-adze, or can hollow out staves for me with
the draw-knife. At any rate he shall come along with you and be taken
into my house." If Master Martin had not caught hold of the woman, she
would have fallen on the floor at his feet in a dead swoon, she was so
affected by grief and emotion. The eldest of the boys clung to his
doublet, whilst the two youngest, whom Rose had taken in her arms,
stretched out their tiny hands towards him, as if they had understood
it all. Old Paumgartner said, smiling and with bright tears standing in
his eyes, "Master Martin, one can't bear you any ill-will;" and he
betook himself to his own home.
_How the two young journeymen Frederick and Reinhold became acquainted
with each other._
Upon a beautiful, grassy, gently-sloping hill, shaded by lofty trees,
lay a fine well-made young journeyman, whose name was Frederick. The
sun had already set, and rosy tongues of light were stretching upwards
from the furthest verge of the horizon. In the distance the famed
imperial town of Nuremberg could be plainly seen, spreading across the
valley and boldly lifting up her proud towers against the red glow of
the evening, its golden rays gilding their pinnacles. The young
journeyman was leaning his arm on his bundle, which lay beside him, and
contained his necessaries whilst on the travel, and was gazing with
looks full of longing down into the valley. Then he plucked some of the
flowers which grew among the grass within reach of him and tossed them
into the air towards the glorious sunset; afterwards he sat gazing
sadly before him, and the burning tears gathered in his eyes. At length
he raised his head, and spreading out his arms as if about to embrace
some one dear to him, he sang in a clear and very pleasant voice the
following song:--
My eyes now rest once more
On thee, O home, sweet home!
My true and honest heart
Has ne'er forgotten thee.
O rosy glow of evening come,
I fain would naught but roses see.
Ye sweetest buds and flowers of love,
Bend down and touch my heart
With winsome sweet caresses.
O swelling bosom, wilt thou burst?
Yet hold in pain and sweet joy fast.
O golden evening red!
O beauteous ray, be my sweet messenger,
And bear to her my sighs and tears--
My tears and sighs on faithfully to her.
And were I now to die,
And roses then did ask thee--say,
"His heart with love--it pined away."
Having sung this song, Frederick took a little piece of wax out of his
bundle, warmed it in his bosom, and began in a neat and artistic manner
to model a beautiful rose with scores of delicate petals. Whilst busy
with this work he hummed to himself some of the lines of the song he
had just sung, and so deeply absorbed was he in his occupation that he
did not observe the handsome youth who had been standing behind him for
some time and attentively watching his work.
"Marry, my friend," began now the youth, "by my troth, that is a dainty
piece of work you are making there." Frederick looked round in alarm;
but when he looked into the dark friendly eyes of the young stranger,
he felt as if he had known him for a long time. Smiling, he replied,
"Oh! my dear sir, how can you notice such trifling? it only serves me
for pastime on my journey." "Well then," went on the stranger youth,
"if you call that delicately formed flower, which is so faithful a
reproduction of Nature, trifling, you must be a skilful practised
modeller. You have afforded me a pleasant surprise in two ways. First,
I was quite touched to the heart by the song you sang so admirably to
Martin Häscher's _Zarte Buchstabenweis_; and now I cannot but admire
your artistic skill in modelling. How much farther do you intend to
travel to-day?" Frederick replied, "Yonder lies the goal of my journey
before our eyes. I am going home, to the famed imperial town of
Nuremberg. But as the sun has now been set some time, I shall pass the
night in the village below there, and then by being up and away in the
early morning I can be in Nuremberg at noon." "Marry," cried the youth,
delighted, "how finely things will fit; we are both going the same way,
for I want to go to Nuremberg. I will spend the night with you here in
the village, and then we'll proceed on our way again to-morrow. And now
let us talk a little." The youth, Reinhold by name, threw himself down
beside Frederick on the grass, and continued, "If I mistake not, you
are a skilful artist-caster, are you not? I infer it from your style of
modelling; or perhaps you are a worker in gold and silver?" Frederick
cast down his eyes sadly, and said dejectedly, "Marry, my dear sir, you
are taking me for something far better and higher than I really am.
Well, I will speak candidly; I have learned the trade of a cooper, and
am now going to work for a well-known master in Nuremberg. You will no
doubt look down upon me with contempt since, instead of being able to
mould and cast splendid statues, and such like, all I can do is to hoop
casks and tubs." Reinhold burst out laughing, and cried, "Now that I
call droll. I shall look down upon you--eh? because you are a cooper;
why man, that's what I am; I'm nothing but a cooper." Frederick opened
his eyes wide in astonishment; he did not know what to make of it, for
Reinhold's dress was in keeping with anything sooner than a journeyman
cooper's on travel. His doublet of fine black cloth, trimmed with
slashed velvet, his dainty ruff, his short broadsword, and baretta with
a long drooping feather, seemed rather to point to a prosperous
merchant; and yet again there was a strange something about the face
and form of the youth which completely negatived the idea of a
merchant. Reinhold, noticing Frederick's doubting glances, undid his
travelling-bundle and produced his cooper's apron and knife-belt,
saying, "Look here, my friend, look here. Have you any doubts now as to
my being a comrade? I perceive you are astonished at my clothing, but I
have just come from Strasburg, where the coopers go about the streets
as fine as noblemen. Certainly I did once set my heart upon something
else like you, but now to be a cooper is the topmost height of my
ambition, and I have staked many a grand hope upon it. Is it not the
same with you, comrade? But I could almost believe that a dark cloud-
shadow had been hung unawares about the brightness of your youth, so
that you are no longer able to look freely and gladly about you. The
song which you were just singing was full of pain and of the yearning
of love; but there were strains in it that seemed as if they proceeded
from my own heart, and I somehow fancy I know all that is locked up
within your breast. You may therefore all the more put confidence in
me, for shall we not then be good comrades in Nuremberg?" Reinhold
threw his arm around Frederick and looked kindly into his eyes.
Whereupon Frederick said, "The more I look at you, honest friend, the
stronger I feel drawn towards you; I clearly discern within my breast
the wonderful voice which faithfully echoes the cry that you are a
sympathetic spirit I must tell you all--not that a poor fellow like me
has any important secrets to confide to you, but simply because there
is room in the heart of the true friend for _his_ friend's pain, and
during the first moments of our new acquaintance even I acknowledge you
to be my truest friend.
"I am now a cooper, and may boast that I understand my work; but all my
thoughts have been directed to another and a nobler art since my very
childhood. I wished to become a great master in casting statues and in
silver-work, like Peter Fischer24 or the Italian Benvenuto Cellini;25
and so I worked with intense ardour along with Herr Johannes
Holzschuer,26 the well-known worker in silver in my native town yonder.
For although he did not exactly cast statues himself, he was yet able
to give me a good introduction to the art. And Herr Tobias Martin, the
master-cooper, often came to Herr Holzschuer's with his daughter,
pretty Rose. Without being consciously aware of it, I fell in love with
her. I then left home and went to Augsburg in order to learn properly
the art of casting, but this first caused my smouldering passion to
burst out into flames. I saw and heard nothing but Rose; every exertion
and all labour that did not tend to the winning of her grew hateful to
me. And so I adopted the only course that would bring me to this goal.
For Master Martin will only give his daughter to the cooper who shall
make the very best masterpiece in his house, and who of course finds
favour in his daughter's eyes as well. I deserted my own art to learn
cooperage. I am now going to Nuremberg to work for Master Martin. But
now that my home lies before me and Rose's image rises up before my
eyes, I feel overcome with anxiety and nervousness, and my heart sinks
within me. Now I see clearly how foolishly I have acted; for I don't
even know whether Rose loves me or whether she ever will love me."
Reinhold had listened to Frederick's story with increasing attention.
He now rested his head on his arm, and, shading his eyes with his hand,
asked in a hollow moody voice, "And has Rose never given you any signs
of her love?" "Nay," replied Frederick, "nay, for when I left Nuremberg
she was more a child than a maiden. No doubt she liked me; she smiled
upon me most sweetly when I never wearied plucking flowers for her in
Herr Holzschuer's garden and weaving them into wreaths, but----" "Oh!
then all hope is not yet lost," cried Reinhold suddenly, and so
vehemently and in such a disagreeably shrill voice that Frederick was
almost terrified. At the same time he leapt to his feet, his sword
rattling against his side, and as he stood upright at his full stature
the deep shadows of the night fell upon his pale face and distorted his
gentle features in a most unpleasant way, so that Frederick cried,
perfectly alarmed, "What's happened to you all at once?" and stepping
back, his foot knocked against Reinhold's bundle. There proceeded from
it the jarring of some stringed instrument, and Reinhold cried angrily,
"You ill-mannered fellow, don't break my lute all to pieces." The
instrument was fastened to the bundle; Reinhold unbuckled it and ran
his fingers wildly over the strings as if he would break them all. But
his playing soon grew soft and melodious. "Come, brother," said he in
the same gentle tone as before, "let us now go down into the village.
I've got a good means here in my hands to banish the evil spirits who
may cross our path, and who might in particular have any dealings with
me." "Why, brother," replied Frederick, "what evil spirits will be
likely to have anything to do with us on the way? But your playing is
very, very nice; please go on with it."
The golden stars were beginning to dot the dark azure sky. The night
breezes in low murmurous whispers swept lightly over the fragrant
meadows. The brooks babbled louder, and the trees rustled in the
distant woods round about Then Frederick and Reinhold went down the
slope playing and singing, and the sweet notes of their songs, so full
of noble aspirations, swelled up clear and sharp in the air, as if they
had been plumed arrows of light. Arrived at their quarters for the
night, Reinhold quickly threw aside lute and bundle and strained
Frederick to his heart; and Frederick felt on his cheeks the scalding
tears which Reinhold shed.
_How the two young journeymen, Reinhold and Frederick, were taken into
Master Martin's house._