astery for the
monks of St. Benedict, and thither he often rode with his daughter
Itha, the delight of his heart and the light of the grim old castle of
the Kirchberg; so that, seeing the piety of her father, she grew up in
the love and fear of God, and from her gentle mother she learned to
feel a deep compassion for the poor and afflicted.

No sweeter maid than she, with her blue eyes and light brown hair, was
there in all that land of sturdy men and nut-brown maidens. The people
loved the very earth she stood on. In their days of trouble and sorrow
she was their morning and their evening star, and they never wearied of
praising her goodness and her beauty.

When Itha was in the bloom of her girlhood it befell that the young
Count Heinrich of the Toggenburg, journeying homeward from the famous
tournament at Cologne, heard of this peerless flower of Swabia, and
turned aside to the Castle of Kirchberg to see if perchance he might
win a good and lovely wife. He was made welcome, and no sooner had he
looked on Itha's fair and loving face, and marked with what modesty and
courtesy she bore herself, than he heard joy-bells ringing in his
heart, and said, "Now, by the blessed cross, here is the pearl of price
for me!" Promptly he wooed her with tender words, and with eyes that
spoke more than tongue could find words for, and passionate observance,
and all that renders a man pleasing to a maid.

And Itha was not loth to be won, for the Count was young and handsome,
tall and strong, and famous for feats of arms, and a mighty
lord--master of the rich straths and valleys of the Thur River, and of
many a burgh and district in the mountains beyond; and yet, despite all
this, he, so noble and beautiful, loved her, even her, the little
Swabian maid who had never deemed herself likely to come to such honour
and happiness. Nor were the kindly father and mother ill-pleased that
so goodly a man and so mighty a lord should have their dear child.

So in a little while the Count put on Itha's hand the ring of
betrothal, and Itha, smiling and blushing, raised it to her lips and
kissed it. "Blissful ring!" said the Count jestingly; "and yet,
dearest heart, you do well to cherish it, for it is an enchanted ring,
an old ring of which there are many strange stories." Even while he
was speaking Itha's heart misgave her, and she was aware of a feeling
of doubt and foreboding; but she looked at the ring and saw how massive
was the gold a