Copenhagen and Hamburg. [Author's Note: "Itri," Fra Diavolo's
birthplace, lies in the Neapolitan States, on the highway between
Rome and Naples. The inhabitants are not, without reason, suspected
of carrying on the robber's trade.] Near the church there formerly
lay a stone, on which Knud, the saint, is said to have rested
himself when flying from the rebellious Jutlanders. In the stone
remained the impression of where he had sat; the hard stone had
been softer than the hearts of the rebellious people.

This, and similar legends, the coachman knew how to relate; he was
born in this neighborhood, but not in Vissenberg itself, where they
make the false notes. [Author's Note: A number of years ago a band
of men were seized in Vissenberg who had forged bank-notes.] Every
legend gains in interest when one hears it in the place with which
it is connected. Funen is especially rich in such relations.

"That cairn elevates itself at Christmas upon four red posts, and
one can then see the dance and merriment of the goblins within.
Through that peasant's farm there drives every night a glowing
coach, drawn by four coal-black horses. Where we now see a pond
overgrown with reeds and roots there once stood a church, but it
sank as the godless desecrated it; at midnight we still hear their
sighs, and hymns of repentance."

It is true that the narrator mixed up together certain leg-ends
which related to other places in the country--that he took little
springs, and mingled his own thoughts with his relations; but Otto
listened to him with great interest. The discourse turned also upon
the family at the hall.