Life in the vilege of Oberammersatu has changed little since the days of the Middle Ages, which means that the quaint old place with its 2,000 Inhabitants is one of the quietest pots in Germany. Yet it is famous all over the world, and between May and September of this year its name will gute in the conversation of every Christian city in the world. was just three centuries ago that the scene was ald for the tragedy destined to make Oberammergau a place of pilgrimage almost az famous fas Rome and Mecca. Death had cast this deep. shadow over the peaceful cottages of the little Bavarian hamlet. True, the echo of the Thirty Years War' had" penetrated even into the lonely recesses of this mountain Valley, but neither Imperial or Sweish troops could. be accounted res-sponsible for the tragedy that envelop: ed Oberammergau, Responsibility lay fat the door of a more formidable foe. The foe was.named Plague, One Man's Yearning Part in Destiny of China Concubines have Plague wrought have. Entire families perished. Oberammergau took wise precautions to avoid the peril, tant part in the destiny of Chind, id,|and no stranger wandering through and probably the most famous of the valley was admitted to the vul-them all_was Vu Chi (RIN) whose Inge... Yet despite the vigilance of rds, ceaselessly it work by day Nasband was Hsteng Vu Gm), Ki husband was Helene UD. HOG trid night, the enemy, all the more Det knotty terrible for being Invisible, found its play. Po Wang Pieh Chi (BLESI). way into. the sanctuary, " concealed Spa' Wang's farewell to Vu Chi" fg). Hsiang Vu or Pa Wang is accounted to be the greatest of al [Chinese generals and fought against Han Kao Tsu, the founder of the Han Dynasty. Just before the decisive battle of the campaign Pa Wang informed her that the. situation was hopeless, whereupon she gave him a feast, danced a sword dance and then sang song of farewell, In abie of prodigious feats of valour Wang, the battle was lost and he Jcommitted. suicide. "His brave wife, order to escape the dishonour of Seine taken prisoner, followed his Of another kind was Yang Kuei Fel (A@RHE), who so infatuated the Tang Emperor Ming Wang that she became the greatest person inthe Empire, and lived amid un-ones of extravagance and within. the body, not of a stranger, but a native of Oberammergau, Karl Schisler by name—a name orien to be found in the "Memorial Book of the Dead" kept at the village presbytery. Karl Schisler was employed iim the neighbouring village of Eschenone, in the valley of the Lotsach, where he had nursed and buried humorous victims of the plague, which nally struck him down, He yearned for a last glimpse of his wife and children. Along a narrow, concealed mountain 1e. crept tin observed of the guards and entering, his house unseen, Unseen also was the entry of the plague.
The upshot was that forty-eight persons died victims of the epidemic between the autumn of 1692 and July, 1633. ight against the invader unless her dead body was shown to them. The Emperor was compelled to issue an edict ordering her death by strangula the once all powerful seeing that there was. escape, died by her own hand, a {tragic and forlorn figure.
The Tartar Flower Mention must also be made of Hsiang Fel (pig), The Fragrant Confcubine, the glorious wife of a Tartar [Chief, who, taken prisoner in battle, was brought to Peking by the victorious general and presented to the Emperor Chien Lung, who made her Jone of the Imperial concubines. The desert flower longed for a sight of her relatives and they were brought from the west, and a special tower built so that she could look at them {from the palace grounds.
Castigleone, the famous Italian priest. painted her portrait and the Erneror, though infatuated by her.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.