Meantime, John had disappeared; he now came back bearing a sack, upon which was written, “Josenhans of Holdenbrunn.” He emptied the rich contents of the sack, clinking and rattling, upon the table, when all were astonished, the father and mother no less than the others.
So Amrie had really a secret treasure! For here was much more than either had given her.
Amrie could not venture to look up, and all praised her unaffected modesty.
By degrees she won over all this family, and when in the evening they took leave, each said to her privately, “It was not I who objected to your want of fortune. I say now, as I always said and thought, that if you had brought nothing but what you had on, I could not have wished a better wife for John, or a better daughter-in-law for our parents.”
It was, indeed, now all right, when they believed that Amrie had brought a fortune of her own.
In Allgäu they yet relate how young Farmer Landfried brought home his wife, and how beautifully he and his wife danced together at their wedding, especially a waltz, which they called the Silver-trot. She had brought the music, they said, from Unterland.
And Dami? He became one of the most noted herdsmen in all Allgäu, and he acquired a great name, for he was sometimes called Vulture Dami, for having destroyed two broods of vultures, they having twice carried off the new fallen lambs. With him the family name of Josenhans died out. He never married, but was a good uncle to Amrie’s children—better than the uncle in America had been to him. In the winter time, when the cattle are housed, he tells his sister’s children many stories of America, and of Mathew in Moosbrunnenwalde, and of the cattle in the Allgäu Mountains. Especially he had many clever stories to tell of his so-called Queen cow, who bore the deep sounding bell.
Dami said once to his sister, “Dame farmer,”—for thus he always called her,—“Dame farmer, your eldest boy is just like you; he said to me yesterday, ‘Uncle, your Queen cow is your heart’s cow.’ Yes, that is exactly like you!”
John wished to name his first daughter Barefoot; but as objection was made to recording this new name in the Baptismal Register, he had the little girl christened Barbara, and, to please himself, changed it to Barefoot.
THE END.