Part 41

In the same year innumerable earless blades of wheat rose from the bottom of the sea like a forest, catching up mud, mire, weed, and remains of animals, so that by and by a dune rose under water which stopped the ships from entering the port of Stavoren.

The inhabitants of the town who had principally lived by commerce, suddenly found the source of their wealth stopped. Want and poverty took possession of the once rich city. Richberta, in whom everybody recognised the author of this misfortune, lost everything in the general impoverishment, and was driven by the enraged populace from the town. The once proud and rich lady had now to beg for her bread. She walked wearily from village to village, curses following her wherever she went. She died in utter destitution.

The sea that had for so many years been the blessing of Stavoren was now the destruction of the voluptuous city. One night it rose with immense power against the dunes, burst through them, and flooding the town with huge waves, buried it forever.

To this day, the fishermen on the Zuydersea relate the story of the wonderful sunken city that once towered high into the air. When the water is clear they imagine they can see the high steeples of Stavoren's churches and the towers of her palaces shimmering up from the bottom of the sea.

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Transcriber's Notes:

Illustrations were inserted between pages of the original text. In this e-book they have been moved to the head of the relevant story.

Obvious printer errors (missing or transposed letters, misspellings, missing punctuation, etc.) have been amended without note.

There are some instances of archaic spelling, which have been retained throughout.

Hyphenation has been made consistent without note. There are some occurrences of 'compound' nouns (for example, Folksepic, milkwhite, spearpierced, etc.), which have been retained as part of the charm of the text.

There are some variations in the spelling of proper nouns (for example, Liege/Liege or Brunhild/Brunhilde). These have been retained throughout, except where there was an obvious error, which has been amended and noted. Missing titles or variations between titles and the Table of Contents have been amended and noted. A complete list of these amendments is included at the end of the text.

Finally, there are two instances of unusual grammar, which have been retained: in the Prefatory note, "... and over all the sun shined brightly ..." and on page 152, "... his wife and retinue are looking devoutedly towards heaven ...".

List of Amendments:

Prefatory Note--omitted 'I' added--"I soon became absorbed in the ever-changing panorama."

Prefatory note--"english" amended to "English"--"... romance for the English speaking nations ..."

Contents--"The Mothers Gost" amended to "The Mother's Ghost"

Page 7--title "ST. GOTHARD" amended to "ST. GOTTHARD"

Page 79--title "The mother's Ghost" amended to "The Mother's Ghost"

Page 97--title "I." added

Page 117--"Coblentz" amended to "Coblenz"--"... a beautiful meadow at Rhense near Coblenz ..."

Page 145--title "I." added

Page 155--"Charlemange" amended to "Charlemagne"--"... that Charlemagne had begun ..."

Page 167--title "I." added

Page 177--title "I." added

Page 192--title "GODESBERG" inserted, to match the Table of Contents

Page 216--opening quote mark in middle of the first paragraph moved to beginning of paragraph

Page 240--"Brabrant" amended to "Brabant"--"... dominion of Elsa of Brabant."