Note 14 — FATHER BRUHIN
Reading edition
We generally went to Lech in threes. Now the inn at Lech was not a bad one; so good indeed, that its praises have been sung by no less an authority than the writer Ludwig Steub, who was also a frequent visitor at our house in times gone by. But our own cuisine and cellar were still better, and accordingly we were wont to take up by cart a vast store of provisions, only sleeping at the inn and occasionally ordering some little dish or a quarter of wine for the sake of appearances. To recoup himself, the innkeeper used to charge us so preposterously for these trifles that on one occasion we had a solemn row with him and refused to pay. He yielded. Not long afterwards there was printed in some local paper a spirited poem in the mock-heroic style, with the refrain:
Die Heiligen Drei Könige, mit irrendem Stern— Die essen und trinken, und zahlen nicht gern!
I wish I had kept a copy.