IV. DUKE CARL OF ROSENMOLD
[119] One stormy season about the beginning of the present century, a
great tree came down among certain moss-covered ridges of old masonry
which break the surface of the Rosenmold heath, exposing, together
with its roots, the remains of two persons. Whether the bodies (male
and female, said German bone-science) had been purposely buried there
was questionable. They seemed rather to have been hidden away by the
accident, whatever it was, which had caused death--crushed, perhaps,
under what had been the low wall of a garden--being much distorted,
and lying, though neatly enough discovered by the upheaval of the
soil, in great confusion. People's attention was the more attracted
to the incident because popular fancy had long run upon a tradition
of buried treasures, golden treasures, in or about the antiquated
ruin which the garden boundary enclosed; the roofless shell of a
small but solidly-built stone house, burnt or overthrown, perhaps in
the time of the wars at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Many persons went to [120] visit the remains lying out on the dark,
wild plateau, which stretches away above the tallest roofs of the old
grand-ducal town, very distinctly outlined, on that day, in deep
fluid grey against a sky still heavy with coming rain. No treasure,
indeed, was forthcoming among the masses of fallen stone. But the
tradition was so far verified, that the bones had rich golden
ornaments about them; and for the minds of some long-remembering
people their discovery set at rest an old query.
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