268 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



therefore that he had wounded a roebuck or a chamois, 

 and would stay that night on the mountain. 



As I returned to my little inn, the whole village was 

 crowded with young heifers coming back from the pas- 

 turage, each wearing round its neck a differently toned 

 bell j and there was something very cheerful, and far 

 from discordant, in the sound. Hardly had it ceased, 

 when the evening bell, swinging slow and steadily, again 

 broke the silence, but added to the repose, — reminding 

 all, even the lonely wood-cutter in his poor hut high 

 up on the mountain, that it were well to thank God for 

 another day of life. 



THE ETTALER MANNL. 



" The Ettaler Mannl," or " The Little Man of Ettal," 

 alluded to in the preceding pages, is a mountain that 

 closes in the vale of Ettal, and whose top consists of 

 an upright bare rock, which rises above the surround- 

 ing verdure, forming by contrast a rather conspicuous 

 feature in the landscape. This "Man" Kobell in a 

 little poem has invested with human attributes, and 

 makes him from his watch-tower look forth over the 

 plain, to see if danger is approaching the land. When I 

 was last at Ettal it was with Kobell, and the villagers 

 told him that the words had been set to music, and 

 how a few nights before they had sung them amid loud 

 cheers and enthusiastic applause. The dalesmen love 

 their mountain all the more dearly now ; they have 

 identified themselves with ' ' The Old Man of Ettal," since 

 the poet has breathed upon him and made him live. 



