Le roi des montagnes

In a quiet French garden, the narrator is startled by a striking young German botanist, Hermann Schultz, who arrives with gold‑rimmed glasses and a curious pipe. Over tea they share stories of travel, and Schultz hints at a terrifying episode he survived while collecting plants in the Greek highlands. He speaks of a notorious bandit known as the “King of the Mountains,” whose grip on the rugged terrain has become the subject of whispered folklore.

Intrigued, the narrator invites Schultz to recount the ordeal, turning the garden into a makeshift newsroom where the botanist dictates his firsthand account. The tale unfolds with vivid descriptions of perilous mountain passes, secret hideouts, and the stark contrast between scholarly curiosity and raw, outlaw cruelty. Listeners will be drawn into a richly atmospheric snapshot of 19th‑century Greece, where natural history and danger intersect, leaving the outcome of Schultz’s escape tantalizingly unresolved.