A bride for a varnished clock shield by Heinrich Rudolf

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Once upon a time, at the final end of a Black Forest valley, near the water shed of Rhine and Danube, were two houses. One of them being a big and proud farm house and the other a rather modest cottage in which a clock frame maker lived and worked. Theresa, the farmer’s daughter and Laurenz, the son of the frame worker were inseparable ever since they were children. In the beginning the farmer family was in favor of this, since this way the little unruly Theresa was cared for.

However, when coming of age and they were still sticking together, the farmer’s authority could not longer be avoided. "You will never marry this starving wretch” were his words and that was it. But Theresa declined every suitor asking for her hand. This was in full agreement with the farmer, because he thought he would not have to hire an extra maid if his daughter would remain unmarried.

The valley farmer could be impressed by only two things, either a lot of money or an innovation of significance. He surprised everyone on the farm about his exceptional courtesy towards Padre Thaddäus from the Saint Peter monastery, which was not only due to the fact that the Padre was a man of the church, but the Padre had also brought him a little brass pipe which was to assist the drainage of swamp meadows.

Time and again Laurenz thought about his desperate situation, but a way out was not in sight. Although the clock trade could - with luck and fortune - bring a lot of money within a period of ten years, he did not even have the introductory price which clock traders demanded from a new helper. and something new? What could one think of in a back valley!

One Sunday morning in autumn, Laurenz brought his carrier full of finished wood frames to the nearby market. After church services he entered, as he did once a month, the "Adler” restaurant to have a glass of wine. At the neighboring table a loud dispute was going on between two clock traders. One of them being from England and the other from France were complaining about the severe competition and how strenuous life was in foreign parts. "The English sell their own clocks now with white painted tin shields and even colored flowers in the corners, and most farmers and burgher like that” shouted one of them.

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