Kobolds
Hinzelmann
A wonderful house-spirit haunted for a long time the
old castle of Hudemühlen, situated in the country of Lüneburg, not far
from the Aller, and of which there is nothing remaining but the walls.
It was in the year 1584 that he first notified his presence, by
knocking and making various noises. Soon after he began to converse
with the servants in the daylight. They were at first terrified at
hearing a voice and seeing nothing, but by degrees they became
accustomed to it and thought no more of it. At last he became quite
courageous, and began to speak to the master of the house himself, and
used, in the middle of the day and in the evening, to carry on
conversations of various kinds; and at meal-times he discoursed with
those who were present, whether strangers or belonging to the family.
When all fear of him was gone he became quite friendly and intimate: he
sang, laughed, and went on with every kind of sport, so long as no one
vexed him: and his voice was on these occasions soft and tender like
that of a boy or maiden. When he was asked whence he came, and what he
had to do in that place, he said he was come from the Bohemian
mountains, and that his companions were in the Bohemian forest—that
they would not tolerate him, and that he was in consequence obliged to
retire and take refuge with good people[Pg 241] till his affairs should
be in a better condition. He added that his name was Hinzelmann, but
that he was also called Lüring; and that he had a wife whose name was
Hille Bingels. When the time for it was come he would let himself he
seen in his real shape, but that at present it was not convenient for
him to do so. In all other respects he was, he said, as good and honest
a fellow as need be.
The master of the house, when he saw that
the spirit attached himself more and more to him, began to get
frightened, and knew not how he should get rid of him. By the advice of
his friends he determined at last to leave his castle for some time,
and set out for Hanover. On the road they observed a white feather that
flew beside the carriage, but no one knew what it signified. When he
arrived at Hanover he missed a valuable gold chain that he wore about
his neck, and his suspicions fell upon the servants of the house. But
the innkeeper took the part of his servants, and demanded satisfaction
for the discreditable charge. The nobleman, who could prove nothing
against them, sat in his chamber in bad spirits, thinking how he should
manage to get himself out of this unpleasant affair, when all of a
sudden he heard Hinzelmann's voice beside him, saying, "Why are you so
sad? If there is anything gone wrong with you tell it to me, and I
shall perhaps know how to assist you. If I were to make a guess, I
should say that you are fretting on account of a chain you have lost."
"What are you doing here?" replied the terrified nobleman; "why have
you followed me? Do you know anything about the chain?" "Yes, indeed,"
said Hinzelmann, "I have followed you, and I kept you company on the
road, and was always present: did you not see me? why, I was the white
feather that flew beside the carriage. And now I'll tell you where the
chain is:—Search under the pillow of your bed, and there you'll find
it." The chain was found where he said; but the mind of the nobleman
became still more uneasy, and he asked him in an angry tone why he had
brought him into a quarrel with the landlord on account of the chain,
since he was the cause of his leaving his own house. Hinzelmann
replied, "Why do you retire from me? I can easily follow you anywhere,
and be where you are. It is much better for you to return to your own
estate, and not be quitting it on my account.[Pg 242] You see well that
if I wished it I could take away all you have, but I am not inclined to
do so." The nobleman thought some time of it, and at last came to the
resolution of returning home, and trusting in God not to retreat a step
from the spirit.
At home in Hudemühlen, Hinzelmann now showed
himself extremely obliging, and active and industrious at every kind of
work. He used to toil every night in the kitchen; and if the cook, in
the evening after supper, left the plates and dishes lying in a heap
without being washed, next morning they were all nice and clean,
shining like looking-glasses, and put up in proper order. She therefore
might depend upon him, and go to bed in the evening after supper
without giving herself any concern about them. In like manner nothing
was ever lost in the kitchen; and if anything was astray Hinzelmann
knew immediately where to find it, in whatever corner it was hid, and
gave it into the hands of the owner. If strangers were expected, the
spirit let himself be heard in a particular manner, and his labours
were continued the whole night long: he scoured the pots and kettles,
washed the dishes, cleaned the pails and tubs. The cook was grateful to
him for all this, and not only did what he desired, but cheerfully got
ready his sweet milk for his breakfast. He took also the charge of
superintending the other men and maids. He noticed how they got through
their business; and when they were at work he encouraged them with good
words to be industrious. But if any one was inattentive to what he
said, he caught up a stick and communicated his instructions by laying
on heartily with it. He frequently warned the maids of their mistress's
displeasure, and reminded them of some piece of work which they should
set about doing. He was equally busy in the stable: he attended to the
horses, and curried them carefully, so that they were as smooth in
their coats as an eel; they also throve and improved so much, in next
to no time, that everybody wondered at it.
His chamber was in
the upper story on the right hand side, and his furniture consisted of
only three articles. Imprimis, of a settle or arm-chair, which he
plaited very neatly for himself of straw of different colours, full of
handsome figures and crosses, which no one looked upon[Pg 243] without
admiration. Secondly, of a little round table, which was on his
repeated entreaties made and put there. Thirdly, of a bed and bedstead,
which he had also expressed a wish for. There never was any trace found
as if a man had lain in it; there could only be perceived a very small
depression, as if a cat had been there. The servants, especially the
cook, were obliged every day to prepare a dish full of sweet milk, with
crums of wheaten bread, and place it upon his little table; and it was
soon after eaten up clean. He sometimes used to come to the table of
the master of the house, and they were obliged to put a chair and a
plate for him at a particular place. Whoever was helping, put his food
on his plate, and if that was forgotten he fell into a great passion.
What was put on his plate vanished, and a glass full of wine was taken
away for some time, and was then set again in its place empty. But the
food was afterwards found lying under the benches, or in a corner of
the room.
In the society of young people Hinzelmann was extremely cheerful. He sang and made verses: one of his most usual ones was,
If thou here wilt let me stay, Good luck shalt thou have alway; But if hence thou wilt me chase, Luck will ne'er come near the place. He
used also to repeat the songs and sayings of other people by way of
amusement or to attract their attention. The minister Feldmann was once
invited to Hudemühlen, and when he came to the door he heard some one
above in the hall singing, shouting, and making every sort of noise,
which made him think that some strangers had come the evening before,
and were lodged above, and making themselves merry. He therefore said
to the steward, who was standing in the court after having cut up some
wood, "John, what guests have you above there?" The steward answered,
"We have no strangers; it is only our Hinzelmann who is amusing
himself; there is not a living soul else in the hall." When the
minister went up into the hall, Hinzelmann sang out to him
My thumb, my thumb, And my elbow are two. The
minister wondered at this unusual kind of song, and he[Pg 244] said to
Hinzelmann, "What sort of music is that you come to meet me with?"
"Why," replied Hinzelmann, "it was from yourself I learned the song,
for you have often sung it, and it is only a few days since I heard it
from you, when you were in a certain place at a christening."
Hinzelmann
was fond of playing tricks, but he never hurt any one by them. He used
to set servants and workmen by the ears as they sat drinking in the
evening, and took great delight then in looking at the sport. When any
one of them was well warmed with liquor, and let anything fall under
the table and stooped to take it up, Hinzelmann would give him a good
box on the ear from behind, and at the same time pinch his neighbour's
leg. Then the two attacked each other, first with words and then with
blows; the rest joined in the scuffle, and they dealt about their
blows, and were repaid in kind; and next morning black eyes and swelled
faces bore testimony of the fray. But Hinzelmann's very heart was
delighted at it, and he used afterwards to tell how it was he that
began it, on purpose to set them fighting. He however always took care
so to order matters that no one should run any risk of his life.
There
came one time to Hudemühlen a nobleman who undertook to banish
Hinzelmann. Accordingly, when he remarked that he was in a certain
room, of which all the doors and windows were shut fast, he had this
chamber and the whole house also beset with armed men, and went himself
with his drawn sword into the room, accompanied by some others. They
however saw nothing, so they began to cut and thrust left and right in
all directions, thinking that if Hinzelmann had a body some blow or
other must certainly reach him and kill him; still they could not
perceive that their hangers met anything but mere air. When they
thought they must have accomplished their task, and were going out of
the room tired with their long fencing, just as they opened the door,
they saw a figure like that of a black marten, and heard these words,
"Ha, ha! how well you caught me!" But Hinzelmann afterwards expressed
himself very bitterly for this insult, and declared, that he would have
easily had an opportunity of revenging himself, were it not that he
wished to spare the two ladies of the house any uneasiness. When this
same nobleman not long after went[Pg 245] into an empty room in the
house, he saw a large snake lying coiled up on an unoccupied bed. It
instantly vanished, and he heard the words of the spirit—"You were near
catching me."
Another nobleman had heard a great deal about
Hinzelmann, and he was curious to get some personal knowledge of him.
He came accordingly to Hudemühlen, and his wish was not long
ungratified, for the spirit let himself be heard from a corner of the
room where there was a large cupboard, in which were standing some
empty wine-jugs with long necks. As the voice was soft and delicate,
and somewhat hoarse, as if it came out of a hollow vessel, the nobleman
thought it likely that he was sitting in one of these jugs, so he got
up and ran and caught them up, and went to stop them, thinking in this
way to catch the spirit. While he was thus engaged, Hinzelmann began to
laugh aloud, and cried out, "If I had not heard long ago from other
people that you were a fool, I might now have known it of myself, since
you thought I was sitting in an empty jug, and went to cover it up with
your hand, as if you had me caught. I don't think you worth the
trouble, or I would have given you, long since, such a lesson, that you
should remember me long enough. But before long you will get a slight
ducking." He then became silent, and did not let himself be heard any
more so long as the nobleman stayed. Whether he fell into the water, as
Hinzelmann threatened him, is not said, but it is probable he did.
There
came, too, an exorcist to banish him. When he began his conjuration
with his magic words, Hinzelmann was at first quite quiet, and did not
let himself be heard at all, but when he was going to read the most
powerful sentences against him, he snatched the book out of his hand,
tore it to pieces, so that the leaves flew about the room, caught hold
of the exorcist himself, and squeezed and scratched him till he ran
away frightened out of his wits. He complained greatly of this
treatment, and said, "I am a Christian, like any other man, and I hope
to be saved." When he was asked if he knew the Kobolds and
Knocking-spirits (Polter Geister), he answered, "What have these to do
with me? They are the Devil's spectres, and I do not belong to them. No
one has any evil, but rather good, to expect from me. Let me[Pg 246]
alone and you will have luck in everything; the cattle will thrive,
your substance will increase, and everything will go on well."
Profligacy
and vice were quite displeasing to him; he used frequently to scold
severely one of the family for his stinginess, and told the rest that
he could not endure him on account of it. Another he upbraided with his
pride, which he said he hated from his heart. When some one once said
to him that if he would be a good Christian, he should call upon God,
and say Christian prayers, he began the Lord's Prayer, and went through
it till he came to the last petition, when he murmured "Deliver us from
the Evil one" quite low. He also repeated the Creed, but in a broken
and stammering manner, for when he came to the words, "I believe in the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life
everlasting," he pronounced them in so hoarse and indistinct a voice
that no one could rightly hear and understand him. The minister of
Eicheloke, Mr. Feldmann, said that his father was invited to dinner to
Hudemühlen at Whitsuntide, where he heard Hinzelmann go through the
whole of the beautiful hymn, "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist," in a
very high but not unpleasant voice, like that of a girl or a young boy.
Nay, he sang not merely this, but several other spiritual songs also
when requested, especially by those whom he regarded as his friends,
and with whom he was on terms of intimacy.
On the other hand, he
was extremely angry when he was not treated with respect and as a
Christian. A nobleman of the family of Mandelsloh once came to
Hudemühlen. This nobleman was highly respected for his learning; he was
a canon of the cathedral of Verden, and had been ambassador to the
Elector of Brandenburg and the King of Denmark. When he heard of the
house-spirit, and that he expected to be treated as a Christian, he
said he could not believe that all was right with him: he was far more
inclined to regard him as the Enemy and the Devil, for that God had
never made men of that kind and form, that angels praised God their
Lord, and guarded and protected men, with which the knocking and
pounding and strange proceedings of the House-spirit did not accord.
Hinzelmann, who had not let himself be heard since his arrival, now
made a noise and[Pg 247] cried out, "What say you Barthold? (that was
the nobleman's name) am I the Enemy? I advise you not to say too much,
or I will show you another trick, and teach you to deliver a better
judgment of me another time." The nobleman was frightened when he heard
a voice without seeing any one, broke off the discourse, and would hear
nothing more of him, but left him in possession of his dignity.
Another
time a nobleman came there, who, when he saw a chair and plate laid for
Hinzelmann at dinner, refused to pledge him. At this the spirit was
offended, and he said, "I am as honest and good a fellow as he is; why
then does he not drink to me?" To this the nobleman replied, "Depart
hence, and go drink with thy infernal companions; thou hast nothing to
do here." When Hinzelmann heard that, he became so highly exasperated,
that he seized him by the strap with which, according to the custom of
those days, his cloak was fastened under his chin, dragged him to the
ground, and choked and pressed him in such a manner that all that were
present were in pain lest he should kill him; and the gentleman did not
come to himself for some hours after the spirit had left him.
Another
time an esteemed friend of the master of Hudemühlen was travelling that
way, but he hesitated to come in on account of the House-spirit, of
whose mischievous turn he had heard a great deal, and sent his servant
to inform the family that he could not call upon them. The master of
the house sent out and pressed him very much to come in and dine there,
but the stranger politely excused himself, by saying that it was not in
his power to stop; he, however, added, that he was too much terrified
at the idea of sitting at the same table eating and drinking with a
devil. Hinzelmann, it appears, was present at this conversation out in
the road; for when the stranger had thus refused they heard these
words, "Wait, my good fellow, you shall be well paid for this talk."
Accordingly, when the traveller went on and came to the bridge over the
Meisse, the horses took fright, entangled themselves in the harness,
and horses, carriage and all, were within an ace of tumbling down into
the water. When everything had been set to rights, and the carriage had
got on about a gun-shot, it was turned over[Pg 248] in the sand on the
level ground, without, however, those who were in it receiving any
farther injury.
Hinzelmann was fond of society, but the society
he chiefly delighted in was that of females, and he was to them very
friendly and affable. There were two young ladies at Hudemühlen, named
Anne and Catherine, to whom he was particularly attached; he used to
make his complaint to them whenever he was angry at anything, and held,
besides, conversations of every kind with them. Whenever they travelled
he would not quit them, but accompanied them everywhere in the shape of
a white feather. When they went to sleep at night, he lay beneath, at
their feet, outside the clothes, and in the morning there was a little
hole to be seen, as if a little dog had lain there.
Neither of
these ladies ever married; for Hinzelmann frightened away their wooers.
Matters had frequently gone so far as the engagement, but the spirit
always contrived to have it broken off. One lover he would make all
bewildered and confused when he was about to address the lady, so that
he did not know what he should say. In another he would excite such
fear as to make him quiver and tremble. But his usual way was to make a
writing appear before their eyes on the opposite white wall, with these
words in golden letters: "Take maid Anne, and leave me maid Catherine."
But if any one came to court lady Anne, the golden writing changed all
at once, and became "Take maid Catherine, and leave me maid Anne." If
any one did not change his course for this, but persisted in his
purpose, and happened to spend the night in the house, he terrified and
tormented him so in the dark with knocking and flinging and pounding,
that he laid aside all wedding-thoughts, and was right glad to get away
with a whole skin. Some, when they were on their way back, he tumbled,
themselves and their horses, over and over, that they thought their
necks and legs would be broken, and yet knew not how it had happened to
them. In consequence of this, the two ladies remained unmarried; they
arrived to a great age, and died within a week of each other.
One
of these ladies once sent a servant from Hudemühlen to Rethem to buy
different articles; while he was away Hinzelmann began suddenly to
clapper in the ladies'[Pg 249] chamber like a stork, and then said,
"Maid Anne, you must go look for your things to-day in the
mill-stream." She did not know what this meant; but the servant soon
came in, and related, that as he was on his way home, he had seen a
stork sitting at no great distance from him, which he shot at, and it
seemed to him as if he had hit it, but that the stork had remained
sitting, and at last began to clap its wings aloud and then flew away.
It was now plain that Hinzelmann knew this, and his prophecy also soon
came to pass. For the servant, who was a little intoxicated, wanted to
wash his horse, who was covered with sweat and dirt, and he rode him
into the mill-stream in front of the castle; but owing to his
drunkenness he missed the right place, and got into a deep hole, where,
not being able to keep his seat on the horse, he fell off and was
drowned. He had not delivered the things he had brought with him; so
they and the body together were fished up out of the stream.
Hinzelmann
also informed and warned others of the future. There came to Hudemühlen
a colonel, who was greatly esteemed by Christian III. King of Denmark,
and who had done good service in the wars with the town of Lübeck. He
was a good shot and passionately fond of the chase, and used to spend
many hours in the neighbouring woods after the harts and the wild sows.
As he was getting ready one day to go to the chase as usual, Hinzelmann
came and said, "Thomas (that was his name), I warn you to be cautious
how you shoot, or you will before long meet with a mishap." The colonel
took no notice of this, and thought it meant nothing. But a few days
after, as he was firing at a roe, his gun burst, and took the thumb off
his left hand. When this occurred, Hinzelmann was instantly by his
side, and said, "See, now, you have got what I warned you of! If you
had refrained from shooting this time, this mischance would not have
befallen you."
Another time a certain lord Falkenberg, who was a
soldier, was on a visit at Hudemühlen. He was a lively, jolly man, and
he began to play tricks on Hinzelmann, and to mock and jeer him.
Hinzelmann would not long put up with this, and he began to exhibit
signs of great dissatisfaction. At last he said,—"Falkenberg, you are
making very merry now at my expense, but wait till you come to
Magdeburg,[Pg 250] and there your cap will be burst in such a way that
you will forget your jibes and your jeers." The nobleman was awed: he
was persuaded that these words contained a hidden sense: he broke off
the conversation with Hinzelmann, and shortly after departed. Not long
after the siege of Magdeburg, under the Elector Maurice, commenced, at
which this lord Falkenberg was present, under a German prince of high
rank. The besieged made a gallant resistance, and night and day kept up
a firing of double-harquebuses, and other kinds of artillery; and it
happened that one day Falkenberg's chin was shot away by a ball from a
falconet, and three days after he died of the wound, in great agony.
Any
one whom the spirit could not endure he used to plague or punish for
his vices. He accused the secretary at Hudemühlen of too much pride,
took a great dislike to him on account of it, and night and day gave
him every kind of annoyance. He once related with great glee how he had
given the haughty secretary a sound box on the ear. When the secretary
was asked about it, and whether the Spirit had been with him, he
replied, "Ay, indeed, he has been with me but too often; this very
night he tormented me in such a manner that I could not stand before
him." He had a love affair with the chamber-maid; and one night as he
was in high and confidential discourse with her, and they were sitting
together in great joy, thinking that no one could see them but the four
walls, the crafty spirit came and drove them asunder, and roughly
tumbled the poor secretary out at the door, and then took up a
broomstick and laid on him with it, that he made over head and neck for
his chamber, and forgot his love altogether. Hinzelmann is said to have
made some verses on the unfortunate lover, and to have often sung them
for his amusement, and repeated them to travellers, laughing heartily
at them.
One time some one at Hudemühlen was suddenly taken in
the evening with a violent fit of the cholic, and a maid was despatched
to the cellar to fetch some wine, in which the patient was to take his
medicine. As the maid was sitting before the cask, and was just going
to draw the wine, Hinzelmann was by her side, and said, "You will be
pleased to recollect that, a few days ago, you scolded me and abused
me; by way of punishment for it, you shall spend this night
sitting in the cellar. As to the sick person, he is in no danger
whatever; his pain will be all gone in half an hour, and the wine would
rather injure him. So just stay sitting here till the cellar door is
opened." The patient waited a long time, but no wine came; another maid
was sent down, and she found the cellar door well secured on the
outside with a good padlock, and the maid sitting within, who told her
that Hinzelmann had fastened her up in that way. They wanted to open
the cellar and let the maid out, but they could not find a key for the
lock, though they searched with the greatest industry. Next morning the
cellar was open, and the lock and key lying before the door. Just as
the spirit said, all his pain left the sick man in the course of half
an hour.
Hinzelmann had never shown himself to the master of the
house at Hudemühlen, and whenever he begged of him that if he was
shaped like a man, he would let himself be seen by him, he answered,
"that the time was not yet come; that he should wait till it was
agreeable to him." One night, as the master was lying awake in bed, he
heard a rushing noise on one side of the chamber, and he conjectured
that the spirit must be there. So he said "Hinzelmann, if you are
there, answer me." "It is I," replied he; "what do you want?" As the
room was quite light with the moonshine, it seemed to the master as if
there was the shadow of a form like that of a child, perceptible in the
place from which the sound proceeded. As he observed that the spirit
was in a very friendly humour, he entered into conversation with him,
and said, "Let me, for this once, see and feel you." But Hinzelmann
would not: "Will you reach me your hand, at least, that I may know
whether you are flesh and bone like a man?" "No," said Hinzelmann; "I
won't trust you; you are a knave; you might catch hold of me, and not
let me go any more." After a long demur, however, and after he had
promised, on his faith and honour, not to hold him, but to let him go
again immediately, he said, "See, there is my hand." And as the master
caught at it, it seemed to him as if he felt the fingers of the hand of
a little child; but the spirit drew it back quickly. The master further
desired that he would let him feel his face, to which he at last
consented; and when he touched it, it seemed to him as if he had
touched teeth, or a fleshless[Pg 252] skeleton, and the face drew back
instantaneously, so that he could not ascertain its exact shape; he
only noticed that it, like the hand, was cold, and devoid of vital heat.
The
cook, who was on terms of great intimacy with him, thought that she
might venture to make a request of him, though another might not, and
as she felt a strong desire to see Hinzelmann bodily, whom she heard
talking every day, and whom she supplied with meat and drink, she
prayed him earnestly to grant her that favour; but he would not, and
said that this was not the right time, but that after some time, he
would let himself be seen by any person. This refusal only stimulated
her desire, and she pressed him more and more not to deny her request.
He said she would repent of her curiosity if she would not give up her
desire; and when all his representations were to no purpose, and she
would not give over, he at last said to her, "Come to-morrow morning
before sun-rise into the cellar, and carry in each hand a pail full of
water, and your request shall be complied with." The maid inquired what
the water was for: "That you will learn," answered he; "without it, the
sight of me might be injurious to you."
Next morning the cook
was ready at peep of dawn, took in each hand a pail of water, and went
down to the cellar. She looked about her without seeing anything; but
as she cast her eyes on the ground she perceived a tray, on which was
lying a naked child apparently three years old, and two knives sticking
crosswise in his heart, and his whole body streaming with blood. The
maid was terrified at this sight to such a degree, that she lost her
senses, and fell in a swoon on the ground. The spirit immediately took
the water that she had brought with her, and poured it all over her
head, by which means she came to herself again. She looked about for
the tray, but all had vanished, and she only heard the voice of
Hinzelmann, who said. "You see now how needful the water was; if it had
not been at hand you had died here in the cellar. I hope your burning
desire to see me is now pretty well cooled." He often afterwards
illuded the cook with this trick, and told it to strangers with great
glee and laughter.
He frequently showed himself to innocent
children when at play. The minister Feldmann recollected well, that
when[Pg 253] he was about fourteen or fifteen years old, and was not
thinking particularly about him, he saw the Spirit in the form of a
little boy going up the stairs very swiftly. When children were
collected about Hudemühlen house, and were playing with one another, he
used to get among them and play with them in the shape of a pretty
little child, so that all the other children saw him plainly, and when
they went home told their parents how, while they were engaged in play,
a strange child came to them and amused himself with them. This was
confirmed by a maid, who went one time into a room in which four or six
children were playing together, and among them she saw a strange little
boy of a beautiful countenance, with curled yellow hair hanging down
his shoulders, and dressed in a red silk coat; and while she wanted to
observe him more closely, he got out of the party, and disappeared.
Hinzelmann let himself be seen also by a fool, named Claus, who was
kept there, and used to pursue every sort of diversion with him. When
the fool could not anywhere be found, and they asked him afterwards
where he had been so long, he used to reply, "I was with the little wee
man, and I was playing with him." If he was farther asked how big the
little man was, he held his hand at a height about that of a child of
four years.[290]
When the time came that the house-spirit was
about to depart, he went to the master of the house and said to him,
"See, I will make you a present; take care of it, and let it remind you
of me." He then handed him a little cross—it is doubtful from the
author's words whether of silk (seide) or strings (saiten)—very
prettily plaited. It was the length of a finger, was hollow within, and
jingled when it was shaken. Secondly, a straw hat, which he had made
himself, and in which might be seen forms and figures very ingeniously
made in the variously-coloured straw. Thirdly, a leathern glove
set with pearls, which formed wonderful figures. He then subjoined this
prophecy: "So long as these things remain unseparated in good
preservation in your family, so long will your entire race flourish,
and their good fortune continually increase; but if these presents are
divided, lost, or wasted, your race will decrease and sink." And when
he perceived that the master appeared to set no particular value on the
present, he continued: "I fear that you do not much esteem these
things, and will let them go out of your hands; I therefore counsel you
to give them in charge to your sisters Anne and Catherine, who will
take better care of them."
He accordingly gave the gifts to his
sisters, who took them and kept them carefully, and never showed them
to any but most particular friends. After their death they reverted to
their brother, who took them to himself, and with him they remained so
long as he lived. He showed them to the minister Feldmann, at his
earnest request, during a confidential conversation. When he died, they
came to his only daughter Adelaide, who was married to L. von H., along
with the rest of the inheritance, and they remained for some time in
her possession. The son of the minister Feldmann made several inquiries
about what had afterwards become of the House-spirit's presents, and he
learned that the straw-hat was given to the emperor Ferdinand II., who
regarded it as something wonderful. The leathern glove was still in his
time in the possession of a nobleman. It was short, and just exactly
reached above the hand, and there was a snail worked with pearls on the
part that came above the hand. What became of the little cross was
never known.
The spirit departed of his own accord, after he had
staid four years, from 1584 to 1588, at Hudemühlen. He said, before he
went away, that he would return once more when the family would be
declined, and that it would then flourish anew and increase in
consequence.
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