The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1873-03-07

OF the twelve isolated table mountains
scattered through this extraordinary dis
trict, the Lilienstein is the highest, being
nearly thirteen hundred feet above the sea,
and surprising by u hundred and seventy
feet its opposite neighbor, Konigsten.
did not find it so troublesome to mount
as had anticipated, as there are narrow
paths cut in the rock, and scaling ladders
fixed where the wall is perpendicular. The
view from the top includes Dresden, and
extends to the north as far as Nielsen, and
on the south takes in the Bohemian noun
tains. In 1918 the French had a fortified
camp at the base of Lilienstein, and during
the Seven Years War eighteen thousand
SaXons surrendered to Frederick the Great,
under the very eyes of their king, Angus
tus, who was at the time shut up in the
fortress.
In dismal cave on the south side Of the
Liliensteln troop of gnomes are wont to
meet on the night of the 30th of April the
famous MISUNDERSTANDING the purpose
of reckoning up the treasures in their keep
ing and holding o mystic revel. The pea
SAINTS in that region give the most implicit
credenco to this myth, believing that the
gnomes then bring together all the pre-
cious metals they are appointed to watch
over, and dance around them in grewsome
glee. Some of the rustics claim to have
seen ghostly fires on the rugged steep, and
to have heard weird laughter and hilarity
therefrom at the hour of midnight, and
would make oath to this on all the evan
gels.
A legend, to the truth of which the pea
SAINTS will be sworn, is that one of their
number, in the fourteenth century, was i'm.
PEELED by curiosity, strengthened by I'M
faltering courage, to witness the antics of
the gnomes on the Walpurgis night. He
clambered up the Lilienstein before dusk,
and secured favorable point of view ere
the unearthly riot began. The gnomes were
punctual-1 have always suspected punctu-
ality to be a supernatural Yicc-assem-
bling in due season, with heaps Of silver
and gold, and commencing in awful mys
terry their goblin carnival. The mortal
Witness as he afterward narrated, saw them
strike the rock, from which ruddy wine
flowed in streams; and this they drank in
such quantities that they became human in
their drunkenness. They capered, scream
ed, and fought, turning the Walpurgis
into st. Patrick's Day, and in their fcro-
city tore off each others heads and arms,
which at once grew on again. After they
had dismembered one another twenty or
thirty times all round, moved by a spirit of
forgiveness and generosity thoroughly Mile.
sian, they embraced, and increased their po-
tatiOns
Then stole the mortal forth-tradition
has given him the name of Hans Mercher.
mann--wth the intent of carrying off some
of the pure gold and silver lying in profusc
ingots all over the cavern. He seized Il
huge lump of gold, put it on his shoulder,
and hurried off without waking one of the
demoniac crew. Ere he had gone fifty ellis
he heard the COLLINS shouting after him
Frightened at this, he threw it away
and hurried down the mountain (the fable
gives no particulars of his ascent and
descenD, and the next day reached his
humble home, delighted with his adven-
I ture, and made thereby the strong magnet
to the iron ofall his fellow. villagers.
When Hans woke the following morning
the heavy bar Of gold was on his shoulder.
Bearing it to the Elbe, lie sank it in the
middle of the stream, but within twenty
four hours it came back to him, and from
that time he sought to get rid OF it in vain.
He soon grew to be considered rs one nc
cursed. Men and women avoided and
children fled from him. The vision of the
gold bar was an i'll omen. Hans Mercher-
mann became a solitary, and life loathsome
to him. He wandered from place to place,
but the story of his doom followed him.
Neither rest nor hope was longer possible,
and one morning he was discovered dead
in the principal street Of Bautzen, having
cut his throat in despair When seen the
night previous the bar of gold was on his
shoulder, but the corpse was without it,
and every body believed the bar had re-
turned to the gnomes, who had allowed
Hans to take it as a malediction for his
curiosity and avarice.-- From Along the
Elbe," by Junius Henri Browne, in Hdr-
per'S Magazine for March.
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