When the sap began to swell in the branches of the trees, and the young foliage burst forth from the buds, the young men of the forest villages were seized with a desire to travel. There was secret activity in the houses, and lively fellows were holding quiet counsel in the concealment of the forest thicket; for the expedition had not been ordered by the old and wise of the district, and the holy sacrifice of the country was not to consecrate it; it was only the discontented who were departing from their loved home, wilfully and at their own risk, because they had a mind for a better share of land. In the beginning only a few had decided to seek their fortunes in a foreign country --- among them Baldhard and Bruno, the sons of Bero; but soon others were seized with the same longing --- younger sons of respectable families, who disliked their neighbors. Many a one was secretly reminded by the maiden whom he loved that he had wooed her before the projected journey; and where a father had many daughters he ventured his child on this distant hope.

This was not an expedition to an unknown distance, to which the moon and the stars, the blowing wind, or the flying raven led; for the place of their new abode lay only a few days' journey from the district border, and the road was through forests and marshes through which former families of their fellow-countrymen had gone. Therefore the travelers cared little for the dangers of the road, and not much about nourishment and fodder for the cattle. Then also, where they wished to settle they could hope for a kindly greeting; for a prudent friend had carefully arranged beforehand about the journey, and had concluded a compact with the people to whom they went.

These willing wanderers prepared for their departure more secretly than was usually the custom; for all the Chiefs of the district were not pleased at the journey, by which the number of their young warriors was diminished; among these was Prince Answald, and the family of Sintram, who sought to prevent the outpour, as far as their power reached. The travelers had also to fear the jealousy of the King, for he might disturb their settlement before they were firmly rooted on the new ground. Therefore they had associated together in secret counsel at night, and had chosen the sons of Bero for their leaders. During the last month they had prepared for he expedition, had obtained contributions among their friends, provided themselves with wagons and agricultural tools, and, as far as they could, bargained for cattle. They wished to break up singly, and with little stir, and to collect together on the other side of the district boundary in orderly company.

In the early morning the wagons stood packed with corn and house utensils; a cover of leather was spread over the firm joists of wood; the yoked oxen bellowed, the women and children drove the herds behind the wagons, and large dogs, the trusty companions of the travelers, barked round them; their fellow-kinsmen and neighbors brought them, at their departure, what would serve as food for the journey, or a keepsake from home.

The departure was not altogether joyful; even the most courageous man was secretly anxious about the future. Though the new country was no great distance, it was unknown to almost all, and it was uncertain whether the gods of their home would there grant them protection, or whether noxious reptiles and polecats would destroy the cattle or the seed, or whether hostile men might burn their houses. The children also felt frightened; they sat quiet on the sacks, and the little ones wept, although the parents had encircled their heads and necks with healing herbs which are dear to the gods. The travelers rose with the rising sun; the elders of their family or some wise mother spoke a blessing on their journey, and all murmured a prayer for good fortune, and exorcised away dangerous beasts of the forest, and roving robbers. But the other village people who remained at home looked upon the wanderers as lost men: the offenders who gave up the blessings of home appeared to them as if possessed by an evil spirit. Although the country people were powerfully attracted to distant parts, yet they always feared a life far from their holy places, and from the customs and laws of their home.

The wagons moved rumbling up the hills; from the heights the wanderers looked back once more upon the village of their fathers, and bowed themselves with a greeting to the invisible powers of the plain; many a discontented fellow sent a curse back upon their enemies, who had made their home-hearth insupportable. Then they all took their way through the mountain forest. Toilsome was the journey, over stoney roads in which the snow-waters had made deep furrows; the men had often to dismount from their horses, and with mattocks and spades to make the path more accessible; the wild cries and cracking of the whips of the drivers resounded; the boys sprang behind the wagons, and with stones prevented them from running back; often the draft-cattle tugged in vain, till one team helped the other, or men and women put their strong shoulders to the wheels. When the road was more even, then the men rode, watching the caravan with raised weapons, ready to fight against wild beasts or lawless forest rovers. But when the wanderers, after the first day's journey, reached the lonely forest valley which was appointed for their meeting-place, then all the toil of the day was forgotten in the joy of seeing before them in the wilderness their fellow-countrymen; shrilly did the new-comers shout from the heights, and those who were encamped answered with a like call; those who had formerly been little acquainted greeted one another as brothers.

The men collected in a body, and Baldhard, who was expert in measuring, marked out the place for the encampment with staves. Then the draft-cattle were unharnessed, the wagons were pushed together like a rampart, and in the circle the night fire was kindled on stones which had been brought together. While the domestic animals were feeding, guarded by armed youths and dogs, the women were preparing the evening repast; but the men made night-pens for the sheep of the copsewood, they divided the watches, and fetched from the wagon the strong drink that they had brought with them; then they lay down, and spoke quietly of the good meadow-land that they hoped to find by the brook Idis and in the endless forest at the south of the mountains; how stony the cultivated ground was, how steep the country, and therefore how thinly this mountain land must be inhabited.

When the meal was ended, the most valuable of the horses and cattle were assembled within the circle of the wagons, and the sleepy children concealed under the leather coverings. After them the women ascended into the narrow space; only the men sat for a time sociably with their drinking-horns, till their eyes became heavy, and the cold night air stopped their jollity. Then they wrapped themselves in skins and coverlets, and laid themselves down by the fire and under the wagons. It became more still; only the wind blew from the mountains, and the watchers, pacing round the circle of wagons and the pen, occasionally threw logs of wood on the blazing fire. But the dogs barked incessantly, and in the distance there was the sound of violent howling, and around the fire circled trotted greedy beasts of prey, like shadows in the rising mist.

In this way the wanderers traveled slowly for three days through the mountain forest; the rain poured down on them, and the wind dried their wet clothes. Sometimes they stopped in the valleys at the houses of their countrymen; there they met either wild fellows who had been hardened by their forest life, or poor settlers who compained of the rough arable land, and thus made the hearts of the travelers heavy. On the fourth morning they passed the wooden scaffolding of a tower which was built on the country boundary of Thuringia; the watchman, who dwelt in a house near to it, and formerly had little occasion to be anxious about traveling bands, looked with astonishment on the travelers; but these greeted him loudly, for although he was only a lonely forest man, he was the last of their people. Then they were an hour in passing through the border wilderness --- barren stony heights, and gnarled pines, where no settler had ever built a house, and the sound of an ax had seldom been heard; for it was a weird tract, and it was said that mischievous spirits floated along the boundary, because they were excluded from the ground which the good gods of the people guarded for the men who dwelt there. But on the other side of the pine wood, the settlers looked from the height joyfully upon a wide valley, which was enclosed by high hills and thick woods. Along this flowed the Idis in a winding course through the meadows, and at the foot of the heights were houses and divisions of arable land. The sun shone gaily over the bright green and sprouting foliage, the horses snuffed as they scented the fresh air of the valley, and the oxen bellowed in view of the meadow; but the wanderers raised their arms in prayer to the goddess who ruled over the valley, and could well protect the life of these men, if they were dear to her.

A horseman sprang to meet the wanderers, and even from a distance whirled his spear in greeting through the air. The settlers shouted to him, for they recognized in him their countryman Wolf; the women also thronged about his horse, and the children stretched iout their little hands from the wagon. "Welcome to you, dear countrymen!" exclaimed Wolf, "the journey is accomplished. Encamp near the houses; for on yonder hill the wise men of the district are waiting at the sacrificial stone to make a firm alliance with you, that you may lawfully become part of the people, and gain your lot of land." Then they were all excited with new zeal, and followed the turf pat to the valley.

Then Baldhard began confidentially to Wolf, who was riding near him: "You raced in the night and fog, past our houses, from the King's castle at Thuringia like supernatural figures of darkness. Then there was scarcely time to press thy hand, and to speak of the days of our journey. Since then, we have neither seen nor heard anything of you; I have felt great anxiety about your fate, yet I was obliged to conceal my doubts from the others."

Wolf laughed.

"The Vandals understand the art of making themselves invisible; and I think that, above all others, the Hero Berthar is of the race of the forest fitchet, for he sped through the wild fern, as much at home as we of the village, although he rode through as a stranger. Even their horses lay down in the forest cover, like lurking dogs. We galloped unseen over the boundary, and penetrated into this country. Here we met with a good reception; thy father had prepared everything carefully for us. My lord Ingo governs here as Chieftain; and the peasants of Marvingia are, I observe, pleased with him. But the people here thou wilt consider as old-fashioned and respectable. They still drink their beer out of thick bowls of oakwood, which are right heavy to raise; yet the drink is excellent. But since we have been here, we have had little leisure: part of us work with hammer and ax on the hills, and others followed the Prince to the south, over the Main, to the Burgundians. Today you come at a good hour; for the Chieftain, to whom you wish to pay fealty, has just now returned. Prince Ingo expects you at the people's sacrifice."

"If thou seest the Hero Berthar," replied Baldhard, "give him this, from Frida, my sister; she earnestly desired it to be wound for him in the Prince's house." And he laid a ball of string in his hand.

From the encampment the Thuringians rode up to a mountain which raised its round head above the other heights. Before the last ascent Ingo was awaiting them, with his followers on horseback. The Vandals sprang down when the settlers approached, and called out a joyful greeting to them. The Thuringians, also, were inspirited, when they saw before them the Hero to whom they had once given hospitality at their home, and who might be to them a good leader in danger, and a just judge. Ingo led the band up the hill to the sacrificial stone, where the men of the valley stood thickly packed, and in front of them, Marvalk, a gray-headed man, their sacrificing priest. They divided themselves into three bands round the stone; on which three times three oxen were offered to the good gods --- three for each nation. Over the sacrificial kettle the men bound themselves by a covenant, and vowed to honor the Hero Ingo as Chieftain. After that the sacrificial feast was prepared under the shade of the trees, and it appeared to all as a good gift, when the Chieftain rose and announced to his people that the old quarrel with the Burgundians about the boundary was settled.

From the sacrificial feast Ingo rode with Berthar along the valley to another height, on which the Vandals had entrenched their home. On the way, he said, joyfully: "We have come to terms with two kings, and we may prosper here, if the gods remain graciouis to us. I have to thank thy warlike expedition with the Burgundians for my success with King Gundomar; he now resents the arrogance of the Romans, and will, I hope, keep the peace for some time."

"Meanwhile let us plant ourselves here firmly among the rocks," said Berthar, laughing, "and in a few years it will be difficult for even a great king to break into our new seat. Look there, my King, at the strength of thine own house."

From a woody hillside towered up a steep rocky hill, like a mountain nose, over the valley of Idisburg, separated from the heights behind by a chasm. The hill rose proudly out of the green valley; on its summit were old oak trees, its only foliage. For on the side of the hill the trees had been felled, and about half-way up the trunks had been piled in layers, with the stones from the rock, and earth, forming a thick barricade; a trench was thrown up before it, so far removed from the summit that no spears could reach the height. Cleverly had the old man made use of the channel of water and the little ravines, in order to make a secure path from the summit to the surrounding rampart, so that, on the day of battle, the besieged might hasten up and down without the enemy being able to hit them from below; but he had so scarped the entrenched declivity that stones and spears could bind a free path downward from the commanding height. Then, where the protecting hill joined the slope, the trench was deeper and the rampart higher. On this side a strong spring flowed from under a projecting rock within the outer rampart, not very far from the summit of the hill. There the workmen had preserved the trees, in order that the entrance to the spring might be shady and secure. But the summit of the hill was leveled, and along its edge a second rampart was formed with layers of stones and stems. It surrounded the oaks, and a space which was large enought to enclose the herds and wives and children of the settlers in time of danger. Where the steep riding-path led from the valley through the surrounding ramparts to the fortress, it was barred by a gate, and there was a wooden tower for the watchmen at the entrance. On the summit of the hill, in the midst of the trees, Ingo's men had constructed a King's hall of large beams; near to it stakes put into the ground denoted the places where the dwellings of the men, the stalls for the horses and cattle, and the room for the stores were to be built. But in order that the King might not be without a room during the time of building a wooden house was erected for him on the top of the highest oak tree. Between the strong branches the boys had arranged level rafters, and had nailed over them planks, and had cutt off the inner oak branches, or drawn them outward and so covered the free space in the foliage with boards, that two stories stood over one another at the top. Small steps ran up the stem, and both the rooms were closed below by a trap door.