at is a wood, dear
Lisbeth, which is ten leagues broad and twenty long, covering plains
and mountains, clifts and valleys.

"On the great highway, which runs straight from the Rhine-land to
Wuerzburg and Bamberg, these young men met each other. One came from
the west, the other from the east. Their animals were as opposite as
their directions. The one from the east sat upon a bay horse, which
pranced merrily, and he looked right stately in his gay armour, and his
cap of red velvet, from which the heron's plume descended; the one from
the west wore a black cap without any mark of distinction, a long
student's cloak of the same colour, and rode on a humble mule.

"When the young knight had approached the travelling student, he
stopped his bay, saluted the other in a friendly way, and said: 'Good
friend, I was just going to alight, and to take my morning snack, but
since two are required for love, gaming, and eating, if these three
pleasant affairs are to go off properly, I beg leave to ask you,
whether you will dismount and be my partner? A mouthfull of grass
would no less suit your gray, than my bay. The day will be hot, and
the beasts require some repose.'

"The travelling student was pleased with this offer. Both alighted and
seated themselves by the roadside on the wild thyme and lavender, from
which, as they sat down, a white cloud of perfumes ascended, and a
hundred bees that were disturbed in their labours arose humming. A
squire, who had followed the young knight with a heavy laden horse,
took charge of the two animals, gave his master a goblet and bottle,
together with bread and meat from the knapsack, unbridled the beasts,
and let them graze by the roadside.

"The travelling student felt the side-pocket of his cloak, drew back
his hand with an air of vexation, and cried: 'Out upon my eternal
abstraction! This very morning, I had packed up my breakfast so neatly
in the inn, and then something else must needs come into my head, and
make me forget my provisions.'

"'If that is all,' cried the young knight, 'here is enough for you and
me!' He divided the bread and meat, filled the goblet, and gave the
other both liquid and solid. At the same time he examined him more
closely, while the other on his side examined him also, and then a cry
of astonishment was uttered by them both:

"'Are you not?'--'Nay, art _thou_ not?' they cried.

"'I am indeed Conrad of Aufsess!' cried the young knight.

"'And I