forth on a noble black steed in mail-harness with scarlet housings--the
finest and stoutest horse in the Im Hoffs' stables-and his golden hair
shining in the sun, many a maid could not take her eyes off from him.

Kunz, in the garb of a fool, hither and thither, nay, and everywhere at
once, doubtless had the better sport; but Herdegen's heart beat the
higher, for he could hear a thousand voices proclaiming him the most
comely and his troop the most princely of all; from many a window a
flower was shed on him, or a ribband, or a knot. At last, when the dance
was all over, the guilds with the town-pipers betook them to the head
constable's quarters, where they were served with drink and ate the
Shrove-Tuesday meal of fish which was given in their honor. When the
procession was past and gone my grand-uncle bid Herdegen go to him, and
that which the old man then said and did to move him to give up his love
was shrewdly planned and not without effect on his mind. After looking
at him from head to foot, saying nothing but with no small contentment,
he clapped him kindly on the shoulder and led him, as though by chance,
up to the Venice mirror in the dining-hall. Then pointing to the image
before him: "A Tancred!" he cried, "a Godfrey! Richard of the Lion-
heart! And the bride a miserable scrivener's wench!--a noble bride!"
Thereupon Herdegen fired up and began to speak in praise of Ann's rare
and choice beauty; but his guardian stopped him short, laid his arm round
his shoulders, and muttered in his ear that in his young days likewise
youths of noble birth had to be sure made love to the fair daughters of
the common citizens, but the man who could have thought of courting one
of them in good faith....

Here he broke off with a sharp laugh, and drawing the boy closer to him,
cried: