Publisher's Synopsis
Three of us boys were always together, and had been so from the cradle, being fond ofone another from the beginning, and this affection deepened as the years went on-Nikolaus Bauman, son of the principal judge of the local court; Seppi Wohlmeyer, son of thekeeper of the principal inn, the "Golden Stag," which had a nice garden, with shade treesreaching down to the riverside, and pleasure boats for hire; and I was the third-TheodorFischer, son of the church organist, who was also leader of the village musicians, teacher ofthe violin, composer, tax-collector of the commune, sexton, and in other ways a usefulcitizen, and respected by all. We knew the hills and the woods as well as the birds knewthem; for we were always roaming them when we had leisure-at least, when we were notswimming or boating or fishing, or playing on the ice or sliding down hill.And we had the run of the castle park, and very few had that. It was because we werepets of the oldest servingman in the castle-Felix Brandt; and often we went there, nights, to hear him talk about old times and strange things, and to smoke with him (he taught usthat) and to drink coffee; for he had served in the wars, and was at the siege of Vienna; andthere, when the Turks were defeated and driven away, among the captured things werebags of coffee, and the Turkish prisoners explained the character of it and how to make apleasant drink out of it, and now he always kept coffee by him, to drink himself and also toastonish the ignorant with. When it stormed he kept us all night; and while it thunderedand lightened outside he told us about ghosts and horrors of every kind, and of battles andmurders and mutilations, and such things, and made it pleasant and cozy inside; and hetold these things from his own experience largely. He had seen many ghosts in his time, andwitches and enchanters, and once he was lost in a fierce storm at midnight in themountains, and by the glare of the lightning had seen the Wild Huntsman rage on the blastwith his specter dogs chasing after him through the driving cloud-rack. Also he had seen anincubus once, and several times he had seen the great bat that sucks the blood from thenecks of people while they are asleep, fanning them softly with its wings and so keepingthem drowsy till they die.
