him, as much
as to the city, the nobles, or the monastery. For this faith he had
undergone much suffering, and owed to it his crooked mouth and ill name,
for just as his beard was beginning to grow, the father of the reigning
count came upon him, just after he had killed a fawn in the "free"
forest. The legs of the heavy animal were tied together with ropes, and
Marx was obliged to take the ends of the knot between his teeth like a
bridle, and drag the carcass to the castle. While so doing his cheeks
were torn open, and the evil deed neither pleased him nor specially
strengthened his love for the count. When, a short time after, the
rebellion broke out in Stuhlingen, and he heard that everywhere the
peasants were rising against the monks and nobles, he, too, followed
the black, red and yellow banner, first serving with Hans Muller of
Bulgenbach, then with Jacklein Rohrbach of Bockingen, and participating
with the multitude in the overthrow of the city and castle of
Neuenstein. At Weinsberg he saw Count Helfenstein rush upon the spears,
and when the noble countess was driven past him to Heilbronn in the
dung-cart, he tossed his cap in the air with the rest.

The peasant was to be lord now; the yoke of centuries was to be broken;
unjust imposts, taxes, tithes and villenage would be forever abolished,
while the fourth of the twelve articles he had heard read aloud more
than once, remained firmly fixed in his memory "Game, birds and fish
every one is free to catch." Moreover, many a verse from the Gospel,
unfavorable to the rich, but promising the kingdom of heaven to the
poor, and that the last shall be first, had reached his ears. Doubtless
many of the leaders glowed with lofty enthusiasm for the liberation of
the poor people from unendurable serfdom and oppression; but when Marx,
and men like him, left wife and children and risked their lives, they
remembered only the past, and the injustice they had suffered, and were
full of a fierce yearning to trample the dainty, torturing demons under
their heavy peasant feet.

The charcoal-burner had never lighted such bright fires, never tasted
such delicious meat and spicy wine, as during that period of his life,
while vengeance had a still sweeter savor than all the rest. When the
castle fell, and its noble mistress begged for mercy, he enjoyed a
foretaste of the promised paradise. Satan has also his Eden of fiery
roses, but they do not last long, and when they wither, put fort