Ekkehard Volume Ii Part 30

But Ekkehard was not dead.

A low hissing sound, made the d.u.c.h.ess start up from her reverie. Her eyes glided over the dark rocky wall, down which the prisoner had once made his escape, and beheld a dark figure disappearing in the shade, whilst an arrow sped towards her, and dropped heavily at her feet.

She bent down to take up the curious missile. No hostile hand had sent it from the bow. Thin parchment-leaves were rolled round the shaft, whilst the point was covered with some wild flowers. She untied the leaves, and did not fail to recognize the handwriting. It was "Waltari's song." On the first page was written in pale red ink: "A parting salutation for the d.u.c.h.ess of Suabia!" and beside it the words of the apostle James: "Blessed is the man, who has conquered temptation."

Then the proud woman inclined her head, and wept bitterly.--

Here our story is ended.

Ekkehard went out into the wide world, and never set eyes again on the Hohentwiel. Neither did he ever return to the monastery of St. Gall. It is true that when he descended from the Alps and approached the well-known walls, he reflected whether he should not enter it again as a penitent; but at the right moment an adage of the old Master of the Alps occurred to him: "when a man has once been master, he does not like to become a servant again,"--and so he pa.s.sed by.

Later, a good deal was talked about a certain Ekkehard at the court of the Saxon Emperor, who was said to be a proud, strong-willed and reserved man; who to great piety united great contempt for the world,--but contented, active and well-versed in all the arts. He became the Emperor's chancellor, and tutor of his young son; and his counsel was of great influence in all the affairs of the realm. One historian reports of him, that by degrees he had risen to so much honour, that there was a rumour that the highest dignity of the Church was awaiting him.

The Empress Adelheid, also held him in great esteem; and his influence was one of the chief causes that an army was sent out against the overbearing King of Denmark.

It has not been ascertained whether this was the same Ekkehard of our story.

Others have pretended that there had been several monks of the name of Ekkehard in the monastery of St. Gall; and that he, who had instructed the d.u.c.h.ess in Latin, was not the same who had composed Waltari's song.

Those, however, who have attentively read the story which we have now happily brought to a conclusion, know better.

About the fate of the others whom our tale, in many-coloured forms, has brought before the reader's eye, there is not much left to be told.

The d.u.c.h.ess Hadwig never married again; and in her pious widowhood reached a considerable age. Later, she founded a humble little convent on the Hohentwiel, to which she bequeathed her territories in the Allemannian lands.

Ekkehard's name was no more allowed to be mentioned before her; but Waltari's song was read very often, and she evidently derived much pleasure and comfort from it. According to an,--however unwarranted a.s.sertion of the monks from the Reichenau,--she is said to have known it almost by heart.

Praxedis faithfully served her mistress for some years more; but by degrees an irresistible longing for her bright, sunny home, took possession of her, so that she declared that she could not bear the Suabian air any longer.

Richly dowered, the d.u.c.h.ess let her go from her. Master Spazzo, the chamberlain, gave her a gallant and honourable escort as far as Venetia; from whence a Greek galley bore the still pretty maiden from the city of St. Mark, to Byzantium. The accounts which she gave there of the Bodensee, and the rough but faithful barbarian hearts near its sh.o.r.es, were received by all the waiting-women at the Greek court with a dubious shake of the head, as if she were speaking of a bewitched sea, and some fabulous country.

Old Moengal, for some time longer took care of the spiritual welfare of his parishioners. When the Huns threatened the land with another invasion, he spent much time in making plans for their reception. He proposed to dig some hundred deep pit-falls in the plain; to cover them with boughs and ferns, and behind them, in full battle-array, to wait for the enemy; so that horses and riders should thus be frustrated in their wicked designs.

The evil guests, however, did not make their reappearance in the Hegau, and thus robbed the parish-priest of the pleasure of splitting their skulls with the mighty blows of his shilalah. A peaceful death overtook the old sportsman, just when he was about to rest himself after a prosperous falcon-hunt. On his grave, in the shadow of his grey parish-church there grew a holly-bush, which became higher and more knotty than any which had ever been seen in those parts; and people said that it must be an offspring of their priest's good bludgeon, Camb.u.t.ta.

Audifax, the goat-herd, learned the goldsmith's art, and settled down in the bishopric of Constance, where he produced much fine workmanship.

The companion of his adventures, there became his wedded spouse, and the d.u.c.h.ess was G.o.d-mother to their first little son.

Burkhard the cloister-pupil, became a celebrated Abbot of the monastery of St. Gallus, and on all great occasions he still manufactured many dozens of learned Latin verses, from which, however, thanks to the destroying powers of time, posterity has been spared.

... And all have long since become dust and ashes. Centuries have pa.s.sed, in swift procession over the places, where their fates were fulfilled; and new stories have taken the place of the old ones.

The Hohentwiel has still witnessed a good deal, during war and peace.

Many a brave knight rode out of its gates, and many an imprisoned man pined in its vaults,--until the last hour of the proud fortress struck; for on a fine day in May, it was blown to pieces by the enemy, so that towers and walls were scattered into the air.

In the present day, 'tis quiet enough on that summit. The goats are peacefully grazing between the huge fragments; but from over the glittering Bodensee, the Santis still stands out in the blue distance, as grand and beautiful as it did many hundred years ago; and it is still a pleasurable thing, seated in the luxuriant gra.s.s, to look over the land.

He, who has written this book, has sat up there, on many a spring-evening, a strange and lonely guest; and the crows and jackdaws flew tauntingly around him, as if they wanted to mock him, because he was so lonely; and they did not notice that a numerous and honourable party was a.s.sembled around him.--They were all those in fact, whose acquaintance the reader has made in the course of this story; and they told him every thing; clearly and distinctly, and they kindly encouraged him to write it down, thus to help them to live again in the memory of a later, railway-hurrying present.

And if he has succeeded in calling up also before you, much beloved reader, who have patiently followed him till now, a distinct picture of that faded, bygone time, then he considers himself well paid for his trouble, and some head-ache. Fare-thee-well! and be his friend also in the future!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Abbreviation of _domina_.]

[Footnote 2: An old Suabian law.]

[Footnote 3: The meaning of Hagen in German.]

THE END.