In St. Jürgen: Novelle (1867)

In a bleak, tree‑less plain lies the modest town of St. Jürgen, a place the narrator has always felt a quiet affection for. Each summer the sky fills with storks, and with the southern breezes come swallows that sing an old farewell song, reminding him of a lost youth. The town’s heart is the centuries‑old St. Jürgen monastery, whose dim corridors and spacious chapel have long hosted the community’s prayers and gatherings.

As a boy he slipped through the heavy gothic portal onto the sun‑lit courtyard, where fragrant garden herbs mingled with the scent of lilacs. There he met Agnes, the gray‑haired servant who greeted him with a warm “Guten Morgen, Hansen,” and who guided his sister’s needlework and his own sketches of the ruined church. Though she never shared the region’s legends, her love for the swallows and the life they embody hints at deeper stories waiting to unfold.