Page:The German Novelists (Volume 3).djvu/102

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
92
Popular Tales.

“It would seem, from all we know, old friend, that thou art right; yet I dreamed the thing so exactly to the minutest circumstance, more than three months ago, that I was to meet him on this very spot, and hear tidings of the greatest importance to me; that I could not refrain from trying whether there was any truth in it.”—“Truth, indeed!” replied the soldier; “why no one dreams more truly, as you may say, than I do: I had one dream I shall never forget. I can’t say how long back it was; but my good angel certainly appeared in the shape of a fine youth, with yellow curly hair, two wings upon his back, and took his place at my bed-side. “Listen, old Berthold,’ he said, ‘and lose not a word, if thou dost wish to be happy. Thou art fated to find a large treasure, and enjoy thyself for the rest of thy life. So go to-morrow, after sunset, with thy spade in thy hand; cross the river to thy right hand, pass all the houses, and the monastery of St. John, until thou reach a garden with four steps leading to it from the road. Wait there quietly, till the moon shines bright; then push with all thy might against the door, and it will open. Walk into the garden without the least fear; turn up a walk on thy left hand, overshaded with vines, and behind them thou wilt see a large apple tree. Well, step up to the stem of it, with thy face towards the moon. About two yards distant, thou wilt find two