Never before were two houses so illustrious, mutually
embittered by hostility so deadly. Indeed at the era of this
history, it was observed by an old crone of haggard and sinister
appearance, that "fire and water might sooner mingle than a
Berlifitzing clasp the hand of a Metzengerstein." The origin of this
enmity seems to be found in the words of an ancient prophecy- "A
lofty name shall have a fearful fall when, as the rider over his
horse, the mortality of Metzengerstein shall triumph over the
immortality of Berlifitzing."
To be sure the words themselves had little or no meaning. But more
trivial causes have given rise- and that no long while ago- to
consequences equally eventful. Besides, the estates, which were
contiguous, had long exercised a rival influence in the affairs of a
busy government. Moreover, near neighbors are seldom friends; and
the inhabitants of the Castle Berlifitzing might look, from their
lofty buttresses, into the very windows of the palace
Metzengerstein. Least of all had the more than feudal magnificence,
thus discovered, a tendency to allay the irritable feelings of the
less ancient and less wealthy Berlifitzings. What wonder then, that
the words, however silly, of that prediction, should have succeeded in
setting and keeping at variance two families already predisposed to
quarrel by every instigation of hereditary jealousy? The prophecy
seemed to imply- if it implied anything- a final triumph on the part
of the already more powerful house; and was of course remembered
with the more bitter animosity by the weaker and less influential.
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