princess, in the name of my whole sex and of all knightly men
who, with me, prize the reverence and inviolable fidelity due a lady,
is: Sir Heinz Schorlin must ask the honourable gentleman who, with
full justice, brought this complaint to your imperial Majesty, for his
daughter's hand and, if the sorely injured maiden vouchsafes to accept
it, lead her to the marriage altar before God and the world."

"Spoken according to the feelings of my own heart," replied the Emperor
and, turning to the citizens of Nuremberg, he added: "So I ask you,
gentlemen, who are familiar with the laws and customs of this good
city and direct the administration of her justice, will such a marriage
remove the complaint made against Sir Heinz Schorlin and his servant?"

"It will," replied old Herr Berthold Vorchtel, gravely and firmly.

Herr Pfinzing also assented, it is true, but added earnestly that an
unfortunate meeting had caused another to suffer even more severely
than Eva from the knight's imprudence. This was her older sister, the
betrothed bride of young Eysvogel. For her sake, as well as to make the
bond between Sir Heinz Schorlin and the younger Jungfrau Ortlieb valid,
the father's consent was necessary. If his imperial Majesty desired
to bring to a beautiful end, that very day, the gracious work so
auspiciously commenced there was no obstacle in the way, for Ernst
Ortlieb was at the von Zollern Castle with the daughter who had been so
basely slandered.

The Emperor asked in surprise how they came there, and then ordered
Eva's father and sister to be brought to him. He was eager to make the
acquaintance of the second beautiful E.

"And Wolff Eysvogel?" asked the magistrate.

"We agreed to release him after we had turned our back on Nuremberg,"
replied the sovereign. "Much as we have heard in praise of this young
man, gladly as we have shown him how gratefully we prize the blood a
brave man shed for us upon the Marchfield, no change can be made in
what, by virtue of our imperial word----"

"Certainly not, little brother," interrupted the court fool, Eyebolt,
"but for that very reason you must open the Eysvogel's cage as quickly
as possible and let him fly hither, for on the ride to the beekeeper's
you crossed in your own seven-foot tall body the limits of this good
city, whose length does not greatly surpass it--your imperial person, I
mean. So you as certainly turned your back upon it as you stand in front
of things which lie