Page:Libussa, Duchess of Bohemia; also, The Man Without a Name.djvu/44

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Libussa.

there were plenty of empty-headed fools, who believed that their new republic was well arranged. They said, that the thing was natural, and that matters in general went on as well as anywhere else; for does not the wolf eat the lamb, the kite the pigeon, and the fox the hen? This weak constitution could have no stability. When the liberty-mania began to subside, and the people became sober again, reason also began to re-assert its rights. The patriots, the honest citizens, and whoever loved his country, assembled in council, and decided on destroying the idol of the many-headed hydra, and to reunite the people under one chief. “Let us choose,” they said, “a prince, who shall govern us according to our ancestral customs, who can curb the licentious, and administer impartial justice. Not the most powerful, not the most daring, not the richest-no; the most wise shall be our Duke. The people, who were long since tired of the extortions of petty tyrants, were this time unanimous, and gave their full approbation to the proposition. A diet was called together, and the unanimous choice fell upon Krokus. An embassy was dispatched to invite him to accept the princely dignity. Although Krokus did not aim at high honours, he hesitated