80 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



Even as the merry thrush's 

 Note belongs to hawthorn-bushes, 

 Breezy whispers to green rushes, 



Noisy bees to bloomy heather ; 



So too did belong together 

 Tins maid and Baierisch Zell. 



The eldest of the sisters was no beauty, but there was 

 an open honesty about her — indeed this they all had — 

 and she possessed a store of such genuine, healthy, sound 

 common sense, that I always liked to talk with her. 

 She was a famous knitter j and many of the peculiar 

 sort of stockings, richly ornamented, worn by the young 

 foresters both far and near, have been produced by her 

 skilful fingers. 



The three sisters lived here together with an old aunt 

 — a Solacher, in whose withered features lines were still 

 to be seen which proved that, in bygone days, she might 

 have been counted among the fairest of the dale. She 

 was tall, and still walked erect ; she spoke little, and all 

 her household duties were done in stern silence. The 

 elder brother, the chief of the family, was not at. home : 

 he had gone to Munich to be present at the great 

 annual shooting-match, and was expected back on the 

 morrow. In former days, when game was abundant on 

 the hills, the gentlemen who came here to shoot would 

 take up their quarters in the dwelling of this worthy 



family. Prince L was constantly here, and the 



Princess too would accompany him : they enjoyed the 

 beautiful scenery around, and loved the simplicity and 

 kindly-proffered service of their peasant hostesses. Nor 

 do I wonder they so liked them, for gentle-mannered 

 they are all. 



The cottage is their own, and the pasturage around it, 

 as well as the trout-stream that runs beside the garden. 



