The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-07-29
rom the old German Legend Of Der Kynast
THE FATAL vow.
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| VI LILO CdotlCf oho
ened himself in his saddle. His bright
blue eye lighted with that keen glance
with which brave men measure ditheul-
ties and grapple with them. why
not" he murmured half aloud, "he Is q
good steed and keeps step like a human
being. Bernard de Vado rode his sire
at the siege of Lilion, and up a rampant
almost as narrow as yonder castle wall.
And have loved her so long and 50
hopelessly! Why should l not try"
LEAD me to your lady," he said,
"since she has given audience to her
vassals she may not refuse to speak with
me-"
"Fuir Countess" he said, as he was
ushered into her presence, 81 come to
crave your permission to accept Il
| test you have imposed on your suitOrs." /"
This is worse than madness, Court
Albert cried Cunigunde. "By my
vow merely wished to show the i'm
possibility of complying with the inso-
lent demands of my vassals. The wild
est knight errant could not take it up"
"Perhaps not, fair Cunigunde,' said
the knight; "but the widest lover pre-
fers death to hopeless life. have
thrown myself in forays against the
heavy lances of my enemies, that they
might pierce the heart your scorn has
so cruelty wounded. But death, that
never comes when il is wanted, fled
from me. At least, l will lie un-
der the battlements of your tower,
ana your sweet eyes will drop one
| tear over thetruest love woman ever had.
Not so not SOP cried the Countess,
wringing her hands; "fOr Gods sake
lay not blood guilt on my soul. may
not revoke my vow, but oh i. Albert,
good and true knight, remember your
aged father, your young sister, your
gallant brothers, and bring not destrnc-
ton on yourself, and a clinging curse on
me-"
Court Albert shook his head.
"Nay, fair lady," he said, "yhat is life
| to Inc without your loveW
The old, impatient spirit that, for a
moment, had been suppressed i'll the
Countess by a natural womanly weak
ness, and some remOsre for an unwise
vow, now rose to this opposition.
"Out on you, Count of Erlau," she
cried. "What would you win, even if
| SuCCcSSlul W IlSu tduuOI NC uuI tH uii
willing bridei is it the devoir of a
gallant knight to cast away his life for
u mistress, who, of her own free will,
would not give him faded flower from
her bosom"
The knight in reply dropped on his
knee, and taking her reluctant hand
pressed it to his lips. ''Your scorn,
lady" he said. sis nothing new to me :;
but Albert of Erlau would rather be the
victim of your cruelty than the favored
lover of any other woman. If | win,
the saints that guarded Inc can work
another miracle in my favor. fl lose
it will be but the fate seek in every
combat And without awaiting i re-
ply he left the room.
1t would be doing injustice to Cuni-
gunde to say that her grief was not in
tense at this unexpected result of her
hasty vow. With Il white rigid face
and hands clasped convtsively togcth-
er, at one moment imploring the mercy
of heaven, at the other calling down
maledicticns on her own head for her
wicked oath, she awaited the return of
the messenger she had dispatched to
witness the terrible ordeal of the luck
less knight. 1t only needed aglance at
his horror stricken face as he rushed in,
to her presence to tell her the result, and
she fell senseless to the ground.
.'He rode twenty yards" said the SEN
eschal in answer TO the breathless ques-
tions of the woman who supported the
Countess, "and right gallantly too, but
ut the turn the horse baked, his nos.
trils seemed drawn in by terror, and
with horrible cry he fell sheer down
the precipice. AS he fell Count Albert
waved his hand, and cried out, Tell her
| await her.
When Cunigunde recovered from her
swoOn. there was no perceptible aglta-
ton in her manner. She had masses
said tor the repose of the knights soul,
but it was noticed she did not assist in
them. At chapel, or in the confession
al, she was no more visible, and people
began to whisper she had sold her soul
to the powers of darkness by her un-
godly vow. In fact she seemed 20 take
a diabolical satisfaction in the number
of her victims. who increased, no way
deferred by the fate of their predecess-
ors. The fame of her vow, her beauty,
and her wealth went to the farthest
ends of Christendom, and what one
knight ventured, another would have
thought it shame to chivalry not to at
tempt. The two brothers of Count AL
bert were among the victims, and the
Countess made no effort to restrain
them from their fate. In fact, she used
all the Establishments of her beauty to
entice her suitOrs to their destruction.
She would even stand in the courtyard
of the castle, her crimson garments
sweeping the ground, and gems flashing
in the sunlight on head and bosom, but
with light in her eyes far brighter,
and smile on her lips that only deep
ened when the doomed riders plunged
headlong over the wall. Her bower
maidens shrunk from her. They told
strange tales of voices being heard in
her room, unearthly laughter and
shrieks at midnight, Ind one morning
there was mark on heT wrist as if hot
iron band had encircled it.
But little Cunignnde needed neither
them or their surmises,. and the
knights rode AID fell to her hearts con-
tent.
But one day strange knight craved
admlttance TO the castle, on the pea Oh
illness, which had arrested his journey
to the East. In those early ages the
Chateleins combined leechcraft with
their other duties, and Cumgunde, in
spite of diabolical tendencies, was a
gentle and skillful nurse.
The knight, who was handsome as
an AntinoHs, was also the possessor of
remarkable accomplishments for those
rude times He read as none of the
monks of the neighboring cow ent could
do, aud the lays of the Minnesingers he
chose to delight the ears of the
Countess with was of an enervat-
ing softness that owed less to the senti-
ments of the Swabian poets than to the
eloquent tones that uttered them. He
was poet himself, too and with his
dreamy eyes fixed on the beautiful face
of the Countess he would improvise
stanza after stanza, full of the passion
ate love that women like TO awaken.
Under his gaze her bright, violet eyes
grew soft, and world of meaning met
his glance, that made her maidens whis-
per and nod their heads in significant
\ man0ar