Sage of Schloss Questenberg11
Questen—wreaths or garlands of flowers.
The Ritter Knaught had a lovely little daughter, whose chief pleasure was to gather wild-flowers; for this purpose she went often with her nurse into the forest. But one day her nurse lost sight of her, and not being able to find her, hastened in great terror to the castle to give the alarm.
The Ritter summons all his retainers with the horn, and they storm through the forest whole nights and days, but of the lost child no trace.
At last one day, as the father gazes from the battlements of the castle, he sees people approaching bearing the Maien,2 hears their shouts of joy, and in their midst beholds his lost Rosamund, decked as Queen of the May!
A coaler had met the child wandering through the wood, took her at first for an angel, and in his hut the retainers had found her.
The happy father bestowed gifts lavishly, and instituted an annual Volksfest, and called his castle Questenberg.
To this day a popular festival is held here, but whether connected with this tradition is uncertain.
The youths of Agnesdorf have the right, by an ancient statute, of digging up a young oak on the Questenberg;3 the tree must be carried, and after it is planted is decorated with wreaths of flowers.
They then go in procession to the parsonage, conduct the pastor to the church, when Divine service is held; after which all return in procession to the newly-planted oak, and after all have partaken of refreshments they dance around it, and the youths shoot at the target.
Notes
2 Maien—green branches of the birch used to deck the May-pole, and in Thuringia and other parts of Germany the churches at Pentecost.
3 The custom of digging up the young oak is now limited to once every fifteen years.