Ekkehard. Vol. II (of II).

erso Ek

after day, whenever the convent rules permitted it, he sat there transfixed as by a spell. The rough and cheerless winter time had come; all the rivers were frozen up, and snow covered the plain as far as eye could see,--he sc

nted to find out the first cause of all being. On his right, lay the psalms and holy Scriptures; on his left the remains of heathenish wisdom. Everything he peered over assiduously; now and then, a malicious smile interrup

est, by him; for, did he not often say with boasting mien: 'They can only tell me, what I know already?'--and now? Why, now his pen hurries on, sputtering and scratching, so that you may bear the nois

do as they pleased, without minding them. His slumbers at night were sometimes broken by his rushing up to his inkstand, as if he had caught some good ideas in his dreams; but often they had vanished before he had succeeded in

tal mirror in the early morning, and gazed somewhat longer than was necessary, on his own image, he would often str

c race. For this reason, he had bitten and torn a good many more goose quills, whilst writing, than any monk in a German monastery would have done, besides holding many a sol

more, and then he executed a tremendous flourish on the remaining space below, so that the ink made an involuntary shower of spots, like black constellations. He had written the word finis, and with a deep sigh of relief

onastery, and went to the Hohentwiel, he never, though he searched the remotest corners of his memory, had an inkling of the fact, that there was a man living, whose greatest wish and desire was to take vengeance on him; for he was

cted, were to perish in the dust and rubbish of the following ages; whilst the work of Brother Gunzo, which never benefited any one of the few

, that I could have been forced to this step, he himself sent a petition to me, of which the consequence was, my pledging myself to obey his call. Thus it happened, that when he left Italy, I soon followed him, and when I did so, I did it with the hope, that my coming,--wh

to be taken down from my mule by stranger hands. The hope of the traveller, was to find a peaceful resting-place, within the monastic walls; which hope was strengthened, on beholding the frequent bending of heads, the sober-coloured

eir speech,--but malice

id heathen was gifted with a prophetic

e scanty murmurs of the brothers, some sparks of philosophical wisdom would shin

e! They called him a worthy teacher of the school; although to me he appeared rather to look at the world with the eyes o

ated the convent-pupil to becom

with it the time for

meal, Bacchus exac

f a casus, in the Latin table speeches we held together; us

f grammar, deserved the rod,' mockingly said that little imp, to me the well-tried scholar; and he further produced a rhymed libel, which his fi

be artistically built up, to produce a fine and pleasing effect? What of the high dignity of poetry?--They pucker up their lips, and spout forth a poem, like

eaped on me; and what must be the character of the man, who

n done. With the coming morn on the next day, he had forgotten the conversation that had taken place at supper with the overbearing Italian, but in the bosom of him, who had been convicted of the wron

d ancient gates of Cologne, and crossed the frontiers of Belgium,--but the false ablativus sat behind him on the saddle like an incubus. The cloister-walls of the holy Am

bears an ill will towards all those, who were the involuntary witnesses of our defeat. The human heart is so very unwilling to confess its own failings; and many a one who unmoved can think of pas

at it became a master-piece of its kind. It was a black soup, made up of hundreds of learned quotations, richly seasoned with pepper and worm

shed with regular flails, in a neighbouring barn. This makes a very pleasant contrast to our present times, in which the poison

be shocked by so slight an error, as the mistaking of a casus; whilst the second was written in order to convince the

rice, or negligence of the author, had also misplaced an ablativus. So he managed to name two in Virgil, one in Homer, Terence and Priscianus. Further a

, blunders are made, through carelessness, and human imperfection in general; for, says Priscianus very truly: "I do not believe, that of all human inventions, a single one, can be perfect in all respects, and on all sides. In like manner, Horace has often taken it on himself, to excuse negligences of style and language, in eminent men: 'sometimes even the good Homer is slumbering,' and Aristotle says in his

expressions of thought, which ended with the words of the Apostle, who calls

ded the garden of some wise man; from one of whose hot-beds he had stolen a radish, which had discomposed his stomach and

ong, in the remotest folds of his cowl, to find something wherewith to regale the stranger guest, and not find

than necessary, and his shoes of light make,--so that all the signs of vanity were found on him, which were a vexation in the eyes of St. Hieronymus, when he wrote: 'To my great regret, there are some of the clergy in my parish, who are very anxious for their ga

factor; for who does not know of that Akhar who appropriated to himself a purple mantle, as well as two hundred bags of silver, and a golden wedge, out of the booty at Jericho, so that Joshuah, had him led out into a remote valley, where he was stoned to death, by all

s case one ought to pity it, as it were better to dwell in the body of a fox even, than in that of a crafty and cunning monk. All this which I have said until now, has been said without any personal hatred. My h

hundred written volumes, had I brought with me, over the Alps; weapons of peace, such as Marcianus' flowery instructions in the seven liberal arts; Plato's unfatho

out these treasures! How could I imagine that such as I, whom God has so richly gifted, would

arcely had a glimpse of her back in the distance, and if he were to try, to catch sight of her radiant countenance, he would stumble, and fall to the gr

s to our wondering eyes, the hidden threads, by which being and not-being are linked together! But of that, yon cowl-bearing monk knows nothing! Nothing of that subtle fineness, which with nineteen kinds of syllogisms, knows how to e

brevity of expression is a proof of wisdom, were pointedly alluded to. Then arithmetic, geometry and astronomy were discussed; interspersed with deep investigations, on the questions, whether the stars were gifted with intellectual souls, and a claim on immorta

and then of music in general, as the last of the liberal arts; and thus the vengeance-fraught little ship,

k, that I have expounded a

solent pride, so that he preferred to pass for a sage amongst his fellow-monks; like to that frog which sitting in the mire, thought to rival the bull in greatness. Ah, never has the pitiful creature, stood on the heights of science, hearing God's own voice speak to him. Born in the wilderness and grown up amidst silly, prattling people, his soul has rema

ven sneeze-wort will prove,

ave merited such treatment and ridicule, from the hands of a fool. I deliver both him and myself into

rpent would certainly have swelled with joy, if it could have watched him, in the full glory of his likeness to deity, wh

ection, as if it were of the greatest importance for him, to study the countenance of th

ame in with a radiant countenance. The dean, silently pointed to a remote corner away from his customary seat; for he, who missed the regular hour too often, was, as a punishment, separated from the other

out to them. The monastery of St. Gallus, with its libraries, schools and learned teachers, was far too famous in all Christendom for the disciples of St. Amandus not to listen to the whizzing of Gunzo's arrow

ese Helvetian bears a lesson!" said one. "Insolence joi

ristotelicissime!" murmured the a

har!" exclaimed another. "Belgian sp

d, profound and beautiful, had ever gone out into the world before, from the cloi

d Gunzo int

ther, and after these few words he relapsed

us to pray for our enemies. Therefore I will add a prayer for the poor fool, at the

ll now on tip-toe. Gunzo tried to retain him who had spoken of charity, as he ca

ive," he murmured when his foot had c

place every word stood, and yet he could not withdraw his eyes from the well-known lines. At last he seized his pen, saying: "A more pious ending,--so be it!" He reflected a

really too good! Then he penned the supplement. When the cock was announcing the dawn of day, this also was finished. Two dozen and a half of rattling monks' verses. That hi

ion, he wrote down t

rld, my book; and wh

ongues, which my glori

orse, and humble them

e day, will enter t

to him, who has not

so that he had to press the goose-quill,

the twelve Saints, with his right arm chained to his right hip; and to pray there until some heavenly sign of grace, was shown to him. His way led up the Rhine. So, Gunzo put the tin case roun

day. In the stranger's room sat the Belgian pilgrim. They had given him some fish-soup, w

ast slain," said Moengal. "That would be a far better expiation, than t

thought that such chains might prove heavier s

very busy with some book he is reading," was the an

Abbot. "I know that you are rather fond of salt

d. The old man listened attentively, but his eyebrows

Abbot was nearly convulsed with laughter, but Moengal sat there, rigid and seri

m!" said the Abbot. "Sublime! really sublime! And an abundanc

h," grimly said t

ay?" eagerly a

all that's wanted, and then to go down the Rhine, until there is but an arm's length left between

of learning," said the Abbot. "To be sure--such a treatise as

eats, what you call out to it, and that is at least a melodious echo. We know these Belgian peacocks, which are to be found though, also in other parts. Their feathers are stolen, and their singing, in spite of tail and rainbow-colours behind, is hoarse, and will always be ho

nk of going home, as the clouds are fast

osen a suitable individual, for expounding his views

monastery at Benchor on the emerald isle, thou Irish wooden-head,

e passage, when Moengal was gone. Ru

ot, "as well as a blow given to you by a certain milk-sop, to

ann with a bashful smile, like a mai

strong and unrelenting hand. You may be satisfie

ng the time that he had occupied his present post of cellarer, but even on the day, when the bishop of Cremo

e, and a fine style," exclaimed he. "The brother Ekkeha

ou can have some copies taken; better six than three. That fine young gentleman must be driven away from the Hohentwiel. I am not overfond of yellow-beaked birds, who pretend to sing better th

n his fingers. "Shall I recount them? First he has disturb

h happened before the battle with the Huns, is buried and forgotten. Tha

s by, brothers, whose age and intellect, ought to claim his reverence. Then, he presumed to preach the sermon, on the holy day when we beat the Huns; although such an important and solemn office, ought to have been performed by one of

me, in solitary places; and that he heaved frequent sighs, like a shot buck. Likewise it has been remarked with heartfelt sorrow, that a Greek maiden, as fickle and unstable as a will-o'-the-wisp, is flickering about him; so that, that which is left undone by the mist

ann, the protector of the uppermaid Kerhildis, t

do, and I have a sort of presentiment, that the fickle lady will soon flutter about on her rock, like an

murmured