Robert Pearse Gillies

“ Even Wolfgang and Hendrick could gain no advantage over their companions, except getting a little closer to the beast than the rest. At length, the lords of three villages, which this animal infested, fancying that there might be some want of energy in the attempts to destroy it, or, perhaps, a little fear, offered a reward of a piece of land to the man who should produce its head, ‘to belong to him and his heirs for ever,’ besides the privilege of choosing the fairest maiden within their domains as a wife, to whom they also promised a portion. ”

“ Many of the fragments were so large, that they resembled small cliffs, and from their tops and sides grew out and hung down trees and shrubs of every description. Several lay as if fallen against each other, so as to leave caverns and arches between their sides, and the red glare of the sun, setting behind the hills, gleamed through these openings in a wild and beautiful manner. Other pieces were small and plentiful, lying in heaps, as well as separately, amongst the larger masses ”

“ At last, towards evening, when all the rest, similarly engaged, had given up the chase, he fancied that the animal appeared lame, and exhausted with fatigue. Although he was scarcely otherwise himself, this idea dissipated all his weariness, and hoping that he might now run it down, he borrowed a fresh horse from the nearest house, and returning to where it lay, hid in its lair, he forced it to rise, and betake itself to that same plain over which he had first pursued it, in company with Hendrick. ”

“ In that mountainous region called the Bergstrasse, which lies along the banks of the Rhine, it was formerly the custom for the young men, when they came to a certain age, to inroll themselves in a company of hunters, for the express purpose of pursuing and destroying wolves; for which reason the band was called the wolf-slaughterers. Indeed, that part of the country is so craggy, so full of caverns, and so crowded with woods, that it is the place in the world most fitted for the harbour of wild beasts, and accordingly, there were in former times a vast number to be found there ”

“ Thus, besides the hope of obtaining the reward, and the beauty, there was the fear that another should gain her, and Wolfgang said, that he would rather the beast should tear him to pieces, than that Hendrick should become possessed of her, and Hendrick said much the same of Wolfgang. Nevertheless, the monster continued his ravages, though all the country was in arms against him, and it was at length reported, that Count Albert of Fiendenheim was going to invite all the knights and warriors of his acquaintance, to come and make a grand attempt to rid his lands of such a scourge. ”

“ This offer produced a great commotion among the young men of the three villages, as well as among the maidens; all of them being willing to obtain the reward; but upon Wolfgang and Hendrick it had a very strong effect. Since first beholding the young beauty among the rocks, they had both striven to gain her as a wife, but, though she gave them equal audience, she declared positively in favour of neither of them. But when the reward was offered for the head of the beast, she said that she would willingly give her hand to the huntsman who should obtain it. ”

“ Indeed, it is said, that when one had the superiority, he always relaxed his exertions, till the other came up with him, and that they retained this habit in the chace; for Wolfgang has been known, after he had killed one beast, to miss the next purposely, that Hendrick might strike it, and Hendrick has done the same, when fortune was on his side. ”

“ They were both strong, fearless, and well skilled in the use of their weapons, and they were considered as chiefs of the troop, because each had destroyed more wild beasts with his own hands than any other two belonging to it, although, between themselves, the number was equal; for if Hendrick, (so one was called,) at any time had the advantage, Wolfgang, the other, never desisted from the chase till he had brought home the head of a wolf, to reduce their conquests to the same level. This rivalry was, however, not the occasion of any enmity between these young men ”

“ Wolfgang, as I have already said, was of a temper somewhat impatient, and when he heard that Count Albert purposed calling his friends to assist him, fearing he should lose an opportunity of at once acquiring the beauty, he mounted his horse, and set out on the chase, swearing he would never return without the head of the monster ”

“ They now thought of returning home to Fiendenheim, and turned their horses the way contrary to that which they had come, and, as they rode along, wondering what kind of beast they had chased, they found that their exertion had both fatigued them and made them excessively thirsty. Accordingly, they resolved to take a full draught from the stream when they reached it, and agreed to ask permission of the lord of that domain to bring their whole troop on the following day, to give full pursuit to so dangerous a monster. ”

“ Nevertheless he checked not his bridle, but kept on his way till he reached the village of Fiendenheim, where he rushed in dismay up to a crowd of the inhabitants.
“The men of Fiendenheim shouted when they saw the successful huntsman, who had ridden forth in the anticipation of happiness, return so terrified, and the women screamed as they gazed at the man and horse, black with smoke, and dripping with perspiration. ‘Is this the bridegroom?’ cried they. ‘Where is the bride?’ Hendrick, for a long time, could not speak ”