s God Almighty looks down on the earth from the
bright heavens, over Nuremberg, and the fortress on the hill, the wide
ring of forest which guards it on the north and east and south, the
meadows and villages stretching between the woods, and the walls and
turrets of our good city, and the windings of the river Pegnitz. He
loved to boast that he was the first to bid the sun welcome and the last
to bid it good-night; and perchance it was to the light, of which he had
so goodly a share, that his spirit owed its ever gay good-cheer. He was
ever ready with a jest and some little gift for us children; and, albeit
these were of little money's worth, they brought us much joy. And indeed
there was never another man in Nuremberg who had given away so many
tokens and made so many glad hearts and faces thereby as Adam Heyden.
True, indeed, after a short but blessed wedded life he had been left a
widower and childless, and had no care to save for his heirs; and yet
Gottfried Spiesz, Ann's grandfather, was in the right when he said that
he had more children than ever another in Nuremberg, inasmuch as that he
was like a father to every lad and maid in the town.

When he walked down the street all the little ones were as glad though
they had met Christ the Lord or Saint Nicholas; and as they hung on
to his long gown with the left hand, with the right they crammed their
mouths with the apples or cakes whereof his pockets seemed never to be
empty.

But Master Adam had his weak side, and there were many to blame him for
that he was over fond of good liquor. Albeit he did his drinking after a
manner of his own, in no unseemly wise. To wit, on certain year-days he
would tarry alone in his tower, and his lamp might be seen gleaming till
midnight. There he would sit alone, with his wine jar and cup, and he
would drink the first and second and third in silence, to the good speed
of Elsa, his late departed wife. After that he began to sing in a low
voice, and before each fresh cup as he raised it he cried aloud "Prosit,
Adam!" and when it was empty: "I Heartily thank you, Heyden!"

Thus would he go on till he had drunk out divers jugs, and the tower
seemed to be spinning round him. Then to his bed, where he would dream
of his Elsa and the good old days, the folks he had loved, his youthful
courtships, and all the fine and wondrous things which his lonely
drinking bout had brought to his inward eye. Next morning he was
faithfully at his duty.