Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/169

vehicle, stepped out himself, and made his family do the same. “Hans,” said he, “go gently up the mountain, and wait for us under the three linden trees thou wilt come to; don’t be uneasy if we do not immediately join thee; the horses will have time to rest and graze a bit. We’re going by a foot-path I’m acquainted with, somewhat round about, ’tis true, but very pleasant.” He then conducted his family through the wood into the valley, and down to the copse at its extremity, where he looked about, up and down, here and there, until his wife began to fear he had lost his way, and proposed to him to return and get into the high road again. Hereupon Veit called around him his six children, who were playing about, and said: “Thou believest, my dear wife, that we are going to pay a visit to thy friends; but such is not, just now, my intention. Thy rich relations are niggards and knaves, who, when in my affliction I went to seek consolation and assistance at their hands, treated me with insolence and outrage, and turned me out of doors. No; ’tis here resides the benefactor to whom our gratitude is due for our present well-being, who lent me, on my bare word, the hundred dollars which have so prospered in my hands. This is the day he fixed for the repayment of the debt. And who, thinkest thou, is our creditor? No other than the Lord of the Mountain, whom men call Rubezahl.” The wife was horribly frightened at this intelligence,