Note 75b — HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS BALLADS.

A translation of the poem by Grimm is to be found in the 2d part of the fifth volume of the Kunst und Altherthum, p. 24, and Goethe observes, that it is equally remarkable for its polish and for its barbarously superstitious sentiment. It represents a human victim as murdered in its most disgusting shape. A young woman is immured in order that the fortress of Scutari may be built; and the sacrifice seems less accountable, since oriental usages have generally only required the entombment of consecrated pictures or talismans in order to make castles and asylums impregnable.