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diff --git a/goldau_v1.txt b/goldau_v1.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cb08e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/goldau_v1.txt @@ -0,0 +1,549 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77374 *** + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE + + BRAVE LITTLE MAID + OF GOLDAU + + BY + MARY ELIZABETH JENNINGS + + NEW YORK + ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY + (INCORPORATED) + 182 FIFTH AVENUE + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY + ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY. + (Incorporated). + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + A NESTLING VILLAGE.--Frontispiece. + + THE LAND-SLIDE.--To face page 13. + + THE PEACEFUL VALLEY.--To face page 33. + + EVENING BELLS.--To face page 38. + + + + + THE BRAVE LITTLE MAID + OF GOLDAU. + + + + + I. + + +Throughout Switzerland, the summer of 1806 is always spoken of as “The +wet Summer.” During May, June, and July, many and heavy showers fell, +but in August it rained almost every day. In the Canton of Schwytz, the +sky was so dark and forbidding that the clouds left the upper spaces, +and chased each other quite down the mountain sides: and shut out the +lovely little valley, which lay between Mount Rossberg and Mount Rigi, +from the rest of the world. The people cared little for this, however, +for was not the grass in the meadows on the mountain side as sweet +as sweet could be? had the cows ever given richer milk? had ever such +butter and cheese been made before, or so good a price received for it? +And look at the gardens; such cauliflower! such cabbage! such potatoes! +And above all, look around at the “over world,” the mosses, the vines, +the shrubs, and trees, whose leaves, from the tenderest brown to the +darkest green, seem as though tipped with diamonds, they sparkle so! +And the flowers; were their colors ever more soft and lovely? No, +everything was beautiful! beautiful! True, the tourists grumbled at +the weather, but they always had a way of grumbling at something, and +perhaps it might as well be the weather as anything else: and so the +Fraus talked, and smiled, and nodded their heads, which made their +words all the more reliable. + +At the foot of the Rossberg nestled the pretty little village of +Goldau. The mountain lifted its head five thousand feet above the +village, but it smiled down upon it so kindly, and when the sharp +winds blew shielded it so securely, that the people looked up with +grateful eyes and spoke of it as their own beautiful mountain. And it +was indeed beautiful. Near the top, and extending for a good way down +its side, grew strong large trees, with little trees in between; quite +a wood in fact; and when the wind passed over the mountain tops, the +leaves rustled, shook hands, and laughed and talked in the pleasantest +way imaginable. Below the wood, lay the great green meadows, where +the grass grew soft and thick like velvet; and gardens too, for the +people of Goldau not only kept many cows, but thought much of their +cauliflower, cabbage, and potatoes. A little higher on the mountain +side than most of the houses in the village, stood the home of young +Kaspar Bernstein, Josepha his wife, three pretty children, and a +little maid named Franziska Ulrich. Heinrich, the eldest, was a stout +lad of eight years, who helped his father drive the cows to and from +the pasture, and pulled the weeds in the garden. But the pet of the +household was wee, blue-eyed Gretchen, a demure little maid of six +years, who helped her mother, or thought she did, and made the hours +pass happily for baby Fritz. Their home was a very pleasant one, clean +and comfortable; the floors white with frequent scrubbings,--the +pretty blue picture dishes at which Gretchen never tired of looking as +the plates stood on edge in the racks on the wall; the tinware polished +until it shone like silver; and the great square tile stove, with the +bench around three sides of it, so that all could sit with their backs +against the warm tile of an evening, while the top was large enough to +make a bed upon in the coldest winter nights,--oh, it was as cozy and +comfortable as a home could well be! And in the Summer time, how breezy +the house was when the doors and windows were all wide open; why, one +could stand in the front door, and look right out through the back door +at the mountain. And the view of Goldau, with other little towns all +lying so close together, and the shimmering water of the lake, made +a picture always lovely to look upon; and when the sweet tones of the +church bells floated up to them, morning and evening, their joy was +complete. + + + + + II. + + +The second morning of September opened dark and uncomfortable enough. +The rain fell in torrents; at seven o’clock it was still too dark to +see without a candle. Kaspar went out and attended to his cattle, and +when he brought in the milk said to his wife,-- + +“Frantz Schwartz was on top of the mountain yesterday; he says that the +little crack up there has so widened that he cannot now jump across it.” + +“Is there any danger, think you?” anxiously asked the wife, setting the +wooden pail on the floor and looking up at him. + +“No, no,” answered Kaspar carelessly, shaking the water from his cap, +“if there should be a split-off, it won’t get any further than the +trees; they’ll hold it, never fear,” and turning from her he went off +to his work, whistling merrily. + +But Frau Bernstein did not feel so sure, and many times during the +morning she opened the door and looked long and anxiously toward the +top of the towering mountain. + +“I know not what makes me feel so afraid,” she said to Franziska, who +was holding and amusing baby Fritz, “yet I cannot help it; even the +trees seem to be worried about something, the leaves all hang their +heads so.” + +“What nonsense,” laughed Kaspar, coming in just in time to catch her +last words; “the leaves are soaked through and through with water, and +are too heavy to hold their heads up.” + +But there was work to do, and, in spite of anxiety, the morning hours +passed quickly. + +About dinner-time the rain stopped falling, but the black, angry +clouds settled down more heavily over meadow and town, and after a few +moments of quiet a gust of ice-cold wind swept down the mountain sides, +followed by a furious, though short, storm of hail. + +The afternoon wore away with no return of the storm, and the hearts of +all grew lighter. + +“Now God be thanked that it no more rains and the danger is over,” said +the mother. + +About five o’clock Kaspar looked in and said, “Josepha, come out and +see what the hail has done; the trees no more bear leaves but ribbons +on their branches; the vines are stripped, and nothing is left in the +garden.” + +Baby Fritz was asleep in his cradle, Gretchen busy with her play, +and leaving Franziska to care for them, Frau Bernstein, followed by +Heinrich, passed out through the kitchen leaving the door open,-- + +“It will be good for the house that the air enter; the rain has made it +so damp,” said she. + +Franziska watched them until Gretchen called,--“Freddie! Freddie! come +see the funny little birds.” + +Franziska hurried to the window, then opened the front door, and stood +upon the steps, Gretchen close beside her. + +[Illustration] + +How strangely the birds acted, to be sure. They flew round and round in +the air, all the time uttering a plaintive little cry: the cattle, too, +showed great uneasiness, and began to run about the meadows lowing +as they ran. What could it all mean? Kaspar and his wife asked the same +question, and, as if in answer, a huge boulder left the mountain top +and crashed into the trees. It fell no further; the trees held it; but +when three or four others rolled down together, that was more than the +trees could stand; they bent and broke and the huge rocks came rolling +down the mountain side into the village below. Kaspar looked at the +mountain and saw the trees tottering and falling, and the ground all in +motion, and seizing Heinrich with one hand and his wife with the other, +he shouted, “A land slide! run! run!!” + +Now, in times of great excitement, a father may forget his children for +a moment, but a mother never; so tearing herself from her husband’s +grasp with the words, “Gretchen! Fritz!” Frau Bernstein ran toward the +house as fast as she could run, not minding in the least that she was +in the track of the falling stones. As she reached the door, she caught +Gretchen up in her arms, and rushed into the room where baby Fritz lay +sleeping. Handing Gretchen to Franziska, who had followed her, it was +the work of a moment only to lift the baby from his cradle, but as +Franziska turned to leave the room she saw, with horror-stricken eyes, +what seemed to be the whole mountain side coming through the back door. +One step only when a crashing, splintering, grinding noise filled her +ears; and then all became a blank. When she came to herself, she was +in the dark; so dark it was she could not see at all, but worse than +that, she was buried to her shoulders in wet earth and stones, and the +blood was running down her face from a sharp cut in her forehead. + +After struggling a few moments she succeeded in freeing one of her +hands, and as she wiped the blood away, the horrible truth flashed +upon her--she was buried alive! Then how she struggled, and cried, and +prayed, and shouted for help; but the cruel earth held her close, and +there was no one to hear or answer her. “Oh, if with the rest of them I +too had died!” she sobbed, when the first paroxysm of terror had spent +itself,--“but to starve here is horrible! horrible!” and again she +sought to free herself from the earth around her, but in vain. + +A low moan, followed by sobs of fright and pain, with a piteous cry of +“Mutter! Mutter!” broke upon her ear; it was little Gretchen’s voice. + +At the sound, all that was noble and heroic in the girl’s nature +asserted itself; her own pain and danger were forgotten; she must save +Gretchen somehow, but first she must soothe and comfort her. “Gretchen! +Gretchen!” she called, “where are you, dear?” + +“Don’t know,” answered the little one between her sobs. + +“Come here, darling, you can come to Freddie, can’t you?” + +“I can’t get up,” wailed the child after a moment’s silence; “something +won’t let me go.” + +“Don’t cry so, darling,” said Franziska; “can you see anything?” + +“Can’t see anything but a little star in the dark,” replied the +plaintive little voice. At this answer, a great hope filled the heart +of Franziska; the little star must be a small opening through which the +fading daylight found an entrance; they were not so deeply buried as +she had feared. + +“Want a drink of water,” wailed the little one,--“Freddie, come and +give Gretchen a drink.” + +Oh, how she longed to go. + +“What shall I do! oh, what shall I do!” she moaned under her breath; +then with a great effort at self-control she said aloud,--“Gretchen, +darling, Freddie can’t come, so fast the dirt holds her; but perhaps +‘der Vater’ will come soon, and he will give Gretchen water; only be +patient, darling, and do not be afraid, Freddie is close here; now +don’t cry any more and she will tell you a story; you want to hear +again the story, don’t you, Gretchen, about the prince who found the +real princess?” + +No answer, but the sobbing grew less violent. The tears were running +down her own cheeks, but she began bravely,-- + +“Once, upon a time, there was a prince who wished to marry a princess, +but he wanted her to be a real princess. He travelled all around the +world to find one; not that there was any lack of princesses, but as to +whether or no they were real ones, he could not always make out; there +was sure to be something about them not just satisfactory. At last he +went home quite unhappy, so disappointed was he at not finding a real +princess. + +“One evening there was a furious storm. It thundered and lightened, +and the rain poured down till it was quite dreadful. Between the +thunderclaps there came a knock at the town-gate. The old king, after +thinking a moment, said the gate should not be opened; no good person +would be out in such bad weather; and if he were, he had no business +to be. But he was a kind-hearted old king, and when it thundered and +lightened and rained harder than ever, he went himself and opened it. + +“A princess stood outside the gate, but,--oh dear--what a state she was +in from the rain and the bad weather! The water was dripping down from +her hair and her clothes, and running in at the tips of her shoes and +coming out at the heels. Yet she said she was a real princess. Well, +that we’ll presently see, thought the old queen, the king’s wife, but +she said nothing. She opened the door into a large room. ‘Oh, my!’ +said the princess, as she looked around. Except where the windows were, +the walls were all covered with closets and mirrors: first a closet, +and then a mirror; then a closet, then another mirror, and so on all +around the room. The old queen opened a closet door. There were the +prettiest little slippers the princess had ever set her eyes upon. +Slippers of white satin, slippers of black satin, slippers of red +satin, slippers of gold satin,--indeed there were slippers of every +color under the sun. + +“The princess peeped into another closet. On shelves lay piles of +the softest silk stockings,--a pair of stockings for every pair of +slippers. ‘Oh, my!’ again said the princess. In the other closets hung +gowns of satin, and gowns of silk, and indeed there was everything a +princess could have need of. + +“‘Now, help yourself,’ said the old queen, and off she went to the +kitchen to hurry up the dinner; for when princesses have been out in +the rain they are apt to be hungry.” + +“Gretchen’s hungry too,--give Gretchen some bread,” came in faint tones. + +“When ‘der Vater’ comes, darling. Just hear the rest of the story. + +“The princess stood a long time in thought. She could not make up her +mind just what to put on. Black would be the most appropriate, she at +last decided; she was not in mourning, but she was in trouble, and that +was the next thing to it. So she put on the black silk stockings, the +black satin slippers, and a black satin gown; then she stood in the +middle of the room and looked at herself in the mirrors. + +“‘Oh, my,’ said the princess, ‘how fine it is to see one’s self all +around at the same time, and not have to turn first this way and then +that.’ + +“When the princess came out of the room how lovely she did look, to be +sure. Her hair curled all around her face in little rings; her eyes +were blue as a bit of the sky in sunshiny weather, her hands were white +as milk, and when the prince touched one of them he thought he had +never felt anything softer. So delighted was he, he wished to marry +her on the spot, but the old queen was not quite satisfied. ‘She looks +well, and she eats well, but wait and see how she sleeps,’ said she. +So she went into the chamber and took off the bedding and laid a bean +upon the mattress. Then she laid twenty mattresses upon the bean, and +piled twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. + +“The princess lay upon them the whole night. In the morning, ‘How did +you sleep?’ asked the old queen. + +“‘Oh, very badly,’ said the princess; ‘I scarcely closed my eyes all +night! I do not know what was in the bed! I laid upon some hard thing +which has made me black and blue all over. It was quite dreadful!’ + +“It was now evident that she was a real princess, since she perceived +the bean through twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds. None but +a princess could have such delicate feeling. So the prince married her, +for he knew he had found a real princess, and they lived happy ever +after. + +“Now, wasn’t it nice that the prince found a real princess after all?” + +No answer. + +“Gretchen, can’t you hear me?” she cried. + +Still no answer. + +“Gretchen! Gretchen!” she called, now thoroughly frightened, “speak +to Freddie!” but there was no sound save her own voice. Then despair +filled the heart of poor Franziska. “Oh! she is dying! she is dead! my +little Gretchen! if I could only go to her I could get her out from +under the dirt and stones, so strong am I”; and she dug desperately at +the earth surrounding her with her one poor hand, but how vain were all +her efforts--and soon realizing this, she stopped struggling. + +The long hours in their slow march seemed almost to pause beside her. +How cold she was, all except her head,--that seemed on fire. How the +earth pinched her; if it held her so tight long, her heart must stop +beating,--how still everything was;--she had heard of the quiet of +the grave, now she knew what that meant;--only she had never thought +it could press down upon and hurt her so;--and the night wore itself +slowly out, with now no sound save the creaking of some heavy timber as +it sank prone upon the ground under its load of earth and stones. + +The faint, sweet tones of the morning bell penetrated her prison, +arousing her from the stupor into which she had fallen. + +“Oh, I cannot die! I cannot die, when it is morning and the earth is +so near! my sweet bells! how you torture me. _Heilige Maria, bitt für +uns!--bitt für uns!_” + +Her piteous cry pierced little Gretchen’s returning consciousness, and +feebly she answered her. + + + + + III. + + +Above, Kaspar Bernstein was searching frantically for the location +of his lost home. As the bells died away, with the full force of his +strong lungs he shouted, “Josepha! Josepha! Jo-se-pha!” + +Franziska heard, and, with the cry--“Oh, Gretchen! hear you? it is ‘der +Vater’s’ voice,”--answered him with all her strength, but her voice +failed to reach the outer air. + +Still shouting he wandered to and fro, now near them, now more remote. + +“Gretchen!” she called, “answer ‘der Vater’; perhaps he can hear you +through the little star.” + +Gretchen only moaned. + +“Gretchen, you _must_ answer! ‘der Vater’ will not find us; he will +go away and leave us here to die,--Gretchen darling--shout as loud as +you can--for the love of God, Gretchen!” And the little one lifted her +feeble voice and called, “Vater! Vater!” + +Overwhelmed by sorrow, as Kaspar stood a moment motionless, that faint +cry reached him like a whisper from God. Oh, how desperately he dug, +throwing the earth and stones in all directions in his eager haste to +reach his darling, while he shouted words of hope and comfort to her. + +It was not long before he came upon the front room of his ruined home. +There, beside the crushed cradle, lay his dead wife, little Fritz +clasped in her arms. He lifted them tenderly, and laid them carefully +down out in the open air. He would go back to them later; there would +be time for grieving, but not now. A little further on lay Gretchen, +under a pile of dirt and stones. She was badly bruised, and her hip was +broken. As he raised her in his arms, the blue eyes opened; a slight +smile flitted over the pale face as she whispered “Vater.” + +The tears which had not started when he beheld his dead wife and baby +now ran down his cheeks, and he felt as though he could never let her +go; but there was still work to do, so placing her in the arms of a +kind-hearted Frau from a neighboring village, he carefully dug his way +towards Franziska. As the light entered her prison she looked about +her. Some of the beams and boards of the house were jammed together +about six inches above her head, and held back the earth that must +otherwise have crushed her. When Kaspar reached her, he found her so +wedged in between great stones and beams, he could not dig her out +alone; so bidding her keep her hope and courage a little longer, he +went for help. + +The earth, which had so recently been disturbed, now and then fell in +small quantities into the opening; and occasionally a stone rolled over +the edge. + +Franziska’s strength began to desert her;--how long it was since “der +Vater” had left her;--what if the earth should cave in upon her before +he returned;--the beams above her head,--she surely saw them move; and +when at last help reached her she was unconscious. + +The kind-hearted Frau who had taken Gretchen opened her heart and home +to Franziska also; but many weeks passed before she knew any one. +In her delirium she was constantly talking to Gretchen, telling her +stories, begging her not to be afraid,--not to cry so; until the good +Frau would turn away her head, and with her apron wipe her eyes. But, +one day, when the ground was white with snow, she awoke and knew them, +and when little Gretchen, who had grown quite well and strong, climbed +up on the bed and kissed her over and over again, Franziska thought she +must have died and waked up in heaven, such a wave of happiness rolled +over her. + +It was many days before Frau Brinkerhoff told her how on that +never-to-be-forgotten day tons and tons of earth and stones broke away +from the Rossberg, and came sweeping into the valley, burying four +villages and five hundred souls; how the earth filled up one end of the +lake, and the water rose in a great wall and swept out onto the land +wrecking all before it; how Frau Bernstein and baby Fritz lay in the +quiet church-yard, and how the beautiful laughing valley was beautiful +no longer, but oh, so desolate! + +[Illustration] + + + + + IV. + + +When Spring came again, and Kaspar got his little family together, what +could they have done without Franziska. She cooked, and scrubbed, and +sewed, and mended, and kept the patches on Heinrich’s knees; she knit +the long woolen stockings, and taught Gretchen all she could, just as +the good “Mutter” would have wished. And as the years passed away, +Kaspar and the children thought there never was a lovelier, sweeter +maid than Franziska Ulrich. + +Karl Schultzer thought so too; he told her so one day and asked her +to be his wife. She put her hand in his, and, looking into his honest +eyes, said, “Karl, I love you too, but the last thing ‘die Mutter’ +said on that--that dreadful day when she gave me Gretchen, was, ‘Take +care of her’;--I cannot leave her.” + +“But now Gretchen is old enough to take care of herself,” urged Karl. + +With a faint smile Franziska answered,--“Karl, you cannot change me; +I thought it all out as I lay upon my bed when my head was no longer +queer, and the first time I went to the church to pray to the ‘Heilige +Mutter’ I told her I would be faithful;--my word I cannot break”; and +seeing how it was with her, Karl kissed the eyes now full of tears and +went back home disappointed, but not despairing. + +So the years sped until Gretchen’s nineteenth birthday. + +One evening she hid her head in Franziska’s lap, and, with many a +break, confessed that the brave hunter from over the mountains had said +that he loved her, and asked her to be his wife. + +“His wife you wish to be?” asked the tender voice. + +“I love him,” was the whispered answer, “and to-morrow he comes to ask +‘der Vater.’” + +If, for a moment, Franziska’s faithful heart ached, Gretchen never knew +it; and when “der Vater’s” yes had been spoken, no one entered more +heartily into the work and plans than she. What love and sympathy and +counsel, as well as work, she gave, no one save Gretchen ever knew. + +On a bright morning, to the sound of music, there came marching down +the long street Gretchen in gay attire, followed by her mates; the +bridegroom and his friends, who had come over the mountain-passes to +see him married. And when, in the dim old church, the gray-haired, +fatherly priest had counselled them, married them, and blessed them, +Gretchen kissed “der Vater” and Heinrich good-bye; clung for a moment +to Franziska, as though she could not let her go;--then turned her face +toward the snow-clad mountains, beyond which lay her husband’s home. + +As the day passed, how desolate was the house without bright, laughing +Gretchen. It seemed to Franziska as though she could not bear it, and +when her work was done she stepped out into the twilight that “der +Vater” and Heinrich might not see her grieving and her tears. + +Suddenly Karl stood before her. He held out his hands and said, “So +long have the years been, Franziska, and the home so lonesome is; will +you now come?” + +Then was her sorrow turned into joy, and she answered, “If you want me, +oh so gladly will I come to you, my Karl”; and Karl was content. + +All this happened long ago, and both Gretchen and Franziska lived to +tell the story of their marvellous escape to their many grandchildren; +while “der Vater” never wearied of repeating, or Heinrich’s children +of hearing, how brave Franziska encouraged and cheered little Gretchen +through that long and terrible night. + +Some time ago I stood above the buried village and looked up at the +Rossberg. The mountain has never smiled since that awful day. No +trees or shrubs or grassy meadows grow upon its sides; all is bare and +desolate. But in the valley the grass and moss grow green; the vines +twine themselves over and around the great rocks, from under whose +shadows ferns and lovely little flowers lift their heads. + +Suddenly the soft, clear tones of the evening bell floated through the +air,--that sweet-voiced bell whose music reached Franziska and called +her back to hopes of life and home so long ago. How sweetly it sounded +on the quiet air,--coming,--going,--softer,--fainter; and when at last +it died away the sun had dropped behind the mountains, leaving the +rosy-tinted clouds peeping over their rocky edges; while in the valley +the shadows lay thick upon grass and vine. + +Stepping softly, reverently, over the dead homes, Goldau and the night +were left alone together. + +[Illustration] + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77374 *** |