SATURDAY STORY, GOTTFRIED THE GREAT, NOVEMBER 5TH

 SATURDAY STORY, GOTTFRIED THE GREAT, NOVEMBER 5TH

On Saturday’s I write fiction (and I’ll keep trying until I get better.  For me, it takes a lot of time and energy to write these longer fiction pages. Sometimes they are just boring, sometimes there is a little merit.  I think last week I got closer but I’m not sure I have enough time this week to get a good chapter  ).  

I’m following “Gottfried the Great” of Saxony Germany as Germany works towards unification.  In 1848 Germany was a bunch of little states and cities that were independent - but shared a language and experiences.  The revolts of 1848 were widespread - but it took until 1871 for Germany to be unified.

Yes, on my mother’s side of history, there is a Gottfried Quaas, but in this version there is little similarity other than the name.

*****

Gottfried woke up slowly.  It took him a minute to figure out where he was.  This was a cabin owned by Henry Bauer near Bad Gottleuba Saxony, which was about 20 miles from Bohemia.  Sleeping across from him on a chair was Edward Bauer.  Edward was a captain in the Saxony army and Gottfried and Edward had been sent on a mission to talk to Austrian leaders about German unification.  

Only two weeks ago, King Francis of Saxony and King Mallory of Thuringia had agreed on unifying their two providences. Maybe the other German provinces could start working together? They spoke the same language, although there were some regional dialects, they had a culture of hard work and faith.  German composers like Bach and Beethoven had laid a strong musical heritage.  Gottfried sat quietly and prayed, “Lord, give us safety and success on our journey.”

They had sought refuge in Edward Bauer’s cabin in a blizzard.  Edward had twisted his leg. It came back to him.  And, what was coming back was the image of Lily Bauer, Henry’s granddaughter who lived closeby.

The house was silent, the howling wind had stopped, Edward and Henry were sound asleep, and it was dark and cold outside.   Stepping to the door, Gottfried opened it only to have the doorway fill up with snow.  The wind had created a snowdrift by the door.  Gottfried had left the shovel on the inside and quickly threw the snow back outside so he could close the door.  But, the rushing cold air and Gottfried’s shoveling woke Henry up.

Henry came to see what was going on.  “Ja, I frequently get a snowdrift by the door.”  

But in another minute, Gottfried was able to shut the door.  

Gottfried answered back “Brrr”.  

Henry started to boil some water on the hearth to use for herbal tea.  Gottfried needed the outhouse but used a chamber pot instead of fighting his way to the outdoor facility.  

Henry put two logs on the fire.  He wanted to quickly take off the chill from Gottfried opening the door and letting the snow in.  

The movement around the small cabin woke up Edward Bauer.  “Hey can’t you let a fellow sleep?” he complained.  Gottfried and Henry laughed at him.  

Edward carefully wiggled to the side of the sofa and stood up.  He put some weight on his left leg and was able to bear the pain.  “It’s still sore, but much better this morning,” he said.  Adding in a playful tone, “Maybe it was that concoction that Henry forced me to drink?” 

It was still an hour before the sun peeked over the eastern mountains, but Gottfried put on his coat and went out to check the horses and see how much snow had fallen.  Henry made some more of his medicinal tea for Edward.  The storm had passed, the wind was calm, and the air was cold.

*****

Gottfried cleared a path to the barn and to the road.  There was about six inches of fresh snow, and it was the heavy spring snow - loaded with moisture.  

He poked his head in the door and asked “Where is Lily’s house?”  Henry gave him directions and Gottfried went back out and cleared a path to Henry’s granddaughter’s house.  Lily heard him and came out to greet him.  “Good Morning Gottfried, “she said with a big grin.  Those blue eyes sparkled.  Gottfried was a little tongue-tied, but stopped long enough to pack some snow into a snowball and tossed it as Lily.  

Lily laughed as the snowball missed her.  She called out, “What a lousy shot”.

She quickly made a snowball and it hit Gottfried in his leg.  This girl was teasing him, and he liked it.  What might it take to make this girl his?  It was aways from his home.  

Lily closed the door, but was back out in two minutes as she put on her coat and boots and headed to her barn.  She had a basket with her.

Gottfried quickly ran ahead of her to clear a path.  At the barn, Lily went in and got about a dozen eggs.  

She said, “These are for Opa’s and Edwards breakfast.  I didn’t find any horse-apples for you, so I guess you’ll get eggs too”.  

Gottfried knew that horse apples were the manure droppings from horses, so he threw another snowball at the girl, intending to miss her.  But as he threw, she moved and the snowball hit her on the side of her head.

Gottfried quickly said, “I’m sorry”.  As Lily bent down to get more snow, she fell in the snow.  Gottfried picked her up, and their eyes met for a second. But Lily closed her eyes as she leaned into Gottfried’s mouth for a kiss.  

That was all the encouragement Gottfried needed, and he embraced Lily and they kissed harder and longer!!!

Finally, pushing herself away, and grabbing her basket of eggs.  She teased him again, “If you want some breakfast, you’ll have to be nice to me”.

Gottfried grinned and replied “Yes Ma’am”.  And the two walked to Henry’s cabin.  

*****

Henry was looking at Edward’s leg when Gottfried and Lily entered.  Edward was walking with a limp but was able to walk.  

Edward said, “Well, I think the herbal tea is working, but I think you’ll need another day here before you go on.

Gottfried was glad for that.  He could get to know Lily better with one more day here.

*****

That day was busy.  Gottfried was surprised that the community of Bad Gottleuba was just around a curve in the road and Henry was the first cabin in the village.  Gottfried and Henry worked on the barn to make it stronger.  

Gottfried got a roof rake and took some of the snow off both cabins. Within an hour, there were people, horses and wagons on the road.  A little snow didn’t keep these Germans at home.

*****

Henry could see that Gottfried and Lily were getting closer, so after dinner at Henry’s cabin, Gottfried walked Lily to her cabin.  (And, it was about an hour before Gottfried returned).

*****

The next morning Gottfried and Edward said goodbye to the Bauer’s - and Henry and Edwards had done an analysis and thought that maybe their grandfathers were cousins.  As they were riding past Lily’s cabin, she ran out with a lunch basket for the men, and a kiss for Gottfried.  She prayed a blessing over their journey.  If Gottfried had been alone, he would have stopped and had the lunch with Lily, but he knew they had to get to Vienna.

Within an hour, the two men stopped at the Saxony/Bohemia border crossing.  Edwards had traveled through this area once and had visited Prague and Vienna.  They continued that day to Lovosice, Bohemia and had an inn for the night. They found an inn and put their horses up.  As they settled Donner and Koenig, the two horses, Edward spoke to Gottfried in a low voice.  “Don’t let them know we are on official business from King Francis of Saxony.  It might scare them”. Gottfried agreed.  (But, in the stable was a worker listening in).

They finished their evening meal and were ready to go to bed, when a squad of soldiers arrived and arrested the men for being spies.  Gottfried wasn’t familiar with the Slavic language they used.  Seemingly they were going to be tried for spying.  The two men were separated and placed in jail cells.  Edward was yelling in German, we are innocent, we are not spies, but the soldiers heard the word spies and thought the men were really spies.  

About four in the dark morning hours, he whistled for Donner.  He had only loose tied his horse and Donner came quietly to the back of the jail.  Gottfried directed Donner to get a long stick.  Donner returned with the stick and Gottfried used the stick to grab a rope on the saddlehorn.  Tying the rope to the jail bars, he urged Donner to pull.  The Lovosice jail wasn’t all that strong and within a few minutes Donner had pulled the bars enough for Gottfried to climb out.  

Gottfried knocked on the walls where he thought Edward might be.  After two empty cells, Gottfried found Edward in a third cell.  Again, tying a rope to the bars, Donner pulled the bars free enough for Edward to climb out - bad leg and all.  Gottfried grabbed under Edward’s arms and pulled him free.  While Edward was waiting, Gottfried and Donner went back to the stable and got Edward’s horse Koenig, and the two of them headed out of town.  They first headed east towards Litomerice - making sure their tracks were visible. Coming to a cross road where there were many tracks, they went south - but walked their horses in the midst of the tracks.  By six o’clock they had already made about 10 miles towards Prague.  

That day was sunny and warm and the recent snow was melting and forming rivelets in the road.  Shortly afterwards they saw what looked like an abandoned farm, and breaking in, found some clothes that fit both men, so they quickly changed and looked like just average Bohemian farmers.  They made sure they tracked through some of the many streams to wash off their trail. 

A little afternoon that afternoon, Edward came up to Gottfried on his horse.  Quietly, Edward said to Gottfried, “We have company.  I think they might be robbers”.

Gottfried said quietly to Edward, “In a second I’m going to talk loud about our trip, and then pretend that Donner has something in his foot and get down to check it.  That will give us a chance to see if they are following us.” 

Gottfried now spoke up loudly. “You know Johann that Prague is quite a nice city.  I heard the cathedral is very beautiful.”

Edward answered back, also in a loud voice, “You are right Dietrich.  I hear the streets are paved with gold.”

The two men continued talking loudly as Gottfried got down off Donner and checked his horse’s foot.  Quietly he said to Edward, “Yes, those are two thieves, and I think just around the corner of the road, I heard a horse whinny.  I’m going to take my sword and put it in my lap, and you can do that too.”

Getting back on Donner, suddenly, Gottfried yelled “GO”, and the two men sprang forward.  Around the bend there were two men waiting for them, but they were racing through them.  Gottfried was in the lead and struck the broadside of his sword along the head of one of the men knocking him unconscious, and Edward did the same with the second man.  Leaping down, they each grabbed the reins of the robber’s horses, and jumping back onto their own mounts, took the horses with them.  

Gottfried said as soon as they were a mile down the road, “They can’t come after us without horses, and the two that were behind will be too scared to chase us.”  

When they could see the steeple of St. Vitus Cathedral of Prague, they dropped the reins of the extra horses and kept riding.  The horses stopped and found some grass under the snow, as Gottfried and Edward went on.  

Gottfried said, “We might have made good money selling the horses in Prague, but I’m not a horse thief.  Maybe they will think more about their thievery next time.”

They walked and rode a good distance that day, making it to the edge of Prague well after dark.  Fortunately, the moon was full and they could see the road well.  Coming upon an inn, they stayed for the night and left in the morning without breakfast.  Near the train station, they stabled their horses, and bought tickets for the train to Vienna.

*****

All for this week.

*****

LOVE WINS!!

Karen Anne White,November 5, ©