Northern mythology

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144 NORTH GERMAN CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS.
or,
Bettspond, ich trete Dich,
Bedstead, I tread thee,
Sankt Andres, ich bitt Dich : Saint Andrew, I pray thee :
Lass doch erscheinen
Den HerzallerUebsten meinen.
Let now appear
My heart's most dearly beloved.
Soil ich mit ihm werden reich, If I shall be rich with him,
Kommt er mit dem grlinen Zweig He will come with a green
bough
Soil ich mit ihm werden arm. If I shall be poor with him,
Kommt er mit dem Knaust Brod He will come with a crust of
im Arm.
bread in his arm.
When that is done, the form of the future husband will
enter at the door and drink out of one of the cups.
If he
is poor, he will drink of the water ; if rich, he will take
the wine.
An over-curious girl once summoned her future husband
in the above manner. Precisely as the clock struck twelve
he appeared, drank of the wine, laid a three-edged dagger
on the table and vanished. The girl put the dagger into
her trunk. Some years after there came a man from a
distant part to the town where the girl dw^elt, bought property
there, and married her. He was in fact the identical
person whose form had already appeared to her.
Some time after their marriage, the husband chanced to
open the trunk, and there found the dagger, at the sight
of w^hich he became furious. " Thou art then the girl,"
cried he^ ^^ w^ho years ago forced me to come hither from
afar in the night ; and it was no dream. Die
"
therefore !
and with these words he thrust the dagger into her
heart.
Hence if the future husband, when he appears, lays
such a thing on the table, it must be destroyed ; for if he
again sees what he then brought with him, he will at
least bear a grudge towards his wife, for having by her
spell caused him so much anxiety and pain.