Her mother again persuaded her to cast away the fatal ring, and this time it was buried deep in the earth; but a bean that was buried there likewise, grew rapidly up, and carried the ring to the window of Irmina’s chamber.
Much frightened, Irmina yet rejoiced at recovering her ring, and her love for the absent knight grew stronger than ever. Her mother once more pressed her to destroy it, and this time proposed fire as a means of being quit of the ring for ever.
“Do not, dear mother,” said the maiden; “’twould be sin before God. In spirit I am wedded to my absent knight, and, alive or dead, none other husband will I have.”
Still the mother persisted, and wrested the ring from her daughter’s hand; but before she could cast it into the flames the knight stood alive in the room, and soon the ring was used for the purpose of turning the wandering knight and the lady Irmina into a happy bridegroom and bride.
A day’s exploration of the Veldenz-thal, and other valleys into which it leads, makes us acquainted with many agreeable walks and charming scenes. The old castle itself is quite a ruin, but well worth exploring, there being still a good deal of its stone-work remaining; vineyards are found within and around its walls.
What enjoyment there is in finding one’s self free to climb and saunter amidst delicious scenery! Now we walk briskly along, returning the “Guten tag” of the ever-polite peasants, who enunciate this phrase from the bottom of their throats. The guten is not heard at all, and the tag sounds as if, in the endeavour to swallow the word, the performer choked, and was obliged, when half-strangled, to gasp it out.
At midday we halt, and luxuriate over our hard-boiled eggs and bread and cheese, with green cloth ready spread, and gushing stream sparkling from the rock. Then, as we lie back musing and dreaming, what strange thoughts of the old times come into our heads! Peopled by fancy, the old towers and walls again re-echo to the lutes and voices of long-gone days.
And what a charming friend or mistress we find in Fancy! Most beautiful of aërial beings, she gilds for us the darkest paths, and smiles through every cloud upon her admiring followers.