Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands Part 16

"The maiden has one request to make."

"She shall have her request."

So the dean was released and went back to Strasburg. The maid became the wife of the young count, but what became of the hen the chroniclers do not tell.

But the trench remains,--the _Henne-Graben_,--and all that is wanting to make the evidence of the story sure is to connect the hen with the trench, after four hundred years. This may not be hard; geologists make connections in like cases after the lapse of a thousand years. Do they not?

CHAPTER VII.

EVENING THE THIRD.

STRASBURG.--A MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS.--THE STORY OF THE LOST ORGANIST.

Our third night upon the Rhine was spent at Strasburg.

"The cathedral is the wonder of the city. The excursionist thinks of but little else during his stay there. Wherever he may be, the gigantic church is always in view. He beholds it towering over all.

"Its history is that of Germany. It grew with the German empire, and has shared all its triumphs and reverses. It was founded by Clovis. It has been imperilled by lightning some fifty times, and has as often repelled the shocks of war. In the tenth century it was burned; in the eleventh, plundered; and five years after it was nearly demolished by lightning.

"It was after the last calamity that the present structure was begun.

At one time a _hundred thousand_ men were employed upon it: can we wonder that it is colossal?

"The giant grew. In 1140, 1150, and 1176 it was partly burned, but it rose from the flames always more great, lofty, and splendid.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STRASBURG CATHEDRAL.]

"Indulgences were offered to donors and workmen; to contributors of all kinds. Men earned, or thought they earned, their salvation by adding their mites to the spreading magnificence. In 1303 it is said that all the peasants of Alsace might be seen drawing stone into Strasburg for the cathedral. Master builder succeeded master builder,--died,--but the great work went on. In the French Revolution the Jacobins tore from the cathedral the statues of two hundred and thirty saints; but it was still a city of saints in stone and marble.

In 1870, in the Franco-Prussian war, its roof was perforated with sh.e.l.ls, and on the 25th of August it burst into flames, and it was telegraphed over the world that the great cathedral was destroyed. But it stands to-day, majestic, regal, and beautiful, its spire piercing the sky.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATFORM OF STRASBURG CATHEDRAL.]

"We visited the cathedral in the afternoon. We were at once filled with wonder at the windows. They burned with color, and seemed to hang in air amid the shadows of the lofty walls. They represented scriptural subjects.

"I was standing in awe, gazing upon a gorgeous circular window that seemed to blaze in the air like a planet, when Charlie touched my arm.

"'The clock?'

"'What?'

"'Can we not go up and see the fixings, and how it is all done?'

"'I am not thinking of that _toy_,' said I; 'you stand in a monument of art that it has taken a thousand years to build.'

"'Yes; I hope we shall be here to-morrow when the Twelve Apostles come out and the c.o.c.k crows _at_ Peter.'"

A MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS.

The soldiers of Aurelian, the Roman emperor, used to sing,--

"We have slain a thousand Franks."

"We have cut off the heads of a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand.

One man hath cut off the heads of a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand; May he live a thousand years."

The Franks came out of the North, and established themselves in Gaul and Germania during the period of the early Roman emperors. Their most renowned king was Clovis, with whom began the empire of France.

He was a savage and pa.s.sionate man, born to command and to conquer.

He was a heathen. It is related of him that once, when he had enriched himself with spoils from some of the early Christian churches, the Bishop of Rheims desired that he would return a valued vase that had been taken from the cathedral.

"Follow us to Soissons," said Clovis; "there the booty will be divided."

In the division of the booty, a high-spirited and selfish Frankish chieftain objected to the bishop's claim, and, to show his contempt for him and the Church, struck the vase with his battle-axe. Clovis was offended. He gave the bishop the vase, and soon after avenged the insult by striking the chieftain dead with his own battle-axe, saying,--

"Thus didst thou to the vase at Soissons."

His wife, Clotilde, was a Christian, and she often tried to persuade him to embrace the Christian faith.

In 496 the Allemannians, a German confederation, who had been a.s.sailing the Roman colonies on the Rhine, crossed the river, and invaded the territory of the Franks. Clovis met the invaders near Cologne. A severe battle followed. Clovis was hard pressed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THUS DIDST THOU TO THE VASE OF SOISSONS.]

He called upon his G.o.ds, but they did not answer him. He saw he was in danger of being utterly defeated and losing his army.

He had with him a servant of the queen.

"My Lord King," said this man, "believe only on the Lord of heaven, whom the queen, my mistress, preacheth."

Clovis raised his eyes in hope towards heaven,--

"Christ Jesus, thou whom my queen Clotilde calleth the Son of G.o.d, I have called upon my own G.o.ds, and they have left me. Thee I invoke.

Give me victory, and I will believe in thee, proclaim thee to my people, and be baptized in thy name."

The tide of battle now suddenly turned, the Allemannians were beaten, and their king was slain.

When his queen had learned of his vow, she sent for the Bishop of Rheims to instruct him in Christianity. He publicly renounced his G.o.ds, and his people at the same time accepted the queen's faith.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STREET IN STRASBURG.]

Christmas Day, 496, will be ever memorable in Christian history; it was on that day that the King of the Franks was baptized.

The occasion was one of barbaric splendor, and such as might be expected of a warlike king in those rude times. The road from the palace to the baptistery, over which the king was to pa.s.s, was curtained with silk, mottoes, and banners, like a triumphal way. The houses of Rheims were hung with festive ornaments, and the baptistery itself was sprinkled with balm and "all manner of perfume."

The procession moved from the palace like a pageant for a feast of victory. The clergy led, bearing the Gospels, standards, and cross.