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"Thou askest whether the King would graciously approve, or turn his face angrily away. I do not blame thine anxiety; many a one asks how the hare runs, and what the owl cries. But I tell you what is known to men without any prognostics. The gods of mankind have consecrated a law for us, that we should grant air and light, earth and water, to the innocent stranger. If the King is angry because we behave honorably to a suppliant, we must bear it; for heavier is the anger of the gods than the displeasure of a king. If this man is an enemy to you because he has fought the Romans, then extinguish forthwith the hearth-fire at which he sits down, and lead him away beyond the boundary forest. But to consider whether he may perhaps become dangerous, or perhaps not, is not the custom of the country, nor the command of the gods."

"Listen to his words," began Isanbart again. "I saw my sons fall in the thick of battle; my grandsons also have vanished from man's earth; I know not why I have remained behind in the struggle between night and day, between summer and winter, and between love and anger in the souls of men. But perhaps the powers have perserved me here, that I might give to the younger men an account of the fate of their fathers. In the former times, so the old men told me, all Thuringians built upon their own fields as free men, in a confederacy of the provinces. But discord came among the people; those in the northern province struggled unsuccessfully against the knives of the Saxons. Then those in the northern province chose a king; they placed him on a high seat, and put a diadem round the head of a hero whose fame as a warrior was renowned; and the race of princes became powerful. From the quarries of the plain they built a castle of stone, and collected warriors of the people within the walls. But our ancestors, forest men, sat independent on the inheritance of their fathers, impatient of the king's sway.

"Long did the strife last between our province and the king's men. When the king's hosts invaded our boundary fence we drove our herds into the woods, and saw indignantly how these valley people set our houses in flames; we sat behind the barricade, and counted the days, till we could exercise reprisals on the herds and warriors of the king. At last the king offered an amicable compromise. I was a boy when the people of our province first bowed their necks before the king's red diadem. Since then we have sent our young men to his wars, and in return the king's men come into our ranks when our province is at war with the community of the Catts.

"Impatiently does the king bear our lukewarm homage; often have his messengers endeavored to set a price on our herds, and to count the sheaves on our acres. More than once in our lifetime has the quarrel with the king's people blazed up; the common advantage has compelled them again to peace, but the counselors of the king spy jealously from the battlements of the castle on our free forests. Now we still live unscathed; rings and garments come from the king's castle for the persons of our nobles, and our fellow-countrymen are received with loud greetings in the king's halls.

"Yet I warn you that we are not pliant, nor accustomed to the princely service; we ask for nothing, therefore King Bisino sends us no answers; we do not supplicate him as a master, therefore he grants us no favors. Every pretext to show power is welcome at the king's court. Whether the king's people like or dislike the stranger, if we ask them, it does us a mischief; if today we inquire about our rights of hospitality, and beg for permission, on the morrow we shall have a king's messenger with commands. Therefore it seems to me better that we should remain as we have done. To give content to our guest is our right, not the right of the king. Thus be it ended.

"When I was a man in my full strength, I was traveling companion to the father of our host. I stood in the battle by the sword-hand of that Hero whose son now tarries at our hearth. A mild man, but proud and strong, was the father, and I see the son is of the same stump. When lately I found the young Hero at the games, then did my dream of the olden time revive; I saw a friend's eye, not that of a stranger; the hand of the king, which I once touched in a foreign country, I touched anew now; and therefore I desire to gain for him the goodwill of the people, the seat at our bench."

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