Erzgebirge

THLord Rudolph Fekter
fallen in Fall Crown Tourney A.S. XLIII

Erzgebirge

There is land of such a nature -
If you sow, it does not yield
Crops to feed a hungry family.
If you dig beneath the field,
Delve unto the mountain root,
There are gems to nurture many,
More than if the land bore fruit.1

From the sterile mountains they bring forth

Gems that were imprisoned in the earth.

Through danger and travail, they increase

Welfare, where the fields bear the least.

Men who mine the Erzgebirge
Must know more than excavating -
How to follow veins of silver,
In the darkness navigating.
Fearless are such men and rare,
As at home in earthen warrens
As they are in open air.2

The owners of the mines who lack no wit

Know they can’t encompass all of it.

They hire inspectors to review the course: 2

To be the ‘master’s eye that feeds the horse’.1

Are the timbers strong, or rotten?
Will we die beneath the mountain?
Shall we find a lode of gemstones,
Strewn in subterranean fountain?
Prudence has a great effect there
Worth the hire of good inspector: 2
Bergehauptmann Rudolph Fekter.

Gold and silver are but dust,

Like stones upon the river’s crust.3

What gem of worth has greater shine

Than the crystals of the Rhine?

Up from motherlode of minerals,
From the source of mountain ranges,
Flows the liquor of the land’s heart.
By the farmers’ prosperous granges,
Floating on the Rhine’s cold water,
Rudolph Fekter flees his homeland,
Heading towards the woolman’s daughter.

Beneficent and kind, the world abounds

With abundance to the land above the ground. 4

Wonders from the woodland of the Ply;

Marvels in a single butterfly.

The information on mining was taken from Agricola, who quotes in De Re Metallica the Classical authorities paraphrased in the poem: 1 Xenophon (“ There is land of such a nature that if you sow, it does not yield crops, but if you dig, it nourishes many more than if it had borne fruit.” Fun story for ‘the horse’ quote.), 2 Indicates words from Agricola himself. 3 Naumachius (“ Gold and silver are but dust, like the stones that lie scattered on the pebbly beach, or on the margins of the rivers.”), 4 Ovid (“…beneficent and kindly mother she yields in large abundance from her bounty…”).

— Lady Eichling von Amrum

...I Guard the Guardians.

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