A Tale of the House of Zau in the Alps
In a secluded village high in the Alps during the Middle Ages, there lived the powerful House of Zau. One winter, a plague carried by rats broke out in their manor. At first, the illness remained within their walls; music and feasting continued as usual, and the villagers knew nothing of it.
As the sickness spread to more rooms, the Zau family finally called for a physician. The doctor advised: “Each person must stay in a separate chamber and avoid contact with others.” He also prescribed herbal remedies. When the villagers learned of the matter, some brought herbs, others firewood or food, doing what they could to help.
Not long after, the youngest Zau boy wished to visit a neighboring household to play, but the host politely declined. The Zau family took offense, posting a notice in the village square declaring: “This household has shown grave disrespect to the House of Zau and is stirring up trouble.” Fearing the family’s influence, no one dared to speak against them.
After more than two months, though several in the Zau household had perished, the plague gradually subsided. The village held a gathering to give thanks for their survival. The Zau patriarch, dressed in fine robes, rose and spoke sternly:
“Do you not realize you owe me a great debt? Had my family not closed our gates, endured hunger, and fought the plague within, how many of your homes would now lie in ruin, how many of your kin in their graves? You sit here alive only because of us!”
The villagers glanced at one another in uneasy silence, then said in unison:
“Our thanks to the noble House of Zau, whose mercy is as boundless as the heavens.
Note:
This tale is adapted from a 19th-century compilation of local legends from the Upper Alpine valleys, recorded by the historian Johann Keller in his Chronicles of the Mountain Settlements (1867).
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