The hellish gold was piously expended in finishing the cathedral, but nevertheless, when the building was completed, splendid though it was, the whole town was filled with fear and alarm at the sight of it.  The fact was that, although the magistrates had promised by bond and oath not to trust the secret to anybody, one had prated to his wife, and she had made it a market-place tale, so that one and all declared they would never set foot within the walls.  The terrified council now consulted the clergy, but the good priests hung their heads.  At last a monk cried out:  “A thought strikes me.  The wolf which has so long ravaged the neighbourhood of our town was this morning caught alive.  This will be a well-merited punishment for the destroyer of our flocks; let him be cast to the devil in the fiery gulf.  ’Tis possible the arch hell-hound may not relish this breakfast, yet, nolens volens, he must swallow it.  You promised him certainly a soul, but whose was not decidedly specified.”

The monk’s plan was plausible, and the magistrates determined to put the cunning trick into execution.  The day of consecration arrived.  Orders were given to bring the wolf to the principal entrance of the cathedral, and just as the bells began to ring, the trap-door of the cage was opened and the savage beast darted out into the nave of the empty church.  Master Urian from his lurking-place beheld this consecration-offering with the utmost fury; burning with choler at being thus deceived, he raged like a tempest, and finally rushed forth, slamming the brass gate so violently after him that the ring cracked in twain.

This fissure commemorates the priest’s victory over the devices of the Devil, and is still exhibited to travellers who visit the cathedral.

A Legend of Bonn

The city of Bonn is one of the most beautiful of all those situated on the banks of the Rhine, and being the birthplace of no less celebrated a composer than Beethoven, it naturally attracts a goodly number of pilgrims every year, these coming from many distant lands to do homage at the shrine of genius.  But Bonn and its neighbourhood have older associations than this—­associations which carry the mind of the traveller far into the Middle Ages—­for hard by the town is Rolandseck; while a feature of the district is the Siebengebirge (Seven Mountains), a fine serried range of peaks which present a very imposing appearance when viewed from any of the heights overlooking Bonn itself, and which recall a justly famous legend.

This story tells that in the thirteenth century there lived at a castle in the heart of these mountains a nobleman called Wolfram Herzog von Bergendorf; and being no freebooter like most of the other German barons of the time, but a man of very pious disposition, he was moved during the prime of his life to forsake his home and join a body of crusaders.  Reaching Palestine after a protracted journey, these remained there for a long time, Wolfram fighting gallantly