ff
That in my hand I hold green leaves shall spring,
Than from the brand in hell-fire scorched rebloom
The blossoms of salvation."

Tannhaeuser (Owen Meredith).

Crushed with grief at this pronouncement, Tannhaeuser fled, and,
despite the entreaties of his faithful friend, Eckhardt, no great
time elapsed ere he returned to the Hoerselberg, where he vanished
within the cave. He had no sooner disappeared, however, than the Pope's
messengers arrived, proclaiming that he was pardoned, for the withered
staff had miraculously bloomed, thus proving to all that there was
no sin too heinous to be pardoned, providing repentance were sincere.

"Dashed to the hip with travel, dewed with haste,
A flying post, and in his hand he bore
A withered staff o'erflourished with green leaves;
Who,--followed by a crowd of youth and eld,
That sang to stun with sound the lark in heaven,
'A miracle! a miracle from Rome!
Glory to God that makes the bare bough green!'--
Sprang in the midst, and, hot for answer, asked
News of the Knight Tannhaeuser."

Tannhaeuser (Owen Meredith).

Holda was also the owner of a magic fountain called Quickborn, which
rivalled the famed fountain of youth, and of a chariot in which she
rode from place to place when she inspected her domain. This vehicle
having once suffered damage, the goddess bade a wheelwright repair it,
and when he had finished told him to keep some chips as his pay. The
man was indignant at such a meagre reward, and kept only a very few of
the number; but to his surprise he found these on the morrow changed
to gold.

"Fricka, thy wife--
This way she reins her harness of rams.
Hey! how she whirls
The golden whip;
The luckless beasts
Unboundedly bleat;
Her wheels wildly she rattles;
Wrath is lit in her look."

Wagner (Forman's tr.).

Eastre, the Goddess of Spring

The Saxon goddess Eastre, or Ostara, goddess of spring, whose name has
survived in the English word Easter, is also identical with Frigga,
for she too is considered goddess of the earth, or rather of Nature's
resurrection after the long death of winter. This gracious goddess
was so dearly loved by the old Teutons, that even after Christianity
had been introduced they retained so pleasant a recollection of her,
that they refused to have her degraded to the rank of a demon, like
many of their othe