what I am. True--and this is something--I grew to be at least one
person's joy--his. No, no, at home there are others also, though they
dwell in wretched hovels, who would gladly welcome me back. But except
these, who will ask about the reckless countess? I myself do not care to
linger long when the mirror shows me my image. Do you wish to know what
this has to do with the fire? Much; for otherwise I should scarcely have
been wounded. The lightning had struck only the convent barn; the cow
stable, when we arrived, was still safe, but the flames soon reached
it also. Neither the nuns nor the men had thought of driving the cattle
out. Poor city cattle! In the country the animals have more friendly
care. When the work of rescue was at last commenced the cows naturally
refused to leave their old home. Some prudent person had torn the door
off the hinges that they might not stifle. Just in front of it stood
a pretty red cow with a white star on her face. A calf was by her side,
and the mother had already sunk on her knees and was licking it in mortal
terror. I pitied the poor thing, and as Boemund Altrosen, the black-
haired knight who entered your house with the rest after the ride to
Kadolzburg, had just come there, I told him to save the calf. Of course
he obeyed my wish, and as it struggled he dragged it out of the stable
with his strong arms. The building was already blazing, and the thatched
roof threatened to fall in. Just at that moment the old cow looked at me
so piteously and uttered such a mournful bellow that it touched me to the
heart. My eyes rested on the calf, and a voice within whispered that it
would be motherless, like me, and miss during the first part of its life
God's best gift. But since, as you have heard, I act before I think,
I went myself--I no longer know how--into the burning stable. It was
hard to breathe in the dense smoke, and fiery sparks scorched my shawl
and my hair, but I was conscious of one thought: You must save the
helpless little creature's mother! So I called and lured her, as I do at
home, where all the cows are fond of me, but it was useless; and just as