WALTER VON DER VOGEL VOGELWEID the Minnesinger, ers. And he gave the monks his treasures, Gave them all with this behest : They should feed the birds at noontide Daily on his place of rest; Saying, "From these wandering minstrels I have learned the art of song ; Thus the bard of love departed; Day by day, o'er tower and turret, On the tree whose heavy branches On the cross-bars of each window, They renewed the War of Wartburg, Which the bard had fought before. There they sang their merry carols, Sang their lauds on every side; And the name their voices uttered Was the name of Vogelweid. 1 Walter von der Vogelweid. Walter von der Vogelweid, or Bird-Meadow, was one of the principal Minnesingers of the thirteenth century. He triumphed over Heinrich von Ofterdingen in that poetic contest at Wartburg Castle, Known in literary history as the War of Wartourg. The horologe of Eternity For, so swiftly it flew, the sight I breathed a song into the air, THE ARROW AND THE SONG. Long, long afterward, in an oak I SHOT an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where ; I found the arrow, still unbroke; SONNETS. THE EVENING STAR. Like a fair lady at her casement, The evening star, the star of love and rest! And then anon she doth herself divest Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,1 Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand Outstretched with o'er the land, benedictions Of all her radiant garments, and Blessing the farms through all thy reclines vast domain. hanging eaves; Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended; Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves; And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid, Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves ! 1 Like imperial Charlemagne. Charlemagne may be called by pre-eminence the monarch of farmers. According to the German tradition, in seasons of great abundance, his spirit crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge at Bingen, and blesses the cornfields and the vineyards. During his lifetime he did not disdain, says Moutesquieu, "to sell the eggs from the farmyards of his domains and the superfluous vegetables of his gardens; while he distributed among his people the wealth of the Lombards and the immense treasures of the Huns." |