title: Kingdom of the Birds: Seppel and the Secret of the Wartburg Castle
author:  Hilda Demuth-Lutze 
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 cant 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 Seppels 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.
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  # The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 97, November, 1865
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Various
  
  
  This page formatted 2007 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  * [WHY THE PUTKAMMER CASTLE WAS DESTROYED.](atmn_split_2.html#1_0_2)
  
  
  * [THE RHYME OF THE MASTER'S MATE.](atmn_split_3.html#1_0_3)
  
  
  * [THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE IN LIBRARIES.](atmn_split_4.html#1_0_4)
  
  
  * [LETTER TO A YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER.](atmn_split_5.html#1_0_5)
  
  
  * [THE PEACE AUTUMN.](atmn_split_6.html#1_0_6)
  
  
  * [DOCTOR JOHNS.](atmn_split_7.html#1_0_7)
  
  
  * [RODOLPHE TÖPFFER,](atmn_split_8.html#1_0_8)
  
  
  * [THE CHIMNEY-CORNER.](atmn_split_9.html#1_0_9)
  
  
  * [JEREMY BENTHAM.](atmn_split_10.html#1_0_10)
  
  
  * [A FAREWELL TO AGASSIZ.](atmn_split_11.html#1_0_11)
  
  
  * [THE FORGE.](atmn_split_12.html#1_0_12)
  
  
  * [THE PROGRESS OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.](atmn_split_13.html#1_0_13)
  
  
  * [THE FIELD OF GETTYSBURG.](atmn_split_14.html#1_0_14)
  
  
  * [ALEXANDER HAMILTON.](atmn_split_15.html#1_0_15)
  
  