The Three Stone Partridges.
On a flying buttress of the colossal Marienkirche, in Mühlhausen, are three stone partridges, and I am about to explain to you how they came there.
At the time when Germany was in the middle of the great Reformation contest, two prelates sat together with their well-filled—for the empty ones were speedily filled—wine-cups before them, and discussed the pros and cons of the Reformed doctrines, and whether Mühlhausen was likely to adopt the Lutheran creed.
At last one of the reverend prelates grew angry and exclaimed: "Those three partridges now turning on the spit in the kitchen will fly, before the faith of the heretical Augustine monk will gain power in this good city."
But, lo! scarcely were the haughty words uttered, when a cooing and a fluttering of wings were heard.
The prelates fled in a fright, seeing themselves robbed of their dinner; the partridges flew forth and settled on a buttress, where they were turned to stone, and remained as heralds of the dawn of a better day.