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diff --git a/43614-0.txt b/43614-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbaf9ad --- /dev/null +++ b/43614-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12196 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43614 *** + + THE + VALLEYS OF TIROL + + THEIR TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS + AND HOW TO VISIT THEM + + + BY + MISS R. H. BUSK + + AUTHOR OF 'PATRAÑAS' 'SAGAS FROM THE FAR EAST' + 'FOLK-LORE OF ROME' ETC. + + WITH FRONTISPIECE AND THREE MAPS + + + + LONDON + LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + 1874 + + All rights reserved + + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +There are none who know Tirol but are forward to express regret +that so picturesque and so primitive a country should be as yet, +comparatively with other tracks of travel, so little opened up to +the dilettante explorer. + +It is quite true, on the other hand, that just in proportion as a +country becomes better known, it loses, little by little, its merit +of being primitive and even picturesque. Intercourse with the world +beyond the mountains naturally sweeps away the idiosyncracies of the +mountaineers; and though the trail of progress which the civilized +tourist leaves behind him cannot absolutely obliterate the actual +configuration of the country, yet its original characteristics +must inevitably be modified by the changes which his visits almost +insensibly occasion. The new traditions which he brings with him of +vast manufacturing enterprise and rapid commercial success cannot but +replace in the minds of the people the old traditions of the fire-side +and the Filò, with their dreams of treasure-granting dwarfs and the +Bergsegen dependent on prayer. The uniform erections of a monster Hotel +Company, 'convenient to the Railway Station,' supersede the frescoed +or timbered hostelry perched on high to receive the wayfarer at his +weariest. The giant mill-chimneys, which sooner or later spring up from +seed unwittingly scattered by the way-side, not only mar the landscape +with their intrinsic deformity, but actually strip the mountains +of their natural covering, and convert wooded slopes into grey and +barren wastes; [1] just as the shriek of the whistle overpowers the +Jödel-call, and the barrel-organ supersedes the zitther and the guitar. + + + +Such considerations naturally make one shrink from the responsibility +of taking a part (how insignificant soever) in directing the migration +of tourists into such a country as Tirol. I have heard a Tirolese, +while at the same time mourning that the attractions of his country +were so often passed over, express this feeling very strongly, and +allege it as a reason why he did not give the result of his local +observations to the press; and I listened to his apprehensions with +sympathy. But then these changes must be. The attempt to delay them +is idle; nor would individual abstention from participating in the +necessary movement of events have any sensible effect in stemming +the even course of inevitable development. Circumstances oblige us +continually to co-operate in bringing about results which we might +personally deprecate. + + + 'In whatsoe'er we perpetrate + We do but row; we're steered by fate.' + + +And after all, why should we deprecate the result? We all admire +the simple mind and chubby face of childhood; yet who (except the +sentimental father in the French ballad, 'Reste toujours petit!') would +wish to see his son in petticoats and leading-strings all his days. The +morning mists which lend their precious charm of mystery to the sunrise +landscape must be dispelled as day advances, or day would be of little +use to man. + +The day cannot be all morning; man's life cannot be all infancy; +and we have no right so much as to wish--even though wishes avail +nothing--that the minds of others should be involved in absurd +illusions to which we should scorn to be thought a prey ourselves. + +Nature has richly endowed Tirol with beauty and healthfulness; and they +must be dull indeed who, coming in search of these qualities, do not +find them enhanced a hundredfold by the clothing of poetry with which +the people have superindued them. Who, in penetrating its mountain +solitudes, would not thank the guide who peoples them for him with +mysterious beings of transcendent power; who interprets for him, in +the nondescript echoes of evening, the utterances of a world unknown; +and in the voices of the storm and of the breeze the expression of +an avenging power or the whisperings of an almighty tenderness. + +But then--if this is found to be something more than poetry, if +the allegory which delights our fancy turns out to be a grotesque +blunder in the system of the peasant who narrates it,--it cannot be +fair to wish that he should continue subject to fallacious fancies, +in order that we may be entertained by their recital. + +It is one thing for a man who has settled the grounds of his belief +(or his unbelief) to his best satisfaction in any rational way, to +say, 'I take this beautiful allegory into my repertory; it elevates +my moral perceptions and illustrates my higher reaches of thought;' +but it is quite another thing if one reasons thus with himself, +'My belief is so and so, because a certain supernatural visitation +proves it;' when actually the said supernatural visitation never +took place at all, and was nothing but an allegory, or still less, +a mere freak of fancy in its beginning. + +Perhaps if the vote could be taken, and if desires availed anything, +the general consensus of thinking people would go in favour of +the desire that there had been no myths, no legends. But the vote +would involve the consequence that we should have antecedently to +be possessed of a complete innate knowledge of the forces of being, +corresponding to the correct criteria, which we flatter ourselves do +indwell us of the principles of beauty and of harmony. If there are +any who are sanguine enough to believe that science will one of these +days give us a certain knowledge of how everything came about, it is +beyond dispute that for long ages past mankind has been profoundly +puzzled about the question, and it cannot be an uninteresting study +to trace its gropings round and round it. + +Perfect precision of ideas again would involve perfect exactness of +expression. No one can fail to regret the inadequacies and vagaries +of language which so often disguise instead of expressing thought, +and lead to the most terrible disputes just where men seek to be most +definite. If we could dedicate one articulate expression to every +possible idea, we should no longer be continually called to litigate +on the meanings of creeds and documents, and even verbal statements. + +But when we had attained all this, we should have surrendered all +the occupation of conjecture and all the charms of mystery; we should +have parted with all poetry and all jeux d'esprit. If knowledge was +so positive and language so precise that misunderstanding had no +existence, then neither could we indulge in metaphor nor égayer la +matière with any play on words. In fact, there would be nothing left +to say at all! + +Perhaps the price could not be too high; but in the meantime we +have to deal with circumstances as they are. We cannot suppress +mythology, or make it non-existent by ignoring it. It exists, and +we may as well see what we can make of it, either as a study or a +recreation. Conjectures and fancies surround us like thistles and +roses; and as brains won't stand the wear of being ceaselessly carded +with the thistles of conjecture, we may take refuge in the alternative +of amusing ourselves on a holiday tour with plucking the roses which +old world fancy has planted--and planted nowhere more prolifically +than in Tirol. + + + +In speaking of Tirol as comparatively little opened up, I have not +overlooked the publications of pioneers who have gone before. The +pages of Inglis, though both interesting and appreciative, are +unhappily almost forgotten, and they only treat quite incidentally +of the people's traditions. But as it is the most salient points of +any matter which must always arrest attention first, it has been +chiefly the mountains of Tirol to which attention has hitherto +been drawn. Besides the universally useful 'Murray' and others, +very efficient guidance to them has of late years been afforded in +the pages of 'Ball's Central Alps,' in some of the contributions to +'Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers;' in the various works of Messrs. Gilbert +and Churchill; and now Miss A. B. Edwards has shown what even ladies +may do among its Untrodden Peaks. The aspects of its scenery and +character, for which it is my object on the other hand to claim +attention, lie hidden among its Valleys, Trodden and Untrodden. And +down in its Valleys it is that its traditions dwell. [2] + +If the names of the Valleys of Tirol do not at present awaken in +our mind stirring memories such as cling to other European routes +whither our steps are invited, ours is the fault, in that we have +overlooked their history. The past has scattered liberally among +them characteristic landmarks dating from every age, and far beyond +the reach of dates. Every stage even of the geological formation +of the country--which may almost boast of being in its courage and +its probity, as it does boast of being in the shape in which it +is fashioned, the heart of Europe--is sung of in popular Sage as +the result of some poetically conceived agency; humdrum physical +forces transformed by the wand of imagination into personal beings; +now bountiful, now retributive; now loving; now terrible; but nearly +always rational and just. + +To the use of those who care to find such gleams of poetry thrown +athwart Nature's work the following pages are dedicated. The traditions +they record do not claim to have been all gathered at first hand +from the stocks on which they were grown or grafted. A life, or +several lives, would hardly have sufficed for the work. In Germany, +unlike Italy, myths have called into being a whole race of collectors, +and Tirol has an abundant share of them among her offspring. Not only +have able and diligent sons devoted themselves professionally to the +preservation of her traditions, but every valley nurtures appreciative +minds to whom it is a delight to store them in silence, and who +willingly discuss such lore with the traveller who has a taste for it. + +That a foreigner should attempt to add another to these very full, +if not exhaustive collections, would seem an impertinent labour of +supererogation. My work, therefore, has been to collate and arrange +those traditions which have been given me, or which I have found +ready heaped up; to select from the exuberant mass those which, +for one reason or another, appeared to possess the most considerable +interest; and to localise them in such a way as to facilitate their +study both by myself and others along the wayside; not neglecting, +however, any opportunity that has come in my way of conversing about +them with the people themselves, and so meeting them again, living, +as it were, in their respective homes. This task, as far as I know, +has not been performed by any native writer. [3] + +The names of the collectors I have followed are, to all who know the +country, the best possible guarantee of the authenticity of what they +advance; and I subjoin here a list of the chief works I have either +studied myself or referred to, through the medium of kind helpers in +Tirol, so as not to weary the reader as well as myself with references +in every chapter:-- + + + Von Alpenburg: Mythen und Sagen Tirols. + Brandis: Ehrenkränzel Tirols. + H. J. von Collin: Kaiser Max auf der Martinswand: ein Gedicht. + Das Drama des Mittelalters in Tirol. A. Pickler. + Hormayr: Taschenbuch für die Vaterländische Geschichte. + Meyer: Sagenkränzlein aus Tirol. + Nork: Die Mythologie der Volkssagen und Volksmärchen. + Die Oswaldlegende und ihre Beziehung auf Deutscher Mythologie. + Oswald v. Wolkenstein: Gedichte. Reprint, with introduction + by Weber. + Perini: I Castelli del Tirolo. + Der Pilger durch Tirol; geschichtliche und topographische + Beschreibung der Wallfahrtsorte u. Gnadenbilder in Tirol + u. Vorarlberg. + A. Pickler: Frühlieder aus Tirol. + Scherer: Geographie und Geschichte von Tirol. + Simrock: Legenden. + Schneller: Märchen und Sagen aus Wälsch-Tirol. + Stafler: Das Deutsche Tirol und Vorarlberg. + Die Sage von Kaiser Max auf der Martinswand. + J. Thaler: Geschichte Tirols von der Urzeit. + Der Untersberg bei Salzburg, dessen geheimnissvolle Sagen der + Vorzeit, nebst Beschreibung dieses Wunderberges. + Vonbun: Sagen Vorarlbergs. + Weber: Das Land Tirol. Drei Bänder. + Zingerle: König Laurin, oder der Rosengarten in Tirol. Die Sagen + von Margaretha der Maultasche. Sagen, Märchen u. Gebräuche aus + Tirol. Der berühmte Landwirth Andreas Hofer. + + +I hope my little maps will convey a sufficient notion of the divisions +of Tirol, the position of its valleys and of the routes through them +tracked in the following pages. I have been desirous to crowd them +as little as possible, and to indicate as far as may be, by the size +and direction of the words, the direction and the relative importance +of the valleys. + +Of its four divisions the present volume is concerned with the first +(Vorarlberg), the fourth (Wälsch-Tirol), and with the greater part +of the valleys of the second (Nord or Deutsch-Tirol.) In the remoter +recesses of them all some strange and peculiar dialects linger, +which perhaps hold a mine in store for the philologist. Yet, though +the belief was expressed more than thirty years ago [4] that they +might serve as a key to the Etruscan language, I believe no one has +since been at the pains to pursue this most interesting research. In +the hope of inducing some one to enter this field of enquiry, I will +subjoin a list of some few expressions which do not carry on their face +a striking resemblance to either of the main languages of the country, +leaving to the better-informed to make out whence they come. The two +main languages (and these will suffice the ordinary traveller for +all practical purposes), are German in Vorarlberg and North Tirol, +Italian in Wälsch-Tirol, mixed with occasional patches of German; and +in South-Tirol with a considerable preponderance of these patches. A +tendency to bring about the absorption of the Italian-speaking valleys +into Italy has been much stimulated in modern times, and in the +various troubled epochs of the last five-and-twenty years Garibaldian +attacks have been made upon the frontier line. The population was found +stedfast in its loyalty to Austria, however, and all these attempts +were repulsed by the native sharp-shooters, with little assistance +from the regular troops. An active club and newspaper propagandism is +still going on, promoted by those who would obliterate Austria from +the map of Europe. For them, there exists only German-Tirol and the +Trentino. And the Trentino is now frequently spoken of as a province +bordering on, instead of as in reality, a division of, Tirol. + +Although German is generally spoken throughout Vorarlberg, there +is a mixture of Italian expressions in the language of the people, +which does not occur at all in North-Tirol: as + + + fazanedle, for a handkerchief (Ital. fazzoletto.) + gaude, gladness (Ital. gaudio.) + guttera, a bottle (Ital. gutto a cruet.) + gespusa, a bride (Ital. sposa). + gouter, a counterpane (Ital. coltre). + schapel, the hat (peculiar to local costume), (Ital. cappello, + a hat). + + +The k in many German words is here written with ch; and no doubt +such names as the Walgau, Walserthal, &c., commemorate periods of +Venetian rule. + +Now for some of the more 'outlandish' words:-- + + + baschga' (the final n, en, rn, &c. of the German form of the + infinitive is usually clipped by the Vorarlbergers, even in German + words, just as the Italians constantly clip the final letters + of their infinitive, as anda' and andar' for andare, to walk, + &c.) to overcome. + batta', to serve. + pütze' or buetza', to sew or to piece. + häss, clothing. + res, speech. + tobel, a ravine. + feel, a girl; spudel, an active girl; schmel, a smiling girl. + hattel, a goat; mütl, a kid. + Atti, [5] father, and datti, 'daddy.' + frei, pleasant. + zoana, a wattled basket. + schlutta and schoope, a smock-frock. + täibe, anger. + kîba', to strive. + rêra', to weep. [6] + musper, merry. + tribiliera', to constrain. + waedle, swift. + raetig werden, to deliberate. + Tripstrüll, = Utopia. + wech, spruce, also vain. + laegla, a little vessel. + hengest, a friendly gathering of men. [7] + koga, cursed, also corrupted. + fegga, a wing. + krom, a gift. + blaetz, a patch. + grind, a brute's head, a jolterhead. + bratza, a paw, an ugly hand. + briegga', to pucker up the face ready for crying. + deihja, a shepherd's or cattle-herd's hut. [8] + also dieja, which is generally reserved for a hut formed by taking + advantage of a natural hole, leaving only a roof to be supplied. + garreg, prominent. (I think that gareggiante in Italian is + sometimes used in a similar sense.) + + +Other words in Vorarlberg dialect are very like English, as:-- + + + Witsch, a witch. + Pfülle, a pillow. + rôt, wrath. + gompa', to jump. + gülla, a gulley. + also datti and schmel, mentioned already. + Aftermötig (after-Monday) is a local name for Tuesday. + + +In Wälsch-Tirol, they have + + + carega, a chair. + bagherle, a little carriage, a car. + troz, a mountain path. + Malga, [9] equivalent to Alp, a mountain pasture. + zufolo, [10] a pipe. + And Turlulù (infra, p. 432) is nearly identical in form and sound + with a word expounded in Etrus. Researches, p. 299. + Of 'Salvan' and 'Gannes,' I have already spoken. [11] + + +But all this is, I am aware, but a mere turning over of the surface; +my only wish is that some one of stronger capacity will dig deeper. Of +many dialects, too, I have had no opportunity of knowing anything at +all. Here are, however, a few suggestive or strange words from North +and South Tirol:-- + +Pill, which occurs in various localities [12] of both those provinces +to designate a place built on a little hill or knoll, is identical +with an Etruscan word to which Mr. Isaac Taylor gives a similar +significance. [13] I do not overlook Weber's observation that 'Pill +is obviously a corruption of Büchel (the German for a knoll), through +Bühel and Bühl;' but, which proceeds from which is often a knotty point +in questions of derivation, and Weber did not know of the Etruscan +'pil.' + +Ziller and celer I have already alluded to, [14] though of course +it may be said that the Tirolean river had its name from an already +romanised Etruscan word, and does not necessarily involve direct +contact with the Etruscan vocabulary. + + + Grau-wutzl is a name in the Zillerthal for the Devil. + Disel, for disease of any kind. + Gigl, a sheep. + Kiess, a heifer. + Triel, a lip. + Bueg, a leg. + knospen stands in South-Tirol for wooden shoes, and + fokazie for cakes used at Eastertide. (Focaccia is used for 'cake' + in many parts of Italy, and 'dar pan per focaccia' is equivalent to + 'tit for tat' all over the Peninsula.) + + +It remains only to excuse myself for the spelling of the word Tirol. I +have no wish to incur the charge of 'pedantry' which has heretofore +been laid on me for so writing it. It seems to me that, in the absence +of any glaring mis-derivation, it is most natural to adopt a country's +own nomenclature; and in Tirol, or by Tirolean writers, I have never +seen the name spelt with a y. I have not been able to get nearer its +derivation than that the Castle above Meran, which gave it to the +whole principality, was called by the Romans, when they rebuilt it, +Teriolis. Why they called it so, or what it was called before, I have +not been able to learn. The English use of the definite article in +naming Tirol is more difficult to account for than the adoption of +the y, in which we seem to have been misled by the Germans. We do not +say 'the France' or 'the Italy;' even to accommodate ourselves to the +genius of the languages of those countries, therefore, that we should +have gone out of our way to say 'the Tyrol' when the genius of that +country's language does not require us so to call it, can have arisen +only from a piece of carelessness which there is no need to repeat. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page +CHAPTER I. + +VORARLBERG. + +Introductory remarks on the use of myths, legends, and traditions; +their imagery beyond imitation; have become a study; now a science; +Prof. M. Müller; Rev. G. W. Cox--Karl Blind on attractions +for the English in Germanic mythology; mythological persons of +Tirol--Mythological symbols in art; in poetry; Dante on popular +traditions; their record of thoughts and customs; Tullio Dandolo; +Depping; Tirolean peasants 1 + +Our introduction to Tirol--Excursions round Feldkirch; the +Katzenthurm; St. Fidelis; St. Eusebius--Rankweil--Fridolins- +kapelle--Valduna--S. Gerold--Route into Tirol by Lindau--Bregenz, +birthplace of Flatz--Legend of Charlemagne; of Ulrich and +Wendelgard--Ehreguota--Riedenberg school--the natural preserves +of Lustenau--Merboth, Diedo, and Ilga--Embs; its chronicles; Swiss +embroidery; Sulphur baths; Jews' synagogue--Lichtenstein; Vaduz; +Hot sulphur-baths of Pfäffers; Taminaschlund; Luziensteig 12 + +From Feldkirch to Innsbruck--The Pass of Frastanz; Shepherd lad's +heroism; the traitor's fate--S. Joder and the Devil--Bludenz--Montafon; +who gave it its arms--Prazalanz--The Tear-rill; Kirschwasser--Dalaas-- +Silberthal--Das Bruederhüsle--Engineering of the Arlberg pass-- +Stanzerthal--Hospice of St. Christof--Wiesburg--Ischgl; its 'skullery' +--Landeck--Legend of Schrofenstein--Sharpshooter's monument--Auf dem +Fern--Nassereit--Tschirgants Branch road to Füssen--Plansee--Lechthal +--Imst--Pitzthal--Growth of a modern legend--Heiterwang--Ehrenberger +Klauze Archenthal--Vierzehn Nothhelfer 24 + +A border adventure; our party; our plans; our route--Aarau--Rorschach; +its skeleton-Caryatidæ--Oberriet--Our luggage overpowers the station- +master--Our wild colt--Our disaster--Our walk--Our embroideress guide +--The Rhine ferry--The Rhætian Alps--Altenstadt--Schattenburg--British +missionaries to Tirol--Feldkirch, festa, costumes--Our luggage again +--Our new route--Our postilion--The Stase-saddle--The Devil's House +--The Voralberger-ghost 39 + + +CHAPTER II. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL--(RIGHT INN-BANK). + +KUFSTEIN TO ROTTENBURG. + +Kufstein--Pienzenau's unlucky joke--Ainliffen--Rocsla Sandor; the +Hungarian lovers--National anthem--Thierberg--A modern pilgrim-- +Der Büsser--Public memorials of religion--Zell--Ottokapelle--Kundl +--S. Leonhard auf der Wiese; its sculptures--Henry II.'s vow--The +Auflänger-Bründl--Rattenberg--Rottenburg--St. Nothburga; her integrity, +charity, persecution, patience, piety, observance of Sunday; judgment +overtakes Ottilia: Nothburga's restoration; legend of her burial--Henry +VI. of Rottenburg and Friedrich mit der leeren Tasche--Character of +each--Henry's literary tastes; his mysterious fate--The fire spares +Nothburga's cell--Mining legend 53 + + +CHAPTER III. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL--(RIGHT INN-BANK). + +THE ZILLERTHAL. + +The Zillerthal--Conveyances--Etruscan remnant--Thurnegg and +Tratzberg across the river--Strass--Corn or coin?--The two +churches of Schlitters--Castles of the Zillerthal--The peace of +Kropfsberg--'The only Fügen'--The patriot Riedl--Zell--Expulsion +of Lutherans--Hippach--Hainzenberg; ultra co-operative gold +mines--Mayrhof--Garnet mills--Mariä-Rastkapelle--Hulda--Tributary +valleys--Duxerthal--Hinter-Dux--Hardiness of the people--Legends of +the frozen wall--Dog's-throat valley--The Devil's path--The Zemmer +glacier--Schwarzensteingrund 79 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL--(RIGHT INN-BANK). + +ZILLERTHAL CUSTOMS--THE WILDSCHÖNAU. + +Zillerthal customs--Games--Spirits play with gold skittles--Pedlar +of Starkenberg--Dances: Schnodahüpfl: Hosennagler--Cow-fights-- +Kirchtag--Primizen and Sekundizen--Carneval--Christnacht-- +Kloubabrod--Sternsingen--Gömacht--Weddings--Zutrinken--Customs +of other valleys--The cat, patron of courtship 92 + +Kundl again--Wiltschenau--Niederaich--Kundlburg--Oberau--Niederrau +--Thierberg--Silver-mines--Legends of dwarfs and Knappen--Moidl and +the gold-cave--Legend of the Landmark--Der Umgehende Schuster-- +Perchtl, Pilate's wife--Comparative mythologists--Wodin, Wilder +Jäger, Wilhelm Tell--Symbolism in tales of enchanted Princesses-- +Perahta, the daughter of Dagha--Brixlegg--Burgleckner--Claudia de' +Medici--Biener's dying challenge--The Bienerweible--Sandbichler, +the Bible-commentator 110 + + +CHAPTER V. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL. + +LEFT INN-BANK. + +Jenbach--Wiesing--Thiergarten--Kramsach--Brandenberger Ache-- +Voldepp--The Mooserthal--The Mariathal--Rheinthalersee--Achenrain +--Mariathal, village and ruined Dominican convent--Georg von +Freundsberg--The Brandenbergerthal--Steinberg--Heimaththal, +Freiheitthal--The gold-herds of the Reiche Spitze--Die Kalte +Pein--Mariastein--The irremovable image--Jenbach--Wiesing--The +Thiergarten--The Achenthal--The Käsbachthal--The Blue Achensee-- +Skolastica--Pertisau--Buchau, Nature's imitation fortress-- +Tegernsee--The Achen-pass--The judgment of Achensee--Playing at +ball in St. Paul's cathedral--Legend of Wildenfeld--Eben--The +escape of the vampire--Stans--Joseph Arnold--Tirolean artists-- +The Stallenthal--St. Georgenberg--Unsere liebe Frau zur Linde-- +Viecht, Benedictine monastery, library, sculpture--Vomperthal-- +Sigmundslust--Sigismund the Monied--Terfens--Marialarch-- +Volandseck--Thierberg--S. Michael's--S. Martin's--The Gnadenwald +--Baumkirchen--Fritzens--External tokens of faith--The holy +family at home--Frost phantoms--Hall; Münzthurm; +Sandwirthszwanziger; salt-works; Speckbacher; Waldaufischer- +Kapelle; S. Saviour's; institutions of Hall--Johanniswürmchen; +Bauernkrieg--Excursions round Hall; the Salzberg; the +explorations of the 'Fromme Ritter;' grandeur of the salt-mines; +salt-works; visit of Hofer and Speckbacher; the Salzthal--Absam; +the dragons of Schloss Melans; Count Spaur's ride to Babylon; +combat with the toad--Max Müller on legends--The image on the +window-pane; the Gnadenmutter von Absam; Stainer the violin-maker +--Mils--Grünegg--Schneeberg--The Gnadenwald--The Glockenhof; the +Glockengiesser; his temptation, condemnation, and dying request-- +The Loreto-kirche--Heiligenkreuz--Taur--Thürl--The Kaisersäule-- +St. Romedius, St. Vigilius and the bear; the spectre priest--Rum, +landslip 125 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL--(RIGHT INN-BANK). + +SCHWATZ. + +Schwatz, its situation; effigy of S. John Nepomuk; his example; the +village frescoes; a hunt for a breakfast; the lessons of traveller's +fare; market; church; its size disproportioned to the population; the +reason of this--Schwatz a Roman station; silver-mines; prosperity; +importance; influence of miners of Saxony; reformation; riots; +polemical disputes; decline; copper and iron works; other industries; +misfortunes. History of the parish church; peculiar construction; +the Knappenhochaltar; monuments; Hans Dreyling; altar-pieces; +Michaels-kapelle; its legend; churchyard; its reliquary and holy +oil; the Robler and the gossip's corpse; penance and vision of +the unmarried--Franciscan church--characteristics of the inns; +singular use of the beds; guitar playing--Blessed Sacrament visits the +sick--Freundsberg; the ruined castles of Tirol; Georg von Freundsberg; +his prowess, strength, success; devotion of his men; sung of as a hero; +his part in the siege of Rome, sudden death, and ruin of his house; +tower; chapel--Weird-woman; her story; her legends; Oswald Milser of +Seefeld; the bird-catcher of the Goaslahn; strange birds; chamois; +the curse of the swallow--Hospital; chapel--Tobacco; factory girls +at benediction--Pews in German churches 168 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL--(RIGHT INN-BANK). + +EXCURSIONS FROM SCHWATZ. + +Falkenstein; exhausted mines; religious observances of miners; tokens +of their craft--Buch--Margareth--Galzein--Kugelmoos--The Schwaderalpe +--The Kellerspitze--Troi--Arzberg--Heiligenkreuzkapelle--Baierische- +Rumpel--Pill--The Weerthal, Schloss Rettenberg; its spectre warder-- +The Kolsassthal--Wattens--Walchen--Mols--The Navisthal--Lizumthal; the +Blue Lake--Volders--Voldererthal--Hanzenheim--Friedberg--Aschbach, why +it is in the parish of Mils--Hippolitus Guarinoni, page to St. Charles, +physician of the poor; religious zeal; church of St. Charles, +Servitenkloster, the Stein des Gehorsams; analogous legend--Rinn; +S. Anderle's martyrdom; the Judenstein; lettered lilies--Aversion to +Jews--Voldererbad--Ampass--Lans--The Patscherkofl--The Lansersee; +the poor proprietor and the unjust noble--Sistrans; legend of its +champion wrestler--Heiligenwasser 200 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +NORTH TIROL--THE INNTHAL. + +INNSBRUCK. + +Our greeting; characteristics of the people; Innsbruck's treatment +of Kaiser Max; the OEstereichischer hof; our apartment; mountain +view; character of the town; its history--Wilten; the minster; myth +of Haymon the giant; his burial-place; parish church; Marienbild +unter den vier Säulen; relic of the thundering legion--First record +of Innsbruck; chosen for seat of government; for residence by +Friedl mit der leeren Tasche--Character of Tirolean rulers--the +Goldene-Dachl-Gebäude--Sigismund the Monied; his reception +of Christian I.; condition of Tirol in his time; his castles; +abdication--Maximilian; builds the Burg; magnificence of his reign; +legends of him; his decline--Charles Quint; cedes Tirol to Ferdinand +I.; his wise administration; quiets popular agitation; Charles +Quint's visits to Innsbruck; attacked by Maurice, Elector of Saxony; +carried into Carinthia in a litter; death of Maurice--Ferdinand +I., the Hof-Kirche; Maximilian's cenotaph; its bas-relief; +statues; Mirakel-Bild des H. Anton; Fürstenchor; abjuration of +Queen Christina--Introduction of Jesuits; results--The 'Fromme +Siechin'--Ferdinand II.; his peaceful tastes; romantic attachment; +Philippine Welser; ménage at Schloss Ambras; collections; curiosities; +portraits; Philippine's end 225 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +NORTH TIROL--THE INNTHAL. + +INNSBRUCK (continued). + +Wallenstein's vow--Theophrastus Paracelsus; his mysterious dealings +--The Tummelplatz--The Silberne Kapelle--Earthquake and dearth; +their lessons--Ferdinand's devotion to the Blessed Sacrament; +analogous legend of Rudolf of Hapsburg--Ferdinand's second marriage +--The Capuchin Church--Maximilian the Deutschmeister; introduces the +Servites--Paul Lederer--Maximilian's hermitage--S. Lorenzo of +Brindisi--Dreiheiligkeitskirche--Provisions against ravages of the +Thirty Years' War--The Siechenhaus--Leopold V.; dispensed from his +episcopal jurisdiction and vows; Marries Claudia de' Medici-- +Friedrich v. Tiefenbach--Festivities at Innsbruck--The Hofgarten-- +Kranach's Madonna, Mariähülfskirche built to receive it; translation +to the Pfarr-kirche under Ferdinand Karl--Ferdinand Karl--Regency of +Claudia de' Medici; administrative ability; Italian influences-- +Sigismund Franz--Claudia Felicita--Charles of Lotharingia--War of +succession; Bavarian inroad of 1703; the Pontlatzerbrücke; +Baierische-Rumpel--St. Annensäule--Joseph I.--Karl Philipp; builds +the Land-haus and gymnasium, restores the Pfarrkirche; stucco and +marble decorations; frescoes; preservation of Damian Asam-- +Strafarbeitshaus--Church of S. John Nepomuk; his popularity; +canonisation--Maria Theresa; her partiality for Innsbruck; example; +Prussian prisoners; marriage of Leopold; death of Francis I.; the +Triumphpforte, the Damenstift--Joseph II.--Archduchess Maria +Elizabeth--Pius VI. passes through Innsbruck--Leopold II.--Repeal +of Josephinischen measures--Francis II.--Outbreak of the French +revolution---Das Mädchen v. Spinges--The Auferstehungsfeier-- +Archduchess Maria Elizabeth--Gottesacker--Treaty of Pressburg-- +'The Year Nine'--Andreas Hofer--Peace of Schönbrunn--Speckbacher; +successes at Berg Isel; Hofer as Schützen-Kommandant; his +moderation, simplicity, subordination; his betrayal; last hours; +firmness; execution--Restoration of Austrian rule--Hofer's +monument--Tirolese loyalty in 1848--The Ferdinandeum; its +curiosities--Early editions of German authors--Paintings on cobweb +--The Schiess-stand--Policy of the Viennese Government, +constitutional opposition of Tirol--Population of Innsbruck 265 + + +CHAPTER X. + +NORTH TIROL--OBERINNTHAL. + +INNSBRUCK TO ZIRL AND SCHARNITZ--INNSBRUCK TO THE LISENS-FERNER. + +Excursions from Innsbruck--Mühlau; new church; Baronin Sternbach +--Judgment of Frau Hütt--Büchsenhausen--Weierburg--Mariä-Brunn-- +Hottingen; monuments in the Friedhof--Schloss Lichtenthurm--The +Höttingerbild; the student's Madonna; stalactites--Excursion to +Zirl--Grossen Herr-Gott Strasse--Kranebitten--The Schwefelloch-- +The Hundskapelle--The Zirlerchristen--Gross Solstein--The +Martinswand; danger of the Emperor Maximilian; Collin's ballad; +who led the Kaiser astray?--His importance in Europe; efforts to +rescue him; the Blessed Sacrament visits him; unknown deliverer +--Martinsbühl--Traditions of Kaiser Max--Zirl--Fragenstein; its +hidden treasure--Leiten--Reit--Seefeld--The Heilige Blutskapelle +--The Seekapelle--Scharnitz--Isarthal--Porta Klaudia--Dirstenöhl +--The beggar-woman's prayer; vision of the peasant of Dorf 310 + +Unter-Perfuss--Selrainthal--The Melach--Rothenbrunn--Fatscherthal +--The Hohe Villerspitz--Sonnenberg--Magdalenen-Bründl--Character +of the Selrainthalers--Ober-Perfuss; Peter Anich--Kematen--Völs; +the Blasienberg; S. Jodok--The Galwiese--The Schwarze-Kreuzkapelle; +Hölzl's vow--Ferneck--Berg Isel--Noise of the rifle practice--Count +v. Stachel--Natters and Mutters--Waidburg--The Nockspitze--Götzens +--Schloss Völlenberg; Oswald v. Wolkenstein--Birgitz--Axams--The +Sendersthal 329 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WÄLSCH-TIROL. + +THE WÄLSCHEROLISCHE-ETSCHTHAL AND ITS TRIBUTARY VALLEYS. + +Val di Lagarina--Borghetto--Ala--Roveredo--Surrounding +castles--Dante at Lizzana--The Slavini di S. Marco--La Busa +del Barbaz; its myths--Serravalle--Schloss Junk--The Madonna +del Monte--Industries--Chapel of S. Columban--Trent, Festa of +St. Vigilius; comparison between Trent and Rome; the Domkirche; +its notabilia; Sta. Maria Maggiore; seat of the council; assenting +crucifix; centenary celebration; legend of the organ-builder--Church +of St. Peter; Chapel of S. Simonin; club; museum; Palazzi; Palazzo +Zambelli, Teufelspalast; its legend; General Gallas--The Madonna alle +Laste; view of Trent--Dos Trento--St. Ingenuin's garden; St. Albuin's +apples--Lavis--French spoliation--Restitution--Wälsch Michel 340 + +Tributary valleys--Val di Non; Annaunia--Rochetta Pass +Wälschmetz--Visiaun--Spaur Maggiore--Denno--Schloss Belasis--The +Seidenbaum--Tobel Wild-see--Cles; Tavola Clesiana; Roman remains; +the Schwarzen Felder--SS. Sisinus, Martyrius and Alexander--Val di +Sole--Livo--Magras; Val di Rabbi; San Bernardo--Malè--Charles Quint's +visit--Pellizano--Val di Pejo--Cogolo--Corno de' tre Signori--Val +Vermiglio--Tonale; the witches' sabbath there--Tregiovo--Cloz--U-Liebe +Frau auf dem Gampen--Fondo--Sanzeno--Legend of the three brothers: +mithraic bas-relief--The Tirolean Petrarch--St. Romediusthal; legend of +St. Romedius; angelic consecration; conversion of the false penitents; +extraordinary construction and arrangement of the building; romantic +situation; fifteen centuries of uninterrupted veneration--Castel Thun; +attachment of the people to the family; a Nonesade; aqueduct--Dombel; +its Etruscan key; its import 358 + +The Avisiothal--Val di Cembra; its inaccessibility--Altrei; +presentation of colours--Fleimserthal; Cavalese; its church a +museum of Tirolese Art; local parliament; legend of its site; +handsome new church--Fassathal--Moena--Analogous English and +French traditions--Marriage customs of the valley--The Feuriger +Verräther--Vigo--The Marmolata; its legends--St. Ulrich 374 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WÄLSCH-TIROL. + +VAL SUGANA--GIUDICARIA--FOLKLORE. + +Val Sugana--Baselga--The Madonna di Pinè; legend of the Madonna di +Caravaggio--Pergine; miners; the Canoppa--The Schloss--Marriage +customs of the valley--Lake Caldonazzo--St. Hermes at +Calzeranica--Bosentino--Nossa signora del Feles--The sleeper +of Valle del Orco--Caldonazzo--Lafraun; legend of the disunited +brothers--Borgo, the Italian Meran--Franciscan convent; Castel +Telvana; dangers of a carneval procession; Count Welsburg's +vow--Gallant border defences--Stalactite caves of Costalta--Sette +Comuni--Castelalto--Strigno--Castelrotto--Cima d'Asta--Quarazza garnet +quarry--Ivano--Grigno; Legend of St. Udalric--Castel Tesino--Canal +San Bovo to Primiero--Tale of Virginia Loss; humble heroism--Le Tezze; +modern heroes 382 + +Judicarien; its divisions--Castel Madruzz; Cardinal Karl Madruzz; +his dispensation; its conditions--Abraham's Garden--Sta. Massenza; +Bishop's Summer Palace--Loreto-kapelle--The Rendenathal; St. Vigilius; +his zeal; early admission to the episcopate; missionary labours; +builds churches; overthrows idols; his stoning; his burial; +the rock cloven for his body to pass; the Acqua della Vela; the +bread of Mortaso--S. Zulian; his legend; his penitence--Caresolo; +its frescoes; another memorial of Charles Quint; his estimation of +Jews--New churches--Legends of Condino and Campiglio--Riva on the +Garda-see; its churches; its olive branches--The Altissimo di Nago; +view from S. Giacomo; optical illusion--Brentonico--The Ponte delle +Streghe--Mori; tobacco cultivation 400 + +Character of Wälsch-Tirol folklore--Orco-Sagen; his transformations in +many lands; transliterations of his name in Tirol--The Salvan and +Gannes; perhaps Etruscan genii--Salvanel; Bedelmon; Salvadegh--The +Beatrik, identified with Dietrich von Bern--The Angane--What +came of marrying an Angana--The focarelli of Lunigiana--The +Filò--Froberte--Donna Berta dal nas longh--The discriminating +Salvan--The Angana's ring; tales of the Three Wishes and the +Faithful Beasts; legend of the Drei Feyen of Thal Vent--Legend +of St. Kümmerniss; her effigy in Cadore; the prevailing +minstrel--Turlulù--Remnants of Etruscan language--'Storielle +da rider'--The bear-hunters--The horrible snail--How to make a +church tower grow--Social customs perhaps derived from Etruscan; +similar to those of Lombardy and Lunigians--All Souls' Day; feast +of Sta. Lucia; Christmas; St. Anthony's Day; Carneval; Giovedi de' +Gnocchi; St. Urban--Popular sayings about thunder, crickets, brambles, +cockchafers, swallows, scorpions--Astronomical riddles 408 + + + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Kufstein Frontispiece. + + +MAPS. + + The Valleys of Tirol to face p. 12 + Unterinnthal and Neighbourhood of Innsbruck 53 + Wälsch-Tirol 341 + + + + + + + + THE + VALLEYS OF TIROL + THEIR TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +VORARLBERG. + + + . . . . . Everywhere + Fable and Truth have shed, in rivalry, + Each her peculiar influence. Fable came, + And laughed and sang, arraying Truth in flowers, + Like a young child her grandam. Fable came, + Earth, sea, and sky reflecting, as she flew, + A thousand, thousand colours not their own.--Rogers. + + +'Traditions, myths, legends! what is the use of recording and +propagating the follies and superstitions of a bygone period, which +it is the boast of our modern enlightenment to have cast to the winds?' + +Such is the hasty exclamation which allusion to these fantastic matters +very frequently elicits. With many they find no favour because they +seem to yield no profit; nay, rather to set up a hindrance in the +way of progress and culture. + +Yet, on the other hand, in spite of their seeming foolishness, +they have worked themselves into favour with very various classes of +readers and students. There is an audacity in their imagery which no +mere sensation-writer could attempt without falling Phaeton-like from +his height; and they plunge us so hardily into a world of their own, +so preposterous and so unlike ours, while all the time describing it +in a language we can understand without effort, that no one who seeks +occasional relief from modern monotony but must experience refreshment +in the weird excursions their jaunty will-o'the-wisp dance leads +him. But more than this; their sportive fancy has not only charmed +the dilettante; they have revealed that they hold inherent in them +mysteries which have extorted the study of deep and able thinkers, +one of whom [15] insisted, now some years ago, that 'by this time the +study of popular tales has become a recognized branch of the studies +of mankind;' while important and erudite treatises from his own pen and +that of others [16] have elevated it further from a study to a science. + +All who love poetry and art, as well as all who are interested in +the study of languages or races, all who have any care concerning +the stirrings of the human mind in its search after the supernatural +and the infinite, must confess to standing largely in debt, in the +absence of more positive records of the earliest phases of thought, +to these various mythologies. + +Karl Blind, in a recent paper on 'German Mythology,' [17] draws +attention to some interesting considerations why the Germanic +traditions, which we chiefly meet with in Tirol, should have a +fascination for us in this country, in the points of contact they +present with our language and customs. Not content with reckoning that +'in the words of the Rev. Isaac Taylor we have obtruded on our notice +the names of the deities who were worshipped by the Germanic races' +on every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of our lives, +as we all know, he would even find the origin of 'Saturday' in the +name of a god "Sætere" hidden, (a malicious deity whose name is but +an alias for Loki,) of whom, it is recorded, that once at a great +banquet he so insulted all the heavenly rulers that they chained +him, Prometheus-like, to a rock, and made a serpent trickle down its +venom upon his face. His faithful wife Sigyn held a cup over him to +prevent the venom reaching his face, but whenever she turned away to +empty the cup his convulsive pains were such that the earth shook and +trembled.... Few people now-a-days, when pronouncing the simple word +"Saturday," think or know of this weird and pathetic myth. [18]... When +we go to Athens we easily think of the Greek goddess Athene, when +we go to Rome we are reminded of Romulus its mythic founder. But +when we go to Dewerstone in Devonshire, to Dewsbury in Yorkshire, +to Tewesley in Surrey, to Great Tew in Oxfordshire, to Tewen in +Herefordshire--have a great many of us even an inkling that these are +places once sacred to Tiu, the Saxon Mars? When we got to Wednesbury, +to Wanborough, to Woodnesborough, to Wembury, to Wanstrow, to Wanslike, +to Woden Hill, we visit localities where the Great Spirit Wodan was +once worshipped. So also we meet with the name of the God of Thunder +in Thudersfield, Thundersleigh, Thursleigh, Thurscross, Thursby, +and Thurso. The German Venus Freia is traceable in Fridaythorpe and +Frathorpe, in Fraisthorpe and Freasley. Her son was Baldur, also called +Phol or Pol, the sweet god of peace and light; his name comes out at +Balderby, Balderton, Polbrook, Polstead and Polsden. Sætere is probably +hidden in Satterleigh and Satterthwaite; Ostara or Eostre, the Easter +goddess of Spring, appears in two Essex parishes, Good Easter and +High Easter, in Easterford, Easterlake and Eastermear. Again Hel, the +gloomy mistress of the underworld, has given her name to Hellifield, +Hellathyrne, Helwith, Healeys and Helagh--all places in Yorkshire, +where people seem to have had a particular fancy for that dark and +grimy deity. Then we have Asgardby and Aysgarth, places reminding us +of Asgard, the celestial garden or castle of the Æsir--the Germanic +Olympus. And these instances might be multiplied by the hundred, so +full is England to this day of the vestiges of Germanic mythology. Far +more important is the fact that in this country, just as in Germany, +we find current folk-lore; and quaint customs and superstitious beliefs +affecting the daily life, which are remnants of the ancient creed. A +rime apparently so bereft of sense as + + + Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home! + Thy house is on fire! + Thy children at home! + + +can be proved to refer to a belief of our forefathers in the coming +downfall of the universe by a great conflagration. The ladybird +has its name from having been sacred to our Lady Freia. The words +addressed to the insect were once an incantation--an appeal to the +goddess for the protection of the soul of the unborn, over whom in +her heavenly abode she was supposed to keep watch and ward, and whom +she is asked to shield from the fire that consumes the world.... If we +ever wean men from the crude notions that haunt them, and yet promote +the enjoyment of fancies which serve as embellishing garlands for +the rude realities of life, we cannot do better than promote a fuller +scientific knowledge of that circle of ideas in which those moved who +moulded our very speech. We feel delight in the conceptions of the +Greek Olympus. Painters and poets still go back to that old fountain +of fancy. Why should we not seek for similar delight in studying the +figures of the Germanic Pantheon, and the rich folk-lore connected +with them? Why should that powerful Bible of the Norse religion, +which contains such a wealth of striking ideas and descriptions in +language the most picturesque, not be as much perused as the Iliad, +the Odyssey, or the Æneid? Is it too much to say that many even of +those who know of the Koran, of the precepts of Kou-fu-tsi and of +Buddha, of the Zendavesta and the Vedas, have but the dimmest notion +of that grand Germanic Scripture?... + +'Can it be said that there is a lack of poetical conception in +the figure of Wodan or Odin, the hoary ruler of the winds and the +clouds, who, clad in a flowing mantle, careers through the sky on a +milk-white horse, from whose nostrils fire issues, and who is followed +at night by a retinue of heroic warriors whom he leads into the golden +shield-adorned Walhalla? Is there a want of artistic delineation in +Freia--an Aphrodite and Venus combined, who changes darkness into +light wherever she appears--the goddess with the streaming golden +locks and siren voice, who hovers in her sun-white robe between +heaven and earth, making flowers sprout along her path and planting +irresistible longings in the hearts of men? Do we not see in bold and +well-marked outline the figure of the red-bearded, steel-handed Thor, +who rolls along the sky in his goat-drawn car, and who smites the +mountain giants with his magic hammer? Are these mere spectres without +distinct contour?... are they not, even in their uncouth passions, +the representatives of a primitive race, in which the pulse throbs with +youthful freshness? Or need I allude to that fantastic theory of minor +deities, of fairies and wood-women, and elfin and pixies and cobolds, +that have been evolved out of all the forces of Nature by the Teutonic +mind, and before whose bustling crowd even Hellenic imagination pales? + +'Then what a dramatic power has the Germanic mythology! The gods of +classic antiquity have been compared to so many statues ranged along +a stately edifice ... in the Germanic view all is active struggle, +dramatic contest, with a deep dark background of inevitable fate that +controls alike gods and men.' + +Such are the Beings whom we meet wandering all over Tirol; transformed +often into new personalities, invested with new attributes and +supplemented with many a mysterious companion, the offspring of an +imagination informed by another order of thought, but all of them +more living, and more readily to be met with, than in any part of +wonder-loving Germany itself. + +Apart from their mythological value, how large is the debt we owe to +legends and traditions in building up our very civilization. Their +influence on art is apparent, from the earliest sculptured stones +unearthed in India or Etruria to the latest breathing of symbolism +in the very reproductions of our own day. In poetry, no less a master +than Dante lamented that their influence was waning at the very period +ascribed a few years ago as the date of their taking rise. Extolling +the simpler pursuits and pleasures of his people at a more primitive +date than his own, 'One by the crib kept watch,' he says, 'studious +to still the infant plaint with words which erst the parents' +minds diverted; another, the flaxen maze upon the distaff twirling, +recounted to her household, tales of Troy, Fiesole, and Rome.' [19] +Their work is patent in his own undying pages, and in those of all +true poets before and since. + +Besides all this, have they not preserved to us, as in a registering +mirror, the manners and habits of thought of the ages preceding +ours? Have they not served to record as well as to mould the noblest +aspirations of those who have gone before? 'What are they,' asks an +elegant Italian writer of the present day, [20] treating, however, +only of the traditions of the earliest epoch of Christianity, 'but +narratives woven beside the chimney, under the tent, during the halt +of the caravan, embodying as in a lively picture the popular customs +of the apostolic ages, the interior life of the rising (nascente) +Christian society? In them we have a delightful opportunity of +seeing stereotyped the great transformation and the rich source of +ideas and sentiments which the new belief opened up, to illuminate +the common people in their huts no less than the patricians in +their palaces. Those even who do not please to believe the facts +they expose are afforded a genuine view of the habits of life, the +manner of speaking and behaving--all that expresses and paints the +erudition of those men and of those times. Thus, it may be affirmed, +they comment beautifully on the Gospels, and in the midst of fables +is grafted a great abundance of truth. + +'If we would investigate the cause of their multiplication, and of the +favour with which they were received from the earliest times, we shall +find it to consist chiefly in the need and love of the marvellous +which governed the new society, notwithstanding the severity of +its dogmas. Neophytes snatched from the superstitions of paganism +would not have been able all at once to suppress every inclination +for poetical fables. They needed another food according to their +fancy. And indeed were they not great marvels (though of another +order from those to which they were accustomed) which were narrated +to them? The aggregate mass was, however, increased by the way in +which they lived and the scarcity of communication; every uncertain +rumour was thus readily dressed up in the form of a wonderful fact. + +'Again, dogmatic and historical teaching continued long to be oral; +so that when an apostle, or the apostle of an apostle, arrived in +any city and chained the interest of the faithful with a narration +of the acts of Jesus he had himself witnessed or received from the +personal narrative of witnesses, his words ran along from mouth to +mouth, and each repeater added something, suggested by his faith +or by his heart. In this way his teaching constituted itself into a +legend, which in the end was no longer the narrative of one, but the +expression of the faith of all. + +'Thus whoever looks at legends only as isolated productions of +a period most worthy of study, without attending to the influence +they exercised on later epochs, must even so hold them in account as +literary monuments of great moment.' + +Nor is this the case only with the earliest legends. The popular mind +in all ages has evinced a necessity for filling up all blanks in the +histories of its heroes. The probable, and even the merely possible, +is idealized; what might have been is reckoned to have happened; the +logical deductions as to what a favourite saint or cobbold ought to +have done, according to certain fixed principles of action previously +ascribed to his nature, are taken to be the very acts he did perform; +and thus, even those traditions which are the most transparently +human in their origin, have served to show reflected in action the +virtues and perfections which it is the boast of religion to inculcate. + +A Flemish writer on Spanish traditions similarly remarks, 'Peoples who +are cut off from the rest of the world by such boundaries as seas, +mountains, or wastes, by reason of the difficulty of communication +thus occasioned, are driven to concentrate their attention to local +events; and in their many idle hours they work up their myths and +tales into poems, which stand them in stead of books, and, in fact, +constitute a literature.' [21] + +Europe possesses in Tirol one little country at least in whose mountain +fastnesses a store of these treasures not only lies enshrined, but +where we may yet see it in request. Primitive and unsophisticated +tillers of the soil, accustomed to watch as a yearly miracle the +welling up of its fruits, and to depend for their hopes of subsistence +on the sun and rain in the hand of their Creator, its children +have not yet acquired the independence of thought and the habit of +referring all events to natural causes, which is generated by those +industries of production to which the human agent appears to be all in +all. Among them we have the opportunity of seeing these expositions +of the supernatural, at home as it were in their contemporary life, +supplying a representation of what has gone before, only to be +compared to the revelations of deep-cut strata to the geologist, +and the unearthing of buried cities to the student of history. It +is further satisfactory to find that, in spite of our repugnance to +superstition, this unreasoning realization of the supernatural has in +no way deteriorated the people. Their public virtues, seen in their +indomitable devotion to their country, have been conspicuous in all +ages, no less than their heroic labours in grappling with the obstacles +of soil and climate; while all who have visited them concur in bearing +testimony to their possession of sterling homely qualities, frugality, +morality, hospitality; and, for that which is of most importance to +the tourist, all who have been among them will bear witness to the +justice of the remark in the latest Guide-book, that, except just in +the more cultivated centres of Innsbruck, Brixen, and Botzen, you need +take no thought among the Tiroleans concerning the calls on your purse. + + + +My first acquaintance with Tirol was made at Feldkirch, where I had to +pay somewhat dearly for my love of the legendary and the primitive. Our +plan for the autumn was to join a party of friends from Italy at +Innsbruck, spend some months of long-promised enjoyment in exploring +Tirol, and return together to winter in Rome. The arrangements of +the journey had been left to me; and as I delight in getting beyond +railways and travelling in a conveyance whose pace and hours are more +under one's own control, I traced our road through France to Bâle, +and then by way of Zurich and Rorschach and Oberriet to Feldkirch +(which I knew to be a post-station) as a base of operations, for +leisurely threading our mountain way through Bludenz and Landeck and +the intervening valleys to Innsbruck. + +How our plan was thwarted [22] I will relate presently. I still +recommend this line of route to others less encumbered with luggage, as +leading through out-of-the-way and unfrequented places. The projected +railway between Feldkirch and Innsbruck is now completed as far as +Bludenz; and Feldkirch is reached direct by the new junction with +the Rorschach-Chur railway at Buchsstation. [23] + +Feldkirch affords excursions, accessible for all, to the +Margarethenkapf and the St. Veitskapf, from either of which a glorious +view is to be enjoyed. The latter commands the stern gorges through +which the Ill makes its final struggles before losing its identity +in the Rhine--struggles which are often terrific and devastating, +for every few years it carries down a whole torrent of pebbles for +many days together. The former overlooks the more smiling tracts we +traversed in our forced march, locally called the Ardetzen, hemmed in +by noble mountain peaks. Then its fortifications, intended at one time +to make it a strong border town against Switzerland, have left some +few picturesque remains, and in particular the so-called Katzenthurm, +named from certain clumsy weapons styled 'cat's head guns,' which +once defended it, and which were ultimately melted down to make a +chime of peaceful bells. And then it has two or three churches to +which peculiar legends attach. Not the least curious of these is +that of St. Fidelis, a local saint, whose cultus sprang up as late +as the year 1622, when he was laid in wait for and assassinated +by certain fanatical reprobates, whose consciences his earnest +preaching had disturbed. He was declared a martyr, and canonized +at Rome in 1746. The sword with which he was put to death, the bier +on which his body was carried back into the town, and other things +belonging to him, are venerated as relics. About eight miles outside +the town another saint is venerated with a precisely similar history, +but dating from the year 844. This is St. Eusebius, one of a band of +Scotch missionaries, who founded a monastery there called Victorsberg, +the oldest foundation in all Vorarlberg. St. Eusebius, returning +from a pilgrimage one day, lay down to sleep in this neighbourhood, +being overtaken by the darkness of night. Heathen peasants, who had +resisted his attempts at converting them, going out early in the +morning to mow, found him lying on the ground, and one of them cut +off his head with his scythe. To their astonishment the decapitated +body rose to its feet, and, taking up the head in its hands, walked +straight to the door of the monastery, where the brethren took it +in and laid it to rest in the churchyard. A little further (reached +most conveniently by a by-path off the road near Altenstadt, mentioned +below,) is Rankweil. In the church on Our Lady's Mount (Frauenberg) is +a little chapel on the north side, where a reddish stone is preserved +(Der rothe Stein in der Fridolinskapelle), of which the following story +is told. St. Fridolin was a Scotch missionary in the seventh century, +and among other religious houses had founded one at Müsigen. Two +noblemen of this neighbourhood (brothers) held him in great respect, +and before dying, one of them, Ursus by name, endowed the convent +with all his worldly goods. Sandolf, the other, who did not carry +his admiration of the saint to so great a length as to renounce +his brother's rich inheritance, disputed the possession, and it was +decided that Fridolin must give it up unless he could produce the +testimony of the donor. Fridolin went in faith to Glarus, where Ursus +had been buried two years before. At his call the dead man rose to +his feet, and pushing the grave-stone aside, walked, hand-in-hand, +with his friend back to Rankweil, where he not only substantiated +Fridolin's statements, but so effectually frightened his brother that +he immediately added to the gift all his own possessions also. But +the story says that when the judgment requiring him to produce the +testimony of the dead was first given, Fridolin went to pray in the +chapel of Rankweil, and there a shining being appeared to him, and +told him to go to Glarus and call Ursus; and as he spoke Fridolin's +knees sank into the 'red stone,' making the marks now seen. [24] + +The reason given why this hill is called Our Lady's Mound is, that on +it once stood a fortress called Schönberg. Schönberg having been burnt +down, its owner, the knight of Hörnlingen, set about rebuilding it; +but whatever work his workmen did in the day-time, was destroyed by +invisible hands during the night. A pious old workman, too, used to +hear a mysterious voice saying that instead of a fortress they should +build a sanctuary in honour of the mother of God. The knight yielded to +the commands of the voice, and the church was built out of the ruins +of his castle. In this church, too, is preserved a singular antique +cross, studded with coloured glass gems, which the people venerate +because it was brought down to them by the mountain stream. It is +obviously of very ancient workmanship, and an inscription records +that it was repaired in 1347. + +Winding round the mountain path which from Rankweil runs behind +Feldkirch to Satteins, the convent of Valduna is reached; and +the origin of this sanctuary is ascribed to a legend, of which +counterparts crop up in various places, of a hermit who passed half +a life within a hollow tree, [25] and acquired the lasting veneration +of the neighbouring people. + +Another mountain sanctuary which received its veneration from +the memory of a tree-hermit, is S. Gerold, situated on a little +elevation below the Hoch Gerach, about seven miles on the east side of +Feldkirch. It dates from the tenth century. Count Otho, Lord of Sax in +the Rhinethal, was out hunting, when the bear to which he was giving +chase sought refuge at the foot of an old oak tree, whither his dogs +durst not follow it. Living as a hermit within this oak tree Count Otho +found his long lost father, S. Gerold, who years before had forsaken +his throne and found there a life of contemplation in the wild. [26] +The tomb of the saint and his two sons is to be seen in the church, +and some curious frescoes with the story of his adventures. + +Another way to be recommended for entering Vorarlberg is by crossing +Lake Constance from Rorschach to Lindau, a very pleasant trajet of +about two hours in the tolerably well-appointed, but not very swift +lake-steamers. Lindau itself is a charming old place, formed out of +three islands on the edge of the lake; but as it is outside the border +of Tirol, I will only note in favour of the honesty of its inhabitants, +that I saw a tree laden with remarkably fine ripe pears overhanging a +wall in the principal street, and no street-boy raised a hand to them. + +The first town in Tirol by this route is Bregenz, which reckons as +the capital of Vorarlberg. It may be reached by boat in less than +half an hour. It is well situated at the foot of the Gebhartsberg, +which affords a most delightful, and in Tirol widely celebrated, +view over Lake Constance and the Appenzel mountains and the rapid +Rhine between; and here, at either the Post Hotel or the Black Eagle, +there is no lack of carriages for reaching Feldkirch. Bregenz deserves +to be remembered as the birth-place of one of the best modern painters +of the Munich-Roman school, Flatz, who I believe, spends much of his +time there. + +Among the objects of interest in Bregenz are the Capuchin Convent, +situated on a wooded peak of the Gebhardsberg, founded in 1636; +on another peak, S. Gebhard auf dem Pfannenberge, called after +a bishop of Constance, who preached the Christian faith in the +neighbourhood, and was martyred. Bregenz has an ancient history and +high lineage. Its lords, who were powerful throughout the Middle +Ages, were of sufficiently high estate at the time of Charlemagne +that he should take Hildegard, the daughter of one of them, to be his +wife, and there is a highly poetical popular tale about her. Taland +(a favourite name in Vorarlberg) was a suitor who had, with jealous +eye, seen her given to the powerful Emperor, and in the bitterness +of his rejected affection, so calumniated her to Charlemagne, that +he repudiated her and married Desiderata, the Lombard princess. [27] +Hildegard accepted her trial with angelic resignation, and devoted +her life to tending pilgrims at Rome. Meantime Taland, stricken +with blindness, came to Rome in penitential pilgrimage, where he +fell under the charitable care of Hildegard. Hildegard's saintly +handling restored his sight--not only that of his bodily eyes, but +also his moral perception of truth and falsehood. In reparation for +the evil he had done, he now led her back to Charlemagne, confessed +all, and she was once more restored to favour and honour. Bregenz +has also another analogous and equally beautiful legend. One of +its later counts, Ulrich V., was supposed by his people to have +died in war in Hungary, about the year 916. Wendelgard, his wife, +devoted her widowhood to the cloistral life, but took the veil under +the condition that she should every year hold a popular festival +and distribution of alms in memory of her husband. On the fourth +anniversary, as she was distributing her bounty, a pilgrim came +forward who allowed himself the liberty of kissing the hand which +bestowed the dole. Wendelgard's indignation was changed into delight +when she recognized that the audaciously gallant pilgrim was no other +than her own lord, who, having succeeded in delivering himself from +captivity, had elected to make himself thus known to her. Salomo, +Bishop of Constance, dispensed her from her vow, and Ulrich passed +the remainder of his life at Bregenz by her side. Another celebrated +worthy of Bregenz, whose name must not be passed over, is 'Ehreguota' +or 'Ehre Guta,' a name still dear to every peasant of Vorarlberg, +and which has perpetuated itself in the appellation of Hergotha, +a favourite Christian name there to the present day. She was a poor +beggar-woman really named Guta, whose sagacity and courage delivered +her country people from an attack of the Appenzell folk, to which they +had nearly succumbed in the year 1408; it was the 'honour' paid her by +her patriotic friends that added the byname of 'Ehre,' and made them +erect a monument to her. One of the variants of the story makes her, +instead of a beggar-woman, the beautiful young bride of Count Wilhelm +of Montfort-Bregenz; some have further sought to identify her with +the goddess Epona. + +Pursuing the journey southwards towards Feldkirch, every step is full +of natural beauty and legendary interest. At first leaving Bregenz +you have to part company with Lake Constance, and leave in the right +hand distance the ruins of Castle Fussach. On the left is Riedenberg, +which, if not great architecturally, is interesting as a highly +useful institution, under the fostering care of the present Empress of +Austria, for the education of girls belonging to families of a superior +class with restricted means. From Fussach the road runs parallel to +the Rhine; there is a shorter road by Dornbirn, but less interesting, +which joins it again at Götzis, near Hohenembs. The two roads separate +before Fussach at Wolfurth, where there is an interesting chapel, +the bourne of a pilgrimage worth making if only for the view over +the lake. The country between S. John Höchst and Lustenau is much +frequented in autumn for the sake of the shooting afforded by the wild +birds which haunt its secluded recesses on the banks of the Rhine at +that season. At Lustenau there is a ferry over the Rhine. + +The favourite saints of this part of the country are Merboth, Diedo, +and Ilga--two brothers and a sister of a noble family, hermit-apostles +and martyrs of the eleventh century. Ilga established her hermit-cell +in the Schwarzenberg, just over Dornbirn, where not only all dainty +food, but even water, was wanting. The people of Dornbirn also wanted +water; and though she had not asked the boon for herself, she asked it +for her people, and obtained from the hard rock, a miraculous spring +of sparkling water which even the winter cold could not freeze. Ilga +used to fetch this water for her own use, and carry it up the mountain +paths in her apron. One day she spilt some of it on the rock near +her cell on her arrival, and see! as it touched the rock, the rock +responded to the appeal, and from out there flowed a corresponding +stream, which has never ceased to flow to this day. + +The most important and interesting spot between Bregenz and Feldkirch, +is Embs or Hohenembs, with its grand situation, its picturesque +buildings and its two ruined castles, which though distinguished as +Alt and Neu Hohenembs, do not display at first sight any very great +disparity of age; both repay a visit, but the view from Alt Hohenembs +is the finer. The virtues and bravery of the lords of Hohenembs +have been duly chronicled. James Von Embs served by the side of the +chevalier Bayard in the battle of Ravenna, and having at the first +onset received his death wound, raised himself up again to pour out +his last breath in crying to his men, 'The King of France has been +our fair ally, let us serve him bravely this day!' His grandson, +who was curiously enough christened James Hannibal, was the first +Count of Embs, and his descendants often figure in records of the +wars of the Austrian Empire, particularly in those connected with +the famous Schmalkaldischer Krieg, and are now merged in the family +of Count Harrach. + +The 'Swiss embroidery' industry here crosses the Rhine, and, in +the female gatherings which it occasions, as in the 'Filo' of the +south, many local chronicles and legends are, or at least have been, +perpetuated. + +In the parish church, I have been told by a traveller, that the +cardinal's hat of S. Charles Borromeo is preserved, though why it +should be so I cannot tell; and I think I have myself had it shown +me both at Milan and, if I mistake not, also at the church in Rome +whence he had his 'title.' + +The ascent to Neu Hohenembs has sufficient difficulty and danger for +the unpractised pedestrian to give it special interest, which the +roaring of the waterfall tends to excite. A little way beyond it the +water was formerly turned to the purpose of an Italian pescheria (or +fish-preserve for the use of the castle), which is not now very well +preserved. Further up still are the ruins of Alt Hohenembs. There are +also prettily situated sulphur baths a little way out of the town, +much frequented from June to September by the country people. It +is curious that the Jews, who have never hitherto settled in large +numbers in any part of Tirol, have here a synagogue; and I am told +that it serves for nearly a hundred families scattered over the +surrounding country, though there are not a dozen even at Innsbruck. + +All I have met with of interest between this and Feldkirch, I have +mentioned under the head of excursions from Feldkirch. + +Stretching along the bank of the Rhine to the south of Feldkirch, is +the little principality of Lichtenstein or Liechtenstein, a territory +of some three square miles and a half in extent, which yet gives its +possessor--lately by marriage made a member of English society--certain +seignorial rights. The chief industry of the people is the Swiss +embroidery. Vaduz, its chief town, is situated in its centre, and above +it, in the midst of a thick wood, is the somewhat imposing and well +kept up castle of Lichtenstein. Further south, overhanging the Rhine, +is Schloss Gutenberg, and beyond, a remarkable warm sulphur spring, +which runs only in summer, at a temperature of 98° to 100° Fahrenheit; +it is crowded by Swiss and Tiroleans from June to September, though +unknown to the rest of the world. [28] It was discovered in the +year 1240 by a chamois-hunter, and was soon after taken in charge +by a colony of Benedictine monks, established close by at Pfäffers, +who continued to entertain those who visited it until it was taken +possession of by the Communal Council of Chur, and the monastery +turned into a poor-house. The country round it is exceedingly wild and +romantic, and there is a celebrated ravine called the Tamina-Schlund, +of so-called immeasurable depth, where at certain hours of a sunny +day a wonderful play of light is to be observed. Pfäffers is just +outside the boundary of Tirol; the actual boundary line is formed by +the Rhætian Alps, which are traversed by a pass called Luziensteig, +after St. Lucius, 'first Christian king of Britain,' who, tradition +says, preached the gospel to Lichtenstein. [29] The road from Feldkirch +to Innsbruck first runs along the Illthal, which between Feldkirch +and Bludenz is also called the Wallgau, and merges at Bludenz into +the Walserthal on the left or north side. On the right or south side +are the Montafonthal, Klosterthal, and Silberthal. + +Soon after leaving Feldkirch the mountains narrow upon the road, +which crosses the Ill at Felsenau, forming what is called the gorge +of the Ill, near Frastanz. Round this terrible pass linger memories +of one of the direst struggles for independence the Tiroleans ever +waged. In 1499 the Swiss hosts were shown the inlet, through the +mountains that so well protect Tirol, by a treacherous peasant +whom their gold had bought. [30] A little shepherd lad seeing them +advance, in his burning desire to save his country, blew such a call +to arms upon his horn that he never desisted till he had blown all +the breath out of his little body. The subsequent battle was fierce +and determined; and when it slackened from loss of men, the women +rushed in and fought with the bravest. So earnestly was the cause of +those who fell felt to be the cause of all, that even to the present +time the souls of those who were slain that day are remembered in +the prayers said as the procession nears the spot when blessing +the fields on Rogation-Wednesday. On the heights above Valduna +are the striking ruins of a convent of Poor Clares, one of those +abandoned at the fiat of Joseph II. It was founded on occasion of +a hermit declaring he had often seen a beautiful angel sitting and +singing enchantingly on the peak. Below is a tiny lake, which lends +an additional charm to the tranquil beauty of the spot. The patron +saint of the Walserthal is St. Joder or Theodul (local renderings of +Theodoric), and his legend is most fantastic. St. Joder went to Rome +to see the Pope; the Pope, in commendation of his zeal, gave him a +fine bell for his church. Homewards went St. Joder with his bell, +but when he came to the mountains it was more than he could manage, +to drag the bell after him. What did he then do? He bethought him +that he had, by his prayers and exorcisms, conjured the devil out +of the valley where he had preached the faith, so why should not +prayer and exorcism conjure him to carry the bell for the service of +his faithful flock? If St. Joder's faith did not remove mountains it +removed the obstacles they presented, and many a bit of rude carving +in mountain chapels throughout the Walserthal shows a youthful saint, +in rich episcopal vestments, leading by a chain, like a showman his +bear, the arch enemy of souls, crouched and sweating under the weight +of the bell whose holy tones are to sound his own ban. [31] + +Bludenz retains some picturesque remnants of its old buildings. It +belonged to the Counts of Sonnenberg, and hence it is said that it +is often called by that name; but it is perhaps more probable that +the height above Bludenz was called Sonnenberg, in contrast with +Schattenberg, above Feldkirch, and that its lords derived their name +from it. The story of the fidelity of Bludenz to Friedrich mit der +leeren Tasche, I have narrated in another place. [32] + +The valley of Montafon has for its arms the cross keys of St. Peter, +in memory of a traditionary but anachronistic journey of Pope John +XXIII. to the Council of Constance, in 1414. [33] In memory of the +same journey a joy-peal is rung on every Wednesday throughout the year. + +A little way south of Bludenz, down the Montafon valley, is a +chapel on a little height called S. Anton, covering the spot where +tradition says was once a mighty city called Prazalanz, destroyed by an +avalanche. Near here is a tiny stream, of which the peasants tell the +following story:--They say up the mountain lives a beautiful maiden, +set to guard a treasure, and she can only be released when some one +will thrice kiss a loathsome toad, [34] which has its place on the +cover of the treasury, and the maiden feels assured no one will ever +make the venture. She weeps evermore, and they call this streamlet the +'Trächnabächle'--the Tear-rill. + +The valley of Montafon is further celebrated for its production +of kirschwasser. + +Opposite Dalaas is a striking peak, attaining an elevation of some +5,000 feet, called the Christberg. On the opposite side to Dalaas is +a chapel of St. Agatha; in the days of the silver mining of Tirol, in +the fifteenth century, silver was found in this neighbourhood. On one +occasion a landslip imprisoned a number of miners in their workings. In +terror at their threatened death, they vowed that if help reached +them in time, they would build a chapel on the spot to commemorate +their deliverance. Help did reach them, and they kept their vow. The +chapel is built into the living rock where this occurred, and a grey +mark on the rock is pointed out as a supernatural token which cannot +be effaced, to remind the people of the deliverance that took place +there. It is reached from Dalaas by a terribly steep and rugged path, +running over the Christberg, near the summit of which may be found, +by those whom its hardships do not deter, another chapel, or wayside +shrine, consisting of an image of the Blessed Virgin under a canopy, +with an alcoved seat beneath it for the votary to rest in, called +'Das Bruederhüsle,' and this is the reason of its name:--The wife +of a Count Tanberg gave birth to a dead child; in the fulness of +their faith, the parents mourned that to the soul of their little +one Christian baptism had been denied, more than the loss of their +offspring. In pursuance of a custom then in vogue in parts of Tirol, +if not elsewhere, the Count sent the body of the infant to be laid on +the altar of St. Joseph, in the parish church, in the hope that at the +intercession of the fosterfather of the Saviour it might revive for +a sufficient interval to receive the sacrament of admission into the +Christian family. The servant, however, instead of carrying his burden +to the church at Schruns (in Montafonthal), finding himself weary by +the time he had climbed up the Christberg, dug a grave, and buried +it instead. The next year there was another infant, also born dead; +this time the Count determined to carry it himself to the church, +and by the time he had toiled to the same spot he too was weary, +and sat down to rest. As he sat he heard a little voice crying from +under the ground, 'ätti, nüm mi' ô met!' [35] The Count turned up the +soil, and found the body of his last year's infant. Full of joy he +carried both brothers to the altar of St. Joseph, at Schruns; here, +continues the legend, his prayer went up before the divine throne; +both infants gave signs of life before devout witnesses; baptism could +be validly administered, and they, laid to rest in holy ground. [36] + +After Dalaas the road assumes a character of real grandeur, both as an +engineering work and as a study of nature. The size of the telegraph +poles alone (something like fourteen inches in diameter) gives an idea +of the sort of storms the road is built to resist; so do the veritable +fortifications, erected here and there, to protect it from avalanches. + +The summit (6,218 ft.) of the Arlberg, whence the province has its +name--and which in turn is named from Schloss Arlen, the ruins of which +are to be observed from the road--is marked by a gigantic crucifix, +overhanging the road. An inscription cut in the rock records that +it was opened for traffic (after three hard years of labour) on +St. James's day, 1787; but a considerable stretch of the road now +used was made along a safer and more sheltered pass in 1822-4, when +a remarkable viaduct called the Franzensbrücke was built. Two posts, +striped with the local colours, near the crucifix above-named, mark +the boundary of Vorarlberg and Oberinnthal. As we pass them we should +take leave of Vorarlberg; but it may be convenient to mention in this +place some few of the more salient of the many points of interest on +the onward road to Innsbruck. + +The opening of the Stanzerthal, indeed, on which the road is carried, +seems to belong of right to Vorarlberg, for its first post-halt +of S. Christof came into existence through the agency of a poor +foundling boy of that province, who was so moved by the sufferings +of travellers at his date (1386), that he devoted his life to their +service, and by begging collected money to found the nucleus of +the hospice and brotherhood of S. Christof, which lasted till the +time of Joseph II. The pass at its highest part is free from snow +only from the beginning of July to September, and in the depth +of winter it accumulates to a height of twenty feet. The church +contains considerable remains of the date of its founder, Heinrich +das Findelkind; of this date, or not much later, must be the gigantic +statue of S. Christopher, patron of wayfarers. + +The Stanzerthal, without being less grand, presents a much more smiling +prospect than that traversed during the later part of the journey +through Vorarlberg. The waters of the Rosanna and the Trisanna flow +by the way; the mountains stretch away in the distance, in every hue +of brilliant colouring; the whole landscape is studded with villages +clustering round their church steeples, while Indian-corn-fields, +fruit-gardens in which the barberry holds no insignificant place, +and vast patches of a deep-tinted wild flora, fill up the picture. + +At Schloss Wiesburg is the opening into the Patznaunthal, the chief +village of which is Ischgl, where the custom I have heard of in other +parts of Tirol, and also in Brittany, prevails, of preserving the +skulls of the dead in an open vault in the churchyard, with their +names painted on them. Nearly opposite it, off the left side of the +road lies Grüns or Grins, so called because it affords a bright green +patch amid the grey of the rocks. It was a more important place in +mediæval times, for the road then ran beside it; the bridge with its +pointed arches dates from the year 1639. Margareta Maultasch, with +whose place in Tirolese history we must make acquaintance further on, +had a house here which still contains some curious mural paintings. + +Landeck [37] is an important thriving little town, with the Inn flowing +through its midst. It has two fine remains of ancient castles: Schloss +Landeck, now used partly as a hospice; and Schloss Schrofenstein, +of difficult access, haunted by a knight, who gave too ready ear +to the calumnies of a rejected suitor of his wife, and must wander +round its precincts wringing his fettered hands and crying 'Woe!' On +the slope of the hill crowned by Schloss Landeck stands the parish +church. Its first foundation dates from the fifteenth century, when +a Landecker named Henry and his wife Eva, having lost their two +children in a forest, on vowing a church in honour of the Blessed +Virgin, met a bear and a wolf each carrying one of the children +tenderly on its back. It has a double-bulbed tower of much later +date, and it was restored with considerable care a few years back; +but many important parts remain in their original condition, including +some early sculpture. In the churchyard are two important monuments, +one dating from the fifteenth century, of Oswald Y. Schrofenstein; +the other, a little gothic chapel, consecrated on August 22, 1870, +in memory of the Landeck contingent of the Tirolean sharpshooters, +who assisted in defending the borders of Wälsch-Tirol in 1866. [38] +About two or three miles from Landeck there is a celebrated waterfall, +at a spot called Letz. + +Imst was formerly celebrated for its breed of canary-birds, which +its townsmen used to carry all over Europe. The church contains a +votive tablet, put up by some of them on occasion of being saved from +shipwreck in the Mediterranean. It has a good old inn, once a knightly +palace. From Imst the Pitzthal branches southwards; but concerning +it I have not space to enlarge, as the more interesting excursion +to Füssen, on the Bavarian frontier, must not be passed over. The +pleasantest way of making this excursion is to engage a carriage for +the whole distance at Imst, but a diligence or 'Eilwagen,' running +daily between Innsbruck and Füssen, may be met at Nassereit, some +three miles along the Gunglthal. At Nassereit I will pause a moment +to mention a circumstance, bearing on the question of the formation +of legends, which seemed to take considerable hold on the people, +and was narrated to me with a manifest impression of belief in the +supernatural. There was a pilgrimage from a place called Biberwier +to a shrine of the Virgin, at Dormiz, on August 10, 1869. It was +to gain the indulgence of the Vatican Council, and the priest of +Biberwier in exhorting his people to treat it entirely as a matter of +penance, and not as a party of pleasure, had made use of a figure of +speech bidding them not to trust themselves to the bark of worldly +pleasure, for, he assured them, it had many holes in it, and would +swamp them instead of bearing them on to the joys of heaven. Four +of the men, however, persisted in disregarding his warning, and in +combining a trip to the Fernsee, one of two romantically situated +mountain lakes overlooked by the ancient castle of Sigmundsburg, on +a promontory running into it and with its Wirthshaus 'auf dem Fern' +forming a favourite though difficult pleasure-excursion. The weather +was treacherous; the boat was swamped in the squall which ensued, +and all four men were drowned. From Nassereit also is generally made +the ascent of the Tschirgants, the peak which has constantly formed +a remarkable feature in the landscape all the way from Arlberg. + +The road to Füssen passes by Sigmundsburg, Fernsee and Biberwier +mentioned in the preceding narrative also the beautiful Blendsee and +Mittersee (accessible only to the pedestrian) or rather the by-paths +leading to them. Leermoos is the next place passed,--a straggling, +inconsiderable hamlet, but affording a pleasing incident in the +landscape, when, after passing it, the steep road winds back upon it +and reveals it again far far below you. It is, however, quite possible +to put up for a night with the accommodation afforded by the Post inn, +and by this means one of the most justly celebrated natural beauties +may be enjoyed, in the sunset effects produced by the lighting up of +the Zugspitzwand. + +Next is Lähn, whose situation disposes one to believe the tradition +that it has its name from the avalanches (Lawinen, locally contracted +into Lähne) by which the valley is frequently visited, and chiefly +from a terrible one, in the fifteenth century, which destroyed the +village, till then called Mitterwald. A carrier who had been wont to +pass that way, struck with compassion at the desolation of the place, +aided in providing the surviving inhabitants to rebuild their chapel, +and tradition fables of him that they were aided by an angel. The +road opens out once more as we approach Heiterwang; there is also a +post-road hence to Ammergau; here, a small party may put up at the +Rossl, for the sake of visiting the Plansee, the second largest lake +of Tirol, on the right (east) of the road; on the left is the opening +of the Lechthal, a difficult excursion even to the most practised +pedestrian. For those who study convenience the Plansee may be better +visited from Reutte. + +After Heiterwang the rocks close in again on the road as we pass +through the Ehrenberger Klause, celebrated again and again through +the pages of Tirolese history, from the very earliest times, for +heroic defences; its castle is an important and beautiful ruin; +and so the road proceeds to Reutte, Füssen, and the much visited +Lustschloss of Schwangau; but as these are in Bavaria I must not +occupy my Tirolese pages with them, but mention only the Mangtritt, +the boundary pass, where a cross stands out boldly against the sky, +in memory of S. Magnus, the apostle of these valleys. The devil, +furious at the success of the saint with his conversion of the heathen +inhabitants, sent a tribe of wild and evil men, says one version of +the legend, a formidable dragon according to another, to exterminate +him; he was thus driven to the narrow glen where the fine post-road +now runs between the rocks beside the roaring Lech. Nothing daunted, +the saint sprang across to the opposite rock whither his adversaries, +who had no guardian angels' wings to 'bear them up', durst not +pursue him; it is a curious fact for the comparative mythologist +that the same pass bears also the name of Jusulte (Saltus Julii) +and the tradition that Julius Cæsar performed a similar feat here on +horseback. Near it is a poor little inn, called 'the White House,' +where local vintages may be tasted. + +Reutte has two inns; the Post and Krone, and from it more excursions +may be made than I have space to chronicle. That to Breitenwang is +an easy one; a house here is pointed out as having been built on the +spot where stood a poor hut which gave shelter in his last moments +to Lothair II. 'the Saxon' overtaken by death on his return journey +from the war in Italy, 1137; what remained of the old materials +having been conscientiously worked into the building, down to the +most insignificant spar; a tablet records the event. The church, +a Benedictine foundation of the twelfth century, was rebuilt in the +seventeenth, and contains many specimens of what Tirolese artists +can do in sculpture, wood-carving, and painting. A quaint chapel in +the churchyard has a representation in stucco of the 'Dance of Death.' + +The country between this and the Plansee is called the Achenthal, +fortunately distinguished by local mispronounciation as the Archenthal +from the better known (though not deservingly so) Achenthal, which +we shall visit later. The Ache or Arche affords several water-falls, +the most important of them, the Stuibfall, is nearly a hundred feet +in height, and on a bright evening a beautiful 'iris' may be seen +enthroned in its foam. + +At the easternmost extremity of the Plansee, to be reached either by +pleasure boat or mountain path, near the little border custom-house, +the Kaiser-brunnen flows into the lake, so called because its cool +waters once afforded a refreshing drink to Ludwig of Brandenberg, +when out hunting: a crucifix marks the spot. There is also a chapel +erected at the end of the 17th century, in consequence of some local +vow, containing a picture of the 'Vierzehn Nothhelfer;' and as the +so-called 'Fourteen Helpers in Need' are a favourite devotion all over +North-Tirol I may as well mention their legend here at our first time +of meeting them. The story is that on the feast of the Invention of the +Cross, 1445, a shepherd-boy named Hermann, serving the Cistercian monks +of Langheim (some thirty miles south of Mayence) was keeping sheep +on a farm belonging to them in Frankenthal not far from Würtzburg, +when he heard a child's voice crying to him out of the long grass; he +turned round and saw a beautiful infant with two tapers burning before +it, who disappeared as he approached. On the vigil of S. Peter in the +following year Hermann saw the same vision repeated, only this time the +beautiful infant was surrounded by a court of fourteen other children, +who told him they were the 'Vierzehn Nothelfer,' and that he was to +build a chapel to them. The monks refused to believe Hermann's story, +but the popular mind connected it with a devotion which was already +widespread, and by the year 1448 the mysteriously ordered chapel +was raised, and speedily became a place of pilgrimage. This chapel +has been constantly maintained and enlarged and has now grown into a +considerable church; and the devotion to the 'Fourteen Helpers in Need' +spread over the surrounding country with the usual rapid spread of a +popular devotion. [39] The chief remaining points of interest in the +further journey to Innsbruck, taking it up where we diverged from it +at Nassereit, are mentioned later in my excursions for Innsbruck. + +Before closing my chapter on Vorarlberg I must put on record, as +a warning to those who may choose to thread its pleasant valleys, +a laughable incident which cut short my first attempt to penetrate +into Tirol by its means. Our line of route I have already named. [40] +Our start was in the most genial of August weather; our party not +only harmonious, but humorously inclined; all our stages were full of +interest and pleasure, and their memory glances at me reproachfully +as I pass them over in rigid obedience to the duty of adhering to my +programme. But no, I must devote a word of gratitude to the friendly +Swiss people, and their kindly hospitable manners on all occasions. The +pretty bathing establishments on the lakes, where the little girls +go in on their way to school, and swim about as elegantly as if the +water were their natural element; the wonderful roofs of Aarau; +its late-flowering pomegranates; and the clear delicious water, +tumbling along its narrow bed down the centre of all the streets, +where we stop to taste of the crystal brook, using the hollow of our +hands, pilgrim fashion, and the kind people more than once come out +of their houses to offer us glasses and chairs! + +I must bestow, too, another line of record on the charming village +of Rorschach, the little colony of Catholics in the midst of a +Protestant canton. Its delicious situation on the Boden-see; our +row over the lake by moonlight, where we are nearly run down by one +of the steamers perpetually crossing it in all directions, while our +old boatman pours out and loses himself in the mazes of his legendary +lore; the strange effect of interlacing moonbeams, interspersed by +golden rays from the sanct lamps with Turner-like effect, seen through +the open grated door of the church; the grotesque draped skeletons +supporting the roof of one of the chapels, Caryatid fashion and the +rustic procession on the early morning of the Assumption. + +So far all had gone passing well; my first misgiving arose when +I saw the factotum of the Oberriet station eye our luggage, the +provision of four English winterers in Rome, and a look of embarrassed +astonishment dilate his stolid German countenance. It was evident that +when he engaged himself as ticket-clerk, porter, 'and everyting,' +he never contemplated such a pile of boxes being ever deposited at +his station. We left him wrapt in his earnest gaze, and walked on +to see what help we could get in the village. It was a collection +of a half-dozen cottages, picturesque in their utter uncivilization, +clustered round an inn of some pretensions. The host had apparently +heard of the depth of English purses, and was delighted to make his +premières armes in testing their capacity. Of course there was 'no +arguing with the master of' the only horses to whose assistance we +had to look for carrying us beyond the mountains, which now somehow +struck us as much more plainly marked on the map than we had noticed +before. His price had to be ours, and his statement of the distance, +about double the reality, had to be accepted also. His stud was soon +displayed before us. Three rather tired greys were brought in from +the field, and made fast (or rather loose) with ropes to a waggon, +on which our formidable Gepäck was piled, and took their start with +funeral solemnity. An hour later a parcel of boys had succeeded in +capturing a wild colt destined to assist his venerable parent in +transporting ourselves in a 'shay,' of the Gilpin type, and to which +we managed to hang on with some difficulty, the wild-looking driver +good-naturedly volunteering to run by the side. + +Off we started with the inevitable thunder of German whip-cracking +and German imprecations on the cattle, sufficient for the first +twenty paces to astonish the colt into propriety. No sooner had we +reached the village boundary, however, than he seemed to guess for the +first time that he had been entrapped into bondage. With refreshing +juvenile buoyancy he instantly determined to show us his indomitable +spirit. Resisting all efforts of his companion in harness to proceed, +he suddenly made such desperate assault and battery with his hind +legs, that one or two of the ropes were quickly snapped, the Jehu +sent sprawling in the ditch on one side, and the travelling bags on +the other; so that, but for the staid demeanour of the old mare, +we should probably in two minutes more have been 'nowhere.' Hans +was on his feet again in an instant, like the balanced mannikins of +a bull-fight, and to knot the ropes and make a fresh start required +only a minute more; but another and another exhibition of the colt's +pranks decided us to trust to our own powers of locomotion. + +A bare-footed, short-petticoated wench, who astonished us by proving +that her rough hands could earn her livelihood at delicate 'Swiss' +embroidery, and still more by details of the small remuneration that +contented her, volunteered to pilot us through the woods where we +had quite lost our way; and finding our luggage van waiting on the +banks of the Rhine for the return of the ferry, we crossed with it +and walked by its side for the rest of the distance. + +Our road lay right across the Ardetzen, a basin of pasture enclosed by +a magnificent circuit of mountains,--behind us the distant eminences +of Appenzell, before us the great Rhætian Alps, and at their base +a number of smiling villages each with its green spire scarcely +detaching from the verdant slopes behind. The undertaking, pleasant +and bright at first, grew weary and anxious as the sun descended, +and the mountains of Appenzell began to throw their long shadow over +the lowland we were traversing, and yet the end was not reached. At +last the strains of an organ burst upon our ears, lights from latticed +windows diapered our path, and a train of worshippers poured past us +to join in the melodies of the Church, sufficiently large to argue that +our stopping-place was attained. We cast about to find the Gasthof zur +Post to which we were bound, but all in vain, there was no rest for us. + +Here indeed, Feldkirch fuit, but here it was no more. In the year 909, +the Counts of Montfort built themselves a castle on the neighbouring +height of Schattenburg, (so called because the higher eminences around +shade it from the sun till late in the morning,) and lured away the +people from this pristine Feldkirch to settle themselves round the +foot of their fortress. Some of the original inhabitants still clung +to the old place, and its old Church of St. Peter, that very church +whose earlier foundations, some say, were laid by monks from Britain, +S. Columban and St. Gall, who, when the people were oppressed by their +Frankish masters, came and lived among them, and by their preaching +and their prayers rekindled the light of religion, working out at the +same time their political relief; the former subsequently made his way, +shedding blessings as he went, on to Italy, where he died at the age +of ninety, in 615; the latter founded, and ended his days at the age +of ninety-five, in the famous monastery which has given his name to +the neighbouring Swiss Canton. + +The descendants of this remnant have kept up the original settlement +to this day with the name of Altenstadt, while the first built street +of the present thriving town of Feldkirch still retains its appellation +of the Neustadt. + +It seemed a long stretch ere we again came upon an inhabited spot, +but this time there was no mistake. All around were the signs of a +prosperous centre, the causeways correctly laid out, new buildings +rising on every side, and--I am fain to add--the church dark and +closed; in place of the train of worshippers of unsophisticated +Altenstadt, one solitary figure in mourning weeds was kneeling in +the moonlight at a desk such as we often see placed under a cross +against the outer wall of churches in Germany. + +Before five next morning I was awakened by the pealing organ and +hearty voices of the Feldkirch peasants at Mass in the church just +opposite my window. I dressed hastily, and descended to take my place +among them. It was a village festival and Mass succeeded Mass at each +of the gaily decorated altars, and before them assembled groups in +quaint costumes from far and near. [41] As each half hour struck, a +bell sounded, and a relic was brought round to the high altar rails, +all the women in the church going up first, and then all the men, +to venerate it. + +Our first care of the day was to engage our carriage for Innsbruck. We +were at the Post hotel, and had the best chance there; for besides its +own conveyances, there were those of the post-office, which generally +in Germany afford great convenience. Not one was there, however, that +would undertake our luggage over the mountain roads. The post-master +and his men all declared that at every winding of the passes there +would be too great risk of overturning the vehicle. It was in vain +we argued that the same amount had often accompanied us over higher +mountains in Italy; it was clear they were not prepared for it. There +was a service for heavy goods by which it could be sent; there was no +other way, and they did not advise that. They could not ensure any due +care being taken of it, or that it should reach within three or four +weeks. Four or five hours spent in weighing, measuring, arranging, +and arguing, advanced our cause not a whit; there was no plan to be +adopted but to return by Oberriet to Rorschach, cross lake Constance +to Lindau, and make our way round by Augsburg, Munich, and Rosenheim! + +It was with great reluctance we relinquished the cherished project. Our +now hated luggage deposited in a waggon, as the day before, we mounted +our rather more presentable, and certainly better horsed vehicle, +in no cheerful mood, for, besides the disappointment, there was the +mortification which always attaches to a failed project and retraced +steps. + +'The Herrschaften are not in such bright spirits as the sun +to-day!' exclaimed our driver, when, finally tired of cracking his +whip and shouting to his horses, he found we still sat silent and +crest-fallen. He wore the jauntiest costume to be found in Europe, +after that of his Hungarian confrère, a short postilion jacket, +bound and trimmed with yellow lace, a horn slung across his breast +by a bright yellow cord, and a hat shining like looking-glass cocked +on one side of his head, while his face expressed everything that is +pleasant and jovial. + +'How can one be anything but out of spirits when one is crossed by +such a stupid set as the people of your town? Why, there is no part +of Europe in which they will even believe it possible!' + +'Well, you see they don't understand much, about here,' he replied, +with an air of superiority, for he was a travelled postilion, as he +took care to let us know. 'In Italy they manage better; they tie the +luggage on behind, or underneath, where it is safe enough. Here they +have only one idea--to stick it on the top, and in that way a carriage +may be easily upset at a sharp turn. You cannot drive any new idea +into these fellows; it is like an echo between their own mountains, +whatever is once there, goes on and on and on.' I showed him the +map, and traced before him the difference in the length of the route +we should have taken and that we had now to pursue. I don't think +he had ever understood a map before, for he seemed vastly pleased +at the compliment paid to his intelligence. 'Ah!' he exclaimed, +'if we could always go as the crow flies, how quickly we should get +to our journey's end; or if we had the Stase-Sattel, as they used to +have--wasn't that fine!' + +'The Stase-Sattel,' I replied, 'what is that?' + +'What! don't you know about the Stase-Sattel--at that place, Bludenz, +there,' and he pointed to it on the map, 'where you were telling me +you wanted to have gone, there used to live an old woman named Stase, +and folk said she was a witch. She had a wonderful saddle, on to which +she used to set herself when she wanted anything, and it used to fly +with her ever so high, and quicker than a bird. One day the reapers +were in a field cooking their mess, and they had forgotten to bring +any salt--and hupf! quick! before the pot had begun to boil she had +flown off on her saddle to the salt-mines at Hall, beyond Innsbruck, +and back with salt enough to pickle an ox. Another time there was +a farmer who had been kind to her, whose crops were failing for the +drought. She no sooner heard of his distress than up she flew in her +saddle and swept all the clouds together with her broom till there +was enough to make a good rainfall. Another time, a boy who had been +sent with a message by his master to the next village had wasted all +the day in playing and drinking with her; towards dusk he bethought +himself that the gates would be shut and the dogs let loose, so that +it was a chance if he reached the house alive. But she told him not +to mind, and taking him up on her saddle, she carried him up through +the air and set him down at home before the sun was an inch lower.' + +'And what became of her?' I inquired. + +'Became of her! why, she went the way of all such folk. They go on +for a time, but God's hand overtakes them at the last. One day she +was on one of her wild errands, and it was a Fest-tag to boot. Her +course took her exactly over a church spire, and just as she passed, +the Wandlung bell [42] tolled. The sacred sound tormented her so that +she lost her seat and fell headlong to the ground. When they came out +of church they found her lying a shapeless mass upon the stone step +of the churchyard cross. Her enchanted saddle was long kept in the +Castle of Landeck--maybe it is there yet; and even now when we want +to tell one to go quickly on an errand, we say, "Fly on the saddle +of Dame Stase."' + +'You have had many such folk about here,' I observed seriously, +with the view of drawing him out. + +'Well, yes, they tell many such tales,' he answered; 'and if they're +not true, they at least serve to keep alive the faith that God is +over us all, and that the evil one has no more power than just +what He allows. There's another story they tell, just showing +that,' he continued. 'Many years ago there was a peasant (and he +lived near Bludenz too) who had a great desire to have a fine large +farm-house. He worked hard, and put his savings by prudently; but it +wouldn't do, he never could get enough. One day, in an evil hour, he +let his great desire get the better of him, and he called the devil +in dreiteufelsnamen [43] to his assistance. It was not, you see, +a deliberate wickedness--it was all in a moment, like. But the devil +came, and didn't give him time to reflect. "I know what you want," he +said; "you shall have your house and your barns and your hen-house, +and all complete, this very night, without costing you a penny; +but when you have enjoyed it long enough, your old worn-out carcass +shall belong to me." The good peasant hesitated; and the devil, +finding it necessary to add another bait, ran on: "And what is more, +I'll go so far as to say that if every stone is not complete by the +first cock-crow, I'll strike out even this condition, and you shall +have it out and out." The peasant was dazzled with the prospect, +and could not bring himself all at once to refuse the accomplishment +of his darling hope. The devil shook him by the hand as a way of +clenching the bargain, and disappeared. + +'The peasant went home more alarmed than rejoiced, and full of fear +above all that his wife should inquire the meaning of all the hammering +and blustering and running hither and thither which was to be heard +going on in the homestead, for she was a pious God-fearing woman. + +'He remained dumb to all her inquiries, hour after hour through the +night; but at last, towards morning, his courage failed him, and he +told her all. She, like a good wife, gave back no word of reproach, +but cast about to find a remedy. First she considered that he had done +the thing thoughtlessly and rashly, and then she ascertained that at +last he had given no actual consent. Finally, deciding matters were +not as bad as might be, she got up, and bid him leave the issue to her. + +'First she knelt down and commended herself and her undertaking to +God and His holy saints; then in the small hours, when the devil's +work was nearly finished, she took her lamp and spread out the wick +so that it should give its greatest glare, and poured fresh oil upon +it, and went out with a basket of grain to feed the hens. The cock, +seeing the bright light and the good wife with her basket of food, +never doubted but that it was morning, and springing up, he flapped +his wings, and crowed with all his might. At that very moment the +devil himself was coming by with the last roof-stone. [44] At the +sound of the premature cock-crow he was so much astonished that he +didn't know which way to turn, and sank into the ground bearing the +stone still in his hand. + +'The house belonged to the peasant by every right, but no stone could +ever be made to stay on the vacant space. This inconvenience was +the penance he had to endure for the desperate game he had played, +and he took it cheerfully, and when the rain came in he used to kiss +his good wife in gratitude for the more terrible chastisement from +which she had saved him.' + +The jaunty postilion whipped the horses on as he thus brought his story +to a close, or rather cracked his whip in the air till the mountains +resounded with it, for he had slackened speed while telling his tale, +and the day was wearing on. + +'We must take care and not be late for the train,' he observed. 'The +Herrschaften have had enough of the inn of Oberriet, and don't want +to have to spend a night there, and we have no Vorarlberger-geist to +speed us now-a-days.' + +'Who was he?' I inquired eagerly. + +'I suppose you know that all this country round about here is called +the Vorarlberg, and in olden time there was a spirit that used to +wander about helping travellers all along its roads. When they were +benighted, it used to go before them with a light; when they were in +difficulties, it used to procure them aid; if one lost his way, it +used to direct him aright; till one day a poor priest came by who had +been to administer a distant parishioner. His way had lain now over +bog, now over torrent-beds. In the roughness of the way the priest's +horse had cast a shoe. A long stretch of road lay yet before him, +but no forge was near. Suddenly the Vorarlberger-geist came out of +a cleft in the rock, silently set to work and shod the horse, and +passed on its way as usual with a sigh. + +'"Vergeltsgott!" [45] cried the priest after it. + +'"God be praised!" exclaimed the spirit. "Now am I at last set +free. These hundred years have I served mankind thus, and till now +no man has performed this act of gratitude, the condition of my +release." And since this time it has never been seen again.' + +We had now once more reached the banks of the Rhine. The driver of +the luggage van held the ferry in expectation of us, and with its +team it was already stowed on board. Our horses were next embarked, +and then ourselves, as we sat, perched on the carriage. A couple +of rough donkeys, a patriarchal goat, and half-a-dozen wild-looking +half-clothed peasants, made up a freight which seemed to tax the powers +of the crazy barge to the utmost; and as the three brawny ferrymen +pulled it dexterously along the guide rope, the waters of the here +broad and rapid river rose some inches through the chinks. All went +well, however, and in another half-hour we were again astonishing +the factotum of the Oberriet station with a vision of the 'Gepäck' +which had puzzled him so immensely the day before. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +NORTH-TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL (RIGHT-INN BANK). + +KUFSTEIN TO ROTTENBURG. + + + ... 'Peasant of the Alps, + Thy humble virtues, hospitable home, + And spirit patient, pious, proud, and free; + Thy self-respect, grafted on innocent thoughts; + Thy days of health, thy nights of sleep, thy toil + By danger dignified, yet guiltless; hopes + Of cheerful old age, and then a quiet grave + With cross and garland over its green turf, + And thy grandchildren's love for epitaph, + This do I see!...' + + Byron (Manfred). + + +When, after our forced détour, we next penetrated into Tirol, it +was by the way of Kufstein. Ruffled as we had been in the meantime +by Bavarian 'Rohheit,' we were glad to find ourselves again in the +hands of the gentle Tirolese. + +Kufstein, however, is not gentle in appearance. Its vast fortress +seems to shed a stifling gloom over the whole place; it looks so +hard and selfish and tyrannical, that you long to get away from its +influence. Noble hearts from honest Hungary have pined away within its +cold strong grasp; and many a time, as my sketch-book has been turned +over by Magyar friends, the page which depicted its outline--for it +wears a grand and gallant form, such as the pencil cannot resist--has +raised a deep sigh over the 'trauriges Andenken' it served to call +up. [46] + +When Margaretha Maultasch ceded the country she found herself unable +to govern, to Austria at the earnest request of her people, in 1363, +it was stipulated that Kufstein, Kitzbühel, and Rattenberg, which had +been added to it by her marriage with Louis of Bradenburg, should +revert to Bavaria. These three dependencies were recovered by the +Emperor Maximilian in 1504, the two latter accepting his allegiance +gladly, the former holding out stoutly against him. The story of +the reduction of this stronghold is almost a stain on his otherwise +prudent and prosperous reign. + +Pienzenau, its commander, who was in the Bavarian interest, had +particularly excited his ire by setting his men to sweep away with +brooms the traces of the small damage which had been effected by +his cannon, placed at too great a distance to do more than graze the +massive walls. Philip von Recenau, Regent of Innsbruck, meantime cast +two enormous field-pieces, which received the names of Weckauf and +Purlepaus. These entirely turned the tide of affairs. Chronicles of +the time do not mention their calibre, but declare that their missiles +not only pierced the 'fourteen feet-thick wall' through and through, +but entered a foot and a half into the living rock. Pienzenau's +heart misgave him when he saw the work of these destructive engines, +and hastened to send in his submission to the Emperor; but it was +too late. 'So he is in a hurry to throw away his brooms at last, +is he?' cried Maximilian. 'But he should have done it before. He has +allowed the wall of this noble castle to be so disgracefully shattered, +that he can make no amends but by giving up his own carcass to the +same fate.' + +No entreaty could move the Emperor from carrying out this chastisement, +and some five-and-twenty of the principal men who had held out against +him were condemned to be beheaded on the spot. When eleven had fallen +before the headsman's sword, Erich, Duke of Brunswick, sickening at +the scene of blood, pleaded so earnestly with the Emperor, that he +obtained the pardon of the rest. The eleven were buried by the pious +country-people in a common grave; and who will may yet tread the ground +where their remains rest in a little chapel built over their grave +at Ainliff (dialectic for eleven), on the other side of the river Inn. + +Its situation near the frontier has made it the scene of other sieges, +of which none is more endeared to Tiroleans than that of 1809, when +the patriot Speckbacher distinguished himself by many a dauntless deed. + +If Kufstein has long had a truce to these stirring memories, many +a fantastic story has floated out of it concerning the prisoners +harboured there, even of late years. The Hungarian patriot brigand, +Rocsla Sandor (Andrew Roshla), who won by his unscrupulous daring quite +a legendary place in popular story, was long confined here. He was +finally tried and condemned (but I think not executed) at Szeghedin, +in July 1870; 454 other persons were included in the same trial, +of whom 234 under homicidal charges; 100 homicides were laid to his +charge alone, but there is no doubt that his services to the popular +cause, at the same time that they condoned some of his excesses, in +the popular judgment may have disposed the authorities to exaggerate +the charges against him. The whole story is fantastic, and even in +Kufstein, where he was almost an alien, there was admiration and +sympathy underlying the shudder with which the people spoke of him. A +much more interesting and no less romantic narrative, was told me of a +Hungarian political prisoner, who formed the solitary instance of an +escape from the stony walls of the fortress. His lady-love--and she +was a lady by birth--with the heroic instincts of a Hungarian maiden, +having with infinite difficulty made out where he was confined, +followed him hither in peasant disguise, and with invincible +perseverance succeeded, first in engaging herself as servant to the +governor and then in conveying every day to her lover, in his soup, +a hank of hemp. With this he twisted a rope and got safely away; +and this occurred not more than six or seven years ago. + +St. Louis's day fell while we were at Kufstein--the name-day of the +King of Bavaria; and being the border town, the polite Tiroleans +make a complimentary fête of it. There was a grand musical Mass, +which the officers from the Bavarian frontier attended, and a modest +banquet was offered them after it. The peasants put on their holiday +attire--passable enough as far as the men are concerned, but consisting +mainly on the women's behalf in an ugly black cloth square-waisted +dress, and a black felt broad-brimmed hat, with large gold tassels +lying on the brim. After Mass the Bavarian national hymn was sung to +the familiar strains of our own. + +All seemed gay and glad without. I returned to the primitive rambling +inn; everyone was gone to take his or her part in the Kufstein idea +of a holiday. There were three entrances, and three staircases; +I took a wrong one, and in trying to retrace my steps passed a room +through the half-open door of which I heard a sound of moaning, which +arrested me. I could not find it in my heart to pass on. I pushed +the door gently aside, and discovered a grey-haired old man lying +comfortlessly on the bed in a state of torpor. I laid him back in a +posture in which he could breathe more freely, opened his collar and +gave him air, and with the aid of one or two simple means soon brought +him back to consciousness. The room was barely furnished; his luggage +was a small bundle tied in a handkerchief, his clothes betokened that +he belonged to the respectable of the lower class. I was too desirous +to converse with a genuine Tirolean peasant to refuse his invitation +to sit down by his side. I had soon learnt his tale, which he seemed +not a little pleased to find had an interest for a foreigner. + +His lot had been marked by severe trials. In early youth he had been +called to lose his parents; in later life, the dear wife who had +for a season clothed his home again with brightness and hope. In old +age he had had a heavier trial still. His only child, the son whom +he had reared in the hope that he would have been the staff of his +declining years, whom he had brought up in innocence in childhood, +and shielded from knowledge of evil in early youth, had gone from him, +and he knew not where to find him. The boy had always had a fancy for +a roving adventurous life, but it had been his hope to have kept him +always near him, free from the contamination of great cities. + +I asked if it was not the custom in these parts for young men to go +abroad and seek employment where it was more highly paid, and come +back and settle on their earnings. But he shook his head proudly. It +was so in Switzerland, it was so in some few valleys of Tirol, and the +poor Engadeiners supplied all the cities of Europe with confectioners; +but his son had no need to tramp the world in search of fortune. But +what had made him most anxious was, that the night before his son +left some wild young men had passed through the village. They were +bold and uproarious, and his fear was that his boy might have been +tempted to join them. He did not know exactly what their game was, +but he had an idea they were gathering recruits to join the lawless +Garibaldian bands in their attempts upon the Roman frontier. With +their designs he was confident his son had no sympathy. If he had +stopped to consider them, he would have shrunk from them with horror; +and it was his dread that his spirited love of danger and excitement +had carried him into a vortex from which he might by-and-by be longing +to extricate himself in vain. It was to pray that the lad might be +guided aright that he made this pilgrimage up the Thierberg--no easy +journey for one of his years. He had come across hill and valley from +a village of which I forget the name, but situated near Sterzing. + +'But Sterzing itself is a place of pilgrimage,' I said, glad to turn to +account my scanty knowledge of the sacred places of the country. 'Why +did you come all this way?' + +'Indeed is Sterzing,' he replied, 'a place of benedictions. It is the +spot where Sterzing, our first hermit, lived, and left his name to our +town. But this is the spot for those who need penance. There, in that +place,' and as I followed the direction of his hand I saw through the +low lattice window the lofty elevation of the Thierberg like a phantom +tower, enveloped in mist, standing out against the clear sky beyond, +and wondered how his palsied limbs had carried him up the steep. 'In +that place, in olden time, lived a true penitent. Once it was a lordly +castle, and he to whom it belonged was a rich and honoured knight; +but on one occasion he forgot his knightly honour, and with false +vows led astray an unthinking maiden of the village. Soon, however, +the conviction of his sin came back to him clear as the sun's light, +and without an hour's hesitation he put it from him. To the girl he +made the best amends he could by first leading her to repentance, +then procuring her admission to a neighbouring convent. But for +him, from that day the lordly castle became as a hermit's cell, +the sound of mirth and revelry and of friendly voices was hushed +for ever. The memory of his own name even he would have wiped out, +and would have men call him only, as they do to the present day, +'der Büsser'--the Penitent. And so many has his example brought to +this shrine in a spirit of compunction, that the Church has endowed +it with the indulgence of the Portiuncula.' + +What a picture of Tirolese faith it was! Instead of setting in motion +the detective police, or the telegraph-wire, or the second column +of the 'Times,' this old man had come many miles in the opposite +direction from that his child was supposed to have taken, to bring +his burden and lay it before a shrine he believed to have been made +dear to heaven by tears of penance in another age, and there commend +his petition to God that He might bring it to pass, accepting the +suffering as a merited chastisement in a spirit of sincere penitence! + +He was feeling better, and I rose to go. He pressed my hand in +acknowledgment of my sympathy, and I assured him of it. It was not a +case for more substantial charity; I had gathered from his recital +that he had no lack of worldly means. I only strove at parting to +kindle a ray of hope. I said after all it might not be so bad as he +imagined; his boy had been well brought up, and might perhaps be +trusted to keep out of the way of evil. It was thoughtless of him +not to seek his father's blessing and consent to his choice of an +adventurous career, but it might be he had feared his opposition, +and that he had no unworthy reason for concealing his plans. There +was at least as much reason to hope as to despond, and he must look +forward to his coming back, true to the instincts of his mountain home, +wiser than he had set out. + +His pale blue eye glistened, and he gasped like one who had seen a +vision. 'Ay! just so! Just so it appeared to me when I was on the +Thierberg this morning! And now, in case my weak old heart did not +see it clearly enough, God, in His mercy, has sent you to expound +the thing more plainly to me. Now I know that I am heard.' + +Poor old man! I shuddered lest the hope so strongly entertained +should prove delusive in the end. I may never know the result; but +I felt that at all events as he was one who took all things at God's +hands, nothing could, in one sense, come amiss; and for the present, +at least, I saw that he went down to his house comforted. + +I strolled along the street, and, possessed with the type of the +Tirolean peasant, as I received it from this old man, I conceived a +feeling of deeper curiosity for all whom I met by the way. I thought +of them as of men for whom an unseen world is a reality; who estimate +prayer and sacraments and the intercession of saints above steam-power +and electricity. At home one meets with one such now and then, but to +be transported into a whole country of them was like waking up from +a long sleep to find oneself in the age of St. Francis and St. Dominic. + +Whatever faults the Tirolese may have to answer for, they will not +arise from religion being put out of sight. No village but has its +hillside path marked with 'the Way of the Cross;' no bridge but carries +the statue of S. John Nepomucene, the martyr of the Confessional; no +fountain but bears the image of the local saint, a model of virtue +to the place; no lone path unmarked by its way-side chapel, or its +crucifix shielded from the weather by a rustic roof; no house but has +its outer walls covered with memories of holy things; no room without +its sacred prints and its holywater stoup. The churches are full of +little rude pictures, recording scenes in which all the pleasanter +events of life are gratefully ascribed to answers to prayer, while many +who cannot afford this more elaborate tribute hang up a tablet with the +words Hat geholfen ('He has helped me'), or more simply still, 'aus +Dankbarkeit.' Longfellow has written something very true and pretty, +which I do not remember well enough to quote; but most will call to +mind the verses about leaving landmarks, which a weary brother seeing, +may take heart again; and it is incalculable how these good people +may stir up one another to hope and endurance by such testimonies +of their trust in a Providence. Sometimes, again, the little tablets +record that such an one has undertaken a journey. 'N. N. reiset nach +N., pray for him;' and we, who have come so far so easily, smile at +the short distance which is thought worthy of this importance. The +Gott segne meine Reise--'May God bless my journey'--seems to come as +naturally to them, however, as 'grace before meat' with us. But most +of all, their care is displayed in regard to the dear departed. The +spot where an accident deprived one of his life is sacred to all. 'The +honourable peasant N. N. was run over here by a heavy waggon;'--'Here +was N. N. carried away by the waters of the stream;' with the unfailing +adjunct, 'may he rest in peace, let us pray for him;' or sometimes, +as if there were no need to address the recommendation to his own +neighbours, 'Stranger! pray for him.' + + + +The straggling village on the opposite bank of the Inn is called +Zell, though appearing part of Kufstein. It affords the best points +for viewing the gloomy old fortress, and itself possesses one or two +chapels of some interest. At Kiefersfelden, at a short distance on +the Bavarian border, is the so-called Ottokapelle, a Gothic chapel +marking the spot where Prince Otho quitted his native soil when called +to take possession of the throne of Greece. + +Kundl, about an hour from Kufstein, the third station, by rail, [47] +though wretchedly provided with accommodation, is the place to stop at +to visit the curious and isolated church of S. Leonhard auf der Wiese +(in the meadow), and it is well worthy of a visit. In the year 1004 +a life-sized stone image of St. Leonard was brought by the stream +to this spot; 'floating,' the wonder-loving people said, but it may +well be believed that some rapid swollen torrent had carried the image +away in its wild course from some chapel on a higher level. The people +not knowing whence it came, reckoned its advent a miracle, and set it +up in the highway, that all who passed might know of it. It was not +long before a no less illustrious wayfarer than the Emperor Henry +II. came that way, and seeing the uncovered image set up on high, +stopped to inquire its history. When he had heard it, he vowed that +if his arms were prosperous in Italy he would on his return build +the saint an honourable church. Success indeed attended him in the +campaign, and he was crowned Emperor at Pavia, but St. Leonard and his +vow were alike forgotten. The year 1012 brought him again into Italy +through Tirol, and passing the spot where he had registered his vow +before, his horse, foaming and stamping, refused to pass the image +or carry him further. The circumstance reminded him of his promise, +and he at once set to work to carry it out worthily. The church was +completed within a few years, but an unhappy accident signalized its +completion. A young man who had undertaken to place the ornament on the +summit was seized with vertigo in the moment of completing his exploit, +and losing his balance was dashed lifeless on to the ground below. [48] +His remains were gathered up tenderly by the neighbours, and his +skull laid as an offering at the foot of the crucifix on the high +altar, where it yet remains. An inscription to the following effect +is preserved in the church: 'A.D. 1019 Præsens ecclesia Sti. Leonhardi +a sancto Henrico Imperatore exstructa, et anno 1020 a summo Pontifice +Benedicto VIII. consecrata est,' though there would not seem to be any +other record of the Pope having made the journey. S. Kunigunda, consort +of Henry II., bore a great affection to the spot, and often visited it. + +The image of St. Leonard now in the church bears the date of 1481, +and there is no record of the time when it was substituted for the +original. [49] The interior has suffered a great deal during the +whitewash period; but some of the original carvings are remarkable, +particularly the grotesque creatures displayed on the main columns. On +one a doubled-bodied lion is trampling on two dragons; on another a +youth stands holding the prophetic roll of the book of revelation, +and a hideous symbolical figure, with something of the form of a bear, +cowers before him, showing a certain resemblance to the sculptures +in the chapel-porch of Castle Tirol. Round the high altar are ten +pilasters, each setting forth the figure of a saint, and all various. A +great deal of the old work was destroyed, however, when it was rebuilt, +about the year 1500. + +Between St. Leonhard and Ratfield runs the Auflängerbründl--so called +from the Angerberg, celebrated as itself a very charming excursion +from Kundl--a watercourse directed by the side of the road through +the charity of the townspeople of Rattenberg and Ratfeld, in the year +1424, with the view that no wayfarer might faint by the way for want +of a drink of pure and refreshing water. + +Rattenberg is a little town of some importance on account of the copper +works in the neighbourhood, but not much frequented by visitors, +though it has three passable inns. It is curious that the castle +of Rottenburg near Rothholz, though so like in name, has a different +derivation, the latter arising from the red earth of the neighbourhood, +and the former from an old word Rat, meaning 'richness,' and in old +documents it is found spelt Rat in berc (riches in the mountain). This +was the favoured locality of the holy Nothburga's earthly career. + +St. Nothburga is eminently characteristic of her country. She was +the poorest of village maidens, and yet attained the highest and most +lasting veneration of her people by the simple force of virtue. She +was born in 1280. The child of pious parents, she drank in their +good instructions with an instinctive aptitude. Their lessons of +pure and Christian manners seemed as it were to crystallize and +model themselves in her conduct; she grew up a living picture of +holy counsels. She was scarcely seventeen when the lord of Castle +Rottenburg, hearing of her perfect life, desired to have her in his +household. Her parents, knowing she could have no better protectors, +when they were no more, than their honoured knight Henry of Rottenburg +and his good wife Gutta, gladly accepted the proposal. [50] In her new +sphere Nothburga showed how well grounded was her virtue. It readily +adapted itself to her altered position, and she became as faithful +and devoted to her employers as she had been loving and obedient +to her parents. In time she was advanced to the highest position +of trust in the castle, and the greatest delight of her heart was +fulfilled when she was nominated to superintend the distribution of +alms to the poor. Her prudence enabled her to distinguish between +real and feigned need, and while she delighted in ministering to the +one, she was firm in resisting the appeals of the other. Her general +uprightness won for her the respect of all with whom she had to do, +and she was the general favourite of all classes. + +Such bright days could not last; the enemy of God's saints looked on +with envy, and desired to 'sift' her 'as wheat.' The knight's son, +Henry VI., in progress of time brought home his bride, Ottilia by +name; and according to local custom, the older Knight Henry ceded +his authority to the young castellan, living himself in comparative +retirement. Ottilia was young and thoughtless, and haughty to boot, +and it was not without a feeling of bitter resentment that she saw +both her husband and his parents looked to Nothburga to supply her +deficiencies in the management of the household. She resolved to +get rid of the faithful servant, and her fury against her was only +increased in proportion as she realized that the perfect uprightness +of her conduct rendered it impossible to discover any pretext for +dismissing her. + +For Nothburga it was a life of daily silent martyrdom. There were a +thousand mortifications in her mistress's power to inflict, and she +lost no opportunity of annoying her, but never once succeeded in +ruffling the gentleness of her spirit. 'My life has been too easy +hitherto,' she would say in the stillness of her own heart; 'now I +am honoured at last by admission to the way of the Cross.' There +was no brightness, no praise, no subsequent hope of distinction, +to be derived from her patience; they were stabs in the dark, seen +by no human eye, which made her bleed day by day. Yet she would not +complain, much less seek to change her service. She said it would have +been ungrateful to her first benefactors and employers to leave them, +so long as she could spend herself for them, and ungrateful to God +to shirk the trial He had lovingly sent her. + +A crucial test of her fidelity, however, was at hand. The day came +when Knight Henry and Gutta his wife were called to their long rest, +and with them the chief protection of Nothburga departed. She was +now almost at Ottilia's mercy. One of the first consequences of this +change was that she was deprived of her favourite office of relieving +the poor; and not only their customary alms were stopped, but their +dole of food also; and as a final provocation, she was required to +feed the pigs with the broken meat which she had been accustomed to +husband for the necessitous. + +The good girl's heart bled to see the needy whom she had been wont +to relieve turned hungry away. The only means that occurred to her +of remedying the evil in some measure, was to deny herself her own +food and distribute it among them. Restricting her own diet to bread +and water, she saved a little basketful, which she would take down +every evening when work was done to the foot of the Leuchtenburg, +where the poorest of the castle dependents lived; and the blessing +which multiplied the loaves in the wilderness made her scanty savings +suffice to feed all who had come to beg of her. + +That Nothburga contrived to feed the poor of a whole district, +in spite of her orders to the contrary, of course became in time a +ground of complaint for Ottilia. She had now a plausible reason for +stirring up the Knight Henry against her. He had always defended her, +out of regard for his parents' memory; but coming one evening past +the Leuchtenburg, at Ottilia's instigation, he met Nothburga with +her little burden, and asked her what she carried. + +Here the adversary of the saints had prepared for her a great trial, +says the legend. She, in her innocence, told fairly and honestly +the import of her errand; but to the Knight's eyes, who had meantime +untied her apron, the contents appeared, the legend says, to be wood +shavings; and further, putting the wine-flask to his lips, it seemed +to him to contain soap-suds. To her charitable intention he had made +no objection, but at this, which appeared to him a studied affront, +he was furious. He would listen to no explanation, but, returning +at once to the castle, he gave Ottilia free and full leave to deal +with the offending handmaiden as she pleased. Ottilia readily put the +permission into effect by directing the castle guard to forbid her, +on her return, ever again to pass the threshold of the castle. + +This blow told with terrible effect on the poor girl. During her +service at the castle both her parents had died; she had now no home +to resort to. Putting her trust in God, however, she retraced her +steps alone through the darkness, and found shelter in a cottage of +one of her clients. Her path was watched by the angels, who marked +the track with fair seeds; and even to this day the hill-side which +her feet so often pressed on her holy errand is said to be marked +with a peculiar growth of flowers. + +The next day she applied to a peasant of Eben to engage her as a +field labourer. The peasant was exceedingly doubtful of her capacity +for the work after the comparatively delicate nature of her previous +mode of life. Her hardy perseverance and determination, aided by the +grace of God, on which she implicitly relied, overcame all obstacles, +and old Valentine soon found that her presence brought a blessing +on all his substance. She had been with him about a year, when one +day, being Saturday, he was very anxious to gather in the remainder +of his harvest before an apprehended storm, and desired Nothburga, +with the other reapers, to continue their labours after the hour of +eve, when the holy rest was reckoned to have commenced. Nothburga, +usually so obedient to his wishes, had the courage to refuse to +infringe the commandment of religion; and to manifest that the will +of God was on her side, showed him her sickle resting from labour, +suspended in the air. Valentine, convinced by the prodigy, yielded +to her representations, and her piety was more and more honoured by +all the neighbours. + +Soon after this, Ottilia, in the midst of her health and strength, +was stricken with a dangerous illness. In presence of the fear of +death she remembered her harsh treatment of Nothburga, and sent +for her to make amends for the past. As the good girl reached her +bed-side she was just under the influence of a frightful attack of +fevered remorse. Her long golden hair waved in untended masses over +the pillow, like the flames of purgatory; her eyes glared like wheels +of fire. Unconscious of what was passing round her, and filled only +with her distempered fancies, she cried piteously: 'Drive away those +horrid beasts! don't let them come near me! And why do you let those +pale-faced creatures pursue me with their hollow glances? If I did +deny them food, I cannot help it now! Oh! keep those horrid swine +off me! If I did give them the portion of the poor, it is no reason +you should let them defile me and trample on me!' + +Nothburga was melted with compassion, and her glance of sympathy +seemed to chase away the horrid vision. Come to herself, and calm +again, Otillia recognized her and begged her pardon, which we may well +believe she readily accorded; and shortly after, having reconciled +herself to God with true compunction, she fell asleep in peace. [51] + +Henry proposed to Nothburga to come and resume her old post in the +castle, and moreover to add to it that of superintending the nurture +of his only boy. Nothburga gladly accepted his offer, but, in her +strict integrity, insisted on accepting no remission from the three +years' service under which she had bound herself to Valentine. This +concluded, she was received back with open arms at Castle Rottenburg, +whither she took with her one of Valentine's daughters to instruct +in household duties, that she might be meet to succeed her when her +time should come. + +Days of peace on earth are not for the saints. Her fight was fought +out. The privations she had undergone in sparing her food for the poor, +and her subsequent exposure in the field, brought on an illness, under +which she shortly after sank. In conformity with her express desire, +her body was laid on a bier, to which two young oxen were yoked, +and left to follow their own course. The willing beasts tramped +straight away over hill and dale and water-course till they came to +the village of Eben, then consisting of but a couple of huts of the +poor tillers of the soil, and Valentine's homestead; now, a thriving +village, its two inns crowded every holiday with peasants, who make +their excursions coincide with a visit of devotion to the peasant +maiden's shrine. A small field-chapel of St. Ruprecht was then the only +place of devotion, but here next morning the body of the holy maiden +was found carefully laid at the foot of the altar, and here it was +reverently buried, and for centuries it has been honoured by all the +country round. [52] In 1434 the Emperor Maximilian, and Christopher, +Prince-Bishop of Brixen, built a church over the spot, of which +the ancient chapel served as the quire. In 1718 Gaspar Ignatius, +Count of Künigl, the then Prince-Bishop, had the remains exhumed, +and carried them with pomp to the neighbouring town of Schwatz, where +they were left while the church was restored, and an open sarcophagus +prepared for them to remain exposed for the veneration of the faithful, +which was completed in 1738. In 1838 a centenary festival was observed +with great rejoicing, and on March 27, 1862, the cycle of Nothburga's +honour was completed in her solemn canonization at Rome. + +The lords of Rottenburg had had possession of this territory, and had +been the most powerful family of Tirol, ever since the eighth century; +one branch extending its sway over the valleys surrounding the Inn, +and another branch commanding the country bordering the Etsch; +Leuchtenburg and Fleims being the chief fortress-seats of these +latter. Their vast power greatly harassed the rulers of Tirol. In +every conflict between the native or Austrian princes and the Dukes of +Bavaria their influence would always turn the scale, and they often +seem to have exercised it simply to show their power. Their family +pride grew so high, that it became a proverb among the people. It was +observed that just during the period of the holy Nothburga's sojourn +in the castle the halo of her humble spirit seemed to exercise a charm +over their ruling passion. That was no sooner brought to a close than +it once more burst forth, and with intenser energy, and by the end +of a century more so blinded them that they ventured on an attempt +to seize the supreme power over the land. Friedrich mit der leeren +Tasche was not a prince to lose his rights without a worthy struggle; +and then ensued one which was a noteworthy instance of the protection +which royalty often afforded to the poor against the oppressions of a +selfish aristocracy in the Middle Ages. Friedrich was the idol of the +people: in his youth his hardy temperament had made him the companion +not only of the mountain huntsman, but even of the mountain hewer of +wood. Called to rule over the country, he always stood out manfully for +the liberties of the peasant and the burghers of the little struggling +communities of Tirol. The lords and knights who found their power +thereby restricted were glad to follow the standard of Henry VI., +Count of Rottenburg, in his rebellions. Forgetting all patriotism in +his struggle for power, Henry called to his aid the Duke of Bavaria, +who readily answered his appeal, reckoning that as soon as, by aiding +Henry, he had driven Friedrich out, he would shortly after be able +to secure the prize for himself. + +The Bavarian troops, ever rough and lawless, now began laying waste the +country in ruthless fashion. A Bavarian bishop, moved to compassion by +the sufferings of the poor people, though not of his own flock, pleaded +so earnestly with the Duke, that he made peace with Friedrich, who was +able to inflict due chastisement on Henry, for, powerful as he was, +he was no match for him as a leader. He fell prisoner into Friedrich's +hands, who magnanimously gave him his liberty; but, according to the +laws of the time, his lands and fiefs were forfeit. Though the spirit +of the high-minded noble was unbroken, the darling aim of his race +which had devolved upon him for execution was defeated; his occupation +gone, and his hopes quenched, he wandered about, the last of his race, +not caring even to establish himself in any of the fiefs which he held +under the Duke of Bavaria, and which consequently yet remained to him. + +The history of Henry VI. of Rottenburg has a peculiarly gloomy and +fantastic character. Ambitious to a fault, it was one cause of his +ill success that he exercised himself in the nobler pursuits of +life rather than in the career of arms. Letters of his which are +still preserved show that he owed the ascendancy he exercised over +his neighbours quite as much to his strength of character and grasp +of mind as to his title and riches. No complaint is brought against +him in chronicles of the time of niggardliness towards the Church, +or of want of uprightness or patience as a judge; he is spoken of as +if he had learned to make himself respected as well as feared. But +he lived apart in a lofty sphere of his own, seldom mixing in social +intercourse, while his refined tastes prevented his becoming an adept +in the art of war. Friedrich, on the other hand, who was a hero in +the field by his bravery, was also the favourite of the people through +his frank and ready-spoken sympathy. Henry had perhaps, on the whole, +the finer--certainly the more cultivated--character, but Friedrich was +more the man of the time; and it was this doom of succumbing to one to +whom he felt himself superior which pressed most heavily on the last +of the Rottenburgers. What became of him was never known; consequently +many wild stories became current to account for his end: that he never +laid his proud head low at the call of death, but yet wanders on round +the precincts where he once ruled; that his untamable ambition made +him a prey to the Power of Evil, who carried him off, body and soul, +to the reward of the proud; that, shunning all sympathy and refusing +all assistance, he died, untended and unknown, in a spot far from +the habitations of men. It would appear most probable, however, that +his death, like his life, was a contrast with the habits of his age: +it is thought that, unable to bear his humiliation, he fell by his +own hand within a twelvemonth of his defeat. + +The deliverance from this powerful vassal, and the falling in of his +domains, tended greatly to strengthen and consolidate Friederich's +rule over Tirol, and ultimately to render the government of the +country more stable, and more beneficial to the people. + +Not long after Henry VI.'s disappearance a mysterious fire broke out +in the old castle on two separate occasions, laying the greater part +of it in ruins. But on each occasion it was noticed that the devouring +element, at the height of its fury, spared the little room which was +honoured as that in which the holy Nothburga had dwelt. + +A gentler story about this neighbourhood is of a boy tending sheep +upon the neighbouring height, who found among some ruins a beautiful +bird's-nest. What was his surprise, on examining his treasure, to +find it full of broken shells which the fledglings had cast off and +left behind them, but shells of a most singular kind. Still greater +was his astonishment when, on showing them at home, his parents +told him they were no shells, but pieces of precious ore. The affair +caused the peasants to search in the neighbourhood, and led to the +discovery of one of those veins of metal the working of which brought +so great prosperity to Tirol in the fifteenth century, and which are +not yet extinct. Their discovery was always by accident, and often +by occasion of some curious incident, while the fact that such finds +were to be hit upon acted as a strong stimulant to the imagination +of a romantic and wonder-loving people, giving belief to all sorts +of fables to tell how the treasure was originally deposited, and how +subsequently it was preserved and guarded. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL (RIGHT INN-BANK). + +THE ZILLERTHAL. + + + 'I may venture to say that among the nations of Europe, and I have + more or less seen them all, I do not know any one in which there + is so large a measure of real piety as among the Tyroleans.... I + do not recollect to have once heard in the country an expression + savouring of scepticism.'--Inglis. + + +The Zillerthal claims to bear the palm over all the Valleys of Tirol +for natural beauty--a claim against which the other valleys may, +I think, find something to say. + +There is an organised service of carriages (the road is only good +for an einspanner--one-horse vehicle) into the Zillerthal, at both +Brixlegg and Jenbach, taking between four and five hours to reach +Zell, an hour and a-half more to Mayrhofen. Its greatest ornaments are +the castles of Kropfsberg, Lichtwer, and Matzen; the Reiterkogel and +the Gerlos mountains, forming the present boundary against Salzburg; +and the Ziller, with its rapid current which gave it its name (from +celer), [53] its tributary streams might very well have received the +same appellation, for their celerity is often so impetuous that great +damage is done to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. + +Before starting for the Zillerthal I may mention two castles which may +also be seen from Jenbach, though like it they belong in strictness +to the chapter on the Left Inn-bank. One is Thurnegg by name, which +was restored as a hunting-seat by Archduke Ferdinand; and at the +instance of his second wife, the pious Anna Katharina of Mantua, he +added a chapel, in order that his hunting-parties might always have +the opportunity of hearing Mass before setting out for their sport. + +Another is Tratzberg, which derived its name from its defiant +character. It is situated within an easy walk of Jenbach. Permission +to visit it is readily given, for it counts as a show-place. It may +be taken on the way to S. Georgenberg and Viecht, but it occupies too +much time, and quite merits the separate excursion by its collections +and its views. Frederick sold it in 1470 to Christian Tänzel, +a rich mining proprietor of the neighbourhood, who purchased with +it the right to bear the title of Knight of Tratzberg. No expense +was spared in its decoration, and its paintings and marbles made it +the wonder of the country round. In 1573 it passed into the hands +of the Fuggers, and at the present day belongs to Count Enzenberg, +who makes it an occasional residence. A story is told of it which is +in striking contrast to that mentioned of Thurnegg. One of the knights +of the castle in ancient time had a reputation for caring more for the +pleasures of the chase than for the observances of religion. Though he +could get up at an early hour enough at the call of his Jäger's horn, +the chapel bell vainly wooed him to Mass. + +In vain morning by morning his guardian angel directed the sacred +sound upon his ear; the knight only rolled himself up more warmly +in the coverlet, and said, 'No need to stir yet, the dogs are not +brought round till five o'clock.' + +'Ding--dong--dang! Come--to--Mass! Ding--dong--dang!' sang the bells. + +'No, I can't,' yawned the knight, and covered his ear with the +bed-clothes. + +The bell was silent, and the knight knew that the pious people who +had to work hard all day for their living, and yet spared half an +hour to ask God's blessing on their labours, were gone into the chapel. + +He fancied he saw the venerable old chaplain bowing before the altar, +and smiting his breast; he saw the faithful rise from their knees while +the glad tidings of the Gospel were announced, and they proclaimed +their faith in them in the Creed; he heard them fall on their knees +again while the sacred elements were offered on the altar and the +solemn words of the consecration pronounced; he saw little Johann, +the farrier's son, bow his head reverently on the steps, and then sound +the threefold bell which told of the most solemn moment of the sacred +mysteries; and the chapel bell took up the note, and announced the +joyful news to those whom illness or necessity forced to remain away. + +Then hark! what was that? The rocks under the foundation of the castle +rattled together, and all the stones of its massive walls chattered +like the teeth of an old woman stricken with fear. The three hundred +and sixty-five windows of the edifice rattled in their casements, +but above them all sounded the piercing sound of the knight's cry +of anguish. The affrighted people rushed into the knight's chamber; +and what was their horror when, still sunk in the soft couch where +he was wont to take his ease, there he lay dead, while his throat +displayed the print of three black and burning claws. The lesson they +drew was that the knight, having received from his guardian angel the +impulse to repair his sloth by at least then rising to pay the homage +which the bell enjoined, had rejected even this last good counsel, +thereby filling up the measure of his faults. For years after marks +were shown upon the wall as having been sprinkled by his blood! + +The first little town that reckons in the Zillerthal is Strass, +a very unpretending place, and then Schlitters. + +At Schlitters they have a story of a butcher who, going to Strass to +buy an ox, had scarcely crossed the Zill and got a little way from +home, than he saw lying by the way-side a heap of the finest wheat. Not +liking to appropriate property which might have a legitimate owner, +he contented himself with putting a few grains in his pocket, and a +few into his sack, as a specimen. As he went by the way his pockets +and his sack began to get heavier and heavier, till it seemed as if +the weight would burst them through. Astonished at the circumstance he +put in his hand, and found them all full of shining gold. As soon as he +had recovered his composure, he set off at the top of his speed, and, +heeding neither hill or dale, regained the spot where he had first +seen the wheat. But it was no more to be seen. If he had had faith +to commend himself to God on his first surprise, say the peasants, +and made the holy sign of redemption, the whole treasure would have +been his. + +There is another tradition at Schlitters of a more peculiar +character. It is confidently affirmed that the village once boasted +two churches, though but a very small one would supply the needs of +the inhabitants. Hormayr has sifted the matter to the bottom, and +explains it in this way. There lived in the neighbourhood two knights, +one belonging to the Rottenburger, and the other to the Freundsberger +family. Now the latter had a position of greater importance, but the +former possessed a full share of family haughtiness, and would not +yield precedence to any one. In order not to be placed on a footing +of inferiority, or even of equality, with his rival, he built a second +church, which he might attend without being brought into contact with +him. No expense was spared, and the church was solidly built enough; +but no blessing seemed to come on the edifice so built, no pains +could ever keep it in repair, and at last, after crumbling into ruin, +every stone of it disappeared. + +Kropfsberg is a fine ruin, belonging to Count Enzenberg, seen a +little above Strass, on a commanding height between the high road +and the Inn. It is endeared to the memory of the Tiroleans by having +been the spot where, on St. Michael's Day, 1416, their favourite +Friedrich mit der leeren Tasche was reconciled with his brother Ernst +der Eiserne, who, after the Council of Constance had pronounced its +ban on Frederick, had thought to possess himself of his dominions. + +The largest town of the Zillerthal is Fügen, a short distance below +Schlitters, and the people are so proud of it, that they have a saying +ever in their mouths, 'There is but one Vienna and one Fügen in the +world!' It doubtless owes its comparative liveliness and prosperity +to its château being kept up and often inhabited by its owners (the +Countess of Dönhof and her family). This is also a great ornament to +the place, having been originally built in the fifteenth century by the +lords of Fieger, though unhappily the period of its rebuilding (1733) +was not one very propitious to its style. The sculpture in the church +by the native artist, Nissl, is much more meritorious. The church of +Ried, a little further along the valley, is adorned with several very +creditable pictures by native artists. It is the native place of one +of the bravest of the defenders of throne and country, so celebrated +in local annals of the early part of the century, Sebastian Riedl. He +was only thirty-nine at his death in 1821. Once, on an occasion of +his fulfilling a mission to General Blucher, he received from him a +present of a hussar's jacket, which he wore at the battle of Katzbach, +and it is still shown with pride by his compatriots. + +The Zillerthal was the only part of Tirol where Lutheranism ever +obtained any hold over the people. The population was very thin and +scattered, consequently they were out of the way of the regular +means of instruction in their own faith; and it often happened, +when their dwellings and lands were devastated by inundations, that +they were driven to seek a livelihood by carrying gloves, bags, +and other articles made of chamois leather, also of the horns of +goats and cattle, into the neighbouring states of Germany. Hence +they often came back imbued with the new doctrines, and bringing +books with them, which may have spread them further. This went on, +though without attracting much attention, till the year 1830, when +they demanded permission to erect a church of their own. The Stände +of Tirol were unanimous, however, to resist any infringement of the +unity of belief which had so long been preserved in the country. The +Emperor confirmed their decision, and gave the schismatics the option +of being reconciled with the Church, or of following their opinions +in other localities of the empire where Lutheran communities already +existed. A considerable number chose the latter alternative, and peace +was restored to the Zillerthal. Every facility was given them by the +government for making the move advantageously, and the inhabitants, +who had been long provoked by the scorn and ridicule with which the +exiles had treated their time-honoured observances, held a rejoicing +at the deliverance. + +At the farther end of the valley is Zell, which though smaller in +population than Fügen, has come to be considered its chief town. Its +principal inn, for there are several--zum Post--if I recollect +right, claims to be not merely a Gasthaus, but a Gasthof. The +Brauhaus, however, with less pretension, is a charming resort of +the old-fashioned style, under the paternal management of Franz +Eigner, whose daughters sing their local melodies with great zest and +taste. The church, dedicated to St. Vitus, is modern, having been built +in 1771-82; but its slender green steeple is not inelegant. It contains +some meritorious frescoes by Zeiler. The town contains some most +picturesque buildings, as the Presbytery, grandiloquently styled the +Dechanthof, one or two educational establishments, several well-to-do +private houses, and the town-hall, once a flourishing brewery, which +failed--I can hardly guess how, for the chief industry of the place +is supplying the neighbourhood with beer. + +A mile beyond Zell is Hainzenberg, where the process of gold-washing on +a small scale may be studied, said to be carried on by the owner, the +Bishop of Brizen, on a sort of ultra-co-operative principle, as a means +of support to the people of the place, without profit to himself. There +is also a rather fine waterfall in the neighbourhood, and an inn where +luncheon may be had. The most interesting circumstance, perhaps, in +connexion with Zell is the Kirchweih-fest, which is very celebrated +in all the country round. I was not fortunate enough to be in the +neighbourhood at the right time of year to witness it. On the other +side of the Hainzenberg, where the mountain climber can take his start +for the Gerlozalp, is a little sanctuary called Mariä-rastkapelle, +and behind it runs a sparkling brook. Of the chapel the following +singular account is given:--In olden time there stood near the stream +a patriarchal oak sacred to Hulda; [54] after the introduction of +Christianity the tree was hewn down, and as they felled it they heard +Hulda cry out from within. The people wanted to build up a chapel on +the spot in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and began to collect the +materials. No sooner had the labourers left their work, however, +than there appeared an army of ravens, who, setting themselves +vigorously to the task, carried every stone and every balk of wood +to a neighbouring spot. This happened day after day, till at last +the people took it as a sign that the soil profaned by the worship +of Hulda was not pleasing to heaven, and so they raised their chapel +on the place pointed out by the ravens, where it now stands. + +After Mayrhof, the next village (with three inns), in the neighbourhood +of which garnets are found and mills for working them abound, the +Zillerthal spreads out into numerous branches of great picturesqueness, +but adapted only to the hardy pedestrian, as the Floitenthal, +the Sondergrundthal, the Hundskehlthal (Dog's-throat valley), the +Stillupethal, with its Teufelsteg, a bridge spanning a giddy ravine, +and its dashing series of waterfalls. The whole closed in by the Zemmer +range and its glaciers, the boundary against South-Tirol, said to +contain some of the finest scenery and best hunting-grounds in the +country. It has been also called the 'el Dorado' of the botanist +and the mineralogist. The most important of these by-valleys is +the Duxerthal, by non-Tiroleans generally written Tuxerthal, a very +high-lying tract of country, and consequently one of the coldest and +wildest districts of Tirol. Nevertheless, its enclosed and secluded +retreat retains a saying perhaps many thousand years old, that once +it was a bright and fertile spot yielding the richest pastures, and +that then the population grew so wanton in their abundance that they +wasted their substance. Then there came upon them from above an icy +blast, before which their children and their young cattle sank down +and died; and the herbage was, as it were, bound up, and the earth was +hardened, so that it only brought forth scarce and stunted herbs, and +the mountain which bounded their pleasant valley itself turned to ice, +and is called to this day die gefrorene Wand, the frozen wall. The +scattered population of this remote valley numbered so few souls, +that they depended on neighbouring villages for their ecclesiastical +care, and during winter when shut in by the snow within their natural +fastnesses, were cut off from all spiritual ministration, so that +the bodies of those who died were preserved in a large chest, of +which the remains are yet shown, until the spring made their removal +to Mattrey possible. In the middle of the seventeenth century they +numbered 645 souls, and have now increased to about 1,400; about the +year 1686 they built a church of their own, which is now served by +two or three priests. For the first couple of miles the valley sides +are so steep, that the only level ground between them is the bed of +an oft-times torrential stream, but yet they are covered almost to +the very top with a certain kind of verdure; further on it widens +out into the district of Hinterdux, which is a comparatively pleasant +cheerful spot, with some of the small cattle (which are reared here +as better adapted to the gradients on which they have to find their +food,) browsing about, and sundry goats and sheep, quite at home on +the steeps. But scarce a tree or shrub is to be seen--just a few firs, +and here and there a solitary mountain pine; and in the coldest season +the greatest suffering is experienced from want of wood to burn. The +only resource is grubbing up the roots remaining from that earlier +happier time, which but for this proof might have been deemed fabulous. + +The hardships which the inhabitants of this valley cheerfully undergo +ought to serve as a lesson of diligence indeed. The whole grass-bearing +soil is divided among them. The more prosperous have a cow or more of +their own, by the produce of which they live; others take in cows from +Innsbruck and Hall to graze. The butter they make becomes an article of +merchandise, the transport of which over the mountain paths provides +a hard and precarious livelihood for a yet poorer class; the pay is +about a halfpenny per lb. per day, and to make the wage eke out a +man will carry a hundred and a woman fifty to seventy pounds through +all weathers and over dangerous paths, sleeping by night on the hard +ground, the chance of a bundle of hay in winter being a luxury; and +one of their snow-covered peaks is with a certain irony named the +Federbett. They make some six or seven cwt. of cheese in the year, +but this is kept entirely for home consumption. + +The care of these cattle involves a labour which only the strongest +constitution could stand--a continual climbing of mountains in the +cold, often in the dark, during great part of the year allowing +scarcely four or five hours for sleep. Nor is this their only +industry. They contrive also to grow barley and flax; this never +ripens, yet they make from it a kind of yarn, which finds a ready sale +in Innsbruck; they weave from it too a coarse linen, which helps to +clothe them, together with the home-spun wool of their sheep. Also, by +an incredible exercise of patience, they manage to heap up and support +a sufficient quantity of earth round the rough and stony soil of their +valley to set potatoes, carrots, and other roots. Notwithstanding +all these hardships, they are generally a healthy race, remarkable +for their endurance, frugality, and love of home. Neither does their +hard life make them neglect the improvement of the mind; nowhere are +schools more regularly attended, although the little children have +many of them an hour or two's walk through the snow. The church is +equally frequented; so that if the great cold be sent, as the legend +teaches, as a chastisement, [55] the people seem to have had grace +given them to turn it to good account. + +The Zemgrund, Zamsergrund, and the Schwarzensteingrund, are other +pedestrian excursions much recommended from Mayrhof, but all equally +require the aid of local guides, and have less to repay toil than +those already described. + +Travellers who merely pass through Tirol by rail may catch a sight +of the mountains which hem in the Duxerthal, just after passing the +station of Steinach, on their left hand, when facing the south. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL (RIGHT INN-BANK). + +(ZILLERTHAL CUSTOMS.--THE WILDSCHÖNAU.) + + + Deep secret springs lie buried in man's heart, + Which Nature's varied aspect works at will; + Whether bright hues or shadows she impart, + Or fragrant odours from her breath distil, + Or the clear air with sounds melodious fill; + She speaks a language with instruction fraught, + And Art from Nature steals her mimic skill, + Whose birds, whose rills, whose sighing winds first taught + That sound can charm the soul, and rouse each noble thought. + + Lady Charlotte Bury. + + +We had parted from the Zillerthal, and had once more taken our places +in the railway carriage at Jenbach for a short stage to reach Kundl, +[56] as a base of operations for visiting the Wildschönau, as well as +the country on the other side of the Inn. The entry was effected with +the haste usual at small stations, where the advent of a traveller, +much more of a party of tourists, is an exceptional event. The +adjustment of our bags and rugs was greatly facilitated by the +assistance of the only occupant of the compartment into which we +were thrust; and when we had settled down and expressed our thanks +for his urbanity, I observed that he eyed us with an amused but not +unpleasant scrutiny. At last his curiosity overcame his reticence. 'I +have frequent occasion to travel this way to Munich and Vienna,' +he said, 'and I do not remember ever to have fallen in with any +strangers starting from Jenbach.' + +The conversation so opened soon revealed that our new friend, though +spending most of his time in the Bavarian and Austrian capitals, +nevertheless retained all a mountaineer's fondness for the Tirolese +land, which had given him birth some seventy years before. He was +greatly interested in our exploration of the Zillerthal, but much +annoyed that we were leaving instead of entering it; had it been the +other way, he said, he would have afforded us an acquaintance with +local customs such as, he was sure, no other part of Europe could +outvie. I assured him I had been disappointed at not coming across +them during our brief visit, but fully hoped on some future occasion +to have better success. He warmly recommended me not to omit the +attempt, and for my encouragement cited a local adage testifying to +the attractions of the valley-- + + + Wer da kommt in's Zillerthal + Der kommt gewiss zum Zweitenmal. [57] + + +He was interesting us much in his vividly-coloured sketches of peasant +life, when the train came to a stand; the guard shouted 'Kundl,' and +we were forced to part. He gave us an address in Munich, however, +where we were afterwards fortunate enough to find him; and he then +gave me some precious particulars, which I was not slow to garner. + +He seemed to know the people well, having lived much among them in +his younger days, and claimed for them--perhaps with some little +partiality--the character of being industrious, temperate, moral, and +straightforward, even above the other dwellers in Tirol; and no less, +of being physically the finest race. Their pure bracing mountain air, +the severe struggle which nature wages with them in their cultivation +of the fruits of the soil, and the hardy athletic pursuits with which +they vary their round of agricultural labour, tend to maintain and +ever invigorate this original stock of healthfulness. Their athletic +games are indeed an institution to which they owe much, and which they +keep up with a devotion only second to that with which they cultivate +their religious observances. Every national and social festival is +celebrated with these games. The favourite is the scheibenschiessen, +or shooting at a mark, for accuracy in which they are celebrated in +common with the inhabitants of all other districts of the country, +but are beaten by none; their stutze (short-barrelled rifle) they +regard more in the light of a friend and companion than a weapon, +and dignify it with the household name of the bread-winner. Wrestling +is another favourite sport; to be the champion wrestler of the hamlet +is a distinction which no inhabitant of the Zillerthal would barter +for gold. The best 'Haggler,' 'Mairraffer,' and 'Roblar'--three +denominations of wrestlers--are regarded somewhat in the light of a +superior order of persons, and command universal respect. In wilder +times, it is true, this ran into abuse; and some who had attained +excellence in an art so dangerous when misapplied betook themselves +to a life of violence and freebooting; but this has entirely passed +away now, and anything like a highway robbery is unheard of. The most +chivalrous rules guard the decorum of the game, which every bystander +feels it a point of honour to maintain; the use even of the stossring, +a stout metal ring for the little finger, by which a telling and +sometimes disfiguring blow may be given by a dexterous hand, is +discouraged. It is still worn, however, and prized more than as a +mere ornament--as a challenge of the wearer's power to wield it if he +choose, or if provoked to show his prowess. Running in races--which, +I know not why, they call springen--obtains favour at some seasons +of the year. At bowls and skittles, too, they are famous hands; and +in their passion for the games have originated a number of fantastic +stories of how the fairies and wild men of the woods indulge in them +too. Many a herdsman, on his long and solitary watch upon the distant +heights, gives to the noises of nature which he has heard, but could +not account for, an origin which lives in the imagination of those to +whom he recounts it on his return home; and his fancies are recorded +as actual events. But that the spirits play at skittles, and with gold +and silver balls, is further confirmed by peasants who have lost their +way in mists and snow-storms, and whose troubled dreams have made +pleasant stories. One of these, travelling with his pedlar's pack, +sought refuge from the night air in the ruined castle of Starkenberg, +the proud stronghold of a feudal family, second only in importance +to the Rottenburgers, and equally brought low by Friedrich mit der +leeren Tasche. The pedlar was a bold wrestler, and felt no fear of +the airy haunters of ruined castles. He made a pillow of his pack, +and laid him down to sleep as cosily as if at home, in the long dank +grass; nevertheless, when the clock of the distant village church--to +whose striking he had been listening hour by hour with joy, as an +earnest that by the morning light he would know how to follow its +guiding to the inhabited locality it denoted--sang out the hour of +midnight, twelve figures in ancient armour stalked into the hall, +and set themselves to play at bowls, for which they were served with +skulls. The pedlar was a famous player, and nothing daunted, took +up a skull, and set himself to play against them, and beat them all; +then there was a shout of joy, such as mortal ears had never heard, +and the twelve spirits declared they were released. Scarcely had they +disappeared, when ten more spirits, whom the pedlar concluded like +the last to be retainers of the mighty Starkenberger of old, entered +by different doors, which they carefully locked behind them, and then +bringing our hero the keys, begged him to open the doors each with the +right one. The pedlar was a shrewd fellow; and though doors, keys, +and spirits were each alike of their kind, his observation had been +so accurate that he opened each with the right key without hesitation, +whereupon the ten spirits declared themselves released too. Then came +in the Evil One, furious with the pedlar, who was setting free all his +captives, and swore he would have him in their stead. But the pedlar +demanded fair play, and offered to stake his freedom on a game with +his Arch-Impiety. The pedlar won, and the demon withdrew in ignominy; +but the released spirits came round their deliverer, and loaded him +with as much gold and valuable spoil as he could carry. + +This story seemed to me to belong to a class not unfrequently met with, +but yet differing from the ordinary run of legends on this subject, +inasmuch as the spirits, who were generally believed to be bound +to earth in penance, were released by no act of Christian virtue, +and without any appeal to faith; and I could not help asking my old +friend if he did not think this very active clever pedlar might have +been one of those who according to his own version had indulged in +freebooting tendencies, and that having with a true Zillerthaler's +tendencies pined to return to his native valley, he had invented the +tale to account for his accession of fortune, and the nature of his +possessions. I think my friend was a little piqued at my unmasking +his hero, but he allowed it was not an improbable solution for the +origin of some similar tales. + +Prizes, he went on to tell me, are often set up for excellence in these +games, which are cherished as marks of honour, without any reference to +their intrinsic value. And so jealously is every distinction guarded, +that a youth may not wear a feather or the sprig of rosemary, bestowed +by a beloved hand, in his jaunty hat, unless he is capable of proving +his right to it by his pluck and muscular development. + +Dancing is another favourite recreation, and is pursued with a zest +which makes it a healthful and useful exercise too. The Schnodahüpfl +and the Hosennagler are as dear to the Zillerthaler as the Bolera +to the Andalusian or the Jota to the Aragonese; like the Spanish +Seguidillas, too, the Zillerthalers accompany their dance with +sprightly songs, which are often directed to inciting each other not +to flag. + +Another amusement, in which they have a certain similarity with +Spaniards, is cow-fighting. But it is not a mere sport, and cruelty +is as much avoided as possible, for the beasts are made to fight +only with each other, and only their natural weapons--each other's +horns--are brought against them. The victorious cow is not only +the glory and darling of her owner, who loads her with garlands and +caresses; but the fight serves to ascertain the hardy capacity of +the animals as leaders of the herd, an office which is no sinecure, +when they have to make their way to and from steep pastures difficult +of access. [58] Ram and goat fights are also held in the same way, +and with the same object. + +The chief occasions for exercising these pastimes are the village +festivals, the Kirchtag, or anniversary of the Church consecration, +the Carnival season, weddings and baptisms, and the opening of the +season for the Scheibenschiessen; also the days of pilgrimages to +various popular shrines; and the Primizen and Sekundizen--the first +Mass of their pastors, and its fiftieth anniversary--general festivals +all over Tirol. + +A season of great enjoyment is the Carnival, which with them begins +at the Epiphany. Their great delight then is to go out in the dusk of +evening, when work is over, disguised in various fantastic dresses, +and making their way round from house to house, set the inmates +guessing who they can be. As they are very clever in arranging all +the accessories of their assumed character, changing their voice and +mien, each visit is the occasion of the most laughable mistakes. In +the towns, the Carnival procession is generally got up with no little +taste and artistic skill. The arch-buffoon goes on ahead, a loud +and merry jingle of bells announcing his advent at every movement of +the horse he bestrides, collects the people out of every house. Then +follow, also mounted, a train of maskers, Turks, soldiers, gipsies, +pirates; and if there happen to be among them anyone representing a +judge or authority of any sort, he is always placed at the head of +the tribe. In the evening, their perambulations over, they assemble in +the inn, where the acknowledged wag of the locality reads a humorous +diatribe, which touches on all the follies and events, that can be +anyhow made to wear a ridiculous aspect, of the past year. + +Christmas--here called Christnacht as well as Weihnacht--is observed +(as all over the country, but especially here) by dispensing the +Kloubabrod, a kind of dough cake, stuffed with sliced pears, almonds, +nuts, and preserved fruits. The making of this is a particular item in +the education of a Zillerthaler maiden, who has a special interest in +it, inasmuch as the one she prepares for the household must have the +first cut in it made by her betrothed, who at the same time gives her +some little token of his affection in return. Speaking of Christmas +customs reminded my informant of an olden custom in Brixen, that the +Bishop should make presents of fish to his retainers. This fish was +brought from the Garda-see, and the Graf of Tirol and the Prince-bishop +of Trent were wont to let it pass toll-free through their dominions. A +curious letter is extant, written by Bishop Rötel, 'an sambstag nach +Stæ. Barbaræ, 1444,' courteously enforcing this privilege. + +The Sternsingen is a favourite way of keeping the Epiphany in +many parts of the country. Three youths, one of them with his face +blackened, and all dressed to represent the three kings, go about +singing from homestead to homestead; and in some places there is +a Herod ready to greet them from the window with riming answers to +their verses, of which the following is a specimen: it is the address +of the first king-- + + + König Kaspar bin ich gennant + Komm daher aus Morgenland + Komm daher in grosser Eil + Vierzehn Tag, fünftausend Meil. + Melchores tritt du herein. [59] + + +Melchior, thus appealed to, stands forward and sings his lay; and +then Balthazar; and then the three join in a chorus, in which certain +hints are given that as they come from so far some refreshment would +be acceptable; upon which the friendly peasant-wife calls them in, +and regales them with cakes she has prepared ready for the purpose, and +sends them on their mountain-way rejoicing. Possibly some such custom +may have given rise to the institution of our 'Twelfth-cake.' In the +OEtzthal they go about with the greeting, 'Gelobt sei Jesus Christus +zur Gömacht.' [60] Another Tirolean custom connected with Epiphany +was the blessing of the stalls of the cattle on the eve, in memory +of the stable in which the Wise Men found the Holy Family. + +Their wedding fêtes seem to be among the most curious of all their +customs. My friend gave me a detailed account of one, between two +families of the better class of peasants, which he had attended some +years back; and he believed they were little changed since. It is +regarded as an occasion of great importance; and as soon as the banns +had been asked in church, the bridegroom went round with a chosen +friend styled a Hochzeitsbitter, to invite friends and relations to +the marriage. The night before the wedding (for which throughout Tirol +a Thursday is chosen, except in the Iselthal, where a preference for +Monday prevails), there was a great dance at the house of the bride, +who from the moment the banns have been asked is popularly called the +Kanzel-Braut. 'Rather, I should say,' he pursued, 'it was in the barn; +for though a large cottage, there was no room that would contain the +numbers of merry couples who flocked in, and even the barn was so +crowded, that the dancers could but make their way with difficulty, +and were continually tumbling over one another; but it was a merry +night, for all were in their local costume, and the pine-wood torches +shed a strange and festive glare over them. The next morning all were +assembled betimes. It was a bitterly cold day, but the snow-storm was +eagerly hailed, as it is reckoned a token that the newly-wedded pair +will be rich; we met first at the bride's house for what they called +the Morgensuppe, a rough sort of hearty breakfast of roast meat, +white bread, and sausages; and while the elder guests were discussing +it, many were hard at work again dancing, and the young girls of the +village were dressing up the bride--one of the adornments de rigueur +being a knot of streamers of scarlet leather trimmed with gold lace, +and blue arm-bands and hat-ribbons; these streamers are thought by the +simple people to be a cure for goitres, and are frequently bound round +them with that idea. At ten o'clock the first church bell rang, when +all the guests hastily assembled round the table, and drank the health +of the happy pair in a bowl from which they had first drank. Then they +ranged themselves into a procession, and marched towards the church, +the musicians leading the way. The nearest friends of the bridal pair +were styled "train-bearers," and formed a sort of guard of honour +round the bride, walking bare-headed, their hats, tastily wreathed +with flowers, in their hands. The priest of the village walked by +the bride on one side, her parents on the other. She wore a wreath of +rosemary--a plant greatly prized here, as among the people of Spain +and Italy, and considered typical of the Blessed Virgin's purity--in +her hair; her holiday dress was confined by a girdle, and she held +her rosary in her hand. The bridegroom was almost as showily dressed, +and wore a crown of silver wire; beside him walked another priest, +and behind them came the host of the village inn, a worthy who holds a +kind of patriarchal position in our villages. He is always one of the +most important men of the place, generally owns the largest holding +of land, and drives one or two little trades besides attending to the +welfare of his guests. But more than this, he is for the most part +a man of upright character and pleasant disposition, and is often +called to act as adviser and umpire in rural complications. + +'The procession was closed by the friends and neighbours, walking +two and two, husband and wife together; and the church bells rang +merrily through the valley as it passed along. + +'The ceremonial in the church was accompanied with the best music +the locality could afford, the best singers from the neighbouring +choirs lending their voices. To add to the solemnity of the occasion, +lighted tapers were held by the bridal party at the Elevation; and it +was amusing to observe how the young people shunned a candle that did +not burn brightly, as that is held to be an omen of not getting married +within the year. At the close of the function, the priest handed round +to them the Johannissegen, a cup of spiced wine mixed with water, +which he had previously blessed, probably so called in memory of the +miracle at the wedding-feast recorded in the Gospel of that Apostle. + +'The band then struck up its most jocund air, and full of mirth the +gladsome party wended their way to the inn. After a light repast +and a short dance, and a blithesome Trutzlied, they passed on, +according to custom, to the next, and so on to all the inns within +a radius of a few miles. This absorbed about three or four hours; +and then came the real wedding banquet, which was a very solid and +long affair--in fact, I think fresh dishes were being brought in +one after another for three or four hours more. Even in this there +was a memory of the Gospel narrative, for in token of their joy they +keep for the occasion a fatted calf, the whole of which is served up +joint by joint, not omitting the head; this was preceded by soup, +and followed by a second course of sweet dumplings, with fruit and +the inevitable pickled cabbage, which on this day is dignified with +the title of Ehrenkraut. After this came a pause; and the musicians, +who had been playing their loudest hitherto, held in too. The "best +man" rose, and went through the formula of asking the guests whether +they were content with what had been set before them, which of course +was drowned in a tumult of applause. In a form, which serves from +generation to generation with slight change, he then went on to remark +that the good gifts of meat and drink of which they had partaken came +from the hand of God, and called forth the gratitude of the receiver, +adding, "Let us thank Him for them, and still more in that He has +made us reasonable beings, gifting us with faith, and not brutes or +unbelievers. If we turn to Him in this spirit, He will abide with us +as with them of Cana in Galilee. Therefore, let all anger and malice +and evil speaking be put away from us, who have just been standing +before the most holy Sacrament, and let us be united in the bonds of +brotherly love, that His Blood may not have been poured out for us in +vain. And to you, dear friends, who have this day been united with +the grace-giving benediction of the Church, I commend this union of +heart and soul most of all, that the new family thus founded in our +midst may help to build up the living edifice of a people praising +and serving God, and that you walk in His way, and bring up children +to serve Him as our forefathers have ever done." There was a good +deal more in the same strain; and this exhortation to holy living, +from one of themselves, is just a type of the intimate way in which +religion enters into the life of the people. His concluding wish for +the well-being of the newly married was followed by a loud "Our Father" +and "Hail Mary" from the assembled throng. + +'After this came a great number more dishes of edibles, but this time +of a lighter kind; among them liver and poultry, but chiefly fruits and +sweets; and among these many confections of curious devices, mostly +with some symbolical meaning. When these were nearly despatched, +wine and brandy were brought out by the host; and by this name you +must understand the master of the inn; for, true to the paternal +character of which I have already spoken, it is always his business +to cater for and preside over bridal banquets. At the same time the +guests produced their presents, which go by the name of Waisat, and +all were set down in a circumstantial catalogue. They are generally +meted out with an open hand, and are a great help to the young people +in beginning their housekeeping. + +'The musicians, who only got hasty snatches of the good things +passing round, now began yet livelier strains, and the party broke +up that the younger members might give themselves to their favourite +pastime, dancing; and well enough they looked, the lads in brilliant +red double-breasted waistcoats, their short black leather breeches held +up with embroidered belts, and their well-formed high-pointed hats with +jaunty brim, going through the intricate evolutions, each beating the +time heartily, first on his thighs and then on his feet--schuhplatteln +they call it--and followed through the mazy figures by his diandl +(damsel), in daintily fitting satin bodice, and short but ample skirt. + +'The older people still lingered over the table, and looked on at +the dance, which they follow with great interest; but there is +not a great deal of drinking, and it is seldom enough, even in +the midst of an occasion for such exceptional good cheer, that +any excess is committed. A taste for brandy--the poor brandy of +their own manufacture--is however, I confess, a weakness of the +Zillerthalers. The necessity for occasionally having recourse to +stimulants results from the severity of the climate during part of +the year, and the frequently long exposure to the mountain air which +their calling requires of them. At the same time, anything like a +confirmed drunkard is scarcely known among them. Its manufacture +affords to many an occupation; and its use to all, of both sexes, is +a national habit. They make it out of barley, juniper, and numbers of +other berries (which they wander collecting over all the neighbouring +alps), as well as rye, potatoes, and other roots--in fact, almost +anything. Every commercial bargain, every operation in the field, every +neighbourly discussion, every declaration of affection even, is made +under its afflatus. An offer of a glass of the cordial will often make +up a long-harboured quarrel, a refusal to share one is taken to be a +studied affront; in fact, this zutrinken, as they call it, comes into +every act and relation of life. In the moderate bounds within which +they keep its use, it is undeniably a great boon to them; and many a +time it has been the saving of life in the mountains to the shepherd +and the milk-maid, the snow-bound labourer or retarded pedlar.' + +I was curious to know what customs the other valley had to replace +those of the Ziller. My friend informed me they were very similar, only +the Zillerthalers were celebrated for their attachment to and punctual +observance of them. He had once attended a wedding in the Grödnerthal +which was very similar to the one he had already described, yet had +some distinct peculiarities. Though a little out of place, I may as +well bring in his account of it here. There, the betrothal is called +der Handschlag (lit. the hand-clasp), and it is always performed on +a Saturday. The fathers of the bride and bridegroom and other nearest +relations are always present as witnesses; and if the bride does not +cry at the projected parting, it is said she will have many tears +to shed during her married life. The first time the banns are asked +it is not considered 'the thing' for the betrothed to be present, +and they usually go to church on that occasion in some neighbouring +village; on the second Sunday they are expected to appear in state, +the bridegroom wearing his holiday clothes and a nosegay in his hat +or on his right breast. The bride always wears the local costume, a +broadish brimmed green hat, a scarlet boddice and full black skirt, +though this is now only worn on such occasions; on the day of the +wedding, to this is added a broad black satin ribbon round her head, +and round her waist a leather girdle with a number of useful articles +in plated copper hanging from it. On each side are arranged red and +green streamers with very great nicety, and no change of fashion is +suffered in their position; she is expected to wear a grave mien and +modest deportment; this is particularly enjoined. The guests are also +expected to don the popular costume; the girls green, the married +women black hats. On the way to the church the bridegroom's father +and his nearest neighbour came forward, and with many ceremonies asked +the bride of her friends, and she went crying coyly with them. After +the church ceremony, which concludes as in Zillerthal with the cup +of S. Johannessegen, the bridesmaids hand in a basket decked with +knots of ribbon, containing offerings for the priests and servers, +and a wreath, which is fastened round the priest's arm who leads the +bride out of church. The visit to the neighbouring inn follows; but +at the wedding feast guests come in in masquerading dresses bringing +all manner of comical presents. The dance here lasts till midnight, +when the happy pair are led home by their friends to an accompaniment +of music, for which they have a special melody. The next day again +there are games, and the newly married go in procession with their +friends to bear home the trousseau and wedding gifts, among which is +always a bed and bedding. On their way back beggars are allowed to bar +the way at intervals, who must be bought off with alms. On the Sunday +following the bride is expected again to appear at church in the local +costume, and in the afternoon all the guests of the wedding day again +gather in the inn to present their final offering of good wishes and +blessings. Girls who are fond of cats, they say, are sure to marry +early; perhaps an evidence that household virtues are appreciated +in them by the men; but of men, the contrary is predicated, showing +that the other sex is expected to display hardihood in the various +mountaineering and other out-door occupations. [61] + + + +Kundl, whither we were bound before being tempted to make this +digression, gives entrance to the Wildschönau according to modern +orthography, the Witschnau, or Wiltschnau, according to local and +more correct pronunciation (sometimes corrupted into Mitschnau), +as the name is derived from wiltschen, to flow, and au, water, the +particular water in this case being the Kundler-Ache, which here +flows into the Inn. It is a little valley improving in beauty as you +pursue it eastwards, not more than seven leagues in length, and seldom +visited, for its roads are really only fit for pedestrians; hence its +secluded inhabitants have acquired a character for being suspicious of +strangers, though proverbially hospitable to one another. One of its +points of greatest interest is the church of St. Leonhard, described +in the last chapter. Overhanging the road leading from it to Kundl, +stand the remains of the castle of Niederaich, now converted into +a farm stable, and its moat serving as a conduit of water for the +cattle. At the time it was built by Ambrose Blank in the sixteenth +century, the silver mines then in work made this a most flourishing +locality. At that time, too, there stood overlooking the town the +Kundlburg, of which still slighter traces remain, the residence +of the Kummerspruggers, who, in the various wars, always supported +the house of Bavaria. The chief industry of Kundl at present is the +construction of the boats which navigate the Inn, and carry the rich +produce of the Tirolean pastures to Vienna. Oberau is situated on +a commanding plateau, and its unpretending inn 'auf dem Keller,' +offers a good resting-place. The church was burnt down in 1719, +and the present one, remarkable for its size if for nothing else, +was completed just a hundred years ago. It is, however, remarkable +also for its altar-piece--the Blessed Virgin between S. Barbara and +S. Margaret--by a local artist, and far above what might be expected +in so sequestered a situation. At a distance of three or four miles, +Niederau is reached, passing first a sulphur spring, esteemed by the +peasants of the neighbourhood. The openest and most smiling--most +friendly, to use the German expression--part of the valley is between +Auffach and Kelchsau, where is situated Kobach, near which may be seen +lateral shafts of the old mines extending to a distance of many hundred +feet. From Kelchsau a foot-path leads in an hour more to Hörbrunn, +where there is a brisk little establishment of glass-works, whose +productions go all over Tirol. Then westwards over the Plaknerjoch +to Altbach, passing Thierberg (not the same as that mentioned near +Kufstein), once the chief seat of the silver-works, its only remaining +attraction being the beautiful view to be obtained from its heights +over the banks of the Inn, and the whole extent of country between +it and Bavaria. From Altbach it is an hour more back to Brixlegg. + +The memory of the former metallic wealth of the valley is preserved in +numerous tales of sudden riches overtaking the people in all manner of +different ways, as in the specimens already given. Here is a similar +one belonging to this spot. A peasant going out with his waggon found +one day in the way a heap of fine white wheat. Shocked that God's +precious gift should be trodden under foot, he stopped his team and +gathered up the grain, of which there was more than enough to fill all +his pockets; when he arrived at his destination, he found them full +of glittering pieces of money. The origin of the story doubtless may +be traced to some lucky take of ore which the finder was able to sell +at the market town; and the price which he brought home was spoken +of as the actual article discovered. Another relic of the mining +works may perhaps be found in the following instance of another class +of stories, though some very like it doubtless refer to an earlier +belief in hobgoblins closely allied to our own Robin Goodfellow. I +think a large number date from occasions when the Knappen or miners, +who formed a tribe apart, may have come to the aid of the country +people when in difficulty. + +The Unterhausberg family was once powerful in Wiltschnau. When +their mighty house was building, the great foundation-stone was so +ponderous that it defied all the efforts of the builders to put it +in its place. At last they sat down to dinner; then there suddenly +came out of the mountain side a number of Wiltschnau dwarfs, who, +without any effort, lowered the great stone into its appointed place; +the men offered them the best portion of their dinner, but they refused +any reward. The dwarfs were not always so urbane, however, and there +are many stories of their tricks: lying down in the pathways in the +dark to make the people tumble over them; then hiding behind a tree, +and with loud laughter mocking the disaster; [62] throwing handfuls +of pebbles and ashes at the peasant girls as they passed; getting +into the store-room, and mixing together the potatoes, carrots, grain, +and flour, which the housewife had carefully assorted and arranged. It +was particularly on women that their tricks were played off; and this +to such an extent that it became the custom, even now prevailing, +never to send women to the Hochalm with the herds, though they go +out into other equally remote mountain districts without fear, for +their Kasa (the hut for shelter at night, here so called, in other +parts Sennhütte,) was sure to be beset with the dwarfs, and their +milk-pails overturned. All these feats may, I think, be ascribed in +their origin to the Knappen. + +The neighbourhood of Thierberg has a story which I think also has its +source in mining memories. 'On the way between Altbach and Thierbach +you pass two houses bearing the name of "beim Thaler." In olden time +there lived here a peasant of moderate means, who owned several head +of cattle; Moidl, the maid, whose duty it was to take them out to +pasture on the sunny hill-side, always looked out anxiously for the +first tokens of spring; for she loved better to watch the cows and +goats browsing the fresh grass, or venturously climbing the heights, +to sitting in the chimney-corner dozing over the spinning-wheel. One +day as she was at her favourite occupation, she heard a noise behind +her, and turning round saw a door open in the mountain side, and +two or three little men with long beards peeping out. Within, all +was dazzling with gold like the brightest sunshine. The walls were +covered with plates of gold, placed one over the other like scales, +and knobs of gold like pine-apples studded the vault. The little men +beckoned to Moidl to come in, but she, like a modest maiden, ran home +to her father; when he returned with her, however, to the spot, the +door was no more to be found.' I think it may very well be imagined +that Moidl came unawares upon the opening of a lateral shaft, and +listened to the accounts which the Knappen may have amused themselves +with giving her of the riches of their diggings; while she may very +naturally have been afraid to explore these. The disappearance of +the mysterious opening is but the ordinary refrain of marvellous tales. + +The Witschnauers cannot be accused of any dreamy longings after the +recurrence of such prosperous times. They are among the most diligent +tillers of the land to be found anywhere; the plough is carried over +places where the uneven gradients make the guiding of horses or oxen a +too great expenditure of time; in such places they do not disdain to +harness themselves to the plough, and even the women take their turn +in relieving them. Of one husbandman of olden time it is narrated +that he was even too eager in his thrift, and carried his furrow a +little way on to his neighbour's land year by year, so that by the +time he came to die he had appropriated a good strip of land not his +own. His penance was, that after death he should continually tread up +and down the stolen soil, dragging after him a red-hot ploughshare, +in performing which his wail was often overhead-- + + + O weh! wie is der Pflug so heiss + Und niemand mir zu helfen weiss! [63] + + +until one of his successors in the farm, being a particularly +honourable man, removed the boundary-stone back to its original +position. He had no sooner done so than he had the satisfaction of +hearing the spectre cry-- + + + Erlöst, Gott sei Dank, bin ich jetzt + Der Markstein ist auch rechtgesetzt. [64] + + +Another class of legends has also a home in this locality. It is +told that a peasant from Oberau was going home from Thierbach, one +Epiphany Eve. It was a cold night; his feet crunched the crisp snow +at every step; the air was clear, and the stars shone brightly. The +peasant's head, however, was not so clear as the sky, for he came from +the tavern, where he had been spending a merry evening with his boon +companions. Thus it happened that instead of walking straight on, he +gave one backward step for every three forward, like the Umgehende +Schuster; [65] and thus he went staggering about till he came to +the Rastbank, which is even yet sought as a point where to rest and +overlook the view. It struck twelve as he seated himself on the bench; +then suddenly behind him he heard a sound of many voices, which came +on nearer and nearer, and then the Berchtl in her white clothing, her +broken ploughshare in her hand, and all her train of little people +[66] swept clattering and chattering close past him. The least was +the last, and it wore a long shirt which got in the way of its little +bare feet, and kept tripping it up. The peasant had sense enough +left to feel compassion, so he took his garter off and bound it for +a girdle round the infant, and then set it again on its way. When +the Berchtl saw what he had done, she turned back and thanked him, +and told him that in return for his compassion his children should +never come to want. This story, I think there is little doubt, may be +genuine; your Wiltschenauer is as fond of brandy as your Zillerthaler, +and under its influence the peasant may very likely have passed a +troubled night on the Rastbank. What more likely to cross his fancy +on the Epiphany Eve than the thought of a visit from the Berchtl +and her children (they always appear in Tirol at that season, and +in rags and tatters [67]); his own temperament being compassionate, +that he should help the stumbling little one, and that the Berchtl +should give him promise of reward was all that might be expected from +certain premises. But what are those premises? Who was the Berchtl? If +you ask a Tirolean peasant the question, he will probably tell you +that the Perchtl (as he will call her) is Pontius Pilate's wife, +[68] to whom redemption was given by reason of her intervention in +favour of the Man of Sorrows, but that it is her penance to wander +over the earth till the last day as a restless spirit; and that as +the Epiphany was the season of favour to the Gentiles, among whose +first-fruits she was, it is at that season she is most often seen, +and in her most favourable mood. It must be confessed that some of his +stories of her will betray a certain amount of inconsistency, for he +will represent her carrying off children, wounding belated passengers, +and performing many acts inconsistent with the character of a penitent +soul, and more in accordance with that of the more ancient 'Lamia.' + +If you address your question to Grimm, or Wolf, Simrock, Kuhn, +Schwartz, or Mannhardt, or any who have made comparative mythology +their study, he will tell you that the stories about her (and probably +all the other marvellous tales of the people also) are to be traced +back to the earliest mythological traditions of a primeval glimmering +of religion spread abroad over the whole world; and to the poetical +forms of expression of a primitive population describing the wonderful +but constantly repeated operations of nature. [69] That the wilder +Jäger was originally the god Wodin, the hunter of unerring aim, that +his impetuous course typifies the journey of the sun-god through the +heavens, [70] his mighty arm represents his powerful rays; and in +even so late a tale as 'that of William Tell, he will see the last +reflections of the sun-god, whether we call him Indra, or Apollo, +or Ulysses.' [71] He will tell you that all 'the countless legends of +princesses kept in dark prisons and invariably delivered by a young +bright knight can all be traced back to mythological traditions +about the spring being released from the bonds of winter; the sun +being rescued from the darkness of night; the dawn being brought +back from the far west; the waters being set free from the prison of +clouds.' [72] And of the Berchtl herself, he will tell you that she +is Perahta (the bright), daughter of Dagha (the day), whose name has +successively been transformed into Perchtl and Bertha; brightness +or whiteness has made her to be considered the goddess of winter; +who particularly visited the earth for twelve winter nights, and +spoilt all the flax of those idle maidens who left any unspun on the +last day of the year; [73] who carries in her hand a broken plough in +token that the ground is hardened against tillage; whose brightness +has also made her to be reckoned the all-producing earth-mother, +with golden hair like the waving corn; the Hertha of the Swabian; +the Jörtha of Scandinavian; [74] the Berecynthia of the Phrygian; +[75] and to other nations known as Cybele, Rhea, Isis, Diana. [76] + +Such ideas were too deeply rooted in the minds of the people to be +easily superseded; as my friend, the Feldkirch postilion, said, +they went on and on like the echoes of their own mountains. 'The +missionaries were not afraid of the old heathen gods; ... their kindly +feeling towards the traditions, customs, and prejudices of their +converts must have been beneficial; ... they allowed them the use +of the name Allfadir, whom they had invoked in the prayers of their +childhood, when praying to Him who is "our Father in heaven."' And +as with the greater, so with the less, the mighty powers they had +personified and treated as heroes and examples lived on in their +imagination, and their glorious deeds came to be ascribed to the new +athletes of a brighter faith. Then, 'although originally popular tales +were reproductions of more ancient legends, yet after a time a general +taste was created for marvellous stories, and new ones were invented in +large numbers. Even in these purely imaginative productions, analogies +may be discovered with more genuine tales, because they were made after +the original patterns, and in many cases were mere variations on an +ancient air.' [77] More than this, there came the actual accession of +marvels derived from the acts inspired by the new faith; but it cannot +be denied that the two became strangely blended in the popular mind. + + + +Brixlegg presents some appearance of thriving, through the smelting and +wire-drawing works for the copper ore brought from the neighbourhood +of Schwatz. It also enjoys some celebrity as the birthplace of the +Tirolean historian Burgleckner, whose family had been respected here +for generations; and it is very possible to put up for the night +at the Herrenhaus. It is not much above a mile hence to Rattenberg, +of which I have already spoken. + +Rattenberg was, in 1651, the scene of a tragic event, sad as the +denouement of many a fiction. The high-spirited consort of Archduke +Leopold V., Claudia de' Medici, who, at his death, governed the +country so well, and by her sagacity kept her dominions at peace, +while the rest of Germany was immersed in the horrors of the Thirty +Years' War, yet did not altogether escape the charge of occasional +harshness in collecting the revenues which she knew so well how +to administer. Her chancellor, Wilhelm Biener, a trusty and devoted +servant and counsellor, drew on himself considerable odium for his zeal +in these matters. On one occasion he got into a serious controversy +with Crosini, Bishop of Brixen, concerning the payment of certain +taxes from which the prelate claimed exemption, and in the course of +it wrote him a letter couched in such very unguarded terms, that the +bishop, unused to be so dealt with, could not forbear exclaiming, 'The +man deserves to lose the fingers that could write such an intemperate +effusion!' The exclamation was not thought of again till years after. + +Claudia died in 1648, and then the hatred against Biener, which +was also in some measure a hatred of races, for Claudia had many +southerners at her court, broke forth without hindrance. He was +accused [78] of appropriating the State money he had been so earnest in +collecting, and though tried by two Italian judges, he was ultimately +condemned, in 1651, to lose his head. Biener sent a statement of his +case to the Archduke Ferdinand Karl; and the young prince, believing +the honesty of his mother's faithful adviser, immediately ordered a +reprieve. The worst enemy and prime accuser of the fallen favourite +was Schmaus, President of the Council, this time a German, and he +contrived by detaining the messenger to make him arrive just too late +in Rattenberg, then still a strong fortress, where he lay confined, +and where the sentence was to be carried out. + +Biener had all along steadfastly maintained his innocence; and stepping +on to the scaffold, he had again repeated the assertion, adding, 'So +truly as I am innocent, I summon my accuser before the Judgment-seat +above before another year is out.' [79] When the executioner stooped +to lift up the head before the people, he found lying by its side +three fingers of his right hand, without having had any knowledge +that he had struck them off, though he might have done so by the +unhappy man having raised his hand in the way of the sword in the +last struggle. The people, however, saw in it the fulfillment of the +words of the bishop, as well as a ghastly challenge accompanying his +dying message to President Schmaus. Nor did they forget to note that +the latter died of a terrible malady some months before the close of +the year. Biener's wife lost her senses when she knew the terrible +circumstances of his death; the consolations of her director and of +her son, who lived to his ninetieth year in the Francescan convent at +Innsbruck, were alike powerless to calm her. She escaped in the night, +and wandered out into the mountains no one knows whither. But the +people say she lives on to be a witness of her husband's innocence, +and may be met on lonely ways proclaiming it, but never harming +any. Only, when anyone is to die in Büchsenhausen, [80] where her +married life passed so pleasantly, the 'Bienerweible' will appear +and warn them. It is a remarkable instance of the easy way in which +one myth passes into another, that though this event happened but a +little over two hundred years ago, the Bienerweible and the Berchtl +are already confounded in the popular mind. [81] + +Another name prized in Tirolese annals, which must not be forgotten in +connexion with Rattenberg, is Alois Sandbichler, the Bible commentator, +who was born there in 1751. He passed a brilliant career as Professor +in the University of Salzburg, but died at the age of eighty in his +native village. + +The neighbourhood of Brixlegg is very pretty, and the views from the +bridge by no means to be overlooked. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL. + +(LEFT INN-BANK.) + + + The hilles, where dwelled holy saintes, + I reverence and adore + Not for themselfe but for the saincts + Which han been dead of yore. + And now they been to heaven forewent, + Their good is with them goe; + Their sample onely to us lent, + That als we mought doe soe.--Spenser. + + +We have hitherto been occupied almost exclusively with the right bank +of the Inn. We will now return to Jenbach, as a starting-point for +the beauties of the left bank. + +Near the station of Jenbach is a 'Restauration,' which bears the +singular title of 'zum Tolerantz.' In the town, which is at some +little distance on the Käsbach stream, the 'Post' affords very decent +accommodation; The dining-room of the more primitive 'Brau' is a neat +building in the Swiss style, and commands a prospect which might more +than compensate for even worse fare than it affords. Jenbach had its +name from being situated on the further side of the Inn from that +on which the old post-road had been carried. There are extensive +iron-foundries and breweries, which give the place a busy aspect, +and an air of prosperity. + +The excursions from Jenbach are countless. Between the stations +of Brixlegg and Jenbach lie only Münster and Wiesing, with nothing +remarkable, except that the church of Wiesing, having been struck by +lightning in 1782, was rebuilt with stones taken from the neighbouring +Pulverthurm, built by the Emperor Maximilian, in 1504, but destroyed +by lightning at the same time as the church. Count Tannenberg's park +(Thiergarten), near here, is a most curious enclosure of natural +rock, aided by masonry, and stocked with deer, fish, and fowl. Then +Kramsach, and in the woods near it the Hilariusbergl, once inhabited +by two hermits, and still held sacred: also the strangely wild +Rettengschöss and its marbles; and several remarkable Alpine peaks, +particularly the Zireinalpe and its little lake, bearing a memory of +Seirens in its traditions as well as in its name. Here another river +Ache runs into the Inn, distinguished from that on the opposite side, +as the Brandenberger Ache. At its debouche stands Voldepp, whence the +Mariathal and the Mooserthal may be visited, and 'the neighbourhood is +rich in marbles used in the churches of Innsbruck.' [82] The Mooserthal +is remarkable for three small lakes, which can be formed and let off +at pleasure; they are the property of the Barons of Lichtenthurm, who +fatten carp in them. The lowest of the three, the Rheinthalersee, +has the prettiest surroundings. Weber says they are all fed by +subterranean currents from the mountains. Ball ('Central Alps') +treats them as overflowings of the Inn. + +The most flourishing town of the Mariathal is Achenrain, where there +are extensive brass-works. Mass is said for the out-lying operatives +in the Castle-chapel of Lichtenthurm. The village of Mariathal is +very snugly situated, almost hidden by its woods from the road. Its +chief feature is the deserted convent of Dominicanesses founded in +the thirteenth century by Ulrich and Konrad v. Freundsberg; their +descendant, Georg v. Freundsberg, celebrated in the Thirty Years' +War, whom we learn more about when we come to Schwatz, also endowed +the nuns liberally, bidding them pray for him; his effigy may still +be seen in the church of Mariathal; and the convent, even in its +present condition, is a favourite pilgrimage. Hence a rocky defile +of wild and varied beauty, and many miles in length, leads into +the Brandenbergerthal, which reaches to the Bavarian frontier. Its +highest point is the Steinberg, to be recognized in the distance by its +pyramidal form, which is situated within what the Germans graphically +term a cauldron (Gebirgskessel) of mountains, and is shut off from +all communication with the outer world by the snow during the winter +months. The Brandenbergers have been famous for their patriotism and +defence of their independence during all the various conflicts with +Bavaria, and they love to call their native soil the Heimaththal and +the Freiheitthal. The only tale of the supernatural I have met with +as connected with this locality is the following; it has a certain +wild grasp, but its moral is not easy to trace; it is analogous, +however, to many traditions of other places. + +'One of the Jochs surrounding the Brandenbergerthal was celebrated for +its rich grasses; on its "alm" [83] the cattle often found pasturage +even late in the winter. The Senner [84] here watching his flocks was +visited one Christmas Eve by an old man in thick winter clothing, +with a mighty pine-staff in his hand; he begged the Senner on the +coming night to heat his hut as hot as ever he could, assuring him he +would have no cause to regret his compliance. The Senner thought it +was a strange adventure, but congratulated himself that it might be +the means of propitiating the goblins, of whose pranks in the winter +nights he was not without his fears. So he heaped log upon log all +day, till the hut was so hot he could hardly bear it. Then he crept +under a bench in the corner where a little chink gave a breath from +the outer air, and waited to see what would come to pass. Towards +midnight he heard steps approaching nearer and nearer, and then there +was a sound of heavy boots stamping off the snow. Immediately after, +seven men stepped into the room in silence. Their boots and clothes +were all frozen as hard as if they had been carved out of ice, and +their very presence served to cool down the air of the hut to such +an extent that the Senner was now obliged to rub his hands. When +they had stood a considerable space round the fire without uttering +a word, they all seven left the hut as silently and solemnly as they +had entered it. The Senner now crawled out of his hiding-place, and +a loud cry of joy burst spontaneously from his lips, for his hat, +which he had left on the table, was full of bright shining golden +zwanzigers. These seven, the legend goes on to say, 'were never seen +but this once. They were the seven Goldherds of the Reiche Spitze (on +the Salzburg frontier); for up there there are exhaustless treasures, +but whatever a mortal takes of them during life, he must suffer the +Cold Torment and keep watch over it after death; and of such there +have been seven in the course of the world's ages.' + +With regard to 'the Cold Torment,' [85] they have the following legend +in the neighbourhood of Innsbruck:--There was once a peasant who +had been very unlucky, and got so deep in debt that he saw no way of +extricating himself. Unable to bear the sight of his starving family, +he wandered out into the forest, until at last he met a strange-looking +man in the old Frankish costume, who came up to him and said, 'You +are poor indeed, and know no means of help.' 'Most true,' replied +the peasant; 'of money and good counsel I can use more than you can +have to bestow.' 'I will help you,' said the strange-looking man; +'I will give you as much money as you can use while you live, and +all you have to do for it will be to bear the Cold Torment for me +after you die; nothing but that, only just to feel rather too cold, +and all that time hence--what does it matter?' The peasant retraced +his steps, and as he drew near home his children came out to meet him +with their pinafores full of gold, and all about the house there were +heaps of gold, more than he could use; and he lived a merry life till +the time came for him to die. Then he remembered what was before him; +so he called his wife to him, and got her to make him a whole suit of +the thickest rough woollen cloth, and stockings, hood, and gloves of +the same. In the night, before they had buried him, his boys saw him, +just as the De profundis bell rang, get up from the bed in all this +warm clothing, and shut the gate behind him, and go out into the +forest to deliver the spirit which had enriched him. [86] + +To the north-east of this valley, and still on the left bank of the +Inn, is the favourite pilgrimage of Maria-Stein. I have not learnt +its origin, but there is a tradition that, in 1587, Baron Schurff, to +whom the neighbouring Castle of Stein then belonged, being desirous +to take the precious likeness of the Blessed Virgin honoured there +to his Bavarian dwelling, thrice attempted the removal, and on each +occasion it was found by the next morning restored to its original +sanctuary, which is in a chapel at the top of a high tower. The castle +was a dependency of the Freundsbergers of Schwatz, till the family +died out. It was subsequently bestowed by the Archduke Sigismund +on one of his supporters, to whom he gave also the title of Baron +Schurff. Afterwards it came into possession of Count Paris von Klotz, +who gave it to form a presbytery and school for which it is still +used. Among its treasures was a Slave codex of Homilies of the early +fathers; Count Klotz had a reprint made from it at Vienna. A little +lake (Maria Steinersee) at no great distance affords excellent fish +called Nasen, whence the neighbouring dale is called Nasenthal; and +from several points there are most enjoyable views of the höhe Salve +and the little towns of Wörgl, Kirchbühel, and Häring across the river. + + + +Jenbach affords also numerous mountain walks through the Achenthal: +a favourite one is over the Mauriz Alp, to Maurach, which has many +points of interest to the geologist. For those who are not fond of +pedestrianism, there is a splendid drive along the road--one of the +old highways to Bavaria and the north of Europe. An accident is of very +rare occurrence; but some parts of it are rather frightful. For those +whose nerves are proof against the fears suggested here and there, +there is immense enjoyment to be found, as it winds its way along +the romantic woody Käsbachthal, round--indeed through--the wild and +overhanging rocks, or, supported on piles, runs close along the edge +of the intensely blue Achen lake, under the over-arching Spiel-joch, +steep as a wall. The first place to halt at is Skolastica, where there +is a pretty, much-frequented swimming-school; and whence even ladies +have ascended the Unnutzjoch over the Kögl. It is often crowded in the +season, as also are all the little towns round the lake--Achenthal, +Pertisau, Buchau. Several excellent varieties of fish, which are the +property of the Monastery of Viecht, and the pleasure-fares across +the waters, afford means of subsistence to a little population of +boatmen, who have made their nests on the rocks wherever there is +a foot of level ground. Pertisau, however, is on a green smiling +spot, and is a relief to the majestic wildness of the rest of the +surrounding scenery. A very extraordinary effect may be observed at +a short distance out from Buchau. The mountain outline on the right +hand appears to be that of a regular fortress, with all professional +accessories, bidding defiance to the neighbourhood: it is only as +the boat approaches quite near, that you see it is only one of those +tours de force with which nature often surprises us; as, for example, +in the portrait of Louis XVI. in the outline of the Traunstein, +seen from Baura. + +From the village of Achenthal the road runs, through the Bavarian +frontier, to the well-known baths and Bavarian royal Lustschloss--until +1803 a Benedictine monastery--of Tegernsee, through Pass-Achen, +celebrated in the patriotic struggles of 1809. + +The Achensee is the largest and one of the most beautiful lakes of +Tirol. It is fed partly by mountain streams, and partly by subterranean +springs. The people tell a warning tale of its first rising. They say +that in olden times there was a stately and prosperous town on what +is now the bed of the lake; but the inhabitants in their prosperity +forgot God so far, that the young lads played at skittles along the +aisles of the church, even while the sacred office was being sung, +and the Word of God preached. A day came; it was a great feast, but +they drove their profane sport as usual, and no one said them nay; +[87] and so a great flood rose up through the floor; rose above their +heads; above the church roof; above the church steeple; and they say +that even now, on a bright calm day, you may see the gilt ball of the +steeple shining under the waters, and in the still moonshine you may +hear the bell ring out the midnight hour. There are many other tales +of such swift and righteous judgments lingering in Tirol. + +The lower eastern ridge of the Harlesanger or Hornanger Alpe, is, on +account of its stern and barren character, called the Wildenfeld. This +is how it received its name. Ages ago, it was a very paradise +of beauty and fruitfulness. All the choicest Alpine grasses grew +there in abundance; but with these riches and plenty the pride of +the Senners and milkers waxed great too; and as a token of their +reckless wastefulness, it is recorded that they used rich cheeses +for paving-stones and skittles. One ancient Senner, like another Lot, +raised his feeble but indignant voice against them, but they heeded +him not. One day, as he mused over the sins of his people, a bright +bird, with a plumage such as he had never seen before, fluttered +round him, warbling, 'Righteous man, get thee hence! righteous man, +get thee hence!' The old man saw the finger of God, and immediately +followed the guiding flight of the bird to a place of safety, while +a great peak from the Harlesanger fell over the too prosperous Joch, +buried its impious inhabitants, and spread desolation all around. There +is now a pilgrimage chapel. + +Another excursion, which must not be omitted, from Jenbach, is that +to Eben, which lies a little off the high road, at some elevation, +but in the midst of a delightful table-land (hence its name) of +most fruitful character. As the burial-place of St. Nothburga, it is +still a spot of great resort. Unhappily, not all those buried here +were so holy as the peasant saint. A tradition is preserved of one +wicked above others, though he seemed all fair to the outward eye, +and the Church consequently admitted him to lie in holy ground. But he +felt the Eye of One above upon him, and he could not rest; and in his +struggles to withdraw himself from that all-searching gaze, he bored +and bored on through the consecrated earth, till he had worked his way +out into the common soil beyond. A horse-shoe, deeply graven in the +'Friedhof' boundary, and which no one has ever been able to wall up, +marks the spot by which he passed; and the people call it the 'Escape +of the Vampire.' [88] + +The unpretending village of Stans, situated in the midst of a very +forest of fruit-trees, at no great distance from Jenbach, is the +birth-place of Joseph Arnold, one of the religious artists, of whom +Tirol has produced so many. Without winning, of some it may be said +without meriting perhaps, much fame for themselves in the world, +without attaining the honour of founding a school, they have laboured +painstakingly and successfully to adorn their village temples, and keep +alive the faith and devotion of their countrymen. Almost where-ever +you go in Tirol you find praiseworthy copies of paintings, whose +titles are connected with the celebrated shrines of Italy, modestly +reproduced by them, or some fervent attempt at an original rendering +of a sacred subject, by men who never aspired that their names should +reach beyond the echoes of their own beloved mountains. The prior of +Viecht, Eberhard Zobel, discovered the merits of Joseph Arnold and drew +him from obscurity, or rather from one degree of obscurity to another +less profound, had him instructed according to the best means within +his attainment, and gave him occupation in the monastery. His homely +aspirations made him content with the sphere to which he was native, +and he never went far from it. The altarpiece in the church of Stans, +representing St. Lawrence and St. Ulric, is his work and his gift. + +From Stans there is a path through the grand scenery of the +Stallenthal, leading to the shrine of St. Georgenberg. For a time +the pretty villages of the Innthal are lost to sight, and you pass +a country known only to the wild game, the hunter, and the pilgrim; +the bare rocky precipices relieved only here and there with woods, +while the Stallen torrents run noisily below. Who could pass through +such a neighbourhood and not think of the crowds of pilgrims who, +through ages past, have approached the sacred spot in a spirit of faith +and submission, bearing their sins and their sorrows, the burden of +their afflictions, moral and physical, and have gone down to their +homes comforted? + +A wonderful shrine it is: a rock which might seem marked out 'from +the beginning' to be a shrine; shut out by Nature from earthly +communication; piercing the very sky. You stand beneath it and long +for an eagle's wings to bear you aloft: there seems no other means +of access. Then a weary winding path is shown you, up which, with +many sloping returns upon your former level, and crossing the roaring +stream at a giddy height, you at last reach an Absatzbrücke--a bridge +or viaduct--over the chasm, uniting the height you have been climbing, +with the cliff of S. George. It is a long bridge, and only made of +wood; and you fancy it trembles beneath your anxious tread, as you +span the seemingly unfathomable abyss. A modest cross, which you cannot +fail to observe at its head, records the marvellous preservation of a +girl of twenty-one, named Monica Ragel, a farm-servant, who one fine +morning in April 1831, in her zeal to gather the fairest flowers for +the wreath she was weaving for the Madonna's altar, attempted to climb +the treacherous steep, and losing her footing slipped down the cliff, +a distance of one hundred and forty feet. The neighbours crowded +to the spot, with all the haste the dangerous footing would admit, +and though they had no hope of finding her alive. She was so far +uninjured, however, that she was able to resume work within the week. + +The buildings found perched at this height cannot fail to convey a +striking impression; and this still more do the earnest penitents, +who may nearly always be found kneeling within. First, you come upon +the little chapel of the 'Schmerzhaften Mutter,' with a little garden +of graves of those who have longed to lie in death as they dwelt in +life--near the shrine; among them is that of the Benedictine Magnus +Dagn, whose knowledge of music is referred to in the following simple +epitaph, 'Magnus nomine, major arte, maximus virtute.' Opposite it is +the principal church, containing in one of its chapels one of those +most strange of relics, which here and there have come down to us with +their legends from 'the ages of faith.' In the year 1310, when Rupert +I. was the fourteenth abbot of St. Georgenberg, a priest of the order +[89] was saying Mass in this very chapel. Just at the moment of the +consecration of the chalice a doubt started in his mind, whether +it were possible that at his unworthy bidding so great a mystery +should be accomplished as the fulfillment of the high announcement, +'This is My Blood.' In this condition of mind he concluded the words +of consecration; and behold, immediately, in place of the white wine +mingled with water in the chalice, he saw it fill with red blood, +overflowing upon the corporal; some portion of this was preserved +in a vial, set into a reliquary on the altar. Round the church are +the remains of the original monastery, in which the monks of Veicht +generally leave some of their number to minister both to the spiritual +and corporal needs of pilgrims. + +It seems difficult to fix a date for the origin of this pilgrimage, +one of the most ancient of Tirol. There is a record that in 992 +a chapel was consecrated here to our Lady of Sorrows, by Albuin, +Bishop of Brizen; but it was long before this [90] that Rathold, a +young nobleman of Aiblingen in Bavaria, 'having learnt the hollowness +of the joys his position promised him, made up his mind to forsake +all, and live in the wilderness to God alone.' He wandered on, +shunning the smooth and verdant plains of his native lands, and the +smiling fruitful amenities of the Innthal, till at last he found +himself surrounded by wild solitudes in the valley of the Stallen; +plunging into its depths, his eye alighted on the almost inaccessible +Lampsenjock. Then choosing for his dwelling a peak, on which a few +limes had found a ledge and sown themselves, he cut a little cave +for his shelter in the rock beneath them, and there he lived and +prayed. But after a time a desire came over him to visit the shrines +of the mightiest saints; so he took up his pilgrim staff once more, +and sped over the mountains and over the plains, till he had knelt at +the limine Apostolorum, and pressed his lips upon the soil, fragrant +with the martyr's blood. Nor was his zeal yet satisfied. There was +another Apostle the fame of whose shrine was great; and 'a year and a +day' brought our pilgrim to S. Iago de Compostella. Then, having thus +graduated in the school of the saints, he came back to his solitude +under the lime-trees on the rock, to practise the lessons of Divine +contemplation he had thus imbibed in the perfume of the holy places. + +He did not come back alone. From the great storehouse of Rome he +had brought a treasure of sacred art--a picture of the Madonna, for +which his own hands wrought a little sanctuary. From far and near +pious people came to venerate the sacred image; and 'Unsere liebe +Frau zur Linde,' was the watch-word, at the sound of which the sick +and the oppressed revived with hope. + +One day, it chanced that a young noble, whom ardent love of the chase +had led into this secluded valley, turned aside from following the wild +chamois, to inquire what strange power fascinated the peasants into +attempting yon steep ascent. Curious himself to see the wonder-working +shrine, he scaled the peak, and found to his astonishment, in the +modest guardian of the picture, the elder brother who long ago had +'chosen the better part.' In token of his joy at the meeting, he made +a vow to build on the spot a chapel, as well as a place of shelter +for the weary pilgrim. His undertaking was no sooner known than all +the people of the neighbouring valleys, nobles and peasants, applied +to have their part in the work. Thus supported, it was begun in right +earnest; but the workmen had no sooner got it fairly in hand than all +the blessing, which for so long had been poured out on the spot, seemed +suddenly to be quenched. Nothing would succeed, and every attempt +was baffled; and one thing, which was more particularly remarked, +was that the men were continually having accidents, and wounding +themselves with their tools. More strange still, every day two white +doves flew down from above, and carefully picking out every chip +and shaving on which blood had fallen, gathered them in their beaks +and flew away. Finding that no progress could be made with the work, +and that this manoeuvre of the doves continued day by day, the pious +Reinhold resolved to follow them; and when he at last succeeded in +finding their hiding-place, there lay before him, neatly fashioned +out of the chips which the doves had carried away, a tiny chapel of +perfectly symmetrical form. [91] The hermit saw in the affair the +guiding hand of God, demanding of him the sacrifice of seven years' +attachment to his cell; and cheerfully yielding obedience to the token, +requested his brother that the chapel should be erected on the spot +thus pointed out. Theobald willingly complied, and dedicated it to +the patron of chivalry, St. George. The fame of Reinhold's piety, and +of his wonderful chapel, was bruited far and near; and now, not all +who came to visit him went back to their homes. Many youths of high +degree, fired by the example of the hermit sprung out of their order, +applied to join him in his life of austerity; and soon a whole colony +had established itself, Camaldolese-fashion, in little huts round +his. There seems to have been no lack of zealous followers to sustain +the odour of sanctity of St. Georgenberg; early in the twelfth century, +the Bishop of Brixen put them under the rule of S. Benedict, to whose +monks Tirol, and especially Unterinnthal, already owed so great a debt +of gratitude, for keeping alive the faith. His followers endowed it +with much of the surrounding land, which the brothers, by hard manual +labour, brought into cultivation. They were overtaken by many heavy +trials in the course of centuries: at one time it was a fire, driven +by the fierce winds, which ravaged their homestead; at another time, +avalanches annihilated the traces of their industry. At last, the +spirit of prudence prevailing on their earlier energetic hardiness, +it was resolved to remove the monastery to Viecht, where the brothers +already had a nucleus in a little hospital for the sick among them, +and where also was the depôt for their cattle-dealing--a Viehzuchthof, +[92] whence by corruption it derived its name. + +The execution of this idea was commenced in 1705. The abbot, Celestin +Böhmen, a native of Vienna, had formerly held a grade of officer in +the Austrian artillery. Nothing could exceed the zeal with which +he took the matter in hand; and plans were laid out for raising +the building on the most extensive and costly scale. So grand an +edifice required large funds; and these were not slow to flow in, +for St. Georgenberg was beloved by all the country round. When he +saw the vast sums in his hand, however, the old spirit of the world, +and its covetousness, crept over him again, and a morning came when, +to the astonishment of the brotherhood, the abbot was nowhere to be +found--nor the gold! The progress of the work was effectually arrested +for the moment; but zeal overcame even the obstacle presented by +this loss, and by 1750 Abbot Lambert had brought to completion the +present edifice, in late Renaissance style, which, though imposing +and substantial, forms but one wing of Celestin Böhmen's plan. + +If the spirit of the world came over Abbot Celestin in the cloister, +the spirit of the cloister came back upon him in the world; and it +was not many years before he came back, full of shame and contrition, +making open confession of his fault, and placing himself entirely in +the hands of his former subjects. Though at this time the monks were +yet in the midst of their anxieties for the means for carrying on the +work, they suffered themselves to be ruled by a spirit of Christian +charity, and refused to give him up to the rigour of the law; and he +ended his days with edifying piety at Anras, in the Pusterthal. + +A great festival was kept at Viecht, in 1845, in memory of the +consecration, which was attended by sixty thousand persons, from +Bavaria as well as Tirol. + +The library contains an interesting collection of MSS. and early +printed books in many languages, and is particularly rich in works +illustrative of Tirolean history. In the church are some of Nissl +the elder's wood-carvings, which are always worth attention. The +confessionals are adorned with figures of celebrated penitents, +by his hand; and other noteworthy works will be found in a series of +nine tableaux, showing forth the Passion; also the crucifix over the +high altar, and four life-sized carvings. In all these he was assisted +by his pupils, Franz Thaler, of Jenbach, who afterwards came to have +the charge of the Vienna cabinet of antiquities, and Antony Hüber, the +most successful of his school. Perhaps the finest specimen of all is a +dead Christ, under the altar, remarkable for the anatomical knowledge +displayed. Like many another mountain sanctuary isolated and exposed +to the wind, this monastery has more than once been ravaged by fire; +in 1868 it was in great part burnt down, and the church-building zeal +of Tirol is still being exercised with great energy and open-handedness +in building it up again. A festival was held there in October 1870, +when five bells from the foundry of Grassmayr of Wilten were set up +to command the echoes of the neighbourhood; great pains are now being +taken to make the building fireproof. + + + +Close opposite Viecht lies Schwatz; [93] a number of straggling houses, +called 'die lange Gasse,' on the Viecht side belong to it also; between +them there is a bridge, which we will not cross now, but continue a +little further along the left bank; this, though less rich in smiling +pastures than the right, has many points of interest. The next village +to Viecht is Vomp, situated at the entrance of the Vomperthal, the +sternest and most barren in scenery or settlements of any valley +of Tirol, and characterized by a hardy pedestrian as 'frightfully +solitary, and difficult of access: even the boldest Jägers,' he adds, +'seldom pursue their game into it.' The village church of Vomp once +possessed a priceless work of Albert Dürer, an 'Ancona,' showing forth +in its various compartments the history of the Passion; but it was +destroyed in 1809, when the French, under Deroi, set fire to the church +in revenge for the havoc the Tirolean sharp-shooters had committed +among their ranks. Joseph Arnold (in 1814) did his best to repair the +loss, by painting another altar-piece, in which we see a less painful +than the usual treatment of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian: the artist +has chosen the moment at which the young warrior is being bound to +the tree where he is to suffer so bravely. Above the village stands +the once splendid castle of Sigmundslust, one of the hunting-seats +of Sigismund the Monied (der Münzreiche), [94] now the villa of a +private family of Innsbruck, Riccabona by name. Vomp is also the +birth-place of Joseph Hell, the wood-carver. + +Crossing the Vomperbach, and the fertile plain it waters, you +reach Terfens, which earned some renown in the wars of 'the year +nine.' Outside the village is a little pilgrimage chapel, called +Maria-Larch, honoured in memory of a mysterious image of the blessed +Virgin, found under a larch fir on the spot, similar to the legend +of that at Waldrast. [95] + +Passing the ruin of Volandseck, the still inhabited castle of Thierberg +(the third of the name we have passed since we entered Tirol) and +the village of S. Michael, you come to S. Martin, the parish church +of which owes its endowment to a hermit of modern times. There was in +the village a convent, deserted, because partly destroyed by fire. In +1638, George Thaler, of Kitzbühel, a man of some means and position, +came to live here a life of sanctity: he devoted six hours a-day to +prayer, six to sleep, and the rest to manual labour. He maintained a +chaplain, and an old servant who waited on him for fifty years. At his +death, he left all he possessed to supply the spiritual needs of the +hamlet. After leaving S. Martin's, the scenery grows more pleasing: +you enter the Gnadenwald, so called, because its first inhabitants +were servants of the earlier princes of Tirol, who pensioned them off +with holdings of the surrounding territory. It occupies the lowland +bordering the river, which here widens a little, and affords in its +recesses a number of the most romantic strolls. Embowered on its +border, near the river, stands the village of Baumkirchen, with its +outlying offshoot of Fritzens now surpassing it in importance, as it +has been chosen for the railway-station. The advance of the iron road +has not stamped out the native love for putting prominently forward the +external symbols of religion. I one day saw a countryman alight here +from the railway, who had been but to Innsbruck to purchase a large +and handsome metal cross, to be set up in some prominent point of the +village and it was considered a sufficiently important occasion for +several neighbours to go out to meet him on his return with it. Again, +on the newer houses, probably called into existence by the increased +traffic, the old custom of adorning the exterior with frescoes of +sacred subjects is well kept up. This is indeed the case on many other +parts of the line; but at Fritzens, I was particularly struck with +one of unusual merit, both in its execution and its adaptation to the +domestic scene it was to sanctify. I would call the attention of any +traveller, who has time to stop at Fritzens to see it: the treatment +suggests that I should give it the title of 'the Holy Family at home,' +so completely has the artist realized the lowly life of the earthly +parents of the Saviour, and may it not be a comfort to the peasant +artizan to see before his eyes the very picture of his daily toil +sanctified in its exercise by the hands of Him he so specially reveres? + +An analogous incident, which I observed on another occasion, comes +back to my memory: it happened, I think, one day at Jenbach. The +train stopped to set down a Sister of Charity, who had come to nurse +some sick person in the village. The ticket-collector, who was also +pointsman, was so much occupied with his deferential bowing to her +as he took her ticket, that he had to rush to his points 'like mad,' +or his reverent feelings might have had serious consequences for the +train! So religious indeed is your whole entourage while in Tirol, +that I have remarked when travelling through just this part in the +winter season, that the very masses of frozen water, arrested by +the frost as they rush down the railway cuttings and embankments, +assumed in the half-light such forms as Doré might give to prostrate +spectres doing penance. The foot-path on to Hall leads through a +continuance of the same diversified and well-wooded scenery we have +been traversing hitherto; but if time presses, it is well to take the +railway for this stage, and make Hall or Innsbruck a starting-point +for visiting the intervening places. + +Hall is the busiest and most business-like place we have come to yet, +and the first whose smoky atmosphere reminds us of home. There is not +much to choose between its two inns the 'Schwarzer Bär' and the +'Schwarzer Adler.' The industry and the smoke of Hall arises from the +salt-works, from which Weber also derives its name (from halos, salt; +though why it should have been derived from the Greek he does not +explain). The first effect which strikes you on arriving, after the +smokiness, is the sky-line of its bizarrely-picturesque steeples, +among the most bizarre of which is the Münzthurm (the mint-tower), +first raised to turn into money the over-flowing silver stores of +Sigismund the Monied; and last used to coin the Sandwirthszwänziger, +the pieces of honest old Hofer's brief but triumphant dictatorship. The +town has in course of time suffered severely from various calamities: +fire, war, pestilence, inundation, and, on one occasion, in 1670, +even from earthquake; the church tower was so severely shaken, that the +watchman on its parapet was thrown to the ground; the people fled from +their houses into the fields, where the Jesuit fathers stood addressing +them, in preparation for their last end, which seemed imminent. Loss +of life was, however, small; nevertheless, the Offices of the Church +were for a long time held in the open air. Notwithstanding all these +reverses, the trade in salt, and the advantageous municipal rights +granted them in earlier times, have always enabled the people to +recover and maintain their prosperity. In the various wars, they have +borne their part with signal honour. One of their greatest feats, +perhaps, occurred on May 29, 1809. Speckbacher had led his men to a +gallant attack on the Bavarians at Volders, blowing up the bridge +behind him, and then marched to the relief of Hall; the Bavarians +were in possession of the town and bridge, and as they had several +pieces of artillery, it was not easy for the patriots to carry it; +nevertheless, as their ammunition was failing, and Speckbacher having +refused to agree to a truce, because he saw the advantage accruing to +him through this deficiency, they destroyed the Hall bridge, as they +thought, and retreated homewards under cover of the night. Speckbacher +discovered their flight early in the morning, and lost no time in +addressing his men on the importance of at once taking possession of +their native town: the men were as usual at one with him, and not +one shrank from the perilous enterprise of regaining the left bank +by such means as the tottering remains of the bridge afforded! + +Joseph Speckbacher, who shares with Andreas Hofer the glories of +'the year nine,' was a native of Rinn, a village on the opposite +bank; but he is honoured with a grave in the Pfarrkirche, at Hall, +bearing the following inscription, with the date of his death, 1820: + + + Im Kampfe wild, doch menschlich; + In Frieden still und den Gesetzen treu; + War er als Krieger, Unterthan und Mensch, + Der Ehre wie der Liebe werth. [96] + + +Another object of interest, in the same churchyard, is a wooden +crucifix, carved by Joseph Stocker in 1691; as well as the monuments of +the Fiegers, and other high families of the middle ages. In the church +itself is a 'Salvator Mundi' of Albert Dürer, on panel; the altarpiece +of the high altar is by Erasmus Quillinus, a pupil of Rubens. One of +the chapels, the Waldaufische Kapelle, was built in 1493-5, by one +Florian von Waldauf, to whom an eventful history attaches. He was a +peasant boy, whom his father's severity drove away from home: for a +long time he maintained himself by tending herds; after that he went +for a soldier in the Imperial army, where his talents brought him under +the special notice of the Emperor Frederick, and his son Maximilian I., +who took him into their councils and companionship. Maximilian made +him knight of Waldenstein, and gifted him with lands and revenues. His +love of adventure took him into many countries. On one journey, being +in a storm at sea, the memory of his early wilfulness overcame him, +and he vowed that if he came safe to land, he would build a chapel in +his Tirolean home. He subsequently fixed on the Pfarrkirche of Hall, +as that in which to fulfil his vow, being the parish church of the +castle of Rettenberg which Maximilian had bestowed on him, and enriched +it with a wondrous store of relics, which he had collected in his +journeyings. Above 40,000 pilgrims flocked from every part of Tirol, +to assist at the consecration; and a goodly sight it must have been, +when singing and bearing the relics aloft, they streamed down the +mountain side and across the river, the last of the procession not +having yet left the gates of Castle Rettenberg, while the foremost +had already reached the chapel. + +There are other churches in Hall; where that of S. Saviour now stands +was once a group of crazy cottages; but one day, in the year 1406, +in one of them a poor man lay dying, and the priest bore him the +holy Viaticum, which knows no distinction between the palace and the +hovel: the furniture was as rickety as the tenements themselves; the +only table, on which the priest had deposited the sacred vessels, +propped against the wall for support, gave way by some accident, +and the Santissimo was thrown upon the floor. Johann von Kripp, a +wealthy burgher, hearing of what had befallen, bought the cottages, +and in reparation for the desecration, built a church on the spot, +with the dedication, zum Erlöser. + +The town is well provided with educational and charitable institutions; +the latter comprising a mad-house worth seeing, under Professor +Kaplan, and a deaf and dumb school. The Franciscan monastery is, +I think, the only unsuppressed religious house. In the Rathhaus is +preserved a quaint old picture, representing the Emperor Sigismund, +in hunting costume, coming to ask the assistance of the men of Hall +against a conspiracy he had discovered in Innsbruck, assistance which +loyal Hall was not slow to supply. Its situation made it a place of +some importance to the defences of the country; and the regulations +for calling the inhabitants under arms were very complete, so that +this service was promptly rendered. + +An amusing story is told in evidence of the ready gallantry of the men +of Hall. There was a time when Hall was at feud with the neighbouring +village of Taur: the watchman, stationed on the tower by night-time, +rang the alarm, and announced that the enemy was advancing with +lanterns in their hands; at the call to arms, every man jumped from +his bed, and seized his weapon, eager to display his prowess against +the foe. Prudent Salzmair [97] Zott, anxious to spare the shedding +of neighbours' blood, hastily donned a shirt of mail over his more +penetrable night-gear, and proposed to ride out alone with a flag +of truce, to know what meant the unseasonable attack. The warlike +burghers with difficulty yielded to his representations, and not +having the consolations of the fragrant weed wherewith to wile away +their time, set to sharpening their swords and axes, and outvieing +each other with many a fierce boast during his absence. + +Meantime, Salzmair Zott proceeded on his way without meeting the ghost +of a foe, or one ray from their lanterns, till he came to Taur itself, +where everything lay buried in peaceful silence. Only as he came back +he discovered what had given rise to the alarm: it was midsummer-tide, +and a swarm of little worms of St. John [98] was soaring and fluttering +over the fields like a troop provided with lanterns. So with a hearty +laugh he despatched the townsmen, ready for the fight, back to their +beds. And even now this humorous imitation of the Bauernkrieg [99] +is a by-word for Quixotic enterprises. + +Of all the numerous excursions round Hall, the strangest and +most interesting is that to Salzberg, the source of the salt, the +crystallizing of which and despatching it all over Tirol, to Engadein +and to Austria, forms the staple industry of Hall. It is a journey +of about three hours, though not much over eight miles, but rugged +and steep, and in some parts rather frightful, particularly in the +returning descent, for the Salzberg lies 6,300 feet above the sea: +but there is a road for an einspanner all the way; entrance is readily +obtained, and the gratuities for guide, lighting up, and boat over +the subterranean salt lake, exceedingly moderate. There are records +extant which shew that there were salt-works in operation in the +neighbourhood of Hall early in the eighth century, but these would +appear to have been fed by a salt spring which flowed at the foot +of the mountain. In the year 1275, however, Niklas von Rohrbach, +who seems to be always styled der fromme Ritter (the pious knight), +frequently when on his hunting expeditions in the Hallthal, observed +how the cattle and wild game loved to lick certain cliffs of the +valley; this led him to test the flavour, and finding it rich in salt, +he followed up the track till he came to the Salzberg itself, where he +prudently conjectured there was an endless supply to be obtained. [100] +Ever since this time the salt has been worked pretty much in the same +way, namely, by hewing, later by blasting, vast chambers in the rock, +which are then filled with water and closed up: at the end of some +ten or twelve months, when the water is supposed to be thoroughly +impregnated, it is run off through a series of conduits to Hall, +where it is evaporated, a hundred pounds of brine yielding about a +third the weight of salt. A considerable number of these chambers, +an acre or two in extent, have been excavated in the course of time, +and you are told that it would take more than a week to walk through +all the passages connecting them. 'Cars filled with rubbish pass you as +you thread them,' says an observant writer, 'with frightful rapidity; +you step aside into a niche, and the young miners seated in the front +look like gnomes directing infernal chariots. The crystallizations +in some of these chambers lighted up by the torches of a party of +visitors have a magical effect, and recall the gilded fret-work of +some Moorish palaces. There is a tradition that Hofer and Speckbacher, +who never, before their illustrious campaigns, had wandered so far as +these few miles from their respective homes, took advantage of the lull +succeeding their first triumph at Berg Isel, to come over and visit the +strange labyrinths of the Salzberg. It is hardly possible to exaggerate +the effect which such a scene might produce on minds so imaginative, +and at the same time so unsophisticated. It is not difficult to believe +that they regarded such a journey like a visit to the abode of the +departed great, or that in presence of the oppressive grandeurs of +nature they should have matured their spirit for the defence of their +country which was to confound the strategy of practised generals. + +Returning through the dark forests of pine and the steep cliffs of +the Hallthal, otherwise called the Salzthal, you are arrested by the +hamlet of Absam, which in your hurry to push forward you overlooked +in the morning. Before reaching it you observe to the east, on an +eminence rising out of the plain, Schloss Melans, now serving as a +villa to a family of Innsbruck. The peasants have a curious story +to account for the rudely sculptured dragons which adorn some of the +eave-boards of their houses, though no singular mode of ornamentation, +and by others accounted for differently. [101] They say that in olden +time there was a wonderful old hen which laid her first egg when seven +years old, and when the egg was hatched a dragon crept out of it, +[102] which made itself a home in the neighbouring moor, and the +people in memory of the prodigy carved its likeness on their houses. + +In Absam itself once lived a noble family of the name of Spaur, +which had a toad for a bearing on their shield, accounted for in +the following way:--'A certain Count Spaur had committed a crime +by which he had incurred the penalty of death; his kinsmen having +put every means in motion to get the sentence remitted, his pardon +was at last accorded them on the condition that he should ride to +Babylon the Accursed, and bring home with him a monstrous toad which +infested the tower. So the knight rode forth to Babylon the Accursed, +and when he drew near the tower the monstrous toad came out and seized +the bridle of the knight's horse; the knight, nothing daunted at the +horrid apparition, lifted his good sword and hewed the monster to +the ground, bringing the corpse back with him as a trophy.' + +What audacious tales! Could anyone out of a dream put such ideas +together? No writer of fiction, none but one who believed them possible +of accomplishment! 'Who can tell what gives to these simple old stories +their irresistible witchery?' says Max Müller. 'There is no plot to +excite our curiosity, no gorgeous description to dazzle our eyes, +no anatomy of human passion to rivet our attention. They are short +and quaint, full of downright absurdities and sorry jokes. We know +from the beginning how they will end. And yet we sit and read and +almost cry, and we certainly chuckle, and are very sorry when + + + Snip, snip, snout, + This tale's told out. + + +Do they remind us of a distant home--of a happy childhood? Do they +recall fantastic dreams long vanished from our horizon, hopes that +have set never to rise again?... Nor is it dreamland altogether. There +is a kind of real life in these tales--life such as a child believes +in--a life where good is always rewarded; wrong always punished; where +everyone, not excepting the devil, gets his due; where all is possible +that we truly want, and nothing seems so wonderful that it might +not happen to-morrow. We may smile at those dreams of inexhaustible +possibility, but in one sense the child's world is a real world too.' + + + +A singular event, or curious popular fancy, obtained for Absam +the honour of becoming a place of pilgrimage at the end of the last +century. It was on January 17, 1797; a peasant's daughter was looking +idly out of window along the way her father would come home from +the field; suddenly, in the firelight playing on one of the panes, +she discerned a well-defined image of the Blessed Virgin, 'as plain +as ever she had seen a painting.' Of course the neighbours flocked +in to see the sight, and from them the news of the wonderful image +spread through all the country round; at last it made so much noise, +that the Dean of Innsbruck resolved to investigate the matter. A +commission was appointed for this object, among their number being +two professors of chemistry, and the painter, Joseph Schöpf. Their +verdict was that the image had originally been painted on the glass; +that the colours, faded by time, had been restored to the extent then +apparent by the action of the particular atmosphere to which they had +been exposed. The people could not appreciate their arguments, nor +realize that any natural means could have produced so extraordinary +a result. For them, it was a miraculous image still, and accordingly +they put their faith in it as such; nor was their faith without +its fruit. It was a season of terrible trouble, a pestilence was +raging both among men and beasts; General Joubert had penetrated as +far into the interior as Sterzing; everyone felt the impotence of +'the arm of flesh' in presence of such dire calamities. The image +on the peasant's humble window-pane seemed to have come as a token +of heavenly favour; nothing would satisfy them but that it should be +placed on one of the altars of the church, and the 'Gnadenmutter [103] +von Absam' drew all the fearful and sorrowing to put their trust in +Heaven alone. Suddenly after this the enemy withdrew his troops, the +pestilence ceased its havoc, and more firmly than ever the villagers +believed in the supernatural nature of the image on the window-pane. + +Absam has another claim to eminence in its famous violin-maker, Jacob +Stainer, born in 1649. He learnt his art in Venice and Cremona, and +carried it to such perfection, that his instruments fetched as high +prices as those made in Cremona itself. Archduke Ferdinand Karl, +Landesfürst of Tirol, attached him to his court. Stainer was so +particular about the wood he used, that he always went over to the +Gletscher forest clearings to select it, being guided in the choice by +the sound it returned when he struck it with a hammer. Towards the end +of his life the excitement of the love of his calling overpowered his +strength of mind, and the treatment of insanity not being then brought +to perfection at Absam, one has yet to go through the melancholy +exhibition of the stout oaken bench to which he had to be strapped +or chained when violent. [104] + +Mils affords the object of another pleasant excursion from Hall, +reached through the North, or so called Mils, gate, in an easy +half-hour; around it are the old castles of Grünegg and Schneeburg, +the former a hunting-seat of Ferdinand II., now in ruins; the latter +well-preserved by the present noble family of the name. Those who have +a mind to enjoy a longer walk, may hence also find a way into the +peaceful shady haunts of the Gnadenwald. Some two hundred years ago +there lived about half way between Hall and Mils a bell-founder, who +enjoyed the reputation of being a very worthy upright man, as well as +one given to unfeigned hospitality; so that not only the weather-bound +traveller, but every wayfarer who loved an hour's pleasant chat, +knocked, as he passed by, at the door of the Glockenhof. Among all the +visitors who thus sat at his board, none were so jovial as a party of +wild fellows, whose business he was never well able to make out. They +always brought their own meat and drink with them, and it was always of +the best; and money seemed to them a matter of no account, so abundant +was it. At last he ventured one day to inquire whence they acquired +their seemingly boundless wealth. 'Nothing easier, and you may be as +rich as we, if you will!' was the answer; and then they detailed their +exploits, which proved them knights of the road. Opportunity makes the +thief. The proverb was realized to the letter; the Glockengiesser had +been honest hitherto, because he had never been tempted before; now +the glittering prize was exposed to him, he knew not how to resist. His +character for hospitality made the Glockenhof serve as a very trap. The +facility increased his greed, and his cellars were filled with spoil +and with the skeletons of the spoiled. Travellers thus disappeared +so frequently that consternation was raised again and again, but +who could ever suspect the worthy hearty Glockengiesser! Though +the new trade throve so well, there was one quality necessary to +its success in which the Glockengiesser was wanting, and that was +caution. Just as if there had been nothing to hide, he let a party +of sewing-women come one day from the village to set his household +goods in order; and when they retired to rest at night, one of them, +who could not sleep in a strange house, heard the master and his gang +counting their money in the cellar. Astonished, she crept nearer, +and over-heard their talk. 'We should not have killed that fellow,' +said one; 'he wasn't worth powder and shot.' 'Pooh!' replied another, +'you can't expect to have good luck out of every murder. Why, how often +a cattle-dealer kills a beast and doesn't turn a penny out of it.' The +seamstress did not want to hear any more; she laid her charge at the +town-hall of Hall next morning; the officers of justice arrested the +bell-founder and his associates, and ample proofs of their guilt were +found on the premises. Sentenced to death, in the solitude of his cell, +he yielded to the full force of the reproaches of his conscience; +he made no defence, but hailed his execution as a satisfaction of +which his penitent soul acknowledged the justice. However, he craved +two favours before his end; the one, to be allowed to go home and +found a bell for the lieb' Frau Kirche in Mils; the second, that this +bell might be sounded for the first time at his execution, which by +local custom must be on a Friday evening at nine o'clock. [105] Both +requests were granted, and his bell continued to serve the church of +Mils till the fire of August 1791. + +Another walk from Hall is the Loreto-Kirche, intended as an exact +copy of 'the Holy House,' by Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the +pious Anna Katharina of Gonzaga, who endowed it with a foundation +for perpetual Masses for the repose of the souls of the reigning +House of Austria; it was at one time a much visited pilgrimage, so +that though it had three chaplains attached to it, monks from Hall +had often to be sent for to supplement their ministrations. Ferdinand +and Anna often made the pilgrimage on foot from Innsbruck, saying the +'stations' as they went, at certain little chapels which marked them +by the way, and of which remains are still standing. It would be an +interesting spot to trace out: I regret that we neglected to do so, +and I do not know whether it is now well kept up. + +Starting again by the North gate of Hall, and taking the way which +runs in the opposite direction from that leading to Mils, you come, +after half an hour's walk through the pleasant meadows, to Heiligen +Kreuz; its name was originally Gumpass, but it had its present name +from the circumstance of a cross having been carried down stream by the +Inn, and recovered from its waters by some peasants from this place, +by whom it was set up here. So great is the popular veneration for +any even apparent act of homage of Nature to 'Nature's God,' that +great crowds congregated to see the cross which had been brought +to them by the river; and it was found necessary in the seventeenth +century to erect the spot into a distinct parish. Heiligen Kreuz is +much resorted to for its sulphur baths, also by people from Hall as +a pleasing change from their smoky town, on holidays. + +Striking out towards the mountains, another half-hour brings you +to Taur, a charming little village, standing in the shelter of the +Taureralpe. Almost close above it is the Thürl, a peak covered to +a considerable height with rich pasture; at its summit, a height of +6,546 ft., is a wooden pyramid recording that it was climbed by the +Emperor Francis I., and called the Kaisersäule. There are many legends +of S. Romedius connected with Taur, one of which is worth citing, in +illustration of the confidence of the age which conceived or adapted +it, in the efficacy of faith and obedience. S. Romedius was a rich +Bavarian, who in the fourth century owned considerable property in +the Innthal, including Taur. On his return from a pilgrimage to Rome, +he put himself at the disposal of S. Vigilius, the apostle of South +Tirol, who despatched him to the conversion of the Nonsthal, where +he lived and died in the odour of sanctity. He was not unmindful of +his own Taur, but frequently visited it to pour out his spiritual +benedictions. He was once there on such a visit, when he received +a call from S. Vigilius. Regardless of his age and infirmities, +he immediately prepared for the journey over the mountains to +Trent. His nag, old and worn out like his master, he had left to +graze on the pastures at the foot of the Taureralpe, so he called +his disciple David, and bid him bring him in and saddle him. Great +was the consternation of the disciple on making the discovery that +the horse had been devoured by a bear. Saddened and cast down, he +came to his master with the news. Nothing daunted, S. Romedius bid +him go back and saddle the bear in its stead. The neophyte durst not +gainsay his master, but went out trusting in his word; the bear meekly +submitted to the bidding of the holy man, who bestrode him, and rode +on this singular mount into Trent. It is only a fitting sequel that +the legend adds, that at his approach all the bells of Trent rang +out a gladsome peal of welcome, without being moved by human hands. + +The lords of Taur gave the name to the place by setting up their +castle on the ruins of an old Roman tower (turris; altromanisch, +tour). S. Romedius is not the only hero from among them; the chronicles +of their race are full of the most romantic achievements; perhaps not +the least of these was the construction of the fortress, the rambling +ruins of which still attest its former greatness. Overhanging the bank +of the Wildbach is the chapel of S. Romedius, inhabited by a hermit +as lately as the seventeenth century, though the country-people are +apt to confuse him with S. Romedius himself! [106] One dark night, +as he was watching in prayer, he heard the sound of tapping against +his cell window. Used to the exercise of hospitality, he immediately +opened to the presumed wayfarer: great was his astonishment to see +standing before him the spirit of the lately deceased parish priest, +who had been his very good friend. 'Have compassion on me, Frater +Joshue!' he exclaimed; 'for when in the flesh I forgot to say three +Masses, for which the stipend had been duly provided and received by +me, and now my penance is fearful;' as he spoke he laid his hand upon +a wooden tile of the hermit's lowly porch, who afterwards found that +the impression of his burning hand was branded into the wood. 'Now do +you, my friend, say these Masses in my stead; pray and fast for me, +and help me through this dreadful pain.' The hermit promised all he +wished, and kept his promise; and when a year and a day had passed, +the spirit tapped again at the window, and told him he had gained his +release. The tile, with the brand-mark on it, may be seen hanging in +the chapel, with an inscription under it attesting the above facts, +and bearing date 7th February, 1660. [107] + +At a very short distance further is another interesting little +village, Rum by name. It is situated close under the mountains, the +soil of which is very friable. A terrible landslip occurred in 1770; +the noise was heard as far as Innsbruck, where it was attributed to +an earthquake. Whole fields were covered with the débris, some of +which were said to be carried to a distance of a mile and a half; +the village just escaped destruction, only an outlying smithy, which +was buried, showed how near the danger had come. If time presses, +this excursion may be combined with the last, and the Loreto-Kirche +taken on the way back to Hall. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL (RIGHT INN-BANK). + +SCHWATZ. + + + The world is full of poetry unwrit; + Dew-woven nets that virgin hearts enthrall, + Darts of glad thought through infant brains that flit, + Hope and pursuit, loved bounds and fancies free-- + Poor were our earth of these bereft.... + + Aubrey de Vere. + + +It is time now to return to speak of Schwatz, of which we caught a +glimpse across the river as we left Viecht; [108] and it is one of +the most interesting towns, and centres of excursions, in Tirol. It +was a morning of bright promise which first brought us there by the +early hour of 8.15. To achieve this we had had to rise betimes; it +was near the end of August, when the mid-day sun is overpowering; +yet the early mornings were very cool, and the brisk breezes came +charged with a memory of snow from the beautiful chains of mountains +whose base we were hugging. The railway station, as if it dared not +with its modern innovation invade the rural retreat of primitive +institutions, was at a considerable distance from the village, and +we had a walk of some fifteen or twenty minutes before we came within +reach of even a chance of breakfast. + +My own strong desire to be brought quite within the influence of +Tirolean traditions perhaps deadened my sensations of hunger and +weariness, but it was not so with all of our party; and it was with +some dismay we began to apprehend that the research of the primitive +is not to be made without some serious sacrifice of 'le comfortable.' + +Our walk across the fields at last brought us to the rapid smiling +river; and crowning the bridge, stood as usual S. John Nepomuk, his +patient martyr's face gazing on the effigy of the crucified Saviour +he is always portrayed as bearing so lovingly, seeming so sweetly +all-enduring, that no light feeling of discontent could pass him +unrestrained. Still the call for breakfast is an urgent one with +the early traveller, and there seemed small chance of appeasing +it. Near the station indeed had stood a deserted building, with +the word 'Restauration' just traceable on its mouldy walls, but we +had felt no inclination to try our luck within them; and though we +had now reached the village, we seemed no nearer a more appetising +supply. No one had got out of the train besides ourselves; not a soul +appeared by the way. A large house stood prominently on our right, +which for a moment raised our hopes, but its too close proximity +to a little church forbad us to expect it to be a hostelry, and a +scout of our party brought the intelligence that it was a hospital; +another building further on, on the left, gave promise again, because +painted all over with frescoes, which might be the mode in Schwatz +of displaying a hotel-sign; but no, it proved to be a forge, and like +the lintels marked by Morgiana's chalk, all the houses of Schwatz--as +indeed most of the houses of Tirol--were found to be covered with +sacred frescoes. At last a veritable inn appeared, and right glad +we were to enter its lowly portal and find rest, even though the air +was scented by the mouldering furniture and neighbouring cattle-shed; +though the stiff upright worm-eaten chairs made a discordant grating +on the tiled floor, and a mildewed canvas, intended to keep out flies, +completed the gloom which the smallness of the single window began. + +A repeated knocking at last brought a buxom maid out of the +cow-shed, who seemed not a little amazed at our apparition. 'Had +she any coffee! coffee, at that time of day--of course not!' True, +the unpunctuality of the train, the delivery of superfluous luggage +to the care of the station-master, and our lingering by the way, had +brought us to past nine o'clock--an unprecedented hour for breakfast +in Schwatz. 'Couldn't we be content with wine? in a couple of hours +meat would be ready, as the carters came in to dine then.' Meat +and coffee at the same repast, and either at that hour, were ideas +she could not at first take in. Nevertheless, when we detailed our +needs, astonishment gave way to compassion, and she consented to +drop her incongruous propositions, and to make us happy in our own +way. Accordingly, she was soon busied in lighting a fire, running +to fetch coffee and rolls--though she did not, as happened to me in +Spain, ask us to advance the money for the commission--and very soon +appeared with a tray full of tumblers and queer old crockery. The +black beverage she at last provided consisted of a decoction of +nothing nearer coffee than roasted corn, figs, [109] or acorns; and +the rolls had the strangest resemblance to leather; but the milk and +eggs were fine samples of dairy produce, for which Schwatz is famous, +and these and the luscious fruit made up for the rest. + +I remember that the poet-author of one of the most charming books +of travel, in one of the most charming countries of Europe, [110] +deprecates the habit travel-writers have of speaking too much about +their fare; and in one sense his remarks are very just. Where this +is done without purpose or art, it becomes a bore; but 'love itself +can't live on flowers;' and as, however humiliating the fact, it +is decreed that the only absolutely necessary business of man's +life is the catering for his daily bread, it becomes interesting +to the observant to study the various means by which this decree +is complied with by different races, in different localities. It is +especially noteworthy that it is just in countries made supercilious +by their culture that these matters of a lower order engross the most +attention, and just those who consider themselves the most civilized +who are the most dependent on what have been termed mere 'creature +comforts.' These poor country folks, whom the educated traveller +often passes by as unworthy of notice in their benighted ignorance +and superstition--while they would not forego their salutation of the +sacred symbol by the way-side, which marks their intimate appreciation +of truths of the highest order--put us to shame, by their indifference +to sublunary indulgences. We had come to Tirol to study their ways, +and I hope we took our lesson on this occasion, well. We were not +feasted with a sumptuous repast, such as might be found in any of the +monster hotels, now so contrived, that you may pass through all the +larger towns of Europe with such similarity to home-life everywhere, +that you might as well never have left your fireside; but we were +presented with an experience of the struggle with want; of that +hardy face-to-face meeting with the great original law of labour, +which our modern artificial life puts so completely out of sight, +that it grows to regard it as an antiquated fable, and which can only +be met amid such scenes. + +The matutinal peasants were packing up their wares--which when spread +out had made a picturesque market of the main street--by the time we +again sallied forth, and we were nearly losing what is always one of +the prettiest sights in a foreign town. At the end rose the parish +church, with a stateliness for which the smallness of the village +had not prepared us; but Schwatz has a sad and eventful history to +account for the disparity. + +Schwatz was once a flourishing Roman station, and even now remains are +dug out which attest its ancient prosperity; but it had fallen away to +the condition of a neglected Häusergruppe by the fourteenth century, +when suddenly came the discovery of silver veins in the surrounding +heights. A lively bull, [111] one day tearing up the soil with his +horns in a frolic, laid bare a shining vein of ore. The name of +Gertraud Kandlerin, the farm-servant who had charge of the herd to +which he belonged, and brought the joyful tidings home to Schwatz, +has been jealously preserved. From that moment Schwatz grew in +importance and prosperity; and at one time there was a population of +thirty thousand miners employed in the immediate neighbourhood. The +Fuggers and Hochstetters of Augsburg were induced to come and employ +their vast resources in working the riches of the mountains; and +native families of note, laying aside the pursuit of arms, joined in +the productive industry. Among these were the Fiegers, one of whom +was the counsellor and intimate friend of the Emperor Maximilian, +who followed his remains to their last resting-place, at Schwatz, +when he died in ripe old age, leaving fifty-seven children and +grandchildren, and money enough to enrich them all. His son Hanns +married a daughter of the Bavarian house of Pienzenau; and when he +brought her home, tradition says it was in a carriage drawn by four +thousand horses. Many names, famous in the subsequent history of the +country, such as the Tänzls, Jöchls, Tannenbergs, and Sternbachs, were +thus first raised to importance. This outpouring of riches stimulated +the people throughout the country to search for mineral treasures, and +everywhere the miners of Schwatz were in request as the most expert, +both at excavating and engineering. Nor this only within the limits +of Tirol; they had acquired such a reputation by the middle of the +sixteenth century, that many distant undertakings were committed to +them too. They were continually applied to, to direct mining operations +in the wars against the Turks in Hungary. Their countermines performed +an effective part in driving them from before Vienna in 1529; and +again, in 1739, they assisted in destroying the fortifications of +Belgrade. Clement VII. called them to search the mountains of the +Papal State in 1542; and the Dukes of Florence and Piedmont also had +recourse to their assistance about the same time. In the same way, +many knotty disputes about mining rights were sent from all parts to +be decided by the experience of Schwatz; and its abundance attracted +to it every kind of merchandise, and every new invention. One of the +earliest printing-presses was in this way set up here. + +But a similarity of pursuit had established a community of interest +between the miners of Schwatz and their brethren of Saxony; and when +the Reformation broke out, its doctrines spread by this means among the +miners of Schwatz, and led at one time to a complete revolution among +them. Twice they banded together, and marched to attack the capital, +with somewhat communistic demands. Ferdinand I., and Sebastian, +Bishop of Brixen, went out to meet them on each occasion at Hall, and +on each occasion succeeded in allaying the strife by their moderate +discourse. Within the town of Schwatz, however, the innovators carried +matters with a high hand, and at one time obtained possession of half +the parish church, where they set up a Lutheran pulpit. Driven out of +this by the rest of the population, they met in a neighbouring wood, +where Joham Strauss and Christof Söll, both unfrocked monks, used to +hold forth to them. + +A Franciscan, Christof von München, now came to Schwatz, to strengthen +the faith of the Catholics, and the controversy waged high between the +partisans of both sides; so high, that one day two excited disputants +carried their quarrels so far before a crowd of admiring supporters, +that at last the Lutheran exclaimed, 'If Preacher Söll does not +teach the true doctrine, may Satan take me up into the Steinjoch at +Stans!' and as he spoke, so, says the story, it befell: the astonished +people saw him carried through the air and disappear from sight! The +credit of the Lutherans fell very sensibly on the instant, and still +more some days after, when the adventurous victim came back lame and +bruised, and himself but too well convinced of his error. + +Nevertheless the strife was not cured. Somewhat later, there was +an inroad of Anabaptists, under whose auspices another insurrection +arose, and for the time the flourishing mining works were brought to +a stand-still. At last the Government was obliged to interfere. The +most noisy and perverse were made to leave the country, and the +Jesuits from Hall were sent over to hold a mission, and rekindle +the Catholic teaching. Peace and order were restored: four thousand +persons were brought back to the frequentation of the sacraments; but +the Bergsegen, [112] add the traditions, which had been the occasion +of so much disunion, was never recovered. From that time forth +the mining treasures of Schwatz began to fail; and after a long and +steadily continued diminution of produce, silver ceased altogether to +be found. Copper, and the best iron of Tirol, are still got out, and +their working constitutes one of the chief industries of the place; +the copper produced is particularly fit for wire-drawing, for which +there is an establishment here. Another industry of Schwatz is a +government cigar manufactory, [113] which employs between four and +five hundred hands, chiefly women and children, who get very poorly +paid--ten or twelve francs a-week, working from five in the morning +till six in the evening, with two hours' interval in the middle of +the day. There are pottery works, which also employ many hands; and +many of the women occupy themselves in knitting woollen clothing for +the miners. The pastures of the neighbourhood are likewise a source of +rich in-comings to the town; but with all these industries together, +Schwatz is far below the level of its early prosperity. Instead of +its former crowded buildings, it now consists almost entirely of one +street; and instead of being the cynosure of foreigners from all parts, +is so little visited, that the people came to the windows to look at +the unusual sight of a party of strangers as we passed by. In place +of its early printing-press, its literary requirements are supplied by +one little humble shop, where twine, toys, and traps, form the staple, +and stationery and a small number of books are sold over and above; +and where, because we spent a couple of francs, the master thereof +seemed to think he had driven for that one day a roaring trade. + +Other misfortunes, besides the declension of its 'Bergsegen,' have +broken over Schwatz. In 1611 it was visited by the plague, in 1670 by +an earthquake; but its worst disaster was in the campaign of 1809, when +the Bavarians, under the Duke of Dantzic, and the French, under Deroi, +determined to strike terror into the hearts of the country-people by +burning down the town. The most incredible cruelties are reported to +have been perpetrated on this occasion, many being such as one cannot +bear to repeat; so determined was their fury, that when the still +air refused to fan the flames, they again and again set fire to the +place at different points; and the people were shot down when they +attempted to put out the conflagration. General Wiede was quartered +in the palace of Count Tannenberg, a blind old man, with four blind +children; his misfortunes, and the laws of hospitality, might have +protected him at least from participation in the general calamity; +but no, not even the hall where the hospitable board was spread in +confidence for the unscrupulous guest, was spared. Once and again, +as the inimical hordes poured into, or were driven out of, Tirol, +Schwatz had to bear the brunt of their devastations, so that there +is little left to show what Schwatz was. The stately parish church, +however, suffered less than might have been expected: in the height of +the conflagration, when all was noise and excitement, a young Bavarian +officer, over whom sweet home lessons of piety exercised a stronger +charm than the wild instincts of the military career which were +effecting such havoc around, collected a handful of trusty followers, +and, unobserved by the general herd, succeeded in rescuing it before +great damage had been done. + +The building was commenced about 1470, [114] and consecrated in +1502. What remains of the original work is in the best style of +the period; the west front is particularly noteworthy. The plan of +the building is very remarkable, consisting of a double nave, each +having its aisles, choir, and high-altar; this peculiar construction +originated in the importance of the Knappen, or miners, at the time it +was designed, and their contribution to the building fund entitling +them to this distinct division of the church between them and the +towns-people; one of the high-altars still goes by the name of the +Knappenhochaltar. The roof, like those of most churches of Tirol and +Bavaria, is of copper, and is said to consist of fifteen thousand tiles +of that metal--an offering from the neighbouring mines. The emblem +of two crossed pick-axes frequently introduced, further denotes the +connexion of the mining trade with the building. Whitewash and stucco +have done a good deal to hide its original beauties, but some fine +monuments remain. One in brass, to Hanns Dreyling the metal-founder, +date 1578, near the side ('south') door, should not be overlooked: +the design embodies a Renaissance use of Ionic columns and entablature +in connexion with mediæval symbols. Below, are seen Hanns Dreyling +himself in the dress of his craft, his three wives, and his three sons +habited as knights (showing the rise of his fortunes), all under the +protection of S. John the Baptist. Above, is portrayed the vision of +the Apocalypse, God the Father seated on His Throne, surrounded by +a rainbow, with the Book of Seven Seals, and the Lamb; at His Feet +the four Evangelists; around, the four-and-twenty elders, with their +harps, some wearing their crowns, and some stretching them out as +a humble offering before the Throne; in front kneels the Apostolic +Seer himself, gazing, and with his right hand pointing, upwards, +yet smiting his breast with the left hand, and weeping that no one +was found worthy to open the seals of the book. Below the epitaph, +the monument bears the following lines: + + + Mir gab Alexander Colin den Possen + Hanns Löffler hat mich gegossen. + + +Alexander Colin, of Malines, and Hans Löffler, were, like Hans +Dreyling, Schmelzherrn of eminence, and connected with him by marriage, +thus they naturally devoted their best talent to honour their friend +and master. We learnt to appreciate it better when we came to see +their works at Innsbruck. The nine altar-pieces are mostly by Tirolean +painters. The Assumption, on one high-altar, is by Schöpf; the Last +Supper on the other--the Knappenhochaltar--by Bauer of Augsburg. + +The 'north' side door opens on to a narrow strip of grass, across +which is a Michaels-kapelle, as the chapel we so often find in +German churchyards--and where the people love to gather, and pray for +their loved and lost--is here called. It is a most beautiful little +specimen of middle-pointed, with high-pitched roof and traceried +window. A picturesque stone-arched covered exterior staircase, the +banister cornice of which represents a narrow water-trough, with +efts chasing each other in and out of it, leads to the upper chapel, +which was in some little confusion at the time of our visit, as it +was under restoration; two or three artists were in the lower chapel, +painting the images of the saints in the fresh colours the people +love. After some searching, I found out a figure of a dead Christ, +which I was curious to see; because, before coming to Schwatz, I had +been told there was one which had been dearly prized for centuries +by the people; that once on a time there had come night by night a +large toad, and had stood before the image, resting on its hinder +feet, the two front ones joined as if in token of prayer; and no +one durst disturb it, because they said it must be a suffering soul +which they saw under its form. I spoke to one of the artists about +it, to see if this was the right image, and if the legend was still +acknowledged. He answered as one who had little sympathy with the +mysteries he was employed to delineate; he evidently cared nothing +for legends, though willing to paint them for money. It was the +first time I had met with this sort of spirit in the neighbourhood, +and was not surprised to learn he was not of Tirol, but from Munich. + +A door opposite the last named opens into the churchyard, filled +with the usual black and gold cast-iron crosses, and the usual +sprinkling of some of a brighter colour; each with its stoup of +holy water and weihwedel, [115] and its simple epitaph, 'Hier ruhet +in Frieden....' Besides the large crucifix, which always stands in +the centre promising redemption to the faithful departed, is a stout +round pillar of large rough stones, surmounted by a lantern cap with +five sharp points, each face glazed, and a lamp within before some +relic, always kept alight, for the people think [116] that the holy +souls come and anoint their burning wounds with the oil which piously +feeds a churchyard lamp. Twinkling fitfully amid the evening shadows, +over the graves, and over the human skulls and bones, of which there +happened fortuitously to be a heap waiting re-sepulture after some +late arrangement of the burying-ground, it disposed one to listen to +the strange tales which are told of it. There was once a Robler of +Schwatz, well-limbed, deep-chested, full of confidence and energy, +who had won the right to wear the champion feather [117] against the +whole neighbourhood. But not content to be the darling of his home, +and the pride of his valley, he must needs prove himself the best +against all comers. In fear of the shame of a reverse after all his +boasts, he resolved to ensure himself against one, by having recourse +to an act, originally designed probably as a test of possessing, +but commonly believed by the people to be a means of winning, +invincible strength of nerve, and which is described in the following +narrative. Opportunity was not lacking. Death is ever busy, and one +day laid low an old gossip, who was duly buried with all honour by her +children and children's children to the third generation. Now was the +time for our brave Robler. That first night that she rested in the +'field of peace,' he rose in the dead of the night--a dark starless +night, just as it was when we stood there--and the lamp of the shrine +resting its calm pale rays upon the graves. The great clock struck out +twelve, with a rattling of its cumbersome machinery, which sounded like +skeletons walking by in procession; our Robler quailed not, however, +but approached the new grave, scattered the earth from over it with his +spade, raised up the coffin, opened it, took out the corpse, dressed +himself in its shroud, and lifted the ghastly burden on to his strong +shoulders. Never had burden felt so heavy; it seemed to him as though +he bore the Freundsberg on his back; though sinking and quailing, +he bore it three times round the whole circuit of the enclosure, +laid it back in the coffin, and lowered the coffin into the grave; +triumphantly he showered the earth over it, and took quite a pleasure +in shaping the hillock smoothly and well. Then suddenly, to his horror, +with a click like the gripe of a skeleton, he heard the clapper of the +old clock raised to mark the completion of the hour within which his +task, to be effectual, must be accomplished. Meantime, it had come on +to rain violently, and the big drops pattered on the stones, like dead +men tramping all around him; it happened to fall heavily round us, +and the simile was so striking, I could not forbear a grim smile. It +seemed to him as if he never could dash through their midst in time; +still he made the attempt boldly, and actually succeeded in swinging +himself over the churchyard wall before the hammer had fallen, +and, what was most important, still bearing round his shoulders +the shroud of the dead. Nevertheless his heart was full of anxiety +with the thought that he had disturbed the peace of the departed; +it seemed to him as if the old gossip had run after him to claim her +own, and with her burning hand had seized the fluttering garment, and +torn a piece out of it, just as he cleared the wall. For days after, +the sexton saw the piece, torn and burnt, fluttering over her grave, +but never could make out how it got there. The Robler, however, was +now proof against every attack; no one could wear a feather in his +presence, for he was sure to overcome him, and make him renounce the +prize. What did he gain, however, by his uncannily-earned prowess? A +little temporary renown and honour, and the fear of his kind; but all +through the rest of his life, at the Wandlung [118] of the Holy Mass, +the pure white wafer, as the priest raised it aloft, seemed black to +his eyes, and when he came to die, there was no father-confessor near +to whisper absolution and peace. + +A most singular legend, also attached to this spot, dates from the time +when the Jesuit Fathers held their missions after the expulsion of the +Lutherans. With the fervour of new conversion, the people ascribed to +their word the most wonderful powers; and their simple unwavering faith +seems to have been a loan of that which removes mountains. Among those +whom a spirit of penance moved to come and make a general confession +of their past lives was a lady no longer young, of blameless character, +but unmarried. The fathers, as I have already implied, enjoyed the most +unbounded confidence of the people; and the most unusual penance was +accepted in the simplest way. To this person the penance enjoined was, +that she should for three nights watch through the hour of midnight +in the church, and then come and give an account of what she had +seen. Being apparently a person of a strong mind, she was satisfied +with the assurance of the father that no harm would happen to her, +and she fulfilled her task bravely. "When she came to narrate what had +passed, she said that each night the church had been traversed by a +countless train of men, women, and children, of every age and degree, +dressed in a manner unlike anything she had seen or read of in the +past; the features of all quite unknown to her, and yet exhibiting +a certain likeness, which might lead her to believe they might be of +her own family, and all wearing an expression indescribably sad; she +was all anxiety to know what she could do for their relief, for she +felt sure it was to move her to this that they had been revealed to +her. The father told her, however, this was not at all the object of +the vision: that the train of people she had seen was an appearance +of the generations of unborn souls, who might have lived to the +eternal honour and praise of God if she had not preferred her ease +and freedom and independence to the trammels of the married state; +'for,' said he, 'your choice of condition was based on this, not on +the higher love of God, and the desire of greater perfection. Now, +therefore, reflect what profit your past life has borne to the glory +of God, and strive to make it glorify Him in some way in the future.' + +The Franciscan church was built about the same time as the other, +and has some remains of the beautiful architecture of its date. Over +the credence table is a remarkable and very early painting on panel, +of the genealogy of our Lord. Within the precincts of the monastery +are some early frescoes, which I did not see; but they ought not to +be overlooked. One subject, said to be very boldly and strikingly +handled, is the commission to the Apostles to go out and preach the +Gospel to the nations. + +The day was wearing on, and we had our night's lodging to provide; the +inn where we had breakfasted did not invite our confidence, despite +of the pretty Kranach's Madonna which smiled over the parlour, and +the good-natured maid who deemed it her business to wait behind our +chairs while we sipped our coffee; so we walked down the long street, +and tried our luck at one and another. There were plenty of them: and +they were easily recognized now we knew their token, for each has a +forbidden-fruit-tree painted on the wall with some subject out of the +New Testament surmounting it, to show the triumph of the Gospel over +the Fall; while the good gifts of Providence, which mine host within +is so ready to dispense, are typified by festoons of grape-vines, +surrounding the picture. Those which let out horses have also a team +cut out in a thin plate of copper, and painted proper, as heralds say, +fixed at right angles to the doorpost. Nevertheless, the interiors +were not inviting, and at more than one the bedding was all on the +roof, airing; and the solitary maid, left in charge of the house +while all the rest of the household were in the fields harvesting, +declared the impossibility of getting so many beds as we wanted ready +by the evening. Dinner at the Post having somehow indisposed us for it, +we at last put up at the Krone, which was very much like a counterpart +of our first experience. Nothing could exceed the pleasant willingness +of the people of the house; but both their accommodation and their +cleanliness was limited; and besides a repulsive look, there was +an unaccountable odour, about the beds, which made sleeping in them +impossible. My astonishment may be imagined, when on proceeding to +examine whether there were any articles of bedding that would do to +roll oneself up in on the floor, I found that the smell proceeded +from layers of apples between the mattresses, which it seems to be +the habit thus to preserve for winter use! + +The rooms were large and rambling, and filled with cumbersome +furniture, some of which must, I think, have been made before the +great fire of 1809. As in all the other houses, a guitar hung on the +wall of the sitting-room; and after many coy refusals, the daughter +of the house consented to sing to it one or two melodies very modestly +and well. + +You do not sleep very soundly on the floor, and by six next morning +the tingling of the Blessed Sacrament bell sufficed to rouse me +in time to see how the Schwatzers honour 'das hochwürdigste Gut,' +[119] as it passed them on its way to the sick. Two little boys in red +cassocks went first, bearing red banners and holy-water; two followed +in red and yellow, bearing a canopy over the priest, and four men +carried lanterns on long poles. The rain of the previous night had +filled the road with puddles, but along the whole way the peasants +were on their knees. To all who are afflicted with long illnesses, +it is thus carried at least every month. + +The morning was bright and hot, but the ruined castle on the +neighbouring Freundsberg looked temptingly near; and we easily found +a rough but not difficult path, past a number of crazy cottages, +the inhabitants of which, however poor and hard worked, yet gave us +the cheerful Christian greeting, 'Gelobt sei Jesus Christus!' as +we passed. Near the summit the cottages cease; and after a short +stretch in the burning sun, you appreciate the shade afforded by +a tiny chapel, at the side of a crystal spring, welling up out of +the ground, its waters cleverly guided into a conduit, formed of a +hollowed tree, which supplies all the houses of the hill-side, and +perhaps accounts for their being so thickly clustered there. The last +wind of the ascent is the steepest and most slippery. The sun beat +down relentlessly, but seemed to give unfailing delight to myriads +of lizards, adders, and grasshoppers, who were darting and whirring +over the crumbling stones in the maddest way. Historians, poets, or +painters, have made some ruins so familiarly a part of the world's +life, and their grand memories of departed glories have been so often +recounted, that they seem stereotyped upon them. Time has shattered +and dismantled them, but has robbed them of nothing, for their glories +of all ages are concrete around them still. But poor Freundsberg! who +thinks of it? or of the thousand and one ruined castles which mark +the 'sky-line' of Tirol with melancholy beauty? Each has, however, +had its throb of hope and daring, and its day of triumph and mastery, +often noble, sometimes--not so often as elsewhere--base. Freundsberg +is no exception. For two hundred years before the Christian era +it was a fortress, we know: for how long before that we know not; +and then again, we know little of what befell it, till many hundred +years after, in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, +its lords were known as mighty men of war. It reached its highest +glory under Captain Georg, son of Ulrich and a Swabian heiress whose +vast dowry tended to raise the lustre of the house. + +Georg von Freundsberg entered the career of arms in early youth, +and rose to be a general at an age when other men are making their +premières armes. At four-and-twenty he was reckoned by Charles Quint +his most efficient leader. Over the Swiss, over the Venetians, wherever +he led, he was victorious. The victory at Pavia was in great measure +due to his prowess. His personal strength is recorded in fabulous +terms; his foresight in providing for his men, and his art of governing +and attaching them, were so remarkable, that they called him their +father, and he could do with them whatever he would. They recorded +his deeds in the terms in which men speak of a hero: they said that +the strongest man might stand up against him with all his energy, and +yet with the little finger of his left hand he could throw him down; +that no matter at what fiery pace a horse might be running away, if +he but stretched his hand across the path he brought it to a stand; +that in all the Emperor's stores there was no field-piece so heavy +but he could move it with ease with one hand. They sang of him: + + + Georg von Freundsberg, + von grosser Sterk, + ein theurer Held; + behielt das Feld + in Streit und Krieg. + den Feind niederslieg + in aller Schlacht. + er legt Got zu die Er und Macht.' [120] + + +The last line would show that to a certain extent he was not untrue +to the traditions of his country; nevertheless, his success in war, +and his love for the Emperor, carried him so far away from them, that +when the siege of Rome was propounded, he not only accepted a command +in the attack on the 'Eternal City,' but raised twelve thousand men in +his Swabian and Tirolean possessions to support the charge. None who +have pondered the havoc and the horrors of that wanton and sacrilegious +siege will care to extenuate the guilt of any participator in it. It +is the blot on Georg von Freundsberg's character, and it was likewise +his last feat. He died suddenly within the twelvemonth, aged only +fifty-two, leaving his affairs in inextricable confusion, and his +estate encumbered with debts incurred in raising the troops who were +to assist in the desolation of the 'Holy City.' + +His brothers--Ulrich, Bishop of Trent, and Thomas, who like himself +followed the military calling--earned a certain share of respect also; +but no subsequent member of the family was distinguished, and the +race came to an end in 1580. The castle fell into ruin; and as if a +curse rested on it, when it was used again, it was to afford cover +to the Bavarians in firing upon the people in 1809! I do not know by +what local tradition, but some motive of affection still renders the +chapel a place of pious resort; and a copy of Kranach's 'Mariähilf' +adorns the altar. The remaining tower affords a pleasing outline. + +I returned to the chapel by the brook, and sat down to sketch it, +though rather too closely placed under it to view it properly; there +is always an indefinable satisfaction in making use of these places +of pious rest, which brotherly charity has provided for the unknown +wayfarer. When, after a time, I looked up from my paper, I saw sitting +outside in the sun a strange old woman, the stealthy approach of whose +shoeless feet I had not noticed. I advised her to come in and rest; +and then I asked her how she came to walk unshod over the stones of +the path, which were sharp and loose, as well as burning hot, while +she carried a pair of stout shoes in her hand. 'That doesn't hurt,' +she replied indignantly; 'it's the shoes that hurt. When you put your +foot down you know where you put it, and you take hold of the ground; +but when you have those things on, you don't know where your foot +goes, and down you go yourself. That's what happened to me on this +very path, and see what came of it.' And she bared her right arm, and +showed that it had been broken, and badly set, and now was withered +and useless--she could do no more work to support herself. I asked +her how she lived, and she did not like the question, for begging, +it seems, is forbidden. But I said it was a very hard law, and then +she grew more confidential; and after a little more talk, her wild +weird style, and her strong desire to tell my fortune, showed me +she was one of those dangerous devotees who may be considered the +camp-followers of the Christian army, whose chance of ingratiating +themselves seems greatest where the faith is brightest, and who +there work all manner of mischief, overlaying simple belief with +pagan superstition; but at the same time, such an one is generally +a very mine for the comparative mythologist, and in this individual +instance not without some excuse in her misfortunes. For, besides the +unlucky disablement already named, she had lost not only her house, +home, and belongings, but all her relations also, in a fire. It is +not surprising if so much misery had unhinged her mind. Her best +means of occupation seemed to be, when good people gave her alms, +to go to a favourite shrine, and pray for them; and I fully believe, +from her manner, that she conscientiously fulfilled such commissions, +for I did not discover anything of the hypocrite about her. Only once, +when I had been explaining what a long way I had come on purpose to see +the shrines of her country, she amused me by answering, in the most +inflated style, that however far it might be, it could not be so far +as she had come--she came from beyond mountains and seas, far, far, +ever so far--till I looked at her again, and wondered if she were a +gipsy, and was appropriating to her personal experience some of the +traditional wanderings of her race. Presently she acknowledged that +her birth-place was Seefeld, which I knew to be at no great distance +from Innsbruck, perhaps ten miles from where we stood. Yet this tone +of exaggeration may have arisen from an incapacity to take in the +idea of a greater distance than she knew of previously, rather than +from any intention to deceive; and her 'seas' were of course lakes, +which when spoken of in the German plural have not even the gender +to distinguish them. + +When she had once mentioned Seefeld, she grew quite excited, and +told me no place I had come from could boast of such a marvellous +favour as God had manifested to her Seefeld. I asked her to tell me +about it. 'What! don't you know about Oswald Milser?' and I saw my +want of recognition consigned me to the regions of her profoundest +contempt. 'Don't you know about Oswald Milser, who by his pride +quenched all the benefit of his piety and his liberality to the +Church? who, when he went to make his Easter Communion one grüne +Donnerstag, [121] insisted that it should be given him in one of +the large Hosts, which the priest uses, and so distinguish him from +the people. And when the priest, afraid to offend the great man, +complied, how the weight bore him down, down into the earth;' and she +described a circle with her finger on the ground, and bowed herself +together to represent the action; 'and he clung to the altar steps, +but they gave way like wax; and he sank lower and lower, [122] till +he called to the priest to take the fearful Host back from him.' 'And +what became of him?' I asked. 'He went into the monastery of Stamms, +and lived a life of penance. But his lady was worse than he: when they +told her what had taken place, she swore she would not believe it; +"As well might you tell me," she said, and stamped her foot, "that +that withered stalk could produce a rose;" and even as she spoke, +three sweet roses burst forth from the dry branch, which had been dead +all the winter. Then the proud lady, refusing to yield to the prodigy, +rushed out of the house raving mad, and was never seen there again; +but by night you may yet hear her wailing over the mountains, for +there is no rest for her.' Her declamation and action accompanying +every detail was consummate. + +I asked her if she knew no such stories of the neighbourhood of +Schwatz. She thought for a moment, and then assuming her excited +manner once more, she pointed to a neighbouring eminence. 'There was +a bird-catcher,' she said, 'who used to go out on the Goaslahn there, +following his birds; but he was quite mad about his sport, and could +not let it alone, feast day or working day. One Sunday came, and he +could not wait to hear the holy Mass. "I'll go out for an hour or +two," he said; "there'll be time for that yet." So he went wandering +through the woods, following his sport, and the hours flew away as +fast as the birds; hour by hour the church bell rang, but he always +said to himself he should be in time to catch the Mass of the next +hour. The nine o'clock Mass was past, and the clock had warned him +that it was a quarter to ten, and he had little more than time to +reach the last Mass of the day. Just as he was hesitating to pack +up his tackle, a beautiful bird, such as he had never seen before, +with a gay red head, came hopping close to his decoy birds. It was +not to be resisted. The bird-catcher could not take his eye off the +bird. "Dong!" went the bell; hop! went the bird. Which should he +follow? The bird was so very near the lime now; there must be time to +secure him, and yet reach the church, at least before the Gospel. At +last, the final stroke of the bell sounded; and at the same instant +the beautiful bird hopped on to the snare. Who could throw away so fair +a chance? Then the glorious plumage must be carefully cleansed of the +bird-lime, which had assisted the capture, and the prize secured, and +carefully stowed away at home. It would be too late for Mass then; +and the bird-catcher felt the full reproach of the course he was +tempted to pursue, nevertheless he could not resist it. On he went, +homewards; now full of buoyant joy over his luck, now cast down with +shame and sorrow over his neglected duty. He had thus proceeded a +good part of his way, before he perceived that his burden was getting +heavier and heavier; at last he could hardly get along under it. So +he set it down, and began to examine into the cause. He found that +the strange bird had swelled out so big, that it was near bursting +the bars of its cage, while from its wings issued furious sulphurous +fumes. Then he saw how he had been deceived; that the delusive form +had been sent by the Evil One, to induce him to disobey the command +of the Church. Without hesitation he flung the cursed thing from him, +and watched it, by its trail of lurid flame, rolling down the side of +the Goaslahn. But never, from that day forward, did he again venture +to ply his trade on a holy day. + +'Such things had happened to others also,' she said. 'Hunters had +been similarly led astray after strange chamois; for the power of +evil had many a snare for the weak. Birds too, though we deemed +them so pretty and innocent, were, more often than we thought, the +instruments of malice.' And it struck me as she spoke, that there were +more crabbed stories of evil boding in her repertory than gentle and +holy ones. 'There is the swallow,' she instanced: 'why do swallows +always hover over nasty dirty marshy places? Don't you know that +when the Saviour was hanging on the Cross, and the earth trembled, +and the sun grew dark with horror, and all the beasts of the field +went and hid themselves for shame, only the frivolous [123] swallows +flitted about under the very shadow of the holy rood, and twittered +their love songs as on any ordinary day. Then the Saviour turned +His head and reproached the thoughtless birds; and mark my words, +never will you see a swallow perched upon anything green and fresh.' + +I was sorry to part from her and her legendary store; but I was +already due at the station, to meet friends by the train. She took +my alms with glee, and then pursued her upward way barefooted, to +make some promised orisons at the Freundsberg shrine. + +It was a glowing afternoon; and after crossing the unshaded bridge +and meadows, to and from the railway, I was glad to stop and rest +in a little church which stood open, near the river. It was a plain +whitewashed edifice, ornamented with more devotion than taste. When I +turned to come away, I found that the west wall was perforated with +a screen of open iron-work, on the other side of which was an airy +hospital ward. The patients could by this means beguile their weary +hours with thoughts congenial to them suggested by the Tabernacle and +the Crucifix. A curtain hung by the side, which could be drawn across +the screen at pleasure. There were not more than four or five patients +in the ward at the time, and in most instances decay of nature was the +cause of disease. There is not much illness at Schwatz; but admittance +to the simple accommodation of the hospital is easily conceded. Schwatz +formerly had two, but the larger was burnt down in 1809. The remaining +one seems amply sufficient for the needs of the place. + +There was 'Benediction' in the church in the evening, for it was, +I forget what, saint's day. The church was very full, and the people +said the Rosary in common before the Office began. A great number of +the girls from the tobacco factory came in as they left work, and the +singing was unusually sweet, which surprised me, as the Schwatzers are +noted for their nasal twang and drawling accent in speaking. I learnt +that there are several Italians from Wälsch-Tirol settled here, and +they lead the choir. It is edifying to see the work-people, after their +day's toil, coming into the church as if it was more familiar to them +even than home; but one does not get used to seeing the uncovered heads +of the women, though indeed with the rich and luxuriant braids of hair +with which Nature endows them, they might be deemed 'covered' enough. + +A more familiar sight to an English eye is the seat-filled area of +the German churches. Confessedly it is one of the home associations +which one least cares to see reproduced, but the pews of the German +churches are less objectionable than our own; they are lower, and +not so crowded, and ample space is always left for processions, +so they interfere far less with the architectural design. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +NORTH TIROL--UNTERINNTHAL (RIGHT INN-BANK). + +EXCURSIONS FROM SCHWATZ. + + + 'Partout où touche votre regard vous rencontrez au fond sous la + forme qui passe, un mystère qui demeure ... chacun des mystères + de ce monde est la figure, l'image de celui du monde supérieur; + de sorte que tout ce que nous pouvons connaître dans l'ordre + de la nature est la révélation même de l'ordre divin.'--Chevé, + Visions de l'Avenir. + + +Falkenstein, which may be reached by a short walk from Schwatz, +is worth visiting on account of the information it affords as to +the mode of working adopted in the old mines both of silver and +copper. This was the locality where the greatest quantity of silver +was got; it was particularly noted also for the abundance and beauty +of the malachite, found in great variety and richness of tints; the +turquoise was found also, but more rarely. The old shaft runs first +horizontally for some two miles, and then sinks in two shafts to a +depth of some two hundred and thirty fathoms. The engineering and +hydraulic works seem to have been very ingenious, but the description +of them does not come within the sphere of my present undertaking. It +does, however, to observe that over this, as over everything else in +Tirol, religion shed its halo. The miners had ejaculatory prayers, +which it was their custom to utter as they passed in and out of their +place of subterranean toil; and an appropriate petition for every +danger, whether from fire-damp, land-slips, defective machinery, +or other cause. Their greeting to each other, and to those they met +by the way, in place of the national 'Gelobt sei Jesus Christus,' +was 'Gott gebe euch Glück und Segen!' [124] For their particular +patron they selected the Prophet Daniel, whose preservation in the +rocky den of the lions, as they had seen it portrayed, seemed to +bear some analogy with their own condition. Of their liberality in +church-building I have already spoken; but many are the churches and +chapels that bear the token--a crossed chisel and hammer on a red +field--of their contribution to its expense. + +There are many other walks to be made from Schwatz. First there is +Buch, so called from the number of beech-trees in the neighbourhood, +which afford pleasant shade, and diversify the scenery, in which the +castle of Tratzberg across the Inn [125] also holds an important +part. Further on is Margareth, surrounded by rich pastures, which +are watered by the foaming Margarethenbach. Then to the south-east is +Galzein, with a number of dependent 'groups of houses,' particularly +Kugelmoos, the view from which sweeps the Inn from Kufstein to +Innsbruck. Beyond, again, but further south, is the Schwaderalpe, +whence the iron worked and taken in depôt at Schwatz is got; +and the Kellerspitze, with the little village of Troi, its twelve +houses perched as if by supernatural handiwork on the spur of a +rock, and once nearly as prolific as Falkenstein in its yield of +silver. The exhausted--deaf (taub) as it is expressively qualified +in German--borings of S. Anthony and S. Blaze are still sometimes +explored by pedestrians. + +Arzburg also is within an hour's walk. It was once rich in copper +ore, but is now comparatively little worked. Above it is the +Heiligenkreuzkapelle, about which it is told, that when, on occasion of +the baierische-Rumpel [126] in 1703, the bridge of Zirl was destroyed, +the cross which surmounted it being carried away by the current, +was here rescued and set up by the country-people, who still honour +it by frequent pilgrimages. + +Starting again from Schwatz by the high-road, which follows pretty +nearly the course of the Inn, you pass a succession of small towns, +each of which heads a valley, to which it gives its name, receiving +it first from the torrent which through each pours the aggregate of +the mountain streams into the river, all affording a foot-way through +the Duxerthal into the further extremity of the Zillerthal--Pill, +Weer, Kolsass, Wattens, and Volders. + +First, there is Pill, a frequent name in Tirol, and derived by Weber +from Bühl or Büchl, a knoll; it is the wildest and most enclosed of any +of these lateral valleys, and exposed to the ravages of the torrent, +which often in winter carries away both bridges and paths, and makes +its recesses inaccessible even to the hardy herdsmen. The following +story may serve to show how hardy they are:--Three sons of a peasant, +whose wealth consisted in his grazing rights over a certain tract of +the neighbouring slopes, were engaged one day in gathering herbage +along the steep bank for the kids of their father's flock. The steep +must have been difficult indeed on which they were afraid to trust +mountain kids to cater for themselves; and the youngest of the boys +was but six, the eldest only fifteen. The eldest lost his balance, +and was precipitated into the roaring torrent, just then swollen +to unusual proportions; he managed to cling fast behind one of the +rocky projections which mark its bed, but his strength was utterly +unable to bear him out of the stream. The second brother, aged ten, +without hesitating, embraced the risk of almost certain death, let +himself down the side of the precipice by clinging to the scanty roots +which garnished its almost perpendicular side. Arrived at the bottom, +he sprang with the lightness of a chamois across the foaming waters +on to the rock where the boy was now slackening his exhausted hold, +and succeeded in dragging him up on to the surface; but even there +there seemed no chance of help, far out of sound as they were of all +human ears. But the youngest, meantime, with a thoughtfulness beyond +his years, had made his way home alone, and apprised the father, +who readily found the means of rescuing his offspring. + +The break into the Weerthal is at some little distance from the high +road; its church, situated on a little high-level plain, is surrounded +with fir-trees. A little lake is pointed out, of which a similar +legend is told to 'the judgment of Achensee,' which is indeed one not +infrequently met with; it is said that it covers a spot where stood a +mighty castle, once submerged for the haughtiness of its inhabitants, +and the waters placed there that no one might again build on the +site for ever. The greatest ornament of the valley is the rambling +ruin of Schloss Rettenberg, on its woody height, once a fortress +of the Rottenburgers; afterwards it passed to Florian Waldauf, +whose history I have already given when speaking of Hall. [127] +It was bought by the commune in 1810, and the present church built +up out of the materials it afforded, the former church having been +burnt down that year. The old site and its remains are looked upon +by the people as haunted by a steward of the castle and his wife, +who in the days of its prosperity dealt hardly with the widow and the +orphan, and must now wander sighing and breathing death on all who +come within their baleful influence. A shepherd once fell asleep in +the noontide heat, while his sheep were browsing on the grass-grown +eminence. When he woke, they were no longer in sight; at last he found +them dead within the castle keep. 'Guard thy flock better,' shouted a +hoarse voice, 'for this enclosure is mine, and none who come hither +escape me.' None ventured within the precincts after this; but many +a time those who were bold enough to peep through a fissure in the +crazy walls reported that they had seen the hard-hearted steward as +a pale, weary, grey-bearded man, sit sighing on the crumbling stones. + +The Kolsassthal merges into the Weerthal and is hardly distinguished +from it, and affords a sort of counterpart, though on more broken +ground, to the Gnadenwald on the opposite side of the river. It is +from this abundance of shady woods that its name is derived, through +the old German kuol, cool, and sazz, a settlement. In the church, +the altar-piece of the Assumption is by Zoller. The church of Wattens +has an altar-piece by a more esteemed Tirolean artist, Schöpf; it +represents S. Laurence, to whom the church is dedicated. The many +forges busily at work making implements of agriculture, nails, &c., +keep you well aware of the thrift and industry of the place; its +prosperity is further supported by a paper manufactory, which has +always remained in the hands of the family which started it in 1559, +and supplies the greater part of Tirol. A self-taught villager, Joseph +Schwaighofer, enjoyed some reputation here a few years ago as a guitar +maker. The Wattenserthal, like the Kolsassthal, is also very woody, +and contains some little settlements of charcoal-burners; but it is +also diversified by a great many fertile glades, which are diligently +sought out for pasture. At Walchen, where a few shepherds' huts are +clustered at the confluence of two mountain streams, the valley is +broken into two branches--one, Möls, running nearly due south into +the Navisthal, by paths increasing in difficulty as you proceed; +the other, Lizumthal, by the south-east to Hinterdux, passing at the +Innerlahn the so-called 'Blue Lake,' of considerable depth. [128] + +Following the road again, Volders is reached at about a mile from +Wattens. As at the latter place, your ears are liberally greeted +with the sounds of the smithy. Volders has quite a celebrity for +its production of scythes; some ten or twelve thousand are said to +be exported annually. The Post Inn affords tolerable quarters for a +night or two while exploring the neighbourhood. + +The prolific pencil of Schöpf has provided the church with an +altar-piece of the Holy Family; though an ancient foundation, it does +not present any object of special interest. + +The Voldererthal runs beneath some peaks dear to Alpine climbers, the +Grafmarterspitz, the Glunggeser, the Kreuzjoch, and the Pfunerjoch. Its +entrance is commanded by the castles of Hanzenheim, sometimes called +Starkelberg, from having belonged to a family of that name, and used as +a hospital during the campaign of 1809; and Friedberg, which is still +inhabited, having been carefully restored by the present owner, Count +Albert von Cristalnigg. It was originally built in the ninth or tenth +century, as a tower to guard the bridge; it gave its name to a powerful +family, who are often mentioned in the history of Tirol. At the end of +the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries, it was one +of the castles annexed by Friedrich mit der leeren Tasche. It contains +also the Voldererbad, a mineral spring, which is much visited, but more +conveniently reached by way of Windegg than through the valley itself. + +In the Voldererwald is a group of houses, Aschbach by name, which +belongs ecclesiastically to the parish of Mils, on the opposite side; +and the following story is given to account for the anomaly:--At the +time when the territory of Volders belonged parochially to Kolsass +(it must have been before the year 1630, as it was that year formed +into an independent parish), the neighbourhood was once ravaged by the +plague. A farmer of Aschbach being stricken by it, sent to beg the +spiritual assistance of the priest of Kolsass. The priest attended +to the summons; but when he reached the threshold of the infected +dwelling, and saw what a pitiable sight the sick man presented, his +fears got the better of his resolution, and he could not prevail on +himself to enter the room. Not to leave his penitent entirely without +comfort, however, he exhorted him to repentance, heard his confession, +and absolved him from where he stood; and then uncovering the sacred +Host, bid him gaze on it in a spirit of faith, and assured him he +should thereby receive all the benefit of actual Communion. The visit +thus completed, he hurried back to Kolsass in all speed. Meantime the +sick man, not satisfied with the office thus performed, sent for the +priest of Mils, who, supported by apostolic charity, approached him +without hesitation, and administered the sacred mysteries. Contrary to +all expectation, the farmer recovered, resumed his usual labours, and +in due course garnered his harvest. In due course also came round the +season for paying his tithe. With commendable punctuality the farmer +loaded his waggon with the sacred tribute, and started alacritously +on the way to Kolsass. Any one who watched him might have observed a +twinkle of his eye, which portended some unusual dénouement to the +yearly journey. As he approached Kolsass the twinkle kindled more +humorously, and the oxen felt the goad applied more vigorously. The +pastor of Kolsass turned out to see the waggon approaching at the +unusual pace, and was already counting the tempting sheaves of golden +corn. To his surprise, however, his frolicsome parishioner wheeled +round his team before he brought it to a stand, and then cried aloud, +'Gaze, Father! yes, gaze in faith on the goodly sight, and believe me, +your faith shall stand you in stead of the actual fruition!' With that +he drove his waggon at the same pace at which he had come, straight +off to the pastor of Mils, at whose worthy feet he laid the tithe. And +this act of 'poetical justice' was ratified by ecclesiastical authority +as a censure on the pusillanimity of the priest of Kolsass, by the +transfer of the tithing of Aschbach to the parish of Mils. I have met a +counterpart of this story both in England and in Spain; so true is it, +as Carlyle has prettily said, that though many traditions have but one +root they grow, like the banyan, into a whole overarching labyrinth. + +The stately Serviten-kloster outside Volders suggests another +adaptation of this metaphor. From the root of one saint's maxims +and example, what an 'over-arching labyrinth' of good works will +grow up and spread over and adorn the face of the earth, even in +the most distant parts. In the year 1590 there was born at Trent a +boy named Hyppolitus Guarinoni, who was destined to graft upon Tirol +the singular virtues of St. Charles Borromeo. Attached early to the +household of the saintly Archbishop of Milan, Guarinoni grew up to +embody in action his spirit of devotion and charity. By St. Charles's +advice and assistance he followed the study of medicine, and took +his degree in his twenty-fifth year. Shortly after, he was appointed +physician in ordinary to the then ruler of Tirol, Archduke Ferdinand +II. His fervent piety marked him as specially fit to be further +entrusted with the sanitary care of the convent founded some years +before by the Princesses Magdalen, Margaret, and Helena, Ferdinand's +sisters, at Hall, and called the Königliche Damenstift. [129] All +the time that was left free by these public engagements he spent by +the bedsides of the poor of the neighbourhood. The care of the soul +ever accompanied his care for their bodies, and many a wanderer owed +his reconciliation with heaven to his timely exhortations. Just about +this time the incursions of the new doctrines were making themselves +felt in this part of Tirol, and some localities, which from their +remoteness were out of the way of regular parochial ministrations, +were beginning to listen to them. Guarinoni discovered this in the +course of his charitable labours, for which no outlying Sennerhütte was +inaccessible. In 1628 he obtained special leave, though a layman, from +the Bishop of Brixen, to preach in localities which had no resident +pastor; he further published a little work which he used to distribute +among the people, designed to show them how many corporal infirmities +are induced by neglect of the whole-some maxims of religion. Besides +the restored unity of the faith in his country, two other monuments of +his piety remain: the Church of St. Charles by the bridge of Volders, +and the Sanctuary of Judenstein. In his moments of leisure it was +his favourite occupation to commit to writing for the instruction +of posterity the traditional details of the life of St. Nothburga, +and of the holy child Andreas of Rinn, which were at his date even +more rife in the mouths of the peasantry of the neighbourhood than +at present. He only died in 1654, having devoted himself to these +good works for nearly half a century. + +The church by which he endeavoured to bring under observation and +imitation the distinguishing qualities of St. Charles, was erected +on a spot famous in the Middle Ages as a bandit's den; the building +occupied thirty-four years, and was consecrated but a short time +before his death. Baron Karl von Fieger, from whom he bought the +site, a few years later added to it the Servite monastery, which, +though it exhibits all the vices of the architecture of its date, +yet bears tokens that its imperfections are not due to any stint +of means. Its three cupolas and other structural arrangements are +designed in commemoration of the Holy Trinity--a mystery which is +held in very special honour throughout Austria. In the decorations, +later benefactors have carried on Guarinoni's intention, the acts +of St. Charles being portrayed in the frescoes, completed in 1764, +by which Knoller has earned some celebrity in the world of art for +himself and for the church: they display his conversion from the +stiffer German style of his master, Paul Trogger, to the Italian +manner. That over the entrance conveys a tradition of St. Charles, +predicting to Guarinoni, while his page, that he would one day erect a +church in his honour; that of the larger cupola is an apotheosis of the +saint. The picture of the high-altar sets forth the saint ministering +to the plague-stricken; it is Knoller's boldest attempt at colouring. + +Near the entrance door may be observed a considerable piece of rock +built into the wall, entitled by the people 'Stein des Gehorsams,' +[130] its history being that at the time when the church was building +it was detached from the rock above by a landslip, and threatened +the workmen with destruction. Its course was arrested at the behest +of a pious monk, who was overseeing the works. [131] + +After passing the Servitenkloster a footpath may easily be found which +leads to Judenstein and Rinn, the seat of one of the much-contested +mediæval beliefs accusing the Jews of the sacrifice of Christian +children. It may be better, in describing this stem of this banyan, +to visit Rinn the further place first, and take Judenstein on our way +back. The country traversed is well wooded, and further diversified by +the bizarre outlines of the steeples of Hall seen across the river, +while the mighty Glunggeser-Spitz rises 7,500 feet above you. It +invites a visit for its amenity and its associations, though the +relics of the infant Saint 'Anderle' are no longer there. His father +died, it would seem, while he was a child in arms; his mother earned +her living in the fields, and while she was absent used to leave +her boy at Pentzenhof in charge of his godfather, Mayr. One day, +when he was about three years old--it was the 12th July 1462--she +was cutting corn, when suddenly she saw three drops of blood upon +her hand without any apparent means of accounting for the token, +one with which many superstitions were connected. [132] Her motherly +instincts were alarmed, and, without an instant's consideration, +she threw down her sickle and hurried home. A little field-chapel +to St. Isidor the husbandman, St. Nothburga, and St. Andrew of Rinn, +was subsequently built upon this spot. Arrived at Mayr's house, the +forebodings of her anxious heart were redoubled at not finding her +darling playing about as he was wont. The faithless godfather, taken +by surprise at her unexpected return, only stammered broken excuses in +answer to her reiterated inquiries. At last he exclaimed, thinking to +calm her frenzy, 'If he is not here, here is something better--a hat +full of golden pieces, which we will share between us.' He took down +his hat, but to his consternation instead of finding it heavy with its +golden contents, there was nothing in it but withered leaves! At this +sight he was overcome with fear and horror; his speech forsook him, +and his senses together, and he ended his days raving mad. + +The distracted mother, meantime, pursued her inquiries and +perquisitions; but all she could learn was that certain Jews, [133] +returning from their harvesting at Botzen, had over-tempted Mayr by +their offers and persuaded him to sell the child to them, but with +the assurance that he should come to no harm. Little reassured by +the announcement, she ran madly into the neighbouring birchwood, +whither she had learned they had bent their steps, and there came +upon the lifeless body of her treasure, hanging bloodless and mangled +from a tree. A large stone near bore traces of having been used as a +sacrificial stone, and the clothes, which had been rudely torn off, +lay scattered about; the many wounds of his tender form showed by +how cruel a martyrdom he had been called to share in the massacre of +the Innocents. + +His remains were tenderly gathered and laid to rest, and his memory +held in affection by all the neighbourhood; nevertheless, though +there were many signs of the supernatural connected with the event, +it did not receive all the veneration it might have been expected to +call forth. + +About ten years later a similar event occurred at Trent, and the +remains of the infant S. Simeon were treated with so great honour +that the people of Rinn were awakened to an appreciation of the +treasure they had suffered to lie in their churchyard almost +unheeded. [134] The Emperor Maximilian I. contemplated building +a church over the spot where the martyrdom occurred, hence call +Judenstein. His intentions were frustrated by the knavery of the +builder, and only a small chapel was built at this time; and though +on occasion of its consecration the relics of the child martyr were +carried thither in solemn procession, they were still for some time +after preserved at Rinn. It was Hippolitus Gruarinoni to whom the +honour is due of saving the spot from oblivion. The chisel of the +Tirolese sculptor Nissl has set forth in grotesque design a group +of Jews fulfilling their fearful deed. A portrait of Gruarinoni was +likewise hung up there. The relics were translated thither with due +solemnity in 1678. An afflux of pilgrims was immediately attracted, +and the numerous tablets which crowd the walls attest the estimation +in which it has been held. Then the people began to remember the +wonders that had surrounded it. The ghost of Godfather Mayr, which +for two centuries had been frequently met howling through the woods, +now seemed to have found its rest, for it was never more seen or +heard. And they recalled how a beautiful white lily, with strange +letters on its petals, had bloomed spontaneously on the holy infant's +grave; [135] that when a wilful boy, Pögler by name, snapped the stem +while they were still pondering what the unknown letters might mean, +he had his arm withered; and further that for generations after, +every Pögler had died an untimely or a violent death. How in like +manner, for seven consecutive winters, the birch-tree, on which the +innocent child's body was hung by his persecutors, put forth fresh +green sprouts as if in spring, and how when a thoughtless woodman one +day hewed it down for a common tree, it happened that he met with a +terrible accident on his homeward way, whereof he died. It may well +be imagined that where such legends prevailed Jews obtained little +favour; so that to the present day it is said there is but few Jew +families settled among them, though they are numerous and influential +in other parts of the Austrian dominion. [136] + + +Another memory yet of Hippolitus Guarinoni lingers in the +neighbourhood. By a path which branches off near Judenstein to the +left (going from Volders and following the stream), the Volderbad is +reached; a sulphur spring discovered and brought into notice by him, +and now much frequented in summer, perhaps as much for its pleasant +mountain breezes as for the medicinal properties of the waters. + +There is another interesting excursion which should be followed +before reaching Innsbruck, but it is more easily made from Hall than +from Volders, though still on the right bank of the Inn. The first +village on it is Ampass, a walk of about four miles from Hall through +the most charming scenery; it is so called simply as being situated +on a pass between the hills traversed on the road to Hall. Then you +pass the remains of the former seat of the house of Brandhausen; +and following the road cut by Maria Theresa through the Wippthal to +facilitate the commerce in wine and salt between Matrei and Hall, +you pass Altrans and Lans, having always the green heights of the +Patscherkofl smiling before you, an easy ascent for those who desire to +practise climbing, from Lans, where the Wilder Mann affords possible +quarters for a night. [137] A path branching off from the Mattrei +road leads hence to Sistrans, a village whose church boasts of having +been embellished by Claudia de' Medici. Its situation is delightful; +the green plain is strewed with fifteen towns and villages, including +Hall and Innsbruck, and behind these rise the great range of alps, +while on the immediate foreground is the tiny Lansersee which will +afford excellent Forellen for luncheon. The bed of this same Lansersee, +it is said, was once covered with a flourishing though not extensive +forest, its wood the only substance of a humble peasant, who had +received it from his fathers. A nobleman living near took a fancy to +the bit of forest ground, but instead of offering to purchase it, he +endeavoured to set up some obsolete claim in a court of law. The judge, +afraid to offend the powerful lord, decided in his favour. The poor +man heard the sentence with as much grief at the dishonour done to his +forefathers' honour as distress at his own ruin. 'There is no help for +me on earth, I know,' said the poor man. 'I have no money to make an +appeal. I may not contend in arms with one of noble blood. But surely +He who sitteth in heaven, and who avenged Naboth, will not suffer +this injustice. As for me, my needs are few; I refuse not to work; +the sweat of my brow will bring me bread enough; but the inheritance +of my fathers which I have preserved faithfully as I received it from +them, shall it pass to another?' and in the bitterness of his soul +he wept and fell asleep; but as he slept in peace a mighty roaring +sound disturbed the slumbers of the unjust noble; it seemed to him +in his dream as though the foundations of his castle were shattered +and the floods passing over them. When they awoke in the morning the +forest was no more to be seen--a clear calm lake mirrored the justice +of heaven, and registered its decree that the trees of the poor man +should never enrich the store of his unscrupulous neighbour. + +Sistrans was once famous for a champion wrestler who had long carried +off the palm from all the country round; but like him of Schwatz, he +was not content with his great natural strength; he was always afraid +a stronger than he might arise and conquer him in turn; and so he +determined to put himself beyond the reach of another's challenge. To +effect this he arranged with great seeming devotion to serve the +Mass on Christmas night; and while the priest's eye was averted, laid +a second wafer upon the one that he had had laid ready. The priest, +suspecting nothing, consecrated as usual; and then at the moment of the +Wandlung, when the priest was absorbed in the solemnity of his act, +as he approached to lift the chasuble he stealthily abstracted the +Host he had surreptitiously laid on the altar. The precious talisman +carefully concealed, he bound it on his arm the instant Mass was over; +and from that day forth no one could stand against him. And not only +this, but he had power too in a multitude of other ways. Had anyone +committed a theft, it needed but to consult our wrestler; if he began +saying certain words and walking solemnly along, immediately, step +by step, were he far or near, the thief, wherever he was, was bound +by secret and resistless impulse to tread as he trod, and bring back +the booty to the place whence he had taken it. Was anyone's cattle +stricken with sickness, it needed but to call our wrestler; a few +words solemnly pronounced, and the touch of his potent arm, sufficed +to restore the beast to perfect health. Moreover, no bird could escape +his snare, no fox or hare or chamois outrun him for swiftness. + +Thus all went well; he had played a bold stake, and had won his +game. But at last the time came for him to die. Weary of his struggles, +and even of his successes, our wrestler would fain have laid his +head to rest under the soft green turf of the field of peace, by +the wayside of those who pass in to pray, and lulled by the sound of +the holy bells. But in vain he lay in his bed; death came not. True, +there were all his symptoms in due force--the glazed eye and palsied +tongue and wringing agony; but for all that he could not die. At last, +the priest, astonished at what he saw, asked him if he had not on his +conscience some sin weighty above the wont, and so moved him to a sense +of penance that he confessed his impiety with tears of contrition; +and it was not till he had told all, and the priest had received +the sacred particle he had misused, that, shriven and blessed, his +soul could depart in peace. There is a spot outside Sistrans called +the Todsünden-marterle, but whether it has any connection with this +tradition, or whether it has one of its own, I have not been able +to learn. + +A couple of hours further is the pilgrimage chapel of Heiligenwasser, +which is much visited both by the pious and the valetudinarian. Its +history is that in 1606 two shepherd boys keeping their father's +herd upon the mountains lost two young kine. In vain they sought +them through the toilful path and beneath the burning sun; the +kine were nowhere to be found. At last in despair of any further +labour proving successful, they fell on their knees and prayed +with tears for help from above. Then a bright light fell upon them, +and the Gnadenmutter appeared beside them, and bid them be of good +cheer, for the cattle were gone home to their stall; moreover she +added, 'Drink, children, for the day is hot, and ye are weary with +wandering.' 'Drink!' exclaimed the famished children, 'where shall +we find water? there is no water near!' but even as they spoke the +Gnadenmutter was taken from their sight, but in the place where the +light surrounding her had shone there welled up a clear and bubbling +stream between the rocks, which has never ceased to flow since. The +boys went home, but had not the courage to tell how great a favour +had been bestowed on them; yet they never went by that way without +turning to give glory to God, and say a prayer beneath the holy spring. + +Fifty years passed. One of them was an infirm old man, and no longer +went abroad so far, the other was attended in his labours by the son +of a neighbour, a lad who had been dumb from his birth. When the +lad saw the herdsman kneel down by the spring and drink and pray, +he knelt and drank and prayed too; when lo! no sooner had the water +passed his lips than he found he had the power of speech like any +other. The narration of the one wonder led to that of the other. The +people readily believed, and before the year was out a chapel had +been raised upon the spot. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +NORTH TIROL--THE INNTHAL. + +INNSBRUCK. + + + Many centuries have been numbered, + Since in death the monarch slumbered + By the convent's sculptured portal, + Mingling with the common dust; + But his good deeds, through the ages + Living in historic pages, + Brighter grow and gleam immortal, + Unconsumed by moth or rust. + + Longfellow. + + +I shall not easily forget my first greeting at Innsbruck. We had come +many days' journey from the north to a rendezvous with friends who +had travelled many days' journey from the south; they were to arrive a +week earlier than we, and were accordingly to meet us at the station +and do the hosts' part. But it happened that the station was being +rebuilt, and the order of 'No admittance except on business' was +strictly enforced. The post-office was closed, being 'after hours,' +and though the man left in charge, with true Tirolean urbanity, +suffered us to come in and turn over the letters for ourselves, +we failed to find the one conveying the directions we sought. So +with no fixed advices to guide us, we wandered through the mountain +capital in search of a chance meeting. We had nearly given up this +attempt in its turn in despair of success, when 'Albina,' a little +white Roman lupetto dog, belonging to the friends of whom we were +in search, came bounding upon me. It was more than two years since +I had taken leave of her in the Eternal City, but her affectionate +sympathy was stronger than time or distance; and here, far from all +aid in the associations of home, and while the rest of her party +were yet a great way off--almost out of sight--she had spied me out, +and came to give her true and hearty greeting. + +It is a pleasant association with Innsbruck, a revelation of that +pure and lasting love which dog-nature seems to have been specially +created to convey; but it was not of Innsbruck. Innsbruck--Schpruck, +as the indigenous call it--though the chief, is the least Tirolean +town of Tirol. It apes the airs and vices of a capital, without having +the magnificence and convenience by which they are engendered. + +There is a page of Tirol's history blotted by a deed which Innsbruck +alone, of all Tirol, could have committed, and which it indeed +requires its long and otherwise uniformly high character for both +exceeding hospitality and exceeding loyalty to cancel. The subject +of it was its own Kaiser Max, whose prudence in governmental details +and gallantry in the field and in the chase had raised him in the +popular mind to the position of a hero. When he had come to them +before, in his youth, in his might, and in his imperial pomp, he +had been sung and fêted. The people had acclaimed him with joy, and +his deeds were a very household epic; while he in turn had extended +their borders by conquest, and their privileges by concessions. But +now he had come back to them, worn out with war and cares and age. He +felt that his end was near, and it was to Tirol, with which he had +always stood in bonds of so much love, that he turned to spend his few +declining years. But Innsbruck, when it saw him thus, seems to have +forgotten his prowess and his benefits, and to have remembered only +a pitiful squabble about payment of the score for the maintenance +of his household at his last visit. A ruler who had spent himself +in bettering the condition of his people might well, in the days +of his weariness and sadness of heart, have expected to meet with +more liberality at their hands; but from Innsbruck, where--little +obscure provincial town as it was--he had so often held his court, +which had been raised in importance and singularly enriched by royal +marriages and receptions and other costly ceremonies celebrated there +at his desire, and which by his example and instigation had become +the residence of many nobles who had learnt under his administration +to value peaceful study above the pursuit of war--from Innsbruck +he had most of all to expect. And yet on this occasion, as he lay +ailing and restless on his couch, the neighing and tramping of his +horses disturbed his fitful slumbers; and rising in the early dawn to +ascertain the cause, he beheld the team which had brought him from the +Diet at Augsburg, left out unfed and untended in the streets, because +the people said he should not run up another score with them. With a +moderation he would not perhaps have practised in his younger days, +he quietly went on his way, to die at Wels on the Trann. + +I have often pictured the pale sad face of the old Emperor as he turned +from that sight, and thought of the sickness of his heart as one of +history's most touching lessons of the world's inconstancy. Perhaps +it predisposed me against Innsbruck; perhaps I was inclined to +be a little unjust; but, at all events, it prepared me not to be +surprised if its people should prove more sophisticated than their +fellow-countrymen. It was quite what I expected, therefore, when I +was told that in the older inns of the class wherein one generally +finds a refreshing hospitality and primitiveness, the absence of +comfort was not compensated by corresponding simplicity of manners. + +In the Oesterreichischer Hof, one of those provincial pieces of +pretentiousness which those who travel to learn the characteristics of +a country should, under ordinary circumstances, avoid, we found the +pleasantness of its situation sufficient to make us forget all else; +and indeed, considered as a copy of a Vienna hotel, it is not a bad +attempt. There is a room which on Sundays is set apart for an English +service. On a subsequent visit we found a large new hotel (Europa), +rather near the railway station, preferable to it in some respects, +and there are many others besides. + +I have spoken of the pleasant situation, and our apartment was +situated so as fully to enjoy it; we had to ourselves a whole suite +of little rooms, with a separate corridor running along the back of +them, from the windows of which we could make acquaintance, under the +alternating play of sunshine, moonbeam, or lightning, with the range +of mountains which wall in Tirol. The Martinswand and Frauhütt, with +their romantic memories; the Seegruben-spitze and the Kreuz-spitze, +rugged and wild; the grand masses of the Brandjoch and the lesser +Solstein, and the greater Solstein already wearing a lace-like veil +of snow; while the quaint copper cupolaed towers of Innsbruck conceal +the Rumerjoch and the Kaisersäule; and in the front of the picture, +the roofs with their wooden tiles afford a view of the mysteries of +apple-drying, and a thousand other local arts of domestic economy. If +our furniture was not of the most elegant or abundant, it was all +the more in keeping with such wild surroundings. + +The character of the town itself partakes of the same mixture of quaint +picturesqueness with modern pretension which I have already observed in +that of the people and the hotel. The Neustadt, as the chief street is +called, remarkable for its width, tidiness, and good paving, is no less +so for its old arcades in one part, and the steep gables in another, +and the monuments of faith which adorn its centre line. At one end +it is closed in by the stern gaunt mountain, at the other by Maria +Theresa's triumphal arch. There are other streets again, straight, +modern, and uniform; the Museum Strasse, and the Karl Strasse, and the +Landhaus Gasse, [138] but you soon come to an end of them; and then +you find yourself in a suburb of most primitive quality; your progress +arrested, now by the advance of the iron road, now by the placid +gentle Sill, now by the proudly flowing Inn. The mediæval history of +Innsbruck is signalized by a number of fires which destroyed many of +its antiquities. To the first of these it owes the suggestion that the +town needed a water supply, acted upon by Meinhard II., and the monks +of Wilten, in the formation of the Kleine Sill, which continues still +as useful as ever; but other fires again and again laid it in ashes, +so that very little of really old work survives, though there are many +foundations of early date, the buildings of which have been again and +again rebuilt. The very oldest of these is the monastery of Wilten, +now a suburb a little way outside the Triumphpforte, originally the +seat of the suzerains who created the town. + +The history of its origin is one of the most remarkable myths of +the country, and is a very epitome of the history of the conflict of +Heathendom with Christendom. + +The Romans had found here a flourishing town even in their time, +and they made of it an important station, calling it Valdidena, +whence its present name; coins and other relics of their sojourn are +continually dug out of the soil. Tradition has it, however, that Etzel +(Attila) laid the city in ruins on his way back from the terrible +battle of Chalons. It continued, nevertheless, to be a convenient +and consequently frequented station of the intercourse between the +banks of the Po and the Rhine. When Dietrich von Bern (Theodoric of +Verona) announced his expedition against Chriemhilde's Garden of +Roses at Worms, one of the mightiest who responded to his appeal, +and who did him the most signal service in taking the Rose-garden, +was Heime, popularly called Haymon, a giant 'taller and more powerful +than Goliath.' Returning in Theodoric's victorious train, he came +through Tirol. As he approached Valdidena he found his passage barred +by another giant named Thyrsus, living near Zirl, who has left his name +to the little neighbouring hamlet of Tirschenbach. Thyrsus had heard +of Haymon's prowess, and as his own had been unchallenged hitherto, +he determined to provoke him to combat. Haymon was no less fierce +than himself, and scarcely waited for his challenge to rush to the +attack. But anyone who had looked on would have guessed from the first +moment on which side the advantage would fall. Thyrsus was indeed +terrible of aspect; higher in stature than Haymon, his shaggy hair +covered a determined brow; his hardy skin was bronzed by exposure to +weather and lying on the rocks; his sinews were developed by constant +use, and their power attested by the tree torn up by the roots which +he bore in his hand for a club; at each footfall the ground shook, +for he planted his feet with a sound of thunder, and his stride was +from hill to hill. But Haymon's every movement displayed him practised +in each art of attack and defence. Less fierce of expression than +Thyrsus, his eyes were ever on the watch to follow every moment +of his antagonist, and like a wall of adamant he stood receiving +all his thrusts with a studied patience, giving back none till his +attacker's strength was well-nigh exhausted. Then he fell upon him +and slew him. An effigy of the two giants yet adorns the wall of the +wayside chapel at Tirschendorf. + +Haymon was still in the prime of manhood, being about thirty-five, +and this was but one of his many successful combats. Nevertheless, +it was destined to be his last, for a Benedictine monk of Tegernsee +coming by while he was yet in the first flush of victory, succeeded so +well in reasoning with him on the worthlessness of all on which he had +hitherto set his heart, and on the superior attractions of a higher +life, that he then and there determined to give up his sanguinary +career, and henceforth devote his strength to the service of Christ. + +In pursuance of this design he determined to build with his own hands +a church and monastery on the site of the ruined town of Valdidena, +by the banks of the Sill. With his own hands he quarried the stone +and felled the timber; but in the meantime the Evil One in the form +of a huge dragon had taken possession of the place. Never did he let +himself be seen; but when he came to lay the foundation, Haymon found +every morning that whatever work he had done by day, the dragon had +destroyed by night. Then he saw that he must watch by night as well +as work by day, and by this means he discovered with what manner of +adversary he had to deal. The dragon lashed the ground with his tail in +fury, just as the wild wind stirs up the sea, and filled the air with +the smoke and sparks he breathed out of his mouth. Haymon saw that +with all his strength and science he could not overcome so terrible +an enemy; nevertheless, he did not lose heart, but commended himself +to God. Meantime, the streaks of morn began to appear over the sky, +and at sight of them the dragon turned and fled. Haymon perceived +his advantage, and pursued him; by-and-by the rocks bounding the +path contracted, and at last they came to the narrow opening of a +cave. As soon as the dragon had got his head in and could not turn, +Haymon raised his sword with a powerful swing, and calling on God +to aid his stroke, with one blow severed the monster's head from the +trunk. As a trophy of his feat, he cut out the creature's sting, which +was full two feet long, and subsequently hung it up in the Sanctuary, +and something to represent it is still shown in the church of Wilten. + +After this, the building went on apace; and when it was completed, +he took up a huge stone which had been left over from the foundation +of the building, and flung it with the whole power of his arm. It +sped over the plain for the space of nearly two miles, till it struck +against the hill of Ambras, and rolled thence down again upon the +plain, 'where it may yet be seen;' and with all the land between he +endowed the monastery. Then he called thither a colony of Benedictines +to inhabit it, and himself lived a life of penance as the lowest among +them for eighteen years; and here he died in the year 878. Another +benefit which he conferred on the neighbourhood was rebuilding the +bridge of Innsbruck. [139] Tradition says he was buried on the right +hand side of the high altar, and even preserves the following rough +lines as his epitaph:-- + + + Als Tag und Jahr verloffen war + Achthundert schon verstrichen + Zu siebzig acht hats auch schon g'macht + Da Heymons Tod verblichen. + Der tapfere Held hat sich erwählt + En Kloster aufzuführen + Gab alles hinein, gieng selbst auch drein, + Wollts doch nicht selbst regieren. + Hat löblich gelebt, nach Tugent gstrebt + Ein Spiegel war er allen; + Riss hin riss her, ist nicht mehr er, + Ins Grab ist er hier g'fallen. + + +Many fruitless searches have been made for his body; the last, in +the year 1644, undermined great part of the wall of the church, and +caused its fall. The popular belief in the existence of the giants +Haymon and Thyrsis has found a forcible expression nevertheless in +two huge wooden figures, placed at the entrance of the Minster Church. + +The parish church of Wilten has a more ancient and curious relic in +the Mutter Gottes unter den vier Säulen, [140] of which it is said, +that the Thundering Legion having been stationed at Valdidena about +the year 137, had this image with them; that on one occasion of being +ordered on a distant expedition they buried it under four trees, +and never had the opportunity of recovering it. That when Rathold von +Aiblingen made his pilgrimage to Rome, he brought back with him the +secret of its place of concealment, exhumed it, set it up on the altar +under a baldachino with four pillars, where it has never ceased to be +an object of special veneration. This received a notable encouragement +when Friedrich mit der leeren Tasche, wandering in secret through the +country with his trusty Hans von Müllinen after the ban of the empire +had been pronounced against him, knelt before this shrine, and prayed a +blessing on his unchanging devotion to it. The sequel made him believe +that his prayer was heard; and when he was once more established in his +possessions, he caused himself and his friend to be portrayed kneeling +at the shrine to seek protection under the fostering mantle of the +Virgin, and had the picture hung on the wall of the church opposite. + +The name of Innsbruck first occurs in a record of the year 1027, +on occasion of a concession granted to the chapel of S. Jakob in +der Au--S. James's in the Field--probably the spot on which the +stately Pfarrkirche now stands. Prior to this, the little settlement +of inhabitants, whom the commerce between Germany and Italy had +gathered round the Inn-bridge, could only satisfy the obligation of +the Sunday and Holy-day mass by attendance in the church of Wilten; +now, the faculty was granted to their own little chapel. + +Its situation made it a convenient entrepôt for many articles of +heavy merchandise, and, as years went by, a dwelling-place of various +merchants also. All this time it was a dependency of the monks of +Wilten. In 1180, Berthold II. von Andechs, acquired from them by +treaty certain rights over the prospering town. His successor, Otho +I., surrounded it with walls and fortifications, and built himself a +residence, on the entrance of which was chiselled the date of 1234, +and the inscription,-- + + + Dies Haus stehet in Gottes Hand + Ottoburg ist es genannt. + + +And on the same spot, in an old house overlooking the river Inn, +some remains of this foundation may be traced, to which the name of +Ottoburg still attaches. + +In 1239 it was treated to the privilege of being the only dépôt +for goods between the Ziller and the Melach; other concessions +followed, maintaining its ever-rising importance. In 1279 Bruno, +Bishop of Brixen, consecrated a second church, the Morizkapelle, in +the Ottoburg. But though both its temporal and spiritual lords appear +to have encouraged its growth by every means in their power, and though +there are records of occasional noble gatherings within its precincts, +it was not till after the cession of Tirol to Austria by Margaretha +Maultasch that the convenience of its central situation, and its water +communication by the Inn and Danube with other towns of the empire, +suggested its adoption as the seat of government of the country. + +The fidelity of the towns-people to Duke Rudolf IV. of Austria at +the time of a Bavarian invasion, elicited a further outpouring of +privileges from their ruler, putting beyond all dispute in a short +time the priority of Innsbruck over all the towns of Tirol. + +Friederich mit der leeren Tasche made it his residence, and his base of +operations for reducing the Rottenburgers and other powerful nobles, +who during the late unsettled condition of the government had set +at naught his power and oppressed the people. In this he received +the warmest support of the Innsbruckers, which he in turn repaid by +granting all their wishes. + +The singular loyalty of the Tirolese, and their good fortune in +having been generally blessed with upright and noble-minded rulers, +make their annals read like a continuous heroic romance. The deeds +of their princes have for centuries been household words in every +mountain home of Tirol. None have had a deeper place in their hearts +than the fortunes of Friedl, and never was any man more fortunate in +his misfortunes. Before they yet knew what manner of prince he was, +the ban of the empire had made him a penniless wanderer. Reduced to +a condition lower than their own, the peasants wherever he passed +gathered round him, and swore to stand by him, and concealed his +hiding-places with the closest fidelity. One night he came weary and +wayworn to Bludenz in Vorarlberg, seeking shelter before the impending +storm. The night-watch had the closest orders to beware of strangers, +for an incursion of the imperial army was expected, and every stranger +might be a spy; no entreaty of Friedl on his friend Hans could shake +his obedience to orders. When the Prince declared who he was, the man +said, 'Would it were Friedl indeed!' but added that he would not be +taken in by the pretence, however well devised. At last the outcast +obtained from him that he would send for an innkeeper to whom he was +known. Mine host at once recognised his sovereign, and received him +with joy. The Thorwächter trembled when he found what he had done, +but Frederick commended his steadfastness heartily, and invited him to +dine at his table next day. While he was here, the Emperor summoned the +burghers to give up his prisoner; but the Bludenzers sent answer that +'they had sworn fealty to Duke Frederick and the House of Austria, +and they would not break their oath.' This spirited reply would +probably have brought an army to their gates had Frederick remained +among them; but in order to save them from an attack, for which they +were little prepared, he took his departure,--by stealth, or they +would not have suffered him to depart, even for their own safety's +sake. At other times he would earn his day's food by manual labour +before he disclosed to his entertainers who he was, and then he would +only partake of the same frugal fare, and the same hard lodging, +as the peasants who received him. By these means he became deeply +endeared to the people, who thus knew he was one who felt for their +privations, and shared their feelings and opinions, and did not treat +them with supercilious contempt like one of the nobles. + +When by these wanderings Frederick had discovered how deeply the +people loved him, he arranged with the owner of the Rofnerhof in the +Oetztal a plan by which, on occasion of a great fair at Landeck, +always crowded by people from all the country round, he appeared +in the character of principal actor in a peasant-comedy, which set +forth the sufferings of a prince driven from his throne by cruel +enemies, wandering homeless among his people, then calling them to +arms, and leading them to victory. The excitement of the people at +the representation exceeded his highest expectations. Loud sobs and +cries accompanied his description of the Prince's woes; but when he +came to sing of the people following their prince's call to arms, +their ardour became quite irresistible. The enthusiasm was contagious; +Frederick could no longer contain himself; he threw off his disguise, +and declared himself their Friedl. It needed no more; unbidden they +proffered their allegiance and their vows to defend his rights to +the last drop of their blood. The enthusiasm of the Landeckers soon +spread over the whole country; and when the Emperor Sigismund and +Ernst der Eiserne and Frederick's other foes found his people were as +firm as their own mountains in his defence, they gave up the attempt +at further persecution, and concluded a truce with him. + +In his prosperity he did not forget the peasants who had stood by him +so loyally. While he tamed the power of their oppressors, he did all +he could to lighten their burdens; and to many, who had rendered him +special service, he marked his gratitude by special favours. Thus, to +Ruzo of the Rofnerhof he granted among other privileges the right of +asylum on his demesne, which was put in use down to the year 1783. We +have already seen his conflict with Henry of Rottenburg, [141] and +in the same way he tamed the overgrown power of other nobles. In the +course of our wanderings we shall often find the popular hero's name +stored up in the people's lore. + +In connection with Innsbruck, he is well known to the most superficial +tourist as the builder of the Goldene Dachl-gebäude. + +And what is the goldene Dachl-Gebäude?--It is a most picturesque +addition to, and almost all remaining of, what in his time was the +Fürstenburg, or princely palace, having a roof of shining gilt copper +tiles, sufficiently low to be in sight of the passer-by; but the +account the best English guide-book gives the tourist of its origin +is so wanting in the true appreciation of Friedl's character, that I +am fain to supply the Tirolese version of it. The above account says +that it was built in 1425 'by Frederick, called in ridicule "Empty +Purse," who, in order to show how ill-founded was the nickname, spent +thirty thousand ducats on this piece of extravagance, which probably +rendered the nickname more appropriate than before.' Now, to say that +he was called 'Empty Purse' thus vaguely would imply that it was a name +given by common consent, and generally adopted. To say that he built +the Golden Roof only to show that such a nickname was ill-founded, +is simply to accuse him of arrogance. To treat it as an extravagance +which justified the accusation, is to convict him of folly. + +But the government of Frederick [142]--which is felt even yet in the +present independent spirit of Tirol, which consolidated the country +and made it respected, which set up the dignity of the Freihof and +the Schildhof the foundation of a middle class as a dam against the +encroachments of the nobility on the peasantry, which yet lives on in +the hearts of the people, was an eminently prudent administration, +and the story does not fit it. If, instead of resting satisfied +with this compendious but flippant account, you ask the first true +Tirolese you meet to expound it, he will tell you that Friedl had +grown so familiar with peasant life that he despoiled himself to +better the condition of his poorer subjects, not only by direct means, +but by his expeditions in their defence, and also in forbearing to +exact burdensome taxes. The nickname was not given him by general +consent; nor at all, by the people; it was the cowardly revenge of +those selfish nobles who could not appreciate the abnegation of his +character. Frederick saw in it a reproach, offered not so much to +himself as to his people; it seemed to say that the people who loved +him so well withheld the subsidies which should make him as grand as +other monarchs. To disprove the calumny, and to show that his people +enabled him to command riches too, he made this elegant little piece of +display, which served also to adorn his good town of Innsbruck; but he +did not on that account alter his frugal management of his finances; +so that when he came to die, though he had made none cry out that he +had laid burdens on them, he yet left a replenished treasury. [143] + +This is still one of the notable ornaments of Innsbruck. The house +is let to private families, but the 'gold-roofed' Erker, or oriel, +is kept up as a beloved relic almost in its original condition. There +is a curious old fresco within, the subject of which is disputed; and +on the second floor there is a sculptured bas-relief, representing +Maximilian and his two wives, Mary of Burgundy and Maria Bianca +of Milan, and the seven coats of arms of the seven provinces under +Maximilian's government. + +Sigismund 'the Monied,' Frederick's son and successor (1430-93), +is more chargeable with extravagance, [144] but his extravagance +was all for the advantage of Innsbruck. The reception he gave to +Christian I., King of Denmark, when on his way to Rome, is a striking +illustration of the resources of the country in his time. Sigismund +went out to meet him at some miles' distance from the capital, with +a train of three hundred horses, all richly caparisoned; his consort +(Eleanor of Scotland) followed with her suite in two gilt carriages, +and surrounded by fifty ladies and maidens on their palfreys. The +King of Denmark stayed three days; every day was a festival, and +the magnificent dresses of the court were worthy of being specially +chronicled. There seems to have been no lack of satin and velvet and +ermine, embroidery, and fringes of gold-work. + +Nor was mental culture neglected; for we find mention, at the same +date, of public schools governed by 'a rector,' which would seem to +imply that they had something beyond an elementary character. The +impulse given to commerce by the working of the silver-mines also had +the effect of causing some of the chief roads of the country to be made +and improved. The most lasting traces of Sigismund's reign, however, +are the ruined towers which adorn the mountain landscapes. Wherever +we go in Tirol, we come upon some memory of his expensive fancy +for building isolated castles as a pied à terre for his hunting and +fishing excursions, still distinguished by such names as Sigmundskron, +Sigmundsfried, Sigmundslust, Sigmundsburg, Sigmundsegg, and which we +shall have occasion to notice as we go along. His wars were of no +great benefit to the country, but his command of money enabled him +to include Vorarlberg within his frontier. Sigismund was, however, +entirely wanting in administrative qualities. This deficiency helped +out his extravagance in dissipating the whole benefit which might +have resulted to the public exchequer from the silver-works of his +reign; and at last he yielded to the wholesome counsel of abdicating +in favour of his cousin Maximilian. + +Maximilian (1493-1519) is another of the household heroes of +Tirol. Even after he was raised to the throne of empire he still +loved his Tirolean home, and his residence there further increased the +importance of the town of Innsbruck. He built the new palace in the +Rennplatz, called the Burg, which was completed for his marriage with +Maria Bianca, daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, of Milan. Splendid +was the assemblage gathered in Innsbruck for this ceremonial. Three +years later it was further astonished by the magnificence of the +Turkish Embassy; and the discussion of various treaties of peace +were also frequently the means of adding brilliancy to the court, +and prosperity to the town. His other benefits to the city, and +Innsbruck's unworthy return to him, I have already mentioned in the +beginning of this chapter. + +Many a fantastic Sage is told of Maximilian in the neighbourhood, +which we shall find in their due places. The fine hunting-ground +Tirol affords was one of its greatest attractions for him; it led him, +however, to introduce certain game-laws, and this was one principal +element in bringing about the decline of his popularity in the last +years of his life. At his death this disaffection broke out, and caused +one of the most serious insurrectionary movements which have disturbed +the even tenour of Tirolese loyalty. To this was added the influence of +Lutheran teaching, the effects of which we have seen in the Zillerthal. + +This spirit of discontent had time to gain ground during the first +years of Maximilian's grandson and successor, Charles Quint, whose +immensely extended duties drew his attention off from Tirol. Very +shortly after his accession, however, he made over the German +hereditary dominions, including Tirol, to his brother Ferdinand, +who established his family in this country. His wise administration +and prudent concessions soon conciliated the people; though severe +measures were also needed, and the year 1529 was signalized in +Innsbruck by some terrible executions. These were forgotten when, in +the year 1531, Charles Quint, returning victorious from Pavia, on his +way to Augsburg stayed and held court at Innsbruck; Ferdinand met him +on the Brenner pass, and accompanied him to the capital. When Charles +reached the Burg, Ferdinand's children received him at the entrance; +and the tenderness with which he greeted and kissed them was remarked +by the people, on whom this token of homely affection had a powerful +effect. Electors and princes, spiritual and temporal, came to pay their +homage to the Emperor; and Innsbruck was so filled with the titled +throng, that the Landtag had to remove its session to Hall. Ferdinand's +other dominions, and the question of the threatened war with Turkey, +necessitated frequent absences from Innsbruck. During one of these +(in 1534) the Burg was burnt down, and his children were only rescued +from their beds with difficulty. The great Hall, called the goldene +Saal, and the state bedroom, which was so beautifully ornamented that +it bore the title of das Paradies, were all reduced to ashes. In 1541 +Innsbruck was once more honoured by a visit of the magnificent Emperor; +and again, ten years later, he took up his residence there, that he +might be near the Session of the Council of Trent. It was while he +was living here peacefully in all confidence, and almost unattended, +that Maurice, Elector of Saxony, having suddenly joined the Smalkald +League, treacherously attempted to surprise him, marching with a +considerable armed force through pass Fernstein. Charles, who was laid +up with illness at the time, was enabled by the loyal devotion of the +Tirolese to escape in the night-time and in a storm of wind and rain, +being borne in a litter over the Brenner, and by difficult mountain +paths through Bruneck into Carinthia. Maurice, baffled in his scheme, +exercised his vengeance in plundering the imperial possessions, while +his followers devastated the peasants' homes, the monastery of Stams, +and other religious houses that lay in their way. The sufferings of the +Tirolese on this occasion doubtless tended to confirm them in their +aversion for the Lutheran League. Maurice's end was characteristic, +and the Tirolese, ever on the look-out for the supernatural, were +not slow to see in it a worthy retribution for his treatment of +their Emperor. Albert of Brandenburg refused to join in the famous +Treaty of Passau, subsequently concluded by Maurice and the other +Lutheran leaders with the Emperor. This and other differences led to +a sanguinary struggle between them, in the course of which Maurice +was killed in battle at Sieverhausen. + +Ferdinand the First's reign has many mementos in Innsbruck. He built +the Franciscan church, otherwise called the heiligen Kreuzkirche +and the Hofkirche, which, tradition says, had been projected by his +grandfather, Kaiser Max, though there is no written record of the fact; +and he raised within it a most grandiose and singular monument to him, +which has alone sufficed to attract many travellers to Tirol. The +original object of the foundation of the church seems to have been +the establishment of a college of canons in this centre, to oppose +the advance of Lutheran teaching. It was begun in 1543, the first +design having been rejected by Ferdinand as not grand enough, and +consecrated in 1563. He seems to have been at some pains to find a +colony of religious willing to undertake, and competent to fulfil, +his requirements; and not coming to an agreement with any in Germany +or the Netherlands, ultimately called in a settlement of Franciscans +from Trent and the Venetian provinces, consisting of twenty priests +and thirteen lay-brothers. The chief ornaments of the building +itself are the ten large--but too slender--red marble columns, which +support the plateresque roof. The greater part of the nave is taken +up with Maximilian's monument--cenotaph rather, for he lies buried +at Wiener-Neustadt, the oft-contemplated translation of his remains +never having been carried into effect. It was Innsbruck's fault, +as we have seen, that they were not originally laid to rest there, +and it is her retribution to have been denied the honour of housing +them hitherto. The monument itself is a pile upwards of thirteen feet +long and six high, of various coloured marbles, raised on three red +marble steps; on the top is a colossal figure, representing the Kaiser +dressed in full imperial costume, kneeling, his face being directed +towards the altar--a very fine work, cast in bronze by Luigi del Duca, +a Sicilian, in 1582. The sides and ends are divided by slender columns +into twenty-four fine white marble compartments, [145] setting forth +the story of his achievements in lace-like relief. If the treatment of +the facts is sometimes somewhat legendary, the details and accessories +are most painstakingly and delicately rendered, great attention +having been paid to the faithfulness of the costumes and buildings +introduced, and the most exquisite finish lavished on all. They were +begun in 1561 by the brothers Bernhard and Arnold Abel, of Cologne, +who went in person to Genoa to select the Carrara tablets for their +work; but they both died in 1563, having only completed three. Then +Alexander Collin of Mechlin took up the work, and with the aid of a +large school of artists completed them in all their perfection in three +years more. Around it stands a noble guard of ancestors historical and +mythological, cast in bronze, of colossal proportions, twenty-eight +in number. It is a solemn sight as you enter in the dusk of evening, +to see these stern old heroes keeping eternal watch round the tomb +of him who has been called 'the last of the Knights,' der letzte +Ritter. They have not, perhaps, the surpassing merit of the Carrara +reliefs, but they are nobly conceived nevertheless. For lightness +of poise, combined with excellence of proportion and delicacy of +finish, the figure of our own King Arthur commends itself most to my +admiration; but that of Theodoric is generally reckoned to bear away +the palm from all the rest. They stand in the following order. + +Starting on the right side of the nave on entering, we have: + + + 1. Clovis, the first Christian King of France. + 2. Philip 'the Handsome,' [146] of the Netherlands, Maximilian's + son, reckoned as Philip I. of Spain, though he never reigned + there. + 3. Rudolf of Hapsburg. + 4. Albert II. the Wise, Maximilian's great-grandfather. + 5. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. (455-526.) + 6. Ernest der Eiserne, Duke of Austria and Styria. (1377-1424.) + 7. Theodebert, Duke of Burgundy. (640.) + 8. King Arthur of England. + 9. Sigmund der Münzreiche, Count of Tirol. (1427-96.) + 10. Maria Bianca Sforza, Maximilian's second wife. (Died 1510.) + 11. The Archduchess Margaret, Maximilian's daughter. + 12. Cymburgis of Massovica, wife of Ernest der Eiserne. (Died 1433.) + 13. Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, father of Maximilian's + first wife. + 14. Philip the Good, father of Charles the Bold. Founder of the + Order of the Golden Fleece. + + +This completes the file on the right side; on our walk back down the +other side we come to-- + + + 15. Albert II., Duke of Austria, and Emperor of Germany. + (1397-1439.) + 16. Emperor Frederick I., Maximilian's father. (1415-95.) + 17. St. Leopold, Margrave of Austria; since 1506 the patron + saint of Austria. (1073-1136.) + 18. Rudolf, Count of Hapsburg, grandfather or uncle of 'Rudolf + of Hapsburg.' + 19. Leopold III., 'the Pious,' Duke of Austria, Maximilian's + great-grandfather; killed at Sempach, 1439. + 20. Frederick IV. of Austria, Count of Tirol, surnamed 'mit der + leeren Tasche.' + 21. Albert I., D. of Austria, Emperor. (Born 1248; assassinated + by his nephew John of Swabia, 1308.) + 22. Godfrey de Bouillon, King of Jerusalem in 1099. + 23. Elizabeth, wife of the Emperor Albert II., daughter of + Sigismund, King of Hungary and Bohemia. (1396-1442.) + 24. Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian's first wife. (1457-82.) + 25. Eleonora of Portugal, wife of the Emperor Frederick III., + Maximilian's mother. + 26. Cunigunda, Maximilian's sister, wife of Duke Albert IV. of + Bavaria. + 27. Ferdinand 'the Catholic.' + 28. Johanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and wife of + Maximilian's son, Philip I. of Spain. + + +There is a vast difference in the quality both of the design +and execution of these statues; the greater number and the more +artistic were cast by Gregor Löffler, who established a foundry +on purpose at Büchsenhausen; the rest by Stephen and Melchior +Godl, and Hanns Lendenstreich, who worked at Mühlau, a suburb of +Innsbruck. All honour is due to them for the production of some of +the most remarkable works of their age; but it was some unknown mind, +probably that of some humble nameless Franciscan, to whom is due the +conception and arrangement of this piece of symbolism. It originally +included, besides the statues already enumerated, twenty-three +others, of saints, which were to have received a more elevated +station, and it is for this reason that they are much smaller in +size. They are now placed in the so-called 'Silver Chapel,' and are +too frequently overlooked; but it is necessary to take them into +account in order worthily to criticize this great monument. They +are as follows:--1. St. Adelgunda, daughter of Walbert, Count +of Haynault. 2. St. Adelbert, Count of Brabant. 3. St. Doda, +wife of St. Arnulf, Duke of the Moselle. 4. St. Hermelinda, +daughter of Witger, Count of Brabant. 5. St. Guy, Duke of +Lotharingia. 6. St. Simpert, Bishop of Augsburg, son of Charlemagne's +sister Symporiana, who rebuilt the monastery of St. Magnus at +Füssen. 7. St. Jodok, son of a king of Great Britain; he wears a +palmer's dress. 8. St. Landerich, Bishop of Metz, son of St. Vincent, +Count of Haynault, and St. Waltruda. 9. St. Clovis. 10. St. Oda, +wife of Duke Conrad. 11. St. Pharaild, daughter of Witger, Count of +Brabant. 12. St. Reinbert, brother of the last. 13. St. Roland, brother +of St. Simpert. 14. St. Stephen, King of Hungary. 15. St. Venantius, +martyr, son of Theodoric, Duke of Lotharingia. 16. St. Waltruda, +mother of St. Landerich (No. 8). 17. St. Arnulf, husband of +St. Doda (No. 3), afterwards Bishop of Metz. 18. St. Chlodulf, +son of St. Waltruda (No. 16), also Bishop of Metz. 19. St. Gudula, +sister of St. Albert, Count of Brabant. 20. St. Pepin Teuto, Duke of +Brabant. 21. St. Trudo, priest, son of St. Adela. 22. St. Vincent, +monk. 23. Richard Coeur-de-Lion. A series of men and women, all more +or less closely connected with the House of Hapsburg, selected for +the alleged holiness of their lives or deeds under one aspect or +another. It needs no laboured argument to show the appropriateness +of thus representing to the life the solidarity of piety and worth in +the great hero's earthly family, though a few words may not be out of +place to distinguish the characters allied only or chiefly by the ties +of the great family of chivalry. These are--1. King Arthur (No. 8), +representative of the mythology of the Round Table. 2. Roland (No. 13 +in the series of the saints), representing the myths of the Twelve +Peers of France. 3. Theodobert (No. 7), who received a hero's death +in the plain of Chalons at the hand of Attila, to be immortalized in +the Western Nibelungen Myths. 4. Theodoric (No. 5), celebrated as +'Dietrich von Bern' in the Eastern. 5. Godfrey de Bouillon (No. 22), +representing the legendary glory of the Crusades. [147] + +The two other statues, of a later date--St. Francis and St. Clare--are +by Moll, a native of Innsbruck, who became a sculptor of some +note at Vienna. The picture of St. Anthony over the altar of the +Confraternity of St. Anthony, on the Epistle side of this church, has +a great reputation among the people, because it remained uninjured +in a fire which in 1661 burnt down the church of Zirl, where it was +originally placed. [148] Five years later it was brought hither for +greater honour, and was let into a larger painting by Jele of Vienna, +representing a multitude of sick and suffering brought by their friends +to pray for healing before it. There is not much else in this church +that is noteworthy (besides 'the Silver Chapel,' which belongs to +the notice of Ferdinand II.). What there is may be mentioned in a few +lines, namely--the Fürstenchor, or tribune for the royal family, high +up on the right side of the chancel, with the adjoining little chapel +and its paintings, and cedar-wood organ, the gift of Julius II. to +Ferdinand I.; the quaint old clock; and the memory that Queen Christina +of Sweden made her abjuration here 28th October 1655. Her conduct on +the occasion was, according to local tradition, most edifying. She +was dressed plainly in black silk, with no other ornament than a +large cross on her breast, with five sparkling diamonds to recall the +glorious Wounds of the Redeemer. The emphasis with which she repeated +the Latin profession of faith after the Papal nuncio did not pass +unnoticed. The Ambrosian Hymn was sung at the close of the ceremony, +and the church bells and town cannon spoke the congratulations of +the Innsbruckers on this and the subsequent days of her stay among +them. Among other tokens of gladness, several mystery plays (which +are still greatly in vogue in Tirol) were represented. Another public +ceremony of her stay was the translation of Kranach's Madonna, the +favourite picture of Tirol, brought to it by Leopold V. The original +altar-piece of the Hofkirche, by Paul Troger--the Invention of the +Cross--was removed by Maria Theresa to Vienna, because the figure of +the Empress Helena was counted a striking likeness of herself. + +The introduction of the Jesuits into Tirol, and the subsequent +building of the Jesuitenkirche in Innsbruck, and the labours of +B. Peter Canisius among the people, was also the work of Ferdinand +I. The peaceful prosperity which his wise government procured for the +country, while wars and religious divisions were distracting the rest +of Europe, gave opportunity for the development of its literature +and art-culture. [149] + +One melancholy event of his reign was the outbreak in its last year, of +a terrible epidemic, which committed appalling ravages. All who could, +including the royal family, escaped to a distance; and those who had +been stricken with it were removed to the Siechenhaus, and isolated +from the rest of the population. As has frequently happened on similar +occasions, the dread of the malady operated to deprive the sick of the +help of which they stood in need. It was when the plague raged highest, +and the majority were most absorbed with the thought of securing their +own safety, that a poor woman of the people, named Magaretha Hueber, +rising superior to the vulgar terror, took upon herself cheerfully the +management of the desolate Siechenhaus. The example of her courage was +all that was needed to bring out the Christian confidence and charity +of the masses; and to her devotion was owing not only the relief of +the plague-stricken, but the moral effect of her spirit and energy +was also not without its fruit in staying the havoc of the contagion; +and she is still remembered by the name of die fromme Siechen. + +Shortly before his death (which happened in 1564), Ferdinand had his +second son, Ferdinand II., publicly acknowledged in the Landtag of +Innsbruck, Landesfürst of Tirol. His own affection for the country +had prevented him from suffering its interests to be ever neglected +by the pressure of his vast rule; and now when his great age warned +him that he would be able to watch over it no longer, he determined +to give it once more the benefit of an independent government. + +Ferdinand II. seems to have had all the excellent administrative +qualities of his father in the degree necessary for his restricted +sphere of dominion. His disposition for the culture of peaceful arts +was promoted by the happiness of his family life. The story of his +early love, and his marriage in accordance with the dictates of his +heart, in an age when matrimonial alliances were too often dictated by +political considerations alone, have made one of the romances dearest +to the popular mind. The natural retribution of a disturbance of the +regular succession to the throne followed, but with Tirol's usual +good fortune the consequences did not prove disastrous, as we shall +see later on. + +Situated at the distance of a pleasant hour's walk from Innsbruck, +and forming an exceedingly picturesque object in the views from it, +is Schloss Ambras, in ancient times one of the chief bulwarks of the +Innthal. Ferdinand I. bought it of the noble family of Schurfen at +the time when he nominated his son to the government of the country, +and it always remained Ferdinand II.'s favourite residence. Hither he +brought home the beautiful Philippine Welser, whose grace and modesty +had won his heart at first sight, as she leant forward from her turret +window to cast her flowery greeting at the feet of the Emperor Charles +Quint when he came into Augsburg, and the young and handsome prince +rode by his side. Philippine had been betrothed by her father to the +heir of the Fugger family, the richest and most powerful of Augsburg; +but her eyes had met Ferdinand's, and that one glance had revealed to +both that their happiness lay in union with each other. Fortunately +for Philippine she possessed in her mother a devoted confidant and +ally. True, Ferdinand could not rest till he had obtained a stolen +interview with her; but the true German woman had confidence in the +honour and virtue of the reigning House, and the words Philippine, +who was truth itself, reported were those of true love, which knows no +shame. Nevertheless, the Fugger was urgent, and old Welser--a sturdy +upholder of his family tradition for upright dealing--never, they knew, +could be brought to be wanting to his word. The warm love of youth, +however, is ever a match for the steady calculation of age. While the +fathers Welser and Fugger were counting their money-bags, Ferdinand +had devised a plan which easily received the assent of Philippine's +affection for him, the rather that her mother, for whom a daughter's +happiness stood dearer than any other consideration, gave it her +countenance and aid. At an hour agreed, Ferdinand appeared beneath the +turret where their happiness was first revealed to them; at a little +distance his horses were in waiting. Not an instant had he to wait; +Philippine, already fortified by her mother's farewell benediction, +joined him ere a pang of misgiving had time to enter his mind, an +old and trusted family servant accompanying her. Safely the fugitives +reached the chapel, where a friendly priest--Ferdinand's confessor, +Johann Cavallerüs--waited to bless the nuptials of the devoted pair, +the old servant acting as witness. Old Franz Welser was subsequently +induced to give his approval and paternal benediction; and if his +burgher pride was wounded by his daughter marrying into a family which +might look down upon her connexions, he had the consoling reflection +that he was able to give her a dowry which many princes might envy; +and also in the discovery of a friendly antiquary, that even his +lineage, if not royal, was not either to be despised, for it could +be traced up to the same stock which gave Belisarius to the Empire! + +Ferdinand's marriage was, I believe, never known to his father; though +there are stories of his being won over to forgive it by Philippine's +gentle beauty and worth, but these are probably referable to the +succeeding Emperor. However this may be, the devoted pair certainly +lived for some time in blissful retirement at Ambras; and after his +brother, Maximilian II., had acknowledged the legality of Ferdinand's +marriage--on the condition that the offspring of it should never +claim the rank of Archdukes of Austria--Ambras, which had been their +first retreat, was so endeared to them, that they always loved to +live there better than anywhere else. There were born to them two +sons--Karl, who afterwards became a Cardinal and Bishop of Brixen; +and Andreas, Markgrave of Burgau, to whom Ferdinand willed Ambras, +on condition that he should maintain its regal beauties, and preserve +undiminished the rich stores of books and rare manuscripts, coins, +armour, objects of vertù, and curiosities of every sort which it had +been the delight of his and Philippine's leisure hours to collect. This +testamentary disposition the son judged would be best carried out by +selling the place to the Emperor Rudolf II. in 1606; and Ambras has +accordingly ever since been reckoned a pleasure-seat of the imperial +family. The unfortunate love of centralization, more than the fear of +foreign invasion, which was the ostensible pretext, deprived Tirol +of these treasures. They were removed to Vienna in 1806, where they +may be visited in the Belvedere Palace, the promise of restoring them, +often made, not having yet been fulfilled. Among the remnants that are +left, are still some tokens of Ferdinand's taste and genius, and some +touching memorials of thirty years of happiness purer and truer than +had often before been combined with the enjoyment of power. There are +some pieces of embroidery, with which Philippine occupied her lonely +hours while Ferdinand's public duties obliged him to be away from her, +among them a well-executed Crucifixion; and some natural curiosities in +the shape of gnarled and twisted roots, needing little effort of the +imagination to convert into naturally--perhaps supernaturally--formed +crucifixes, and which they had doubtless found pleasure in unearthing +in the woods round Ambras. At the time of my visit the private chapel +was being very well restored, and some frescoes very fairly executed +by Wienhold, a local artist who has studied in Rome. There is still +a small collection of armour, and a suit of clothes worn by a giant +in the suite of Charles Quint, which would appear to have belonged +to a man near eight feet high; also some portraits of the Hapsburg +family and other rulers of Tirol; among them Margareta Maultasch, +which, if it be faithful, disproves the story deriving her name from +the size of her mouth; but of this I shall have occasion to speak +later. Inglis mentions that among the relics is a piece of the tree +on which Judas hanged himself, but it was not shown to me. + +The people, whose own experience fixes the law of suffering in +their minds, will have it that these years of tranquil joy were not +unalloyed; but that Philippine's mother-in-law embittered them by +her jealous bickerings and reproaches, and that these in the end +led her to make a sacrifice of her life to the exigencies of her +husband's glory. The bath is yet pointed out at Ambras where she is +said to have bled herself to death to make way for a consort more +conformable to her husband's birth. All, even local, historians, +however, are agreed in rejecting this tradition. [150] It has served +nevertheless to endear her to the popular mind, for whom she is still +a model of domestic virtues no less than a type of beauty. Scarcely +is there a house in Tirol that is not adorned by her image. Among +other traditions of her personal perfections, it is fabled that her +skin was so delicate that the colour of the red wine could be seen +softly opalized as it passed her slender throat. [151] + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +NORTH TIROL--THE INNTHAL. + +INNSBRUCK (continued). + + + Ora conosce come s'innamora + Lo Ciel del giusto rege, et al sembiante + Del suo fulgore il fa vedere ancora. + + Dante Paradiso, xx. 63. [152] + + +Another local tradition of Ambras attaches to a spot where Wallenstein, +while a page in the household of Ferdinand and Philippine, fell +unharmed from the window of the corridor leading to the dining-hall, +making in the terrible moment a secret vow to the Blessed Virgin +of his conversion if he escaped with life, which hastened the work +begun doubtless by Philippine's devout example and teaching. There +is another, again, more marvellous still, and dated from an earlier +period, and shortly before the purchase of the castle by the reigning +family. It is said that Theophrastus Paracelsus, of whom many weird +stories are told, was at one time sojourning at Innsbruck--where, +another tradition has it, he died--and in the course of his wanderings +in search of plants of strange healing powers, came to this outlying +and then neglected castle. A peasant woman seeing him pass her cottage +weary and footsore, asked him to come in and rest and taste her +freshly-baked cakes, of which the homely odour scented the air. The +man of strange science thanked her for her hospitality, and in return +touched the tongs upon the hearth with his wonder-working book, and +behold the iron was turned into pure gold. The origin of such a legend +as this is easy to trace; the book of the touch of which such virtue +is fabled, plainly represents the learning of the studious savant, +which brought him, as well as fame, pecuniary advantage, enabling him +to astonish the peasants with payment in the precious metal not often +seen by them. But there are many others told of him, the details of +which are more complicated, and wander much further from the outline +of fact. The way in which he became possessed of his wonder-working +power is thus accounted for. [153] One Sunday morning, when he was +after his custom wandering in search of plants in a forest on the +heights not far from Innsbruck, he heard a voice calling him out of a +tree. 'Who are you?' cried Paracelsus. 'I am he whom men call the Evil +One,' answered the voice; 'but how wrong they are you shall judge; +if you but release me out of this tree you shall see I am not evil +at all.' 'How am I to set about it?' asked the clever Doctor. 'Only +look straight up the stem of the pine opposite you, and you will see +a bung with three crosses on it; all you have to do is to pull it +out, and I am free; if you do this I will show you how good I am by +giving you the two things you most desire, an elixir which shall turn +all to gold, and another which shall heal every malady.' Paracelsus, +lured by the tempting promise, pulled out the bung, and straightway +an ugly black spider crawled out of the hole, and quickly transformed +itself into an old man wrapped in a scarlet mantle. The demon kept his +word, and gave the Doctor the promised phials, but immediately began +threatening the frightful vengeance he would wreak on the exorcist +who had confined him in the tree. Paracelsus now blamed himself +for his too ready confidence in the character the demon had given +himself for goodness, and bethought him of a means of playing on the +imp's vanity. 'What a knowing man that same exorcist must be,' said +Paracelsus, 'to turn a tall powerful fellow like you into a spider, +and then drive you into a tree.' 'Not a bit of it,' replied the imp, +piqued, 'he couldn't have done anything of the sort, it was all my +own doing.' 'Your own doing!' exclaimed Paracelsus, with a mocking +laugh. 'Is that likely? I have heard of people being transformed by +some one of greater power than themselves, never by their own.' 'You +shall see, though,' said the provoked imp; and with that he quickly +resumed the form of a spider, and crawled back into the hole. [154] +Paracelsus, it may well be imagined, lost no time in replacing the +bung, on which he cut three fresh crosses to renew the spell; and +never can he again be released, for it was agreed never to cut down +this forest on account of the protection it afforded to the country +against the avalanches. + +But, it may be asked, the wonder-working phials once vouchsafed to +men, would surely be taken good care of. There is a legend to provide +for that too. [155] When the other doctors of Innsbruck found that +Paracelsus so far exceeded them in skill, they determined to poison +him. Paracelsus had knowledge of their plot by his arts, he knew too +that there was only one remedy against the poison they had adopted, +and he shut himself up, telling his servant not to disturb him for +five days. At the end of the fourth day, however, the curious servant +came into his room and broke the spell. Paracelsus had employed a +wonder-working spider to draw out the poison, which it would have done +in the course of five days. Disturbed on the fourth, Paracelsus knew +he must die. Determined that the jealous members of his profession +should not profit by their crime, he sent his servant with the two +phials and bid him stand in the middle of the Inn-bridge and throw +them into the river. Where they fell into the river the water was +streaked with molten gold. + +It remains to call attention to the splendid and truly Tirolean +panoramic view from the pretty terrace of Ambras, with its luxuriant +trellis of passion-flower and 'virgin vine.' Overhanging the village +of Ambras is the so-called Tummelplatz, where in the lifetime of +Ferdinand and Philippine, many a gay tournament was held, but since +used as a burying-place; first for the military hospital, to which +the castle was at one time devoted--and some seven or eight thousand +patriots were interred here between 1796 and 1810--and afterwards +for those who fell successfully resisting the Italian invasion of 1859. + +Whatever was the manner of Philippine's death, it was bitterly lamented +by Ferdinand, who found the usual refuge of human grief in raising a +splendid monument to her memory, in the so-called Silberne Kapelle in +the Hofkirche. The chapel had been built by him to satisfy her devotion +to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception; and in her lifetime was +so called from the solid silver image of the Blessed Virgin, and the +bas-reliefs of the mysteries of the rosary in the same metal over the +altar, itself a valuable ebony carving. She had loved to pray there, +and it accordingly formed a fitting resting-place for her mortal +remains. Her effigy in marble over her altar-shaped tomb is a figure +of exceeding beauty, and is ascribed to Alexander Collin; it stands +under a marble canopy. The upright slab is of white marble, carved +in three compartments; the centre one bearing a modest inscription, +and the other two, subjects recording her charity to the living and the +dead; the outline of the town of Innsbruck, as it appeared in her day, +forms the background. By his desire Ferdinand was buried near her; +his monument is similarly sunk in the thickness of the wall, which is +adorned with shields carved in relief, bearing the arms of his house +painted with their respective tinctures; and on the tomb are marble +reliefs, setting forth (after the manner of those on Maximilian's +cenotaph) the public acts of his life. This chapel came to be used +afterwards for Italian sermons by the consorts of subsequent rulers +of Tirol, many of whom were Italians. + +In 1572 Innsbruck was visited by a severe shock of earthquake, which +overthrew many buildings, and so filled the people with alarm, that +temporary wooden huts were built in the open field where they took +refuge. Ferdinand and Philippine had recourse to the same means of +safety; and while living thus, their only daughter, Anna Eleonora, +was born. In thanksgiving for this favour, and for the cessation +of the panic, the royal pair vowed a pilgrimage to Seefeld, [156] +which they accomplished on foot, accompanied by their sons; above +two thousand Innsbruckers following them. The general sentiment +of gratitude was further testified by the enactment on the part +of Ferdinand, and the glad acceptance on the part of the people, +of various rules of devotion, which have gone to form the subsequent +habits of the people. Three years of dearth succeeded the earthquake, +and were accepted by the pious ruler and people as a heavenly warning +to lead them to increased faith and devotion. Many Lutheran books +which had escaped earlier measures against them were spontaneously +brought forward and burnt; special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament +was promoted, Ferdinand himself setting the example; for whenever he +met the Viaticum on the way to the sick, whether he was in a carriage +or on horseback, he never failed to alight and kneel upon the ground, +whatever might be its condition. This was indeed a special tradition of +his house; it is told of Rudolf of Hapsburg, that one day as he was out +hunting, a furious storm came on, soon swelling the mountain torrents +and sweeping away paths and bridges. On the brink of a raging stream, +which there was no means of crossing, stood a priest, weather-bound on +his way to carry the last sacrament to a dying parishioner. Rudolf +recognised the sound of the bell, and directed his steps by its +leading to pay his homage to the 'hochwürdigste Gut.' He no sooner +learned the priest's difficulty than he dismounted, and offered him +his own horse. When the priest brought the animal back next day, the +pious prince told him he could not think of himself again crossing a +horse which had been honoured by having borne his Lord and Redeemer, +and begged him to keep it for the future service of religion. + +While Philippine's relations never sought to overstep the limits which +imperial etiquette had set them, Ferdinand seems to have treated them +with kind cordiality. An instance of this was the magnificence with +which he celebrated the marriage of her nephew, Johann von Kolourat, +with her maid-of-honour, Katarina von Boimont, in 1580: the 'Neustadt' +or principal street afforded space for tournaments and races which +lasted many days, and attracted the remaining votaries of chivalry +from all parts of Europe. The festivities were closed by a splendid +pageant, in which Ferdinand took part as 'Olympian Jove.' + +In 1582 Ferdinand married Anna Katharina Gonzaga, daughter of the Duke +of Mantua, who was no less pious than Philippine. The marriage was +celebrated at Innsbruck with great pomp. She was the first to introduce +the Capuchin Order into Germany. Some discussion in the general chapter +of the Order preceded the decision which allowed the monks to accept +the consequences of being exposed to a colder climate than that to +which they had been used. The first stone of their monastery was laid +by Ferdinand and Anna Katharina in August 1593, at the intersection +of the Universitäts-gasse and the Sill-gasse. Ferdinand died the +following year, regretted by all the people, but by none more than by +Anna Katharina, who passed the remainder of her days in a convent she +had founded at Innsbruck. She died in 1621, and desired the following +inscription to be put on her tomb:--'Miserere mei Domine dum veneris +in novissimo die.' + +The warning of the disastrous years 1572-4 was further turned +to practical account by Ferdinand in his desire to relieve the +distress of the peasants. In the first months of threatening famine +he bought with his own means large stores of grain in Hungary and +Italy, and opened depôts in various parts of Tirol, where it was +sold at a reasonable price. To provide a means of earning money for +those who were shut out of their ordinary labour, he laid out or +improved some of the most important high roads; he likewise exerted +himself in every way to promote the commerce of the country. His +reign conferred many other benefits on the people. Many laws were +amended and brought in conformity with the altered circumstances of +the age; the principle of self-taxation was established, and other +measures enacted which it does not belong to my present province to +particularise. He introduced also the use of the Gregorian Calendar, +and gave great encouragement to the cultivation of letters. It was +by his care that the most authentic MSS. of the Nibelungen poems and +other examples of early literature were preserved to us. + +As Ferdinand had no children by Anna Katharina, and those of Philippine +were not allowed to succeed, [157] the rule over Tirol went back at +his death to the Emperor Rudolf II., Maximilian's eldest son. In 1602, +however, he gave over the government to his brother Maximilian, who +is distinguished by the name of the Deutschmeister. Tirol was again +fortunate in her ruler; Maximilian was as pious and prudent a prince +as his predecessors. He promoted the educational establishments +of the town, and was a zealous opponent of religious differences; +he brought in the Order of Servites to oppose the remaining germs +of Lutheran teaching; the church and monastery at the end of the +Neustadt being built for them by Katharina Maria. There are some +pictures in the church by Theophilus Polak, Martin Knoller, Grasmair, +and other native artists; and the frescoes on the roof by Schöpf +are worth attention. A fanatic named Paul Lederer, one of the very +few Tirol has produced, rose in this reign, and carried away about +thirty persons to join a kind of sect which he attempted to form; +in accordance with the laws of the age, he was tried and executed, +after which his followers were no more heard of. + +Maximilian was much attached to the Capuchins, and built himself +a little hermitage within their precincts, which is still shown, +where he spent all the time he could spare in prayer and meditation; +following the rule of the monks, rising with them to their night +Offices, and employing himself at manual labour in the field and +in the workshop like one of them. His cell is paneled with plain +wood, the bed and chair are of the most ordinary make, as are the +ink-stand and other necessary articles, mostly his own handiwork; +it has a window high up in the chancel, whence he could assist at the +Offices in the church. The Empress Maria Theresa visited it in 1765, +and seating herself in the stiff wooden chair, exclaimed, 'What men +our forefathers were!' Another illustrious pilgrim, whose visit is +treasured in the memories of the house, was St. Lorenzo of Brindisi, +when on his way to found a house of the Order in Austria. The monks +begged of him his Hebrew Bible, his walking-stick, and breviary, +which are still treasured as relics. All the churches of Innsbruck and +many throughout Tirol felt the benefit of Maximilian's devotion to the +Church. His spirit was emulated by the townspeople, and when the fatal +epidemic of 1611 ceased its ravages, the burghers of Innsbruck built +the Dreiheiligkeitskirche [158] for the Jesuits, as a thank-offering +that the plague was stayed. + +The temporal affairs of Tirol received no less attention from +Archduke Maximilian than the spiritual. With the foresight of a true +statesman, he discovered the coming troubles of the Thirty Years' War, +and resolved that the defences of his country should be in a state +to keep the danger at a distance from her borders. The fortified +towers, especially those commanding the passes into the country, +were all overlooked, and plans of them carefully prepared, all the +fortifications being put in repair. The Landwehr, the living bulwarks, +the ready defenders of their beloved mountain Vaterland, attracted his +still more special attention, and he furnished them with a regulation +suited to the needs of the times. He settled also several outstanding +disputes with the Venetians, with Count Arco, and with neighbours over +the north and west frontiers; and an internal boundary quarrel between +the Bishops of Brixen and Trent. The death of Rudolf II., in 1612, had +invested him with supreme authority over the country, and simplified +his action in all these matters for the benefit of the commonwealth. + +Another outburst of pestilence occurred in 1611; the old Siechen-haus +was not big enough for all the sick, and had no church attached to +it. Two Jesuits--the professor of theology at their university, and +Kaspar von Köstlan, a native of Brixen--assisted by a lay-brother, +devoted themselves to the service of the sick; their example so +edified the Innsbruckers, that in their admiration they readily +provided the means, at their exhortation, to build a church. Hanns +Zimmermann, Dean of the Burgomasters, bound himself by a vow to see +to the erection of the building, and from that time it was observed +the fury of the pestilence began to diminish. Maximilian bought the +neighbouring house and appointed it for the residence of the chaplain +of the Siechen-haus and the doctors. He gave also the altarpiece by +Stötzl, representing the three Pestschutzheiligen, [159] and another +quaint and curious picture of the plague-genius. + +Maximilian died in 1618, and a religious vow having kept him unmarried, +the government was transferred to Leopold V., Archduke of Styria, +again a most exemplary man. His father was Charles II., son of +the Emperor Ferdinand I.; he had originally been devoted to the +ecclesiastical state, and nominated Bishop of Strasburg and Passau; +but out of regard for the exigencies of the country a dispensation, +of which I think history affords only two or three other examples, +was granted him from Rome. He married the celebrated Claudia de' +Medici, Duchess of Urbino. Though also Governor of the Low Countries, +he by no means neglected the affairs of Tirol. Some fresh attempts of +Lutherans to interfere with its religious unity, as well as to foment +political dissensions, were put down with a resolute hand. Friedrich +von Tiefenbach, sometime notorious as a politico-religious leader in +Moravia, was discovered in a hiding-place he had selected, in the +wild caves at Pfäffers [160] below Chur, and tried and beheaded at +Innsbruck in 1621. The selection of Innsbruck for the marriage of +the Emperor Ferdinand II. with his second wife Eleonora, daughter of +the Duke of Mantua, in 1622, revived the splendours of Maximilian's +reign, for the Emperor stayed there some weeks with all his court; +the Landwehr turned out three thousand strong to form his guard of +honour. It was the depth of winter, but the bride braved the snow; +the Count of Harrach was sent out to meet her on the Brenner Pass with +six gilt sledges, and a vast concourse of people. It is recorded that +the Emperor wore on the occasion an entirely white suit embroidered +with gold and pearls, on his shoulders a short sky-blue cloak lined +with cloth of gold, and a diamond chain round his neck. Eleonora, +more in accordance with the season, wore a tight-fitting dress of +carnation satin embroidered in gold, over it a sable jacket, and a +hat with a plume of eagles' feathers. The banquet was entirely served +by young Tirolean nobles. The Emperor's present to his bride was a +pearl parure, costing thirty thousand ducats; and that of the town of +Innsbruck a purse of eighteen thousand ducats. Leopold was confirmed +by his imperial brother in the government on this occasion. His own +marriage was celebrated with scarcely less state than the Emperor's in +April 1626, an array of handsome tents being pitched in the meadows +of Wilten, where the Landesschützen performed many marksmen's feats +for the diversion of the company assembled for the ceremonial. This +included the Archbishop of Salzburg, who officiated in the Church +function, one hundred and fifty counts and barons, and three hundred +of noble blood. The visit of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1628, +and of Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia, in 1629, were other +notable occasions of rejoicing for Innsbruck. + +Leopold benefited and adorned the town by the enclosure and planting +of the Hofgarten, and the bronze equestrian statue of himself, still +one of its chief ornaments; but his memory has been more deeply +endeared to the people by the present of Kranach's Madonna, which +they have copied in almost every church, household, and highway of +the country. It is a little picture on panel, very like many of its +date, in which the tenderness of devotion beams through and redeems +all the stiffness of mannerism; but which we are apt to pass, I had +almost said by the dozen, in the various galleries of Europe, with no +more than a casual glance. With the Tirolese it was otherwise. Their +faith-inspired eyes saw in it a whole revelation of Divine mercy +and love; they gazed on the outpouring of maternal fondness and +filial confidence in the unutterable communion of the Mother and the +Son there portrayed; and deeming that where so much love reigned no +petition could be rejected, they believed that answers to the frequent +prayers of faith sent up before it were reaped an hundredfold, [161] +and the fame of the benefits so derived was symbolized in the title +universally given to the picture, of Mariähülfsbild. [162] Leopold +being in the early part of his reign on a visit to the Elector of +Saxony, on occasion of one of his journeys between Tirol and the +Low Countries, and being lost in admiration of his collection of +pictures at Dresden, received from him the offer of any painting he +liked to select. There were many choice specimens, but the devotional +conception of this picture carried him away from all the rest, and it +became the object of his selection. He never parted from it afterwards, +and it accompanied him in all his journeyings. When in Innsbruck, it +formed the altar-piece of the Hofkapelle, whither the people crowded +to kindle their devotion at its focus. After the withdrawal of the +allied French, Swedish, and Hessian troops in 1647, the Innsbruckers, +in thanksgiving for the success of their prayers before it, built +the elegant little circular temple [163] on the left bank of the Inn, +still called the Mariähülfskirche, thinking to enshrine it there; but +Ferdinand Karl, who had then succeeded to his father Leopold, could +not bear to part with it, and gave them a copy instead, by Paul Schor, +inserted in a larger picture representing it borne by angels, and the +notabilities of Innsbruck kneeling beneath it, the Mariähülfskirche +being introduced into the background landscape. However, the number of +people who pressed to approach it was so great that he was in a manner +constrained to bestow it on the Pfarrkirche only two or three years +later, where it now remains; it was translated thither during Queen +Christina's visit, as I have mentioned above. It was borne on a car by +six white horses, the crowded streets being strewn with flowers. It +is a small picture, and has been let into a large canvas painted in +Schöpf's best manner, with angels which appear to support it, and +beneath St. James, patron of the church, and St. Alexius. A centenary +festival was observed in memory of the translation by Maria Theresa +in 1750, when all the precious ex votos, the thank-offerings for many +granted prayers, were exposed to view under the light streaming from a +hundred silver candelabra, the air around being perfumed by the flowers +of a hundred silver vases. The procession was a splendid pageant, in +which no expense seems to have been spared, the great Empress herself, +accompanied by her son, afterwards Joseph II., heading it. This was +repeated--in a manner corresponding with the diminished magnificence +of the age--in 1850, the Emperor Ferdinand I., the Empress Anna, and +other members of the Imperial family, taking their part in it. [164] + +The only remaining act of Leopold's reign which calls for mention +in connexion with Innsbruck, was the erection of the monument to +Maximilian the Deutschmeister, in the Pfarrkirche, almost the only one +that was spared when the church was rebuilt after the earthquakes of +1667 and 1689, the others having been ruthlessly used--the headstones +in building up the walls, the bronze ones in the bell-castings. + +Leopold's son, Ferdinand Karl, being under age at the time of +his death, in 1632, he was succeeded by his widow, Claudia de' +Medici, as regent. The troubles of the Thirty Years' War, in which +Leopold like other German princes had had his chequered share, +were yet raging. Claudia was equal to the exigencies of her time and +country. She continued the measures of Maximilian the Deutschmeister +for perfecting the defences of the country, and particularly all its +inlets; and she encouraged the patriotic instincts of the people +by constantly presiding at their shooting-practice. The Swedish +forces, after taking Constance, advanced as far as the Valtelin, +and Tirol was threatened with invasion on both sides at once. By +her skilful measures, at every rumour of an inroad, the mountains +bristled with the unerring marksmen of Tirol, securely stationed +at their posts inaccessible to lowlanders. Nothing was spared to +keep up the vigilance and spirit of the true-hearted peasants. By +this constant watchfulness she saved the country from the horrors of +war, in which almost the whole of the German Empire was at that time +involved. During all this time she was also developing the internal +resources, and consolidating the administration of the country. Two +misfortunes, however, visited Innsbruck during her reign: a terrible +pestilence, and a destructive fire in which the Burg suffered severely, +the beautiful chapel of Ferdinand II. being consumed, and the body of +Leopold, her husband, which was lying there at the time, rescued with +difficulty. After this, Claudia spent some little time at Botzen, and +also visited Florence. It may be questioned whether the introduction of +the numerous Italians about her court was altogether for the benefit +of Tirol. They brought with them certain ways and principles which +were not altogether in accordance with the German character; and we +have seen the effect of the jealousies of race in the tragic fate of +her chancellor Biener. [165] + +Ferdinand Karl having attained his majority in 1646, Claudia withdrew +from public affairs, and died only two years later. In his reign +the introduction of the Italian element at court was apparent in the +greater luxury of its arrangements, and in the greater cultivation of +histrionic and musical diversions. The establishment of the theatre +in Innsbruck is due to him. The marriage of his two sisters, Maria +Leopoldina and Isabella Clara, and the frequent interchange of visits +between him and the princes of Italy, further enlivened Innsbruck. The +visit of Queen Christina, [166] of which I have already said enough +for my limits, also took place in his reign (1655). Nor did Ferdinand +Karl give himself up to amusement to the neglect of business, or of +more manly pleasures. He maintained all his mother's measures for the +encouragement of the Scheibenschiessen, and had the satisfaction of +seeing the departure of the enemy's army from his borders, which was +celebrated by the building of Mariähülfskirche. [167] To his love of +the national sport of chamois-hunting his death has to be ascribed; +for the neglect of an attack of illness while out on a mountain +expedition near Kaltern after the wild game, gave it a hold on his +constitution, which placed him beyond recovery. His death occurred +in 1660, at the early age of thirty-four; he left no heir. + +He was succeeded by his only brother, Sigmund Franz, Bishop of Gurk, +Augsburg, and Trent, who seems to have inherited all his mother's finer +qualities without sharing her Italianizing tendencies. With a perhaps +too sudden sternness, he purged the court and government of all foreign +admixture, and reduced the sumptuous suite of his brother to dimensions +dictated by usefulness alone. However popular this may have made him +with the German population, the ousted Italians were furious; and his +sudden death--which occurred while, after the pattern of his father, +applying for a dispensation to marry, in 1665--was by the Germans +ascribed to secret poisoning; his Tuscan physician Agricola having, +it is alleged, been bribed to perpetrate the misdeed. + +Tirol now once more reverted to the Empire. Though Leopold I. came to +Innsbruck to receive the homage of the people on his accession, and a +gay ceremonial ensued, yet it lost much of its importance by having +no longer a resident court. While there, however, Leopold had seen +the beautiful daughter of Ferdinand Karl's widow, Claudia Felicità, +who made such an impression upon him, that he married her on the death +of his first wife. The ceremony was performed in Innsbruck by proxy +only; but the dowager-archduchess provided great fêtes, in which the +city readily concurred, and gave the bride thirty thousand gulden +for her wedding present. Claudia Felicità, in her state at Vienna, +did not forget the good town of Innsbruck; and by her interest with +her husband, Tirol received a Statthalter in the person of Charles +Duke of Lotharingia, husband of his sister Eleonora Maria, widow of +the King of Poland. Charles took up his residence at Innsbruck; and +though he was often absent with the army, the presence of his family +revived the gaiety of the town; still it was not like the old days of +the court. Charles, however, who had been originally educated for the +ecclesiastical state, was a sovereign of unexceptionable principles +and sound judgment; and he did many things for the benefit of Tirol, +particularly in developing its educational establishments. He raised +the Jesuit gymnasium of Innsbruck to the character of a university; +and the privileges with which he endowed it, added to the salubrity +of the situation, attracted alumni from far and near, who amounted +to near a thousand in number. + +Nothing of note occurred in Tirol till 1703--the Duke of Lotharingia +had died in 1696--which is a memorable year. The war of the Spanish +Succession, at that time, found Maximilian, Elector of Bavaria, and +some of the Italian princes, allied with France against Austria--thus +there were antagonists of Austria on both sides of Tirol; nevertheless, +no attack on it seems to have been apprehended; and thus, when a plan +was concerted for entering Austria by Carinthia (the actual boundaries +against Bavaria being too well defended to invite an entrance that +way), and it was arranged that the Bavarian and Italian allies +should assist the French in overrunning Tirol, everyone was taken by +surprise. Maximilian easily overcame the small frontier garrison. At +Kufstein he met a momentary check, but an accident put the fortress +in his power. Possessed of this base of operations, he was not long +in reducing the forts of Rottenburg Scharnitz, and Ehrenberg, and +possessing himself of Hall and Innsbruck. He now reckoned the country +his, and that it only remained to send news of his success to Vendôme, +who had taken Wälsch-Tirol similarly by surprise and advanced as far +as Trent, in order to carry out their concerted inroad through the +Pusterthal. So sure of his victory was he, that he ordered the Te +Deum to be sung in all the churches of Innsbruck. + +In the meantime the Tirolese had recovered from their surprise, +and had taken measures for disconcerting and routing the invaders; +the storm-bells and the Kreidenfeuer [168] rallied every man capable +of bearing arms, to the defence of his country. The main road over +the Brenner was quickly invested by the native sharp-shooters; there +was no chance of passing that way. Maximilian thought to elude the +vigilance of the people by sending his men round by Oberinnthal +and the Finstermünz. The party trusted with this mission were +commanded by a Bavarian and a French officer. They reached Landeck +in safety, but all around them the sturdy Tirolese were determining +their destruction. Martin Sterzinger, Pfleger or Judge, of Landeck, +summoned the Landsturm of the neighbouring districts, and arranged +the plan of operation. The enemy were suffered to advance on their +way unhindered along the steep path, where the rocky sides of the +Inn close in and form the terrible gorge which is traversed by the +Pontlatzerbrücke; but when they arrived, no bridge was there! The +mountaineers had been out in the night and cut it down. Beyond +this point the steep side afforded no footing on the right bank, +no means remained of crossing over to the left! The remnants of the +bridge betrayed what had befallen, and quickly the command was given +to turn back; in the panic of the moment many lost their footing, +and rolled into the rapid river beneath. For those even who retained +their composure no return was possible; the heights above were peopled +with the ready Tirolese, burning to defend their country. Down came +their shots like hail, each ball piercing its man; those who had +no arms dashed down stones upon the foe. Only a handful escaped, +but at Landeck these were taken prisoners; and there was not one +even to carry the news to Maximilian. This famous success is still +celebrated every year on the 1st of July by a solemn procession. + +Maximilian and Vendôme remained perplexed at hearing nothing from +each other, and without means of communication; in vain they sent +out scouts; money could not buy information from the patriotic +Tirolese. Meantime, danger was thickening round each; the Landsturm +was out, and every height was beset with agile climbers, armed with +their unerring carbines, and with masses of rock to hurl down on +the enemy who ventured along the road beneath them. The Bavarian +and French leaders in the north and in the south only perceived how +critical was their situation just in time to escape from it, and +the waste and havoc they had made during their brief incursion was +recompensed by the numbers lost in their retreat. The Bavarians held +Kufstein for some time longer, but their precipitate withdrawal from +all the rest of the country earned for the campaign, in the mouths +of the Tirolese, the nickname of the Baierische-Rumpel. While brave +arms had been defending the mountain passes, brave hearts of those +whose arms were nerved only for being lifted up in prayer, not for +war, were day by day earnestly interceding in the churches for the +deliverance of their husbands, fathers, and brothers; and when, on the +26th of July, the land was found free of the foe, it was gratefully +remembered that it was S. Anne's Day, and the so-called Annensäule, +which adorns the Neustadt--the principal thoroughfare of Innsbruck--was +erected in commemoration. + +It is composed of the marbles of the country; the lower part red, the +column white, the effigy of the Immaculate Conception, which surmounts +it and the surrounding rays, in gilt bronze. Round the base stand +St. Vigilius and St. Cassian (two apostles of Tirol), and St. Anne +and St. George; about them float angels, in the breezy style of the +period. The monument was solemnly inaugurated on S. Anne's Day, 1706; +and every year on that day a procession winds round it from the parish +church, singing hymns of thanksgiving; and an altar, gaily dressed +with fresh flowers, stands before it for eight days under the open sky. + +Leopold I. died in 1705, and was succeeded by his son, Joseph I., +who reigned only six years. Charles VI., Leopold's younger son, +followed, who appointed Karl Philipp, Palsgrave of Neuburg, Governor +of Tirol. He was another pious ruler, and much beloved by the people; +his memory being the more endeared to them, that he was their last +independent prince. His reign benefited Innsbruck by the erection of +the handsome Landhaus and the Gymnasium, and also by the extensive +restoration of the Pfarrkirche. This occupied the site of the little +chapel, the accorded privilege to which of hearing in it masses of +obligation forms the earliest record of Innsbruck's history. It had +grown with the growth of the town, and had been added to by various +sovereigns, and we have seen it gifted with Kranach's Mariähilf. The +earthquakes of 1667 and 1689 had left it so dilapidated, however, +that Karl Philipp resolved to rebuild it on a much larger plan. He +laid the first stone on May 12, 1717, in presence of his brother, +the Bishop of Augsburg, and it was consecrated in 1724. It has +the costliness and the vices of its date; its overloaded stucco +ornaments are redeemed by the lavish use of the beautiful marbles +of the country; the quarrying and fashioning these marbles occupied +a hundred workmen, without counting labourers and apprentices, for +the whole time during which the church was building. The frescoes +setting forth the wonder-working patronage of St. James, on the roof +and cupola, are by Kosmas Damian Asam, whose pencil, and that of his +two sons, Kosmas and Egid, were entirely devoted to the decoration +of churches and religious houses. There is a tradition, that as the +fervent painter was putting the finishing touches to the figure of the +saint, as he appears, mounted on his spirited charger as the patron +of Compostella, in the cupola, he stepped back to see the effect +of his work. Forgetting in his zeal the narrowness of the platform +on which he stood, he would inevitably have been precipitated on +to the pavement below, but that the strong arm of the saint he had +been painting so lovingly, detached itself from the wall, and saved +his client from the terrible fate! [169] Other works of this reign +were the Strafarbeitshaus, a great improvement on the former prison; +and the church of St. John Nepomuk, in the Innrain, then a new and +fashionable street. The canonization of the great martyr to the seal +of Confession took place in 1730. Though properly a Bohemian saint, +his memory is so beloved all through southern Germany, that all its +divisions seem to lay a patriotic claim to him. His canonization was +celebrated by a solemn function in the Pfarrkirche, lasting eight +days; and the people were so stirred up to fervour by its observance, +that they subscribed for the building of a church in his honour, +the governor taking the lead in promoting it. + +Maria Theresa succeeded her father, Charles VI., in 1742. She seems +to have known how to attend to the affairs of every part of the +Empire alike; and thus, while the whole country felt the benefit +of her wise provisions, all the former splendours of the Tirolean +capital revived. Maria Theresa frequently took up her residence at +Innsbruck; and while benefiting trade by her expenditure, and by that +of the visitors whom her court attracted, she set at the same time an +edifying example of piety and a well-regulated life. Her associations +with Innsbruck were nevertheless overshadowed by sad events more than +once, though this does not appear to have diminished her affection +for the place. + +When Marshal Daun took a whole division of the Prussian army captive +at Maxen in 1758, the officers, nine in number, were sent to Innsbruck +for safe custody. Here they remained till the close of the war, five +years later. This, and the furnishing some of its famous sharpshooters +to the Austrian contingent, was the only contact Tirol had with the +Seven Years' War. Two years after (1765) Maria Theresa arranged that +the marriage of her son (afterwards Leopold II.) with Maria Luisa, +daughter of Charles III. of Spain, should take place there. The +townspeople, sensible of the honour conferred on them, responded to it +by adorning the city with the most festive display; not only with gay +banners and hangings, but by improving the façades of their houses, +and the roads and bridges, and erecting a triumphal arch of unusual +solidity at the end of the Neustadt nearest Wilten, being that by +which the royal pair would pass on their way from Italy; for Leopold +was then Grand Duke of Tuscany. The theatre and public buildings were +likewise put in order. Maria Theresa, with her husband Francis I., and +all the Imperial family, arrived in Innsbruck on July 15, attracting +a larger assemblage of great people than had been seen there even +in its palmiest days. Banquets and gay doings filled up the interval +till August 5, when Leopold and Maria Luisa made their entrance with +unexampled pomp. The marriage was celebrated in the Pfarrkirche by +Prince Clement of Saxony, Bishop of Ratisbon, assisted by seven other +bishops. Balls, operas, banquets, illuminations, and the national +Freischiessen, followed. But during all these fêtes, an unseasonable +gloom, which is popularly supposed to bode evil, overclouded the +August sky, usually so clear and brilliant in Innsbruck. On the 18th, +a grand opera was given to conclude the festivities; on his way back +from it Francis I. was seized with a fit, and died in the course of +the night in the arms of his son, afterwards Joseph II. + +Though Maria Theresa's master mind had caused her to take the lead in +all public matters, she was devotedly attached to her husband, and this +sudden blow was severely felt by her. She could not bear that the room +in which he expired should ever be again used for secular purposes, +and had it converted into a costly chapel; at the same time she made +great improvements and additions to the rest of the Burg. She always +wore mourning to the end of her life, and always, when state affairs +permitted, passed the eighteenth day of every month in prayer and +retirement. A remarkable monument remains of both the affection and +public spirit of this talented princess. Driving out to the Abbey of +Wilten in one of the early days of mourning, while some of the tokens +of the rejoicing, so unexpectedly turned into lamentation, were still +unremoved, the sight of the handsome triumphal arch reminded her of +a resolution suggested by Francis I. to replace it by one of similar +design in more permanent materials. Her first impulse was to reject +the thought as a too painful reminder of the past; but reflection on +the promised benefit to the town prevailed over personal feelings, +and she gave orders for the execution of the work; but to make it a +fitting memorial of the occasion, she ordered that while the side +facing the road from Italy should be a Triumphpforte, and recall +by its bas-reliefs the glad occasion which caused its erection, +the side facing the town should be a Trauerpforte, and set forth the +melancholy conclusion of the same. The whole was executed by Tirolean +artists, and of Tirolean marbles. She founded also a Damenstift, for +the maintenance of twelve poor ladies of noble birth, who, without +taking vows, bound themselves to wear mourning and pray for the soul +of Francis I. and those of his house. Another great work of Maria +Theresa was the development she gave to the University of Innsbruck. + +After her death, which took place in 1780, Joseph II., freed from the +restraints of her influence, gave full scope to his plans for meddling +with ecclesiastical affairs, for which his intercourse with Russia had +perhaps given him a taste. Pius VI. did not spare himself a journey +to Vienna, to exert the effect of his personal influence with the +Emperor, who it would seem did not pay much heed to his advice, and +so disaffected his people by his injudicious innovations, that at the +time of his death the whole empire, which the skill of Maria Theresa +had consolidated, was in a state of complete disorganization. [170] +Though increased by his ill-gotten share of Poland, he lost the Low +Countries, and Hungary was so disaffected, that had he not been removed +by the hand of death (1790), it is not improbable it would have thrown +off its allegiance also. Leopold II., his brother, who only reigned +two years, saved the empire from dissolution by prudent concessions, +by rescinding many of Joseph's hasty measures, and abandoning his +policy of centralization. + +One religious house which Joseph II. did not suppress was the +Damenstift of Innsbruck, of which his sister, the Archduchess Maria +Elizabeth, undertook the government in 1781; and during the remainder +of her life held a sort of court there which was greatly for the +benefit of the city. Pius VI. visited her on his way back from Vienna +on the evening of May 7, 1782. The whole town was illuminated, and +all the religious in the town went out to meet him, followed by the +whole body of the people. Late as was the hour (a quarter to ten, says +a precise chronicle) he had no sooner reached the apartment prepared +for him in the Burg, than he admitted whole crowds to audience, and +the enthusiasm with which the religious Tirolese thronged round him +surpasses words. Many, possessed with a sense of the honour of having +the vicar of Christ in their very midst, remained all night in the +surrounding Rennplatz, as it were on guard round his abode. In the +morning, after hearing mass, he imparted the Apostolic Benediction from +the balcony of the Burg, and proceeded on his way over the Brenner. + +Leopold II. had not been three months on the throne before he came to +Innsbruck to receive the homage of his loyal Tirolese, who took this +opportunity of winning from him the abrogation of many Josephinischen +measures, particularly that reducing their University to a mere +Lyceum. He was succeeded in 1792 by his son, Francis II.; but the +mighty storm of the French Revolution was threatening, and absorbed +all his attention with the preservation of his empire, and the defence +of Tirol seems to have been overlooked. Year by year danger gathered +round the outskirts of her mountain fastnesses. Whole hosts were +engaged all around; yet there were but a handful, five thousand +at most, of Austrian troops stationed within her frontier. The +importance of obtaining the command of such a base of operations, +which would at once have afforded a key to Italy and Austria, did not +escape Bonaparte. Joubert was sent with fifteen thousand men to gain +possession of the country, and advanced as far as Sterzing. Innsbruck +was thrown into a complete panic, and I am sorry to have to record +that the Archduchess Maria Elizabeth took her flight. The Austrian +Generals, Kerpen and Laudon, did not deem it prudent, with their small +contingent, to engage the French army. Nevertheless, the Tirolese, +instead of being disheartened at this pusillanimity, with their wonted +spirit rose as one man; a decisive battle was fought at Spinges, a +hamlet near Sterzing, where a village girl fought so bravely, and urged +the men on to the defence of their country so generously, that though +her name is lost, her courage won her a local reputation as lasting +as that of Joan of Arc or the 'Maid of Zaragoza,' under the title of +Das Mädchen von Spinges. [171] Driven out hence, the French troops +made the best of their way to join the main army in Carinthia. After +this the enemy left Tirol at Peace for some years, with the exception +of one or two border inroads, which were resolutely repulsed. One of +these is so characteristic of the religious customs of Tirol, that, +though not strictly belonging to the history of Innsbruck, I cannot +forbear mentioning it. The French, under Massena, had in 1799 been +twice repulsed from Feldkirch with great loss. Divisions which had +never known a reverse were decimated and routed by the practised guns +of the mountaineers. Thinking their victory assured, the peasants, +after the manner of volunteer troops, had dispersed but too soon, to +return to their flocks and tillage. Warily perceiving his advantage, +Massena led his troops back over the border silently by night, +intending in the morning to take the unsuspecting town by storm--a +plan which did not seem to have a chance of failure. But it happened +to be Holy Saturday. Suddenly, just as he was about to give the order +for the attack, the bells of all the churches far and near, which had +been so still during the preceding days, burst all together upon his +ear with the jubilant Auferstehungsfeier. [172] General and troops, +alike unfamiliar with religious times and seasons, took the sound +for the alarm bells calling out the Landsturm. In the belief that +they were betrayed, a precipitate retreat was ordered. But the night +no longer covered the march; and the peasants, who were gathered in +their villages for the Offices of the Church, were quickly collected +for the pursuit. This abortive expedition cost the French army three +thousand men. + +In the meantime the Archduchess had returned to Innsbruck, and all +went on upon its old footing, as if there were no enemy to fear. So +little was another disturbance expected, that the Archduchess devoted +herself to the promotion of local improvements, including that of the +Gottesacker. This is one of the favourite Sunday afternoon resorts of +the Innsbruckers, and is well worthy of a visit. The site was first +destined for the purpose by the Emperor Maximilian. It was gifted with +all the indulgences accorded to the Campo Santo of Rome by the Pope, +and in token of the same some earth from San Lorenzo fuori le mura +was brought hither at the time of its consecration by the Bishop of +Brixen in 1510. It has, according to the frequent German arrangement, +an upper and a lower chapel; the former, dedicated to S. Anne; the +latter, as usual, to S. Michael, though the people commonly call +it die Veitskapelle, on account of some cures of S. Vitus' dance +wrought here. The arcades which now surround the cemetery were the +result of the introduction of Italian customs later in the sixteenth +century. Some of the oldest and noblest names of Tirol are to be +found upon the monuments here, some of which cannot fail to attract +attention. The bas-reliefs sculptured by Collin for that of the +Hohenhauser family, and those he prepared for his own, may be reckoned +among his masterpieces. Some which are adorned with paintings would be +very interesting if the weather had spared them more. The Archduchess +had prepared her own resting-place here also, but was not destined to +occupy it. The disastrous defeat of Austerlitz filled her with alarm, +and she once more fled from Innsbruck, this time not to return. + +This was the year 1805, and a sad one it was for Tirol. The treaty +of Pressburg had given Tirol to Bavaria, and Bavaria and Tirol had +never in any age been able to understand each other. Willingly would +the Tirolese have opposed their entrance; but the Bavarians, who knew +every pass as well as themselves, were enabled to pour in the allied +troops under Marshal Ney in such force, that they were beyond their +power to resist. The fortresses near the Bavarian frontier were razed, +and Innsbruck occupied. On February 11, 1806, Marshal Ney left, and the +town was formally delivered over to Bavarian rule. The most unpopular +changes of government were adopted, particularly in ecclesiastical +matters and in forcing the peasants into the army; the University +also was once more made into a Lyceum. But the Landsturm was not +idle, and the Archduke Johann, Leopold's brother, came into Tirol to +encourage them. Maturing their plans in secret, the patriots, under +Andreas Hofer, who had been to Vienna in January to declare his plans +and get them confirmed by his government, and Speckbacher, broke into +Innsbruck on April 13, 1809, where the townspeople received them with +loud acclamations; and after a desperate and celebrated conflict at +Berg Isel, succeeded in completely ridding it of the invaders. The +Bavarian arms on the Landhaus were shattered to atoms, and when the +Eagle replaced them, the people climbed the ladders to kiss it. This +was the first great act of the Befreiungskämpfe which have made 'the +year Nine' memorable in the annals of Tirol, and, I may say of Europe, +for it was one of the noblest struggles of determined patriotism those +annals have to boast, and at the same time the most successful effort +of volunteer arms. Hofer accepted the title of Schützenkommandant, and +was lodged in the imperial Burg, while his peasant neighbours took the +office of guards; but he altered nothing of his simple habits, nor his +national costume. His frugal expenses amounted to forty-five kreuzers +a day, and he lost no opportunity of expressing that he did nothing +on his own account, but all in the name of the Emperor. On May 19 the +Bavarians laid siege to the town; but the defenders of the country, +supported by a few regular Austrian troops, obliged them by the end +of a fortnight to decamp. On June 30 they returned with a force of +twenty-four thousand men; but other feats of arms of the patriots in +all parts of Tirol showed that its people were unconquerable, and for +the third time Hofer took possession of Innsbruck. In the meantime, +however, the Peace of Schönbrunn, of October 25, had nullified +their achievements, though the memory of their bravery could never +be blotted out, and always asserted its power. Nor could the brave +people, even when bidden by the Emperor himself to desist, believe +that his orders were otherwise than wrung from him, nor could their +loyalty be quenched. Hofer's stern sense of subordination made him +advise abstention from further strife, but the more ardent patriots +refused to listen, and ended by leading him to join them. A desultory +warfare was now kept up, with no very effectual result, but yet with +a spirit and determination which convinced the Bavarians that they +could never subdue such a people, and predisposed them to consent to +the evacuation of their country in 1814; for they saw that + + + Freedom from every hut + Sent down a separate root, + And when base swords her branches cut, + With tenfold might they shoot. + + +In the meantime a terrible wrong had been committed; the French, +knowing the value of Hofer's influence in encouraging the +country-people against them, set a price on his head sufficient to +tempt a traitor to make know his hiding-place. He was taken, and thrown +into prison at the Porta Molina at Mantua. Tried in a council of war, +several voices were raised in honour of his bravery and patriotism; a +small majority, however, had the cowardice to condemn him to death. He +received the news of the sentence with the firmness which might have +been expected of him, the only favour he condescended to ask being the +spiritual assistance of a priest. Provost Manifesti was sent to him, +and remained with him to the end. An offer was made him of saving his +life by entering the French service, but he indignantly refused to join +the enemies of his country. To Provost Manifesti he committed all he +possessed, to be expended in the relief of his fellow-countrymen who +were prisoners. He spent the early hours of the morning of the day on +which he was to die, after mass, in writing his farewell to his wife, +bidding her not to give way to grief, and to his other relations and +friends, in which latter category was comprehended the population of +the whole Passeyerthal, not to say all Tirol; recommending himself +to their prayers, and begging that his name might be given out, and +the suffrages of the faithful asked for him, in the village church +where he had so often knelt in years of peace. He was forbidden +to address his fellow-prisoners. He bore a crucifix, wreathed in +flowers, in his hand as he walked to the place of execution, which +he was observed repeatedly to kiss. There he took a little silver +crucifix from his neck, a memorial of his first Communion, and gave +it to Provost Manifesti. He refused to kneel, or to have his eyes +bandaged, but stood without flinching to receive the fire of his +executioners. His signal to them was first a brief prayer; then a +fervently uttered 'Hoch lebe Kaiser Franz!' and then the firm command, +'Fire home!' His courage, however, unmanned the soldiers; ashamed +of their task, they durst not take secure aim, and it took thirteen +shots to send the undaunted soul of the peasant hero to its rest. It +was February 20, 1810; he was only forty-five. The traditions of his +courage and endurance, his probity and steadfastness, are manifold; +but in connexion with Innsbruck we have only to speak of his brief +administration there, which was untarnished by a single unworthy deed, +a single act of severity towards prisoners of war, of whom he had +numbers in his power who had dealt cruel havoc on his beloved valleys. + +The Emperor for whom he had fought so nobly returned to Innsbruck, +to receive the homage of the Tirolese, on May 28, 1816, amid the loud +rejoicings of the people, preceded by a solemn service of thanksgiving +in the Pfarrkirche. Illuminations and fêtes followed till June 5, +when the ceremony was wound up by a grand shooting-match, at which +the Emperor presided and many prizes were distributed. The number +who contended was 3,678, and 2,137 of them made the bull's-eye; +among them were old men over eighty and boys of thirteen and fourteen. + +The claims of Hofer on his country's remembrance were not forgotten +when she once more had leisure for works of peace. His precious +remains, which had been carefully interred by the priest who consoled +his last moments at Mantua, were brought to Innsbruck in 1823, +and laid temporarily in the Servitenkloster. On February 21 they +were borne in solemn procession by six of his brothers in arms, +all the clergy and people following. The Abbot of Wilten sang the +requiem office. The Emperor ordered the conspicuous and appropriate +monument to mark the spot where they laid him, which is one of the +chief ornaments of the Hofkirche. The pedestal bears the inscription-- + + + Seinen in den Befreiungskämpfen gefallenen Söhnen + das dankbare Vaterland, + + +and the sarcophagus the words-- + + + Absorbta est mors in victoria. + + +Tirol had no reason to regret the restoration of the dynasty for +which she had suffered so much. Most of her ancient privileges were +restored to her, and in 1826 Innsbruck again received the honour of +a University, and many useful institutions were founded. Francis came +to Innsbruck again this year, and while there, received the visit of +the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia. Another shooting-match +was held before them, at which the precision of the Tirolese received +much praise; and again for a short time in 1835. The Archduke John, +who came in 1835 to live in Tirol, was received with great enthusiasm; +his hardy feats of mountain climbing, and hearty accessible character, +endearing him to all the people. + +The troubles of 1848 gave the Tirolese again an opportunity of showing +that their ancient loyalty was undiminished. The Emperor Ferdinand, +driven out of his capital, found that he had not reckoned wrongly in +counting on a secure refuge in Tirol. It was the evening of May 16 +that the Imperial pair came as fugitives to Innsbruck. Though there +was hardly time to announce their advent before their arrival, the +people went out to meet them, took their horses from the carriage, +and themselves drew it into the town; and all the time they remained +the towns-people and Landes-schützen mounted guard round the Burg. More +than this, the Tirolese Kaiser-Jäger-Regiment volunteered for service +against the insurgents, and fought with such determination that +Marshal Radetsky pronounced that every man of them was a hero. With +equal stout-heartedness the Landes-schützen repelled the attempted +Italian invasion at several points of the south-western frontier, and +kept the enemy at bay till the imperial troops could arrive. These +services were renewed with equal fidelity the next year. A tablet +recording the bravery of those who fell in this campaign--one of the +officers engaged being Hofer's grandson--is let into the wall of the +Hofkirche opposite Hofer's monument. + +It was this Emperor from whom the name of Ferdinandeum was given to +the Museum, but it was rather out of compliment, and while he was +yet Crown-Prince, than in memory of any signal co-operation on his +part. It was projected in 1820 by Count Von Chotek, then Governor of +Tirol. It comprises an association for the promotion of the study of +the arts and sciences. The Museum contains several early illuminated +MSS., in the production of which the Carthusians of Schnals and the +Dominicans of Botzen acquired a singular pre-eminence. At a time when +the nobles of other countries were occupied with far less enlightened +pursuits, the peaceful condition of Tirol enabled its nobles, such as +the Edelherrn of Monlan, Annaberg, Dornsberg, Runglstein, and others, +to keep in their employment secretaries, copyists, and chaplains, +busied in transcribing; and often sent them into other countries to +make copies of famous works to enrich their collections. It has also +some of the first works produced from the printing-press of Schwatz +already mentioned. This press was removed to Innsbruck in 1529; +Trent set one up about the same time. In the lower rooms of the +Ferdinandeum is a collection of paintings by Tirolean artists, and +specimens of the marbles, minerals, and other natural productions +of the country. The great variation in the elevation of the soil +affords a vast range to the vegetable kingdom, so that it can boast +of giving a home to plants like the tobacco, which only germinates +at a temperature of seventy degrees, and the edelweiss, which only +blossoms under the snow. There is also a small collection of Roman +and earlier antiquities, dug up at various times in different parts +of Tirol, and specimens of native industries. Among the most singular +items are some paintings on cobweb, of which one family has possessed +the secret for generations, specimens of their works may be found in +most of the museums of South Germany; these almost self-taught artists +display great dexterity in the management of their strange canvas, +and considerable merit in the delicate manipulation of their pigments; +sometimes they even imitate fine line engravings in pen and ink without +injuring the fragile surface. They delight specially in treating +subjects of traditional interest, as Kaiser Max on the Martinswand, +the beautiful Philippine Welser, the heroic Hofer, and the patron +saints and particular devotions of their village sanctuaries. Kranach's +Mariähilf is thus an object of most affectionate care. The 'web' is +certainly like that of no ordinary spider; but it is reported that +this family has cultivated a particular species for the purpose, +and an artist friend who had been in Mexico mentioned to me having +seen there spiders'-webs almost as solid as these. I was not able, +however, to learn any tradition of the importation of these spiders +from Mexico. In the first room on the second floor are to be seen +the characteristic letter written, as I have said, by Hofer, shortly +before his end, and other relics of him and the other patriots, such +as the hat and breviary of the Franciscan Haspinger. Also an Italian +gun taken by the Akademische Legion--the band of loyal volunteer +students of Innsbruck university, in the campaign of 1848--and I +think some trophies also of the success of Tirolese arms against the +attempted invasion of the later Italian war, in which as usual the +skill of these people as marksmen stood them in good stead. Anyone +who wishes to judge of their practice may have plenty of opportunity +in Innsbruck, for their rifles seem to be constantly firing away at +the Schiess-stand; so constantly as to form an annoyance to those +who are not interested in the subject. + +This Schiess-stand, or rifle-butt, was set up in 1863, in +commemoration of the fifth centenary of Tirol's union with Austria +and its undeviating loyalty. No history presents an instance of a +loyalty more intimately connected with religious principle than the +loyalty of Tirol; the two traditions are so inseparably interwoven +that the one cannot be wounded without necessarily injuring the +other. The present Emperor and Empress of Austria are not wanting to +the devout example of their predecessors, but the modern theory of +government leaves them little influence in the administration of their +dominions. Meantime the anti-Catholic policy of the Central Government +creates great dissatisfaction and uneasiness in Tirol. Other divisions +of the empire had been prepared for such by laxity of manners and +indifferentism to religious belief--the detritus, which the flood of +the French revolution scattered more or less thickly over the whole +face of Europe. But the valleys of Tirol had closed their passes to +the inroads of this flood, and laws not having religion for their +basis are there just as obnoxious in the nineteenth as they would +have been in any former century. + +In concluding my notice of the capital of Tirol, it may be worth while +to mention that the census of January 1870 gives it a population +(exclusive of military) of 16,810, being an increase of 2,570 over +the twelve preceding years. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +NORTH TIROL--OBERINNTHAL. + +INNSBRUCK TO ZIRL AND SCHARNITZ--INNSBRUCK TO THE LISENS-FERNER. + + + I taught the heart of the boy to revel + In tales of old greatness that never tire. + + Aubrey de Vere. + + +Those who wish to visit the legend-homes of Tirol without any +great measure of 'roughing,' will doubtless find Innsbruck the most +convenient base of operations for many excursions of various lengths +to places which the pedestrian would take on his onward routes. Those +on the north and east, which have been already suggested from Hall +and Schwatz, may also be treated thus. It remains to mention those +to be found on the west, north-west, and south. But first there is +Mühlau, also to the east, reached by an avenue of poplars between the +right bank of the Inn and the railway; where the river is crossed by +a suspension-bridge. There are baths here which are much visited by +the Innsbruckers, and many prefer staying there to Innsbruck itself. A +pretty little new Gothic church adorns the height; the altar is bright +with marbles of the country, and has a very creditable altar-piece by a +Tirolean artist. Mühlau was celebrated in the Befreiungskämpfe through +the courage of Baroness Sternbach, its chief resident; everywhere +the patriots gathered she might have been found in their midst, fully +armed and on her bold charger, inspiring all with courage. Arrested +in her château at Mühlau during the Bavarian occupation, no threats or +insult could wring from her any admission prejudicial to the interests +of her country, or compromising to her son. She was sent to Munich, +and kept a close prisoner there, as also were Graf Sarnthein and +Baron Schneeburg, till the Peace of Vienna. + +From either Mühlau or Innsbruck may be made the excursion to Frau +Hütt, a curious natural formation which by a freak of nature presents +somewhat the appearance of a gigantic petrifaction of a woman with +a child in her arms. Of it one of the most celebrated of Tirolean +traditions is told. In the time of Noe, says the legend, there was a +queen of the giants living in these mountains, and her name was Frau +Hütt. Nork makes out a seemingly rather far-fetched derivation for +it out of the wife der Behütete (i.e. the behatted, or covered one), +otherwise Odin, with the sky for his head-covering. However that may +be, the legend says Frau Hütt had a son, a young giant, who wanted +to cut down a pine tree to make a stalking-horse, but as the pine +grew on the borders of a morass, he fell with his burden into the +swamp. Covered over head and ears with mud, he came home crying to +his mother, who ordered the nurse to wipe off the mud with fine crumb +of white bread. This filled up the measure of Frau Hütt's life-long +extravagance. As the servant approached, to put the holy gift of +God to this profane use, a fearful storm came on, and the light +of heaven was veiled by angry clouds; the earth rocked with fear, +then opened a yawning mouth, and swallowed up the splendid marble +palace of Frau Hütt, and the rich gardens surrounding it. When the +sky became again serene, of all the former verdant beauty nothing +remained; all was wild and barren as at present. Frau Hütt, who had +run for refuge with her son in her arms to a neighbouring eminence, was +turned into a rock. In place of our 'Wilful waste makes woeful want,' +children in the neighbourhood are warned from waste by the saying, +'Spart eure Brosamen für die Armen, damit es euch nicht ergehe wie +der Frau Hütt.' [173] Frau Hütt also serves as the popular barometer +of Innsbruck; and when the old giantess appears with her 'night-cap' +on, no one undertakes a journey. This excursion will take four or five +hours. On the way, Büchsenhausen is passed, where, as I have already +mentioned, Gregory Löffler cast the statues of the Hofkirche. I have +also given already the legend of the Bienerweible. As a consequence +of the state execution which occasioned her melancholy aberrations, +the castle was forfeited to the crown. Ferdinand Karl, however, +restored it to the family. It was subsequently sold, and became one +of the most esteemed breweries of the country, the cellars being +hewn in the living rock; and its 'Biergarten' is much frequented by +holiday-makers. Remains of the old castle are still kept up; among +them the chapel, in which are some paintings worth attention. On one +of the walls is a portrait of the Chancellor's son, who died in the +Franciscan Order in Innsbruck, in his ninety-first year. + +If time allows, the Weierburg and the Maria-Brunn may be taken in the +way home, as it makes but a slight digression; or it may be ascended +from Mühlau. The so-called Mühlauer Klamm is a picturesque gorge, +and the torrent running through it forms some cascades. Weierburg +affords a most delightful view of the picturesque capital, and the +surrounding heights and valleys mapped out around. Schloss Weierburg +was once the gay summer residence of the Emperor Maximilian, and some +relics of him are still preserved there. + +Hottingen, which might be either taken on the way when visiting Frau +Hütt or the Weierburg, is a sheltered spot, and one of the few in +the Innthal where the vine flourishes. It is reached by continuing +the road past the little Church of Mariähilf across the Inn; it had +considerable importance in mediæval times, and has consequently some +interesting remains, which, as well as the bathing establishment, make +it a rival to Mühlau. In the church (dedicated to St. Nicholas) is +Gregory Löffler's monument, erected to him by his two sons. The Count +of Trautmannsdorf and other noble families of Tirol have monuments +in the Friedhof. The tower of the church is said to be a remnant +of a Roman temple to Diana. To the right of the church is Schloss +Lichtenthurm, well kept up, and often inhabited by the Schneeburg +family. On the woody heights to the north is a little pilgrimage +chapel difficult of access, and called the Höttingerbilde. It is +built over an image of our Lady found on the spot in 1764, by a +student of Innsbruck who ascribed his rapid advance in the schools +to his devotion to it. On the east side of the Höttinger stream are +some remains of lateral mining shafts, which afford the opportunity +of a curious and difficult, though not dangerous, exploration. There +are some pretty stalactitic formations, but on a restricted scale. + +There is enough of interest in a visit to Zirl to make it the object +of a day's outing; but if time presses it may be reached hence, by +pursuing the main street of this suburb, called, I know not why, zum +grossen Herr-Gott, which continues in a path along an almost direct +line of about seven miles through field and forest, and for the last +four or five following the bank of the Inn. Or the whole route may +be taken in a carriage from Innsbruck, driving past the rifle-butt +under Mariähilf. At a distance of two miles you pass Kranebitten, +or Kranewitten, not far from which, at a little distance on the +right of the road, is a remarkable ravine in the heights, which +approach nearer and nearer the bank of the river. It is well worth +while to turn aside and visit this ravine, which goes by the name of +the Schwefelloch. It is an accessible introduction on a small scale +to the wild and fearful natural solitudes we read of with interest +in more distant regions. The uneven path is closed in by steep and +rugged mountain sides, which spontaneously recall many a poet's +description of a visit to the nether world. At some distance down +the gorge, a flight of eight or nine rough and precarious steps cut +in the rock, and then one or two still more precarious ladders, lead +to the so-called Hundskirche, or Hundskapelle, [174] which is said to +derive its name from having been the last resort of Pagan mysteries +when heathendom was retreating before the advance of Christianity in +Tirol. Further on, the rocks bear the name of the Wagnerwand (Wand +being a wall), and the great and lesser Lehner; and here they seem +almost to meet high above you and throw a strange gloom over your +path, and the torrent of the Sulz roars away below in the distance; +while the oft-repeated answering of the echo you evoke is more weird +than utter silence. The path which has hitherto been going north now +trends round to the west, and displays the back of the Martinswand, and +the fertile so-called Zirlerchristen, soon affording a pleasing view +both ways towards Zirl and Innsbruck. There is rough accommodation +here for the night for those who would ascend the Gross Solstein, +9,393 feet; the Brandjoch, 7,628 feet; or the Klein Solstein, 8,018 +feet--peaks of the range which keep Bavaria out of Tirol. + +As we proceed again on the road to Zirl, the level space between the +mountains and the river continues to grow narrower and narrower, +but what there is, is every inch cultivated; and soon we pass +the Markstein which constitutes the boundary between Ober and +Unter-Innthal. By-and-by the mountain slopes drive the road almost +down to the bank, and straight above you rises the foremost spur of the +Solstein, the Martinswand, so called by reason of its perpendicularity, +celebrated far and wide in Sage and ballad for the hunting exploit +and marvellous preservation of Kaiser Max. + +It was Easter Monday, 1490; Kaiser Max was staying at Weierburg, +and started in the early morning on a hunting expedition on the +Zirlergebirge. So far there is nothing very remarkable, for his +ardent disposition and love of danger often carried him on beyond all +his suite; but then came a marvellous accident, the accounts of the +origin of which are various. There is no one in Innsbruck but has a +version of his own to tell you. As most often reported, the chamois +he was following led him suddenly down the very precipice I have +described. The steepness of the terrible descent did not affright +him; but in his frantic course one by one the iron spikes had been +wrenched from his soles, till at last just as he reached a ledge, +scarcely a span in breadth, he found he had but one left. To proceed +was impossible, but--so also was retreat. There he hung, then, a +speck between earth and sky, or as Collin's splendid popular ballad, +which I cannot forbear quoting, has it:-- + + + Hier half kein Sprung, + Kein Adler-Schwung + Denn unter ihm senkt sich die Martinswand + Der steilste Fels im ganzen Land. + + Er starrt hinab + In 's Wolkengrab + Und starrt hinaus in 's Wolkenmeer + Und schaut zurück, und schaut umher. + + Wo das Donnergebrüll zu Füssen ihm grollt + Wo das Menschengewühl tief unter ihm rollt: + Da steht des Kaisers Majestät + Doch nicht zur Wonne hoch erhöht. + + Ein Jammersohn + Auf luft 'gem Thron + Findet sich Max nun plötzlich allein + Und fühlt sich schaudernd, verlassen und klein. [175] + + +But the singers of the high deeds of Kaiser Max could not bring +themselves to believe that so signal a danger could have befallen +their hero by mere accident. They must discover for it an origin +to connect it with his political importance. Accordingly they have +said that the minions of Sigismund der Münzreiche, dispossessed at +his abdication, had plotted to lead Max, the strong redresser of +wrongs, the last flower of chivalry, the hope of the Hapsburg House, +the mainstay of his century, into destruction; that it was not that +the innocent chamois led the Kaiser astray, but that the conspirators +misled him as to the direction it had taken. + +Certainly, when one thinks of the situation of the empire at that +moment, and of Hungary, the borderland against the Turks, suddenly +deprived of its great King Matthias Corvinus, even while yet at +war with them, only four days before [176]; when we think that the +writers of the ballad had before their eyes the great amount of good +Maximilian really did effect not only for Tirol, but for the empire +and for Europe, and then contemplated the idea of his career being cut +short thus almost at the outset, we can understand that they deemed +it more consonant with the circumstances to believe so great a peril +was incurred as a consequence of his devotion to duty rather than in +the pursuit of pleasure. + +Here, then, he hung; a less fearless hunter might have been overawed +by the prospect or exhausted by the strain. Not so Kaiser Max. He not +only held on steadfastly by the hour, but was able to look round him +so calmly that he at last discerned behind him a cleft in the rock, +or little cave, affording a footing less precarious than that on +which he rested. The ballad may be thought to say that it opened +itself to receive him. The rest of the hunting party, even those +who had nerve to follow him to the edge of the crag, could not see +what had become of him. Below, there was no one to think of looking +up; and if there had been, even an emperor could hardly have been +discerned at a height of something like a thousand feet. The horns +of the huntsmen, and the messengers sent in every direction to ask +counsel of the most experienced climbers, within a few hours crowded +the banks on both sides with the loyal and enthusiastic people; till +at last the wail of his faithful subjects, which could be heard a +mile off, sent comfort into the heart of the Kaiser, who stood silent +and stedfast, relying on God and his people. Meantime, the sun had +reached the meridian; the burning rays poured down on the captive, +and gradually as the hours went by the rocks around him grew glowing +hot like an oven. Exhausted by the long fast, no less than the anxiety +of his position, and the sharp run that had preceded the accident, +he began to feel his strength ebbing away. One desire stirred him--to +know whether any help was possible before the insensibility, which he +felt must supervene, overcame him. Then he bethought him of writing +on a strip of parchment he had about him, to describe his situation, +and to ask if there was any means of rescue. He tied the scroll to a +stone with the cord of his hunting-horn, and threw it down into the +depth. But no sound came in answer. + +In the meantime all were straining to find a way of escape. Even +the old Archduke Sigismund who, though he is never accused of any +knowledge of the alleged plot of his courtiers, yet may well be +supposed to have entertained no very good feeling towards Maximilian, +now forgot all ill-will, and despatched swift messengers to Schwatz to +summon the cleverest Knappen to come with their gear and see if they +could not devise a means for reaching him with a rope; others ran from +village to village, calling on all for aid and counsel. Some rang the +storm-bells, and some lighted alarm fires; while many more poured +into the churches and sanctuaries to pray for help from on High; +and pious brotherhoods, thousands in number, marching with their +holy emblems veiled in mourning, and singing dirges as they came, +gathered round the base of the Martinswand. + +The Kaiser from his giddy height could make out something of what was +going on, but as no answer came, a second and a third time he wrote, +asking the same words. And when still no answer came--I am following +Collin's imaginative ballad--his heart sank down within him and he +said, 'If there were any hope, most surely my people would have sent a +shout up to me. So there is no doubt but that I must die here.' Then +he turned his heart to God, and tried to forget everything of this +earth, and think only of that which is eternal. But now the sun sank +low towards the horizon. While light yet remained, once more he took +his tablet and wrote; he had no cord left to attach it to the stone, +so he bound it with his gold chain--of what use were earthly ornaments +any more to him?--'and threw it down,' as the ballad forcibly says, +'into the living world, out of that grave high placed in air.' + +One in the crowd caught it, and the people wept aloud as he read out +to them what the Kaiser had traced with failing hand. He thanked Tirol +for its loyal interest in his fate; he acknowledged humbly that his +suffering was a penance sent him worthily by heaven for the pride and +haughtiness with which he had pursued the chase, thinking nothing too +difficult for him. Now he was brought low. He offered his blood and +his life in satisfaction. He saw there was no help to be hoped for +his body; he trusted his soul to the mercy of God. But he besought +them to send to Zirl, and beg the priest there to bring the Most Holy +Sacrament and bless his last hour with Its Presence. When It arrived +they were to announce it to him by firing off a gun, and another +while the Benediction was imparted. Then he bid them all pray for +steadfastness for him, while the pangs of hunger gnawed away his life. + +The priest of Zirl hastened to obey the summons, and the Kaiser's +injunctions were punctually obeyed. Meantime, the miners of Schwatz +were busy arranging their plan of operations--no easy matter, for they +stood fifteen hundred feet above the Emperor's ledge. But before they +were ready for the forlorn attempt, another deliverer appeared upon +the scene with a strong arm, supported the almost lifeless form of the +Emperor--for he had now been fifty-two hours in this sad plight--and +bore him triumphantly up the pathless height. There he restored him +to the people, who, frantic with joy, let him pass through their +midst without observing his appearance. Who was this deliverer? The +traditions of the time say he was an angel, sent in answer to the +Kaiser's penitential trust in God and the prayers of the people. Later +narrators say--some, that he was a bold huntsman; others, a reckless +outlaw to whom the track was known, and these tell you there is a +record of a pension being paid annually in reward for the service, if +not to him, at least to some one who claimed to have rendered it. [177] + +The Monstrance, which bore the Blessed Sacrament from Zirl to carry +comfort to the Emperor in his dire need, was laid up among the +treasures of Ambras. + +Maximilian, in thanksgiving for his deliverance, resolved to be less +reckless in his future expeditions, and never failed to remember the +anniversary. He also employed miners from Schwatz to cut a path down +to the hole, afterwards called the Max-Höhle, which had sheltered +him, to spare risk to his faithful subjects, who would make the +perilous descent to return thanks on the spot for his recovery; +and he set up there a crucifix, with figures of the Blessed Virgin +and S. John on either side large enough to be seen from below; and +even to the present day men used to dangerous climbing visit it with +similar sentiments. It is not often the tourist is tempted to make the +attempt, and they must be cool-headed who would venture it. The best +view of it is to be got from the remains of the little hunting-seat +and church which Maximilian afterwards built on the Martinsbühl, +a green height opposite it, and itself no light ascent. It is said +Maximilian sometimes shot the chamois out of the windows of this +villa. The stories are endless of his hardihood and presence of mind +in his alpine expeditions. At one time, threatened by the descent of +a falling rock, he not only was alert enough to spring out of the way +in time, but also seized a huntsman following him, who was not so +fortunate, and saved him from being carried over the precipice. At +another he saw a branch of a tree overhanging a yawning abyss; to +try his presence of mind he swung himself on to it, and hung over +the precipice; but crack! went the branch, and yet he saved himself +by an agile spring on to another tree. Another time, when threatened +by a falling rock, his presence of mind showed itself in remaining +quite still close against the mountain wall, in the very line of its +course, having measured with his eye that there was space enough for +it to clear him. But enough for the present. + +Zirl affords a good inn and a timely resting-place, either before +returning to Innsbruck, or starting afresh to visit the Isarthal and +Scharnitz. The ascent of the Gross Solstein is made from Zirl, as may +also be that of the Martinswand. In itself Zirl has not much to arrest +attention, except its picturesque situation (particularly that of its +'Calvarienberg,' to form which the living rocks are adapted), and its +history, connecting it with the defence of the country against various +attacks from Bavaria. Proceeding northwards along the road to Seefeld, +and a little off it, you come upon Fragenstein, another of Maximilian's +hunting-seats, a strong fortress for some two hundred years before +his time, and now a fine ruin. There are many strange tales of a great +treasure buried here, and a green-clad huntsman, who appears from time +to time, and challenges the peasants to come and help him dig it out, +but something always occurs to prevent the successful issue of the +adventure. Once a party of excavators got so far that they saw the +metal vessel enclosing it; but then suddenly arose such a frightful +storm, that none durst proceed with the work; and after that the clue +to its place of concealment was lost. Continuing the somewhat steep +ascent, Leiten is passed, and then Reit, with nothing to arrest notice; +and then Seefeld, celebrated by the legend my old friend told me on the +Freundsberg. [178] The Archduke Ferdinand built a special chapel to the +left of the parish church, called die Heilige Blutskapelle, in 1575, +to contain the Host which had convicted Oswald Milser, and which is +even now an object of frequent pilgrimage. The altar-piece was restored +last year very faithfully, and with considerable artistic feeling, by +Haselwandter, of Botzen. It is adorned with statues of the favourite +heroes of the Tirolese legendary world, St. Sigismund and St. Oswald, +and compartment bas-reliefs of subjects of Gospel history known as +'the Mysteries of the Rosary.' The tone of the old work has been so +well caught, that it requires some close inspection to distinguish +the original remains from the new additions. The Archduchess Eleonora +provided the crystal reliquary and crown, and the rich curtains +within which it is preserved. At a little distance to south-west of +Seefeld, on a mountain-path leading to Telfs, is a little circular +chapel, built by Leopold V. in 1628, over a crucifix which had long +been honoured there. It is sometimes called the Kreuz-kapelle, but +more often the zur-Seekapelle, though one of the two little lakes, +whence the appellation, and the name of Seefeld too, was derived, +dried out in 1807. There is also a legend of the site having been +originally pointed out by a flight of birds similar to that I have +given concerning S. Georgenberg. + +The road then falls more gently than on the Zirl side, but is rugged +and wild in its surroundings, to Scharnitz, near which you meet the +blue-green gushing waters of the Isar. Scharnitz has borne the brunt +of many a terrible contest in the character of outpost of Tirolean +defences: it is known to have been a fortress in the time of the +Romans. It was one of the points strengthened by Klaudia de' Medici, +who built the 'Porta Klaudia' to command the pass. Good service it +did on more than one occasion; but it succumbed in the inroad of +French and Bavarians combined, in 1805. It was garrisoned at that +time by a small company of regular troops, under an English officer +in the Austrian service named Swinburne, whose gallant resistance +was cordially celebrated by the people. He was overwhelmed, however, +by superior numbers and appliances, and at Marshal Ney's orders the +fort was so completely destroyed, that scarcely a trace of it is now +to be found. [179] + +It is the border town against Bavaria, and is consequently enlivened +by a customs office and a few uniforms, but it is a poor place. I was +surprised to be accosted and asked for alms by a decent-looking woman, +whom I had seen kneeling in the church shortly before as this sort +of thing is not common in Tirol. She told me the place had suffered +sadly by the railway; for before, it was the post-station for all +the traffic between Munich and Innsbruck and Italy. The industries +of the place were not many or lucrative; the surrounding forests +supply some employment to woodmen; and what she called Dirstenöhl, +which seems to be dialectic for Steinöhl or petroleum, is obtained +from the bituminous soil in the neighbourhood; it is obtained by +a kind of distillation--a laborious process. The work lasted from +S. Vitus' Day to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin; that was now +past, and her husband, who was employed in it, had nothing to do; +she had an old father to support, and a sick child. Then she went +on to speak of the devotion she had just been reciting in the church +to obtain help, and evidently looked upon her meeting with me as an +answer to it. It seemed to consist in saying three times, a petition +which I wrote down at her dictation as follows:--'Gott grüsse dich +Maria! ich grüsse dich drei und dreizig Tausend Mal; O Maria ich +grüsse dich wie der Erzengel Gabriel dich gregüsset hat. Es erfreuet +dich in deinen Herzen dass der Erzengel Gabriel den himmlischen Gruss +zu dir gebracht hat. Ave Maria, &c.' She said she had never used that +devotion and failed to obtain her request. I learnt that the origin +she ascribed to it was this:--A poor girl, a cow-herd of Dorf, some +miles over the Bavarian frontier, who was very devout to the Blessed +Virgin, had been in the habit while tending her herds of saying the +rosary three times every day in a little Madonna chapel near her +grazing-ground. But one summer there came a great heat, which burnt +up all the grass, and the cattle wandered hither and thither seeking +their scanty food, so that it was all she could do to run after and +keep watch over them. The good girl was now much distressed in mind; +for the tenour of her life had been so even before, that when she made +her vow to say the three rosaries, it had never occurred to her such +a contingency might happen. But she knew also that neither must she +neglect her supervision of the cattle committed to her charge. While +praying then to Heaven for light to direct her in this difficulty, +the simple girl thought she saw a vision of our Lady, bidding her +be of good heart, and she would teach her a prayer to say instead, +which would not take as long as the rosary, and would please her +as well, and that she should teach it also to others who might be +overwhelmed with work like herself. This was the petition I have +quoted above. But the maid was too humble to speak of having received +so great a favour, and lived and died without saying anything about +it. When she came to die, however, her soul could find no rest, for +her commission was unfulfilled; and whenever anyone passed alone by +the wayside chapel where she had been wont to pray, he was sure to see +her kneeling there. At last a pious neighbour, who knew how good she +had been, summoned courage to ask her how it was that she was dealt +with thus. Then the good girl told him what had befallen her long ago +on that spot, and bid him fulfil the part she had neglected, adding, +'But tell them also not to think the mere saying the words is enough; +they must pray with faith and dependence on God, and also strive to +keep themselves from sin.' + + + +In returning from Zirl to Innsbruck, the left bank may be visited by +taking the Zirl bridge and pursuing the road bordering the river; you +come thus to Unterperfuss, another bourne of frequent excursion from +Innsbruck, the inn there having the reputation of possessing a good +cellar, and the views over the neighbourhood being most romantic, +the Château of Ferklehen giving interest to the natural beauties +around. Hence, instead of pursuing the return journey at once, a +digression may be made through the Selrainthal (Selrain, in the dialect +of the neighbourhood, means the edge of a mountain); and it is indeed +but a narrow strip bordering the stream--the Melach or Malk, so called +from its milk-white waters--which pours itself out by three mouths +into the Inn at the debouchure of the valley. There is many a 'cluster +of houses,' as German expresses [180] a settlement too small to be +dignified with the name of village, perched on the heights around, +but all reached by somewhat rugged paths. The first and prettiest is +Selrain, which is always locally called Rothenbrunn, because the iron +in the waters, which form an attraction to valetudinarian visitors, +has covered the soil over which they flow with a red deposit. Small as +it is, it boasts two churches, that to S. Quirinus being one of the +most ancient in Tirol. The mountain path through the Fatscherthal, +though much sought by Innsbruckers, is too rough travelling for +the ordinary tourist, but affords a fine mountain view, including +the magnificent Fernerwand, or glacier-wall, which closes it in, +and the three shining and beautifully graduated peaks of the Hohe +Villerspitz. At a short distance from Selrain may be found a pretty +cascade, one of the six falls of the Saigesbach. Some four or five +miles further along the valley is one of the numerous villages named +Gries; and about five miles more of mountain footpath leads to the +coquettishly perched sanctuary of St. Sigismund, the highest inhabited +point of the Selrainthal. It is one of the many high-peaked buildings +with which the Archduke Sigismund, who seems to have had a wonderful +eye for the picturesque, loved to set off the heaven-pointing cones of +the Tirolese mountains. Another opening in the mountains, which runs +out from Gries, is the Lisenthal, in the midst of which lie Juvenau +and Neurätz, the latter much visited by parties going to pick up the +pretty crystal spar called 'Andalusiten.' Further along the path stands +by the wayside a striking fountain, set up for the refreshment of the +weary, called the Magdalenenbründl, because adorned with a statue of +the Magdalen, the image of whose penitence was thought appropriate +to this stern solitude by the pious founder. The Melach is shortly +after crossed by a rustic bridge, and a path over wooded hills leads +to the ancient village of Pragmar. Hence the ascent of the Sonnenberg +or Lisens-Ferner is made. The monastery of Wilten has a summer villa +on its lower slope, serving as a dairy for the produce of their +pastures in the neighbourhood; a hospitable place of refreshment for +the traveller and alpine climber, and with its chapel constituting a +grateful object both to the pilgrim and the artist. The less robust +and enterprising will find an easier excursion in the Lengenthal, +a romantically wild valley, which forms a communication between the +Lisenthal and the OEtzthal. + +The Selrainthalers are behind none in maintaining the national +character. When the law of conscription--one of the most obnoxious +results of the brief cession to Bavaria--was propounded, the youths of +the Selrain were the first to show that, though ever ready to devote +their lives to the defence of the fatherland, they would never be +enrolled in an army in whose ranks they might be sent to fight in +they knew not what cause--perhaps against their own brethren. The +generous stand they made against the measure constituted their valley +the rendezvous of all who would escape from it for miles round, and +soon their band numbered some five hundred. During the whole of the +Bavarian occupation they maintained their independence, and were among +the first to raise the standard of the year 1809. A strong force was +sent out on March 14 to reduce them to obedience, when the Selrainers +gave good proof that it was not cowardice which had made them refuse +to join the army. They repulsed the Bavarian regulars with such +signal success, that the men of the neighbourhood were proud to range +themselves under their banner, which as long as the campaign lasted +was always found in the thickest of the fight. No less than eleven +of their number received decorations for personal bravery. In peace, +too, they have shown they know how to value the independence for which +they fought; though their labours in the field are so greatly enhanced +by the steepness of the ground which is their portion, that the men +yoke themselves to the plough, and carry burdens over places where no +oxen could be guided. Their industry and perseverance provide them +so well with enough to make them contented, if not prosperous, that +'in Selrain hat jeder zu arbeiten und zu essen' (in Selrain there +is work and meat enough for all) is a common proverb. The women, +who are unable for the reason above noted to take so much part in +field-labours as in some other parts, have found an industry for +themselves in bleaching linen, and enliven the landscape by the +cheerful zest with which they ply their thrifty toil. + +The path for the return journey from Selrain to Ober-Perfuss--or +foot of the upper height--is as rugged as the other paths we have +been traversing, but is even more picturesque. The church is newly +restored, and contains a monument, with high-sounding Latin epitaph, +to one Peter Anich, of whose labours in overcoming the difficulties +of the survey and mensuration of his country, which has nowhere three +square miles of plain, his co-villagers are justly proud. He was +an entirely self-taught man, but most accurate in his observations, +and he induced other peasants to emulate his studies. Ober-perfuss +also has a mineral spring. A pleasant path over hills and fields +leads in about an hour to Kematen, a very similar village; but the +remains of the ruined hunting-seat of Pirschenheim, now used as an +ordinary lodging-house, adds to its picturesqueness. Near by it may +also be visited the pretty waterfall of the Sendersbach. A shorter +and easier stage is the next, through the fields to Völs or Vels, +which clusters at the foot of the Blasienberg, once the dwelling of a +hermit, and still a place of pilgrimage and the residence of the priest +of the village. The parish church of Vels is dedicated in honour of +S. Jodok, the English saint, whose statue we saw keeping watch over +Maximilian's tomb at Innsbruck. Another hour across the level ground +of the Galwiese, luxuriantly covered with Indian corn, brings us back +to Innsbruck through the Innrain; the Galwiese has its name from the +echo of the hills, which close in the plain as it nears the capital; +wiese being a meadow, and gal the same form of Schall--resonance, +which occurs in Nachtigall, nightingale; and also, strangely enough, +in gellen, to sound loudly (or yell). At the cross-road (to Axams) we +passed some twenty minutes out of Völs, where the way is still wild, +is the so-called Schwarze Kreuz-kapelle. One Blasius Hölzl, ranger +of the neighbouring forest, was once overtaken by a terrible storm; +the Geroldsbach, rushing down from the Götzneralp, had obliterated the +path with its torrents; the reflection of each lightning flash in the +waste of waters around seemed like a sword pointed at the breast of his +horse, who shied and reared, and threatened to plunge his rider in the +ungoverned flood. Hölzl was a bold forester, but he had never known a +night like this; and as the rapidly succeeding flashes almost drove +him to distraction, he vowed to record the deliverance on the spot +by a cross of iron, of equal weight to himself and his mount, if he +reached his fireside in safety. Then suddenly the noisy wind subsided, +the clouds owned themselves spent, and in place of the angry forks of +flame only soft and friendly sheets of light played over the country, +and enabled him to steer his homeward way. Hölzl kept his promise, +and a black metal cross of the full weight promised long marked the +spot, and gave it its present name. [181] The accompanying figures +of our Lady and S. John having subsequently been thrown down, it +was removed to the chapel on Blasienberg. Ferneck, a pleasant though +primitive bath establishment, is prettily situated on the Innsbruck +side of the Galwiese, and the church there was also once a favourite +sanctuary with the people; but when the neighbouring land was taken +from the monks at Wilten, who had had it ever since the days of the +penitent giant Haymon, it ceased to be remembered. + +Starting from Innsbruck again in a southerly direction, a little +beyond Wilten, already described, we reach Berg Isel. Though invaded +in part by the railway, it is still a worthy bourne of pilgrimage, +by reason of the heroic victories of the patriots under Hofer. On +Sunday and holiday afternoons parties of Innsbruckers may always be +found refreshing these memories of their traditional prowess. It is +also precious on less frequented occasions for the splendid view it +affords of the whole Innthal. Two columns in the Scheisstand record +the honours of April 29 and August 30, 1809, with the inscription, +'Donec erunt montes et saxa et pectora nostra Austriacæ domini mænia +semper erunt.' I must confess, however, that the noise of the perpetual +rifle-practice is a great vexation, and prevents one from preserving +an unruffled memory of the patriotism of which it is the exponent; +but this holds good all over Germany. Here, on May 29, fell Graf +Johan v. Stachelburg, the last of his noble family, a martyr to his +country's cause. The peasants among whom he was fighting begged him +not to expose his life so recklessly, but he would not listen. 'I +shall die but once,' he replied to all their warnings; 'and where +could it befall me better than when fighting for the cause of God and +Austria?' He was mortally wounded, and carried in a litter improvised +from the brushwood to Mutters, where he lies buried. A little beyond +the southern incline of Berg Isel a path strikes out to the right, +and ascends the heights to the two villages of Natters and Mutters, +the people of which were only in 1786 released from the obligation +of going to Wilten for their Mass of obligation. Natters has some +remains of one of Archduke Sigismund's high-perched hunting-seats, +named Waidburg; he also instituted in 1446 a foundation for saying +five Masses weekly in its chapel. + +There are further several picturesque mountain walks to be found in +the neighbourhood of Innsbruck, under the grandly towering Nockspitze +and the Patscherkofl. Or again from either Mutters or Natters there is +a path leading down to Götzens, Birgitz, Axams, and Grintzens, across +westwards to the southern end of the Selrainthal. Götzens (from Götze, +an idol), like the Hundskapelle, received its name for having retained +its heathen worship longer than the rest of the district around. The +ruins, which you see on a detached peak as you leave Götzens again, +are the two towers of Liebenberger, and Völlenberger the poor remains +of Schloss Völlenberg, the seat of an ancient Tirolean family of +that name, who were very powerful in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries. It fell in to the Crown during the reign of Friedrich +mit der leeren Tasche, by the death of its last male heir. Frederick +converted it into a state-prison. The noblest person it ever harboured +was the poet Oswald von Wolkenstein. Himself a knight of noble lineage, +he had been inclined in the early part of Frederick's reign to join +his influence with the rest of the nobility against him, because he +took alarm at his familiarity with the common people. Frederick's +sudden establishment of his power, and the energetic proceedings +he immediately adopted for consolidating it, took many by surprise, +Oswald von Wolkenstein among the rest. He was a bard of too sweet song, +however, to be shut up in a cage, and Friedl was not the man to keep +the minstrel in durance when it was safe to let him be at large. He +had no sooner established himself firmly on the throne than he not only +released the poet, but forgetting all cause of animosity against him, +placed him at his court, and delighted his leisure hours with listening +to his warbling. Oswald's wild and adventurous career had stored his +mind with such subjects as Friedl would love to hear sung. But we shall +have more to say of Oswald when we come to his home in the Grödnerthal. + +The next village is Birgitz; and the next, after crossing the +torrent which rushes down from the Alpe Lizum, is Axams, one of the +most ancient in the neighbourhood, after passing the opening to the +lonesome but richly pastured Sendersthal, the slopes of which meet +those of the Selrainthal. + +The only remaining valley of North Tirol which I have room here to +treat is the Stubay Thal. [182] Of the three or four ways leading +into it from Innsbruck, all rugged, the most remarkable is called by +the people 'beim Papstl' because that traversed by Pius VI. when he +passed through Tirol, as I have already narrated. The first place +of any interest is Waldrast, a pilgrim's chapel, dating from the +year 1465. A poor peasant was directed by a voice he heard in his +sleep to go to the woods (Wald), and lay him down to rest (Rast), +and it would be told him what he should do; hence the name of the +spot. There the Madonna appeared to him, and bid him build a chapel +over an image of her which appeared there, no one knew how, some years +before. [183] A Servite monastery, built in 1624 on the spot, is now +in ruins, but the pilgrimage is still often made. It may be reached +from the railway station of Matrey. The ascent of the Serlesspitz +being generally undertaken from here, it is called in Innsbruck the +Waldrasterspitz. Fulpmes is the largest village of the Stubay Thal. The +inhabitants are all workers in iron and steel implements, and among +other things are reckoned to make the best spikes for the shoes of +the mountain climbers. Their works are carried all over Austria and +Italy, but less now than formerly. In the church are some pictures +by a peasant girl of this place. Few will be inclined to pursue this +valley further; and the only remaining place of any mark is Neustift, +the marshy ground round which provides the Innsbruck market with +frogs. The church of Neustift was built, at considerable cost, in +the tasteless style of the last century. The wood carvings by the +Tirolean artists Keller, Hatter, and Zatter, however, are meritorious. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WÄLSCH-TIROL. + +THE WÄLSCH-TIROLISCHE ETSCHTHAL AND ITS TRIBUTARY VALLEYS. + + + It is not some Peter or James who has written these stories for a + little circle of flattering contemporaries; it is a whole nation + that has framed them for all times to come, and stamped them + with the impress of its own mighty character.--Aksharounioff, + Use of Fairy Tales. + + +It is time that we turn our attention to the Traditions of South and +Wälsch-Tirol, though it must not be supposed that we have by any +means exhausted those of the North. There are so many indications +that ere long the rule over the province, or Kreis, [184] as it is +called, of Wälsch-Tirol, may some day be transferred to Italy, that, +especially as our present view of it is somewhat retrospective, it +is as well to consider it first, and before its homogeneity with the +rest of the principality is destroyed. + +Wälsch, or Italian-Tirol sometimes, especially of late, denominated +the Trentino, comprises the sunniest, and some at least, of the most +beautiful valleys of Tirol. The Etschthal, or valley of the Adige, +which takes its source from the little lake Reschen, also called +der Grüne, from the colour of its waters, near Nauders, traverses +both South and Wälsch-Tirol. That part of the Etschthal belonging to +the latter Kreis takes a direct north to south direction down its +centre. There branch out from it two main lines of valleys on the +west, and two on the east. The northernmost line on the west side +is formed of the Val di Non and the Val di Sole; on the east, of the +Avisio valley under its various changes of name which will be noted +in their place. The Southern line on the west is called Giudicaria, +and on the east, Val Sugana, or valley of the Euganieren. + +The traveller's first acquaintance with the Wälschtirolische-Etschthal +will probably, as in my own case, be made in the Val Lagarina, +through which the railway of Upper Italy passes insensibly on to +Tirolese soil, for you are allowed to get as far as Ala before the +custom-house visitation reminds you that you have passed inside +another government. It is a wild gorge along which you run, only +less formidable than that which you saw so grimly close round you as +you left Verona. If you could but lift that stony veil on your left, +you would see the beautiful Garda-See sparkling beside you; but how +vexatious soever the denial, the envious mountains interpose their +stern steeps to conceal it. Their recesses conceal too, but to our +less regret, the famous field of Rivoli. + +Borghetto is the first village on Tirolese soil, and Ala, in the +Middle Ages called Sala, the first town. It thrives on the production +of silk, introduced here from Lombardy about 1530. It has a picturesque +situation, and some buildings that claim a place in the sketchbook. The +other places of interest in the neighbourhood are most conveniently +visited from Roveredo, or Rofreit as the Germans call it, a less +important and pleasing town than Trent, but placed in a prettier +neighbourhood. It received its name of Roboretum from the Latins, on +account of the immense forests of oak with which it was surrounded +in their time. The road leading through it, being the highway into +the country, bristles all along its way with ancient strongholds, +as Avio, Predajo, Lizzana, Castelbarco, Beseno, and others, which +have all had their share in the numerous struggles for ascendancy, +waged for so many years between the Emperor, the Republic of Venice, +the Bishops of Trent, and the powerful families inhabiting them. The +last-named preserves a tradition of more peaceful interest. At the +time that Dante was banished from Florence, Lizzana was a seat of the +Scaligers, and they had him for their visitor for some time during his +wanderings. Not far from it is the so-called Slavini di San Marco, +a vast Steinmeer, which seems, as it were, a ruined mountain, such +vast blocks of rock lie scattered on every side. There is little +doubt the poet has immortalized the scene he had the opportunity of +contemplating here in his description of the descent to the Inferno, +opening of Canto XII. It is said that a fine city, called San Marco, +lies buried under these gigantic fragments, concerning which the +country people were very curious, and were continually excavating +to arrive at the treasure it was supposed to contain, till one day a +peasant thus engaged saw written in fiery letters on one vast boulder, +'Beati quelli che mi volteranno' (happy they who turn me round). The +peasant thought his fortune was made. There could be no doubt the +promised happiness must consist in the riches which turning over +the stone should disclose. Plenty of neighbours were ready to lend a +hand to so promising a toil; and after the most unheard-of exertions, +the monster stone was upheaved. But instead of a treasure they found +nothing but another inscription, which said 'Bene mi facesti, perchè +le coscie mi duolevano (you have done me a good turn, for I had a +pain in my thighs). [185] As the peasants felt no great satisfaction +in working with no better pay than this, the buried city of San Marco +ceased from this time to be the object of their search. Nevertheless, +near Mori, on the opposite (west) side of the river, is a deep cave +called 'la Busa del Barbaz,' concerning which the saying runs, that +it was, ages ago, the lurking-place of a cruel white-bearded old man, +who lived on human flesh, and that whoso has the courage to explore +the cave and discover his remains, will, immediately on touching them, +be confronted by his spirit, who will tell the adventurous wight +where an immense treasure lies hid. Some sort of origin for this +fable may be found in an older tradition, which tells that idols, +whose rites demanded human sacrifices, were cast down this cave by +the first Christian converts of the Lenothal. The Slavini are closed +by a rocky gorge, characteristically named Serravalle; and as the +country again opens out another cave on the east bank is pointed out, +which was for long years a resort of robbers, who plundered all who +passed that way. These were routed out by the Prince-bishop of Trent +in 1197, and a hospice for the relief of travellers built on the very +spot which so long had been the terror of the wayfarer. The chapel +was dedicated in honour of S. Margaret, and still retains the name. + +Roveredo itself is crowned by a fort--Schloss Junk, or Castel +nuovo--which has stood many a siege, originally built by the Venetians; +but it is more distinguished by its villas and manufactories. The +silk trade was introduced here in 1580, and has continuously added +to the prosperity of the place. Gaetano Tacchi established relations +with England at the end of the last century, and the four brothers of +the same name, who now represent her house, are the richest family +in Roveredo. They have a very pretty family vault near the Madonna +del Monte, a pilgrimage reached by a road which starts behind the +Pfarrkirche of Sta. Maria. Another pilgrimage church newly established +is the Madonna de Saletto. While the silk factories occupy the +Italian hands, the Germans resident in Roveredo find employment +at a newly-established tobacco factory. Much tobacco is grown in +the Trentino. + +A great deal of activity is seen in Roveredo. The Corso nuovo is +a broad handsome street with fine trees. A new and handsome road, +between the town and railway station, was laid out in the autumn of +1869. Outside the town is the so-called Lenoschlucht, reached by the +Strada nuova, which crosses it by a daring high arched bridge. The +cliff rises sheer on the right hand, and overlooking the dangerous +precipice is the little chapel of S. Columban, seemingly perched +there by enchantment. It is built over the spot where a hermit, +who was held in veneration by the neighbourhood, had his retreat. + +There are seven churches, but not much to remark in any of them. That +of S. Rocchus was built in consequence of a vow made by the townspeople +during the plague of 1630, to invite a settlement of Franciscans if it +was stayed. The altar-piece is ascribed to Giovanni da Udine. There +are several educational establishments, and a club which is devoted +to propagandism of Italian tendencies. + +The time to see Trent to advantage is in the month of June, not only +for the sake of the natural beauties of climate and scenery, but +because then falls the festa of S. Vigilius (26th), the evangelizer +of the country, and the churches are crowded with all the surrounding +mountain population, who, after religious observances have been duly +fulfilled, indulge in all their characteristic games and amusements, +often in representations of sacred dramas, [186] and always wind up +with their favourite and peculiar illumination of their mountain sides +by disposing bonfires in devices over a whole slope. This custom is the +more worth noting that it is thought to be a remnant of fire-worship, +prevailing before the entrance of the Etruscans. [187] + +That their city was the see of S. Vigilius, and the seat of the great +council of the Church, are reckoned by its people their greatest +glories; and they delight to trace a parallel between their city +and 'great Rome.' They reckon that it was founded in the time of +Tarquinius Priscus by a colony of Etruscans, under a leader named +Rhætius, who established there the worship of Neptune, whence the name +of Tridentum or Trent. That they occupied and fortified the country, +and subsequently became a power formidable to the Empire; but some +twenty-five years before the Christian era, Rhætia, as the country +round was called, was conquered by Drusus, son-in-law of Augustus, +and colonized. An ancient inscription preserved in the Schloss Buon +Consiglio shows that Trent was the centre of the local government, +which was exactly modelled on that of Rome. S. Vigilius, who spread +the light of the faith here, was a born Roman, and suffered martyrdom +in a persecution emulating those of Rome in the year 400. The city +endured sieges and over-running from many of the barbarous nations +which over-ran and sacked Rome, and researches into the ancient +foundations show that the accumulation of ruins has raised the soil, +as in Rome, some feet above the original ground plan--Ranzi says +more than four metres. The traces of three distinct lines of walls, +showing just as in Rome the progressive enlargement of the city, +have been found, as also remains of a considerable amphitheatre, and +many of inlaid pavements, &c., showing that it was handsomely built +and provided. To complete the parallel, it was under the régime of +an ecclesiastical ruler that, after years of distress and turmoil, +its peace and prosperity were restored. The Bishop of Trent still +retains his title of Prince, but the deprivation of his territorial +rule was one of the measures of secularization of Joseph II. + +There are sixteen churches in Trent, of which the most considerable is +the Cathedral, dating from the eleventh century--with some remnants +of sculpture, as the Lombard ornaments of the three porches, reckoned +to belong to the seventh or eighth--a Romanesque building of massive +design, built of the reddish-brown marble which abounds in the +neighbourhood, with a Piazza and fountain before it. The interior is +extensively decorated with frescoes. It is dedicated to S. Vigilius, +whose relics are preserved in a silver sarcophagus. Among its +other notabilia are a Madonna, by Perugino, and some good paintings +of less esteemed masters; also a copy of the Madonna di San Luca +of the Pantheon, presented in 1465 to the then Bishop of Trent, +while on a visit to Rome, by the Pope, and ever since an object of +popular veneration. As a curiosity, is shown a waxen image of the +Blessed Virgin, modelled by a Jew. It also contains several curious +brass monuments. The Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore, where the great +Council was held, on this account, surpasses it in interest, though +of small architectural merit. There is a legend that when the final +Te Deum at the close of the Council was sung on December 4, 1563, +[188] a crucifix, still pointed out in one of the side chapels [189] +of the Cathedral, was seen to bow its head as if in token of approval +of the constitutions that had been established. Sta. Maria Maggiore +contains a picture of the Council, with the fathers in full session, +which is not without interest, as all the costumes can still be made +out, though quaint and faded and injured by lightning. It has also a +very fine organ, the tone of which was so much esteemed at the time +it was built, that it is said the Town Council determined to put out +the eyes of the organ-builder, [190] lest he should endow any other +city with as perfect an instrument. The meister, finding he could +not prevail on the councilmen to relent, asked as a last favour to be +allowed to play on his organ, which was willingly conceded; but as soon +as he had obtained access to the instrument, he contrived to damage +the stop imitating the human voice, which he had invented, and which +had been its great merit, and thus punished the pride and cruelty of +the municipality. In the remarkable Gothic Church of St. Peter is a +chapel, built in commemoration of the infant St. Simeon, or Simonin, +whose alleged martyrdom at the hands of the Jews, in 1472, I have +already had reason to mention. Many relics of him are shown in the +chapel, where a festa is still kept in his honour on March 24. The +cutting of his name in the stone is still quite legible. + +My limits forbid my speaking in much detail of the secular buildings +and institutions which are, however, not unworthy of attention. There +are clubs and reading-rooms--in some of which aspirations after +union with Italy are steadily propagated. The spirit of loyalty +to Austria, though still strong in many breasts, has nothing like +the same influence as in 1848-9, or in 1866, when the attacks and +blandishments of the revolutionists of Italy were alike powerless to +shake the allegiance of the Trentiners. No one will overlook the vast +Schloss buon Consiglio in the Piazza d'Armi, said to be an Etruscan +foundation. The public museum is a very creditable institution, +enriched in 1846 by the legacy of Count Giovanelli's collection, +chiefly of coins and medals; and paintings, not to be despised, are to +be seen in the collections of the best families of the place--Palazzi +Wolkenstein and Sizzo, Case Salvetti and Gaudenti. Two great ornaments +of the city are the Palazzi Tabarelli, and Zambelli or Teufelspalast; +and with the legend of the latter I must wind up my notice of Trent. + +Georg Fugger, a scion of the wealthy Anthony Fugger, of Augsburg, the +entertainer of Charles Quint, was deeply enamoured of the spirited +Claudia Porticelli, the acknowledged beauty of Trent. Claudia did +not appear at all averse from the match, but she was too proud to +yield herself all too readily; and besides, was genuinely possessed +with the spirit of patriotism, to which mountain folk are never +wanting. Accordingly, when the reply long pressed for from her lips +came at last, it informed him that never would Claudia Porticelli +of Tirolean Trent give her hand to one whose dwelling was afar from +her native city; she wondered, indeed, that one who did not own so +much as a little house to call a home in Trent, should imagine he +possessed her sympathies. To another this answer would have amounted +to a refusal, for it only wanted a day of the time already fixed, of +long date beforehand, for the announcement of her final choice. But +Georg Fugger, whose vast riches had long nursed him in the belief that +'money maketh man,' and that nothing was denied to him, would not yield +up a hope so dearly cherished as that of making Claudia Porticelli +his wife. To his determined mind there was a way of doing everything +a man was resolved to do. To build a house, however, in one night, +and that a house worthy of being the home of his Claudia, when men +should call her Claudia Fugger, was a serious matter indeed. No human +hands could do the work, that was clear; he must have recourse to help +from which a good Christian should shrink; but the case was desperate; +he had no choice. Nevertheless, Georg Fugger had no mind to endanger +his soul either. The game he had to play was to get the Evil One to +build the house, but also to guard from letting him gain any spiritual +advantage against him; and his indomitable energy devised the means +of securing the one and preventing the other. Without loss of time +the devil was summoned, and the task of building the desired palace +propounded. The tempter willingly accepted the undertaking, on his +usual condition of the surrender of the soul of him in whose favour it +was performed. Georg Fugger cheerfully signed the bond with his blood, +only stipulating first for the insertion of one slight condition on +his side--namely, that the devil should do one little other thing for +him before he claimed his terrible guerdon. 'Whatever you like! it +won't be too hard for me!' boasted the Evil One; and they separated, +each well satisfied with the compact. + +'The Devil's Palace has a splendid design, worthy the genius of +Palladio,' writes a modern traveller, who has only seen it in its +decadence. On the night in which it was built, it was resplendent with +marbles and gilding and tasteful decoration; furnished it was too, +to satisfy the most fastidious taste, and the requirements of the most +luxurious. With pride the devil called Georg Fugger to come and survey +the lordly edifice, and name his 'final condition.' Georg Fugger was +prepared for him; he had taken a bushel of corn, and strewn it over all +the floors of the vast building. 'Look here, Meister,' he said. 'If you +can gather this corn up grain by grain, and deliver me back the whole +number correctly, then indeed my soul will be yours; but if otherwise, +my soul remains my own and the palace too. That is my final condition.' + +The devil accepted the task readily, and with no misgiving of his +success. True, it took all the time that remained before sunrise +to collect all the scattered grain; still he had performed harder +feats before that day. But the hours ran by, and still there were +five grains wanting to complete the count; where could those five +grains be! With a flaring torch, lighted at his fiercest fire, he +searched every corner through and through, but the five grains were +nowhere to be seen, and daylight began to appear! 'Ah! the measure +is well-heaped up, the Fugger won't discover they are missing,' +so the fiend flattered himself. But Georg Fugger was keener than he +seemed. Before his eyes he counted out the corn, and asked for the five +missing grains. 'Stuff! the measure is piled up full enough, I can't +be so particular as all that. The number must be there.' 'But it is +not!' urged Fugger. 'Oh, you've miscounted,' rejoined the Evil One; +'I'm not going to be put off in that way. I've built your house, +and I've collected your measure of corn, and your soul is mine; +you can't prove that there were five more grains.' 'Yes, I can,' +replied Fugger; 'reach out me your paw;' and the Devil, not guessing +how he could convict him by that means, held out his great paw, with +insolent confidence of manner. 'There!' cried Fugger, pointing to it +as he spoke; 'there, under your own claws, lie the five grains! That +corn had been offered before the Holy Rood, and by the power of the +five Sacred Wounds it was kept from fulfilling your fell purpose. You +had not collected the full number of grains into the measure by +the morning light, so our bargain is at an end. Begone!' The Devil, +self-convicted, had no refuge but to strive to alarm his victor by a +show of fury, and with burning claw he began tearing down the wall so +lately raised. But Fugger remained imperturbable, for he had fairly +won the palace, and the Devil himself had no more power over it. He +could only succeed in making a hole big enough for himself to escape +by, which hole was for many and many years pointed out. + +But Fugger had also hereby established his claim to Claudia's hand, +who rejoiced at the gentle violence thus done her; and many happy +days they spent together in the Teufelspalast. In later years it +passed from their family into the hands of Field-Marshal Gallas, +who lived here in peaceful retirement after his renowned exploits +in the Thirty Years' War, whence it was long called Palazzo Gallas +or Golassi; but it has lately again changed hands, and thus acquired +the name of Palazzo Zambelli. + +The suburbs of Trent, among other excursions, offer the pleasing +pilgrimage of the Madonna alle Laste, [191] which is reached through +the Porta dell' Aquila, on the east side of the city, by half an +hour's climbing up a mountain path off the road to Bassano. On a spur +of this declivity had stood from time immemorial a marble Maria-Bild, +honoured by the veneration of the people. Somewhere about the year +1630 a Jew wantonly disfigured and damaged the sacred token, to +the indignation of the whole neighbourhood. Christopher Detscher, a +German artist, devoted himself to restoring it; but it was impossible +altogether to obliterate the traces of the injury. By some means or +other, however--the people said by miraculous intervention--it was +altogether renewed in one night; and this prodigy so enhanced its fame, +that there was no case so desperate but they believed it must obtain +relief when pleaded for at such a shrine. A poor cowherd named Antonia, +who had been deaf all her life, was said to have received the power +of hearing after praying there; and a child, who had died before +there was time to baptise it, a reprieve of existence long enough +to receive that Sacrament. The grateful people now immediately set +themselves to raise a stone chapel over it, and by their ready alms +maintained a hermit on the spot to guard the sacred precincts. Twelve +years later, by the bounty of Field-Marshal Gallas, a community of +Carmelites was established on the spot, which continued to flourish +down to the secularization of Joseph II. The convent buildings, +however, yet serve the beneficent purpose of a Refuge for foundlings +and orphans. The prospect from the precincts of the institution is +very fine; between the distant ranges of mountains and the foreground +slopes covered with peach trees, lies the grand old city of Trent, +shaped, like the country of Tirol itself, in the form of a heart. [192] +Very effective in accentuating the outline are the two old castles +of the Buon' Consiglio and the Palazzo degli Alberi, both formerly +fortress-residences of the Prince-Bishops of Trent, the former +vieing with the castle of the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg in extent and +grandeur. The curious isolated rock of Dos Trento is another centre of +a splendid view. The Romans called it Verruca, a wart. It was strongly +fortified by Augustus, and remains of inscriptions and bas-reliefs +are built into the wall of the ancient church of St. Apollinaria, +occupying the site of a temple of Saturn. The vantage ground it +afforded in repelling the entry of the French in 1703 obtained for it +the name of the Franzosenbühel. It has lately been newly fortified. A +charming but somewhat adventurous excursion may be made on foot, by a +path starting from the fort of the Dos Trento rock, to the cascade of +Sardagna. Somewhere about this path, in the neighbourhood of Cadine, +it is said, St. Ingenuin, [193] one of the early evangelizers of the +country, planted a beautiful garden, which was a living model of the +Garden of Eden; but so divinely beautiful was it, that to no mortal +was it given to find it. Only the holy Albuin obtained by his prayers +permission once to find entrance to 'St. Ingenuin's Garden.' Entranced +with the delights of the place, he determined at least to bring back +some sample of its produce. So he gathered some of its golden fruits, +to show the children of earth. To this day a choice yellow apple, +something like our golden pippin, grown in the neighbourhood, goes +by the name of St. Albuin's apple. + +The only remaining towns of any note in the line of the +Wälschtirolische Etschthal, are Lavis and S. Michel. Lavis is a pretty +little well-built town (situated at the point where the torrents of +the Cembra, Fleims, and Fassa valleys, under the name of the Avisio, +are poured into the Etsch), remarkable for a red stone viaduct, nearly +3,000 feet long, near the railway station, over the Avisio. Lavis +fell into possession of the French in 1796, when the church was burnt +and the houses plundered. In 1841--forty-five years after--a French +soldier sent a sum of one hundred gulden to the church, in reparation +for having carried off a silver sanct-lamp for his share of the booty. + +Lavis has on many another occasions stood the early brunt of the +attacks of Tirol's foes, and its people have testified their full +share of loyalty. There is a tradition that the French, having on +one occasion gained possession of it with a band two hundred strong, +the people posted themselves on the neighbouring heights and harassed +them in flank; but a cobbler of Lavis, indignant at the havoc the +French were making, left this vantage ground, and running down into +the town, shouting 'Follow me, boys!' dispersed the French troops +before one of his fellows had time to come up! [194] + +San Michel, or Wälsch Michel, is the boundary town against the circle +of South Tirol, once the last town on Venetian territory. There +are imposing remains here of a fine Augustinian priory, which +originated in a castle given up to this object by Ulrich Count of +Eppan in 1143; the building has of late years been sadly neglected; +it is now a school of agriculture. A little way before Wälsch Michel, +the railway crosses, for the first time since leaving Verona, to the +left bank of the Adige, by a handsome bridge called by the people +'the sechsmillionen Brücke.' Here we leave the Etschthal for a time, +but we shall renew acquaintance with it in its northern stretch when +we come to visit South Tirol. + +The two northern tributary valleys of the Etschthal on the west are +the Val di Non [195] and Val di Sole; among the Germans, they go by +the names of Nonsberg and Sulzberg, as if they considered the hills in +their case more striking than the valleys. The Val di Non is entered +at Wälschmetz or Mezzo Lombardo by the strangely wild and gloomy +Rochettapass. Wälschmetz is a flourishing Italian-looking town, whence +a stellwagen meets every train stopping at San Michel. Conveyances +for exploring the valleys can be hired either at the 'Corona' or +the 'Rosa.' The Rochetta is guarded by a ruined fort fantastically +perched on an isolated spur of rock called Visiaun or Il Visione, +said to have formed part of a system of telegraphic communication +established by the Romans. + +In the church of Spaur Maggiore, or Spor, so called because the +principal place in the neighbourhood, which at one time all belonged to +the Counts of Spaur, is a Wunderbild of the Blessed Virgin, which has +for centuries attracted pilgrims from the whole country round. The +church of the next place of any importance, Denno, is remarkably +rich in marbles, and handsome for its situation; a new altar-piece +of some pretension, and a new presbytery, were completed here in +August 1869. Flavone or Pflaun, the next village, is particularly +proud of a rich silver-gilt cross, twenty-five pounds in weight, +and set with pearls, a gift of a bishop of Trient. At the time of +the French invasion it was taken to Vicenza, but as soon as peace +and security were re-established the people would not rest till it +was restored to them. The hamlet is adorned with a rather handsome +municipal palazzo, built in the sixteenth century, when the ancient +Schloss, which overhangs the Trisenega torrent, was pronounced unsafe +after several earth-slips. This valley is, if possible, richer in such +remains than any other: every mountain spur bristles with them. One +of the most important and picturesque is the Schloss Belasis, near +Denno, claiming to be the cradle of the family of that name, which +has established itself with honour in several countries of Europe, +including our own. Behind Pflaun are large forests, which constitute +the riches of the higher, as the Seidenbaum [196] is of the lower, +level of the valley. In its midst lies the Wildsee of Tobel, which, +frozen in winter, serves for the transport of the timber growing on +the further side. The safety of its condition for the purpose is +ascertained by observing the time when the trace of the sagacious +fox shows that he has trusted himself across. + +Cles, situated nearly at the northernmost reach of the valley, is a +centre of the silk trade, and the factory-girls are remarkable for +their tastefully adorned hair, though they all go barefooted. The site +of a temple of Saturn, of considerable dimensions, has been found, +coinciding with traditions of his worship having been popular here; and +remains of an ancient civilization are continually dug up. There is a +wild-looking plain outside the town, still called the Schwarzen Felder, +or black fields, because tradition declares it to be the place where +the Roman inhabitants burnt their dead. Here SS. Sisinius, Martyrius, +and Alexander, are believed to have suffered death by fire on May 29, +397, because these zealous supporters and missionaries of St. Vigilius +refused to take part in a heathen festival. St. Vigilius no sooner +heard of their steadfast witnessing to the truth, than he repaired +to the spot, and after zealously collecting and venerating their +remains, preached so powerfully on their holy example, that great +numbers were converted by his word. A church was shortly after built +here, and being the first in the neighbourhood, was called Eccelesia, +whence the name of Cles. The devout spirit of these saintly guides +does not seem wanting to the present inhabitants; when the jubilee +was held on occasion of the Vatican Council, more than two thousand +persons went to Communion. At the not far distant village of Livo, +on the same occasion, it was found necessary to erect a temporary +building to supplement the large parish church, for the numbers who +flocked in from the outlying parishes. The same thing occurred when +the faithful were invited to join in prayers for the Pope after the +Piedmontese invasion of Rome, September 20, 1870. + +On these 'Campi neri' was found, in the spring of 1869, a tablet +since known as the 'Tavola Clesiana.' It is a thickish bronze tablet, +about 18 in. by 13 in., with holes showing where it was attached to +a wall by the corners. It bears an inscription in Roman character, +the graving of which is quite distinct and unworn, as if newly +executed. It is as follows, and has given rise to a great deal of +controversy among archæologists, and between Professors Vallaury and +Mommsen, concerning its bearing on the early history of Annaunia:-- + + + Miunio . sIlano . q . sulpicio . camerino . CoS idibus . martIs . + baIs . in . praetorio . edictum . ti . claudi . caesaris . + augusti . germanici . propositum . fuit . id . quod . infra . + scriptum . est . ti . claudius . caesar . augustus . germanicus . + pont . maxim . trib . potest . VI . imp . XI . P . P . cos . + designatus . IIII . dicit . cum . ex . veteribus . controversIs . + petentibus . aliquamdiu . etiam . temporibus . ti . caesaris . + patrui . meI . ad . quas . ordinandas . pinarium . apollinarem . + miserat . quae . tantum . modo . inter . comenses . essent . + quantum . memoria . refero . et . bergaleos . is que . primum . + apsentia . pertinaci . patrui . meI . deinde . etiam . gaI . + principatu . quod . ab . eo . non . exigebatur . referre . + non . stulte . quidem . neglexerit . et . posteac . detulerit . + camurius . statutus . ad . me . agros . plerosque . et . saltus . + meI . iuris . esse . in . rem . praesentem . mIsi . plantam . + iulium . amicum . et . comitem . meum . qui . cum . adhibitis . + procuratoribus . meis . quisque . in . alia . regione . + quique . in . vicinia . erant . summa . cura . inquisierit . + et . cognoverit . cetera . quidem . ut . michi . demonstrata . + commentario . facto . ab . ipso . sunt . statuat . pronuntietque . + ipsi . permitto . Quod . ad . condicionem . anaunorum . et . + tulliassium . et . sindunorum . pertinet . quorum . partem . + delator . adtributam . tridentinis . partem . neadtributam . + quidem . arguisse . dicitur . tam . et . si . animaduerto . + nonnimium . firmam . id . genus . hominum . habere . civitatis . + romanae . originem . tamen . cum . longa . usurpatione . in . + possessionem . eius . fuisse . dicatur . et . ita . permixtum . + cum . tridentinis . ut . diduci . ab . Is . sine . gravi . + splendi . municipI . iniuria . non . possit . patior . eos . + in . eo . iure in . quo . esse . existimaverunt . permanere . + beneficio . meo . eo . quidem . libentius . quod . plerisque . + ex . eo . genere . hominum . etiam . militare . in . praetorio . + meo . dicuntur . quidam . vero . ordines . quoque . duxisse . + nonnulli . collecti . in . decurias . romae . res . iudicare . + Quod . beneficium . Is . ita . tribuo . ut . quaecumque . tanquam . + cives . romani . gesserunt . egeruntque . aut . inter . se . aut . + cum . tridentinis . alIsve . ratam . esse . iubeat . nominaque . + ea . que . habuerunt . antea . tanquam . cives . romani . ita . + habere . Is . permittam . + + +A fragment of an altar was found at the same time, with the following +words on it:-- + + + SATURNO SACR + L. PAPIRIUS L + OPUS + + +Livo is the first village of the Val di Sole, which runs in a +south-westerly direction, forming nearly a right-angle with the Val +di Non, than which it is wilder, and colder, and less inhabited. At +Magras the Val di Rabbi strikes off to the north. Its baths are +much frequented, and S. Bernardo is hence provided with four or five +capacious hotels. A new church has just been built there, circular +in form, with three altars, one of which is dedicated in honour of +St. Charles Borromeo, who visited the place in 1583, and preached +with so much fervour as effectually to arrest the Zuinglian teaching, +which had lately been imported. + +Male is the chief place of Val di Sole, and contains about 1,500 +inhabitants. At a retreat held here last Christmas by the Dean of Cles, +so many of them as well as of the circumjacent hamlets were attracted, +that not less than 3,000 went to communion. Further along the valley +is Mezzana, the birthplace of Antonio Maturi, who, after serving in +the campaigns of Prince Eugene, entered a Franciscan convent at Trent, +whence he was sent as a missionary to Constantinople, and was made +Bishop of Syra, and afterwards was employed as nuncio by Benedict +XIV. It was almost entirely destroyed by fire a few years ago, +but is being rapidly rebuilt. After this place the country becomes +more smiling, and cheerful cottages are seen by the wayside, with an +occasional edifice, whose solid stone-built walls suggest that it is +the residence of some substantial proprietor. The valley widens out +to a plain at Pellizano, round which lofty mountains rise on every +side. The church here has a most singular fresco on the exterior +wall, which is intended to record the circumstance that Charles Quint +passed through in 1515. Some restoration or addition was made to the +church at his expense, and a quaint inscription hints that he did it +somewhat grudgingly. + +A few miles further the valley divides into two branches, the Val +di Pejo and the Val di Vermiglio. At Cogolo, the chief place of Val +di Pejo, had long been stored a magnificent monstrance, offered +to the church by Count Megaezy, who, though resident in Hungary, +owned it for his Stammort. [197] It had long been the admiration of +the neighbourhood, and the envy of visitors; but it was stolen by +sacrilegious hands in the troubles consequent on the invasion of the +Trentino by 'Italianissimi,' in 1849. Count Guglielmo Megaezy sent the +village a new one of considerable value and handsome design, whose +reception was celebrated amid lights and flowers, ringing of bells +and firing of mortaletti, July 18, 1869. This branch of the valley +is closed in by the Drei Herren Spitz, or Corno de' tre Signori, the +boundary-mark between the Valtellina, Bormio, and Tirol, and so called +when they belonged to three different governments. The Val di Vermiglio +is closed by Monte Tonale, the depression in whose slope forms the +Tonal Pass into Val Camonica and the Bergamese territory. Monte Tonale +was notorious in the sixteenth to early in the eighteenth century for +its traditions of the Witches' Sabbath, and the trials for sorcery +connected with them. [198] Freyenthurn, a ruin-crowned peak at no +great distance, bears in its name a tradition of the worship of Freya. + + + +On the vine-clad height of Ozolo, above Revo, a few miles north of +Cles, is a little village named Tregiovo, most commandingly situated; +hence, on a fine day, may be obtained one of the most enchanting +and remarkable views, sweeping right over the two valleys. Hence +a path runs up the heights, and along due north past Cloz and +Arz to Castelfondo, with its two castles overhanging the roaring +cascade of the Noce. Along this path, where it follows the Novella +torrent, numbers of pilgrims pass every year to one of the most famed +sanctuaries of Tirol--Unsere liebe Frau im Walde, or auf dem Gampen, +as the mountain on which it is perched is called by the Germans; and +this reach of the Nonstal is almost entirely inhabited by Germans. The +Italians call it le Pallade, and more commonly Senale. The chapel +is on the site of an ancient hospice for travellers, which became +disused, however, as early as the fourteenth century. A highly-prized +Madonnabild, of great sweetness of expression, found in a swamp near +the place, stands over the high-altar. A celebration of the seventh +centenary of its being found was kept by a festival of three days +from August 14, 1869, when crowds of pilgrimages, comprising whole +populations of circumjacent villages, both German and Italian, might +have been seen gathering round the shrine. Fondo, though but a few +miles distant, is a thoroughly Italian town; and so great is the +barrier this difference of tongue sets up, that great part of the +population of the one never visits the other. It was nearly burnt +down in 1865, and has hardly yet recovered from the catastrophe; +the church, which occupies a very commanding situation, was saved, +and its fine peal of six bells. Near it is St. Biagio, where was +once the only convent the Nonsthal ever possessed. Near this again +is Sanzeno, which, by a tradition a little different from that given +at Denno, is made out to be the place of martyrdom of SS. Sisinius +(supposed to be another form of the name of St. Zeno), Martyrius, +and Alexander. Their relics, at all events, are venerated here in +a marble urn behind the high-altar of the church, which bears the +title of the Cathedral of the Val de Non; and the Roman remains, +which are continually being discovered, [199] show that there were +Romans here to have done the martyrdom. The legend is, that these +saints were three brothers of noble family, of Cappadocia, who put +themselves under the bidding of S. Vigilius, Bishop of Trent (who was +already engaged in the conversion of the valley), A.D. 390. Their +conversions were numerous during a series of years; but on May 23, +397, the inhabitants of the valley, who adhered to the old teaching, +desirous to make their usual sacrifice to obtain a blessing on their +crops, called upon the Christian converts to contribute a sheep for +the purpose. On the Christians refusing a strife ensued, of which +two of the three missionaries were the immediate victims; but the +next day, the third, Alexander was also arrested; he was burnt alive, +along with the corpses of his companions. A church was subsequently +built on the spot where they were said to have suffered; their acts +may be seen in a bas-relief of the seventeenth century. San Zeno +is also famous for being the birth-place of Christopher Busetti, +whose verses, no less than the details of his life, earned for him +the title of the Tirolean Petrarch. A little east of San Zeno is the +narrow inlet into the Romediusthal, so called from S. Romedius, whom +we heard of at Taur, [200] having chosen it for a hermitage whence to +evangelize the Nonsthal, and in which to end his days. A more secluded +spot could not be found on the whole earth. Perpendicular rocks narrow +it in, leaving scarcely a glimpse of the sky above; the torrent which +files its way through it, called San Romedius-Bach, continually works +a deeper and deeper bed. Two other torrents strive for possession of +the gorge (Romediusschlucht), the Rufreddo and the Verdes, between +them; near their confluence rises a stark isolated crag, from whose +highest point, almost like a fortress, rises the far-famed hermitage, +accessible only from one side. The legend has it that S. Vigilius, +knowing his exalted piety, conceived the idea of consecrating the +cell whence his holy prayers had been poured out, for a chapel, but +was warned in a vision that angels had already fulfilled the sacred +task. When this was known, it may be imagined that the veneration +of the people for it knew no bounds, and the angelic consecration +is still remembered by diligent pilgrimages every first Sunday in +June; the Saint's feast is on January 15. The shrine is overladen +with thank-offerings, which might attract the robber in so lonely +a situation. Due precautions are taken for the preservation of the +treasury; the chapel is surrounded by strong walls, and ingress +is not permitted to strangers after nightfall. There is no record +of any attempt having been made on it but once, some thirty years +ago. On this occasion three men presented themselves at the gate, +and urgently begged to be admitted to confession; their devotion was +so well assumed, and their show of penitence so hearty, that the good +priest could not refrain from letting them in. He had scarcely taken +his seat in the confessional, however, than the three surrounded +him, each presenting a pistol at his breast; all three missed fire, +and the would-be robbers, convicted by the portent, knelt and made +a real confession of their misdeeds, and left as really penitent as +they had feigned to to be on arriving. + +The spot has never ceased to be honoured since the death of the saint, +somewhere about 398. It is strange to stand between the walls of the +living mountain and realize the fact. There are few shrines in all +Europe which can boast of such antiquity, such unbroken tradition, +and such exemption from desecration. The building is as singular +and characteristic as the locality. The chapel, where the saint's +remains rest, and where he himself raised the first sanctuary of the +Nonsthal, is reached by one hundred and twenty-two steps, necessarily +very steep; and on attaining the last, it must be a very steady head +that can turn to survey the rise without giddiness. The interior is +quite in keeping with the surroundings. Its light is dim and subdued, +sufficient only to reveal the countless trophies of answered prayer +which cover the dark red marble columns and enrichments. There are two +other chapels at lower levels, one of the Blessed Sacrament, called +del Santissimo, and one over the hermitage in the rock. Flanking this +curious pile of chapels on chapels are, on one side, the priory or +residence of the chaplain of the place, and on the other the Hospice +for pilgrims and visitors, the whole forming a considerable corps +de bâtiment, and enclosed by a wall which seems to have grown out +of the rock. Another little crag, jutting up as if in emulation of +that so gloriously crowned, was made into a Gottesacker, by a late +prior, and its churchyard cross affords it a striking termination +too; though not many monuments of the dead bristle from its sides +as yet. This singularly interesting excursion may be made direct +from S. Michel by those who have not time for visiting the whole +valley. They will pass several striking old castles, particularly that +of Thun, nearly opposite Castle Bellasi, the Stammschloss of one of +the oldest and noblest German families, founded by one of the dearest +companions and patrons of St. Vigilius. No other has given so many +distinguished scions to the service of the Church; Sigmund von Thun was +the representative of the Emperor at the Council of Trent. There is a +strong attachment between it and the people of the valley, who delight +in celebrating every domestic event by what they call a Nonesade, +or poem in the dialect of the Val di Non. The castle is well kept +up; the interior is characteristically decorated and arranged, and +many curiosities are preserved in the library; its grounds also are +charmingly laid out. It is supplied with water by a noble aqueduct, +raised in 1548, right across the valley from Berg St. Peter; crowned +also by an ancient castle, but in ruins. Few will have a prettier +page in their sketch-book than they can supply it with here. + +Half way between Sanzeno and Fondo, by a path which forms a loop with +that already mentioned, by Cloz and Arz, and just where the opening +into the Romediusthal strikes off, is a village named Dambel or +Dambl, where a very curious relic of antiquity, and an important one +for throwing light on the history of the earlier inhabitants of the +valley, was unearthed a couple of years ago. It is a stout, handsome +bronze key, 14 1/2 in. long, the bow ornamented with scroll-work, +which at first sight suggested the idea that it had formed part +of a comparatively modern casting of the Pontifical arms. Closer +inspection showed that on an octagonal ornament of the upper part of +the stem was an inscription, not merely engraved, but deeply cut (it +is thought with a chisel), and in perfect preservation, in characters +described by a local antiquary as 'parte Runiche, parte Gotiche, +del Greco e Latino del 388 dell' era volgare, descritte da Ufila; +ma molte somigliano a quelle del Latino dell' Ionio 741 B. C.' + +The owner of the ground, Bartolo Pittschneider, the jeweller of the +village, seems to have been digging the foundation for a rustic house, +intending to make use of a remnant of a very ancient wall long thought +to have formed part of a temple of Saturn. At a depth of about 18 or +20 in. he came to a sort of pavement, or tomb or cellar covering, +of roughly-shaped stones resting against and sloping away from the +base of the ancient wall, so as to form a little enclosure. Along with +the key lay some other small objects, which unfortunately have been +dispersed, [201] but among them were two bronze coins of Maximilian +and Constantine the Great, thought to indicate the date of the burial +of the key and not that of its manufacture. + +This key was subsequently sent to Padre Tarquini, [202] and a copy has +been given me of his report upon it. He pronounced the inscription +to be undoubtedly Etruscan, but at the same time he did not think +the work of the key to be of older date than the fourth century of +our era; inasmuch as there are other examples of Etruscan writing +surviving to as late a date in remote districts; that its size and +material (a mixture of silver and copper) denoted it to belong to some +important edifice, and most probably to the very temple of Saturn +amid whose ruins it was found buried. He found in it two new forms +of letters not found in other Etruscan inscriptions, but says that +similar aberrations are too common to excite surprise. He translated +it in the following form:--'Ad introducendum virum (1) addictum igni +in Vulcani (2) Vivus aduratur ob perversitatem--incidendo incide +(3)--Sceleratus est; sectam facit; blasphemavit--In aspectu ejus +ascendentes limen paveant, videntes hominem oblitum Ejus (4) præstare +jubilationem retinenti ad cruciatum, tamquam hostem suum.' [203] + +It would be curious to know how Mr. Isaac Taylor would read the +inscription by his different method, for Padre Tarquini found a +curious coincidence of circumstances to afford an interpretation to +his translation. It would seem that it was only after translating it as +above that his attention was called to the Christian local tradition, +and then he was struck with several points of contact between it and +them. 1. The date which he had already assigned to the key is that +given by the Bollandists to the martyrdom of St. Alexander and his +two brothers. 2. It was found within the very precincts where he was +said to have been burnt, and (his translation of) the inscription +commemorates a human burnt sacrifice (il vivicomburio). 3. The +inscription (by his translation) seems to allude to Christians, +to their suffering expressly for propagating their religion. 4. The +inscription points to the sacrifice having taken place in an elevated +situation, as it uses the verb 'to ascend,' and the contemporary +narrative of St. Vigilius to St. Chrysostom of the event, as it +had happened before his eyes, says 'Itum est post hæc in religiosa +fastigia, hoc est altum Dei templum ... in conspectu Saturni.' He +further goes on to approve a conjecture of the local antiquary that +the key was a votive offering made on occasion of the martyrdom of +St. Alexander with SS. Zeno and Martyrius, in thanksgiving for the +triumph over their teaching, and inscribed with the above lines as +a perpetual warning to their followers. + +The Avisiothal--the northernmost eastern tributary of the +Etschthal--consists of three valleys running into each other; the Val +di Cembra, or Zimmerthal; the Val Fieme, or Fleimserthal; and the Val +di Fassa, or Evasthal. The Val di Cembra is throughout impracticable +for all wheeled traffic. Nature has made various rents and ledges +in its porphyry sides, of which hardy settlers have taken advantage +for planting their villages, and for climbing from one to another; +but even their laborious energy has not sufficed to make roads over +such a surface. This difficulty of access has not been without its +effect in tending to keep up the honesty, hospitality, and piety of +the people; but as few will be able to penetrate their recesses, +their characteristics will be better sacrificed to the exigencies +of space than those of others. I will only mention, therefore, +the Church of Cembra, the Hauptort (about four hours' rugged walk +from Lavis), which is an ancient Gothic structure well kept up, and +adorned with paintings; and a peculiar festival which was celebrated +on the Assumption-day, 1870, at Altrei, namely, the presentation of +new colours to the Schiess-stand, by Karl von Hofer, on behalf of +the Empress of Austria. One bears a Madonna, designed by Jele of +Innsbruck, on a banner of green and white (the national colours); +the other the names of the Empress ('Karolina Augusta') and the word +'All-treu,' the original name of the village, conferred on it by Henry +Duke of Bohemia, when he permitted ten faithful soldiers to make a +settlement here free of all taxes and customs. And yet the Italians, +regardless of derivations, have made of it Anterivo. + +Cavalese (which can be reached in five hours by stellwagen running +twice a day from the railway station at Neumarkt) stands near the +point where the Val di Cembra (which runs nearly parallel to the +railway between Lavis and Neumarkt) passes into the Fleimserthal. It +is a charmingly picturesque, thriving little town, and should not +be overlooked, for the church is a very museum of Tirolese art: +painting, sculpture, and architecture, all being due to native +artists, and highly creditable to national taste, culture, and +devotion. Among these artists were Franz Unterberger, who was chosen +by the Empress Catherine to execute copies from Raffael's Loggie, +Alberti, Riccaboni, and others, whose fame has resounded beyond the +echoes of their native mountains. Many private houses also contain +works of Tirolese art. Cavalese stands on a plateau, overlooking a +magnificent panorama, and shaded by a grove of leafy limes. Under these +is a stone table, with stone seats arranged round it, where a sort of +local parliament was formerly held. Respecting the appropriation of +this plateau for the site of the church, tradition says that in early +times, when the church was about to be built, the commune fixed upon +this plateau, in the outskirts of the town, as the most beautiful, +and therefore most appropriate, situation. But the old lady, part +of whose holding it formed, could be induced on no consideration to +give it up. Some little time after, however, she had a very serious +illness; on her sick bed she vowed, that if restored to health she +would devote as much of her fair meadow to the use of the church +as a man could mow in one day. [204] She had no sooner registered +her vow than health returned. The commune appointed a mower, and +he mowed off the whole of the vast meadow in one day. The old lady +always maintained that there was something uncanny about it, and +anyone can see for themselves that no human mower could have done +it. The Market-place is adorned with a very handsome tower. A new +church is now building, after the design of Staidl, of Innsbruck, +on the site of the little ruined church of St. Sebastian, which shows +that the study of architecture is not neglected in Tirol. The space +being very restricted, the novel expedient has been resorted to of +placing the sacristy under the sanctuary, and with good effect to +the external appearance. The former palace of the Bishops of Trent, +now a prison, is not to be overlooked. Predazzo is the only other spot +in this valley we will stop to look at. The extraordinary geological +formation of the neighbourhood has attracted many men of science to +the place, whose names may be seen in the strangers' book. The people +are singularly thrifty and industrious. A high road connecting it +with Primiero is just completed, which is to be continued to meet +the railway projected between Belluno and Treviso. A new church is +being raised there, of proportions and design quite remarkable for +so remote a place. It was begun simultaneously with the troubles in +Italy, in 1866, and a creditable amount has been since laid out upon +it. The lofty vaulting of the nave is supported by ten monolithic +columns of granite; the floor is paved with hard cement, arranged +in patterns formed in colour; the smaller pillars, doors, steps, +mouldings, are all of granite; much of the tracery is very artistic; +the windows are of creditable painted glass, though not free from +the German vice of over-shading. The architect is Michel Maier, of +Trent; the elegant campanile by Geppert, of Innsbruck. It will be the +largest church in the whole of Wälsch-Tirol, after the Cathedral of +Trent. The interior arrangements and decoration bid fair to be worthy +of the structure. There is some good polychrome in the presbytery, +by Ciochetti, a young artist, native of the village of Moena, in +Fassathal, who in the last five years has had eleven medals from +the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice. It is the custom all through +the valley that each village should have its own gay banner, which +is carried before bridal processions to and from the church. But +at Predazzo they have many other peculiarities; among these is the +following:--The night before the wedding the bridegroom goes to the +house of the bride, accompanied by a party of musicians, knocks at +the door, and demands his bride. The eldest and least well-favoured +member of the household is then brought to him, on which a humorous +altercation takes place and a less ancient dame is brought, and so +on, till all have been passed in review, and then the intended bride +herself is brought at last, who admits the swain to the evening meal +of the family. The friends and neighbours then come in, and bring +their wedding gifts to the loving pair. + +The Fassathal begins just after Moena. One of its wildest legends +is that of the feuriger Verräther. It dates from the time of the +Roman invasion. The mountain-dwellers appear to have been as zealous +defenders of their native fastnesses then as in later times, and it +is said the conquering legions were long wandering round the confines +without finding any who would lead them into the interior of the +country. It was at last an inhabitant of the Fassathal who betrayed +the narrow pass which was the key to their defences, and which +cost the liberty of the nation--all for the sake of the proffered +blood-money. But he was never suffered to enjoy it; for a flash like +lightning, though under a clear sky, struck him to the earth, and +ever since, the traitor has been to be met by night wrapt in flames, +and howling piteously. + +Vigo is the principal town, and serves as the starting-point for +the magnificent mountain excursions of the neighbourhood. The most +difficult of these, and one only to be attempted by the well-seasoned +Alpine climber, [205] is that of the massive snow-clad Marmolata, +10,400 feet high, surnamed the Queen of the Dolomites; but she is +a severe and haughty queen, who knows how to hold her own, and keep +intruders at a distance; and many who have been enchanted with her +stern beauty from afar have rued the attempt at intruding on the cold +solitude of her eternal penance. For the legends tell that in her +youth she was covered with verdant charms, which made her the delight +of the people; but they were not content to use with pious moderation +the precious gifts she had in store, and for some sin of theirs--some +say for selfish disregard of the law of charity to the poor; [206] some +say for disregard of the Church's law forbidding to work on the hohe +Unser-frauentag (the Assumption), [207] some say for unjust striving +for the possession of the soil--the vengeance of Heaven overtook them, +and the once smiling meadows were converted into the hard and barren +glacier. Near Vigo is a little way-side chapel, highly prized, because +near it some French soldiers in the invasion of 1809 lost their way, +and the town was thus saved from their depredations; and the legend +arose that the Madonnabild had stricken them blind. Several of them +died of falls and hunger, and tradition says, that on wild nights notes +of distress from a dying bugler's horn may be heard resounding still. + +The Avisio was once the boundary against Venetian territory; and +St. Ulrich dying on its banks, on his return from Rome, exacted of +his disciples a promise that they would carry his body across, so +that he might find his final rest on German soil. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WÄLSCH-TIROL. + +VAL SUGANA.--GIUDICARIA.--FOLKLORE. + + + Legends are echoes of the great child-voices from the primitive + world; so rich and sweet that their sound is gone out into + all lands. + + +Val Sugana is watered by the Brenta through its whole course, +running nearly direct east from Trent. It is reached by the Adler +Thor, and over the handsome bridge of S. Ludovico, through luxuriant +plantations of mulberries and vines, and with many a summer villa on +either hand. The road leads (at a considerable and toilsome distance) +to the low range of hills (in Tirol called a Sonnenberg) of Baselga, +locally named Pinè, whose sides are studded with a number of villages +and groups of houses. In one of these, Verda or Guarda by name, +near the village of Montanaga, is the most celebrated pilgrimage +of the Trentino--the Madonna di Pinè, also known as the Madonna di +Caravaggio. It was the year 1729; a peasant girl, Domenika Targa, +native of Verda, who was noted by all her neighbours for the angelic +holiness of her life, had lost some of her herd upon the mountain one +hot August day; in her distress, she knelt down to ask for help to +bring back her charge faithfully. Suddenly the place was bathed in a +light of glory, and before her stood a lady so benign and glorious, +she could be none other than the Himmelskönigin. 'Go, my child, and +tell them that you have seen me here, and that I have chosen this +spot for my delight; and that their prayers will be heard which they +offer before the picture of the Madonna di Caravaggio.' The light +faded away, and Domenika turned to seek her flock. She found them all +in order, waiting for her to drive them home. There was considerable +discussion after this as to what 'Madonna di Caravaggio' might mean; +and it was at last decided that it could mean nothing but the picture +of the Madonna by Caldara, surnamed Caravaggio from his birthplace, +venerated at Milan. Domenika could not leave her herds to go to Milan, +and she was perplexed how to obey the vision. In her simple faith she +addressed her prayer on high for further direction, and once more the +heavenly sight was vouchsafed to her, and it was explained that the +Madonnabild meant was not that of Milan, but the one in the little +field-chapel of S. Anna, near Montanaga. Domenika did not fail to +go there the next festival on which it was open, the Ascension Day, +which was, that year, May 26. Above the faint light of the tapers +tempered by the incense clouds, and amid the chanted litanies of the +choir, the fair Queen once more appeared to her in garments of gold, +and surrounded by a glittering train of attendants. Some months passed, +and though the people had wondered at the marvel, nothing had been done +to commemorate it; Domenika was kneeling, on September 8, the Nativity +of the Blessed Virgin, in the Chapel of S. Anna. A sound of soft +chanting broke on her ear, which she thought must be the procession of +the parish coming up the hill to pray for rain. But as it grew nearer, +the same heavenly radiance overspread the place, and once more she saw +the Virgin Mother; but this time she looked stern, for the great favour +of her visit had been overlooked, and she reasoned with Domenika on +the ingratitude it betokened. Domenika honestly outspoke her inward +cogitations on the subject--what could a poor cattle-herd do? It was +given her to understand that much might be done even by such a poor +peasant, if she exercised energy and devotion. With new strength and +determination, she girt herself for the task of building a shrine +over the spot so dear to her. At first she met with great ridicule +and scorn, but she pursued her way so steadily and so humbly, that +all were won to share her convictions. Offerings for the work began +to flow in. Those who had no money gave their corn, or their grapes, +their ornaments, and their very clothes. Year by year the new church +rose, according as she could collect the means; and at last, on May +26, 1751, she had the consolation of seeing the complete edifice +consecrated. It is a neat cruciform building, sixty-three feet long +and fifty-three feet wide, with three marble altars, on one of which +is a copy of the Madonna di Caravaggio of Milan painted by Jakob +Moser after he had made three pilgrimages to the original. I was +not able to ascertain what was supposed to have been intended in the +first instance by calling the old picture in S. Anna's field-chapel +the Madonna di Caravaggio. Possibly the little Milanese town, which +has given two painters to fame, had produced some 'mute inglorious' +'Caravaggio,' who painted the earlier picture. The commemoration of +Domenika's vision is celebrated every year in Val Pinè by pilgrimages +on May 26 when the most striking gatherings of Tirolese costume are +to be observed there. + +Pergine is the first large village on returning into the main valley, +about six miles from Trent. It well deserves to be better known: +the neighbourhood is of great beauty, and the form of the surrounding +heights is well likened by the inhabitants to a theatre. The church, +built in 1500-45, is spacious and handsome, adorned in the interior +with red marble columns. In the churchyard are the remains of the +older church, where every Lent German sermons are still preached +for the benefit of the scattered German population, whose name for +the place is Persen. The German and Italian elements within the +village are blended with tolerable amity. From the fourteenth to the +sixteenth centuries, silver, copper, lead, and iron, were got out in +the neighbouring Fersinathal; and though the works are now nearly given +up, the Knappen then formed an important portion of the community. They +cast the bell as an offering to the church when building, and it +is still called the Knappinn--by the Italians canòppa. The chief +industry now is silk-spinning. The greatest ornament of the place +is the Schloss of the Bishop of Trent, which is well kept up, and +from the roof of which an incomparable view is obtained. Among the +peculiar customs of the place those concerning marriages deserve to +be recorded, as they tend to show the character of the people. Two +young men of the bridegroom's friends are selected for the office +of Brumoli so called; they have to carry, the one a barn-door fowl, +the other a spinning-wheel, before the bride as she goes to and from +church, to remind her of her household duties. After the wedding, +as she returns with her husband to his house the door is suddenly +closed as she approaches, and there is then carried on a dialogue, +according to an established form, between her and her husband's +mother--the latter requiring, and the former undertaking, that she +will prove herself God-fearing and domesticated; that she will be +faithful and devoted to her husband, and live in charity with all +his family. The little ceremony complete, the mother-in-law throws +wide the door, and receives her with open arms. + +On the south side of the valley, opposite Pergine, is the clear lake +of Caldonazzo, whose waters reflect the bright green chestnut woods +around it; it is the source of the Brenta, and one of the largest +lakes of Tirol; about three miles long, and half as broad. Count +Welfersheim, an Austrian general, and his adjutant, were drowned in +attempting to walk over the thin ice on it in March 1871. On a rugged +promontory jutting into its midst stands the most ancient sanctuary of +the neighbourhood, San Cristofero; once a temple to Saturn and Diana, +but adopted for a Christian church by the earliest evangelizers of +the valley, for which reason the produce of the soil and waters yet +pays tithe to the presbytery of Pergine. Other villages add to the +surrounding beauties of the lake, particularly Campolongo, with its +church of St. Teresa high above the green waters, and the church and +hermitage of San Valentin; the latter is now used for a roccolo, or +vogeltennen, by which numbers of birds of passage are caught on their +migrations. The land is very poor. To eke out their living, most of the +male inhabitants of the villages around are wont to go out every winter +as pedlars, with various small articles manufactured in the valley, and +with which they are readily trusted by those who stay behind. On their +return, which is always at Easter, they distribute honourably what they +have earned for each, deducting a small commission. So straightforward +and honourable are they, that though they have little idea of keeping +accounts, and the sums are generally made out with a bit of chalk on +the inn table, yet it is said that such a thing as a dispute over the +amounts is utterly unknown. The church of St. Hermes, at Calzeranica, +is reckoned the most ancient of the whole neighbourhood; remains +of an ancient temple, thought to have been to Diana of Antioch, +have been found when repairing it. In the forest behind Bosentino, +a neighbouring village, is a pilgrimage chapel called Nossa Signora +del feles; die h. Jungfrau vom Farrenkraut--St. Mary of the Fern. Some +two hundred years ago, Gianisello, a little dumb boy of Bosentino, who +was minding his father's herd in the forest, was visited by a bright +lady, who pointed to a tuft of fern growing under a chestnut tree, +and bid him go and tell the village people she would have them built +a chapel there. When the people heard the boy tell his story, who for +all the twelve years of his life had never spoken a word before, they +felt no doubt it was the Blessed Virgin he had seen. The chapel was +soon built, and furnished with a painting embodying the little boy's +story. In time of dearth, drought, epidemic, or other local calamity, +many are the processions which may yet be seen wending their prayerful +way to the chapel of St. Mary of the Fern. + +Among the wild and beautiful legends of this part of the valley is +a variant of one familiar in every land. A young swain, the maiden +of whose choice was called to an early grave, went wandering through +the chestnut groves calling for his beloved, till he grew weary with +crying, and laid him down in a cave to rest. A sweet sleep visited him, +and he found himself in it at home as of old in the Valle del Orco, +[208] with his Filomena on his arm; he led her to the village church, +and the silver-haired pastor gave the marriage blessing, while all +the village prayed around. He brought Filomena home to his old house, +alle Settepergole, [209] his dear old father and mother welcomed her, +and she brought sunshine into the cottage; and when they were called +away the old walls were yet not without life and joy, for it resounded +to the voice of the prattling little ones. The little ones grew up +into stalwart lads and lasses, who earned homesteads of their own, and +erewhile brought another tribe of prattling little ones to his knee; +while Filomena smiled a bright sunshine over all, and they were so +happy they prayed it might never end: but one day it seemed that the +sunshine of Filomena's smile was not felt, for she was no longer there; +then all grew pale and cold, and with a sudden chill he woke. It was +grey morning as he rose from the cave; the cattle were lowing as they +were led out to pasture; he looked out towards the chestnut groves, +and watched in their waving foliage the strange effect which had +been the charm of his childhood, looking like rippled ocean pouring +abroad its flood. [210] But when he reached the village the sights +and sounds were no more so familiar: the old church tower was capped +with a steeple, of which he never saw the like; the folk he met by +the way were all strangers, and stared at him as at one who comes +from far. He wandered up and down all the day, and everything was yet +strange. At evening the men came back from the fields, and again they +gazed at him estranged: once he made bold to ask them for 'Zansusa,' +the companion of his boyhood, but they shrugged their shoulders with +a 'Chè Zansusa?' and passed on. He asked again for 'Piero,' almost +as dear a friend, and they pointed to a 'Piero' with not one feature +like his Peter. Once again he asked for 'Franceschi,' and they pointed +to a grave, where his name was written indeed--'Franceschi,' who but +the day before had walked with him in full life and health, to hang +a fresh wreath on Filomena's cross! Ah! there was Filomena's cross, +but how changed was that too! the bright gilding, on which his savings +had been so willingly lavished, was tarnished and weather-worn, and +not a leaf of his garland remained round it. He wandered no further, +nor sought to fathom the mystery more; he knelt on the only spot of +earth that had any charm for him. As his knees touched the hallowed +soil consoling thoughts of her undying affection overflowed him. 'Here +we are united again,' he said; 'in a little while we shall be united +for ever.' 'At last have I found thee! these fifty years I have sought +thee in vain!' The moonbeam kissed his forehead as he looked up, and +the moonbeam bore her who had spoken. A fair form she wore, but still +it was not the form of Filomena. 'Who are you, and wherefore sought +you me?' he asked. 'I am Death,' replied the pale maiden, 'and for +fifty years I have sought thee to lead thee to Filomena.' She beckoned +as she spoke, and willingly he followed her whither the moonbeam led. + +The village of Caldonazzo, with its ancient castle, is another +ornament of the lake. Further south is the village of Lavarone, +or Lafraun, accessible only to the pedestrian. A house close to the +edge of a little lake here is pointed out, which in olden time was +the residence of two brothers, the owners of the meadow over which +the lake is now spread. These two could never agree; their strife +grew from day to day, till at last one night they called each other +out to settle their quarrels once for all by mortal combat. The +noise of the strife within had made them oblivious to the strife +of the elements which was waging without. The gust which entered as +the eldest turned to open the cottage door, and the blinding rain, +drove them back; even their fierce passions seemed mastered by the +fiercer fury without. In silence they returned into the room, and +neither cared to raise his voice amid the angry voices of the storm, +which now made themselves heard solemnly indeed. In sullen silence they +passed the night, and during the silence there was time for reflection; +each would have been glad to have backed out of the promised fight, +but neither had the courage to propose a reconciliation. Sullenly they +rose with the morning light; the pale gold rays rested on the trees, +now calm and tranquil, and both shuddered to carry their vengeance +out on to the fair scene; but neither dared speak, and once more the +eldest opened the door. This time it was not the rain descending from +above which drove him back; it was the flood rising from beneath! The +Centa torrent had overflowed. The disputed meadow had become a lake, +and with their united efforts they scarcely kept the waters banked +out. The community of labour, of danger, and of distress, ended the +strife; and though their worldly possessions were lost to them for +ever, they had found a greater boon, the bond of fraternal charity. + +I must pass over Levico, near which the Brenta has its source, and the +intervening villages; but Borgo di Val Sugan' demands our attention +for its beautiful situation. The view over both may be enjoyed by +mountain climbers from the neighbouring height of Vezzena. Borgo is +commonly called the Italian Meran, for its likeness with that favourite +watering-place. Its buildings extend over both sides of the Brenta, +being united by a massive stone bridge, built in 1498. Those on the +left bank were nearly destroyed by fire in 1862, but the rebuilding +has been carried on with great spirit. Its ecclesiastical buildings do +not date far back; the rebuilding of the parish church in 1727 nearly +obliterated all traces of the earlier edifice; its chief glories are +three paintings it possesses, one by Titian's brother, one by Karl +Loth, and one by Rothmayr. The fine campanile was added in 1760. There +is also a Franciscan convent, but it does not date back further than +1603, there is the following curious tradition of its origin. + +The Sellathal leading to Sette Comuni, is narrowed by two mighty +cliffs--the Rochetta on the south, and the Grolina on the north, +adorned with the ruined Castel San Pietro, [211] seemingly perched +above all human reach. On a green knoll beneath it stand the lordly +remains of Castel Telvana; its frescoes are now nearly faded away, +only a room here and there is habitable; but its enduring walls and +towers show of what strength it was in the days long gone by--days +such as those in which Anna, wife of Siccone di Caldonazzo, defended it +with so much spirit against all the might of Friedrich mit der leeren +Tasche, that she obtained the right to an honourable capitulation. It +was bought by the Counts of Welsburg in 1465, and henceforth it became +an abode of pleasure rather than a mere fortress. Count Sigmund von +Welsburg, who was its master towards the end of the sixteenth century, +was particularly disposed to make his residence in their midst a boon +to the inhabitants of Borgo, and entered heartily into all the pastimes +of the people. It happened thus that the Carneval procession of the +year 1598 was invited to take the Castel Telvana for its bourne; +and that the women might not be fatigued by the ascent, the Count +gallantly provided them all with horses from his own stud. The valley +resounded with merriment as they wended their way up in their varied +and fantastic attire. Arrived at the castle, good cheer was provided, +which none were slow to turn to account, and the return was commenced +in no less boisterous humour. At the most precarious spot of the +giddy declivity, the courage of the foremost rider forsook her; +the Count's high-couraged charger, which she bestrode, perceiving +the slackened pressure on the rein, grew nervous and bewildered too, +and uneasy to find himself for the first time subjected to devious +guidance. The indecision of the first fair cavalier alarmed her +sister, who followed next behind--a shriek was the expression of the +alarm, which communicated itself to the next rider, and in a moment +a panic had possessed the whole cavalcade, or nearly the whole; for +the few who here and there still retained their presence of mind +were powerless to make those before them advance, or to keep back +the threatening tramp of those behind. The Count saw the danger, +and the one remedy. First registering a vow, that if he succeeded +in his daring enterprise he would build a convent to the honour of +God and St. Francis, he set out along the brink of the narrow track, +where there was scarce a foot-breadth between him and the abyss, past +the whole file of the snorting horses and their terrified burdens. He +had this in his favour, that every denizen of his stable recognised +him as he went by, and his presence soothed their chafing. Arrived +at last safely at the head of the leading steed, his hand on its +mane was enough to restore its confidence; securely he led it to +the full end of the dangerous pass, and all the others followed in +docile order behind. The Count did not forget his vow, nor would he +in his gratitude allow any other hand to diminish the outlay he had +undertaken. The convent buildings are now in part turned to secular +uses, though part is also used for a hospital, where all the sick of +the town are freely tended. In the church is an altarpiece of Lazarus +begging at the gate of Dives, by Lorenzo Fiorentini, a native artist. + +The pass I have mentioned between the Rochetta and the Grolina--the +importance of which as a defence was not unknown to the Romans, of +whose remains the town possesses a considerable collection dug up +at different times--was not without its share of work in the French +invasions of 1796 and 1809. In the former, a handful of Tirolese +successfully repulsed five hundred of the enemy in an obstinate +encounter of three hours' duration. In the latter, the place was +attacked by tenfold greater numbers. General Ruska was so infuriated, +not only by their determined and galling fire, but by the derisive +shouts and gestures of the mountaineers, who carried their daring +so far as to fling the dead bodies of the soldiers they had killed +down under the wheels of his carriage, that he ordered the pillage +and destruction of the town. His guns were ready planted to pour out +their murderous fire, when the parish priest, heading a procession +of aged house-fathers, came to implore him to spare their homes. At +the same moment news was brought him that two Austrian battalions were +advancing with dangerous haste. One or other of the considerations thus +urged effected the deliverance of the town, which was only required +to buy itself off at the price of a large supply of provisions. + +Borgo has further advantage of the mineral spring of Zaberle, and a +creditable theatre. Silk-spinning is again the chief industry of the +place; and there are several so-called Filatoriums, employing a great +number of hands. The most remarkable excursions in the neighbourhood +are to the deserted hermitage of San Lorenzo and the stalactite caves +of Costalta, both in the Sellathal, whence there is a path leading +to the curiously primitive and typically upright community of the +Sette Comuni. + +Pursuing the valley further in its easterly course, I must not omit to +mention Castelalto, not only remarkable for its share in the mediæval +history of Tirol, but for being still well kept up. At Strigno, +one of the largest hamlets of the valley, is another ancient castle, +which after its abandonment in the fourteenth century acquired the +name of Castelrotto. The parish church, rebuilt in 1827, contains a +Madonna del Rosario by Domenichino; and a Mater Dolorosa in Carrara +marble, by the Venetian sculptor Melchiori. This is the generally +adopted starting-place for the Cima d'Asta, the highest peak of +the Trentino (8,561 feet), and commanding a panorama of exceptional +magnificence. Under favourable circumstances it is reached within +thirty hours, sleeping in the open at Quarazza. The interest of +the way is heightened by two considerable lakes; the lower, that of +Quarazza, closed in by wall-like cliffs, is fed by a cascade from +the higher lake, which receives several torrents. Near the summit +is a garnet quarry. Just below Strigno is another inhabited castle, +that of Ivano, belonging to the Count of Wolkenstein-Trostburg, who +makes it a summer residence. The church is dedicated to S. Vindemian; +near it was once a hermitage. Further down the valley is Ospedaletto, +famous in border warfare, and once a hospice for travellers, served by +monks, still a mountain-inn with a chapel attached. Grigno has another +once-important castle. S. Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, had occasion to +pass through the village on his way to Rome in the time of Pope Sergius +III. (A.D. 904-11), and left behind him so profound an impression +of his sanctity, that the devotion of the people to his memory has +never diminished. In the eleventh century a chapel was built in his +honour, with the picturesque instinct of the people of that date, +on the steep way leading to Castel Tesino. It was always kept in good +condition till 1809, when it was desecrated by the French soldiery. It +was restored within ten years, and a rustic piazza in front planted +with lime trees, which have at the present time attained considerable +dimensions. In July 1869, processions consisting of more than four +thousand villagers met at this shrine, to pray for deliverance from +the heavy rains, which were causing the inundation of their homesteads. + +From Grigno there is a path which few persons however will be tempted +to follow, across the so-called Canal San Bovo, to Primiero, a country +which has already been so ably laid open to the tourist that I need +not attempt a fresh description of its beauties. If any one penetrates +its recesses as far as the village of Canal San Bovo, I think they +will not be sorry to have been advised to ask for a certain Virginia +Loss, who has a touching story to tell them of her adventures. On +a stormy day, the last of October 1869, she was making her way, +though only thirteen, with her mother and another woman, along the +dangerous path leading hither from the Fleimserthal, following their +occupation of carriers. They had passed Panchià and Ziano, and were +in the midst of the verdant tract known as the Sadole. The fierce +wind that blew exhausted her poor mother's strength, and she saw no +help but to lay down her burden by the way, and try to reach home +with bare life. Domenica Orsingher, the other woman, however, who had +already got on a good way beyond her, no sooner learned what she had +done than, considering what a loss it must be to her, with a humble +heroism went back to fetch the pack intending to carry it in addition +to her own! The next day some men travelling by the same path found +her body extended by the wayside. She had died of cold and exhaustion. + + + The land is strong with such as these, + Her heroes' destined mothers. + + +Further along they found Elisabetta Loss and her daughter huddled +together. On carrying the bodies to Cauria they succeeded in reviving +only the child. Virginia has a tragic story to tell of; of how her +mother sank to her rest, and her own unavailing and inexperienced +efforts to call her to life; then the horror of the approaching +night, the snow storm in which she expected to be covered up and +lost to sight, yet had not strength to move away; and, worst of all, +the circling flight of crows and ravens which she spent her last +energies in driving with her handkerchief from her mother's face; +and yet the presence of death, solitude and helplessness, made the +approach of even those rapacious and ill-omened companions seem almost +less unwelcome. The insensibility which ensued was probably the most +welcome visitant of all. + +Le Tezze is a smaller village than Grigno, but one that has done good +service to the patriotic cause, having many a time stayed the advance +of invading hosts; and never more successfully than in the latest +Garibaldian attempt on the Trentino, upon the cession of Venice by +Austria after Sadowa. The tombs of the bold mountaineers who fell +while driving back the tenfold numbers opposed to them are to be +seen appropriately ranged along the stony declivity they defended so +well. These graves are yearly visited by their brethren on the 14th +of August. + + + They fell devoted and undying, + The very gale their deeds seems sighing; + The waters murmur forth their name, + The woods are peopled with their fame, + The silent pillar, lone and gray, + Claims kindred with their sacred clay. + + +Le Tezze is the last Tirolean village of the valley, and the seat of +the Austrian custom-house against Italy. On the other side of this +frontier is the interesting Italian town of Primolano, whence there +is an easier way into Primiero-thal than by crossing the Canal San +Bovo. Val Sugana retains more of the German element than any other +district of Wälsch-Tirol. + + + +Judicarien or Giudicaria bifurcates westwards and south-westwards from +the Etschthal opposite Val Sugana. Its first (south-west) division +is called the Sarcathal and reaches to the Lago di Garda. Though no +part of the beautiful Italian lake actually belongs to Tirol the town +of Riva overlooks it; the country round is most productive in wine, +silk, lemons, figs, and other fruits. Its pleasant climate, the warmest +in all Tirol, is due not only to its southern latitude, but also to +its being the lowest land of the principality. Innsbruck is 1,820 +feet above the sea-level, Riva but 220. From the western division of +Giudicaria there branch out northwards Val Rendena, north-westwards +Val Breguzzo and Val Daone, and southwards Val Bona. The Val di Ledro +or Lederthal, forms a parallel return towards the Garda-See. Here an +attempt at invasion headed by Garibaldi was repulsed by the Innsbruck +Student-brigade in 1866 at a pass called Bezzecca. + +Giudicaria is little explored yet it contains some choice scenery and +traditions. Castel Madruzz, which can be visited from Trent, is one +of its most ancient and important castles. From the twelfth to the +seventeenth century, the family which inhabited it and bore its name +takes a foremost place in Tirol's history. In the church are shown the +portraits of seven of the family ascribed to Titian. From 1530 to 1658 +four of its members occupied the See of Trent, and were successively +invested with the Cardinalitial dignity. Cardinal Karl Madruzz became +the last of his house. All his kindred having died without heirs, he +applied to Rome for permission to marry--a dispensation which we have +seen once before accorded in favour of a Tirolese prince. Cardinal +Madruzz preferred his suit successively before Urban VIII., Innocent +X., and Alexander VII., and at last obtained it, coupled with the +proviso that he should only marry in his own station. As this did +not accord with his intentions, the favour so tardily granted was +never acted on. This fine castle had fallen into sad neglect but +it is being restored. From its deserted terraces a glorious view is +obtained, which takes in the two lakes of Toblino to the north, and +Cavedine to the south, both being fed by the same torrents. Round +the Lago di Cavedine lie the flowery slopes which bear the name of +Abraham's Garden. The Lake of Toblino is broken into by a picturesque +promontory, bearing the castellated villa of the Prince-Bishops of +Trent; though on flat ground, the round turrets at the angles with +their pointed caps afford a wonderful relief to the landscape. The +village is called Sta. Massenza, from the mother of S. Vigilius, who +died here in the odour of sanctity, 381. Her relics were translated +to Trent, 1120. At the foot of the height on which stands Schloss +Madruzz is a double chapel, on the model of the Holy House of Loreto, +the legend being inscribed on the walls. + +At the westernmost reach of Giudicaria, the Rendenathal branches +off towards Val di Sole. It was the cradle of the evangelization of +Tirol, for here S. Vigilius suffered martyrdom, 405, and the valley +is rife with traditions of him. He appears to have been stirred +with zeal for the propagation of the faith at a very early age; and +his piety and earnestness were so apparent that he was consecrated +Bishop of Trent at the age of twenty. He made many conversions, +and built a church to SS. Gervasius and Protasius, A.D. 375. But +he was not content with establishing the faith here, and sending +out missionaries hence; he would wander himself on foot through +all the valleys where paganism still lurked, overturning idols and +building Christian sanctuaries--more than thirty trace their origin +to his work. Nowhere did he meet with so much opposition as in the +Rendenathal, which was the last to accept the yoke of Christ. But he +was untiring in his apostolic labours, nor could he rest while one +token of a false religion remained erect. It is not to be supposed +that, though he made many fervent converts, he effected all this +without also exciting the opposition and fury of those whose teaching +he had come to supersede. Yet though many were the snares set for him, +no conspiracy against him succeeded till he had cast down the last +idol. It was at Mortaso, one of the remotest villages of this secluded +dell, he stood announcing the 'glad tidings' of the Gospel from the +pedestal of the image he had overthrown, and the population crowded +round, earnestly garnering in his words. He had left off preaching, +and just raised his hands in benediction, when a body of heathen men +and women, who had long determined to compass his end, rushed upon the +scene from the surrounding grove, and stoned him with the fragments +of the image he had overthrown. His hearers would have defended him, +but he knew that his hour was come, for his work was accomplished; +and forbidding all strife, he knelt down, and folding his arms on his +breast meekly rendered up his spirit, while his constancy won many to +the faith. His disciples reverently gathered his remains and bore them +to Trent; but as soon as his murderers were aware of their intent, +they set out to follow them. The Christian party, delayed by the +weight of their burden, found that their pursuers were fast gaining +ground. In this strait, says the legend, they called upon the rocky +wall before them-- + + + Apritevi, O sassa, + Che S. Vigilio passa, + + +and behold before them suddenly appeared a cleft in the rock, +through which they passed in safety, and which is pointed out to this +day. Another narrow cleft is pointed out near Cadine, which is said +to have been rent asunder at his bidding, when once, at an earlier +stage of his labours, he deemed it right to flee from those who would +have taken his life. The Acqua della Vela now passes through it, +and a dent is shown which is said to mark the place where the saint +impressed his hand on the obedient stone. It was this suggested to +the bearers of the bier to make a similar appeal on behalf of his +relics. It is commonly reported that in Mortaso the bread never rises +properly; and they couple with it this tradition, that when the pieces +of the broken idol sufficed not for all who would attack the saint, +the women brought out loaves from the oven to complete the work. + +The Rendenathal also preserves the memory of S. Julian, called also +Sent Ugiano and San Zulian in local dialect. His legend says he +lived with his parents in an outlying house. On one occasion, at the +time of day when they were usually at work in the fields, he heard +the sound of persons entering the house, and turned and slew them, +and only found afterwards that it was his parents whose lives he +had taken. [212] Struck with horror he devoted himself to a life of +penance, and made a vow to live so far from the habitations of men +that he should no more hear the cheerful crowing of the cock or the +holy chime of the church bells. After his death the people found that +angels had planted roses on his grave which bloomed in winter, and +they observed that no venomous reptile ever rested on it, while earth +taken from it cured their sting. So they built a chapel in his honour +on the border of the little lake which bears his name, at the opening +of Val Génova. Another interesting church in the same locality is that +of Caresolo. Its exterior walls are adorned with frescoes bearing date +1519, and inside is an inscription recording that it was restored by +the munificence of Charles Quint. At Pelugo, near Tione, where the +Rendenathal branches off, he found the castle in possession of a Jew, +and so indignant was he to find a once Christian fortress so occupied, +that he had him immediately ejected and the place exorcised. Here, as +also at Massimeno and Caderzone, all inconsiderable mountain villages, +new churches were consecrated during the Bishop of Trent's visitation +in August 1869, showing that the spirit of S. Vigilius had not died +out. In the Pfarrkirche at Condino is a Muttergottesbild, presented +in 1620 by a parishioner who averred he had seen it shed tears. Of +the church of Campiglio the legend runs, that when it was building, +the people being much distressed by a dearth, and their means hardly +sufficing, the angels used to bring stone, wood, and other materials +in the night; and one pillar is pointed out which was raised before +the eyes of the builders in broad day by invisible hands. The inn +here occupies a hospice built by the Templars, hence its imposing +appearance. Colini, who was locally called the Hofer of Wälsch-Tirol, +for his brave leadership of his countrymen in 'the year nine,' kept +it till his death in 1862. At Pinzolo is a thriving glass-house, +supported by Milanese capital and Venetian art and industry. + +Riva, at the head of the Garda-See, is one of the most charming spots +in Tirol. Its German name of Reif is not a mere corruption of the +Italian name; it is an old German word, having the same signification, +of a shore. The parish church is a really handsome edifice, and a +great ornament to the town and neighbourhood. Outside the town is +a curious octagonal church of the Immaculate Conception, built to +enclose a wonder-working picture of the Blessed Virgin, by Cardinal +Karl von Madruzz, who also founded a House of Friars Minor to attend +to the spiritual necessities of the many pilgrims who came to visit +it. The churches of S. Roch and S. Sebastian were built on occasion +of visitations of the plague in 1522 and 1633. The neighbourhood +supplies the whole of Tirol with twigs of olive to use in the office +of Palm Sunday, and all kinds of southern produce grow on the banks +of the lake. It was long considered the highest latitude at which the +olive-tree would grow, but it has since been successfully cultivated +as far north as Botzen. In order to gain a full enjoyment of the +beautiful scenery around, the Altissimo di Nago should be ascended +by all who have the courage for a six or seven hours' climb. From +San Giacomo, however, where there is a poor Wirthshaus and chapel, +reached in not more than two hours, the scene at sunrise is one of +inconceivable beauty. Behind are ranges beyond ranges and peaks beyond +peaks of lordly alps. Before you lies the blue Lago di Garda, and the +vast Lombard plains studded with fair cities, amid which you will not +fail to distinguish Milan, which some optical illusion brings so near +that it seems it would take but an easy morning's walk to reach it. + +On the way hence to Mori, at about half distance, lies Brentonico, +with a new church perched picturesquely as a mediæval one on a bold +scarped rock. The old parish church has a fine crypt. The Castello +del Dosso Maggiore is a noble ruin. There is a bridge over a deep +defile in the outskirts, called the Ponte delle strege--the Witches' +Bridge--being deemed too daring for human builders. Mori, though +named from its mulberry trees, is more famed for its tobacco, which +is reckoned the best grown in Tirol. + +Wälsch-Tirol has many traditions, customs and sayings, which differ +from those of the rest of the Principality, more resembling those of +Italy, and some of which it cannot be fanciful to trace back to an +Etruscan connection. Some bear the impress of the Roman occupation, +and all are strung together by an overpowering Germanic influence. + +The most prominent group--and their special home, I am assured, +clusters round the Dolomite mountains--are those concerning certain +beings called 'Salvan' and 'Gannes;' and traditions about 'Orco.' A +local collector of such lore, to whom I am chiefly indebted for +the above fact, is inclined to identify the 'Salvan' with 'Orco;' +but I think it can be shown that they are distinct ideas. Both are +only ordinarily, not always malicious, but the 'Salvan' is one of a +number of sprites, Orco has the dignity of being one by himself. The +Salvan in some respects takes the place of the wild man of the North, +and of the satyr whom I also found called in Rome 'salvatico' and +'selvaggio.' [213] 'Orco' clearly takes the place of Orcus in Italy; +and that of the 'Teufel' in German legend. Yet so are the traditions +of neighbouring peoples intermingled, that the Germans, not content +with their own devil, have sprightly imitations of Orco in their 'Nork' +and Lorg, softened in the intermediate Deutsch Tirol into Norg. [214] +In Norway the same appellation is found, hardened into Nök, Neck, Nikr, +[215] which seems to bring us round to our own 'Old Nick;' for in +Iceland he is 'Knikur,' and, perhaps, he gave his name to Orkney. [216] + +It is curious, in tracing the seemingly undoubtable connection between +the Norg and Orco, to observe that though the Norg possesses almost +invincible strength, and often prevails against giants, yet in stature +he is always a dwarf, while Orco himself is considered a giant. But +then it is the one essential characteristic of Orco which forms +the link between all conceptions of him, whether men call him Orco, +Nork, or Nyk, that he is a deceiver ever; a liar from the beginning; +whenever he appears it is continually under some ever-changing, +not-to-be-expected form, and only the wise guess what he is before it +is too late. [217] Thus it happened to two young lads of Mori, who had +been up the mountains to visit their sweet-hearts, and coming back, +they met Orco prowling about after his manner when all good people are +safe in bed asleep--this time in the form of an ass. The Mori lads, +never thinking but that it was a common ass, jumped on its back. They +soon found out their mistake, for Orco quickly resented their want +of discrimination, and cantered off with them past an old building +which had once been a prison, and skilfully chucked them both in at +the window. It was some days before they contrived to crawl out again, +and not till they were nearly starved. + +But we have in English another affinity with 'Orco,' besides 'Old +Nick;' we have seen him take the place of our 'ogre' in deed as well as +in name in the Roman fairy tales, and in Italy he is also the bugbear +of the nursery which we have almost literally in 'Old Bogey.' And now +Mr. I. Taylor has found another affinity for him if he be justified +in identifying our 'ogre' with "the Tatar word, 'ugry,' a thief." [218] + +To return to Orco's place in Tirol, we find his name assumes nearly as +many transliterations as his external appearance assumes changes. In +Vorarlberg they have a Dorgi or Doggi (i being the frequent local +abbreviation for the diminutive lein,--klein), there considered as one +personation of the devil. The Doggi spreads over part of Switzerland, +and overflows into Alsace as the Doggele. [219] In the zone of Tirol +where the Italian and German elements of the population mingle, there +is a class of mischievous irrepressible elfs called Orgen; soft, +and round, and small, like cats without head or feet, who establish +themselves in any part of a house performing all sorts of annoyances, +but who are as afraid of egg-shells as the Norgs in other parts are +said to be. Their chief home is in the Martelthal, south of Schlanders +in the Vintschgau, and their name is devoted to the brightly shining +peak seen from it--the Orgelspitz. In the Passeyer, on the north side +of the Vintschgau, they go by the name of Oerkelen. + +Since we have seen him, too, divested of his 'r' in Doggi from +Vorarlberg to Alsace, and the Germans have already given him an L in +Lorg, he assumes a mysterious likeness to Loki himself, and as a sample +of how elastic is language, and how misleading are mere sounds, though +for no other purpose, it might be said, we had found in this Doggi +a relation of the dog who guards the entrance to the regions of Orcus! + +The Salvan and Gannes, as described by the local observer above +alluded to, seem to partake very much of the character of the good +and evil genii of the Etruscans, though the traditions that remain +of them refer almost exclusively to their action on this side the +grave. 'Their Etruscan appellation,' says Mr. Dennis, 'is not yet +discovered;' [220] when it is, it will be very satisfactory if it has +any analogy with 'Gannes.' [221] The Gannes were gentle, beauteous, +beneficent beings, delighting in being helpful to those they took +under their protection; harmful to none. The Salvans were hideous, +wild, and fierce, delighting in mischief and destruction, with fiery +serpents for their chief companions. They seem to have done all the +mischief they could as long as their sway lasted, but they were scared +by advancing civilization; and I have a ludicrous description of how +they stood gazing down in stupid wonderment from their Dolomite peaks, +when the first ploughs were brought into use in the valleys. + +Schneller, who with all his appreciation of Wälsch-Tirol, looks at +its traditions too much through German spectacles, gives us some +little account of these beings too. [222] + +He has also a 'Salvanel,' who seems a male counterpart of his +Gannes, helpful and soft-natured, with no vice save a tendency to +steal milk. In return he teaches mankind to make butter and cheese, +and other useful arts, and is specially kind to little children; his +name bears some relation with the local word for the 'Jack-'o-lantern' +reflection from glass or water. But he found also the 'Salvan' in his +pernicious character under the names of 'Bedelmon,' 'Bildermon,' and +'Salvadegh.' But the most pernicious spirit that came in his way was +the 'Beatrik,' who is an unmitigated fury, [223] and the natural enemy +and antagonist of a gentle, helpful, beauteous spirit called Angane, +Eguane, and Enguane, but possessed with his German ideas, he saw in the +being so designated nothing but 'a witch, or perhaps a fairy-natured +being.' [224] In another page he pairs them off more fairly with the +'Säligen Fräulein' of Germany. Here is a story of their ways which +was given me, but I do not know if it was founded on his at page 215, +or independently collected:--A young woodman was surprised one day +to meet, in the midst of his lonely toil, a beautiful maiden, who +nodded to him familiarly, and bid him 'good day' with more than common +interest. Nor did her conversation end with 'good day;' she found +enough to prattle about till night fell; and then, though the young +woodman had been sitting by her side instead of attending to his work, +he found he had a bigger faggot to carry home than he had ever made up +with all his day's labour before. 'That was a sweet maiden, indeed,' +he mused on his way home. 'And yet I doubt if she is all right. But +her talk showed she was of the right stuff to make a housewife; but +then Maddalena, what will she say? ha! let her say what she will, she +won't stand comparing with her! I wonder if I shall see her again! And +yet I don't think she's altogether right, either.' So he mused all +through the lonely evening, and all through the sleepless night; +and his first thought in the morning was of whether he should meet +that strange maiden again in the wood. In the wood he did meet her, +and again she wiled away the day with her prattle; and again and again +they met. Maddalena sat at home weeping over her spinning-wheel, and +wondering why he came no more to take her for a walk; but Maddalena +was forgotten, and one day it was her fate to see her former lover +and the strange maiden married in the parish church. The woodman was +not surprised to find his seiren the model of a wife. The house was +swept so clean, the clothes so neatly mended, the butter so quickly +churned, that though all the villagers had been shy of the strange +maiden, none could deny her excellent capacity. The woodman was very +well satisfied with his choice; but as he had always a misgiving +that there was something not quite right with her, he could not help +nervously watching every little peculiarity. It was thus he came +to notice that it was occasionally her custom to lay her long wavy +tresses carefully outside the bedclothes at night; he thought this odd, +and determined to watch her. One night, when she thought him asleep, +and he was only feigning, he observed that she took a little box +of salve from under her pillow, and rubbing it into her hair, said, +Schiva boschi e schiva selva (shun woods and forests), and then was +off and away in a trice. Determined to follow her, he took out the box +of salve, and rubbing it into his hair, tried to repeat her saying, +but he did not recall it precisely, and said instead, Passa boschi +e passa selvi (away through woods and forests), and away he went, +faster than he liked, while his clothes and his skin were torn by +the branches of the trees. He came, however, to the precincts of a +great palace, where was a fresh green meadow, on which were a number +of kine grazing, and some were sleek and well-favoured, while some +were piteously lean; and yet they all fed on the same pasture. The +palace had so many windows that it took him a long while to count +them, and when he had counted them he found there were three hundred +and sixty-five. He climbed up and looked in at one of them--it was +the window of a great hall, where a number of Enguane were dancing, +and his wife in their midst. When he saw her, he called out to her; +but when she heard his voice, instead of coming she took to flight, +nor could he overtake her with all his strength for running. At last, +after pursuing her for three days, he came to the hut of a holy hermit, +who asked him wherefore he ran so fast; and when he had told him, the +hermit bid him give up the chase, for an Enguane was not a proper wife +for a Christian man. Then the woodman asked him to let him become a +hermit too, and pass the remainder of his life under his guidance. To +this the hermit consented; so he built him a house, and they lived +together in holy contemplation. One day the woodman told the hermit of +what he had seen when he went forth to seek his wife; and the hermit +told him that the palace with three hundred and sixty-five windows +represented this temporal world, with its years of three hundred and +sixty-five days; but the fresh green meadow was the Church, in which +the Redeemer gave His Flesh for the food of all alike; but that while +some pastured on it to the gain of their eternal salvation, who were +represented by the well-favoured kine, there were also the perverse +and sinful, who eat to their own condemnation, and were represented +by the lean and distressed kine. [225] + +It is less easy to collect local traditions in Wälsch-Tirol than in +any other part of the principality, but legends and marvellous stories +exist in abundance; and so long as the institution of the Filò (or +out-house room where village gossips meet to spend their evenings in +silk-spinning and recounting tales) last, they will not be allowed to +die out: [226] it is said that there are some old ladies who can go on +retailing stories by the week together! And though by the nature of +the case these gatherings must consist almost exclusively of women, +yet it is thought uncanny not to have any man about the place; in +fact, that in such a case Froberte [227] is sure to play them some +trick. They narrate that once when this happened, one of the women +exclaimed, 'Only see! we have no man at all among us; let's be off, +or something will happen!' All rose to make their escape at the +warning, but before they had time to leave, a donna Berta knocked +and came in. 'Padrona! donna Berta dal nas longh,' [228] said all +the women together, trying to propitiate her by politeness; and the +nearest offered her a chair. 'Wait a little, and you'll see another +with a longer nose than I,' replied Froberte; and as she spoke, a +second donna Berta knocked and entered, to whom the women gave the +same greeting. 'Wait a bit, and you'll see another with a longer nose +than I,' said the second donna Berta; and so it went on till there +were twelve of them. Then the first said, 'What shall we be at?' To +which the second made answer, 'Suppose we do a bit of washing:' and +the others agreeing, they told the women to give them pails to fetch +water with; but the women, knowing that their intention was to have +suffocated them all in the wash-tubs, gave them baskets instead. Not +noticing the trick, they went down to the Etsch with the baskets to +fetch water, and when they found that all their labour was in vain, +they ran back in a great fury; but in the meantime the women had +all escaped to their home, and every one was safe in bed with her +husband. But a Froberte came to the window of each and cried, 'It is +well for you you have taken refuge with your husband!' The next night +the women were determined to pay off the brava Berta for the fright +they had had, so they got one of their husbands to hide himself in +the crib of the oxen; had he sat down with them, the Froberte would +not have come at all. Not seeing him, Froberte knocked and came in, +and they greeted her and gave her a chair, just as on the previous +night; and the whole twelve soon arrived. Before they could begin +their washing operations, however, the man sprang out of the crib, +and put them to flight with many hard blows; so that they did not +return for many a long day. The last day of Carneval was called il +giorno delle Froberte, probably because many wild pranks in which sober +people allow themselves to indulge on that day of licence were laid on +the shoulders of Mistress Bertha. But it is also said, that since the +sitting of the Holy Council of Trent, the power for mischief of these +elves has grown quite insignificant. Here are some few specimens of the +multifarious stories of the Filò. [229] Once there was a man and his +wife who had two daughters: one pretty, but vain and malicious; the +other ugly, but docile and pious. The mother made a favourite of the +pretty daughter, but set the ugly one to do all the work of the house; +and though she worked from morning to night, was never satisfied with +her. One day she sent her down to the stream to do the washing; but +the stream was swollen with the heavy rains, and had become so rapid +that it carried off her sister's shift. Not daring to go home without +it, she ran by the side of the stream, trying to fetch it back. All +her pains were vain; the stream went on tumbling and roaring till it +swelled out into a big river, and she could no longer even distinguish +the shift from the white foam on which it was borne along. At last, +hungry and weary, she descried a house, where she knocked with a +trembling hand, and begged for shelter. The good woman come to the +door, but advised her not to venture in, for the Salvan would soon be +home; but the child knew nothing about the Salvan, but a great deal +about the storm, and as one was brooding, and night coming on, she +crept in. She had not been long inside, when the Salvan came home, +also seeking shelter from the storm. 'What stink is this I smell of +Christian flesh?' he roared; and the child was too truthful to remained +concealed, and so came forward and told all her tale. The Salvan was +won by her artlessness, and not only allowed her a bed and a supper, +but gave her a basketful of as much fine linen as she could carry, +to make up for her loss. When her pretty sister saw what a quantity +of fine linen the Salvan had given her, she determined to go and beg +for some too; but when the Salvan saw her coming, he holloaed out, +'So you're the child who behaves so ill to your sister!' and he gave +her such a rude drubbing, that she went back with very few clothes +on that were not in rags. + + + +In selecting a specimen or two of the fiabe I will take first a group +going by the name of 'Zuam' or 'Gian dall' Orso' (Bear-Johnny), [230] +because the Wolf-boy group is a very curious one, and this is our +nearest approach to it, [231] though it deals with a bear-child and +not a wolf-child; [232] and because we have already found Orso and +Orco confounded in Italian folk-lore at Rome. The following is from +Val di Non:--A labourer and his wife had their little boy out with +them as they worked in the fields. A she-bear came out of the woods +and carried him off. She treated him well, however, and taught him +to be strong and hardy, and when he was twenty years old she sent +him to his parents. He had such an appetite that he eat them out +of house and home, and then he made his mother go and beg all over +the country till she had enough to buy him three hundredweight of +iron to make him a club. Armed with this club, he went forth to seek +fortune. In the woods he met a giant carrying a leaden club called +Barbiscat ('Cat's Beard'), and the two made friends went out together +till they met another giant, who carried a wooden club called Testa +di Molton ('Ram's Head'). They made friends and went out together +till they came to a house in a town where magicians lived. The giant +with Barbiscat knocked first, and at midnight a magician came out +and said, 'Earthworm, wherefore are you come?' then he of Barbiscat +was frightened and ran away. The next night the giant with Testa di +Molton knocked with the same result. But the third night Gian dall' +Orso himself knocked, and he had no fear, but when the magician came +out he knocked him down with many blows of his iron club, and went +to fetch the other two giants. When they returned no magician was +to be seen, only a trail of blood. They followed the trail till they +came to a deep pit, and Zuam dall' Orso made the giants let him down +by a rope. In a cave he found the wounded magician and three others +besides, by slaying whom he delivered a beautiful maiden. The giants +drew her up, but abandoned him. Then he saw a ring lying on the +ground, and when he took it up and rubbed it two Moors appeared and +asked him what he wanted. 'I want an eagle, to bear me up to earth,' +he said. So they brought him a big eagle, 'but,' said they, 'he must +be well fed the while.' So he bid them bring him two shins of beef, +and fed him well the while, and the eagle bore him to the king; who +finding he was the deliverer of his daughter, killed the two giants, +and gave him plenty of gold and silver, with which he went back to +his home and lived happily and in peace,--a very homely termination, +welcome to the mountaineer's mind. In the Lederthal version he was so +strong at two years old that he lifted up the mountain under which the +bear's den was, and ran back to his mother; but at school he killed +all the children, and knocked down the teacher and the priest, and +was sent to prison. Here he lifted the door off its hinges, and went +to the judge, and made him give him a sword, with which he went forth +to seek fortune. With the two companions picked up by the wayside, who +for once do not play him the trick of leaving him below in the cave, he +delivers three princesses, and all are made happy. In another version, +where he is called 'Filomusso the Smith,' and is nurtured by an ass +instead of a bear, the provision of meat for feeding the eagle is +exhausted before he reaches the earth, and he heroically tears a piece +of flesh out of his own leg, and thus the flight can be completed. + +2. The following version of the story of Joseph and his Brethren is +quaint:--A king had three sons. The two elder were grown up, while +Jacob (the Italian is not given) was still quite small, and was his +father's pet. One day, when the king came back from hunting, he was +quite out of sorts because he had lost the feather (la penna dell' +uccello sgrifone) he was wont always to wear. When everyone had sought +for it in vain, little Jacob came to him, and bid him eat and be of +good cheer for he and his brothers would find the feather. The king +promises his kingdom to whichever of the three finds it. Little Jacob +finds the feather, and carries it full of joy to his brothers. The +brothers, jealous that he should have the kingdom, kill him and take +the feather to their father. A year after a shepherd finds little +Jacob's bones, and takes one of them to make a fife, but as soon as +he begins to play upon it the fife tells the whole story of the foul +play. The shepherd takes it to the king, who convicts his two sons, +has them put to death, and dies of grief. + +3. Here is a homely version of Oidipous and the Sphinx:--A poor man +owed a large debt and had nothing to pay it with. The rich man to +whom he owed it came to demand the sum, and found only the poor man's +little boy sitting by the hearth. 'What are you doing?' asked the +rich man. 'I watch them come and go,' replied the boy. 'Do so many +people come to you then?' enquired the rich man. 'No man,' replied +the boy. Not liking to own himself puzzled, the rich man asked again, +'Where is your father?' 'He's gone to plug a hole with another hole,' +replied the boy. Posed again, the rich man proceeded, 'And where's your +mother?' 'She's baking bread that's already eaten,' replied the boy. + +'You are either very clever or a great idiot,' now retorted the rich +man; 'will you please to explain yourself?' 'Yes, if you will reward +me by forgiving father his debt.' The rich man accepted the terms, +and the boy proceeded. + +'I'm boiling beans, and the bubbling water makes them seethe, and I +watch them come and go. My father is gone to borrow a sum of money +to pay you with, so to plug one hole he is making another. All the +bread we have eaten for a fortnight past was borrowed of a neighbour, +now mother is making some to pay it back with, so I may well say what +she is making is already eaten.' + +The rich man expressed himself satisfied, and the poor man was +delivered from the burden of his debt. + +4. A poor country lad once went out into the wide world to seek +fortune. As he went along he met a very old woman carrying a pail +of water, with which she seemed sadly overladen. The poor lad ran +after her, and carried it home for her. But she was an Angana, and to +reward him she gave him a dog and a cat, and a little silver ring, +which she told him to turn round whenever he was in difficulty. The +boy walked on, thinking little about the old woman's ring, and not +at all believing in its efficacy. When he got tired with his walking +he laid down under a tree, but he was too hungry to sleep. As he lay +tossing about he twirled the ring round without knowing what he was +doing, and suddenly an old woman appeared before him, just like the +one he had helped, and asked what he wanted of her. 'Something to eat +and drink,' was the ready and natural answer. He had hardly spoken it +when he found a table spread with good things before him. He made a +good meal, nor did he neglect to feed his dog and cat well; and then +they all had a good sleep. In the morning he reasoned, 'Why should I +journey further when my ring can give one all one wants?' So he turned +the ring round; and when the old woman appeared he asked for a house, +and meadows, and farming-stock, and furniture; and then he paused to +think of what more he could possibly desire; but he remembered the +lessons of moderation his mother had taught him, and he said, 'No, +it is not good for a man to have all he wants in this world.' So he +asked for nothing more, but set to work to cultivate his land. One +day when he was working on his land, a grand damsel came by with a +number of servants riding after her. The damsel had lost her way, +and had to ask him to lead her back to the right path. As they went, +she talked to him about his house and his means, and his way of life; +and before she had got to her journey's end they were so well pleased +with each other that she agreed to go back with him and marry him; +but it was the ring she was in love with rather than with him. They +were no sooner married than she got possession of the ring, and by +its power she ordered the farm-house to be changed into a palace, +and the farm-servants into liveried retainers, and all manner of +luxuries, and chests of coin. Nor was she satisfied with this. One +day, when her husband was asleep in a summer-house, she ordered it +to be carried up to the highest tip of a very high mountain, and the +palace far away into her own country. When he woke he found himself +all alone on the frightful height, with no one but the dog and cat, +who always slept the one at his head and the other at his feet. Though +he was an expert climber it was impossible to get down from so sharp a +peak, so he sat down and gave himself up to despair. The cat and dog, +however, comforted him, and said they would provide the remedy. They +clambered down the rugged declivity, and ran on together till they came +to a stream which puss could not cross, but the dog put her on his +back and swam over with her; and without further adventure they made +their way to the palace where their master's wife lived. With some +cleverness they manoeuvred their way into the interior, but into the +bed-room there seemed no chance of effecting an entrance. They paced +up and down hour by hour, but the door was never opened. At last, +when all was very still, a mouse came running along the corridor. The +cat pounced on the mouse, who pleaded hard for mercy in favour of +her seven small children. 'If I restore you to liberty,' said the +cat, 'you must do something for me in return.' The mouse promised +everything; and the cat instructed her to gnaw a hole in the door, +and fetch the ring out of the princess's mouth, where she made no +doubt she kept it at night for safety. The mouse kept her word, and +obeying her directions punctually, soon returned with the ring; and +off the cat and dog set on their return home, in high glee at their +success. It rankled, however, in the dog's mind, that it was the cat +who had all the glory of recovering the treasure; and by the time +they had got back to the stream he told her that if she would not +give him the satisfaction of carrying the ring the rest of the way, +he would not carry her over it. The cat would not accept his view, +and a fight ensued, in the midst of which the ring escaped them both +and fell into the water, where it was caught by a fish. The cat was in +despair, but the dog plunged in and seized the fish, and by regaining +the ring earned equal right to the merit of its recovery, and they +clambered together in amity. Their master was rejoiced to receive +his ring once more, and by its power he got back his homestead and +farm-stock, and sent for his mother to live with him, and all his life +through took great care of his faithful dog and cat; but the perverse +princess he ordered the ring to transfer in the summer-house to the +peak whither she would have banished him. When all this was set in +order he threw away the ring, because he said it was not well for a +man to have all his wishes satisfied in this world. [233] + +The following legend of St. Kümmerniss is very popular in +Tirol. Churchill, in his 'Titian's Country,' mentions a chapel on the +borders of Cadore and Wälsch-Tirol, where she is represented just as +there described, but he does not appear to have inquired into its +symbolism. There was once a heathen king who had a daughter named +Kümmerniss, who was fair and beautiful beyond compare. A neighbouring +king, also a heathen, sought her in marriage, and her father gave his +consent to the union; but Kümmerniss was distressed beyond measure, +for she had vowed in her own heart to be the bride of heaven. Of +course her father could not understand her motives, and to force her +to marry put her into a hard prison. From the depths of the dungeon +Kümmerniss prayed that she might be so transformed that no man should +wish to marry her; and in conformity with her devoted petition, +when they came to take her out of the prison they found that all +her beauty was gone, and her face overgrown with long hair like a +man's beard. When her father saw the change in her he was indignant, +and asked what had befallen her. She replied that He whom she adored +had changed her so, to save her from marrying the heathen king after +she had vowed herself to be His bride alone. 'Then shall you die, +like Him you adore,' was her father's answer. She meekly replied that +she had no greater desire than to die, that she might be united with +Him. And thus her pure life was taken a sweet sacrifice; and whoso +would like her be altogether devoted to God, and like her obtain their +petition from heaven, let them honour her, and cause her effigy to +be painted in the church. So many believed they found the efficacy of +her intercession, that they set up memorial images of her everywhere, +and in one place they set one up all in pure gold. A poor minstrel once +came by that way with his violin; and because he had earned nothing, +and was near starving, he stood before St. Kümmerniss and played his +prayer on his violin. Plaintive and more plaintive still grew his +beseeching notes, till at last the saint, who never sent any away +empty, shook off one of her golden shoes, and bid him take it for an +alms. The minstrel carried the golden shoe to a goldsmith, and asked +him to buy it of him for money; but the goldsmith, recognizing whence +it came, refused to have anything to do with sacrilegious traffic, +and accused him of stealing it. The minstrel loudly protested his +innocence, and the goldsmith as loudly vociferated his accusation, +till their clamour raised the whole village; and all were full of fury +and indignation at the supposed crime of the minstrel. As their anger +grew, they were near tearing him in pieces, when a grave hermit came +by, and they asked him to judge the case. 'If it be true that the man +obtained one shoe by his minstrelsy, let him play till he obtain the +other in our sight,' was his sentence; and all the people were so +pleased with it, that they dragged the minstrel back to the shrine +of St. Kümmerniss. The minstrel, who had been as much astonished as +anyone else at his first success, scarcely dared hope for a second, +but it was death to shrink from the test; so he rested his instrument +on his shoulder, and drew the bow across it with trembling hand. Sweet +and plaintive were the shuddering voice-like tones he sent forth before +the shrine; but yet the second shoe fell not. The people began to +murmur; horror heightened his distress. Cadence after cadence, moan +upon moan, wail upon wail, faltered through the air, and entranced +every ear and palsied every hand that would have seized him; till +at last, overcome with the intensity of his own passionate appeal, +the minstrel sank unconscious on the ground. When they went to raise +him up, they found that the second golden shoe was no longer on the +saint's foot, but that she had cast it towards him. When they saw that, +each vied with the other to make amends for the unjust suspicions +of the past. The golden shoes were restored to the saint; but the +minstrel never wanted for good entertainment for the rest of his life. + +'Puss in Boots' figures in the Folklore of Wälsch-Tirol as 'Il Conte +Martin della Gatta;' its chief point of variation is that no boots +enter into it at all, otherwise the action of the cat is as usual in +other versions. + +There is another class of stories in which the townspeople indulge at +the expense of the uninstructed peasants in outlying districts, and +which their extreme simplicity and naïveté occasionally justify. I +must not close my notice of the Volklore of Wälsch-Tirol without +giving some specimens of these. It may be generally observed that +stories which have no particular moral point, and are designed only +to amuse without instructing, are as frequent in the Trentino as they +are rare in the German divisions of Tirol. + +Turlulù [234] was such a simple boy that he could not be made to +do anything aright; and what was worst was, he thought himself so +clever that he would always go off without listening to half his +instructions. One day his mother sent him with her last piece of +money to buy a bit of meat for a poor neighbour; 'And mind,' she said, +'that the butcher doesn't give you all bone.' 'Leave that to me!' cried +Turlulù without waiting for an explanation; and off he went to the +town. The butcher offered him a nice piece of leg of beef. 'No, no, +there's bone to that,' cried Turlulù; 'that won't do.' The butcher, +provoked, offered him a lump of lights. Turlulù seeing it look so +soft, and no bone at all to it, went off with it quite pleased, but +of course the poor neighbour had to starve. When his mother found what +he had done, she was in great distress, for she had no money left; so +she sent him with a piece of home-spun linen to try to sell it. 'But +mind you don't waste your time talking to gossiping old women,' she +said. 'Leave that to me, mother,' cried Turlulù; and off he ran. As he +got near the market-place, he began crying, 'Fine linen! who wants to +buy fine linen!' Several countrywomen, who had come up to town to make +purchases, came to look at the quality. 'Go along, you gossiping old +things; don't imagine I'm going to sell it to you!' cried Turlulù, +and he ran away from them. As he ran on he saw a capitello [235] +by the wayside. When he saw the image of the Blessed Virgin, looking +so grave and calm, he said, 'Ah, you are no gossip, you shall have +my linen;' and he threw it at her feet. 'Come, pay me!' he cried +presently; but of course the figure moved not. 'Ah, I see, you've +not got the money to-day; I will come back for it to-morrow.' When he +came back on the morrow the linen had been picked up by a passer-by, +but no money was forthcoming. 'Pay me now,' said Turlulù; but still +the figure was immovable. Again and again he repeated the demand, +till, finding it still unheeded, he took off his belt, and hit hard +and fast upon the image. So great was his violence, that in a very +short time he had knocked it to the ground; and lo and behold, inside +the now uncovered pedestal were a heap of gold pieces, which some +miser had concealed there for greater security. 'My mother herself +will own this is good pay for the linen,' cried Turlulù, as he filled +his pockets, 'and for once she won't find fault.' His way home lay +along the edge of the pond, and as he passed the ducks were crying, +'Quack! quack! quack!' Turlulù thought they were saying Quattro, +meaning that he had four pieces of gold. 'That's all you know about +it,' cried Turlulù; 'I've got many more than four, many more.' But +the ducks continued to cry 'Quack.' 'I tell you there are more than +four,' reiterated Turlulù impetuously, but the ducks did not alter +their strain. 'Then take them, and count them yourselves, and you'll +see what a lot there are!' So saying, he threw the whole treasure +into the mud; and as the ducks, scared by the noise, left off their +'quack,' he satisfied himself that he had convinced them, and went +home to boast to his mother of the feat. + +A showman came through a village with a dancing-bear. The people went +out to see him, and gave him plenty of halfpence. 'Suppose we try our +luck, and go about showing a bear too; it seems a profitable sort of +trade,' said one of the lookers-on to another. 'Ay, but where shall +we find one?' objected the man addressed. 'Oh, there must be bears +to be found; it needs only to go out and look for them.' They went +out to look for a bear, and at last really found one, [236] which ran +before them and plunged into a cave. 'I'll tell you what we'll do,' +said the peasant who had proposed the adventure, 'I'll creep into the +cave and seize the bear, and you take hold of my legs and pull us both +out together.' The other assented; and in went the first. But the bear, +instead of letting him seize it, bit off his head. The other pulled +him out as agreed, but was much astonished to find him headless. 'Well, +to be sure!' he cried, 'I never noticed the poor fellow came out this +morning without his head. I must go home and ask his wife for it.' So +saying, he ran back to the man's house. 'I say, neighbour,' he cried, +'did you happen to notice, when your husband went out this morning, +whether he had his head on?' 'I never thought to look,' replied the +wife, 'but I'll run up and see if he left it in bed; but tell me,' +she added, 'will he catch cold for going out without his head on?' 'I +don't know as to that,' replied the man; 'but if he should want to +whistle he might find it awkward!' + +A woman working in the fields one day saw a snail, which spread out its +horns as she looked at it. In great alarm, she ran to the chief man +of the parish, and told him what she had seen. He, too, was horribly +frightened, but he mastered his fear, as became the dignity of his +office. In order to provide duly for the safety of his village, +he sent two trustworthy men with a large sum of money to Trent, to +buy a sharp sword; and till their return placed all the able-bodied +men on guard. When the man brought the sharp sword back from Trent, +he called the heads of the Commune together, and said to them: 'I will +not exercise my right of sending any of you in peril of his life, but +I ask you which of you is ready to encounter this great danger, and +whoever has the courage shall receive a great reward.' Hereupon two of +the most valiant came forward as volunteers, and were invested with the +sharp sword. In solemn silence they marched boldly to the field where +the snail was, and they saw him sitting on the edge of a rotten leaf; +but at the moment when they had screwed up their courage to smite him +with the edge of the sword, the breeze blew down the leaf and the snail +with it. They, however, thought the snail was preparing to attack them, +and ran away so fast that they tumbled over the edge of an abyss. + +The people of a certain village were envious because the church tower +of the neighbouring village was higher than theirs. So they held +a council to consider what remedy they could apply. No one could +think of anything to propose, till the oldest and wisest of them +at last rose and advised that a great heap of hay should be laid +by the side of their tower, so that it might eat and grow strong, +and increase in height. The counsel was received with applause, +and every one cheerfully brought his quota to the common sacrifice, +till there was a mighty heap of hay laid at the base of the church +tower. All the horses and asses that went by, finding such a fine +provision of provender laid out for them, ate the hay; but the +people seeing the heap diminish, were quite satisfied, and said, +'Our tower must be beginning to grow, you see how fast it eats!' + +In Wälsch-Tirol the graves are not decked with flowers on All Souls' +Day, as in Germany, but on the other hand it is customary for the +parish clergy to gather their flocks round them, and say the Rosary +kneeling amid the graves. Doles of bread, locally called cuzza, and +alms, are given away to the poor on that day, and in some places a +particular soup made of beans. The symbolism was formerly carried so +far, that these alms, devoted to the refreshment of the souls of the +departed, were actually laid on the graves, as if it was supposed that +the holy souls would come out and partake of the material food. And +thus some even placed vessels of cold water as a special means of +solace from their purgatorial pains. [237] In the north of Italy, +the feast of Sta. Lucia (December 13) holds the place of that of +St. Nicholas among children in Germany; in Wälsch-Tirol the children +have the advantage of keeping both. + +In Val Arsa, part of the loaves baked on Christmas Eve are kept, +as Cross-buns used to be among us. In Folgareit they have a curious +game for Christmas-tide. A number of heaps of flour, according to the +number of the household, are arranged on the table by the father of +the family, some little present being covered up in each; when they are +thus prepared the family is admitted, and the choice of places decided +by various modes of contest. In several parts, particularly in the +Rabbithal, the Lombard [238] custom prevails of putting a huge log on +the fire, called the Zocco di Natale and the Zocco di ogni bene, that +it may burn all night and keep the Divine Infant from the cold. The +idea, more or less prevalent all over Christendom, that beasts have +the gift of speech on Christmas Eve, prevails here no less. A story +is told of a peasant who determined to sit up and listen to what his +oxen said. 'Where shall we have to go to-morrow?' he heard one say. 'We +shall have to fetch the boards for our master's coffin,' replied his +companion. The man was so shocked, that he went to bed and died next +day. Animals are blessed on St. Anthony's day (January 18), as in Rome. + +Carnival is celebrated with representations partaking somewhat of +the character of 'Passion Plays,' though always with more or less +humorous treatment of their subject. Till lately there lingered a +curious pastime at this season, in which on Giovedì grasso there was +a contest, according to fixed rules, between the masked and unmasked +inhabitants, for certain cakes (gnocchi) made of Indian corn, whence +the day is still called Giovedì dei gnocchi. It commemorated a fight +between the men of Trent and them of Feltre, who tried to carry off +their provision while they were building the walls of Trent, in the +time of Theodoric King of the Visigoths. S. Urban is considered the +patron of vineyards in Etschland, and on his feast his images are +hung with bunches of grapes. + +Here are a few specimens of their popular sayings and customs. When +it thunders the children say, Domeniddio va in carozza. The chirping +of a cricket, instead of being reckoned a lucky token, forebodes +death. Sponsors are regarded a person's nearest relations, and at +their funeral they go as chief mourners before all others. Marriages +in May are avoided. The reason why the bramble always creeps along, +instead of growing erect, is, because once a thorny bramble branch +caught the hair of the Blessed Virgin; before that it grew erect like +other trees. Cockchafers are blind, because one of them once flew +into the Blessed Virgin's face and startled her; before that they +had sight. Swallows are called uccelli della Madonna, but I have not +ascertained the reason. Scorpions, which are venomous in Italy, are +not so in the Italian Tirol, because one fell once into St. Vigilius' +chalice at Mass. I will conclude with some popular riddles, showing +a traditionary observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies, +but not much humour: + + + Due viandanti, + Due ben stanti, + E un cardinal? [239] + + Gh' è 'n prà + Tutto garofalà: + Quanca se vien el Papa con tutta la sô paperia + En garòfol sol no l'è bon de portar via? [240] + + Piatto sopra piatto, + Uomo ben armato, + Donna ben vestita. + Cavalleria ben fornita? [241] + + +C'è un palazzo, vi son dodici camere, ognuna ne ha trenta travi, +e vi son due che si corrono sempre l'uno dietro all' altro e non si +raggiungono mai? [242] + + + + + + + + O mein Tirol! wie ich mit Schmerzentzücken + Dich nun geschaut vor meinen feuchten Blicken. + So lebt dein rührend Bild im tiefsten Sinn. + Nimm denn, Tirol, des Schmerzbegeistrungstrunk'nen, + Des ganz in dich Verlornen und Versunk'nen + Liebvolles Lebewohl, mit Liebe hin! + + Eduard Silesius. + + + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] This is what the introduction of manufactories is doing in Italy +at this moment. The director of a large establishment in Tuscany, +which devours, to its own share, the growth of a whole hill-side every +year, smiled at my simplicity when I expressed regret at hearing that +no provision was made for replacing the timber as it is consumed. + +[2] Except the Legends of the Marmolata, which I have given in +'Household Stories from the Land of Hofer; or, Popular Myths of Tirol,' +I hardly remember to have met any concerning its prominent heights. + +[3] I published much of the matter of the following pages in the +first instance in the Monthly Packet, and I have to thank the Editor +for my present use of them. + +[4] See Steub 'Über die Urbewohner Rätiens und ihren Zusammenhang mit +den Etruskern. Münich, 1843,' quoted in Dennis' Cities and Cemeteries +of Etruria, I. Preface, p. xlv. + +[5] See it in use below, p. 28, and comp. Etruscan Res. p. 302, note. + +[6] Somewhat like pleurer. A good many words are like French, as +gutschle, a settle (couche); schesa, a gig; and gespusa, mentioned +above, is like épouse; and au, for water, is common over N. Tirol, +as well as Vorarlberg, e.g. infra, pp. 24, 111. &c. + +[7] Comp. Etrus. Res. 339-41. + +[8] Several places have received their name from having grown round +such a hut; some of these occur outside Vorarlberg, as for instance +Kühthei near St. Sigismund (infra, p. 331) in the Lisenthal, and +Niederthei in the OEtzthal. + +[9] Comp. ma = earth, land, Etrus. Res. pp. 121, 285. + +[10] Comp. subulo, Etrus. Res. 324. Dennis i. 339. + +[11] Infra, p. 411. + +[12] See e.g., infra, p. 202. + +[13] Etrus. Res. p. 330. + +[14] P. 79. + +[15] Professor Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop. + +[16] Rev. G. W. Cox, Prof. De Gubernatis, Dr. Dasent, &c. + +[17] In the Contemporary Review for March 1874. + +[18] Mr. Cox had pointed it out before him, however, and more fully, +Mythology of the Aryan Nations, ii. 200. + +[19] L'una vegghiava a studio della culla, + E consolando usava l'idioma, + Che pria li padri e le madri trastulla: + L'altra traendo alla rocca la chioma + Favoleggiava con la sua famiglia + De' Troiani, e di Fiesole, e di Roma. + + Dante. Paradiso, xv. 120 5. + +[20] Tullio Dandolo. + +[21] Depping, Romancero, Preface. + +[22] The usual fate of relying on Road-books. Ours, I forget whether +Amthor's or Trautwein's, said there was regular communication between +Oberriet and Feldkirch, and nothing could be further from the fact, +as will be seen a few pages later. + +[23] If Pfäffers is visited by rail (see p. 23), it is convenient to +take it before Feldkirch. + +[24] See further quaint details and historical particulars in Vonbun, +Sagen Vorarlbergs, p. 103-5. + +[25] Vonbun, pp. 113-4. + +[26] Historical particulars in Vonbun, pp. 110-1. + +[27] Vonbun, pp. 86-7. + +[28] It may also be reached by railway as it is but three or four +miles from Ragatz, two stations beyond Buchs (p. 13). + +[29] It has been suggested by an eminent comparative mythologist that +it is natural Luc-ius should be said to have brought 'the Light of +the Gospel' to men of Licht-enstein. + +[30] The traitor was loaded with heavy armour and thrown over the Ill +precipice. See Vonbun's parallel with the tradition of the Tarpeian +rock, p. 99 n. 2. + +[31] Notably at Raggal, Sonntag, Damüls, Luterns, and also in +Lichtenstein.--Vonbun, pp. 107-8. + +[32] Infra, Chapter viii., p. 238. + +[33] Vonbun, pp. 92-3. + +[34] Some analogous cases quoted in Sagas from the Far East, pp. 365, +383-5. + +[35] Father! take me also with you. + +[36] Vonbun, pp. 115-7. + +[37] The story of its curious success against the Bavarians in 1703, +p. 287-8. From Landeck there is a fine road (the description of +which belongs to Snitt-Tirol), over the Finstermünz and Stelvio, +to the baths of Bormio or Worms. + +[38] The chief encounter occurred at a place called Le Tezze, near +Primolano, on the Venetian border, where the Tiroleans repulsed the +Italians, in numbers tenfold greater than their own, and no further +attempt was made. The anniversary is regularly observed by visiting +the graves on August 14; mentioned below at Le Tezze. + +[39] Following are the names of the fourteen, but I have never met +any one who could explain the selection. 1. S. Acatius, bishop in +Asia Minor, saved from death in the persecutions under Decius, 250, +by a miracle he performed in the judgment hall where he was tried, +and in memory of which he carries a tree, or a branch of one, in +pictures of him. 2. S. Ægidius (Giles, in German, Gilgen), Hermit, +of Nimes, nourished in his cell by the milk of a hind, which, being +hunted, led to the discovery of his sanctity, an episode constantly +recurring in the legendary world. Another poetical legend concerning +him is that a monk, having come to him to express a doubt as to the +virginity of Our Lady, S. Giles, for all answer traced her name in +the sand with his staff, and forthwith full-bloom lilies sprang up +out of it. 3. S. Barbara. A maiden whom her heathen father shut up +in a tower, that nothing might distract her attention from the life +of study to which he devoted her; among the learned men who came +to enjoy her elevated conversation came a Christian teacher, and +converted her; in token of her belief in the doctrine of the Trinity +she had three windows made in her tower, and by the token her father +discovered her conversion, delivered her to judgment, and she suffered +an incredible repetition of martyrdoms. She is generally painted with +her three-windowed tower in her hand. 4. S. Blase, Bishop of Sebaste +and Martyr, A.D. 288. He had studied medicine, and when concealed in +the woods during time of persecution, the wild beasts used to bring +the wounded of their number to his feet to be healed. Men hunting +for Christians to drag to justice, found him surrounded by lions, +tigers, and bears; even in prison he continued to exercise his healing +powers, and from restoring to life a boy who had been suffocated by +swallowing a fishbone, he is invoked as patron against sore throat. He +too suffered numerous martyrdoms. 5. S. Christopher. 6. S. Cyriacus, +Martyr, 309, concerning whom many legends are told of his having +delivered two princesses from incurable maladies. 7. S. Dionysius, +the Areopagite, converted by S. Paul, and consecrated by him Bishop +of Athens, afterwards called to Rome by S. Peter, and made Bishop of +Paris. 8. S. Erasmus, a bishop in Syria, after enduring many tortures +there, he was thrown into prison, and delivered by an angel, who +sent him to preach Christianity in Italy, he died at Gaeta 303. At +Naples and other places he is honoured as S. Elmo. 9. S. Eustachius, +originally called Placidus, a Roman officer, converted while hunting +by meeting a stag which carried a refulgent cross between its horns; +his subsequent reverses, his loss of wife and children, the wonderful +meeting with them again, and the agency of animals throughout, make his +one of the most romantic of legends. 10. S. George. 11. S. Catherine +of Alexandria. 12. S. Margaret. 13. S. Pantaleone, another student +of medicine; when, after many tortures, he was finally beheaded, the +legend tells us that, in token of the purity of his life, milk flowed +from his veins instead of blood, A.D. 380. 14. S. Vitus, a Sicilian, +instructed by a slave, who was his nurse, in the Christian faith +in his early years; his father's endeavours to root out his belief +were unavailing, and he suffered A.D. 303, at not more than twelve +years of age. The only link I can discover in this chain of saints is +that they are all but one or two, whose alleged end I do not know, as +S. Christopher, credited with having suffered a plurality of terrible +martyrdoms. To each is of course ascribed the patronage over some +special one of the various phases of human suffering. + +[40] P. 12. + +[41] Among these not the least remarkable were some specimens of the +unbrimmed beaver hat, somewhat resembling the Grenadier's bear-skin, +only shorter, which is worn by the women in various parts of Tirol +and Styria. + +[42] The bell called in other countries the Elevation bell, is in +Germany called the Wandlung, or change-of-the-elements bell. The +idiom was worth preserving here, as it depicts more perfectly the +solemnity of the moment indicated. + +[43] The threefold invocation, supposed to be supremely efficacious. + +[44] In Tirol the roofs are frequently made of narrow overlapping +planks, weighed down by large stones. Hence the origin of the German +proverb, 'If a stone fall from the roof, ten to one but it lights on +a poor widow;'--equivalent to our 'Trouble never comes alone.' + +[45] 'May God reward it.' + +[46] The frontispiece to this volume (very much improved by the artist +who has drawn it on the wood). + +[47] Of the Brixenthal and the Gebiet der grossen Ache we shall have +to speak in a later chapter, in our excursion 'from Wörgl to Vienna.' + +[48] The comparative mythologist can perhaps tell us why this story +crops up everywhere. I have had occasion to report it from Spain in +Patrañas. Curious instances in Stöber Sagen des Elsasses. + +[49] S. Leonard is reckoned the patron of herds. See Pilger durch +Tirol, p. 247. + +[50] Anna Maria Taigi, lately beatified in Rome, was also a +maid-servant. + +[51] I have throughout the story reconciled, as well as I could, +the various versions of every episode in which local tradition +indulges. One favourite account of Ottilia's end, however, is so +different from the one I have selected above, that I cannot forbear +giving it also. It represents Ottilia rushing in despair from her +bed and wallowing in the enclosure of the pigs, whence, with all +Henry's care, she could not be withdrawn alive. All the strength of +his retainers was powerless to restrain the beasts' fury, and she +was devoured, without leaving a trace behind; only that now and then, +on stormy nights, when the pigs are grunting over their evening meal, +some memory of their strange repast seems to possess them, and the +wail of Ottilia is heard resounding hopelessly through the valley. + +[52] Grimm has collected (Deutsche Sagen, Nos. 349 and 350) other +versions of the tradition of oxen deciding the sites of shrines which, +like the story of the steeple, meets us everywhere. A similar one +concerning a camel is given in Stöber's Legends of Alsace. + +[53] It is perhaps to be reckoned among the tokens of Etruscan +residence among the Rhætian Alps, for Mr. Isaac Taylor finds that the +word belongs to their language. (Etruscan Researches, pp. 333, 380.) + +[54] 'Hulda was supposed to delight in the neighbourhood of lakes +and streams; her glittering mansion was under the blue waters, and +at the hour of mid-day she might be seen in the form of a beautiful +woman bathing and then disappearing.'--Wolf, Deutsche Götterlehre. See +also Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, pp. 164-8. + +[55] One version of the legend says, the Frozen Wall was formed out +of the quantities of butter the people had wasted. + +[56] This excursion was made on occasion of a different journey +from that mentioned in Chapter i. Of course, if taken on the way +from Kufstein to Innsbruck, you would take the Wildschönau before +the Zillerthal. + +[57] Whoever comes into the Zillerthal is sure to visit it a second +time. + +[58] In the Vintschgau (see infra) the leading cow has the title +of Proglerin, from the dialectic word proglen, to carry one's head +high. She wears also the most resounding bell. + +[59] 'Kaspar my name: from the East I came: I came thence with +great speed: five thousand miles in fourteen days: Melchior, step +in.' Zingerle gives a version of the whole set of rimes. + +[60] See Sitten Bräuche u. Meinungen des Tiroler Volks, p. 81. + +[61] Its origin may be traced further back than this, perhaps. The cat +was held to be the sacred animal of Freia (Schrader, Germ. Myth.), and +the word freien, to woo, to court, is derived from her name. (Nork.) + +[62] The merry mocking laugh was a distinguishing characteristic +of Robin Goodfellow. 'Mr. Launcelot Mirehouse, Rector of Pestwood, +Wilts, did aver to me, super verbum sacerdotis, that he did once heare +such a lowd laugh on the other side of a hedge, and was sure that +no human lungs could afford such a laugh.'--John Aubrey, in Thoms' +Anecdotes and Traditions, Camb. Camden Society, 1839. + +[63] O woe! the plough like fire glows, + And no one how to help me knows. + +[64] Released am I now, God be praised, + And the bound-stone again rightly placed. + +[65] The haunting cobbler--a popular name for 'the wandering Jew'; +in Switzerland they call him 'Der Umgehende Jud.' + +[66] (The souls of all unbaptized children.) Börner, Volkssagen, +p. 133. + +[67] A precisely similar superstition is mentioned in Mrs. Whitcomb's +recently published volume as existing in Devonshire. We shall meet +Berchtl again in the neighbouring 'Gebiet der Grossen Ache' on our +excursion from 'Wörgl to Vienna.' + +[68] Procula is the name given her in the Apocryphal Gospels. + +[69] 'It is now known that such tales are not the invention of +individual writers, but that they are the last remnants--the detritus, +if we may say so--of an ancient mythology; that some of the principal +heroes bear the nicknames of old heathen gods; and that in spite of +the powerful dilution produced by the admixture of Christian ideas, +the old leaven of heathendom can still be discovered in many stories +now innocently told by German nurses, of saints, apostles, and the +Virgin Mary.'--Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop. + +[70] Compare Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. ii. p. 364, +and passim. + +[71] Max Müller. Review of Dasent's Works. + +[72] Max Müller. Comparative Mythology. + +[73] A tradition still held of the Berchtl in many parts of Tirol. + +[74] Nork. Mythologie der Volkssagen. + +[75] Abbé Banier. Mythology Explained from History. Vol. ii. Book 3, +p. 564, note a. + +[76] Nork, Banier, &c. Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations, +vol. i. pp. 317-8 and note, gives other connexions of the Legend; +and at vol. ii. p. 306, and note to p. 365. + +[77] M. Müller. Review of Kelley's Indo-European Traditions. + +[78] Weber says the only accusation was grounded on a pasquinade +against Claudia found among his papers, but that he should calumniate +her seems inconsistent with his general character. Though his unsparing +lampoons on his adversaries had excited them more than anything else +against him. + +[79] Compare Gebhart, vol. ii. p. 240. + +[80] Near Innsbruck. + +[81] Staffler, Das Deutsche Tirol, vol. i. p. 751; and Thaler, +Geschichte Tirols v. der Urzeit, p. 279. + +[82] Ball's Central Alps. + +[83] Pasture-ground lying at the base of a mountain. + +[84] Alpine herdsman. + +[85] Respecting the curious idea of the kalte Pein, consult +Alpenburg, Mythen Tirols; Vernalken, Alpensagen; Beckstein, +Thuringer Sagenbuch. See also Dr. Dasent's remarks about Hel in +Popular Tales from the Norse; and Dante (notably Inferno, cantos +vi. xxii. xxiv.) introduces cold among the pains of even the Christian +idea of future punishment. + +[86] Here we have quite the Etruscan idea of providing against +after-death needs with appliances connected with the mortal +state. Dennis (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, vol. i. p. 34) +mentions more material traces of Etruscan beliefs at Matrei, on the +north side of the Brenner. Somewhat further south more important +remains still have of late years been unearthed, as we shall have +occasion to note by-and-by. + +The story in the text, in its depiction of self-devotion, has much +analogy with a Chinese legend told to me by Dr. Samuel Birch, of the +British Museum, concerning a man who sacrifices his own life in order +to put himself on fighting terms with a cruel spirit which torments +that of his dead companion. In its details it is like the story I have +pointed out in Folklore of Rome (the 'Tale of the Pilgrim Husband,' +pp. 361-3 and xvii), as the most devious from Christian teaching of +any of the legends I have met with in Rome; and it is particularly +noteworthy in connexion with Mr. Isaac Taylor's summary of the +Etruscan creed (Etruscan Researches, p. 270). 'The Turanian creed was +Animistic. The gods needed no gifts, but the wants of the ancestral +spirits had to be supplied: the spirits of the departed were served +in the ghost-world by the spirits of the utensils and ornaments which +they had used in life.') And in effect we find in every collection +of the contents preserved at the opening of Etruscan tombs, not only +gems and jewellery and household utensils, but remains also of every +kind of food. + +[87] There is something like this in Dean Milman's Annals of St. Paul's +Cathedral:--'"Others," adds Bishop Braybroke, "by the instigation of +the devil, do not scruple to play at ball, and other unseemly games, +within the church (he is speaking of St. Paul's), breaking the costly +painted windows, to the amazement of the spectators."' Speaking of the +post-Reformation period, the Dean adds: 'If, when the cathedral was +more or less occupied by sacred subjects, the invasion of the sanctuary +by worldly sinners resisted all attempts at suppression; now, that the +daily service had shrunk into mere forms of prayer, at best into a mere +'Cathedral Service,' ... it cannot be wondered at that the reverence, +which all the splendour of the old ritual could not maintain, died +away altogether as Puritanism rose in the ascendant.' Mr. Longman, +however (The Three Cathedrals, p. 54-6), quotes the very stringent +regulations which were issued for the repression of such practices: +perhaps the legend constructor would say, these afford the reason why, +though St. Paul's was profaned like the church of Achensee, it did not +'likewise perish.' + +[88] Nork (Mythologie der Volksagen, vol. ix. p. 83) gives other +significations to horse-shoes found in the walls of old churches, +but does not mention this instance. Concerning the origin of the +superstition about vampires, see Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations, +vol. i. p. 363; also p. 63 and p. 429. + +[89] Gebhart. + +[90] 'Probably early in the ninth century.'--Scherer. + +[91] Burglechner. Pilger durch Tirol. Panzer. Mülhenhof. + +[92] Lit. a 'cattle-breeding-farm.' + +[93] It follows that (when mountain scenery is not the special object +with the tourist) it is better to visit Viecht when staying at Schwatz +(Chapters vi. and vii.) than from Jenbach, at least it is a much less +toilsome ascent on this side from Viecht to S. Georgenberg, the most +interesting point of the pilgrimage. At S. Georgenberg there is a +good mountain inn. + +[94] In his reign, 1440-90, it was that the silver-mines of Tirol +were discovered; and the abundant influx, to the extent of 500 +cwt. annually, of the precious metal into his treasury, led him to +treat its stores as exhaustless; though the richest monarch of his +time, his easy open-handed disposition continually led him into debt, +and made his subjects finally induce him in his old age to resign in +favour of his cousin, the Emperor Maximilian I. It is a token of the +simplicity of the times, that one of the gravest reproaches against +him was that he indulged in the luxury of silk stockings! He married +Eleanor, daughter of James II. of Scotland. + +[95] See infra in the Stubayerthal. + +[96] In battle impetuous, yet merciful; in time of peace tranquil, +and faithful to his country's laws; whether as a warrior, a subject, +or an individual, worthy of honour as of love. + +[97] Steward of the salt-mines. + +[98] Johanniswürmchen, fire-flies. + +[99] Peasants' war. + +[100] Burglechner. + +[101] Colin de Plancy, Légendes des sept pechés capitaux, Appendice; +and Nork, Mythologie der Volkssagen, point out that the dragon, +sacred to Wodin, was placed on houses, town gates, and belfries, +as a talisman against evil influences. See also some remarks on the +two-fold character of dragons in mythology in Cox's Mythology of the +Aryan Nations, i. 428. + +[102] Compare Leoprechting, Aus dem Lechrain, page 78. Müllenhof +Sagen der Herzogthümer Schleswig Holstein u. Lauenburg, page 237. + +[103] Mother of mercy. + +[104] A touching story has been made out of his history in Alpen +Blumen Tirols. + +[105] This was designed so as to coincide with the time when the +faithful throughout the world were saying the De Profundis. + +[106] A similar fact for the comparative mythologist is recorded +p. 123-4, in the case of the Bienerweible. While these sheets were +preparing for the press, a singular one nearer home was brought +under my notice. A little girl being asked at a national school +examination, 'What David was before he was made king?' answered, +'Jack the Giant-killer.' This is a noteworthy instance of the hold +of myths on the popular mind; it did not proceed from defective +instruction, for the school is one of the very first in its reports, +and the child not at all backward. + +[107] Concerning der feurige Mann, and the mark of his burning hand, +see Stöber Sagen des Elsasses, p. 222-3. + +[108] At page 145. + +[109] 'Feigen-Kaffee,' made of figs roasted and ground to powder, +is sold throughout Austria. + +[110] Aubrey de Vere's Greece and Turkey. + +[111] Burglechner. A.D. 1409. + +[112] Mineral wealth--lit. Mountain-blessing. + +[113] I was told there that it had been reckoned that 500,000 cigars +are smoked per diem in Tirol. + +[114] The date of death on the tombstone of Lukas Hirtzfogel, whom +tradition calls the architect of this church, is 1475. + +[115] Brush for sprinkling holy-water. + +[116] See note to p. 140. + +[117] See p. 95. + +[118] See note to p. 48. + +[119] 'The most precious good,' or 'possession;' a Tirolean expression +for the Blessed Sacrament. + +[120] George of Freundsberg; a man of great strength; a worthy hero; +master of the field in combat and war; in every battle the enemy fell +before him. The honour and power he ascribed to God. + +[121] Maundy Thursday. + +[122] Stöber Sagen des Elsasses records a legend of a similar judgment +befalling a man who, in fury at a long drought, shot off three arrows +against heaven. + +[123] Leichtsinnig. + +[124] God prosper and bless you! + +[125] Supra, pp. 80-2. + +[126] Rout of the Bavarians. + +[127] See pp. 151-2. + +[128] Grimm (Deutsche Sagen, No. 492) gives an interesting legend +of the Hasslacherbrunnlein (half way between Kolsass and Wattens) +and of the resistance offered by the inhabitants of Tirol to the +Roman invasion of their country. + +[129] The suppression of this and several other convents, in 1783, was +a measure sufficiently unpopular to almost neutralize the popularity +Joseph II. enjoyed as son of Maria Theresa. The suppression was not, +however, accompanied by spoliation; the funds were devoted to provide +a moderate stipend to a number of women of reduced circumstances +belonging to noble families. + +[130] Stone of Obedience. + +[131] I have met with another sprout of this banyan at the Monastery +of the Sacro Speco in the Papal State, where a huge fragment of rock, +so nicely balanced that it looks as if a breath might send it over +the cliff, is pointed out as having stood still for centuries at the +word of S. Benedict, who bid it 'non dannegiare i sudditi miei.' + +[132] Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie, +vol. ii. pp. 17-21. Müller, Niedersächsische Sagen, p. 51. Müllenhoff, +Sagen der Herzogthümer Schleswig-Holstein u. Lanenburg, p. 184. + +[133] So strong is the prejudice in Tirol against Jews, that it is +said to be most difficult to find any one who will consent to act +the part of Judas in the Passion plays. + +There is a very strong personal dislike to Judas throughout Tirol, +and I have also heard that the custom of burning him in effigy +occurs in various places. Karl Blind, in the article quoted above, +(p. 3,) accounts for this custom in the following way: 'After the +appearance of fermenting matter it was said' (in what he calls the +germanic mythology) 'that there rose in course of time--even as in +Greek mythology--first a half-human, half-divine race of giants, and +then a race of Gods; the Gods had to wage war against the giants and +finally vanquished them. Evidently the giants represent a torpid barren +state of things in nature, whilst the Gods signify the sap and fulness +of life which struggles into distinct and beautiful form. There was a +custom among the Germanic tribes of celebrating this victory over the +uncouth Titans by a festival, when a gigantic doll was carried round in +Guy Fawkes manner and at last burnt. To this day there are traces of +the heathen practice. In some parts of Europe, so-called Judas-fires, +which have their origin in the burning of the doll which represented +the giants or jötun. In some places, owing to another perversion of +things and words, people run about on that fête-day shouting 'burn +the old Jew!' The jötun was in fact, when Christianity came in, first +converted into Judas and then into a Jew, a transition to which the +similarity of the sound of the words easily lent itself.' No doubt +jötun sounds very like Juden but not all coincidences are consequences, +and it is quite possible that the old heathen custom had quite died +out before that of burning Judas in effigy began, as it certainly had +before Guy Fawkes began to be so treated. The same treatment of Judas' +memory occurs, too, in Spain on the day before Good Friday. + +[134] S. Simeon of Trent is commemorated in the Roman Breviary (on +the 25th March). S. Andreas of Rinn has not received this honour. + +[135] Keller, in his Volkslieder, p. 242, gives an analogous legend +of a poor idiot boy, who lived alone in the forest and was never heard +to say any words but 'Ave Maria.' After his death a lily sprang up on +his grave, on whose petals 'Ave Maria' might be distinctly read. It +is a not unusual form of legend; Bagatta, Admiranda orbis Christiani, +gives fifteen such. + +[136] The ballad concerning the analogous English Legend of Hugh of +Lincoln seems to demand to be remembered here:-- + + + HUGH OF LINCOLN + + (SHOWING THE CRUELTY OF A JEW'S DAUGHTER). + + A' the boys of merry Lincoln, + Were playing at the ba', + And up it stands him, sweet Sir Hugh, + The flower among them a'. + + He kicked the ba' there wi' his feet, + And keppit it wi' his knee, + Till even in at the Jew's window, + He gart the bonny ba' flee. + + 'Cast out the ba' to me, fair maid, + Cast out the ba' to me;' + 'Never a bit,' says the Jew's daughter, + 'Till ye come up to me.' + + 'Come up, sweet Hugh! come up, dear Hugh! + Come up and get the ba';' + 'I winna come, I minna come, + Without my bonny boys a'.' + + She's ta'en her to the Jew's garden, + Where the grass grew long and green; + She's pu'd an apple red and white, + To wyle the bonny boy in. + + When bells were rung and mass was sung, + And every bairn went home; + Then ilka lady had her young son, + But Lady Helen had none. + + She row'd her mantle her about, + And sair, sair, 'gan to weep: + And she ran into the Jew's house + When they were all asleep. + + 'The lead is wondrous heavy, mither, + The well is wondrous deep; + A keen penknife sticks in my heart, + 'Tis hard for me to speak.' + + 'Gae hame, gae hame, my mither dear, + Fetch me my winding-sheet; + And at the back of merry Lincoln, + 'Tis there we twa shall meet.' + + Now Lady Helen she's gane hame, + Made him a winding-sheet; + And at the back o' merry Lincoln, + The dead corpse did her meet. + + And a' the bells o' merry Lincoln + Without men's hands were rung; + And a' the books o' merry Lincoln, + Were read without men's tongue; + Never was such a burial + Since Adam's days begun. + +[137] There is a carriage-road reaching nearly to the top of the +Lanserkopf. + +[138] The best shops are in the Franziskanergruben. + +[139] Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, No. 139. + +[140] Under four pillars. + +[141] See p. 69. + +[142] Of the earlier history of Tirol we shall have to speak when we +come to Schloss Tirol and Greifenstein. + +[143] Consult Zoller, Geschichte der Stadt Innsbruck; and Staffler, +das Deutsche Tirol. + +[144] See p. 146. + +[145] For the convenience of the visitor to Innsbruck, but not to +interrupt the text, I subjoin here a list of the subjects. (1.) The +marriage of Maximilian (then aged eighteen) with Mary of Burgundy +at Ghent. (2.) His victory over the French at Guinegate, when he was +twenty. (3.) The taking of Arras thirteen years later; not only are the +fighting folk and the fortifications in this worthy of special praise, +but there is a bit of by-play, the careful finish of which must not be +overlooked; and the figure of one woman in particular, who is bringing +provisions to the camp, is a masterpiece in itself. (4.) Maximilian is +crowned King of the Romans. The scene is the interior of the Cathedral +of Aix-la-Chapelle: the Prince is seated on a sort of throne before +the altar; the Electors are busied with their hereditary part in the +ceremony; the dresses of the courtiers in the crowd, and the ladies +high above in their tribune, are a perfect record for the costumier, +so minute are they in faithfulness. (5.) The battle of Castel della +Pietra, or Stein am Calliano, the landscape background of which is +excellent; the Tirolese are seen driving the Venetians with great fury +before them over the Etsch (Adige). (6.) Maximilian's entry into Vienna +(1490), in course of the contest for the crown of Hungary after the +death of Matthias Corvinus; the figure of Maximilian on his prancing +horse is drawn with great spirit. (7.) The siege of Stuhlweissenburg, +taken by Maximilian the same year; the horses in this tableau deserve +particular notice. (8.) The eighth represents an episode which it must +have required some courage to record among the acts of so glorious +a reign; it shows Maximilian receiving back his daughter Margaret, +when, in 1493, Charles VIII. preferred Anne of Brittany to her. The +French envoys hand to the Emperor two keys, symbols of the suzerainty +of Burgundy and Artois, the price of the double affront of sending +back his daughter and depriving him of his bride, for Anne had been +betrothed to him. [Margaret, though endowed with the high qualities of +her race, was not destined to be fortunate in her married life: her +hand was next sought by Ferdinand V. of Spain for his son Don Juan, +who died very shortly after the marriage. She was again married, in +1508, to Philibert Duke of Savoy, who died without children three +years later. As Governor of the Netherlands, however, her prudent +administration made her very popular.] (9.) Maximilian's campaign +against the Turks in Croatia. (10.) The League of Maximilian with +Alexander VI., the Doge of Venice, and the Duke of Milan, against +Charles VIII. of France; the four potentates stand in a palatial hall +joining hands, and the French are seen in the background fleeing in +dismay. (11.) The investiture at Worms of Ludovico Sforza with the +Duchy of Milan. The portraits of Maximilian are well preserved on each +occasion that he is introduced, but in none better than in this one: +Maria Bianca is seen seated to the left of the throne, Sforza kneels +before them; on the waving standard, which is the token of investiture, +the ducal arms are plainly discernible. (12.) The marriage at Brussels, +in 1496, of Philip der Schöne, Maximilian's son, with Juana of Spain; +the Archbishop of Cambrai is officiating, Maximilian stands on the +right side of his son: Charles Quint was born of this marriage. (13.) A +victorious campaign in Bohemia in 1504. The 14th represents the +episodes of the siege of Kufstein, recorded in the second chapter of +these Traditions (1504). (15.) The submission of Charles d'Egmont to +Maximilian, 1505. The Kaiser sits his horse majestically; the Duke of +Gueldres stands with head uncovered; the battered battlements of the +city are seen behind them. (16.) The League of Cambrai, 1508. The +scene is a handsome tent in the camp near Cambray; Maximilian, +Julius II., Charles VIII., and Ferdinand V., are supposed to meet, +to unite in league against Venice. (17.) The Siege of Padua, 1509, +the first result of this League; the view of Padua in the distance +must have required the artist to have visited the place. (18.) The +expulsion of the French from Milan, and reinstatement of Ludovico +Sforza, 1512. (19.) The second battle of Guinegate: Maximilian fights +on horseback; Henry VIII. leads the allied infantry, 1515. (20.) The +conjunction of the Imperial and English forces before Terouenne: +Maximilian and Henry are both on foot, 1513. (21.) The battle of +Vicenza, 1513. (22.) The Siege of Marano, on the Venetian coast. The +23rd represents a noble hall at Vienna, such details as the pictures +on the walls not being omitted: Maximilian is treating with Uladisaus, +King of Hungary, for the double marriage of their offspring--Anna and +Ludwig, children of the latter, with Ferdinand and Maria, grandchildren +of the former--an alliance which had its consequence in the subsequent +incorporation of Hungary with the Empire. (24.) The defence of Verona +by the Imperial forces against the French and Venetians. + +[146] Called by the French Philippe 'le Beau,' in distinction from +their own 'Philippe le Bel.' + +[147] This monument earned Ferdinand the title of the Lorenzo de' +Medici of Tirol. + +[148] St. Anthony being the patron invoked against accidents by fire; +also against erisypelas, which in some parts of England even is called +'St. Anthony's fire.' + +[149] Weber, Das Land Tirol, vol. i. p. 218. + +[150] Zoller Geschickte der Stadt Innsbruck, p. 272; and Weiesegger, +vol. vi. p. 61. + +[151] I have met the same hyperbole in a piece of homely Spanish +poetry. + +[152] 'Now he knows how the just monarch is beloved of Heaven; his +beaming countenance yet testifies his joy.' + +[153] Nork, Mythologie der Volkssagen, p. 419. + +[154] Exactly the story of the fisherman and the Genius in the copper +vessel of the Arabian Nights. It is found also in Grimm's story of +the Spirit in the bottle, in the Norse tale of the Master Smith; +in that of the Lad and the Devil (Dasent); and in the Gaelic tale of +the Soldier (Campbell). + +[155] Von Alpenburg, Mythen u. Sagen Tirols. + +[156] See pp. 194, 270, 324-5. + +[157] They accepted their position with the usual Tirolese loyalty, +and never attempted to found any claims to power on the circumstance +of their birth. + +[158] Holy Trinity Church. + +[159] Patron saints against pestilence: viz. SS. Martha (because +according to her legend she built a hospital and ended her life +tending the sick), Sebastian (because a plague was stayed in Rome at +his intercession), and Rocchus (because of the well-known legend of +his self-devotion to the plague-stricken). + +[160] Mentioned in the chapter on Vorarlberg, p. 23. + +[161] Thirteen volumes were filled with the narrations of such +'answers' received between 1662 and 1665. + +[162] Picture of Mary 'Help of Christians'--Auxilium Christianorum. + +[163] Inglis says that Schor was the architect of this church, and +that he had assisted in building the Vatican. + +[164] It is painted on panel, thirty inches by twenty-one; the figure +of our Lady is three quarter-length, but appears to be sitting, as the +foot of the Divine Infant seems to rest upon her knee. The tradition +concerning it is, that it represents an episode of the Flight into +Egypt, when, as the Holy Family rested under a palm-grove, they were +overtaken by a band of robbers, headed by S. Demas, the (subsequently) +penitent thief. The Holy Child is indeed represented clinging to His +Mother--not as in fear, or even as if need were to suggest courage +to her, but simply as if an attack sustained in common impelled a +closer union of affection. + +[165] See pp. 123-4. + +[166] She was on her way to Rome, where she spent the rest of her +life. Alexander VII. commissioned Bernini to rebuild the Porta +del Popolo, and adorned it with its inscription, Felici, faustoque +ingressui, in honour of her entry. + +[167] See p. 280. + +[168] Kreidenfeuer--alarm fires, from Krei, a cry. + +[169] A leading spiritualist, who has also a prominent position in +the literary world, tells the story that one day he had missed his +footing in going downstairs, and was within an ace of making as fatal +a fall as Professor Phillips, when he distinctly felt himself seized, +supported, and saved by an invisible hand. The analogy between the +two convictions is curious. + +[170] Consult Cesare Cantù Storia Universale, § xvii. cap. 21. + +[171] Since writing the above, I have been assured by one who has +frequently conversed with her, that the concealment of her name +arose from her own modesty; it was Katharina Lanz. To avoid public +notice, she went to live at a distance, and up to the time of her +death in 1854, bore an exemplary character, living as housekeeper to +the priest serving the mountain church of S. Vigilius, near Rost, +the highest inhabited point of the Enneberg. When induced to speak +of her exploits, she always made a point of observing that, though +she brandished her hay-fork, she neither actually killed or wounded +anyone. She had heard that the French soldiers were nothing loth to +desecrate sacred places, and she stationed herself in the church porch +determined to prevent their entrance; the churchyard had become the +citadel of the villagers. From her post of observation she saw with +dismay that her people were giving way. It was then she rushed out +and rallied them; in her impetuosity she was very near running her +hay-fork through a French soldier, but she was saved from the deed by +her landlord, who, encouraged by her ardour, struck him down, pushing +her aside. The success of her sally and her subsequent disappearance +cast a halo of mystery round her story, and many were inclined to +believe the whole affair was a heavenly apparition. + +[172] Celebration of the Resurrection. + +[173] Spare your bread for the poor, and escape the fate of Frau +Hütt. See some legends forming a curious link between this, and that +of Ottilia Milser in Stöber Sagen des Elsasses, pp. 257-8. + +[174] The dog's church or chapel. + +[175] His well-known daring, emulating that of the chamois and the +eagle, was of no avail now; for straight under him sinks the Martin's +Wall, the steepest cliff of the whole country-side. + +He gazes down through that grave of clouds. He gazes abroad over that +cloud-ocean. He glances around, and his gaze recoils. + +With only the thunder-roll of the people's voices beneath, there stands +the Kaiser's Majesty. But not raised aloft to receive his people's +homage. A son of sorrow, on a throne of air, the great Maximilian +all at once finds himself isolated, horror-stricken, and small. + +[176] 'With him,' says a Hungarian ballad, 'Righteousness went down +into the grave: and the Sun of Pest-Ofen sank towards its setting.' + +[177] Primisser, who took great pains to collect all the various +traditions of this event, mentions a favourite huntsman of the Emperor, +named Oswald Zips, whom he ennobled as Hallaurer v. Hohenfelsen. This +may have been the actual deliverer, or may have been supposed to +be such, from the circumstance of the title being Hohenfelsen, or +Highcliff; and that a patent of nobility was bestowed on a huntsman +would imply that he had rendered some singular service: the family, +however, soon died out. + +[178] See chapter on Schwatz. + +[179] To the Editor of the 'Monthly Packet.' + +Sir,--I think it possible that R. H. B. (to whom we owe the very +interesting Traditions of Tirol), and perhaps others of your readers, +may care to hear some of the particulars, as they are treasured by his +family, of the defence of Scharnitz by Baron Swinburne. R. H. B. speaks +of it in your number of last month. That defence was so gallant as to +call forth the respect and admiration even of his enemies, and Baron +Swinburne was given permission to name his own terms of surrender. + +He requested for himself, and those under him, that they might be +allowed to retain their swords. This was granted, and the prisoners +were sent to Aix-la-Chapelle, where everyone was asking in astonishment +who were 'les prisonniers avec l'épée a côté.' + +The Eagles of Austria, that had been so nobly defended by the +Englishman and his little band, never fell into the hands of the +French. One of the Tirolese escaped, with the colours wrapped round +his body under his clothes, and though he was hunted among the +mountains for months, he was never taken; and some years after he +came to his commander in Vienna and gave him the colours he had so +bravely defended. They are now in possession of Baron Edward Swinburne, +the son of the defender of Scharnitz, who himself won, before he was +eighteen, the Order of 'the Iron Crown,' by an act that well deserves +to be called 'a golden deed;' and ere he was twenty he had led his +first and last forlorn hope, when he received so severe a wound as +to cost him his leg, which has incapacitated him for further service. + +His father received the highest military decoration of Austria, +that of 'Maria Teresa;' he fought at Austerlitz and Wagram; on the +latter occasion he was severely wounded. Later in life, he was for +many years Governor of Milan. + +Hoping that a short record of true and faithful services performed +by Englishmen for their adopted country, may prove of some interest +to your readers, and with many thanks to R. H. B. for what has been +of so much interest to us, + + +I am, Sir, yours faithfully, + +September, 1870. A. Swinburne. + +[180] Häusergruppe. + +[181] Such offerings are met with in other parts of Tirol; in one +place we shall find a candle offered of equal weight to an infant's +body. They present a striking analogy with the Sanskrit tulâdâna or +weight-gift; the practice of offering to a temple or Buddhist college +a gift of silver or even gold of the weight of the offerer's body +appears not to have been infrequent and tolerably ancient. Lassen +(Indische Alterthumskünde, vol. iii. p. 810) mentions an instance +of the revival of the custom by a king named Shrikandradeva, who +offered the weight of his own body in gold to the temple at Benares +(circa 1025); and (vol. iv. p. 373) another in which Aloungtsethu, +King of Birmah, in 1101, made a similar offering in silver to a temple +which he built at Buddhagayâ. He refers also to earlier instances +'in H. Burney's note 19 in As. Res. vol. xx. p. 177, and one by Fell +in As. Res. vol. xv. p. 474.' + +[182] I have occasion to give one of the most remarkable legends of +the Oetzthal in the chapter on Wälsch-Tirol. + +[183] See a somewhat similar version in Nork's Mythologie der +Volksagen, pp. 895-7. + +[184] Circle. + +[185] The sunnier and less thoughtful tone of mind in which the +Italian particularly differs from the German character, is often to +be traced in their legendary stories. Those of the Germans are nearly +always made to convey some moral lesson; this is as often wanting in +those of the Italians, who seem satisfied with making them means of +amusement, without caring that they should be a medium of instruction. + +[186] The Passion Plays of the Brixenthal, however, are reckoned +the best. The performers gather and rehearse in the spring, and go +round from village to village through the summer months, only, as +amphitheatres are improvised in the open. + +[187] It may be worth mentioning, as an instance of how the contagion +of popular customs is transmitted, that on enquiring into some very +curious grotesque ceremonies performed in Trent at the close of the +carneval, and called its 'burial,' I learnt that it did not appear +to be a Tirolean custom, but had been introduced by the soldiers of +the garrison who, for a long time past, had been taken from the Slave +provinces of the Austrian Empire, and thus a Slave popular custom has +been grafted on to Tirol. Wälsch-Tirol, however, has its own customs +for closing the carneval, too. In some places it is burnt in effigy; +in some, dismissed with the following dancing-song (Schnodahüpfl) +greeting, + + + Evviva carneval! + Chelige manca ancor el sal; + El carneval che vien + Lo salerem più ben! + + +[188] A centenary celebration of the Council was held at Trent in +1863, at which the late lamented Cardinal von Reisach presided as +legate a latere. + +[189] This chapel has lately been restored by Loth of Munich. + +[190] A variant of this tradition takes the more usual form of applying +it to the architect of the edifice, as with the Kremlin. As Stöber +gives it from Strasburg, it was there the maker of the great clock. + +[191] Laste is dialectic for a smooth, steep, almost inaccessible +chalk cliff. + +[192] Hence Kaiser Max was wont to call Tirol 'the heart' and 'the +shield' of his empire. + +[193] St. Ingenuin was Bishop of Säben or Seben, A.D. 585. The See, +founded by St. Cassian, had been long vacant, and great errors and +abuses had taken root among the people, who in some places had relapsed +towards heathen customs. His success in reforming the manners of his +flock was most extraordinary. He built a cathedral at Seben, where he +is honoured on February 5, the anniversary of his death. St. Albuin, +one of his successors, was a scion of one of the noblest families of +Tirol; he removed the See to Brixen, A.D. 1004. + +[194] This is a local application of the widespread myth of the tailor, +who kills 'seven at one blow,' identified by Vonbun (p. 71-2) with +the Sage of Siegfried. Prof. Zarncke has also written a great deal +to show Tirol's place in the Nibelungenlied. + +[195] Anciently Anaunium, and still by local scholars called Annaunia, +a possession of the Nonia family, not unknown to Roman history. + +[196] The white mulberry, whose leaves feed the silkworm, rearing which +forms one great industry of Wälsch-Tirol, is called the Seidenbaum, +the silk tree. + +[197] Stammort, Cradle of his race. + +[198] See Un processo di Stregheria in Val Camonica, by Gabriele Rosa, +pp. 85, 92; and Il vero nelle scienze occulte, by the same author, +p. 43; and Tartarotti Congresso delle Lammie. lib. ii. § iv. It is one +of the only four such spots anywhere existing where Italian is spoken. + +[199] A mithraic sacrifice with several figures, sculptured in +bas-relief, in white Carrara marble, in very perfect preservation, +bearing the inscription: + + ILDA MARIVS + L. P. + +has just been found at this very spot. + +[200] See pp. 164-6. + +[201] Too many such remnants, which the plough and the builder's +pick are continually unearthing, have been thus dispersed. It has +been the favourite work of Monsignor Zanelli, of Trent, to stir up +the local authorities to take account of such things, and so form a +museum with them in Trent. + +[202] Padre Tarquini--one of the rare instances of a Jesuit being +made a Cardinal--died, it may be remembered, in February last, only +about two months after his elevation. He had devoted much time to +the study of Etruscan antiquities; he published The Mysteries of +the Etruscan Language Unveiled in 1857, and later a Grammar of the +language of the Etruscans. + +[203] '(1.) Or it might be 'ad introductionem viri.' (2.) 'Vulcano' +here (precisely as in another Etruscan inscription found a few +years before at Cembra, and translated by Professor Giovanelli) +for 'ignis.' (3.) An allusion to the custom of first piercing +(sforacchiare) the bodies of persons to be burnt in sacrifice, which +appears from the inscription found at S. Manno, near Perugia, and +again from the appearance of the figures of human victims represented +in the Tomba Vulcente. (4.) The deity of the place to which the key +belonged, probably, therefore, Saturn.' + +[204] A Tag-mahd, or 'day's mowing,' is a regular land measure in +North Tirol. + +[205] There is no record of her summit ever having been attained +before the successful ascent of Herr Grohmann, in 1864. Mr. Tucker, +an Englishman, accomplished it the next year. + +[206] I have given some of the most curious of these in a collection +of Household Stories from the Land of Hofer. + +[207] There is no tradition more universally spread over Tirol than +that which tells of judgments falling on non-observers of days of +rest. They are, however, by no means confined to Tirol. Ludovic +Lalanne, Curiosités des Traditions, vol. iv. p. 136, says that the +instances he had collected showed it was treated as a fault most +grievous to heaven. 'Matthieu Paris, à l'année 1200, raconte qu'une +pauvre blanchisseuse ayant osé travailler un jour de fête fut punie d' +une étrange façon; un cochon de lait tout noir s'attacha à sa mamelle +gauche.' He relates one or two other curious instances--one of a +young girl who, having insisted on working on a holiday, somehow got +the knot of her thread twisted into her tongue, and every attempt +to remove it gave intolerable pain. Ultimately she was healed by +praying at the Lady-altar at Noyon, and here the knot of thread was +long shown in the sacristy. + +I well remember the English counterpart in my own nursery. There +were, indeed, two somewhat analogous stories; and I often wondered, +without exactly daring to ask, why there was so much difference +in the tone in which they were told, for the one seemed to me as +good as the other. The first, which used to be treated as an utter +imposture, was that a woman and her son surreptitiously obtained +a consecrated wafer for purposes of incantation (we have had a +Tirolean counterpart of this at Sistrans, supra pp. 221-2), and in +pursuit of their weird operation had pierced it, when there flowed +thereout such a prodigious stream of blood that the whole place was +inundated, and all the people drowned. The second, which was told +with something of seriousness in it, ('and they say, mind you, that +actually happened,') was of a young lady who, having persisted in +working on Sunday in spite of all her nurse's injunctions, pricked +her finger. No one could stop the bleeding that ensued, and she bled +to death for a judgment; and whether it was true or not, there was a +monument to her in Westminster Abbey. Dean Stanley, who seems to have +missed nothing that could possibly be said about the Abbey, finds +place, I see, to notice even this tradition (pp. 219-20 and note), +and identifies it with the monument of Elizabeth Russell (born 1575) +in St. Edmund's Chapel. Madame Parkes-Belloc tells me she has often +seen a wax figure of a lady (in the costume of two centuries later than +Elizabeth Russell) under a glass case in Gosfield Hall, Essex (formerly +a seat of the Buckingham family), of which a similar tradition is told. + +[208] It is significant of a symbolical intention that the story should +thus allude to the Valle del Orco; the more so as I cannot hear of +any such actual locality in Val Sugana, though 'Orco' has lent his +name to more than one spot, as we shall see later. There is, however, +a Val d'Inferno between this valley and Predazzo. + +[209] Settepergole--Seven Pergolas--the name of several farms in +Wälsch-Tirol. Pergola is the name for a vine trellised to form an +arbour, all over Italy. + +[210] This effect has often been noticed here by travellers. + +[211] Two bronze statuettes of Apollo were found here in June 1869. + +[212] Very like and very unlike the legend of S. Giuliano I met in Rome +(Folklore of Rome), where he was supposed to be a native of Albano, +and to have passed his penitential time at Compostella. G. Schott, +Wallächische Märchen, pp. 281 and 375, gives a similar legend applied +to Elias in place of St. Julian. + +[213] Folklore of Rome, p. 320. + +[214] I need not repeat the characteristics of the Tirolean Norg, +which I have given in the translation of the 'Rose-garden' in Household +Stories from the Land of Hofer. + +[215] Thorp's Northern Mythology, vol. ii. pp. 20-2. + +[216] Though of course mere similarity of sound may lead one absurdly +astray; as if any one were to say that the old fables of rubbing a +ring to produce the 'Slave of the ring' was the origin of the modern +substitute of ringing to summon a servant! + +[217] Again, Mr. Cox (Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. ii. p. 221 +et seq.) says, 'the Maruts or storm winds who attend on Indra +... became the fearful Ogres in the traditions of Northern Europe +... they are the children of Rudra, worshipped as the destroyer and +reproducer and ... like Hermes, as the robber, the cheat, the deceiver, +the master thief.' + +[218] Etruscan Researches, p. 376 and note. + +[219] Stöber, Sagen des Elsasses, p. 30. + +[220] Cities of Etruria, vol. ii. p. 65-8. + +[221] Selvan, at all events, is a word which, Mr. Isaac Taylor +observes, is of frequent occurrence in Etruscan inscriptions +(Et. Res. pp. 394-5), and its signification has not yet been fixed. And +may not Gannes have some relation with Kan or Khan (p. 322)? + +[222] It is very disappointing that he has translated the great bulk +of his vast collection of fiabe ('fiaba' in North Italian answers +to the 'favola' of Rome) so utterly into German that, though we find +all our old friends among them, all the distinctive expressions are +translated away, and they are rendered valueless for all but mere +childish amusement. Thus it is interesting to find in Wälsch-Tirol +a diabolical counterpart of the Roman story of 'Pret' Olivo,' but it +would have rendered it infinitely more interesting had the collector +told us what was the word which he translates by 'Teufel,' for it is +the rarest thing in the world for an Italian to bring the personified +'Diavolo' or 'Demonio' into any light story. In the same way it is +interesting to find all the other tales with which we are familiar +turn up here, but the real use of printing them at length would have +been to point out their characteristics. What was the Italian used +for the words rendered in the German by 'Witch?' Was it 'Gannes' or +'strega?' or for 'Giant' and 'Wild man:' was it 'l'om salvadegh' or +'salvan' or 'orco?' I cannot think it was 'gigante.' But all is left +to conjecture. Among the few bits of Italian he does give are two +or three 'tags' to stories, among them the one I met so continually +in Rome 'Larga la foglia'--(it was still 'foglia' and not 'voglia') +word for word. + +[223] Dr. Steub, in his Herbsttagen in Tirol, shows that the Beatrick +may be identified with Dietrich von Bern. + +[224] Though nothing would seem simpler than to suppose the word +derived from the Euganean inhabitants who left their name to Val +Sugana. + +[225] It is curious to observe the story pass through all the stages +of the supernatural agency traditional in the locality; first the good +genius of the Etruscans merging next into the Germanic woodsprite, +then assuming the vulgar characteristics of later imaginings about +witchcraft, and then the Christian teaching 'making use of it,' +as Professor de Gubernatis says, 'for its own moral end.' + +[226] A collection of the 'Costumi' of Tuscany I have, without a +title-page, but I think published about 1835, laments the growing +disuse in Lunigiana (i.e. the country round the Gulf of Spezia, +so called from Luna, an Etruscan city, but 'not one of the twelve,' +and including Carrara, Lucca, and Pisa) of the practice of recounting +popular traditions at the Focarelli there. These seem to be autumn +evening gatherings round a fire, but in the open air, often on a +threshing-floor; while the able-bodied population is engaged in the +preparation of flax, and some are spinning, the boys and girls dance, +wrestle, and play games, and the old crones gossip; but now, says the +writer, they begin to occupy themselves only with scandalous and idle +reports, instead of old-world lore. + +[227] My readers will perhaps not recognize at first sight that this +is a corruption of Frau Bertha, the Perchtl whom we met in North +Tirol. In the Italian dialects of the Trentino she is also called la +brava Berta and la donna Berta. + +[228] 'Your servant! Mistress Bertha of the long nose.' Such was +supposed to be the correct form of addressing the sprite. + +[229] Many of these concern the earthly wanderings of Christ and his +apostles. I have given one of the most sprightly and characteristic of +Schneller's, too long to be inserted here, in The Month for September, +1870, entitled 'The Lettuce-leaf Barque.' + +[230] Gathered for the above-named collection by Herr Zacchea of the +Fassathal, in the Val di Non, Lederthal, and Val Arsa. + +[231] I have mentioned the only other wolf-stories that I have met with +in the chapter on Excursions round Meran; and at p. 31 of this volume. + +[232] Cox's Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 405. + +[233] I have thought this one of the best specimen tales, as the two +stories of the Three Wishes and the Three Faithful Beasts are leading +ones in every popular mythology. I have named a good many variants in +connexion with their counterparts in the Folklore of Rome, and a more +extensive survey of them, together with a most interesting analysis +of their probable origin, will be found in Cox's Mythology of Aryan +Nations, vol. i. pp. 144 and 375. I had thought that these, being +strung together in the text version, was owing to a freak of memory +of some narrator who, having forgotten the original conclusion of the +former story, takes the latter one into it; but, curiously enough, in +the note to the last-named page of Mr. Cox's work, he happens actually +to establish an intrinsic identity of origin in the two stories. The +Three Wishes story has also a strangely localized home in the Oetzthal, +which, though properly belonging to the division of North Tirol, I +prefer to cite here, for the sake of its analogies. Its particular home +is in the so-called Thal Vent, on the frozen borders of the Gletscher +described by Weber, as appalling to a degree in its loneliness, and in +the roaring of its torrents, and the stern rugged inaccessibility of +its peaks. Here, he says, three Selige Fräulein (Weber, like Schneller, +translates everything inexorably into German; this may have been +an Enguana) have their abode in a sumptuous subterranean palace, +which no mortal might reach. They are also called die drei Feyen, +he says, forming a further identification with the normal legend, +but he does not account for the penetration of the French word into +this unfrequented locality. They were kind and ancillary to the poor +mountain folk, but the dire enemies of the huntsman, for he hunted as +game the creatures who were their domestic animals (here we have the +nucleus of a heap of various tales and legends of the pet creatures +of fairies and hermits becoming the intermediaries of supernatural +communication). The Thal Vent legend proceeds that a young shepherd +once won the regard of the drei Feyen; they fulfilled all his wishes, +and gave him constant access to their palace under the sole condition +that he should never reveal its locality to any huntsman. After +some years the youth one day incautiously let out the secret to +his father, and from thenceforth the drei Feyen were inexorable in +excluding him from their society. He pleaded and pleaded all in vain, +and ultimately made himself a huntsman in desperation. But the first +time he took aim at one of their chamois, the most beautiful of the +three fairies appeared to him in so brilliant a light of glory, that +he lost all consciousness of his actual situation and fell headlong +down the precipice. + +[234] They are called 'Lustige Geschichte,' 'Storielle da rider.' The +Germans have a saying that 'in jeder Sage haftet eine Sache;' the +'Sache' is perhaps more hidden in these than in others. I have pointed +out counterparts of the following at Rome and elsewhere in Folklore +of Rome. + +[235] Capitello, in Wälsch-Tirol, is the same as Bildstöcklein in +the German provinces--a sacred image in a little shrine. + +[236] Bears exist to the present day in Tirol. Seven were killed last +year. A prize of from five-and-twenty to fifty florins is given for +killing one by various communes. + +[237] A distinct remnant of Etruscan custom. It is singular, too, +that Mr. I. Taylor finds 'faba' to have been taken by the Romans +from the Etruscans for a bean, but though the custom of connecting +beans with the celebration of the departed is common all over Italy, +I do not think the Etruscans provided their dead with beans except +along with all other kinds of food (supra p. 130-1 note). + +[238] The little book of Costumi spoken of above, mentions the 'Zocco +del Natale' as in use also in Lunigiana; it is generally of olive-tree, +and household auguries are drawn from the crackling of leaves and +unripe berries. It cites a letter of a certain Giovanni da Molta, +dated 1388, showing that the custom has not undergone much change in +five hundred years. + +[239] Two travellers, two prosperous ones, and a cardinal?--Answer. Sun +and moon; earth and heaven; and the ocean. + +[240] There is a meadow overblown with carnations, yet if the Pope +came with all his court, not one sole carnation would he be able to +carry off?--Answer. The heaven beaming with stars. + +[241] Plate upon plate; a man fully armed; a lady well dressed; a +stud well appointed?--Answer. Heaven and earth; the sun; the moon; +the stars. + +[242] There is a palace with twelve rooms; each room has thirty beams, +and two are ever running after each other through them without ever +catching each other?--Answer. The palace is the year, the rooms the +months, the beams the days, and day and night are always following +each other without overlapping. + +[243] The simplicity of the people of this valley is celebrated in many +'Men of Gotham' stories. + +[244] Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, vol. 1, pp. xxxiv-v, +mentions the Etruscan remains that had been found at Mattrey (of +which he gives a cut) and other places in Tirol up to his time. + +[245] It is noteworthy that so prominent an enquirer into Etruscan +antiquities should bear a patronymic so connected with Etruria as +Tarquini. + +[246] In Abbé Dubois' introduction to his translation of the Pantcha +Tantra, is a story called 'La fille d'un roi changé en garçon,' in +which mention is made of a Brahman hermit who fixed his residence in +a hollow tree. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Valleys of Tirol, by R. H. Busk + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43614 *** |