The Wedding Cup.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young woman named Kunigunde, who had secretly fallen in love with a young and ambitious goldsmith. Among all her many suitors there was none who could destroy her love for the young craftsman. At last she revealed the situation to her father, a powerful nobleman — who flew into a rage and had the young man thrown into the darkest dungeon.

Kunigunde's heart was broken. She wept without ceasing until she fell ill. Her father's heart seemed to grow harder with every passing day. One day at last he said: "If your goldsmith can make me a cup from which two people can drink at the same time without spilling a drop, I will set him free — and you may become his wife." In secret he was convinced that the goldsmith could never accomplish such a task.

But love gave wings to the goldsmith, and his nimble fingers fashioned in just a few days a wonderfully formed skirt as a goblet, the like of which had never been seen before. On the upper part he modelled his virtuous and beautiful beloved, holding aloft in her raised hands a slender, freely swivelling cup. Nothing was easier for two people than to empty the filled cups at the same moment.

The story ended happily: the devoted couple became man and wife. On their wedding day — and often thereafter — they drank from the cup and loved each other for the rest of their lives. The cup, however, became for many couples after this story a symbol of love and fidelity that endures to this day.