"drî knütele eichen[1]
ze guoter mâze wol gewegen,
die wâren dô der beste segen."
Hagen and Büsching, Grundriss, p. 345.
See also Chaucer's Poetical Works, vol. 4. The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn, v. 996.
"Gamelyn sprenith holi watir
All with on okin spire."
The quails (Wachteln) signify lies; even at this day we hear "he lies in his sack;" see Haupt's Zeitschrift, 4. 578. The Story of Schlauraffenland, and The Ditmars Tale of Wonders (Nos. 158 and 159), should likewise be compared.
139.—The Maid of Brakel.
From the neighbourhood of Paderborn. St. Anna is in fact the patron Saint of Brakel, and her chapel is near the town. "Mudder" (mother) has come from High German, but "Möhme" is the common expression. Another mocking verse is current there,
"O hilge Sünte Anne,
help mie doch bald tom Manne!
O hilge Sünte Viet,
et is iez die hogeste Tied!"[2]
St. Vitus is the patron Saint of Corvei, which lies very near. In Hanover it is told that as the girl was praying to God to give her some sign, a shepherd who had been listening to the whole prayer behind a hedge, threw an old shoe over it, for which she thanked God in great delight. A similar story is told of a sexton in Wormer, a North-Dutch village, near Zaanland, Stavoren, Vronen in Waterland, communicated by Hendrik Soeteboom (Amsterdam, 1702), 1. 376, 377.
A certain baker living in this village was notorious for making his bread too light in weight, and for this reason could not earn enough to keep him. So he often went to the church and prayed to the Virgin Mary, whose image stood on one of the pillars with the infant Jesus in her arms, and begged her to give him a better livelihood. The clerk who had observed this, once placed himself
