his cheeks, and he saw two little
children, a boy and a girl, playing together. The boy had rosy cheeks,
yellow waving hair, and honest blue eyes--he was the rich merchant's
son, little Anthon himself. The little girl had dark hair and eyes,
and she looked bold and clever--she was the burgomaster's daughter
Molly. The childish couple were playing with an apple. At length they
divided it in two, and each took a half. They also divided the seeds
between them, and ate them all to one; and the little girl proposed to
plant that in the ground.

"You will see what will come of this--something will come which you
can hardly fancy. An apple tree will come up, but not all at once."

And they planted the seed in a flower-pot: both of them were very
eager about it. The boy dug a hole in the mould with his finger; the
little girl placed the seed in it, and both of them filled up the hole
with earth.

"You must not pull it up to-morrow to see if it has taken root," she
said; "that should not be done. I did that with my flower: twice I
took it up to see if it was growing. I had very little sense then, and
the flower died."

The flower-pot was left in Anthon's care, and every morning, the
whole winter through, he looked at it; but nothing was to be seen
except the black earth. Then came spring; the sun shone so warmly, and
two tiny green leaves at last made their appearance in the flower-pot.

"These are Molly and me," said Anthon. "They are charming--they are
lovely."

Soon there came a third leaf. Who did that represent? And leaf after
leaf came up; while day by day, and week by week, the plant became
larger and stronger, until it grew into quite a tree. And another tear
fell again from its fountain--from old Anthon's heart.

There stretched out, near Eisenach, a range of stony hills, one of
which, round in shape, was very conspicuous: neither tree, nor bush,
nor grass grew on it. It was named Mount Venus. Therein dwelt Venus, a
goddess from the heathen ages. She was here called Fru Holle, and she
knew and could see every child in Eisenach. She had decoyed into her
power the noble knight Tannhaeuser, the minnesinger, from the musical
circle of Wartburg.

Little Molly and Anthon often went to this hill, and she one day said
to him,--

"Would you dare to knock on the side of the hill and cry, 'Fru Holle!
Fru Holle! open the gate; here is Tannhaeuser?' But Anthon dared not do
it. Molly dared, however; yet only these words-