| THE LEGEND OF DANIEL'S CAVE |
| From: William John Thoms: Lays
and legends of Germany, London 1834 On the northern declivity of the mountain upon whose summit is situated the Huyseburg Monastery, which lies about a mile from Halberstadt,* there is shown a cave artificially formed out of the rock; its entrance, though very ingeniously contrived, may now easily be discovered owing to the cutting down of the forest, but it was formerly concealed by the wide-spreading oaks and impenetrable underwood by which it was surrounded. Nothing is now to be seen but the bare sides of the rock of two chambers, one adapted for the abode of a human being, the other fitted up as a stable. In the roof, a hole, wrought through the solid rock is moreover discernible, and the following is the tradition which the peasantry of the neighbourhood relate upon the subject :— In this cave there once dwelt a robber, who was the terror of the whole country round. His name was Daneel, or Daniel. His brother, an astrologer, had discovered this hiding-place for him, and fitted it up for him accordingly ; and was, for his pains, murdered by his ungrateful brother that he might never divulge his secret retreat. For a long time did Daniel, sallying forth from his cave, carry on his robberies in the Hartz Mountains. He had, moreover, for the furtherance of his nefarious practices, laid down over a very large circle, wires, which were connected with small bells arranged in his cave, whose ringing pointed out to him the spot to which to betake himself for the purpose of robbing the unwary traveller. This contrivance procured him likewise a wife and housekeeper. Susan, abeautiful peasant girl from one of the neighbouring villages.went into the forest nutting, and lost herself among the thicknesses which concealed the robber's cave. Scarcely had she touched one of the treacherous wires ere Daniel sprang out, and, in spite of her resistance, thrust her into the cave. Here he compelled her to become his wife, binding her with a terrible oath never to forsake him maliciously-never to betray his hiding-place to any living man. Long did the dwelling of the robber remain undiscovered. For, since he for the most part perpetrated his crimes in distant parts, and returned in the darkness of night to his unsuspected retreat, it was for many years supposed that he had not taken up his abode in the Hartz Wood; and when at length the magistrates of the neighbourhood were, by frequent complaints, compelled to take notice of his conduct, Daniel, by various stratagems, contrived to keep out of their clutches. Among other plans adopted by him, was that of having his horse shod, with shoes put on the wrong way, so that his foot-marks, if traced, would necessarily mislead those who were in seatcb of him. The last traces, too, were lost in the turf which covered the declivity of the mountain, in whose centre lay the robber's cave. But retribution sleeps not for ever. Five children had Susan borne unto him, and all five had the inhuman monster stabbed as soon as they were born, that he might not be betrayed by their cries. At length the robber conceded to the thousand times preferred entreaty of his wife, of whose fidelity he was convinced and whom he supposed to have been so long forgotten that she would never be recognised—and consented to her going to one of the neighbouring villages to purchase some articles of clothing which she had long stood in need of. After six sorrowful years he opened for the first time her prison, and she once more looked upon cultivated lands. Yet, before her departure, must she repeat, with the strongest asseverations, the oath which she had made to him, and swear, moreover, to return home from the city before the bustle of the day commenced. Before sun-rise she left the robber's cave, moved by a thousand emotions. Only one month before had she witnessed the cruel murder of her fifth-born child, a fine healthy boy, and his cries were still ringing in her ears ; ever since had the robber, whose return home had ever been a source of misery to her, and whose tales of murder and rapine she had shuddered to listen to, become wholly unbearable. She trembled at the thought that in a few hours she was to return again to the cave, and there be imprisoned, perhaps, for ever. And yet she was bound by a dreadful oath, and her heart kept whispering " soul lost, all lost." Thus, she now felt herself free; but, at the same time, chained to the cave and to the robber. As she passed the Huyseburg Monastery she hoped her guardian angel would so order it that she might encounter some priest, who would, before she discovered to him her secret, absolve her from her oath. But no priest appeared. Twilight and sleep still overhung the monastery and those that dwelt therein. She went on, now stood at the outskirts of the wood, and saw the city lying before, still veiled in mist. The silence which surrounded her was awful - she felt alone and abandoned by the whole world. At length the sun arose, and the whole landscape was laid open before her; but her breast was sore troubled ; it was to her as if the first breath of morning, which she had often wished once more to breathe, would crush her very heart. Anguish lent wings to her feet, and she came without meeting a human soul into the city; found the houses of the Jews, who all dwelt near the gate, and from whom she was to purchase what she wanted, still closed, and was about to turnback into her gloomy prison. But the tumult of her thoughts made her dizzy. She missed her way in the city, and, scarcely conscious where she was, found herself in the market-place in the very heart of it. It was so early in the day that even there she saw not a single human being. She lifted up her eyes from the ground, and saw the statue of Roland* at the corner of the court-house. Overcome by her sufferings and her anxiety to give vent to her bursting heart, she threw herself on her knees, before the stone figure, andrelated to it with streams of tears and loud sobbings, her sufferings and the horrors which she had seen and heard in the cave of the robber. An officer of justice who was passing, heard part of her confession, and compelled her to go with him to the magistrate. Here, when she found that her secret was already discovered, and that three priests absolved her from the oath by which she was bound, she told without any reservation all she knew, and promised moreover to give the wily robber over to justice. Then, she hastened back as quickly as she could to the cave, strewing her path all the way with peas, which had been given to her for that purpose by the magistracy. As agreed, on the following day, the magistrates, with ten well-armed soldiers, betook themselves to the side of the mountain which she had pointed out to them as that in which the robber's cave was situated, and separated themselves among the bushes. Soon they espied the peas which Susan had scattered, but as they could not hope to gain an entrance by open violence to the cave, which was closed by a massive iron door, fastened by huge locks and bolts, they determined to remain in concealment until the moment arrived which Susan had described as the only one in whichthey werelikely to surprise and overcome the robber. It was now noon, and the sun shone warm and bright. Then they heard, just above them, the sound of a little bell, which was the signal made to them by Susan, and immediately afterwards the jarring of the locks and bolts of the iron door which was now opened. They looked up, and out came Susan followed by the terrific robber. Susan sate herself down in a small open sun-shiny spot on the side of the mountain; near her, in the tall grass, lay Daniel, with his head resting in her'lap, as he was always accustomed to do in the warm weather, and to take his noon-tide sleep. The modern Delilah stroked his cheeks and forehead until he slept. As soon as she believed him to be sleeping soundly, she gave the soldiers the concerted signal, which was a low whistle, as a sign for them to spring upon him. They hegan to ascend the mountain-side for that purpose. But Daniel, whom this unaccustomed sound had already half awakened, sprung up suddenly on hearing the rustling in the surrounding bushes, and looking round saw armed men approaching him on every side. He instantly laid hands upon Susan and endeavoured to drag her into the cave with nim; but she, resisting his attempts, with all her might, he rushed alone into his den, closed the iron-door after him, and barricadoed it with iron bars, fragments of the rock, and stumps of trees. There, at length, stood the soldiers and their leaders, before the long-sought spot; they had gotten the robber whom they had so often tried to take, completely encircled, and yet they were again deceived. In vain they stormed the entrance with their weapons, and with the sledges which the neighbouring wood afforded ; the door offered successful resistance to all their efforts. Besides, none of the party felt desirous to be the first to enter the cave of the robber; so they ceased for a while their attacks upon it, and held a council of war. The magistrates and soldiers at length agreed, after long deliberation, that their safest plan would be to starve the robber out of his rocky strong-hold, and that a special messenger should carry the news of the siege of the villain to the city, and return with provisions for the besiegers and such reinforcements as seemed necessary to secure them from all accidents. But Susan explained to the consulting parties that Daniel had for years, in expectation of such an event, been making provision to resist it; and always kept with him in the cave a supply of food and water, which would hold out for many weeks. This delay appeared to the soldiers to be too great: this objection to the proposed plan of starving him out was admitted to be just, and every one suggested a different plan, such as storming, undermining, and blowing up the rock; every one of which was no sooner proposed, than it was pronounced impracticable. Thus did the besieging party pass the day before the cave, quarrelling and disagreeinguntilthe sun went down. Daniel, who in his strong-hold overheard their contentions, laughed at them, and made preparations for sallying forth about midnight, when the soldiers would be weary, and perhaps asleep, intending, as circumstances woulddetermine,either to slip quietly out, and let them in the morning find the bird flown and the nest empty; or, if his enemies should awake, to break through them like a roaring devil. He would next conceal himself in the neighbouring wood, called the Elm Wood, and from thence get deeper into the Hartz Mountains, and there carry on his old trade. But all his calculations were thrown out. One of the soldiers to whom the contest appeared likely to be of too long duration, had withdrawn himself unnoticed from the council of war, hastened back to the city, and there made public the circumstance, with all the additions and enlargements which fear, and a desire to exalt his own services, prompted him. And the news spread so rapidly, that before night-fall such multitudes of persons from the surrounding countryjoined the besiegers, that they remained on their posts in high spirits, and Daniel found he had no chance of escape. "Night bringeth good counsel," saith the Proverb: and at length they agreed amongst them that the robber should either be drowned in his retreat, or suffocated by the steam of boiling water. Soon after day-break hundreds, well provided with hatchets and axes, were busily employed in hewing down all the trees and brushwood which grew around the cavern; and in the course of a few hours the whole of that side of the mountain was as open as it is at the present time. No sooner was this accomplished, than water was brought thither from all the towns and, villages in the neighbourhood; and, in the meanwhile, some bricklayers and masons had succeeded in boring a hole through that part of the rock which formed the roof of the cave. Finally, they procured from the Huyseberg Monastery a large brewing copper, which they laid upon an immense fire, and therein heated the water. Then was the entrapped robber stormed and driven to despair, by the streams of boiling water which were passed in buckets from hand to hand through a line of men placed for the purpose, and then quietly poured down the opening into the cave. After some hours they heard him moving about in confusion in the cave, now leaving his dwelling- place for the stable, now making the best of his way back from the stable to his own part. After a time they found the water escaping through a number of small apertures, which it would be impossible to block up. It was therefore resolved that the water should be thickened with meal. The surrounding mills and villages were called upon to give up their stores, and for some hours hot and thick flour and water was poured continually into the cell. At last, all within it seemed quiet; and after all signs of life in the robber had ceased to be heard for some time, the iron door was burst open with crowbars; and there, right at the entrance, they found the crouching body of the guilty one. NoTE.--This melo-dramatic tale, which is from Busching's Volkssagen. a. 359-369, is remarkable for its resemblance to a story of Black Frederick, a Silesian robber, whose adventures will hereafter be given. * In Lower Saxony, S. West of Magdeburgh. * The Roland-Säule, si figure so called, which was erected in old German towns as a symbol of municipal jurisprudence |