The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-02-28
THE IRON STUMP.
A Quaint Legend of the Old, Old City
of Vienna.
Arthur Guiterman In March st.
Nicholas

Arthur Guterman In March st
Nicholas
No one knows the precise age of
the Austrian city of Vienna, although
there are plenty of patriotic Viennese
who VIII tell you that the first found
ations of their beloN ed town on the
beautiful blue Danube were laid, inn
mediately after the deluge, by one
Abraham, near descendant of the pat
riarch Noah; and few will admit that
its earliest walls are any younger than
those of Rome. At all events. IL is
undoubtedly very old city, treasur-
ing many old and curious. things; and
though far from the oldest, one of the
quaintest of its antiquities" is the
mysterious stock in -Eisen," or Iron
stump" about which are told tales
enough TO while away many an even
ing in long winter
Sometime about year $40 A. d., so
runs one legend, the Emperor Louis
the Pious, son of Charlemagne, de-
creed that hunting lodge should be
built for his use in the Wiener Wald
the old Forest of Vienna. Among
those employed i'm rnis work was
Friedrich Mux, a restless young ap-
prentice, who. growing impatient of
the harshness of the master locksmith
whom he served, ran away one sum-
mer evening to seek his fortune, like
many other young apprentices be-
fore and since. But the thick night
of the deep old forest, wandering
round and round until at last he fell
exhausted at the foot of great larch
tree, where he slept till daybreak
awoke him. He opened his eyes
and found to his dismay, that he was
within a few hundred yards of the
very point from which he had started
Then he opened his travellers scrip
to make hasty breakfast, and found,
to his horror, that he had taken with
him costly and beautifully wrought
nail specially designed by his master
to hold the great lock of the imperial
lodge.
Poor Friedrich was now i'm n guam
dary. Three was no way in which he
could with safety to himself return
his unwelcome prize. If he brought
1t back, he would be punished as a
runaway. If he did not do so he
would certainly be proclaimed thief.
AT last, in desperation, he drove the
unlucky treasure TO the head into the
trunk of the tree under which he had
slept. There" he said, "old larch, be
thou a witness for me when / re-
turnr And he went his way.
Five years later Frederick came
again to his native city, a skilled mas
ter locxsmiti' Of great reputation. En-
vious fellow-craftsmen brought
against him charges of the theft of
the precious nail, but the old larch
tree, faithful to its ,rust, proved his
innocence. the missing nail being
still in its sturdy keeping. SO Fried
rich Mux made his peace with his
former master and lived and died a
respected burgher of Vienna.
After this tory became known II
grew a custom of the city that every
locksmith's apprentice as he departed
on his Wanderjahr-the year of tray-
el as a journeyman that must precede
his admission to the gild as a master
workman-should drive into the tree
a nail bearing on its head his initials
or private mark, in imitation and
memory of Friedrich MuX. Thus
year after year new journeymen lock-
smiths drove their memorial nails,
until the stump of the old tree became
as la remains today, mass of iron, so
filed with nails Is every inch of 1t
And year by year the city extended
far into the Wiener Wald, until at
last. of all the ancient wood, the iron
stump of the old larch tree stood
alone, the center of public square.
Now in the year 1873 1t came to
pass that the good burghers of Vien-
ma resolved to protect their famous
Stockim- -Eisen with an encircling iron
band, which band, they further re-
solved, should be fastened with the
finest and most intricate lock that
could be procured. Every master
Iocksmith In the imperial city com
peted for the honor of furnishing this
masterpiece, and many wonderful
contrivances were produced; but fin-
ally, tall, dark stranger, hailing
from nowhere in particular, submit
ted q lock of such SURPRISING ingenu-
ity and beauty that II was at once
chosen by unanimous vote of the
council. But when the stranger was
asked to name the price of the lock,
he named 40 great a sum that the
burgo master, old Heinrich Pfalz. sim
ply laughed in his face. Whereup-
on the stranger stamped his foot in a
terrible rage, snapped the lock shut
on the staple of the iron band, tossed
the key so high into the air that II
has never come down, and finally,
while the open-mouthed citizens were
watching the flight of the key that
mysterious stranger vanished from
Vienna, never to be seen again!
A great reward was offered to him
who could devise a new key TO open
the curious lock.
After many trials by the most
skilled workmen " the kingdom, the