 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Сказки -
ЛЕГЕНДЫ |
|
 |
| |||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conclusion
|
 |
Оглавление |
| ||||||
|
| ||||||||
 |
| ||||||||
|
ALTHOUGH for so many ages her waters have brought prosperity and fertility into this valley, Ilsee still preserves her freshness and natural grace. She has drunk at the inexhaustible fountain of eternal youth, the stream which emanates from assiduous and useful labour, and preserves itself pure and limpid, by rejecting all evil contamination, and constantly absorbing the light of heaven. The Princess Ilsee is an example of what a foolish, headstrong child may become, when once she obtains the mastery over the demon Pride. ‘When men descend to Ilsee's valley from the arid heights of everyday life, in search of pure air, she whispers sweet remembrances of the country where their childhood was passed; and all the time they remain in the sweet shades of her forest, she makes them once more become careless, happy children, enjoying the fresh air, which is here purer and more invigorating than in. any other spot in the ‘whole world. Little Ilsee has ceased, to be afraid of the witches, she will even at times venture laughingly to play the part of "Princess Cooking-water ;" and when, in summer, visitors to the valley wish to take their coffee upon a mossy bank at the foot of the Ilsenstein, she presents herself to them, boiling gracefully in the little swing kettle, and leaves all the credit to the housewife who prepares the coffee, reserving for herself neither praise nor profit, only demanding in recompense that all who have had the pleasure of drinking the delicious coffee prepared from Ilsee's stream, should leave a morsel of sugar for the little field-mouse. This mouse lives in one of the cracks of the moss-covered. stone which forms a seat for visitors. It is lineally descended from the mousie that hollowed out the little canal through the Brocken, by which Ilsee fled into the valley, at a period now lost in antiquity. All the visitors who breakfast at the Ilsenthal will probably not be honoured with a sight of the pointed nose and bright eyes of this Little animal, for the mouse chooses its own society, and, moreover, it possesses the usual timidity of its race. But whoever chances to be fortunate enough to obtain a sight of it, is bound, under pain of incurring Ilsee's high displeasure, to give it some sugar, or some other thing that men like to take with their coffee, and mice to nibble at in the crevices of the rocks. This agreement was concluded on the first day in August, in the year of grace 1851. The treaty, adorned with an authentic seal, was deposited under the Ilsenstein, a circumstance fresh in the memory of the visitors to the Hartz, who began on this day to feed the little field-mouse. *** And here the historian ceases. He has made his abode amongst the rocks of the green valley, and has no desire to follow little Ilsee in her career to the plain, where she first met the Ocker and Ecker, and afterwards the Aller, who led her forward till she rejoined old Weser. Let it suffice to say, that the Ocker and the Ecker, and all the larger and smaller streams which flow into old Weser, are carried by him to the sea. Nevertheless, the historian would like to know, if possible, what were the sensatious of a tiny stream like Ilsee, when finding herself lost in the midst of the vast ocean; but this, at least, no mortal can tell. The End. | | ||||||||
 |
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
 |
 |
1
|
 |
 |
()
|
| |||
|
|
| ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
