the vaults his realm, the tuns his dearly loved subjects--for, as the
peasant gazed, he saw a long procession of tuns stretching away into the
darkness. He shouted with mad delight at the sight, he clapped his hands
and smacked his lips in anticipation, he declared the tuns glittered
like pure gold. At this the cooper laughed and pointed out that the wine
had fashioned its own casks, gleaming crusts, from which the ancient
wood had fallen away long ago.

And next he filled the huge bowl with deep glowing wine and drank to the
peasant, whose hands ached to hold the bowl and lift it to his lips. At
last, with a courtly bow, the cooper put it into his hands, and then
the rustic emptied the bowl in one draught and drew a deep sigh of
satisfaction.

In rapture he sang the praises of the wine, but the cooper assured him
that there was better to come. Again he tasted, and again the little
man led on from cask to cask. Then, mad with delight, the peasant sang
aloud, but the song broke into wild howling; he danced about the
tuns, then fell to embracing them, stroking and kissing them, babbling
love-words to the dusky fragrant wine. And still the cooper led on to
the next cask, still he filled the bowl, and still the peasant drank,
till at last in very joy tears ran down his face, and before his eyes
the tuns danced round him in a giddy whirl; then slumber fell upon him
and he sank down to sleep in the gloom.

When he awoke next morning his body lay stretched in a muddy ditch, his
lips pressed to clammy moss. Stumbling to his feet, he looked around for
the door of the wine vault, for the flight of steps leading down to that
realm of delight, but though he searched long and carefully, yet never
again could he find it, nor did his eyes see the little cooper with his
wine-stained leathern apron and his rubicund face.

CHAPTER VI--WORMS AND THE NIBELUNGENLIED

Worms is celebrated as the locality of the Nibelungenlied and the
epic of Walthar of Aquitaine. But it has other claims to fame. Before
entering on the consideration of Germany's greatest epic we will recount
several of the lesser legends of the locality.

The Rose Garden: A Tale of Dietrich of Bern

Dietrich of Bern is the King Arthur of German story. Like his prototype
of Britain, he has become the central figure of innumerable medieval
tales and epics, a model of chivalry and martial prowess, distinguished
everywhere by high deeds and mighty feats of arms, and