Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/231

 The Architeci and His Pupil 221

Doire Lighe, and there they were buried." ^ " Master Hans Briiggemann, born in Husum, was a skilful artisan and able man. It was he who made the beautiful altar- piece for the monks of Bordesholm, which in the year 1666 was removed to the Cathedral of Sleswig, on which it is said that he and his men laboured for seven years, and of which every figure was steeped in oil to prevent injury from worms. When his work was finished King Christian II. and his queen Elizabeth came to see it, on which occasion Briiggemann, availing himself of his opportunity, carved likenesses of them both in wood, which he placed on two pillars on each side of the altar. When the Liibeckers saw this work they wished Hans Briiggemann to execute an altar-piece for them equally beautiful. This he not only engaged to do, but also to make one still more wonderful. Hereat the monks of Bordesholm were stung with jealousy, and gave him something which caused a fluxion and weakness of his eyes, so that he could no longer work. He died in the town of Eiderstadt, near Bordesholm." ^ Mr. Thorpe adds : " Of the altar-piece of the Church of Norre-Broby, in Fyen, it is also said that when the artist had completed it he was asked whether he could execute another better, or equally good, and on his answering in the affirmative, they put out his eyes."

A tale of the same kind comes from Arabia. Nu'man I. [circa 400 a.d.) " is renowned in legend as the builder of Khawarnaq, a famous castle near Hira. It was built at the instance of the Sasanian king, Yazdigird I., who desired a salubrious residence for his son, Prince Bahram Gor. On its completion, Nu'man ordered the architect, a ' Roman ' [i.e. Byzantine subject) named Sinimmar,

' Jeoffrey Keatins^, General History of Ireland, trans. Dermod O'Connor, ed. 1854, p. 76 et sci].

'^B. Thor|)e, Northern Mythology, ii. 255, (juoted in 7, Azotes and Queries, iv. 304 f.