Page:Popular Tales of the Germans (Volume 1).djvu/187

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OF THE VEIL.
169

cult to find among the mountains an aſſiſtant to his mind, for age had made him diſtruſtful and capricious. Accident unexpectedly ſatisfied his wants, by giving him an aſſociate, on whom he could lean as ſecurely as on his pilgrim’s ſtaff.—The inhabitants of Meiſſen had overthrown the Swabians with great ſlaughter, and killed one hundred and fifty dozen[1]. The Swabian army was ſeized with a panic: fear gave the word, ‘Save himſelf who can!’ Every man who felt a pair of ſound legs under him, thanked God for his mercy as well as all the ſaints, and uſed them as a ſcared flight of larks uſe their wings—to riſe above the inſidious flaxen walls and eſcape the meſhes of death. Many flew to the neighbouring foreſts, and when they were tired, hid themſelves in hollow trees. One

  1. The conquerors may have numbered the ſlain by dozens, like larks, becauſe the Leipſic burghers, on the ſide of Margrave, compared the campaign to lark-catching, from the eaſineſs of the victory.
Vol. I.
I
faithful