The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-03


 of her heritage of made and semi-made kings, 1t is now more evident than ever that The Lady of the Lake, will de- serve much of the credit. For no less a parsonage than the Countess von Cas- tell, Lady in Waiting at the Bavarian court, vouches for the return after 2s years, of .propheysing wrath, in which the rural population adjacent to lovely Starnbergersee devoutly believe, and of which the assassinated Empress Eliza beth of Austria wrote to her sister Marie, ex-queen of Naples.
 It was in Starnbergersee, 25 years ago, that King Ludwig drowned him self, according to the wraith's prophecy. Two months previous to Ludwig's death the late Empress Elizabeth visited the
 King at the castle, finding him almost mental wreck, though he talked ra-
 tionally enough at times. Her letter
 to Queen Marie contained the follow
 ing:
 Before I went away l told him of
 the Lady of the Lake that recently ap-
 peared to us--Sophie and melville we
 were canoeing all by ourselves near
 Castle Possenhofen It was moon
 light night, and the lake was deserted
 but for the tiny craft of ours. Sud denly, as we approached Castle Berg,
 the Lady of the Lake came into sight, tfcCl III lici lily Slci iouo pOot tJ
 which, like her white gown, was
 strewn with water lilies. And on her
 head she wore crown of water lilies, ".What will become of us and him
 whom we love-? queried I.
 The Lady of the Lake moaned dis mally. Woe unto Ludwig, she cried. | The waters will destroy him.' "'And my fate?' I inquired.
 "'Iron will cut thy heart in twain. 1 spoke the spectre.
 I Horrible. horrible cried Sophie l burying her face in her hands
 I Thine continued the spectre, will 1 be the most crucial. yet the most he ! roic death. Thou will die by fire I This s'sprophecy, as everyone knows came true. As shown, King Ludwig
 was drowned Sophie, his x-betrothed who was the Duchess D'Alecon, died by 1 fire on May 4, 1897, when the Paris Charity bazaar was burned down; and the. Empress Elizabeth was killed by a stilleto in the hand of an Italian an
 archist at Geneva a year later. 1 Practically everybody around Starn bergersee believes in the Lady of the Lake, who was in her day real per- | son, namely the, Baroness Irma von fTillenbach. The Tillenbachs had a l landed estate near Castle Berg, King Ludwig's residence, during the early Y y CUTS Ol iiiS iSiSi. Ilc was lDtH very handsome man.. and young Irma was l desperately in love with him. In order 1 to see him. Irn1a became a wanderer on l the lake, her canoe trailing the royal gig, or awaiting it on its return at night and as she was of a romantic nature she dressed for the occasion | in a long white robe garnished with water lilies. In the eyes of the super stitious and emotional, the fact that faI wa ,sc.r. .at1l laaiec
 the interest
 The Kaisers recent remarks on Islam to well known missionary have raised d storm of indignation among his sub- Jects; and 1t would almost seem as though ,is imperial majestey was unable to avoid tue fire of public criticism. Indeed lihe once confessed that this was the case In conversation with a friend. who em- phaszed that he had been misunderstood the Kaiser staid "Oh, don't let yourself be disturbed by criticism. Just think
 how l am criticised, During all the years ar my reign people have been finding
 faults with me. Sixty millions of Ger monss represfnted by seventy million
 opinions. hi spite of the fact that he is so often putting his foot in it," how ever, the Kaiser is really immensely pop ular with his people. It IS merely. his impetuosty that causes him to get into
 temporary hot water.
 It. is this impetuosty which occasion ally lands the Kaiser into amusing sit- uations. He cannot bear to think that
 anyone knows more upon subject than
 he does. and not long ago he even went
 so far as to make a bet that he was
 sish' on question of zoology. He was Twisting a rnenagerie in Germany, and
 wes being shown round by we'll known animal trainer. Caihin. h>fAA@ ---. -s