Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 1.djvu/69

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NECROMANCER.
57

"Hunting was his only amusement, and he always kept a vast number of deer, which were the ruin of the peasants' little property, and reduced them to the utmost poverty; no one dared to drive them from his fields, and if he did, he was confined in a damp dungeon, under ground, for many weeks. When that wicked man wanted to hunt, then the whole village was called together, to serve him instead of dogs; if any one was not alert enough then he would hunt him, instead of the deer, 'till he fell down expiring under the lashes of his whip."

"One time after he had roved about from morning 'till night, he fell from his horse and broke his wicked neck: He was buried in his garden: But now he was terribly punished for his wickedness, having had no rest in his grave to the present day: At certain times of the year he is doomed to appear in the village, at twelve o'clock at night, and to make his entry into the castle with his infernal crew, but as soon as the"clock.