MAD QUEST.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XI, Issue 200, 17 August 1921, Page 2

MAD QUEST.

CITY TURNED TO GOLD. SCENES RECALL MIDDLE AGES. People in tho region of the battlefield of Tannenberg, in East Prussia, have been struck by an amazing lorm of mass madness or hallucination, for a parallel to which it is necessary to go back to the Middle Ages, remarks the London “Daily Chronicle.” Beside the little village of Muschaken, 30 miles south of Allenstcin. and close to the Polish frontier, stands a triple-peaked height called Golden Mountain. The local sages say that the mountain stands on the. site of a former city, 2000 years ago. On account of the avarice of a single inhabitant, the city was put under a spell by evil spirits, who turned the whole place, including the people, into gold, and threw the mountain over it. A hundred and ten years ago, says another legend, a shepherd lad fell into a chasm of the mountain. When the body was recovered it had been turned into gold. Exactly 100 years ago am other boy, it is related, was taken by a beautiful spirit into the mountain and shown a sleeping city of gold—houses, churches, palaces, people, the king on his throne, all solid gold. FAILED AT THE TOAD. The boy was told that to release the city from its ancient spell he must kiss 12 repulsive reptiles. He failed at the twelfth, which was a two-headed toad. The city was, therefore, condemned fo a further century of imprisonment in gold. A few weeks ago a blind old woodman of the neighbouring village of Jablonken, was troubled by constant dreams, in which three spirits charged him with tho task of releasing the city frem the spell, and threatened that ho would become a complete cripple if he refused to do as he was told. He was to rouse the people of the neighbourhood to assemble constantly on the mountain and sing and pray. The threats became more terrible, till at last ho went off to the mountain, eight miles away, by a difficult road, and reached the top without mishap. He repeated the formula given him by the spirits, and immediately heard singing inside the mountain. THE RUSH BEGINS. He told the people the story of his adventures and they began to flock to the mountain. Then another man appeared on the scene, declaring that he had visited the city accompanied by a beautiful golden woman, who sat on his shoulders and spurred him on. He saw what tho shepherd lad had seen and impressed on the people that if the spell was broken the golden king would . become king of all kings, with enough t money to pay the indemnity and to make everybody enormously rich. in a golden prison he had teen a i golden prisoner who eauacd ths spell i to be set on the city. He was also shown paradise, he said, which “was ; all music and roundabouts.” Recently a wealthy lady, who owns • an estate nearby went out at night to i. dig for gold on the mountain. She 1 heard something, fled in terror, and is now in a lunatic asylum. » The story meantime spread and people came from far and near to take > part in the regular singing and pray--1 ing meetings on the mountain, which are held every day from eight till four. Many people stay all night. Vehicles of all sorts bring pilgrims in thousands, ’ and the railways are overburdened. Indeed, a curio ns spell of hallucination has been cist oyer the entire j region, and the authorities are wonoering what to do to bring the people j back to their senses. [>