The Deeds of Wiprecht
Components
Halle Fire
Once during the winter, Wiprecht was spending the night in the village of Halle, where he was attending to the lawsuits of the advocacy. In the still of the night, when everyone was lost in a deep sleep from safety and happiness after the day was done, the fire from the nearby hearth set alight the straw for the milites’ beds, which was scattered about negligently here and there in the evening. After the fire had grown stronger for awhile, only the prince, awakened from sleep, was roused. Unable to bear any delay—yet silently, as he was semi-nude—he got up and set about extinguishing the straw by stomping on it with the bare soles of his feet. He accomplished this with everyone else unaware and, half-burned, returned to his blanket. Come morning, the situation became clear from the obvious signs and moved everyone to both compassion and wonder. Ordering that he be returned from there to his home at Groitzsch, he first turned aside toward his refuge, Pegau, as had always been his custom before. There, he poured out at length a prayer from the depths of his heart; then, with his men bringing him out in their arms, he withdrew immediately for town, so that the presence of his weakness might not disturb the brothers too much.