The Fall of the Yburg
The race of the Yburgs is long since extinct. They inhabited
in olden times the proud stronghold on a cone-shaped mountain some
distance
from the town of Baden, the gray towers of which still remain.
The last lord of the castle was a wild and
terrible
robber-knight. After having squandered his own goods, he began to
consider
how without exposing himself to danger he could best get at the
treasures
which his ancestor was said to have hidden in the ground.
This
– so
the
story ran – had been done just before his ancestor
had been slain by a
hostile
arrow.
As the knight was one evening sitting down to
supper
a pilgrim was announced, who asked for food and a night's lodging. The
master
of the castle was quite enraged at such a daring request, when to his
surprise
the pilgrim boldly entered his chamber, and confided to the knight that
he
had great experience in all kinds of magical arts.
"If you can help me to find the treasure of my
grandfather,"
said the knight, "I shall give you a princely reward."
"That I shall do willingly," replied the pilgrim. "Strange
to say it happened that I was present when the old man whom they called
"the
old growler" hid it in the ground."
"You must be the Devil himself!" roared the knight
jocularly,
not perceiving at the same time the diabolical grin on his companion's
face.
"My ancestor died more than a hundred years ago."
"Nevertheless we both knew each other right well,"
continued
the pilgrim. "But enough of this, just listen now to what I am about to
say.
To-night is the first of May. At midnight you must go down into the
vault
of the chapel, you will open the coffins, take out the dead, and place
them
outside in the moonlight, and then go back and fetch the jewels and
treasures
which your ancestor placed in the coffins for safety."
A shudder of horror came over the knight. However
not
being able to suppress his lust for gold he decided to go down into the
vaults
at midnight. The pilgrim accompanied him as far as the entrance, but
refused
steadfastly to go into this place sacred to the dead. The knight then
set
about his unholy work with trembling hands.
His companion, a hideous grin on his countenance,
stood
at the entrance holding a burning torch.
One coffin after another was opened, but the
search seemed
useless. At last the knight, shaking with fear, came to the last of the
row;
he opened it, but sprang back in horror. There lay his only child, a
handsome
boy sleeping in his white shroud!
"Be quick!" cried his companion, but the unhappy knight
sank an his knees, crossed himself, and strove to murmur a prayer.
The man at the entrance rushed away with a hollow
roar.
The next day the knight quitted his castle in a sack-doth garment; he
wandered
about from one holy place to another, a most penitent pilgrim, until at
last
he was found dead on the steps of an altar, His castle fell into ruins,
but
they say his spirit still haunts the spot.
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