Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XLVI - Ribe
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chap. XLVI.
»RIBE RET.”
229
the middle ages, less worried than most places; but
she made up for her exemption by the plague of fire
and water, to say nothing of the black pest. She
bore, however, these matters jauntily, for in the year
1577—the year betwixt an “ over-swimming,” a black
pest, and a conflagration—the comedy of ‘ Susanna and
the Elders’ was played with great applause by the
Rector of the High School and his pupils. These
sacred theatricals continued until very late in the
North of Europe. In 1712 the ‘Creation’ was played
before the Swedish king at Malmø, but the machinery
got out of order, and the rose refused to blow.
Though Ribe possessed Gray Brothers and Black
Brothers, she could not vie with Viborg in sanctity;
so she took a peculiar line of her own, and piqued
herself on her police and her justice. “ Ribe Ret,” as it was
called, although most wholesome and effective in
suppressing crime and misdemeanour, was considered so
severe, it became a proverb, “ that they only sent those
to Ribe for justice who were ripe for hangingand the
old saying ran—“Thank God, my son! you did not
come before the justice of Ribe, cried the old woman
when she saw her son on the gallows of Vaarde.”
In Ribe, too, was erected a gallows of stone — a
gallows of aristocratic pretensions, on which no one
but a “bom burgher” was allowed the privilege of
hanging.
Nothing could be more arbitrary than these “by-lovs ”
(municipal laws) of Ribe. A burgomaster was allowed
to invite twenty-four couples to his wedding, with their
daughters, and twelve young men to dance with the
girls. Should the young ladies preponderate, so much
the worse: they must sit still. Only six dishes for
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
