Before daylight, on the following morning, the children were already up.
Mina combed and plaited her long hair by herself, in order to prove to
her mother that she was fit to be trusted alone amongst strangers. Fritz
also was washed and his hair combed, and he himself carefully dressed by
the same hour, for on those hot summer days it was necessary to set out
early.
The schoolmaster had given the children a very exact description of the
road and all the places through which they must pass; the mother put
bread and early pears in Mina's basket as refreshment by the way,
together with some nice fresh butter, carefully laid in damp green
leaves as a little present for Mrs. Dote. Fritz's knapsack was packed as
full as it could hold, with his Sunday clothes, a clean frock for Mina,
and a change of linen, and all else that was necessary for them both, on
so great and unexampled a journey. Mina was to carry the little basket,
and a large red umbrella, a piece of old family property, which the
mother gave them in case of need. They made a hearty breakfast of new
milk and bread, and this over Fritz took his cap and his newly-cut hazel
stick in his hand, whilst Mina, having put on her round straw hat, took
the little basket on her arm. Their hearts felt a little heavy on this
the first great leave-taking of their lives, and the good mother seemed
as if she could never make an end of her admonitions and warnings, her
messages and compliments to Mrs. Dote. But at length the last farewell
was spoken, and the brother and sister, their young hearts throbbing
with the excitement of adventure, set forth on their way. The parents
gazed after them till they had turned the corner, and then the father
went into his beloved flower-garden, and the mother into the house, to
look after her yet sleeping children.
Mina's heavy heart was soon light, as she walked on in the clear
freshness of the morning air, which heralded a fine day. These children
were not accustomed to parties of pleasure or to amusements; their
journeyings hitherto had never extended beyond three or four miles from
home, as far as Elsingen, where the grandmother lived, and yet now they
had set out on such a long journey on a visit to Mrs. Dote, the
lady-housekeeper of a royal castle! How joyously their hearts beat, how
brilliantly their imaginations coloured the glories that awaited them!
Mrs. Dote, the castle housekeeper, was once lady's maid in the noble
family of Erlichhofen, where, also, the schoolmaster had held his first
appointment; she had, in consequence, become very friendly with the
schoolmaster's family, and had been greatly looked up to, as a person of
much experience, by the schoolmaster's young wife, so that the
black-eyed Fritz, who was her godson, had an especial claim to her
regard. Years went on; the schoolmaster was ordered to a distant place,
and they heard nothing for a long time of Miss Lisette, till at length
she surprised them by a visit with her husband, an old man, keeper or
house-steward of the royal hunting-castle of Barenburg, whom she, not
then by any means young herself, had married. The schoolmaster and his
wife returned the visit, and there it ended; for the distance was too
great for the wife, who was delicate, to go on foot, and driving was too
expensive an affair for a schoolmaster. Soon afterwards, also, the
house-steward fell ill, and his wife was wholly engaged in attending
him; and after his death, being herself advanced to his office, and the
care of the castle entirely confided to her, she could not be absent
from her trust even for a single day. She had, however, long since
invited her godson and his sister to pay her a visit, and now at length
it was about to be accomplished.
The children walked onward, beguiling the way with merry talk; they had
soon passed the familiar scenes which lay between them and the next
village, and thenceforth it was wholly a land of new discovery. "But,
look, that little brook runs along a good deal merrier than our slow
Steinbach at home!"
"Just look there, on the hillside lies a churchyard, with nothing but
white crosses!" said Mina, in a melancholy tone.
"A beautiful churchyard!" laughed out Fritz, "it's nothing but a flock
of geese; hark how they are cackling!"
"Oh yes!" returned little Mina, sorry that she had felt melancholy
without any need. "But what a queer church-tower! Do you see, there are
four little towers round one great old one! And just look there, they
have got the stork's nest on the town-house! how foolish! A stork's nest
belongs to the church."
By degrees, however, the spirit for making new discoveries cooled; the
cheerful talk ceased, and their steps became more and more weary; the
sun was very hot, and the children were unaccustomed to long walks. They
had, before setting out, said so much about their own strength, that
they now felt ashamed of confessing to each other how tired they were,
till at length Mina said, "But, I say, Fritz, how far have we yet to
go?"
"We must sit down for a little while that I may study our
travelling-map," said Fritz consequentially; and they looked out for a
nice, shady place, on the grassy edge of the field, under some willows,
which having found, it was with a great sense of relief that the boy
threw down his knapsack and stretched himself on the soft green turf.
"Mossigheim, a mile and half," read he from the paper on which his
father had noted down the distances; "we have passed that; Erlach, three
miles--that was the place with the queer church-tower; Rothenhof, three
miles--that must be the beautiful farm-house yonder, all amongst the
fruit trees; next comes Disselsburg, where father said we were to take
our first rest. Now, however, we must quietly study the travelling-map;
but we will, in the first place, rest a little while."
"Oh yes!" sighed little Mina, who was thoroughly tired; "but shall we be
soon at the castle?"
"Not just yet," said Fritz, in a low voice; "we have only come about
seven miles and a half, and we have now ten and a half to go."
"Oh, that is impossible!" exclaimed Mina, "for it is only fifteen miles
altogether."
"Well, see," said Fritz, drawing out with great importance his father's
silver watch, as large and as thick almost as a warming-pan, and which
had been lent to him for this journey; "we set out at five o'clock, now
it is eight; we will only go a little farther, as far as to where the
guide-post stands."
"Is it eight o'clock, and so hot already!" sighed Mina; "dear Fritz, I
should so like to go to sleep for a little while!"
"Go to sleep," said he, in a fatherly tone, "and I'll take care of you
the while; when you have had half-an-hour's sleep, we shall be able to
reach Mrs. Dote's by noon."
Mina folded the shawl that her mother had given her in case of cool
evenings, laid it under her head, and dropped into a sweet sleep. Fritz
thought he could look at the country far better if he lay down, and his
well-filled knapsack making a splendid pillow, he, too, was soon fast
asleep by his sister, they, neither of them, having slept well the
preceding night. They forgot the heat, the weariness, and the oppressive
thirst, which the pears they had eaten, and which were not very juicy,
had rather increased than otherwise. Fritz forgot also that he had not
only his sister, but his father's precious watch to guard, and slept as
sweetly and as soundly as in his bed at home.
"Nay, what sort of tramps have we got lying here!" was the exclamation
which Fritz heard, as he at length awoke out of a long sound sleep. He
looked up with amazement and rubbed his eyes, as he saw the green trees
and the blue sky above him, instead of the white-washed ceiling at home,
and a tall respectable-looking countryman standing before him, who again
spoke: "Eh, my young fellow, where do you come from?"
Fritz was now wholly master of himself, and whilst Mina slowly awoke,
and like himself gazed round her with astonishment, he related to the
farmer where they came from, and the journey they were upon, in proof of
which he showed him his father's silver watch and the map of the journey
which he had drawn.
"Indeed! you are going to Barenburg, then; I know the housekeeper very
well; she is a very good lady; but it is twelve full miles there, every
inch! In what condition are your feet for walking?"
Fritz sprang up, and felt himself again ready for the march; Mina's
limbs, however, were stiff from the rest; and when she began to walk, it
was with difficulty.
"Nay, that young lass is not used to such long walks," said the farmer
good-naturedly; "she can get as far as my house down yonder, and then we
must see what is to be done."
And what a beautiful, substantial farm-house they were taken to, with
the pretty garden in front, and the splendid meadow behind, and the nice
cool parlour, which was shaded from the sun by the projecting thatch;
and then what a kind farmer's wife she was, who set before them
delicious butter-milk and new-baked cakes, for they had that morning
been baking. The children were overjoyed. Mina had heard and read a
great deal about the dangers of the world, but if everywhere throughout
the world people were as good as these, it could not be so very bad. The
farmer's wife, who had been born and brought up at this farm, and had
never in all her life been farther from home than Disselsburg, felt
great compassion for the children, who had come such a long way. She
would not therefore hear of them again setting out before dinner,
although they had partaken so largely of cake and butter-milk that they
were in no condition to do much honour to the excellent buttered oatmeal
porridge, of which the dinner principally consisted.
The children of the farmer, who also came hot and tired from the school,
beheld with great astonishment the young travellers, who appeared to
them to have such polished town manners, though Steinheim was anything
but metropolitan. Before long, however, they became quite familiar, took
them into the stable and showed them a calf and a young kid.
It was very agreeable to the children in this hospitable house, but the
twelve full miles, of which the farmer had spoken, lay like a weight on
Mina's soul. How could it possibly be so far to Barenburg Castle?
"Do you know what?" said the farmer, when, after dinner, they were
thinking of again setting out. "I promised some time ago to take a
waggon-load of straw to Kochendorf; I shall not be doing anything with
the horses this afternoon, I will therefore have the straw loaded; you
can ride nicely upon it, and from Kochendorf down to Barenburg is only a
nice little mile and half, and in the cool of the evening I can drive
home, and you reach the end of your journey."
No sooner said than done! Fritz thought it was rather a pity that the
pedestrian journey upon which they had calculated so much had now
dwindled down to a mere nothing; but Mina, not being ambitious in this
way, accepted with the greatest delight a lofty seat on the soft bundles
of straw. The beautiful butter that her mother had sent by them for Mrs.
Dote was becoming soft from the heat by this time, therefore the kind
farmer's wife exchanged it for some of her own, which was fresh, of a
much finer colour and quality, and quite firm from having been kept in
ice-cold water.
Towards evening, a little shaken, but at the same time nicely rocked as
in a cradle, for the waggon travelled slowly, the children reached
Kochendorf. The waggoner helped them down from their lofty throne-like
seat; Mina carefully picked off from Fritz and herself all the straws
that hung dangling about them, then taking up their knapsack and basket,
after a friendly leave of the kind farmer, they followed in the cool of
the evening, with renewed strength and cheerful hearts, the road that
was pointed out to them.
It was at first a narrow green path between thick hedges, where they
could scarcely see many paces in advance; before long, however, it
opened into a broad, magnificent avenue of old lime-trees, which, now in
flower, filled the air with a delicious fragrance. With beating hearts
and full of a strange expectation, the children pursued this road which
seemed already very grand, and unlike anything they had been accustomed
to.