and having his cap wreathed with a garland of green leaves, who stood
close at his side. Carl's tongue moved to utter a salutation, but the
words stuck in his throat, an indescribable sensation of horror thrilled
through his frame; tales of the demons of the Hartz rushed upon his
memory--but he recovered instantly from the sudden shock. The desperate
state of his fortune gave him courage, and, looking up, he was surprised
at the consternation which the stranger had occasioned: he was a person
of ordinary appearance, who, accosting him frankly, exclaimed, "Ho,
comrade, thou art, I see, bent on the same errand as myself; but
wherefore dost thou seek the treasures of the Nibelungen without the
protecting wreath?"--"The treasures of the Nibelungen?" returned Carl;
"I have indeed heard of such a thing, and that it was hidden in the
bosom of the Hartz by a princess of the olden time; but I never was mad
enough to think of so wild a chase as a search after riches, which has
baffled the wisest of our ancestors, must surely prove."--"Belike then,"
replied the forester, "thou art well to do in the world, and therefore
needest not to replenish thy wallets with gold,--travelling perchance to
take possession of some rich inheritance."--"No, by St. Roelas," cried
the woodcutter, "thou hast guessed wide of the mark. I am going to hide
my poverty in the mine of Rammelsburg."--"The mine of Rammelsburg!"
echoed the stranger, and laughed scornfully, so that the deep woods rang
with the sound; and Carl feeling his old sensations return as the
fiendish merriment resounded through the wilderness, again gazed
stedfastly in his companion's face, but he read nothing there to justify
his suspicions: the fiery eye lost its lustre; the lip its curl; and,
gazing benignantly upon the forlorn wood-cutter, he continued his
speech, saying, "Then prithee take the advice of one who knows these
forests, and all that they contain. Here are materials in abundance for
our garland; advance forward, and fear not the issue;"--and, gathering
leaves from the boughs of trees of a species unknown to his new