Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/237



HERE lived at the foot of the Fichtelberg, on the frontiers of Bohemia, in the days of the Emperor, Henry the Fourth, a stout warrior, named Egger Winnebald. He occupied a fief, which he had obtained by his successes in the Italian wars. Many a town and village had he plundered while in the Emperor’s service, and with the booty thus accumulated, he had built three castles, within the circuit of a vast and gloomy forest; Klausenburg on the hill, Gottendorf in the valley, and Salenstein on the river. He went from one to another of these strongholds, attended by a numerous band of horsemen, and unable, and for that matter having no inclination, to get rid of his old habits of plundering, continued to put club-law in force, whenever he had an opportunity. Many a merchant and traveller did he strip without mercy, caring not a straw