t,
sent to the castle, with orders that the roebuck should be killed at
once, and got ready for the table at an early day. He then turned back
to the woman, who had spoken about this matter aloud, and said: 'Now,
what have you to tell me about the future?' The woman, looking into
his hand said: 'Hail to my lord the elector! Your grace will long
reign, the house from which thou descendest will long endure, and thy
descendants will become great and glorious, and attain power above all
the princes and lords of the world.' The elector, after a pause,
during which he eyed the woman thoughtfully, said half aside, and
stepping up to me, that he was almost sorry he had sent a messenger to
annihilate the prophecy, and when the money, from the hands of the
knights who followed him, poured into the woman's lap, amid loud
huzzas, he asked her, putting his hand in his pocket, and giving a
piece of gold, whether the greeting she would give to me had such a
silvery sound as his own. The woman, after she had opened a box which
stood beside her, had very deliberately put the money in it, arranging
it according to description and quantity, and had closed the lid again,
held her hand before the sun as if the light annoyed her, and looked at
me. When I repeated the question, and said jestingly to the elector,
while she examined my hand, 'It seems that she has nothing very
pleasant to tell me,' she seized her crutch, rose slowly from her
stool, and approaching me with hands mysteriously held out, whispered
distinctly into my ear, 'No!'--'So!' said I, somewhat confused, and I
receded a step back from the figure, who with a glance as cold and
lifeless as that from eyes of marble, again seated herself on the stool
which stood behind her. 'Pray from what side does danger threaten my
house?' The woman taking up a bit of charcoal and a slip of paper, and
crossing her knees, asked me whether she should write it down; and when
I, with some confusion, because under the circumstances there was
nothing else left to do, answered 'Yes, do so,' she replied: 'Very
good, I will write down three things--the name of the last ruler of thy
house, the year when he will lose his kingdom, and the name of him who
will take it by force of arms.' Having finished her task in the sight
of the whole mob, she fastened together the slip with a wafer, which
she moistened with her withered mouth and pressed upon it a leaden ring
which she wore upon her middle finge