th Hatto, Archbishop of Mayence, whose evil
deeds were well-known throughout the country.

Hatto is said to have been ambitious, heartless, and perfidious, as
well as cruel towards the poor. He extorted taxes from his people,
tolls were imposed, and new burdens invented only to gratify his
haughty pride and his love of display. On a little island between
Bingen and Ruedesheim he caused a tower to be built, so that all
passing ships could be stopped in the narrow passage, where they were
obliged to pay toll.

Soon after the building of this custom-house there was a very bad
harvest in the country round Mayence. Drought had parched the fields,
and the little seed remaining had been destroyed by hail. The scarcity
was felt all the more, because the bishop had bought up all the stores
of corn that were left from the year before, and had stored them up
safely in his granaries.

A terrible famine now threatened the land, spreading misery among the
poor. The unhappy people implored the cruel bishop to lower the price
of the corn in his store-house, which he wished to sell at such
exorbitant prices that his subjects could not buy it. All their
petitions were in vain. His advisers besought him to have pity on the
deplorable condition of the poor, but Hatto remained unmoved. When
cries of distress and the murmuring voices of the exasperated folk
were raised against their hard-hearted master, the bishop gave free
vent to the wicked thoughts of his soul.

One day a troop of hungry beggars came crowding to the episcopal
palace crying for food. Hatto and his guests were just sitting down to
a luxurious banquet. The bishop had been talking to his companions of
these wretched people, and had expressed his opinion that it would be
a good thing to do away with them altogether in some drastic way.

As the ragged mob of men, women and children, with hollow cheeks and
pale faces threw themselves at his feet crying for bread, a still more
fiendish plan suggested itself. Beckoning to them with hypocritical
kindness he promised them corn, and caused them to be led outside the
town to a barn, where each one was to receive as much corn as he
wished. The unhappy folk hurried forth, their hearts full of
gratitude; but when they were all in the barn, Hatto ordered the doors
to be locked and the barn to be set on fire.

The screams of the poor wretches were heart-rending, and could be
heard even in the bishop's palace.

But cruel Hatto call