arts just beyond the Tannenbuehl or perhaps still more
distant. But I will tell you all I know, and how the story goes about
him. A hundred years ago or thereabouts, there were far and wide no
people more upright in their dealings than the Schwarzwaelder, at least
so my grandfather used to tell me. Now, since there is so much money
in the country, the people are dishonest and bad. The young fellows
dance and riot on Sundays, and swear to such a degree that it is
horrible to hear them; whereas formerly it was quite different, and I
have often said and now say, though he should look in through the
window, that the Dutchman Michel is the cause of all this depravity. A
hundred years ago then there lived a very rich timber merchant who had
many servants; he carried his trade far down the Rhine and was very
prosperous, being a pious man. One evening a person such as he had
never seen came to his door; his dress was like that of the young
fellows of the Schwarzwald, but he was full a head taller than any of
them, and no one had ever thought there could be such a giant. He
asked for work, and the timber-merchant, seeing he was strong, and able
to carry great weights, agreed with him about the wages and took him
into his service. He found Michel to be a labourer such as he had
never yet had; for in felling trees he was equal to three ordinary men,
and when six men were pulling at one end of a trunk he would carry the
other end alone. After having been employed in felling timber for six
months, he came one day before his master, saying, 'I have now been
cutting wood long enough here, and should like to see what becomes of
my trunks; what say you to letting me go with the rafts for once?' To
which his master replied, 'I have no objection, Michel, to your seeing
a little of the world; to be sure I want strong men like yourself to
fell the timber, and on the river all depends upon skill; but,
nevertheless, be it for this time as you wish.'

"Now the float with which Michel was to go, consisted of eight rafts,
and in the last there were some of the largest beams. But what then?
The evening before starting, the tall Michel brought eight beams to the
water, thicker and longer than had ever been seen, and he carried every
one of them as easily upon his shoulder as if it had been a rowing
pole, so that all were amazed. Where he had felled them, no one knows
to this day. The heart of the timber-merchant was leaping with joy
w