I dare say your highness, and gentlemen of the court, have heard a good many stories about the moo-calf? I shall abstain from expressing just here an opinion of the mysterious creature as, by so doing, I should anticipate the denouement of one of my most remarkable adventures. I think almost every dweller in Coblentz has heard of the moo-calf's strange doings; for there are numerous records in the chronicles of the city, of its mysterious appearance and behavior.
The moo-calf ordinarily appears in those cities where the Jews have multiplied excessively, and attained to power.
It is a well-known fact that a calf is the meekest, the most innocent of animals, that it has never been known to assault anyone, that it would be the least likely of all the animal kingdom to wield a boundless tyranny over an entire community. Therefore, I do not believe all the terrifying tales I have heard about the moo-calf. Do any of the gentlemen here believe them?
Several members of the court admitted that they believed the tales; some thought a portion might be true, others were non-committal. So much time was given to the discussion, that the chair was at last obliged to interfere. He said to the prisoner—after rapping impatiently for order:
"You are not here to ask questions, but to be questioned. Now let us hear what you have to say about the moo-calf?"
Hugo bowed and resumed his confession:
When we arrived at Hamburg, Mynheer so managed matters, that it was evening when he and I went ashore. With the bag of valuables on my back, I tramped after him to the suburb of St. Paul, to seek in the winding, and zig-zag streets of the "Hamberger Berg," the house of the honest Christian, who would relieve my back, and incidentally my mind, of the load of treasure.
We pushed our way with whole skins through a confusion of menagerie booths, puppet-shows, jugglery and rope-dancing exhibitions, which their proprietors importuned us to patronize, avoided with some difficulty the crowds of tipsy sailors, and at last arrived in front of the house we were seeking.
The name of the owner was Meyer—a by no means rare cognomen in Germany!
He was a Lutheran, as eleven-twelfths of the residents of Hamburg are. They alone possess the rights of citizenship.