75 lines
4.8 KiB
Text
75 lines
4.8 KiB
Text
The Three Languages
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An aged count once lived in Switzerland, who had an only son, but he
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was stupid, and could learn nothing. Then said the father, "Hark thee,
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my son, I can get nothing into thy head, let me try as I will. Thou
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must go from hence, I will give thee into the care of a celebrated
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master, who shall see what he can do with thee." The youth was sent
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into a strange town, and remained a whole year with the master. At the
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end of this time, he came home again, and his father asked, "Now, my
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son, what hast thou learnt?" "Father, I have learnt what the dogs say
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when they bark." "Lord have mercy on us!" cried the father; "is that
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all thou hast learnt? I will send thee into another town, to another
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master." The youth was taken thither, and stayed a year with this
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master likewise. When he came back the father again asked, "My son,
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what hast thou learnt?" He answered, "Father, I have learnt what the
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birds say." Then the father fell into a rage and said, "Oh, thou lost
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man, thou hast spent the precious time and learnt nothing; art thou not
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ashamed to appear before mine eyes? I will send thee to a third master,
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but if thou learnest nothing this time also, I will no longer be thy
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father." The youth remained a whole year with the third master also,
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and when he came home again, and his father inquired, "My son, what
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hast thou learnt?" he answered, "Dear father, I have this year learnt
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what the frogs croak." Then the father fell into the most furious
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anger, sprang up, called his people thither, and said, "This man is no
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longer my son, I drive him forth, and command you to take him out into
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the forest, and kill him." They took him forth, but when they should
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have killed him, they could not do it for pity, and let him go, and
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they cut the eyes and the tongue out of a deer that they might carry
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them to the old man as a token.
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The youth wandered on, and after some time came to a fortress where he
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begged for a night's lodging. "Yes," said the lord of the castle, "if
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thou wilt pass the night down there in the old tower, go thither; but I
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warn thee, it is at the peril of thy life, for it is full of wild dogs,
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which bark and howl without stopping, and at certain hours a man has to
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be given to them, whom they at once devour." The whole district was in
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sorrow and dismay because of them, and yet no one could do anything to
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stop this. The youth, however, was without fear, and said, "Just let me
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go down to the barking dogs, and give me something that I can throw to
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them; they will do nothing to harm me." As he himself would have it so,
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they gave him some food for the wild animals, and led him down to the
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tower. When he went inside, the dogs did not bark at him, but wagged
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their tails quite amicably around him, ate what he set before them, and
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did not hurt one hair of his head. Next morning, to the astonishment of
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everyone, he came out again safe and unharmed, and said to the lord of
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the castle, "The dogs have revealed to me, in their own language, why
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they dwell there, and bring evil on the land. They are bewitched, and
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are obliged to watch over a great treasure which is below in the tower,
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and they can have no rest until it is taken away, and I have likewise
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learnt, from their discourse, how that is to be done." Then all who
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heard this rejoiced, and the lord of the castle said he would adopt him
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as a son if he accomplished it successfully. He went down again, and as
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he knew what he had to do, he did it thoroughly, and brought a chest
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full of gold out with him. The howling of the wild dogs was henceforth
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heard no more; they had disappeared, and the country was freed from the
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trouble.
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After some time he took it into his head that he would travel to Rome.
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On the way he passed by a marsh, in which a number of frogs were
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sitting croaking. He listened to them, and when he became aware of what
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they were saying, he grew very thoughtful and sad. At last he arrived
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in Rome, where the Pope had just died, and there was great difficulty
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as to whom they should appoint as his successor. They at length agreed
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that the person should be chosen as pope who should be distinguished by
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some divine and miraculous token. And just as that was decided on, the
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young count entered into the church, and suddenly two snow-white doves
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flew on his shoulders and remained sitting there. The ecclesiastics
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recognized therein the token from above, and asked him on the spot if
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he would be pope. He was undecided, and knew not if he were worthy of
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this, but the doves counselled him to do it, and at length he said yes.
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Then was he anointed and consecrated, and thus was fulfilled what he
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had heard from the frogs on his way, which had so affected him, that he
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was to be his Holiness the Pope. Then he had to sing a mass, and did
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not know one word of it, but the two doves sat continually on his
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shoulders, and said it all in his ear.
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