Kingdom of the birds

By Hilda Demuth-Lutze

Subjects: Reformation, Fiction, Wartburg (Eisenach, Germany)

Description: Germany 1521: Fourteen year-old Seppel, an unskilled village boy, cannot imagine why his uncle Spalatin, chaplain to the Duke of Saxony, would summon him to a year of service in faraway Thuringia. A knight and squire escort Seppel to the Wartburg Castle, where Captain von Berlepsch disguises him as a page and instructs him in swordsmanship and horsemanship. Clumsy in his first attempts, Seppel tells the captain, “You can’t hope to convince anyone that I am of noble birth!” But the captain continues to school Seppel in the knightly arts. In a locked room Seppel meets Sir Georg, the mysterious knight whom he is to serve as page. The knight welcomes Seppel’s company and does not see through his disguise. When Seppel learns the true identity of the prisoner, he realizes that he must keep the secret of the Wartburg Castle or the entire household will risk punishment by church and state. Knight and page learn much about bravery, truth, and the power of the Word during their time together in the Kingdom of the Birds.