“If you have any crookedness, to find the magic herb,” said Charlie.
Charlie Leland, the President, closed the exercises with some translations of his own, which he called “Stories in Verse.” We give two of them here; each relates an incident of Eberhard, the good count, whom German poets have often remembered in song.
THE RICHEST PRINCE.
In a stately hall in the city of Worms,
A festive table was laid;
The lamps a softened radiance shed,
And sweet the music played.
Then the Saxon prince, and Bavaria’s lord,
And the Palsgrave of the Rhine,
And Würtemberg’s monarch, Eberhard,
Came into that hall to dine.
Said the Saxon prince, with pride elate,
“My lords, I have wealth untold:
There are gems in my mountain gorges great;
In my valleys are mines of gold.”
“Thou hast boasted well,” said Bavaria’s lord,
“But mine is a nobler land:
I have famous cities, and castled towns,
And convents old and grand.”
“And better still is my own fair land,”
Said the Palsgrave of the Rhine:
“There are sunny vineyards upon the hills;
In the valleys are presses of wine.”
Then bearded Eberhard gently said,
“My lords, I have neither gold,
Nor famous cities, nor castled towns,
Nor convents grand and old.
“I have no vineyards upon the hills,
In the valleys no presses of wine;
But God has given a treasure to me
As noble as any of thine.