u were as a boy? How you fastened bladders
to the cat's legs and tail, and flung her out of the loft-window that
she might fly? I do not say this in anger, for I thought a deal of you;
but when you became too insolent one might wall say, 'Can no one, then,
curb this lad?' See, these words I said!--that is my whole fault, but
since then have lain heavy on my heart. Three years ago came the German
Heinrich, and stayed two nights in our house; God forgive it us! Tricks
he could play, and he understood more than the Lord's Prayer--more than
is useful to a man. With one trick you were to assist him, but when
he gave you the goblet you played your own tricks, and he could make
nothing succeed. You would also be clever. Then he cast an evil eye upon
you, although he was still so friendly and submissive, because you
were a gentleman's child. Do you remember--no, you will certainly have
forgotten--how you once took the baits of the hooks off and hung my
wooden shoes on instead? Then I said in anger, and the anger of man
is never good, 'Can no one, then, tame this boy for me? He was making
downright fun of you to your own face,' said I to the player. 'Do you
not know some art by which you can tame this wild-cat?' Then he laughed
maliciously, but I thought no more of the matter. The following day,
however, he said, 'Now I have curbed the lad! You should only see how
tame he is become; and should he ever again turn unruly, only ask him
what word the German Heinrich whispered in his ear, and you shall. Then
see how quiet he will become. He shall not mock this trick!' My heart
was filled with horror, but I thought afterward it really meant
nothing. Ei! ei! from the hour he was here you are no longer the same as
formerly; that springs from the magical word he whispered in your ear.
You cannot pronounce the word, he told me; but by it you have been
enchanted: this, and not book-learning, has worked the change. But you
shall be delivered! If you have faith, and that you must have, you shall
again become gay, and I, spite of the evil words which I spoke, be able
to sleep peacefully in my grave. If you will only lay this upon your
heart, now that the moon is in its wane, the trouble will vanish out of
your heart as the disk of the moon decreases!" And saying this she drew
out of her pocket a little leather purse, opened it and took out a
piece of folded paper. "In this is a bit of the wood out of which our
Saviour's cross was made. This wil