Page:Popular Tales of the Germans (Volume 2).djvu/198

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
194
LEGENDS CONCERNING

ber-Nip, the mountain ſpirit, himſelf. She owned that he had practiſed the rites of hoſpitality in a very generous manner; forgave him his frolic reſpecting the Carlſbad company; and from this time forward ſincerely believed in the exiſtence of ſpirits, though, to avoid the arrows of the wits, ſhe was cautious how ſhe made a public declaration of her faith.

Since his manifeſtation to the Counteſs Cecilia, nothing further has been heard of him. He returned to his ſubterraneous ſtates; and as the great earthquake that deſtroyed Liſbon and Guatimala, ſoon afterwards happened, and has ſince been continually advancing nearer and nearer, ſo as lately[1] to threaten the pillars of the Giant-mountains themſelves, the ſpirits of the deep have found ſo much work below ground, in damming the torrents of lava, that they have never had leiſure to appear on the ſurface

  1. Alluding to the terrible deſolation of Calabria, &c. by the earthquakes of 1783.—T.

of