ter which
stopped the ships from entering the port of Stavoren.

The inhabitants of the town who had principally lived by commerce,
suddenly found the source of their wealth stopped. Want and poverty
took possession of the once rich city. Richberta, in whom everybody
recognised the author of this misfortune, lost everything in the
general impoverishment, and was driven by the enraged populace from
the town. The once proud and rich lady had now to beg for her bread.
She walked wearily from village to village, curses following her
wherever she went. She died in utter destitution.

The sea that had for so many years been the blessing of Stavoren was
now the destruction of the voluptuous city. One night it rose with
immense power against the dunes, burst through them, and flooding the
town with huge waves, buried it forever.

To this day, the fishermen on the Zuydersea relate the story of the
wonderful sunken city that once towered high into the air. When the
water is clear they imagine they can see the high steeples of
Stavoren's churches and the towers of her palaces shimmering up from
the bottom of the sea.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Illustrations were inserted between pages of the original text. In
this e-book they have been moved to the head of the relevant story.

Obvious printer errors (missing or transposed letters, misspellings,
missing punctuation, etc.) have been amended without note.

There are some instances of archaic spelling, which have been retained
throughout.

Hyphenation has been made consistent without note. There are some
occurrences of 'compound' nouns (for example, Folksepic, milkwhite,
spearpierced, etc.), which have been retained as part of the charm of
the text.

There are some variations in the spelling of proper nouns (for
example, Liege/Liege or Brunhild/Brunhilde). These have been retained
throughout, except where there was an obvious error, which has been
amended and noted. Missing titles or variations between titles and the
Table of Contents have been amended and noted. A complete list of
these amendments is included at the end of the text.

Finally, there are two instances of unusual grammar, which have been
retained: in the Prefatory note, "... and over all the sun _shined_
brightly ..." and on page 152, "... his wife and retinue are looking
_devoutedly_ towards heaven ...".

List of Amendments:

Prefatory Note--omitted 'I' added--"I