San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-04-16
THE REeENSeURG BRIDGE.
An Interesting Medieval Legend of a
Structure Over the Danube.


! Structure Over the Danube.
Few towns, fancy, combine within theil
walls so many buildings of interest and 81
many memories dear to mankind as Re
gensburg. We sat down upon the pave
ment in the market place to muse of these
things, our backs to church wall and oul
hats full of freshly picked Strawberries
from the basket of an equally fresh peas
ant lassie, who delighted in seeing us eat
her fruit But the monument most inter
esting to a canoeist is the stone bridge
claimed by Regehsburgers to be the strong
est in the world.
AT any rate, the span between the piers
is no wider than the buttresses, and the
river PUSHES through so turbulently as t.
create very risky looking whirlpools and
rapids below. The engineer troops of in
golstadt have to take pilots when they pass
this town, and we were strongly urged to dc
the same, but we had no room and conse
quently determined to try for ourselves
We succeeded by choosing the right hand
arch, and our success was in spite of the
devil, for his share in it's construction was
very great, as every Danube sailor will at
test.
The story runs that while the cathedral
was in course of construction the chic
architect intrusted to a very clever apprerl
tice the task of making this bridge. The
young man felt so confident that he Offered
to span the Danube before his master haj
finished the cathedral. But he finally
found that he had undertaken too much
for the sacred pile went up with great
steadiness, while the bridge moved with
great difficulty. The youngster finally
vented his Encouragement in blasphemous
wishes that the devil might take over the
job.
No sooner spoken than a venerable monk
appeared and offered to do the work. IL
his sandals were cloven hoofs and a tai
whisked under the sacred garb; but never
theless a bargain was made, and it was
agreed that when the bridge was done the
devil was to have the first three living
things that crossed.
The devil kept his word. All the mate
rial came to hand with such devilish rapid
ity that the morning broke upon a com
pleted bridge.
1t was May Day, and of course great
crowd was present, each eager to be first
in crossing so new and magnificent a thor
oughfare. The devil, delighted with his
bargain, rubbed his hands under the sec
ond arch from the shore and waited for his
victims.
rQ ''Stop!" said the architect to the crowd
"Stand backI In the opening of this bridge
we have a solemn ceremony to perform be
fore it can be pronounced safe. Jacob,
said he, with wink to his foreman, 'let
the strangers take precedence"
At these words a rough wolf-dog
followed by cock and a hen, was set al
large, and crossed the first arch of the
bridge. At the same time a dreadful noise
was heard under the piers. The mangleG
remains of the three animals flew in al
directions, and the devil was seen to dis
appear, screaming, Cheated! cheated Of
my fee' The monks now sprinkled holy
water on the bridge, and the happy people
rejoiced.
The second arch of the Regensburg
Bridge, as if to prove the legend, is still
savagely bent upon destroying the boat
man venturing beneath it; and as we had
no desire to measure the strength of our
paddle with that of the devils pitchfork
we carefully avoided it, and advise al!
others to do the same.-Poultney Bigelow
in Harper's.