Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Ways of Warmth in February: Grimm's Saga No. 161: Silver gushes from the ground.


In February of the year 1605, Duke Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig ruled the land. A mile from Quedlinburg in a place called the Valley, it happened that a poor farmer sent out his daughter to collect fire wood. The girl took a large wood basket and a smaller hand basket and went into the thicket. When she had filled both baskets and wanted to go home, a small man clothed entirely in white approached her and asked

“What are you carrying?”

“The wood I have collected,” the girl responded “It’s for heating and cooking.”

“Empty your baskets of wood,” the little man said. “Then follow me.” I want to show you something that is better and more beneficial than wood.”

He took her hand and led her back to a hill and showed her a place roughly two household tables wide. There lay shining silver coins, some large, some small, all of moderate thickness. Above it was a picture, the likeness of the Virgin Mary and around the image could be seen inscribed an ancient language. The silver was gushing steadily out of the earth and the girl became very frightened and recoiled in fear. She did not want to shake out the content of her wood basket. So the little man in white did it for her. He filled the basket with the money and gave it to the girl saying

“This will be better than wood.”

Confused, she took it from him. But when the little man urged her to shake out her other basket and fill it with silver, the girl declined and said she had to bring home firewood. There were small children at home and they desperately needed a warm room and wood for cooking. The little man was satisfied with this response and said

“Then go home with your baskets,” and then he vanished.

The girl returned home with the basket full of silver and explained what had happened. When the farmers of the region heard about it, they all ran into the forest in droves carrying rakes and other utensils and wanted to take their share of the treasure. But no one could ever find the place where the silver gushed forth from the earth.

The Duke of Braunschweig took one pound of silver from the coins in the girls’ basket, as did a citizen from Halberstadt, by the name of N. Everkan.

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