Original Bavarian Folktales (Original bayerische Volksmärchen) by Franz von Schönwerth

Author:Franz von Schönwerth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2014-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

let me be your wife in the way I have been thus far.” Meanwhile, his mother had herself looked for a bride for her procrastinating son; but that one left him cold, and when he went to bed that night, the ephemeral woman sighed. The mother, however, hastened and set the date for the wedding. On the first day, there was dancing until the morning, the second day was filled with banquets, and on the third the women led the bride into his room. When they entered, the curtains on the four-poster bed rustled; the bride became frightened. She was supposed to climb into the bed first and thought she found it already occupied. Laughing at her anxiety, the bridegroom followed. But the Mermaid lay between them. Touched by an icy breath, the bride gave way and moved to the very edge of the bed. Thus it was every evening. The knight meant to hold his bride in his arms, but the careworn bride died, still a virgin, within a year.

The same happened to ten other women who were sought out for the son by his mother; all died within a year. The twelfth bride, however, was clever, and sought the advice of a Witch. From her she learned that Mermaids were to blame for the misfortunes of the previous brides: she could protect herself, however, if she did not accompany her husband before the end of the witching hour, on the third day of the wedding celebration. To save both him and herself, she should not follow him; to be sure, he would feel as if he were pulled by his hair to his sleeping chamber at the midnight hour, but she should remain steadfast. Furthermore, she should not neglect to close the window facing the lake, really tightly, so that the spirits would be unable to enter. The husband would then be attracted by lamenting voices, and he might feel a compulsion to jump into the waters. For this she would have with her a secret magic spell, and herbs which she should throw under the bed. She should be warned also, under no circumstances to pull apart the curtains of the bed before her husband, nor to climb into it and, furthermore, to keep as a secret everything she might hear, otherwise her husband would inevitably be in the thrall of the Mermaids again.

Now came the third day of the wedding. It was evening, then midnight. The husband became increasingly agitated; he was

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.