Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/462



“And in at the windows, and in at the door, And through the walls by thousands they pour, And down from the ceiling, and up through the floor, From the right and the left, from behind and before, From within and without, from above and below, And all at once to the Bishop they go.

“They have whetted their teeth against the stones, And now they pick the Bishop’s bone; They gnaw’d the flesh from every limb, For they were sent to do judgment on him.” It is satisfactory to know that popular fiction has maligned poor Bishop Hatto, who was not by any means a hard-hearted and wicked prelate. Wolfius , who tells the story on the authority of Honorius Augustodunensis (d. 1152), Marianus Scotus (d. 1086), and Grithemius (d. 1516), accompanying it with the curious picture which is reproduced on the opposite page, says, “This is regarded by many as a fable, yet the tower, taking its name from the mice, exists to this day in the river Rhine.” But this is no evidence, as there is documentary proof that the tower was erected as a station for collecting tolls on the vessels which passed up and down the river. The same story is told of other persons and places. Indeed, Wolfius reproduces his picture of