Tales from the German Volume II Part 24

'I ask thee,' howled Tuiskos.h.i.+rer, 'if thou wilt be king over the new Zion, formerly under the anti-christ, called Munster?'

'I rule over this same Munster as its chief magistrate?' cried Alf, laughing. 'That is a wonderful proposition, and besides, it appears to me as if we were not the men to accomplish it.'

'Short sighted man!' growled Tuiskos.h.i.+rer, 'knowest thou not that the first shall be last and the last shall be first? We are all clay in the hands of the Potter. The Spirit has just seated himself near the board in order to make a king. To that eminence will I raise thee up; for thou art a brave warrior, and moreover a handsome youth, and wilt administer the government with power and mildness, for the welfare of all.'

'Ah! do not propose such pranks to me,' said Alf. 'You have others more suitable for that office than I; and besides, Johannes Bockhold would make a powerful opposition to my mounting the throne.'

'Johannes Bockhold,' answered Tuiskos.h.i.+rer, 'is a feather in the breath of my mouth. He has indeed thought of announcing himself as the new king of this city, yet shall have only served you, if you will but accept the sceptre. I have seen through the prophet's character; he has much madness, yet little courage, and we need a consummate man upon this iron throne.'

'Are you wholly in earnest in making these propositions?' asked Alf.

'Then I must indeed answer in earnest. I do not feel myself fit to govern a nation and people, nor to take upon myself an office for which I have not been prepared,--from which may G.o.d mercifully preserve me!'

'Fool!' cried Tuiskos.h.i.+rer; 'ruling is as light and easy as it is pleasant.'

'Yet heavy and severe is the reckoning above for bad government,'

replied Alf. 'No, seek thee another king.'

Tuiskos.h.i.+rer then flung open his tattered mantle, and drew from under its folds a magnificent regal crown, ingeniously formed of fine gold, and splendidly radiant with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, and, as he turned and waved it here and there in the sunlight, the golden and colored sparkles played so gaily about the room, that Alf was compelled to turn away his blinded eyes.

'In this crown is placed all my earthly wealth,' said Tuiskos.h.i.+rer, pathetically. 'Ingeniously have I made it, during the stillness of the night, as an offering for the Spirit, that he therewith might crown the new king of Zion. Thee have I selected therefor, from among a thousand.

Do you but consent, and I will set this emblem of royalty upon your head, and with G.o.d's help I will maintain it there.'

The youth looked at the beautiful crown for a moment, and its golden l.u.s.tre seemed to awaken his ambition; but his better self soon conquered. 'Leave me, tempter!' cried he with vehemence, and forcibly replacing the bauble under the prophet's mantle, he dexterously pushed him out through the door.

'You will repent of this,' howled the little man as he disappeared.

CHAPTER VII.

'The duodecemvir, Dilbek, would speak with you,' announced an apprentice to the industrious Alf an hour afterwards. Surprised at the visit of a person whose name and office were alike unknown to him, he repaired to the parlor, where, in respectable black judicial robes, his comical fool's face peeping above a colossal white ruff, and his diminutive form attached to a long thrusting sword, strutted before him the aerial tailor.

'Knowing that you would feel an interest in my happiness, my good fellow,' (snarled and lisped the new duodecemvir, in an incredibly gentlemanlike manner,) 'I could not forbear informing you in person of the good fortune which has come to me through the mercy of the Spirit.'

'What means this masquerade?' cried Alf, peevishly. 'Take off that fool's jacket again; it does not become you, upon my word.'

'Have respect, my friend,' said Dilbek, earnestly. 'Every official dress confers honor upon its wearer, and this it has become my duty to wear, as one of the twelve judges over Israel.'

'You? you become a judge?' laughed Alf. 'Go and seek some other fool to believe you.'

'You are and always will be an unbelieving Thomas,' cried Dilbek angrily; 'and doubt every thing that you cannot feel with your hands. I repeat to you that I have even now come from the market, where the people have established the new tribunal.'

'And the mayor and aldermen, who governed until now?' asked Alf.

'Unseated, all unseated!' answered the tailor, who stalked about the room examining himself. 'Your kinsman again slays his cattle and his swine with his own hands; and the good Knipperdolling, a learned man, and therefore not able to turn his hand to any thing useful, has become the official hangman, with which the poor man will still be able to procure a livelihood.'

'Good G.o.d!' exclaimed Alf, 'who has done this?'

'This wise transformation of our government proceeds from our chief prophet,' answered the tailor-judge. 'Since he, moved by the Spirit, ran through the streets in the condition of holy nature, he had not spoken a word, but made himself understood by writing; he was compelled to remain mute three days. When that time had elapsed he declared the new commands of the Spirit. Yesterday the honorable counsellors obediently laid down their offices, and today I have been installed with my lordly colleagues.'

'G.o.d preserve my reason!' cried Alf. 'By these mad movements and continual changes, I incur the danger of losing it.'

'Only be patient,' said the tailor mysteriously. 'Better things will come. I have already heard various whispers. Our prophet is not the man to stop half way. Think of what I told you when we were traveling to Munster; it is not yet the end of time! I must now leave you, as we judges are invited to a feast by the chief prophet. He marries, this day, the beautiful widow of his predecessor, the great Matthias.

Farewell! I shall always remain friendly to you, and should I hereafter rise yet higher on the scale of honor, you will always find in me a patron and protector.'

After one or two failures, the duodecemvir finally succeeded in pa.s.sing himself and his new sword through the room door.

'Surely!' cried Alf impatiently, 'if this tailor-spirit is to set such vagabonds upon the judgment-seat of my native city, I may soon repent that I refused the crown. It would at least have given me the power to hinder many acts of madness.'

CHAPTER VIII.

Some time afterwards, Alf was sitting arm in arm with his Eliza in the family sitting-room, while Clara was spinning near the window, and moistening the thread with her bitter tears. Suddenly the door flew open, and in clattered a stout young trooper, who extended his hand to Alf, joyously exclaiming, 'G.o.d bless you, my dear school fellow! Do you not know me?'

'Hanslein of the long street!' cried Alf, embracing the friend of his youth. 'Welcome to Munster!'

'Hanslein of the long street?' asked the beautiful Eliza, with surprise and displeasure. 'How is this? were you not an episcopalian?'

'Certainly,' answered Hanslein, 'with body and soul, until the day before yesterday. On that day I got into a quarrel with my serjeant while drinking with him, and laid my blade over his head in a way that he will not easily forget. Life is as dear to me as to any other man, and therefore I made my way out of the bishop's camp, rode over to yours, and now let your orator but once more wash my head, and I am prepared to contend bravely with my old brethren in arms.'

'When the chief prophet holds you worthy of being received into our community!' sharply observed Eliza, who was highly offended at the frivolous conversation of the renegade.

'The worthy tailor has already received me with open arms,' answered Hanslein. 'I have become captain of the seventh company, and am quartered with the burgomaster-hangman Knipperdolling, where we have wine and women in abundance.'

Eliza rose up indignant, and silently motioned to Clara to follow her.

The latter obeyed, and the two friends were left alone.

'A pair of pretty maidens!' said Hanslein, looking admiringly after them; 'and you are indeed a lucky dog, to be a favorite with both.'

'I am the promised bridegroom of the eldest,' answered Alf, 'and know my duty.'

'An anabaptist, and so affectedly coy?' laughed the hair-brained fellow. 'You court them both at the same time, I'll be sworn; and should any one attack you on that account, you need only refer to the example of our chief prophet.'

'It cannot be possible!' exclaimed Alf with abhorrence.

At this moment Clara stepped into the room, placed before Alf a pitcher of wine and two goblets, and then again retired.

Hanslein observed her attentively, and said as she went out, 'deny no longer, you rogue, that both the maidens are yours. I found you in the arms of one of them, and the long, tender glance which the other just now threw upon you, confesses enough.'

'I tell you that you are mistaken!' cried Alf impatiently, filling the cups to the brim; 'leave your joking, and join me in drinking success to our good cause.'

'With all my heart!' said Hanslein, striking his gla.s.s against Alf's, and then pouring down the wine; 'although I am not yet quite clear as to exactly where the good cause is to be found, here, or in the camp of our old master. To return once more to my former theme, you render life needlessly unpleasant both to yourself and to the poor damsels. You would do much better to marry them both.'

'You are out of your senses!' exclaimed Alf, angrily. 'How can I sin against the commandments of G.o.d?'