Page:Popular Tales of the Germans (Volume 1).djvu/254

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236
THE STEALING

vain againſt prejudice once rooted in a woman’s breaſt; the matron believed of his ſtory no more than ſhe thought proper; and Friedbert was indebted to maternal inſtinct alone, for eſcaping a proſecution for witchcraft and ſorcery. Meanwhile this ſtrange event gave riſe to numberleſs conjectures: the ſuſpicious Friedbert wanted but a black cat, to be reputed as great a conjurer as Doctor Fauſtus or Cornelius Agrippa.

The brideleſs bridegroom found himſelf in a moſt uncomfortable ſituation: deſpair for the loſs of his beautiful Calliſta tortured his boſom; his fate long wavered between life and death; the choice of either coſt him ſome ſtruggles. There can ſcarce be imagined a harder caſe, than to be ſhipwrecked at entering into port, after you have happily circumnavigated the globe; and to loſe a beloved bride on the eve of the wedding-day is juſt as provoking. If ſhe had fallen a prey to death, been raviſhed by a robber,or