Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/239

 When Egger Winnebald saw himself thus closely beset on all sides, he resolved to cut his way, sword in hand, through the midst of his foes, and retreat to the mountains. He assembled his people, and briefly pointed out to them that in their present situation they must either conquer or die. He then placed his wife, who was near her confinement, on a powerful charger, and assigned to her, for her service and defence, one of his bravest esquires. But ere the drawbridge was lowered, and the great gate thrown open, he took apart his esquire, and whispered: “Watch over my wife as ’twere the apple of thine eye; keep with her in the rear, so long as thou shalt see my banner flying, and the plume of my helmet waving on high; but should I fall, fly to the forest, and conceal her in the cavern thou knowest of. At night, when she sleeps, stab her to the heart; better that not a memory of me should be left upon earth, than that my loved wife and child should be exposed to the insults of my enemies.”

Having thus spoken, he made a sortie so sudden and furious, that the besiegers at first gave way. But seeing the very inferior force they had to contend with, they recovered their courage, surrounded the enemy, and after a fierce and sanguinary struggle, put Winnebald and all his followers to the sword, not one of them escaping but the confidential esquire,