Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-06-26

II fonndlmg, nicknamch thu Hcttlckns-
par VIII" had been brought mr. in tho
village Sichcnhauscq,, and Mas nccustom-
CT for years TO tend cattle On tho Alien
berg, an old mountain i'll the neighbour
hood; but there is q peculiarly III thus
mountain that had entirely escaped his
notice namely, Il deep hole on the summit.
Ii any ono lies DOWN and places his car
there, or stamps upon the ground, he will
plainly perceive from the sound that lo is
over Il deep hollow.
One cvorng, while the Ecttlckaspar WAS
sitting ne;u the oriiice eating his bread, IL
grey little man, with pleasant expression
OF cuuntenancc, suddenly stood before him.
tic was very small, very old, and his
beard vas white as snow.
"Yol are the very man l want" OK
claimed the dwarf, "for you have neither
father, mother, nor home, and nobody
knows rightly who you arc. Throug h
this fortunate circumstance you arc in Il
condition to effect the RESCUE Of two beau
tiiuI n,aidens, who arc spell-bound in this
mountain. Come to.morrow,a at noon, wi
your cattle, without telling anybody what
you have heard. The young ladies vii,
then make their appearance. and you will
have nothing more to do but to carry
lhcir bundles, and to roar with them
through the air to Mount Sinai. where the
keys Of the Altcnbsry are kept, which you
will receive as your reward. Tho maid.
cns will be freed from the curse, and YOU
will open subtcrrlnean door, and tiad a
great store OF casks, some filled with the
thni,.n.t ,vinou ntl,orv &;l)n,l ,.,;tb H. ....
est gold"
The Bcetlekaspar so far kept his word,
that he told his wife nothing hat had hap
pened, though he ordered her to get his
breakfast ready somewhat earlier thar,
usual, and set off for the Altcnberg. Pre-
clse!y 1T nooH the little man was again
before him, accompanied this time by the
two n.aidcns, whom he treated with tho
greatest reverence. Thoy were very tall
ANA the features were extremely regular,
but thor faces were uncon,monly . tie.
Not only were their garments white, but
they had white kerchets on their heads,
and wore white shoes. Their bundles Law
at their feet.
The dwarf told the Bcctlckaspar to put
the bundles on his back with all possible
speed, rs something" might otherwise
come, which would carry off the whole
party. However, all things considered,
their was no great danger.
A sudden misglving camc over the cow
herd, and nc stood motionless, rejecting
that the wind, instead Of waiting him safe.
ly I" the end Of his journey ,mis possibly
drop him into the water. just Us he was
about to give verbal expression to his
thoughts, the young laIies startled him
with u piercing shrek, and. looking be-
hind him, he saw il tall, black, horrible
looking man, who breathed fire out Of his
mouth. lie now shouted in his turn
whereupon all that was beautiful, and ali
that was ugly, vanished in i. twinkling,
and no found himself alone with his hunk
of dry bread and his cattle. The fright
proved too much for him, and he was dead
and buried before the following spring.
One legend of the district treats, indeed.
Of a White Lady who haunts the Bilstein
IL mountain near Lauterbach; and who is
said to have been the daughter Of king,
who murdered her father, because he
would not consent to her marriage with /.
man Of low degree. Like the others, she
implores all who come near her to work
out her salvation. But generally, it will
DO seen, the White Lady is essentially a
beneficial being, whose misery arises, not
for any crime committed during mortal
life, bu, from that false position in which
u heather deity must tc placed after the
conversation Of Il people to Christianity
In modern times til, personal existence Of
pagan gods is Of course utterly disbeliev.
cd; but it was not 80 in earlior ages
Saint Augnstin and other fathers of The
Church, far from wholly rejecting the
Greek and Roman mythology US Il tissue
Of mere fables, maintained that the false
deities were actual demons, who sought t.
divert the mind Of man from the truth
The same Wow frequently appears in
popular legends, and We may refer par
ticularly to Ludwig Tcicl,'s beautiful story
Of the Faithful Eckhart, according t.
which tho Goddess Venus rciyns in a
mountain, named after her, as Il foo ia
Christianity. In the lIcssian legends
given above, the revered Odin has become
u hateful spectre, the a,,.iable Bertha a
helpless mourner, v;.inly signing for re.
demption.-AN The Year Ro"nd.