New Britain Herald Newspaper, June 28, 1929, Page 31

\Pearlssnd Pigs R " dausage ®_Xeystone View Co. h g aregarel] Luckner o Wearing the Famous mulzhllun Jowels. Revealed ore That They Would Foretell Only Disaster. But the Baroness Believee She Has Sausage Her Own Beautiful Castle. SAUSAGE-making Baroness!". Aristo- 66 . Acntl and peasantry of Luebeck, Germany, were alike aghast at the curious picture the phrase presented. “Pigs and pearls!” they scorn- fully exclaimed when it was learned that Baroness Mare- rethe Luckner, sister of the te Baron von Maltsan, he consulted the traditional family oracle—the famous von Malt- san 1s—before turning the beautiful unds of her an- cient Castle of Schulenberg, Germany, into piggeries. The legend af e mysterious von Maltzan pearls was well known to the residents of Lue- beck. It prophesied by them that once again the jewels would foretell disaster, this time to & member of the von Malt- zan family who would dare to desecrate the ancestral home by turning it into a sausage fac- tory. rxut that was & year ago, and nov.dth& sam penc:‘p,l:K who vie e sausage-! ng ac- tivities of the Baroness with disdain, are lauding her defiance of th er- stitious ltmlmon surrounding the fam- ily pearls. yWith the family fortune somewhat depleted by the ravages of the late war, the flnun hit upon a scheme that she hoped would replenish the von Maltzan coffers. Sausages are e sn important item in the daily menu planned by the German hausfrau, the great kitchen of the castle could be turned into s miniature factory with very little nse. But the pearls—what color would sume if the Baroness took this unpre- cedented step? Would they blacken and portend doom as they had on other conepicuous oceasions in the history of the royal family? Only » short time before, when her brother, Baron von Maltzan then Ger- mbassador to the United States ltsan pearls was . For centuries the gems had been hid- den away in the von Maltsan castle at Militsch, Silesia. When news of the sudden desth of the Baron mchelg ol IS ‘ A " * o O B L i )’ E: IR) i nd? B z i @iy ¢ ) SRR CEESpmmE—— faking yym How the Daring German Blueblood Broke the Strange Spell of the von Maltzan in ich Many Royal Personages Were Entertained Have Now Been Converted Into Factory Space for the Making of Sausages. goblin who appeared before our ances- tor and presented her with these pearls has once again exerted his weird power —the pear:s are a sickly yellow!" Even the most skeptical of the group fell un- der the spell of the mysterious jewels and were convinced at last that the many strange stories they had heard about the pearls must have been founded upon true circumstances. There was a_general movement to- wards the jewel casket indicating that one thought was paramount in the minds of the relatives of the late Baron. “The pearls turned yellow when our loved one died—they are un- canny. It will be easicr to forget the sinister icance of this discovery if we get them out of sight.” As the lid was hastily closed on the tiny box the tension of the atmosphere lessened—but only for a moment. To the dismay of the little gathering the Baroness Maregarethe Luckner is said to have stepped boldly forward and held out her hand for- the strange treasure. She declared that she was well aware of the details of the miraculous circum- stances by which the pearls were be- lieved to have come into the family, and of the striking instances when the mysterious power of the jewels was al- leged to have exerted evil influence over their owners. But it was her be- lief that, despite contrary tales, the pearls had been given to the family as & token of good luck and would fore- tell good fortune as well as evil, She kN The Tragic Death of Baron von Malizan 1! Depicted ion That y Found That the Pearls Had Turned . Yellow. They Are Seen in the Drawing at Left Making the Startling Discovery. insisted that she be given the op- portunity of proving her theory, and that she be permitted to wear the pearls. 3 The Baroness did not add that she was already con- templating a venture into the sausage industry and that this daring sten would afford her an excellent op- ortunity to add a new and . happier story to the many sad ones long recounted about the gems if her as- sumption was correct. She won her point, and in spite of the entreaties of her rela- tives carried the pearls back to her castle at Schulenberg. Several days later a tradesman appearing at the door of the castle, prepared for his usual morning chat The Baroness Maregarethe The Drawing Above Shows One of the Disasters Which the Prosle Are Said 1o Have Foretold. They Became Discolored Jvet delore ar Earthquake Partly Destroyed the An t von Malizan Castle in Silesia. such a strange picture at the castle. But the picture of the Baroness with the pearls clasped around her aristocratic throat, and dressed in a housemaid’s apron, was no more un- usual than the orders she gave. The tradesman thought he must be dreaming. When on succeeding days the Baroness continued to ap- pear in this costume and give similar orders, he knew that he must be wide awake, and that here in the quiet village of Luebeck an un- precedented event was taking place before his eyes. The vague rumors heard in the market place must be true. The Baroness had indeed turned her own kitchen into a sau- sage factory. She had really pressed the family servants into new serv- ice, and she was personally work- ing with them in the backstairs realm, If the countryside had not been' so curious to see the ancient castle in its new activity, it would have drawn back in horror. But the tempta- tion was too great, and the villagers sought every excuse to call at the kitchen of the castle to see this gentle woman turned business manager and cook. The hustle and bustle of the long slumbering estate told plainly that the roya] sausages, seasoned by the Baroness herself, have met with the enthusiastic approval of nationa! connoisseurs, Before long the high ceilinged din- ing room where feudal barons had feasted was necessarily ¥ converted into another kitchen, and the clang of carpenters’ hammers re verbrated through the castle. The long table around which hun- dreds of welcoma guests had luxuriously sipped mellow wine, now proved an excel- lent work-table for the sausagemakers. No longer did the tall candles cast soft shadows on the dark wainscoting, but in- stead the shimmer of steel machinery re- vealed new workers assisting the old fam- ily servants. Appar- ently even these facil- jties soon proved in- adequate to meet the ever growing demand for Luckner sau- sages, as room after i © Keystone View Co. Luckner (at left) Preparing the Sausages for Which She Is Now Famous. with the old family cook, was startled to be met by the Baroness herself. She was dressed in a plain cotton house frock, and ag: face of the fabric lay the exquisite. Von Maltzap pearls. Never before had they appeared in such a setting, and never before had the tradesman seen room’wu rapidly turned into factory space by the properous Baroness. Outside the castle, equally revolu- tionary changes were taking place. With startling energy the mistress, who, a few months before, had been prone to ride leisurely through the for- ests of her estate, now appeared daily Kewspaper Festare Bervics, 1928, / ©Hnarrin and Ewing The Baroness von Malizan ml"mm i She Was O tograph Taken When She Was One of the Leading Hostesses in the Diplomati¢ Circles of Washington. She Is Wearing the Celebrated Family Pearls. to direct the building of piggeries and personally to inspect her stock. 'ln- stead of the pleasant sound of barking hounds and the whinney of horses heard in other days, the castle grounds cghoed with the grunts and squeals of pigs. Now and then the Baroness caught the furtive glanczs of her visitors as they curiously eyéd the pearls—which she always wore. Everyone expected them to turn black and to see the mis- tress of the castle sicken with despair with the downfall of her business, which ft was thought must surely come. But at these times, the Baroness smiled —perhaps with secret satisfaction. And well she might. As the sausage bu. ness flourished, the pearls took on a new and delicate coloring. She now felt sure that she had been right. On that night long ago, in the sixteenth century, when the goblin is said to have :Epelred in the dim!ly lighted bed-chamber of the Baroness Eva Regna von Maltzan, and pre- sented her with the pearls, he had cer- tainly intended that the gift should be used as a symbol of good luck. According to this legend the gift followed an act of kindness shown toward the eery little goblin by the Baroness Eva. The Baroness had first been awakened by the gnome, who said that the oil from a lamp on the table near her bed was dripping on his grandchild. This goblin grandchild was of course invisible to the Baroness, but she courteously moved the lamp, whereupon the goblin thanked her and vanished. Next night he appeared again hold- ing the lovely pearls. He told the Baroness Eva that they would bring good luck unless they were sold by some member of the family or one of them was injured. He also said that they would foretell distaster by chang- ing color. On one occasion they are supposed to have become discolored just before an earthquake party de- stroyed the von Malzan castle and at another time when an attempt was made to sell them disaster threatened at once. When jewel experts were told of the pearls’ remarkable sensitiveness to happenings in the world they dismissed the whole idea as a medieval myth that had been built persistently by simple association. They admitted that rls taken from the sunlight for a r g time can turn color, but they in- ted that the discoloration has noth- ing to do with the “life” and ‘“‘death” of the gems, because pearls never really live. They pointed out what a remarkable thing association is and that once we begin to believe that a String of Pearls, Ulustraies Some of the Dramatie Happenings Associated With the von Malizan Gems. In the Drawing Above the Goblin Is Shown Giving the Jewels to an Ancestor of the Present Baroness, Maregarethe Luckner, “ (] The Late Baron von Maltean Photo- graphed When He Was the German Ambassador at Wahington. jewels possess a strange power we can imagine all sorts of things happening because of the gem. But the von Maltzans cite many remarkable instances in an endeavor to prove the truth of legends about their miraculous pearls. Among the many tales recorded in the famiry ane nals was one told by the late Ambas- dor to the United States. One day when he was a boy his uncle, who then owned the pearls, sent him a message warning him not to_ge motorcycle riding as he had intended. Although puzzled he gave up his plans to please the uncle. The next day he was surprised to see the man in mourn- ing. Jpon questioning him, Baren von Maltzan was given this startling information: “When I communicated with you yes- terday, I had just taken the pearls out of the safe and found that one had turned black. I feared that you would be killed, but last night I received a telegram announcin 5\. death of your cousin at Bordeaux.” Meanwhile, the von Maltzans have announced their intention to return their strange treasure to the Militsch Castle, and lock them there per manently. With the reputation of her sausages firmly established, Baroness is at last willing to comply with the wishes of her family, And unless some daring member of a future generation seeks to prove that the romance of the sausage-maki; Baroness was due to the good lu:‘ brought by the pearls and not to her blue ribbon pigs, the gems will remain locked in the secluded vault in the ancestral home where the goblin is thought to have brought them.