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The road is long from Niederbronn to Mühltal, with not a house to be seen; only the ruins of Arnsbourg Castle rise above the tiny valley. People say that many enormous barrels of the finest wine are still hidden in the Castle's vast cellars, but no-one has yet discovered the hidden entrance. Many years ago, on a hot summer afternoon, a charcoal burner was making his way through the forest. He was desperately thirsty, and looked to right and left of him for a small spring or stream, but as it was the middle of a drought that had lasted many weeks, all the springs had dried up. Suddenly, when he reached the rocks on which the ruined castle rose, he smelt the delicious bouquet of some fine wine. "O God, if only someone would let me drink of the good wine in the Castle's cellars." he sobbed. Suddenly he saw a tiny man with a long white beard coming out of the Castle. Dressed in a leather apron he had a bunch of keys at his waist. The charcoal burner knew who he was immediately. The cooper beckoned to the young man to follow him. Dying of thirst, he followed the old man. They climbed down flight after flight of stone steps covered in moss and partly worn away until they arrived at a large door. The cooper took a key from the bunch at his waist and unlocked the door. They were in a vast, cool vaulted cellar in perfect condition. All around them was the delicious bouquet of rich and powerful wines. From a niche in the wall, the cooper took an exquisitely cut crystal glass, and filling it from one of the barrels, he held it out to the charcoal burner, saying, "Drink this; it's the wine I served the Lord of Arnsbourg on special feast days only. I was his cooper and have been condemned to remain here for another two hundred years before I will find eternal peace because I watered the wine of his liegemen. I have already served half my sentence, so it will soon be my turn to rest in peace." The charcoal burner gulped down the wine. Never before had he tasted such a magnificent brew; never before had he felt so young and full of the joys of life. Smiling, he thanked the cooper and, with his new-found strength, made his way safely home. Since then many inveterate drinkers, and many who love good wine have searched the ruins of Arnsbourg Castle in vain for the cooper, for he has never reappeared. But sometimes during the grape harvest, a delicious bouquet rises from the soil and envelops the Castle. Popular tradition would have it that in these years the wine in Alsace will be magnificent, and in those autumns the cellars of the region will be full of superb wine. |
