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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34505-8.txt b/34505-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5e66fc --- /dev/null +++ b/34505-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8368 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Seldwyla Folks, by Gottfried Keller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Seldwyla Folks + Three Singular Tales + +Author: Gottfried Keller + +Translator: Wolf von Schierbrand + +Release Date: November 29, 2010 [EBook #34505] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELDWYLA FOLKS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + 1.Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/seldwylafolksthr00kellrich + + + + + + + SELDWYLA FOLKS + + THREE SINGULAR TALES + + + + + + + SELDWYLA FOLKS + + THREE SINGULAR TALES + + + + BY + THE SWISS POET + GOTTFRIED KELLER + + + + TRANSLATIONS BY + WOLF VON SCHIERBRAND, Ph.D. + + + + + NEW YORK + BRENTANO'S + PUBLISHERS + + + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BRENTANO'S + + * * * + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + PREFACE + + +Gottfried Keller may fitly be called the greatest narrative writer that +Switzerland has ever produced. Born July 19, 1819, near Zurich, he was +reared in direst poverty. By dint of the hardest labor and by +practicing the utmost frugality, his father was barely able to provide +bread for wife and children. But in the midst of this penury the genius +of his young son Gottfried expanded. As a mere child he gave already +unmistakable evidence of being a dreamer, a thinker, a philosopher, a +"fabulist," an artist. Just able to write, the little boy forever +scribbled poems and fanciful tales, made rapid sketches with pencil and +pen, portraits, caricatures, landscapes. At the village school he +imbibed knowledge like a sponge. Soon the gnarled old schoolmaster, +half peasant, half teacher, looked aghast at his little scholar: he had +no more to teach him. Generous friends sent the youth to Munich, there +to study art. For at that time his desire was to become a great +painter. Desperately and with fiery energy the young fellow devoted +himself to study, and his attainments were considerable. They would +fully have sufficed for a career as a mediocre portrait painter. But +his very excess of zeal led to surfeit, to exhaustion, to a period of +lethargy. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This fit of +listlessness lasted even for some time after Gottfried's return home. +All effort with him slackened. + +Patrons finally intervened. With their aid he went to Heidelberg, and +for two full years, 1848-1850, he there pursued literary and historical +research. The historian, Hettner, took great interest in the young +Swiss. Next he went to Berlin, and during the ensuing five years he +wrote and studied in a desultory manner there. Great attention was paid +him by Goethe's intimate friend, Varnhagen von Ense, and the latter's +wife, the "seeress," Rahel, who drew the shy young man into their wide +literary circle, comprising for two decades the _beaux esprits_ of the +capital. But his bluntness of speech, his sturdy Swiss republicanism, +often gave offense. + +For that was one of the remarkable points about Gottfried Keller: +despite his long residence on German soil and the flattering reception +accorded him by the intellectual _élite_ there, he remained a thorough +democrat, an uncompromising friend of the plain people, a fearless +champion of Swiss free government, a hater of tyranny in any form, a +despiser of monarchs and their favors. Among his poems, later collected +into a bulky tome, there are many that breathe defiance to royalty by +"divine grace." + +Much of this sentiment of anti-monarchism has crept into his first +great work, the "Gruener Heinrich." This, a sort of autobiography in +guise of a big novel, alive with adventure as well as thoughts on men +and things, he first published from 1854 to 1855, but it was afterward +recast in characteristic fashion, 1879-1881. In a manner of speaking, +his "Gruener Heinrich" is also a confession of faith. There are many +didactic passages in it; the whole book, in fact, breathes the +convictions of its author. This is still more the case with the last +great work from Keller's pen, "Martin Salander," where the frequent +political and social precepts interwoven into the text of the story +form, from the purely artistic viewpoint, a serious blemish. + +It is generally conceded that Keller's masterpiece is "Seldwyla Folks" +("Die Leute von Seldwyla"), which appeared in two sections, the first +of these in 1856, the second in 1874. From this group of weird, +fantastic tales the three forming the contents of this book are taken. +About the origin of the title Keller himself has written in his +inimitably oracular and whimsical style. The name and the town itself +are wholly fictitious. They represent a sort of collective traits of a +number of ancient, unprogressive Swiss towns, left head over heels in +medievalism, in outworn customs, with some peculiar features +exclusively their own. Each tale is a jewel cut and polished, a +distinctive literary entity, something that may not be duplicated +elsewhere in the whole realm of letters, with a full flavor of its own. +Where, for instance, in the literature of any tongue, is to be found a +humorous-sarcastic story of the raciness of "The Three Decent +Combmakers"? + +From 1861 to 1878 Keller filled, to the eminent satisfaction of his +countrymen, the important and remunerative office of "Staatsschreiber," +one that combined the duties of secretary of state with those of +custodian of documents and librarian for his native canton, which was +offered him in direct recognition of his literary merits. As such he +utilized for a cycle of semi-historical tales some of the most curious +records in his keeping, which are embalmed in his "Zurich Stories" +(Zuericher Novellen), 1877. In the year after that he retired from +office, and in 1882 appeared "The Epigram" (Das Sinngedicht), in 1883 +his "Seven Legends," based on some of the Lives of the Saints, +singularly humanized and modernized, and in 1886 finally "Martin +Salander," an intensely patriotic and peculiarly Helvetian novel. He +was also a master of the short story, a sadly neglected field in +Teutonic literature. + +Meanwhile, wherever German was understood or spoken the writings of +Gottfried Keller had found intense appreciation, at first slowly, then +more rapidly, and eminent German critics and authors, such as Theodore +Storm, Berthold Auerbach, F. Th. Vischer and others, had pronounced +themselves ardent admirers of his. But in 1890 he died, after a +lingering illness. + +The question may well be asked how it is that the literary lifework +of such a man as Gottfried Keller has for so many years been denied +the most sincere form of homage, that of translation, by the whole +non-German-speaking world. There may be additional reasons for this +seeming neglect, but I believe the chief one lies in the fact of the +unusual difficulty of the task. To cast the thoughts and conceits of an +individualistic writer into another vehicle of speech is in itself no +easy matter. But in the case of Gottfried Keller it is especially so. +For the man, as I took pains to point out, was a Swiss, not by any +manner of means a German. And not only is the subject matter of his +lyrical and epical output strongly tinged with Helvetism, but his very +language as well. The Swiss-German vernacular is more than a mere +dialect; it is almost a tongue of its own. On all but on the few solemn +and formal occasions of life the Swiss expresses himself in what he +terms "Schwyzer-Dütsch," which is indeed scarcely understood by persons +habituated to German proper, and even when the Swiss author perforce +drops into the latter he uses so many peculiarly Helvetian terms and +modes of speech, so many archaic saws, his whole method of handling the +language is so different that to reshape what he says into another +tongue without doing violence to the spirit, the soul, the flavor and +thus marring the translation irretrievably and doing gross injustice to +the original becomes doubly hard. + +I can only say that I have done in this respect what was humanly +possible. What the final result has turned out to be is for the court +of last resort, for the final arbiter, the reader, to say. + + W. V. S. + + + + + CONTENTS + + PREFACE + + THREE DECENT COMBMAKERS + + DIETEGEN + + ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE + + + + + + THE THREE DECENT COMBMAKERS + + + + + THE THREE DECENT + COMBMAKERS + + +The people of Seldwyla have furnished proof that a whole townful of the +unjust or frivolous may, after all, continue for ages to exist despite +changes of time and traffic; the three combmakers, though, demonstrate +as clearly that not even three decent human beings may manage to live +for a long stretch under one roof without getting their backs up. And +with decent, with just, is not by any means meant heavenly justice, nor +even the natural justice of the human conscience, but rather that +vacuous justice which from the Lord's Prayer has struck the plea: And +forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors! And this simply +because they never contract any debts whatever and cannot stand the +idea of debts. Indeed, also because they live to no one's harm, but +also to no one's pleasure; because, true enough, they work and earn +money, but will not spend a stuyver, and find in their laboring task +some small profit but never any joy. Such soberly decent chaps do not +smash window panes for the wicked fun of it, but neither do they ever +light any lanterns of their own, and no enlightenment proceeds from +them. They toil at all sorts of things, and one thing, to their minds, +is as good as another, so long as no risk or danger be involved. But +they prefer to settle in such places where there are many unjust in +their sense. For if left to themselves, without any mingling with the +said unjust, they would soon grind each other sorely, as do millstones +which lack corn between. And if at any time some piece of ill-luck +befalls them, they are greatly amazed and wail and whine as though +their last hour had come, inasmuch as they, so they say, have never +done harm to anyone. For they look upon this world of ours as a huge +and well-organized police department in which nobody need fear any fine +or punishment so long as he unfailingly sweeps his sidewalk, does not +leave flowerpots standing loosely on his window sill and does not pour +any water into the street. + +Now in Seldwyla there was a combmaking establishment the owner of which +habitually changed every fifth or sixth year, and this although it did +fair business when taken proper care of. For the small traders and +stand-keepers who attended the fairs in the neighborhood, obtained +there their horn wares. Beside the horn rasps and files, the implements +of various kinds, the most marvelous ornaments and back-combs of every +description for the use of the village belles and servant maids were +made there out of handsome transparent ox horns, and the rare skill of +the workmen (for, of course, the master never actually toiled himself) +consisted in branding and searing the close counterfeit of the most +artistically designed clouds of reddish brown tortoise shell, each +according to his conceit and fancy, so that, when admiring these combs +as the light played on their fantastic cumulations, it looked almost as +though the most magnificent sunups and sundowns were concealed within +the polished horn surface, rubicund gatherings of cloudlets, +thunderstorms and tornadoes, as well as still other varicolored +manifestations of the forces of Nature. + +In the summertime, when these proud artisans loved to wander over the +surface of the land and when they were scarce, they were treated with +courtesy by the masters, and received good board and wages. But during +the winter, at a time when they were looking for shelter and were +plentiful, they had to be humble, had to turn out combs till their very +pates smoked with the effort, and all for slender pay. During that +inauspicious season the mistress of the house one day after another +would put a big dish of sourkrout on the table, and the master himself +would then say: "These are fish!" And if at such a time any fellow was +rash enough to remark: "With your permission, this is sourkrout!" he +was instantly handed his walking papers and had to issue forth into the +dreary winter landscape. However, as soon as the meadows once more +turned green and the roads became passable, they all said: "All the +same, it's sourkrout!" and made up their bundle. For even in case the +mistress instantly threw a boiled ham on top of the smoking sourkrout, +and the master would murmur: "Goodness, I thought all along it was +fish! But this time, surely, it is a ham!" nevertheless the workmen +were not to be propitiated any longer. They longed for freedom and the +open, as during the long winter all three of them had had to sleep in +one bed and had grown thoroughly tired of each other because of the +continual kicking of ribs and because of frozen and numbed bare sides. +But it so happened that once a decent and gentle soul came that way, +from out of the Saxon lands, and this good fellow complied with +everything, worked as hard as any ant and was absolutely not to be +frozen out, in such fashion that finally he became so to speak a part +of the furnishings of the house and saw the owners changing several +times, those years being somewhat more given to changes than of yore. +Jobst (such was the creature's name) stretched himself in the bed as +stiff as a ramrod and maintained his particular place next the wall, +both winter and summer. He likewise willingly accepted the sourkrout +for fish, and in the spring received with humble thanks a mouthful of +the ham. His lesser wages he put aside as he did his larger ones. For +he never spent anything; rather he saved every penny. He did not live +like the other workmen: he never touched a drop of wine, did not +associate with any of his own countrymen nor with other young fellows, +but stood evenings under the house door and joked with the old women, +lifted the heavy water pails upon their padded heads, at least when he +chanced to be in good humor, and went to bed with the chickens, except +at such times as he could do extra work against extra pay. Sundays he +also toiled until late into the afternoon, no matter if the weather was +fine. But do not assume that he did all this with pleasure and +alacrity, as did John the merry Chandler in the well-known song. On the +contrary, he was always cast-down and of ill-humor because of these +voluntary abstentions from the amenities of life, and he was forever +complaining about his hard lot. Come Sunday afternoon, however, Jobst +went in all the disarray and filth of workaday, and with his clattering +sabots across the lane and fetched from the laundress his clean shirt +and his neatly ironed "dicky," his high linen collar or his better +handkerchief, and proceeded to carry these things in his hands to his +room, stepping the while with that rooster-like majesty which used to +distinguish the prideful artisan of former days. For it belonged to +their privileges, when walking attired in leather apron and heavy +slippers, to observe a very peculiar stride, affected and as though +they were floating in upper spheres. And of them all the highly +instructed bookbinders, the jolly shoemakers and cobblers, and the +rarer and queer-mannered combmakers excelled in these mannerisms. But +arrived in his little chamber Jobst once more took thought to himself, +ruminating and seriously reflecting as to whether it was really worth +while to don the clean shirt and the snowy "dicky." For with all his +gentleness and moral decency he was, after all, somewhat of a swinish +fellow, and thus doubts arose in his penurious little soul as to the +advisability of the whole proceeding, and as to whether the soiled +linen would not do just as well for another week or so, in which latter +case he would simply remain at home and work a little more. Then he +would sit down with a sigh and begin anew, teeth clenched and mien +fierce, cutting into the horn, or else he would transmute the horn into +pseudo-tortoise shell, in doing which, however, he never forgot his +innate sobriety and want of imagination, so that he always put but the +same odious three splotches into the smooth surface. For with him it +was always thus that he would not use even the slightest trouble if he +was not specially bidden to do so. + +On the other hand, if his resolution ripened into the actual taking of +a walk, he spent first one or two hours painfully adorning himself, +next he took his dapper little cane and stalked stiffly towards the +gate of the town, and there he would stand around humbly and tediously +and would carry on stupid gossip with others of the same ilk, some of +those who did not know any more than himself how to kill time +pleasantly, perhaps ancient and decrepit Seldwylians who had neither +money nor gumption to find their way into the gay tavern. With such +godforsaken old fossils he was in the habit of placing himself in front +of a house in process of construction, or near a field in seed, before +an apple tree injured in the last storm, or perhaps next to a new yarn +factory, and then he would discuss with an infinitude of detail these +things, the need of them, their cost, about the hopes entertained as to +the next crop, and about the actual condition of the fields, of all of +which he would know no more than the man in the moon. In fact, he did +not care whether he did or not; the main thing with him was that time +thus slipped away in what to him appeared the cheapest and the +pleasantest manner. And thus it came about that these, the old and +decrepit Seldwylians, only spoke of him as the "well-mannered and +sensible Saxon," for they themselves understood not a whit more than he +himself. When the people of Seldwyla founded a large brewery on shares, +hoping therefrom for huge business in their town, and when the +extensive foundation walls emerged from the ground, Jobst used to make +it his task of boring into the soil thereabouts with his cane, talking +like an expert and showing the keenest interest in the progress of the +work, for all the world as if he were the most assiduous toper himself +and as if the success or non-success of the enterprise were a matter of +life and death with him. "No indeed," he would then exclaim in his +lisping voice, "this is a shplendid undertakking. Only, the devil of it +is it costs so mooch monnee! So mooch monnee! It's a pity! And here, +this here vault ought really to be a leetle, yoost a leetle bit deeper, +and this wall a leetle bit thicker." And the other idiots sided with +him and said he knew all about it. + +However, for all his enthusiasm he never failed to show up in time for +his Sunday supper. For that was indeed the sole chagrin he inflicted on +the mistress at home that he never missed a meal, Sunday or any other +day. The other workmen would go to the tavern with their comrades and +friends, dance, play cards and amuse themselves. But not so Jobst. On +his account alone the master's wife was forced to remain at home +Sundays, or else to provide his lonesome supper. And then, after +chewing as long as he could his portion of bread and sausage or cold +meat, he would spend another considerable while pawing over his slender +possessions, fingering them as though they were the treasures of +Aladdin, with bated breath, and then he would retire to his strictly +virtuous couch. That according to his notions had been an enjoyable, a +roystering Sunday. + +But with all his humble, decent and inconspicuous ways, Jobst was not +lacking in a species of inner, hidden irony, as though in his own +peculiar way he were making fun of the world with its vanity and its +foolishness. Indeed he seemed even to have strong doubts as to the +grandeur and worth of things in general, and to be conscious of +harboring within his own soul plans far more momentous and stirring. On +Sundays, notably when delivering his expert opinions on creation as a +whole, he often showed a face alive with superior, with almost owlish +wisdom. It was plainly to be seen in his pinched features how he +carried within his inmost ken plans of immense importance, plans +compared with which the doings of the others, after all, were but as +child's play. The great, the overwhelmingly great plan he cherished day +and night and which had been all these years his loadstar, ever since +he had first appeared in Seldwyla, amounted indeed to this: To save his +wages until there would be a sum sufficient to present himself some +fine morning, on an occasion when the business would be once more for +sale, with the money in his hand and purchase it, himself at last +becoming owner and master. + +This darling hope lay at the bottom of all his scheming and contriving, +as he had not failed to notice how an industrious and abstemious man +could not fail to flourish in Seldwyla. He, to be sure, was such a man, +one who went his own quiet way and who was bound to profit from the +carelessness of the people thereabouts without falling into the same +errors as these. And once master and owner of the establishment, it +would not be difficult for him to acquire citizenship and then, he +calculated, he would spend the remainder of his life more sensibly and +economically than any previous citizen of Seldwyla had ever done, not +bothering the slightest about anything which was not likely to increase +his wealth, not spending a penny, but accumulating more and more money, +watching all the time his chances among the spendthrifts of the town. +This plan was indeed as simple as it was sensible and well-considered, +especially as he had begun to realize it, in his own slow but sure way, +for a number of years past. For he had already saved up quite a neat +little sum; this he had hidden away securely, and with things going on +as they had hitherto, it was but a question of time when his scheme +would attain full fruition. + +But there was one point about his plan which seemed to brand it as +almost inhuman. That was the fact that Jobst had conceived it at all, +that is, in Seldwyla, for nothing in his heart really inclined him to +Seldwyla, and nothing compelled him to remain there. He cared not a fig +really either for the town or its inhabitants, either for the political +condition of the country or its manners and customs. All this was as +indifferent to him as was his own native land, and which latter he did +not even care to ever see again. In a hundred other places of the world +he might have equally well succeeded with his diligence and his habits. +However, he had discarded all sense of free choice, and with his +grossly grasping senses he had seized upon the first tendril of hope +that offered, in order to keep hold and suck himself through it full of +wealth and vigor. The saying, it is true, is: "Where I fare well, there +is my home," and this may be true enough in the case of those who can +really show some good and sufficient reasons why they love their new +country and who of their free and conscious will went out into the wide +world in order to achieve success and to return as men of weight, or of +those who escape unfortunate conditions at home and, obeying a strong +tendency, join the modern migration across the seas; or of those who +somewhere have found better and truer friends than at home, or who +discovered conditions abroad that suited their ideals and secret hopes +better or who became bound by stronger ties abroad. And this new home +in any case, this second home where they found things more to their +taste and where they succeeded well, they necessarily must care for, so +long as there they are treated humanely and fairly. Jobst, however, +scarcely knew where he was; the institutions and customs of the Swiss +he was unable to understand, and he merely said sometimes: "Why, yes, +the Swiss are strong on politics. Maybe that's good, so long as one +likes it. But I don't, and where I'm from nobody ever bothered about +political things." + +The customs of the Seldwylians he hated, and he felt afraid of their +noisy demonstrations when they organized a political procession or had +mass meetings. At such times he sat in the rear of the workshop and +feared bloody riots and murder growing out of it all. But nevertheless +it remained his sole object and his great secret to stay on in Seldwyla +until the end of his days. Such just and decent persons like him you +will find scattered all over the earth, and where they are for no +better reason than that it just so happened they got hold without +trouble of their own of one of these sucking tubes guaranteeing a +satisfactory income. And this they do steadily, giving no thought the +while to the land of their birth, but without loving their new home, +without a glance to right or left, and thus resembling not so much a +freeman as one of those lower organisms, odd animalculae or vegetable +seeds, which by the whims of wind or water are accidentally carried to +the spot where they flourish. + +Thus Jobst had lived year after year in Seldwyla, slowly but constantly +adding to his secret store which he had buried under the tiles of his +chamber floor. No tailor could boast of having earned anything through +him, for he still possessed the same Sunday coat in which he had +arrived in town, and the garment was still in the same condition. +Neither had any shoemaker done any work for him in Seldwyla, for the +soles of his boots were still intact. The year, after all, has but +fifty-two Sundays, and only the half of these were utilized by him for +a walk. Nobody, in fact, had been the better for his stay in town; as +soon as he received his wages the money went to the hiding-place +mentioned, and even when he went off on his Sunday excursions he never +put a coin in his pocket, so as to foil any temptation for spending. +When hucksters or old women came to the shop with goods or fruit, with +cherries, plums or pears, it was amusing to watch Jobst, who tenderly +felt of the quality of the fruit, entered into discussions with the +vendors, thus leading these to indulge false and extravagant hopes, +only to be disappointed. He would, however, advise his comrades as to +how to make the most of their purchases, how to bake their apples in +the oven, to peel them or to stew them, without ever asking for or +receiving one mouthful himself. But though nobody ever saw the color of +his money, neither did they ever hear him swear, show any anger, demand +anything not strictly within his rights, or give vent to ill-humor. He +was the very essence of pacifism. He carefully avoided quarrels or +argument, and he did not even make a wry face when anyone, as happened +frequently, would play tricks on him. And while indeed eaten up +constantly with curiosity as to the issue of every kind of gossip, +disputes or wrangling he had come to know about, since these furnished +him with one of his chief amusements, and while he would keep a strict +account and inquire in a mild way about them and the right and wrong in +each case, the while the other workmen were indulging in their rude +brawls or tavern orgies, he nevertheless was mighty careful never to +interfere or to take a decided part for or against. In short, he was a +most curious medley of truly heroic wisdom and persistence, coupled +with a gentle but pronounced want of heart and feeling. + +At one time he had been for many weeks the sole workman in the +establishment, and he had flourished under these circumstances like a +green bay tree. Nights especially he rejoiced in the exclusive tenancy +of the big, wide bed. He made full use of his opportunities, and went +through incredible contortions while stretching his lank limbs in the +bed. He in a manner trebled his person, changing his posture +ceaselessly, and indulged in the hallucination that, as usual, there +were three of them and he were urgently requested by the other two not +to stand on ceremony and to take things easy. The third one being +himself, he voluptuously complied with the invitation, wrapped himself +completely in the feather bed, or else straddled his legs, lay across +the full width of the couch, or in the harmless exuberance of delight +would even turn a decent somersault or two. + +But alas! the day came when he, already indulging in some such innocent +capers, after having retired early, suddenly saw a strange workman +sedately enter the chamber, being led thither by the mistress of the +house. Jobst was just lying in measureless comfort with his head at the +foot of the bed, his not quite immaculate feet on the pillows, when +this happened. The stranger unfastened his heavy knapsack from his +back, stood it in a corner, and then, without loss of time, began to +undress, since he felt very tired. Jobst quick as a flash assumed the +proper position in bed and stretched himself along his accustomed spot +next to the wall. While doing this the thought rushed through his head: +"Surely he'll soon clear out again, since it is summertime and fine +weather for roaming about." + +This hope on further consideration took firm root, and with sundry +sighs and grunts lulled him to sleep. He dreamt, though, of a speedy +resumption of the kicking and rowing in bed, and a nightmare woke him +in the middle of the night, an evil omen. He was amazed, however, when +dawn came, and he had felt neither pokes in the ribs, nor had been +feloniously deprived of his share of the covering. Not only that; the +new arrival, although a Bavarian, was inordinately polite, peaceable +and well-behaved, for all the world like a counterpart of his own self. +This unheard-of fact cost Jobst his calmness of mind. He could not +drive the misgivings thus engendered from his head. And while the two +were dressing in the dim light of early morning, he scrutinized his new +fellow-worker closely. It seemed a singular case to him. He observed +that this new man, like himself, was no longer quite young, but cleanly +and decent in speech and manners. The Bavarian on his part with words +well-set and sober inquired of Jobst about the circumstances of life in +Seldwyla, just about in the same way in which he himself would have +done it. As soon as this became apparent to him, Jobst grew secretive +and kept to himself the simplest and most harmless things, opining +that, of course, the Bavarian must have some occult motive in coming to +this town. To ascertain this secret now became the prime object with +him. That there was a deep secret he never had the slightest doubt. +Why else should this man, just like himself, be such a gentle, +smooth-spoken and experienced sort? Only by the theory of his harboring +a deep-laid scheme, of being a designing person, could he explain +matters to himself. And thus began a kind of silent, never-sleeping +warfare between these two. Each did his best to find out the "secret" +of the other; but it was all done with the greatest precaution, in +words of double meaning, by amiable subterfuges and in peaceable ways. +Neither ever gave a clear answer to any question, but yet after the +lapse of but a few hours each of the pair was firmly convinced that the +other was in all essential respects his own double. And when in the +course of the day Fridolin, the Bavarian, several times visited the +chamber and busied himself with something, Jobst seized upon the first +chance to go there likewise at a moment when the other was fully +occupied with his work, and hurriedly made a search of Fridolin's +personal property. However, he discovered nothing but almost precisely +the same articles owned by himself, down to a small wooden needle case, +except that here he found it in the shape of a fish, while his own bore +a sportive resemblance to a baby; and, further, in lieu of a somewhat +dilapidated conversational grammar for popular use in which Jobst +sometimes studied French, the Bavarian could boast of a neatly bound +copy of a book entitled "The cold and the hot Vat, an indispensable +Handbook for Dyers." And in it there was a penciled note on the margin: +"Pledge for three Stuyvers which the Nassau man borrowed of me." From +this Jobst judged that he was dealing with somebody who knew how to +take care of his own, and thinking so instinctively cast searching +glances along the floor. Soon, too, he noticed a tile which seemed to +have recently been removed. And sure enough, when he took this out, he +found the man's treasure, folded and wrapped in the half of an old +handkerchief tightly wound about with tough twine, almost as heavy as +his own, although his was encased in an old sock. Trembling with +excitement he replaced the tile in its yawning hole, trembling at the +thought of such admirable foresight and wise economy in the case of +another, a rival, a competitor. He flew down the stairs, and in the +workshop he set to as if it depended on his exertions to provide the +entire world with combs for generations to come. And the Bavarian did +the same, as if Heaven itself must also be combed. During the ensuing +week each found full confirmation of his first suspicion. For if Jobst +was industrious and frugal, Fridolin was active and abstemious, and +with the same regretful sighs at the difficulty of these virtues. And +when Jobst was serene and sapient, Fridolin was jocular and knowing. If +the one was humble, the other was even more so. When Jobst showed +himself sly or ironical, the other was sarcastic and almost astute. And +if Jobst made a face betraying his peaceful disposition, his double +succeeded in putting on an air of incomparable asininity. + +The whole was not so much a race between the two as it was the simple +exercise of conscious mastery in all these arts. Each was fully +permeated with the conviction that the other would excel him if not +constantly on the watch. Neither disdained imitating the other. Each of +them was forever on the lookout to perfect himself, taking the other as +a model in any traits which he himself might yet lack or be deficient +in. And with all that they looked most of the time as though each was +perfectly incapable of seeing through the other. Thus they resembled +two doughty heroes who behave towards each other with knightly courtesy +and even assist one another until the moment shall arrive when they +begin to hack away at each other. + +However, after the lapse of this week a third came, a Suabian, by name +Dietrich, whereat the two in silence rejoiced, as at a jolly foil +against which their own greatness of soul could best be measured and +compared. And they intended to place the poor little Suabian between +their own selves, to make the contrast between him and their own patent +virtues all the more striking, about as in the case of two stately +lions with a tiny monkey between, with whom they might deign to play. + +But who can describe their astonishment when they observed that the +Suabian behaved precisely in the same manner as themselves, and when +the recognition of a kindred soul took place by the identical processes +as had been the case before. The same adroit system of standing +sentinel over each other was repeated. But with this signal difference, +that now it was a triangular game, whereby not only they themselves +altered somewhat their own attitude, but the third man his also, and +that they all three finally stood towards each other in distinctly +different positions. + +This became first apparent on the night of his arrival when they took +him between themselves in bed. The Suabian demonstrated his entire +parity. Like a match he lay within the slim space, so perfectly poised +and without the flicker of an eyelid that there actually remained a bit +of room, of neutral territory, on either side. And the bed cover +remained spread over the trio as tight and smooth as the wrapping paper +over three herrings. He was evidently their match. The situation now +commenced to be more serious, more complicated, and since all three now +faced each other like the three corners of a triangle, and since no +friendly or confidential relations were under these circumstances +feasible between them, no armistice or courtly tournament, they got +into a state of mind where they with malice aforethought, each in his +own way and with his own weapons, gently and slily began to try ousting +each other out of bed and house. + +When the master of the house saw that these three queer customers would +put up with anything, if only they were allowed to remain in his +service, he first lowered their wages, and next gave them scanter fare. +But this only led to an aggravation of diligence on their part, and +that again enabled him to flood the whole surrounding district with his +goods, and he got orders upon orders, so that he made a pile of money +out of their cheap labor and possessed a veritable gold mine in them. +He let out his leather belt around the loins by several holes and +began to play quite an important part in the town, while all this time +his foolish workmen slaved like beasts of burden in their dark and +ill-ventilated shop at home, striving, each of them, to force the other +two out of the race. Dietrich, the Suabian, although the youngest of +them, proved of the same calibre as the other two. The only difference +was that he as yet had scarcely any savings, inasmuch as he had not yet +traveled around much, having been a prentice until recently. This would +have been an unfortunate obstacle for him in the race, for Jobst and +Fridolin would have had greatly the start of him, if he as a Suabian +had not been inventive in stratagem. For although Dietrich's heart, +like that of the others, was wholly bare of any sinful or earthly +passion, always excepting the one of persisting to remain in Seldwyla +and nowhere else, and to reap all the advantages of that plan, he +nevertheless bethought him of the trick of falling in love and to woo +such a maiden as should possess about such a dowry in size as the +respective treasures which the Saxon or the Bavarian had hidden under +their tiles. + +It was one of the better peculiarities of the Seldwyla folk that they +were averse to wed unattractive or unamiable women just for the sake of +a somewhat larger dowry. There was no very great temptation anyway, for +wealthy heiresses there were none in their town, either pretty or +homely ones, and thus they at least maintained their sturdy and manly +independence even by disdaining the smaller mouthfuls, and preferred to +unite themselves rather with goodlooking and merry girls, and thus lead +for a few years with them at any rate a happy life. Hence it was not +hard for the Suabian, spying about for a suitable partner, to find his +way into the good graces of a virtuous maiden. She dwelt in the same +street, and in conversation with old women he had soon ascertained that +she possessed as her own undoubted property a mortgage of seven hundred +florins. This maiden was Zues Buenzlin, the twenty-eight-year-old +daughter of a washerwoman. She lived with her mother, but could freely +dispose of this legacy from her deceased father. This valuable bit of +paper she kept in a highly varnished trunk. There, too, she had the +accumulated interest money, her baptismal certificate, her testimonial +of confirmation, and a painted and gilt Easter egg; in addition to all +this she preserved there half a dozen silver spoons, the Lord's Prayer +printed in gold letters upon transparent glass, although she believed +the material to be human skin, a cherry stone into which was carved the +Passion of Christ, and a small box of ivory, lined with red satin, and +in which were concealed a tiny mirror and a silver thimble; there was +also in it another cherry stone in which you could hear clattering a +diminutive set of ninepins, a nutshell in which a madonna became +visible behind glass, a silver heart, in a hollow of which was a scent +bottle, and a candy box fashioned out of dried lemon peel, on the cover +of which was painted a strawberry, and in which there might be +discovered a golden pin displayed on a couch of cotton wool +representing a forget-me-not, and a locket showing on the inside a +monument woven out of hair; lastly, a bundle of age-yellowed papers +with recipes, secrets, and so forth; also a small flask of Cologne +water, another holding stomach drops, a box of musk, another with +marten excrements, and a small basket woven out of odoriferous grasses, +another of beads and cloves, and then a small book bound in sky-blue +silk and entitled "Golden Life Rules for the Maiden as Betrothed, Wife +and Mother"; and a dream book, a letter writer, five or six love +letters, and a lancet for use to let blood. This last piece came from a +barber and assistant surgeon to whom she had once been engaged, and +since she was a naturally skillful and very sensible person she had +learned from her fiancé how to open a vein, to put on leeches, and +similar things, and had even been able to shave him herself. But alas, +he had proved an unworthy object of her affections, with whom she might +easily have risked her temporal and heavenly welfare, and thus she had +with saddened but wise resolution broken the engagement. Gifts were +returned on both sides, with the exception of the lancet. This she kept +in pawn as pledge for one florin and eight and forty stuyvers, which +sum she on one occasion had lent him in cash. The unworthy one claimed, +however, that she had no right to it since she had given him the money +on the occasion of a ball, in order to defray joint expenses, and he +added that she had eaten twice as much as himself. Thus it happened +that he kept the florin and forty-eight stuyvers, while she kept the +surgical appliance, with which Zues operated extensively among her +female acquaintance and earned many a penny. But every time she used +the instrument she could not help mentioning the low habits of him who +had once stood so close to her and who had almost become her partner +for life. + +All these things were locked up in that trunk, and the trunk again was +kept in a large walnut wardrobe, the key to which Zues had constantly +in her pocket. As to her person, Zues had rather sparse reddish hair as +well as clear pale-blue eyes; these now and then possessed some charm, +and then would throw glances both wise and gentle. She owned an +enormous store of clothes, but of these she only wore the oldest. +However, she was always carefully and cleanly dressed, and just as neat +was the appearance of her room. She was very industrious and helped her +mother in her laundry work, ironing out the finer and more delicate +fabrics and washing the lace caps and the jabots of the wealthier +Seldwyla ladies, thus earning quite a bit. And it may be that it was +due to this sort of activity that Zues always exhibited the peculiar +stern and dignified bent of mind which women show when they are dealing +with laundry work, especially with the work over the tub. For Zues +never unbent at all until the ironing began. Then, it might be, a +species of sedate cheerfulness would seize upon her, in her case, +however, invariably spiced with words of wisdom. This sedate spirit, +too, was recognizable in the chief decorative piece on the premises, +namely, a garland of soap cakes, square, accurately gauged cakes, which +encircled the large living room on shelves. The soap was thus exposed +to the warm air currents in order to harden and become fitter for use. +And it was Zues herself who always cut out the cakes by means of a +brass wire. The wire had fastened to it at either end two small wooden +knobs so one could seize them there for a more commodious cutting of +the soft soap. But a fine pair of compasses used in dividing the soap +in equal sections was also there. This instrument had been made for her +and presented as a valued gift by a journeyman mechanician with whom +she had at one time been as good as engaged. From him, too, came a +gleaming small brass mortar for the pulverization of spices. This +decorated the edge of her cupboard, right between the blue china tea +can and the painted flower vase. For long such a dainty little mortar +had been her special desire, and the attentive mechanician was +therefore extremely welcome when he appeared one afternoon on her +birthday and likewise brought along something to put the mortar to its +legitimate use: a boxful of cinnamon, lump sugar, cloves and pepper. +The mortar itself he hung, before entering at the door, by one of its +handles to his little finger, and with the pestle he started a gay +tinkling, just like a bell, so that out of the adventure grew a jolly +day of festivity. However, shortly afterwards the false scoundrel fled +from the district, and was never heard of more. Besides that, his +master even demanded the return of the mortar, since the fugitive had +taken it from his shop, but had forgotten to pay for it. But Zues did +not deliver up this valuable object. On the contrary, she went to law +for its undisputed possession, and in court she defended her claim +valiantly, basing her rights on the fact that she had washed, starched +and ironed a set of "dickies" for the vanished lover. Those days, the +days when she was forced to defend her rights to the mortar in open +court, were the most conspicuous and painful of her whole life, since +she with her deep feelings felt these things and more particularly her +appearance in court for the sake of such delicate affairs much more +keenly than others of a lighter disposition would have done. All the +same she scored a victory and kept her mortar. + +If, however, this neat soap gallery proclaimed her exact working +tactics and her passion for toil, a row of books, arranged in orderly +fashion on the window ledge, did honor to her religious and disciplined +mind. These books were of a miscellaneous description, and she read and +reread them studiously on Sundays. She still possessed all her school +books, never having lost a single one of them. She also still carried +in her head all her little stock of scholastic learning acquired at +school; she knew the whole catechism by heart, as well as the contents +of the grammar, of the arithmetic, of her geography book, of the +collection of biblical stories, and of the various readers and +spellers. Then she also owned some of the pretty tales by Christoph +Schmid and the latter's short novelettes, with handsome verses at the +end, at least a half dozen of sundry treasuries of poetry and +gatherings of popular fairy tales, a number of almanacs full of +specimens of homely wisdom and practical experience, several precise +and remarkable prophecies of tremendous events to come, a guide for +laying the cards, a book of edification for every day of the year +intended for the use of thoughtful virgins, and an old and slightly +damaged copy of Schiller's "The Robbers," which she slowly perused +again and again, as often as she feared she might begin to forget this +stirring drama. And each time she read it, the play appealed to her +sentimental heart anew, so that she made constant references to it and +commented in a highly praiseworthy manner on the various personages +presented in it. And really all there was in these books she also +retained in her memory, and understood exceedingly well how to speak +about them and about many other things as well. When she felt cheerful +and contented and did not have to hasten her labors too greatly, speech +flowed continuously from her lips, and everything under the sun she +knew how to judge and to put into its proper category. Young and old, +high and low, learned and unlearned, they all were compelled to listen +and to receive instruction from her. First, she would hear everybody +out, meanwhile smilingly and sensibly straightening out the case in her +wise little head. And then, having now perceived whither all these +plaints or fears tended, she would solve the more or less knotty +problem at a stroke. Sometimes she would speak so unctuously and +elaborately on matters that irreverent criticasters had compared her to +learned blind persons who have never had sight of the world and whose +sole solace it is to hear themselves talk. + +From the time she went to the town school and from her lessons of +instruction before she was confirmed by the pastor, she had retained +the habit of composing, from time to time, essays and exercises, and +thus it was that she would, on quiet Sundays, laboriously write out the +most marvelous compositions. One of her favorite methods in doing this +was to seize upon some melodious title that she had heard of or read in +the course of the week, and taking this, so to speak, as her text, +would proceed to pile up from it the most wonderful conclusions and +deductions, not infrequently culminating in very odd or nonsensical +dicta. Page on page of this balderdash she would perpetrate, just as it +issued from the convolutions of her silly brain. Such themes, for +example, as "The Various Beneficent Uses of a Sickbed," "About Death," +"About the Wholesomeness of Resignation," "About the Giant Size +of the World," "About the Secrets of Life Eternal," "About Residence +in the Country," "About Nature," "About Dreams," "About Love," +"About Redemption and Christ," "Three Points in the Theory of +Self-Justification," "Thoughts about Immortality," she often solved in +her own easy way. Then she would read aloud to her friends and admirers +these productions, and it was a supreme proof of her special regard and +affection for her to present one or the other of them to a close +friend. Such gifts, she insisted on, had to be placed within the pages +of a Bible, that is, if the recipient happened to have one. + +This leaning of Zues' nature towards religious ecstasy and +contemplation had once gained her the profound and respectful affection +of a young bookbinder, a man who read every book he bound and who was, +besides, both ambitious and enthusiastic. Whenever he brought his +bundle of soiled linen to Zues' mother, he deemed himself to be in +paradise, for he swallowed greedily all of the maiden's thoughts, and +her boldest figures of speech now and then, he shyly said, would remind +him of things he had dared to think himself, but which he had never had +the skill and the courage to frame into words. Bashfully and humbly he +approached this talented virgin, who was by turns severe and eloquent, +and she deigned to suffer this modest intercourse and held him in +leading-strings for a whole year, not, however, without making the +hopelessness of his suit plain to him, gently but determinedly. For +inasmuch as he was nine years her junior, poor as a church mouse and +awkward in gaining a living, men of his calling not being in clover in +Seldwyla anyhow, since people there do not read much and, consequently, +have few books to bind, she never for a moment hid from herself the +impossibility of a union. She merely found it pleasant to develop his +mind and character and to furnish her own as a model to strive after. +Her own powers of resignation were all the time for him to take pattern +by, and so she embalmed his aspirations in an iridescent cloud of +phrases. And he on his part would listen modestly, and once or twice +find heart to risk a beautiful sentence himself. This she invariably +answered by instantly killing his observation with a finer one. That +year, when she calmly received the adoration of this youth, was +reckoned by her the most ethereal and noblest of her existence, since +it was not disturbed by a single breath from the lower and material +spheres, and the young man during it bound anew all her books, and with +infinite pains wrought night after night toward the ultimate completion +of an artful and precious monument of his adoration for her. This was, +to be plain, a huge Chinese temple of pasteboard, containing +innumerable tiny compartments and secret receptacles, and which might +be entirely taken apart and reconstructed on following carefully +previous instructions. This miracle was pasted all over with the finest +samples of varicolored and glazed paper, and everywhere ornamented with +gilt borders. Minute mirrors inside colonnaded halls of state reflected +the gay colors, and by removing one section of the structure or opening +another one there were more mirrors and hidden pictures, nosegays of +paper or loving couples. The curving or shelving roofs were everywhere +hung with little bells. Even a small stand for a lady's watch was +there, with hooks to hang it up on and with other hooks to trail a +slender meandering chain through. Only up to now no watchmaker had yet +offered a pretty watch or a chain to decorate this altar with. An +enormous deal of trouble and skill had been wasted on this pasteboard +temple, and its ground plan was just as correct as the work itself. And +when this monument of a year passed jointly so pleasantly had been duly +accepted, Zues Buenzlin encouraged the good bookbinder, doing violence +to her own well-regulated heart, to tear himself away from the town and +to set once more his staff for a wandering life. She pointed out with +perfect justice that the whole world stood open to him, and she assured +him that now, having schooled and ennobled his heart by improving his +acquaintance with herself, happiness elsewhere would certainly be in +store for him. She would never forget him and retire into solitude. And +indeed, the young fellow was so much affected by these moral +exhortations that he shed a few melancholy tears in passing the town +gate on his way. His masterpiece, however, since stood on top of Zues' +old-fashioned clothes press, daintily covered by a veil of green gauze, +thus defying dust and profane gaze. She considered it so much of a +sacred relic that she kept it intact and without even placing anything +whatever into those many tiny recesses of the temple. In her memory he +continued to live as "Emmanuel," although his real name had been Veit. +And she told everyone with whom she discussed the case that Emmanuel +alone had completely understood her inner self. This she said now that +he was gone, but while he had been with her in the flesh she had been +of different opinion, for she had rarely admitted to him that he was +right, deeming it wiser to thus urge him on to higher and ever higher +endeavor in his search of a perfect agreement of mind with his idol. +Indeed, she had more than once intimated to him, at times when he hoped +he had at last fully entered the arcana of her soul, that he was +farther and farther from it. + +But he, too, Veit-Emmanuel, played her a little trick. He had placed in +a false bottom, in one of the diminutive apartments of his pasteboard +fairy palace, the most touching of all love letters, bedewed with his +tears, wherein he confessed his bitter grief at parting from her, his +love, his worship and his sublime steadfastness, and in such passionate +and sincere terms had he done this as only genuine feeling can find, +even if it has lost itself in a cul-de-sac. Such touching, such moving +things he had never said to her, simply because she never would give +him the chance, having always interrupted him when he was on the point +of doing so. But as she had not the slightest suspicion that any such +document had been put away within the temple, she never found the +missive and thus fate for once dealt justly and did not let a false +beauty see that which she was not worthy of. And it was also a symbol +that she it was who had not fathomed the somewhat silly, but devoted +and sincere heart of the youth. + + +For a long while she had been praising the doings of the three +combmakers, and had called them three decent and sensible men; for she +had closely observed them. When, therefore, Dietrich, the Suabian, +began to linger longer and longer in her dwelling when bringing or +fetching his shirt, and to pay court to her, she treated him in a +friendly manner and kept him near her for hours by means of her lofty +conversation. And Dietrich talked back, of course, to please her, just +as much as he could; and she was one of the kind that could stand more +than a fair measure of laudation. Indeed, one might truthfully say that +she liked it all the more the more spiced and peppered it was. When +praising her wisdom and kindness, she kept still as a mouse, until +there was no more of it, whereupon she would with heightened color pick +up the thread where it had been dropped, and would touch up the +painting in those spots where it seemed to require a trifle of +additional color. And Dietrich had not been going back and forth in +her house for any great length of time when she showed him that +mortgage of hers, and he thereupon began to exude a quiet, sedate +species of self-satisfaction, and began to behave toward his rivals +with such stealth as though he had invented the perpetuum mobile. Jobst +and Fridolin, however, soon unearthed his secret, and they were amazed +at the depth of his dissimulation and at his cleverness. Jobst above +all clutched his hair and tore out a good handful of it; for had he +himself not been going to the same house for a long while, and had it +ever occurred to him to look for anything there but his clean linen? +Rather, he had hitherto almost hated the washerwomen because he had +been forced to dig up a few stuyvers every week to pay them. Never had +he thought of marriage, because he was unable to conceive of a wife +under any other aspect than that of a being that wanted something out +of him which he did not deem her due, and to expect something from such +a feminine creature that might be of advantage to him had never entered +his thoughts, since he had confidence only in himself, and his +calculations had so far never gone beyond the narrowest horizon, that +of his secret. But now reflecting deep and serious he reached the +determination to outdo this sly little Suabian, for if the latter +should really succeed in getting hold of Dame Zues' seven hundred +florins, he might become a keen competitor. The seven hundred florins, +too, suddenly shone and glittered very differently, in the eyes both of +the Saxon and of the Bavarian. Thus it was that Dietrich, the man of +invention, had discovered a land which soon became the joint property +of the three, and thus shared the hard lot of all discoverers, for the +two others at once got on the same track and likewise became steady +callers on Zues Buenzlin. She therefore saw herself surrounded by a +whole court of decent and respectable combmakers. That she relished +greatly; never before had she had a number of admirers at one time. It +became a novel entertainment for her shrewd mind to handle these three +with the greatest impartiality and skill, to keep them at all times +within bounds and cool reason, and to thus influence them by frequent +speeches in favor of the beauties of resignation and unselfishness +until Heaven itself should by some act of intervention decide matters +irrevocably. + +As each of the three had confided to her his secret and his plans, she +immediately made up her mind to render happy that one who really would +attain his goal and become owner of the business. And in thus deciding +in her own heart how she should proceed, she from that hour on +deliberately excluded the Suabian, since he could not succeed except +through and by her money. But while thus actually discarding the +Suabian as a possible candidate for her hand, she reflected that, after +all, he was the youngest, handsomest and most amiable of the trio, and +thus she would spare for him many a token of regard and confidence, and +lull him into the belief that his chances were the best. But while so +doing, she knew how to arouse the jealousy of the other two, and thus +spur them on to greater zeal. And so it came to pass that Dietrich, +this poor Columbus who had first sighted and nearly taken possession of +the pretty land, became nothing but a mere pawn in her game, nothing +but the poor fool who unconsciously assisted in the angling for the +real fish. Meanwhile all three of them assiduously wooed and courted +the coy maiden, running a close race in the difficult art of showing +all the time devotion, modesty and sense, while being kept by the +bridle. She on her part was in her element, for she forever told them +to be unselfish and to practice resignation. When the whole four now +and then happened to be together, they made the impression of a +singular conventicle where the queerest remarks were being expressed. +And despite of all their timidity and humility it would happen once in +a while that one of the three, suddenly dropping his hosannahs in +praise of the rare gifts and virtues of the maiden, would plunge into a +measure of self-laudation. At such moments it was edifying and truly +touching to see Zues gently interrupt the rash one and chide him for +his breach of good manners. She would then shame him by forcing him to +listen to a homily on his rivals. + +However, this was really a hard sort of life for the poor combmakers to +lead. No matter how much ordinarily they had themselves under control, +now that a woman had entered as a factor into their game, there would +occur wholly novel spurts of jealousy, of fear, of misgiving, and of +hope. What with a fury of work and increased economy, they almost +killed themselves and certainly lost flesh. They became melancholy, and +while before people--and especially before Zues--they endeavored hard +to maintain the appearance of the utmost harmony, they scarcely spoke a +word to each other when alone together at work or in their common +sleeping chamber, lay down sighing in their joint bed, and dreamed of +murder, albeit still resting quietly and immovably one next the other +as so many sticks. One and the same dream hovered nightly over the +trio, until really once it came to one of the sleepers, so that Jobst +in his place by the wall turned over violently and kicked Dietrich. +Dietrich avoided the kick and gave Jobst a hard push, and now there was +among the three sleepy combmakers an outbreak of elemental wrath. The +most tremendous row ensued in the bed, and for fully three minutes they +treated each other to fearful lunges, kicks and pushes, so that all the +six legs formed an inextricable tangle, until with a thundering crash +they rolled out of bed and began to howl like savage beasts. Becoming +fully awake they at first thought the devil were after them or else +thieves had entered their room. Screaming they rose quickly. Jobst took +his stand upon his tile; Fridolin planted himself firmly upon his own, +and Dietrich did the like upon that tile beneath which his still rather +slender savings reposed. And thus standing in a triangle, they worked +their arms like flails and shouted their loudest: "Get out; get out!" +until the master came rushing up from below and after a while quieted +the three frenzied fellows. Trembling then with fear, shame and anger, +they crept back into bed, and then, wide-awake, lay there mute until +dawn came and forced them to rise. + +However, the nocturnal spook had only been the prelude to something +worse. For at breakfast the master let them know that for the time +being he had no longer need of three journeymen, and that two of them +would have to pack up their bundle. It appeared that they had defeated +their own object by hurrying and hastening work, so that now there were +more wares than the boss was able to dispose of, while on the other +hand, he, the master, himself had taken advantage of the extreme mood +for work his men had shown for months to lead on his part an opulent +and disorderly life, spending nearly all his extra gains in riotous +quips. Indeed, when the details of his doings became public it turned +out that he had run into such an amount of debt that the load of it +came well-nigh smothering him. Thus it came about that he, looking over +his own situation, was unable to employ or support his three workmen, +no matter how abstemious they were and how intent on his further +profit. For consolation he told them that he was equally fond of all +three of them and loath to tell either to go, wherefore he had made up +his mind to leave it wholly to them which of the three should leave and +which should stay. All they had to do, he remarked smilingly, was to +agree among themselves upon that point. + +But they were unable to come to a decision as to this. Rather they +stood there pale as ghosts, and simpered timidly at each other. Then +they became tremendously excited, since they clearly perceived that the +most momentous hour of their existence was approaching. For they judged +from the words of the master that he would not be able to continue the +business much longer, and that, therefore, it would soon become an +object of sale. The goal, then, each of them had striven for with such +infinite patience and cunning seemed in sight, and to their heated +fancy was already glittering and shining like a new Jerusalem. And now +came this awful decree, and two of them would have to turn their backs +upon the heavenly prospect. It was almost more than they could bear. +After a very brief consultation and reflection all three of them went +to see the master, and declared with tearful voices that rather than +leave him they would stay on, even though they would have to work +gratis. But then the master declared jovially that even in that case he +had no further use for all the three. Two of them, he again assured +them, would have to quit the house. They fell at his feet; they wrung +their hands; they asked and implored him to let them stay on: only for +another three months, for one month, for a fortnight. The master, +however, after at first enjoying the humor of the situation, at last +lost all patience. Besides, he was perfectly aware what their motive in +all this pretended loyalty for him was, and that soured his temper. +Suddenly an idea occurred to him, and he did not hesitate to make them +a proposition. + +"Why," he smiled, "if you cannot agree among yourselves at all as to +who is to remain and who to go, I will tell you how we will decide this +matter. But that is absolutely the last proposal I shall make to you. +To-morrow being Sunday, I shall pay your wages; you pack up your +belongings, get ready to go forth and take your staffs. Then you will +in all good faith and perfect harmony leave jointly, going out by +whichever gate you may agree upon, and march on the highroad for +another half-hour, no more, no less, and then stop. Then you will rest +yourselves a trifle, and if you care to do so, you may even drink a +shoppen or two. Having done so, you will all three of you turn once +more and walk back to town, and whoever will then first ask me for +work, him I will keep, but the other two must wander forth for good and +all, wherever they might choose to go." + +Hearing this cruel decision, they three fell once more at his feet and +begged him most pitifully to have mercy on them and to desist from his +plan. But the master, who by this time began to anticipate some rare +fun in his wicked soul, was obstinate and would not listen to them, +hardening himself. Suddenly the Suabian sprang up and ran out of the +house like a man demented, across the street to Zues Buenzlin. Scarcely +had Jobst and the Bavarian observed that, when they ceased to lament +themselves and followed the youngest. Within a very brief space the +three of them were seated in the dwelling of the frightened maiden. + +Zues felt rather abashed and undecided by reason of the adventure +taking such an unexpected turn. But she calmed herself, and viewing the +matter from her own particular angle, she resolved to make her plans +subservient to the master's odd conceit. In fact, she regarded this new +aspect of affairs as a special dispensation of Providence. Touched and +devout she fetched out one of her volumes, then with her needle at +random pricked among the leaves, and when she opened the book at the +spot, she found a passage that spoke of the persistent following of the +righteous path. Next she made the three guests turn up passages +blindfolded, and all that was found treated of walking along the narrow +way, of advancing without looking backwards, in short, of nothing but +running and racing. Thus, then, she decided, Heaven itself had +prescribed the projected race for to-morrow. But since she was afraid +that Dietrich, as being the youngest and the ablest in jumping, +walking, and running, and thus most likely to win the palm if left +without supervision, she made up her mind to go herself along with the +three lovers, and to watch for an opportunity for bending or +influencing possibly the outcome of this undertaking in accordance with +her own secret desires. For she wished, as we must recall, one of the +older men to be the victor, she did not care which of the two. + +In furtherance of this plan she insisted that the three be quiet for a +spell and cease slandering and berating each other, but rather summon +themselves to acquiescence in God's will. She put on her judicial air +and said: + +"Know, my friends, that nothing happens here below without the +direction and sometimes direct interference of Providence, and no +matter if the plan of your master be unusual and singular, we must look +upon it as ordered by higher powers than he, although it may be that he +has not even an inkling of this. He is the dumb and unconscious +instrument in the hands of the Ruler. Our peaceable and harmonious +intercourse here has been too beautiful altogether to have been +prolonged much farther. For, behold, all the good things in life are +but transitory and pass away, and nothing is lasting but evil things, +the loneliness of the soul and the persistence of sin, whereupon we +feel impelled to consider all this and to try and grasp their meaning +in this life and in the life to come. Hence, too, let us rather +separate before the wicked demon of discord raises its head amongst us, +and let us bid each other farewell, just as do the soft zephyrs of +springtime when they swiftly move along high in the sky, and let us do +this before the rough storms of autumn overtake us. I myself will +accompany you on the first stage of your hard road, and will be the +eyewitness of your trial race, so that you will start on it with a good +courage and so that you know behind you a gentle propelling power, +while victory winks from afar. But just as the victor will forbear to +show a spirit of undue pride, those who have been defeated will not +permit themselves to become despondent nor to load their souls with +grief or wrath because of their lack of success in the venture. They +will depart feeling affection for him who bears the palm, and will +enshrine him and us in their inmost heart. They will fare forth into +the wide world with joyous disposition. They must reflect on the fact +that men have built cities galore that outshine in their splendors and +beauties Seldwyla by far. There is, for instance, a huge and memorable +city wherein dwells the Father of all Christendom. And Paris, too, is +quite a mighty town, where may be found innumerable souls and many fine +palaces. And in Constantinople there rules the Sultan, of Turkish faith +is he, and there is Lisbon, once destroyed by an earthquake, but since +reconstructed finer than ever. Again we have Vienna, the capital of +Austria and called the gay imperial city, and London is the wealthiest +town of all, situated in Engelland, along a river the name of which is +the Thames. Two millions of human beings, they say, have their +habitation there. St. Petersburg, on the other hand, is the capital and +imperial city of Russia, whereas Naples is the capital of the kingdom +of the same name, near which is the Vesuvius, a high mountain forever +breathing fire and smoke. On that mountain, according to the version of +a credible witness, a lost soul once upon a time appeared to a ship's +captain, as I have read in a curious book of travel, which soul +belonged to John Smidt, who one hundred and fifty years ago was a +godless man, and who now commissioned the said captain to visit his +descendants in Engelland, so he might be redeemed. For look you, the +entire mountain is the abode of the damned, as may also be read in the +tract of the learned Peter Hasler where he discusses the probable +entrance to hell. Many other cities there are indeed, whereof I will +still mention Milan, and Venice, built wholly upon water, and Lyons, +and Marseilles, and Strasbourg, and Cologne, and Amsterdam. Of Paris I +have already spoken, but there is also Nuremberg, and Augsburg, and +Frankfort, and Basle, and Berne, and Geneva, all of them handsome +towns, and pretty Zurich, and besides all these still many more which I +have neither leisure nor inclination to enumerate here. For everything +has its limits, excepting the inventive genius of man, who goes +everywhere and undertakes anything which seems to him useful. And if +men are just everything prospereth with them; but if they are unjust +they will perish like the grass of the fields and vanish like smoke. +Many are called, but few are chosen. For all these reasons and because +of others to which our duty and the virtue of a clear conscience oblige +us, we will now submit ourselves to the voice of fate. Go forth, +therefore, and prepare for the time of trial, and for the period of +wandering, but do so as just and gentle beings, who bear their worth +within themselves, no matter whither they may go, and whose staff will +everywhere take root, who, no matter what their calling may be and no +matter what business they may seize upon, are always in the right in +saying to themselves; 'I have chosen the better part.'" + +Of all this the combmakers really did not want to hear just then, but +on the contrary insisted that Zues should select one of them and tell +him to remain in Seldwyla, and each one of them in saying so only +thought of himself. She, however, was careful to avoid a premature +choice. On the contrary, she told them bluntly that they must obey her +on pain of forfeiting her friendship forever. At once Jobst, the oldest +of the three, skipped off, right into the house of their ex-master, and +to perceive that and follow him in haste, was the work of an instant, +since they were afraid that he might be planning something against them +on the sly, and thus the trio acted all day long, whisking about like +falling stars, hither and thither. They hated each other like three +spiders in one web. Half the town witnessed this queer spectacle, +observing the three strangely excited combmakers, they who until that +day had always been so orderly and quiet. The ancient people of the +town could not but feel that something evil, something tragic was +underway, and they would nod and whisper to one another of their fears. +Towards nightfall, however, the combmakers became tired and spent, +without having reached any definite conclusion, and in that mood they +retired and stretched out their limbs in the old bed, with chattering +teeth and half-sick with impotent rage. One by one they crept beneath +the covering, and there they lay, as though felled by the hand of death +itself, with thoughts in turmoil and confusion, until at last sleep +came like balm for their uproarious minds. + +Jobst was first to waken, at early dawn, and he saw that spring was +weaving its garlands and that the great orb was rising in the east, in +a mass of cloudlets of dainty hue. The first rays of the sun were +already penetrating the dusky chamber wherein he had been sleeping for +the past six years. And while the room assuredly looked bare and +unattractive enough, it seemed nevertheless a paradise to him, a +paradise from which he was about to be driven thus unjustly and +unfairly, it appeared to him. He let his eyes wander all over the +walls, and counted on them the traces left by all the preceding +journeymen that had been harbored under that roof. Here there was a +dark stain from the one who was in the habit of rubbing against the +wall his greasy pate; there another one had driven in a nail, on which +he used to hang his long pipe, and, sure enough, a bit of scarlet tape +still clung to the nail. How good and harmless had they all been, all +those that had come and gone, while these fellows now, spread out their +whole length next to him in bed, would not go. Next he fastened his +glance upon the objects nearer his field of vision, those objects which +he had noticed thousands of times before, on all those occasions when +he had lain in bed in a contemplative mood, mornings, nights, or +daytime, and when he had enjoyed in his own peculiar way the bliss of +existence, free of cost and with a serene mind. There was, for example, +a spot in the ceiling where the wet had damaged it. This spot had often +set his imagination at work. It looked like the map of a whole country, +with lakes and rivers and cities, and a group of grains of sand +represented an isle of the blessed. Farther down a long bristle from +the painter's brush attracted Jobst's wandering attention; for this +bristle had been held back by the blue paint and was embedded in it. +This phenomenon interested Jobst greatly, for it was his own handiwork. +Last autumn he had accidentally discovered a small remnant of the azure +paint, and to utilize it had proceeded to spread it over that portion +of the ceiling nearest to him. But just beyond the bristle there was a +very slight protuberance, almost like a chain of mountains, and this +threw its shadow across the bristle over against the isle of the +blessed. About this rise in the scenery he had been brooding and +speculating the whole of the past winter, because it seemed to him that +it had not been there formerly. + +And as he now cast searching glances for this protuberance and could +not find it despite all his pains, he thought he must suddenly have +gone daft when instead of it he discovered a tiny bare spot on the +wall. On the other hand he noticed that the small bluish mountain +itself was moving. Amazed beyond measure at this miracle, Jobst quickly +sat up and watched the cerulean wonder march steadily on: the +conviction dawned on him that the prodigy was nothing but a bedbug; his +logical deduction then was that he must have unawares applied a coat of +paint to this insect, at a time in its life when it was already in a +state of coma. But now the little creature had been reawakened under +the warming influence of the spring sun, had started on a tour of +adventure, and was actually and bravely ascending the steep pathway on +the wall, ready for business, without in the least minding its blue +back and Jobst's astonishment. Jobst watched the meanderings of the +dear little thing with concentrated interest. So long as it cut across +the blue paint it was barely visible; but now it issued forth into the +region beyond, traversing first a few remaining splotches of paint, and +next wandering diligently among the darker districts. With softened +feelings Jobst sank back into his pillows. Generally rather indifferent +to quips of mere fancy, this time sentiment struggled uppermost. He +took the enterprising bedbug as an omen for himself. He, too, must be +wandering forth again, seeking new pastures. And thankfully and +resignedly he thought of this insect as a model for himself to strive +after. In this frame of mind he resolved to put a good face on the +matter and to bow to the unavoidable. He meant to start at once. +Indulging these wise reflections his natural wisdom and forethought +slowly came back to him, however, and resuming his train of +deliberations he at last concluded that there might not be any +necessity for clearing out at all. By reassuming his habitual modesty +and resignation and submitting in that spirit to the trial at hand, it +might come to pass, after all, that he would overcome his rivals. +Softly and slowly, therefore, he now rose, and began to arrange his +belongings; but above all he dug up his hidden treasure and started to +pack it away, lowest in his knapsack. While thus engaged the others +also awoke. And when they observed Jobst packing up his things in that +matter-of-fact, unobtrusive manner, they grew more and more astonished, +and this feeling increased when Jobst spoke to them in a conciliatory +tone and wished them a good morning. More than that, though, he did not +say, but continued peaceably in his task. Instantly, however, not being +able to explain to themselves his behavior, they began to suspect a +ruse, a deep-laid scheme, and to imitate him. At the same time they +closely watched him, curious to find out what he would do next. + +It was ludicrous as well to observe the other two now exhuming their +hoards quite openly from underneath their own tiles, and to put them +away, without first counting them over, in their knapsacks. For they +had known for long that each was aware of the secret of the others, and +according to the old-fashioned honorable traditions of their guild not +one of them suspected the others of theft. Each of them, in fact, was +fully convinced that they would not be robbed. For it is an iron-clad +custom among traveling journeymen, soldiers, and similar folk that +nothing must be locked up and that there must be no suspicion of foul +play. + +In this way they at last were ready to start. The master paid each his +wages, and handed them back their service booklets, wherein on the part +of the town authorities and of the master himself there were inscribed +the most satisfactory certificates as to good behavior and steadiness +of conduct. A minute later they stood, in a state of soft melancholy, +before the house door of Zues Buenzlin, each dressed in a long brown +coat, with a duster above that, and their hats, albeit by no means new +or fashionable, covered with a tight casing of oil cloth. Each carried +a tiny van strapped to his knapsack to enable him, as soon as +long-distance walking should start, to pull his heavy baggage with +greater ease. The small wheels belonging to this contraption stood up +high above their shoulders. Jobst was assisted in walking by a decent +bamboo cane, Fridolin by a staff of ash painted all over with red and +black stripes, and Dietrich by a fantastic baton around which were +curling carved branches. But he was almost ashamed of this absurd and +bragging thing, since it dated from the first days of his pilgrimage, a +time when he had not yet attained to the sober view of life as since. +Many neighbors and their children lined the way and wished these three +serious-minded men godspeed. + +But now Zues showed at the door, her mien even more solemn than usual, +and at the head of the little procession she went on with the three +courageously to beyond the town gate. In their honor she had donned +some of her choicest finery. She wore a huge hat draped with broad +yellow ribbons, a pink calico dress trimmed in a style of ten years +ago, a black velvet scarf and shoes of red morocco with fringes. With +this costume she also carried a reticule of green silk filled with +dried pears and prunes, and had a small parasol in her other hand on +top of which there could be seen an ivory ornament carved in the shape +of a lyre. She had also hung around her fair neck the locket with the +monument of hair, and in front of her chaste bosom had pinned on the +gold forget-me-not, and wore white knit gloves. Dainty and pleasant she +looked in this guise; her countenance was slightly flushed and her +bosom heaved higher than its wont, and the departing combmakers +scarcely were able to conceal their feelings of utter woe and sorrow at +the prospect of losing her. For even their extreme situation, the +lovely spring weather, and Zues' exquisite finery, or all of it +together mingled with their sentiments of expectation and anxiety +something of what habitually is denominated Love. Arrived beyond the +town gate, though, the winsome maiden encouraged her three admirers to +place their heavy knapsacks upon those tiny wheels and to pull their +loads, so as not to tire themselves needlessly. This they did, and as +they steadily began to climb the steep heights that rose just outside +the town, it looked for all the world almost like a train of light +mountain guns moving slowly upwards, in order to form a battery for +attack. And when they had thus proceeded for half an hour they reached +a pleasant hilltop, where they halted. A crossroad was there, and they +sat down beneath a linden tree, in a semicircle, whence a far view was +obtainable across forests and lakes and villages. Zues brought out her +reticule and handed to each one a handful of pears and prunes, in order +to restore themselves. Thus they sat for quite a while, solemn and +silent, merely causing a slight noise by the slow degustation of the +sweet fruit. + +Then Zues, throwing away a prune pit and drying her hands on the grass, +drew breath and began to speak: "Dear friends," she said, "only see how +beautiful and how big the world is, all around full of fine things and +of human habitations! And yet I should wager that in this fateful hour +there are nowhere else seated together four such decent and just souls +as are seated here under this tree, four who are so sensible and so +gentle in all their doings, so inclined to all useful and laborious +exercises, so given to virtues like economy, peaceableness, and dutiful +friendship. How many flowers are surrounding us here, of every kind, +such as early spring produces, especially yellow cowslips, from which a +wholesome and well-tasting tea may be prepared. But are these flowers, +I ask you, as decent and as diligent, as economical and cautious, as +apt to think correct and useful thoughts? No, indeed, they are ignorant +and soulless things, and without benefiting themselves they waste time +and opportunity, and no matter how nice they may look in a short time +they turn into dead and useless hay, while we with our virtues are far +superior to them and also do not yield to them in beauty of outward +shape. For it was God who created us after His image and blew His +divine breath into us. Ah, would it were possible to keep seated here +in this spot for all eternity, in this paradise and in our present +state of innocency. Indeed, my friends, it seems to me that we all of +us at this hour are in a state of innocency, although ennobled by +sinless consciousness and intelligence, for all four of us are able, +God be praised, to read and write, and we have, each of us, likewise +acquired a craft, a useful calling. For many things, I am aware, I have +talent and skill, and would engage to do many things which even the +most learned young lady would be unable to do, that is, if I were +inclined to go outside of and beyond my proper station. But modesty and +humility are the dearest virtues of a decent maiden, and it is enough +for me to know that my intellectual gifts are not worthless nor +despised by the judicious and those of a keener discernment. Many have +before this wooed me, men who were not worthy of me, and now I see +three just and decent bachelors assembled around me, each of whom is as +worthy to win me as are the others. From this, my friends, you may +measure and imagine how my own heart must long for a solution in view +of this unheard-of abundance, and may each of you take pattern by me +and think for the moment that he, too, were surrounded by three +virgins, each equally lovely and worthy to be loved, and all three +desirous to wed and possess him, and that on that account it might +happen that he would be unable to make up his mind to incline to this +or that one, and therefore at last unable to wed any. Only place +yourselves in your thoughts in my stead: fancy that each of you were +courted simultaneously by three Miss Buenzlins at once, and were thus +seated around you the way we are seated here, dressed as I am, and of +similarly alluring exterior, so that I in a manner of speaking would +exist ninefold, and that they all were regarding you with love-lorn +eyes, and were desiring to possess you with great strength of feeling. +Can you do that?" + +The three lovers ceased for a moment to chew their dried prunes, and +made an attempt to follow the maiden's flight of fancy, their faces +meanwhile assuming a peculiarly sheep-like cast. But after a while the +Suabian, as the greatest thinker and inventor amongst them, seemed to +grasp the idea, and said with a voluptuous grin: "Well, most beloved +Miss Zues, if you have no objection, I should indeed like to see you +hover around here not only threefold but a hundredfold, and to have you +look at me with lovelorn eyes and to offer me a thousand kisses!" + +"Nay, nay," Zues replied, rather put out by this, "do not talk in this +unbecoming and extravagant style! What is entering your head, you +overbold Dietrich? Not a hundredfold and not offering kisses, but only +threefold and in a virtuous and honorable manner, so that no wrong may +be done me!" + +"Yes," now cried Jobst, brandishing a pear stalk and gesturing with it, +"only threefold and behaving with the greatest chastity do I see the +beloved Miss Buenzlin walking about me and greeting me while placing +her hand on her heart. Your most devoted servant, thank you, thank +you!" he said, smiling with great urbanity and bowing thrice in +different directions as though he really perceived these hallucinations +in the air around him. "Thus you should speak," rejoined Zues, with a +seductive smirk. "If there really exists any difference between you +three, it is you, after all, dear Jobst, who are the most gifted, or at +least the most sensible." + +Fridolin, the Bavarian, had not yet succeeded in conjuring up in his +slower brain all these figments of imagination. But now seeing Jobst +evidently scoring a hit, he was afraid that he was losing in favor, and +so shouted in haste: "I also notice the lovely virgin, Miss Zues +Buenzlin, perambulating right here in my vicinity and throwing +voluptuous glances in my direction, while putting her hand on--" + +"Fie, you Bavarian," shrieked Zues wrathfully, turning her face aside +out of very shame. "Not another word! Where do you get the courage from +to talk to me in such a tone of impure grossness, and to allow your +fancy to indulge in such smuttiness? Fie, fie!" + +The poor Bavarian felt abashed, reddened under this reproof, and looked +about foolishly, not knowing what he had done amiss. For really his +imagination had not been at work at all, and he had merely meant to +repeat about what he had heard Jobst say a moment before and what the +latter had been praised for. But now Zues once more turned and +remarked: "And you, dear Dietrich, have you not yet been able to +reshape that last observation of yours in a more modest guise?" + +"Indeed I have," the young man made answer, glad to be forgiven, "I now +perceive you only in three different shapes, regarding me pleasantly +but in a quite respectable manner, and offering me three white hands, +on which I imprint three just as respectable kisses." + +"Well, then, that is proper," remarked Zues, "and you, Fridolin, have +you recovered from your fit of libertinism? Have you not yet calmed +your rampageous blood, and are you now in condition to conceive of an +image not so obscene?" + +"Begging pardon," murmured Fridolin greatly crestfallen, "I also can +now clearly recognize three maidens, each of whom has dried pears in +her hand and offers them to me, not being quite at variance with me any +longer. One of these is as handsome as the others, and to make a choice +among them appears to me a hard matter indeed." + +"Well said," remarked Zues, "and since you in your fancy are surrounded +by no less than nine equally desirable persons, and nevertheless in +spite of such delectable superabundance are suffering in your hearts +from a lack of love, you may easily conceive of my own condition. And +as you also saw how with modest and pure heart I know to tame my +desires, I trust you will take me as a model and will vow here and now +to further live in amity and to separate when the hour comes just as +pleasantly and without a grudge, no matter how fate may deal with each +one of you. Rise and come hither. Let each one of you place his hand in +mine, and pledge himself to act just as I have indicated!" + +"With perfect good faith," said Jobst in reply, "I at least will do +precisely as you suggest!" + +And the other two, not to be behindhand, likewise shouted: "And so will +I!" and they all three pledged themselves as she had requested, +secretly, of course, each with the proviso to run as hard towards the +goal as he was able. + +"Yes, indeed," Jobst once more interjected, "I at least will live up to +my promise, for from my youth upwards I have unfailingly shown a +conciliatory and equable disposition. Never in my life have I had a +quarrel with anyone, and would never suffer to see an animal tortured. +Wherever I have been I was on good terms with my fellows, and thus +earned much praise because of my peaceful ways. And while I may say +that I, too, understand many things passably well, and am usually held +a sensible young man, at no time have I interfered with things that did +not concern me, and have always done my duty with consideration for +others. I can work just as hard as I choose without losing my health, +since I am sound and strong and abstemious in my ways, and have still +the best years before me. All the wives of my masters have said that I +was a man in a thousand, a real treasure, and that it was easy to get +along with me. Oh, indeed, Miss Buenzlin, I believe I could live with +you as though in Heaven, in uninterrupted bliss." + +"That would not be hard," broke in the Bavarian at this, "to live in +concord and happiness with Miss Zues. I also would undertake to do the +same. I am not a fool, either. My craft I understand as well as the +best, and I know how to keep things in order without ever having to get +excited about it. And although I also have dwelt in the largest cities +and have earned good wages there, I have never got into trouble, and +neither have I ever killed as much as a spider or thrown a brick at a +mewling cat. I am temperate and easily pleased with my food, and am +able to get along with very little indeed. With that I am in full +health and of good temper and cheerful. I can stand much hardship +without losing my bland mind, and my good conscience is an elixir that +keeps me in excellent spirit. All animals love me and follow me, +because they scent my kind heart, for with an unjust man they would not +stay. A poodle dog once followed me for three entire days, on leaving +the town of Ulm, and at last I was forced to leave it in charge of a +peasant, since I as an humble journeyman combmaker could not afford to +feed such a creature. When I was traveling through the Bohemian Forest +stags and deer used to come within twenty paces of me, and would then +stand and watch me. It is wonderful indeed how even such wild beasts +know by instinct what kind of human beings they have to deal with." + +"True," here sang out the Suabian. "Don't you see how this chaffinch +has been fluttering around me this whole while, and how it is anxious +to approach me? And that squirrel over there by the pine tree is +constantly glancing towards me, and here again a small beetle is +creeping up my leg and will not go away. Surely, it must be feeling +comfortable with me, the tiny thing." + +But now Zues grew jealous. Rather nettled, she spoke: "Animals all love +me and like to stay with me. One of my birds remained with me for eight +years, until unfortunately it died. Our cat is so fond of me that it +forever purrs about me, and our neighbor's pigeons crowd about me every +day when I scatter some crumbs for them on my window sill. Wonderful +qualities animals have, anyway, each after its kind. The lion loves to +follow in the footprints of kings and heroes, and the elephant +accompanies the prince and the doughty warrior. The camel bears the +merchant through the desert and keeps a store of fresh water in its +belly for him. The dog again shares all the dangers with his owner and +pitches himself headlong into the sea just to prove his devotion. The +dolphin has a strong love for music and swims in the wake of vessels, +while the eagle accompanies armies. The ape bears a strong resemblance +to the human species and imitates everything he sees us do. The parrot +understands our speech and converses with us just like any person of +sense. Even the snakes may be tamed and then dance on the tip of their +tails. The crocodile sheds human tears and is consequently in those +parts esteemed and spared. The ostrich may be saddled and ridden like a +horse. The savage buffalo pulls the carriage of his human master, as +the reindeer does the sledge of his. The unicorn furnishes man with +snow-white ivory and the tortoise with its transparent bones--" + +"Beg pardon," interrupted all the three combmakers together, "herein +you are slightly in error, for ivory comes from the teeth of the +elephant, and tortoise-shell combs are made out of the shell of that +animal and not of the bones of the tortoise." + +Zues colored deeply and rejoined: "That, I believe, remains to be +proved. For you certainly have not seen of your own knowledge whence it +is obtained, but only work up its pieces. I as a rule make no mistakes +in matters of that kind. However, be that as it may, just let me +finish. Not the animals alone have their peculiarities implanted by the +hand of God, but even dead minerals that are dug out of the sides of +mountains. The crystal is clear as glass, marble hard and full of +veins, sometimes white and sometimes black. Amber possesses electric +properties and attracts lightning; but in that case it burns and smells +like incense. The magnet attracts iron; on slates one can write, but +not upon diamonds, for these are hard as steel; the glazier, too, uses +the diamond for cutting glass, because it is small and pointed. You +see, dear friends, that I can also tell you a few things about minerals +and animals. But as regards my relations with them I may say this: that +the cat is a sly and cunning beast, and that is why it will attach +itself only to persons possessing the same characteristics. The pigeon, +however, is the symbol of innocence and simplicity of mind, and may +only be the companion of those similarly constituted. And since it is +certain that both cats and pigeons are attracted by me, the conclusion +must be that I am at the same time sly and cunning, simple-minded and +innocent. As Holy Writ says, Be wise like the serpent and simple like +the dove! In this way we are able to understand both animals and our +relations to them, and to learn a deal, if we only look at things in +the right manner." + +The poor combmakers had not dared to interrupt her more. Zues had got +the better of them, and she went on for some time longer at the same +rate, talking about all sorts of intellectual things, until their +senses were in a whirl. But they admired Zues' spirit and her +eloquence, although with all their admiration none of them deemed +himself too humble to possess this jewel of a woman, especially as this +ornament of a house came cheap and consisted merely in an eager and +tireless tongue. Whether they themselves, after all, were worthy of +this that they valued so highly, and whether they would be able to +utilize this gift of hers, that class of idiot seldom inquires. They +are more like children who reach out for anything that glitters, who +lick off the vivid paint on a multicolored toy, and who put a mouth +harmonica into their little jaw instead of being content with listening +to its music. But while drinking in the high-flown phrases that dropped +so mellifluously from her lips, the three of them goaded on their +imagination more and more, sharpened their greed to own such a +distinguished person, and the more heartless, idle and parrot-like +Zues' chatter became, the more melancholy and depressed became her +swains. At the same time they felt a terrific thirst in consequence of +having swallowed so much of this dried fruit. Jobst and the Bavarian +looked for and found in the near-by woods a spring, and filled their +stomachs with cold water. But the Suabian had slyly taken along a flask +of cherry brandy and water, and with this he now refreshed himself. His +plan had been to thus gain an advantage over the others when making the +race, for well he knew that the other two were too parsimonious to +bring along a stimulant like that or to turn in at a tavern on the way. + +This flask he now pulled out of his pocket, and while the others drank +their water he offered it to Zues. She accepted it, emptied the flask +half, and regarded Dietrich while she thanked him for the refreshment +with such an affectionate glance that Dietrich felt more than +recompensed and tremendously encouraged in his suit. He could not +withstand the temptation to seize her hand courteously and to kiss the +tips of her fingers. She on her part lightly touched his lips with her +hand, and he made belief of snapping at it, whereupon she smirked +falsely and pleasantly at him. Dietrich answered similarly. Then the +two sat down on the ground close to each other, and once in a while +would touch the soles of the other's shoe with his own, almost as +though they were shaking hands with their feet. Zues was bending over +slightly, and laid her hand on his shoulder, while Dietrich was on the +very point of imitating this little sport when the Bavarian and the +Saxon returned jointly, observed this philandering, and groaned and +lost color both at the same time. + +From the water they had drunk on top of all this dried fruit they had +become uneasy, both of them, and now that they saw the playful pair +indulging in their little game, everything seemed to turn around them. +Cold sweat began to break out on their foreheads, and they nearly gave +themselves up for lost. Zues, however, did not for an instant lose her +self-possession, but turned to the two and said: "Come, friends, sit +down a little while longer here with me, so that we may enjoy, perhaps +for the last time, our harmony and our undisturbed friendship." + +Jobst and Fridolin pressed up quickly, and sat down, stretching out +their thin legs. Zues left her one hand in the Suabian's own, gave +Jobst her other one, and touched with the soles of her shoes those of +Fridolin, while she turned her face to one after the other, smiling +most enchantingly. Thus there are skilled virtuosi who know how to play +a number of instruments at once, who shake bells with their heads, blow +the Pan's pipe with their mouths, touch the guitar with their hands, +strike the cymbal with their knees, with the foot a triangle, and with +the elbow a drum suspended from their backs. + +But now she rose, smoothed out her dress very carefully, and said: "The +hour has now come, I think, my friends, when you must get ready for +your great race, the race which your master in his folly has imposed on +you, but which we ourselves have agreed to regard as the disposition of +a higher power. Run this race with all the energy you can muster, but +without enmity or rancor, and leave the crown of the victor willingly +to him who has earned it." + +And as if stung by a vicious wasp the three sprang up and stood up +ready and eager on their legs. Thus they stood, and they were now to +try and vanquish each other with the same legs with which until now +they had made only slow and thoughtful steps. Not one of the three +could even recall ever having used these legs jumping or running. The +Suabian, perhaps, was most inclined for the venture. He even seemed to +be impatient for the struggle, and an eager look was in his eyes. At +that moment of severe crisis they three scanned each other's features +closely; the sweat had gathered on their pale brows, and they breathed +hard and spasmodically, as though they were already running at full +tilt. + +"Shake hands once more, in token of good feeling," said Zues. And they +did so, but in so lifeless a manner that the three hands dropped to +their sides as if made of lead. + +"And are we really to start on this fool's errand?" asked Jobst in a +voice thick with suppressed emotion, while wiping the perspiration from +his forehead. Some single tears were slowly crawling down his hollow +cheeks. + +"Yes, indeed," chimed in the Bavarian, "are we actually to run and jump +like apes on a rope?" and began to weep in good earnest. + +"And you, most charming Miss Buenzlin," added Jobst, "how are you going +to behave in the circumstances?" + +"It behoves me," answered she and held her handkerchief to her eyes, +"to keep silent, to suffer and to look on." + +"But afterwards," put in the Suabian, with a sly smile, "afterwards. +Miss Zues, when all is over?" + +"Oh, Dietrich," she responded softly, "do you not know what the poet +says: 'As Fate decides, so turns the heart of maid'?" And in +introducing this quotation from Schiller she regarded him so temptingly +aside that he again lifted up his long legs and shuffled them, feeling +like starting off at once. + +While the two rivals arranged their little vehicles on their wheels, +and Dietrich did the same, she repeatedly touched him with her elbow, +or else stepped on his foot. She also wiped the dust from his hat, but +at the same time threw inviting glances towards the others, pretending +to be highly amused at the Suabian's eagerness. But she did this +without being observed by Dietrich. + +And now all three of them drew deep breaths and sighed like so many +furnaces. They looked all about them, took off their hats, fanned +themselves and then once more put on their hats. For the last time they +sniffed the air in all the directions of the compass, and tried to +recover their breath. Zues herself felt deeply for them, and for very +compassion shed sundry tears. + +"Here," she then said, "are the last three prunes. Take each of you one +in the mouth, that will refresh you. And now depart, and turn the folly +of the wicked into the wisdom of the just! That which the wicked have +invented for your confusion, now change into a work of self-denial and +of serious enterprise, into the well-considered final act of good +conduct maintained for years, and into a competitive race for virtue +itself." + +And she herself with her own fair hands shoved a dried prune between +the cramped lips of each, and each of them at once began to gently chew +the prune. + +Jobst pressed his hand upon his stomach, exclaiming: "What must be, +must be. Let us start, in the name of Heaven!" + +And saying which and raising his staff, he began to stride ahead, knees +strongly bent and nostrils high in air, dragging his little load after +him. Scarcely had Fridolin seen that, when he, too, did the same, +taking long steps, and without once looking behind him. Both of them +could now be seen descending the hill and entering the dusty highway. + +The Suabian was the last one to get away, and he was walking, without +showing any great hurry, with Zues at his side, grinning in a +self-satisfied way, as though he felt sure of victory, and as though he +were willing, out of mere generosity, to grant a little start to his +rivals, while Zues praised him for this supposed noble action and for +his equanimity. + +"Ah," she now sighed, "after all, it is a blessing to be sure of a firm +support in life! Even where one is sufficiently gifted oneself with +insight and cleverness and follows, besides, the path of rectitude, all +the same it makes it much easier to walk through life on the arm of a +tried friend." + +"Quite right," the Suabian hastened to reply, and nudged her +energetically with the elbow, while at the same time he watched his +rivals so as not to let their start become too great. "Do you at last +notice that, my dear Miss Zues? Are you becoming convinced? Have your +eyes opened to the truth?" + +"Oh, Dietrich, my dear Dietrich," and she sighed more strongly, "I +often feel so very lonesome." + +"Hop-hop," he now laughed light-heartedly, "that is where the shoe +pinches? I thought so all along," and his heart began to leap like a +hare in a cabbage patch. + +"Oh, Dietrich," she again breathed low, and she pressed herself much +tighter against the young man's side. He felt awkward, and the heart in +his bosom grew big with pleasure, and joy began to fill it altogether. +But at the same instant he made the discovery that his precursors had +already vanished from his sight, they having turned a corner. At once +he wanted to tear himself loose from Zues' arm and hasten after them. +But Zues kept such a tight hold of him that he was unable to do so, and +she grasped him so firmly that he thought she was going to faint. + +"Dietrich," she whispered, and she made sheep's eyes at him, "don't +leave me alone at this moment. I rely on you, you are my sole help! +Please support me." + +"The devil. Miss Zues," he murmured anxiously, "let me go, let me go, +or else I shall miss this race, and then good-by to everything!" + +"No, no, you must not leave me just now. I feel that I am becoming very +ill!" Thus she lamented. + +"I don't care, ill or not ill," he cried, and tore himself loose from +her. He quickly climbed a rock whence he was able to overlook the whole +highroad below. There they were, he saw the two runners far away, deep +below towards the town. And then he made up his mind to a great spurt, +but at the same moment once more looked back for Zues. Then he saw her, +seated at the entrance to a shady wood path, and motioning to him with +her lily hand. This was too much for him. Instead of hurrying down the +hill, he hastened back to her. And when she saw him coming, she turned +and went in deeper into the cool wood, all the time casting inviting +glances at him, for her object was, of course, to draw him away from +the race and cheat him out of his victory, make him lose and thus +render his further stay in Seldwyla impossible. + +But Dietrich, the Suabian, was, as pointed out before, of an inventive +and resourceful turn. Thus it was that he, too, quickly made up his +mind to alter his tactics, and to score victory not down there but up +here. And thus things came to pass very much differently from what had +been calculated on. For as soon as he had come up with her in a +sheltered spot in the depth of the forest, he fell at her feet and +overwhelmed her with the most ardent declarations of his love for her +to which any combmaker ever gave expression. At first she made a great +attempt to withstand his wooing, bade him be quiet and desist from his +violent protestations, and to befool him a little while longer until +all danger of his winning should be past. She let loose the torrent of +her wisdom and learning, and tried to awe him. But the young Suabian +was not to be caught with this chaff. Paying not the slightest regard +to all these rhetorical fireworks, he let loose Heaven and Hell in his +stormy suit, lavishing caresses and blandishments on the surprised +maiden by which he finally stifled the voice of her severely attuned +conscience, and his excited and ready wit furnished him with enough of +love's ammunition to overcome all her scruples. His eloquence and his +bold and ever persistent wheedling and dandling gave her not a second's +respite nor leisure to reflect and deliberate. He first took possession +of her hands and feet, to kiss and fondle them, despite her strenuous +protests, and next he flattered her to the top of her bent, lauding +both her bodily and mental charms to the very skies, until Zues was in +a very paradise of self-glorification and satisfied vanity. Added to +this was the solitude and the sense of security from curious and +peering eyes in the leafy shade of the forest. Until at last Zues +really lost the compass to which hitherto she had clung as her safe +though rather selfish guide through life. She succumbed to all these +allurements, not so much by reason of exalted sensualism, as because +for the moment she was overcome and helpless against the stronger and +more primitive passion of this young man. Her heart fluttered timidly +up and down, and vainly attempted to find its former balance. Her +thoughts were in a perfect storm of contradictions, and she was +altogether like a poor impotent beetle turned over on its back and +struggling to recover the use of its limbs. And thus it was that +Dietrich vanquished her in every sense. She had tempted him into this +impenetrable thicket in order to betray him like another Delilah, but +had been quickly conquered by this despised Suabian. And this was not +because she was so utterly love-sick as to lose her bearings but rather +because she was in spite of all her fancied wisdom so short of vision +as not to see beyond the tip of her own nose. Thus they remained +together an hour or more in this delectable solitude, embraced ever +anew, kissed one another a thousand times, thus realizing the vision of +the Suabian not long before, and swore eternal faith and unending +affection, and agreed most solemnly, no matter how the affair of the +race should terminate, to marry and become man and wife. + + +In the meanwhile news of the curious undertaking of the three +combmakers had spread throughout the town, and the master himself had +not a little aided in this, for the whole matter appealed strongly to +his sense of humor. And hence all the people of Seldwyla rejoiced in +advance at the prospect of a spectacle so novel and unconventional. +They were eager to see the three journeymen arrive out of breath and in +complete disarray, and laughed heartily in anticipation of the fun they +counted on. Gradually a vast throng had assembled outside the town +gate, impatient to see the arrival. On both sides of the highroad the +curious people were seated at the edge of the trenches, just as if +professional runners were expected. The small boys climbed into the +tops of trees, while their elders sat on the grass and smoked their +pipe, quite content that such an amusement had been provided for them. +Even the dignitaries of Seldwyla had not scorned to put in their +appearance, sat in the taverns by the wayside and discoursed of the +chances of each of the three, and making a number of not inconsiderable +wagers as to the final result. In those streets which the runners had +to pass on their way to the goal all the windows had been thrown open, +the wives had placed in their parlors on the window ledges pretty +vari-colored cushions, to rest their arms upon, and had received +numerous visits from the ladies of their acquaintance, so that coffee +and cake was hospitably provided for them all, and even the maid +servants were in a holiday mood, being sent to bakers and confectioners +for goodies of every description with which to entertain the guests. + +All of a sudden the little fellows keenly watching from out of their +leafy domes dimly saw in the distance tiny dust clouds approaching, and +they set up the cry: "Here they're coming! They're coming!" And indeed, +not long thereafter were seen Jobst and Fridolin rushing past, each +wrapped in his own hazy column of dust, in the middle of the road. With +the one hand they were pulling their valises on wheels each by himself, +these rattling over the cobblestones with a noise like drumbeats, and +with the other they held on tight to their heavy hats, these having +slid down their necks, and their long dusters and coats were flying in +the breeze. Both of the rivals were covered thickly with dust, almost +unrecognizable; they had their mouths wide open and were yapping for +breath; they saw and heard nothing that transpired around them, and +thick tears were slowly rolling down their faces, there being no time +to wipe them away, and these tears had dug paths in criss-cross fashion +in the grime on their countenances. + +They came close upon each other, but the Bavarian was just about half a +horse's length ahead. A terrific shouting and laughter was set up by +the audience, and this droned in the ears of the racers as they sped on +in insane haste. Everybody got up and crowded along the sidewalk, and +there were cries raised: "That's it, that's it! Run, Saxon, defend +yourself: don't let the Bavarian have it all his own way! One of the +three has already given in--there are but two of them left." + +The gentlemen who were standing on the tables and chairs in the gardens +and roadhouses laughed fit to split their sides. Their roars sounded +across the highway and streets, and woke the echoes, and the affair was +turned into a popular festival. Small boys and the entire rabble of the +town followed densely in the wake of the two, and this mob stirred up +thick volumes of biting dust, so that the racers were almost stifled +before they arrived at the near goal. The whole immense cloud rolled +towards the town gate, and even women and girls ran along, and mingled +their high, squeaking voices with those of the male ruffians. Now they +had almost reached the old town gate, the two towers of which were +lined with the curious who were waving their caps and hats. The two +were still running, foaming at the mouth, eyes starting out of sockets, +running like two run-away horses, without sense or mind, their hearts +full of fear and torture. Suddenly one of the little street boys knelt +down on Jobst's small vehicle, and had Jost pull him along, the crowd +howling with appreciation of the joke. Jobst turned and pleaded with +the youngster to get off, even struck at him with his staff. But the +blows did not reach the urchin, who merely grinned at him. With that +Fridolin gained on Jobst, and as Jobst noticed this, he threw his staff +between the other's feet, so that Fridolin stumbled and fell. But as +Jobst attempted to pass him, the Bavarian pulled him by the tail of his +coat, and by the aid of that got again on his feet. Jobst struck him +upon his hands like a maniac, and shouted: "Let go! Let go!" But +Fridolin did not let go, and so Jobst seized him also by the coat tail, +and thus both had hold of each other, and were slowly making their way +into the gateway, once in a while attempting to get rid of the other by +venturing on a bound. They wept, sobbed and howled like babies, shouted +in the agony of their grief and fear: "My God, let go!" "For the love +of Heaven, let go!" "Let go, you devil; you must let go!" Between +whiles each struck hard blows at the other's hands, but with all that +they advanced a little all the time. Their hats and staffs had been +lost in the scuffle, and ahead of them and behind them the hooting mob +was accompanying them, their escort growing more turbulent and violent +each minute. All the windows were occupied by the ladies of Seldwyla, +and they threw, so to speak, their silvery laughter into this avalanche +of noise, and all were agreed that for years past there had not been +such a ludicrous scene as this. + +As a matter of fact, this crazy free show was so much to the taste of +the whole town that nobody took the trouble to point out to the two +rivals their ultimate goal, the house of their old master. They +themselves, these two, did not see it. Indeed, they did not see +anything more. They reached their goal and did not perceive it, but +went past and hurried crazily on, on and on, always escorted by the +shouts and yells of the mob, fighting each other, their faces drawn and +pinched as though in death, on and on, until they reached the other end +of the little town and so through the second gate out into the open +once more. The master himself had stood at the window of his house, +laughing and greatly amused, and after patiently waiting for another +hour for the victor in the strange tournament, he had been on the point +of leaving the house and joining some of his cronies at the tavern, +when Zues and Dietrich quietly and unobtrusively entered. + +For Zues had meanwhile been busy with her thoughts, combining, after +her wont, this and that. And thus she had reached the conclusion that +in all likelihood the master combmaker would be willing to sell his +business outright on a cash basis, since he could not continue it +himself much longer. For that purpose Zues herself was ready to give up +her interest-bearing mortgage, which together with the slender savings +of Dietrich would doubtless suffice and thus they two would remain +victors and could laugh at the other two. This plan, together with +their intention to marry, they told the astonished master about, and +he, readily seeing that thus he could cheat his creditors and by +concluding the bargain quickly would also get possession of a +considerable sum of money to do with as he pleased, was glad of the +opportunity thus afforded him. Quickly, therefore, the two parties were +in agreement as to the terms, and before the sun went down Zues became +the lawful owner of the business and her promised husband the tenant of +the house in which the business was being conducted. Thus it was Zues, +without indeed having intended or suspected it in the morning, who was +tied down and conquered by the quickwitted Suabian. + +Half dead with shame, exhaustion and anger, Jobst and Fridolin +meanwhile lay in the inn to which they had been taken when picked up +limp and spent in the open field. To separate the two rivals, thirsting +for each other's blood and maddened from the whole crazy adventure, had +been no light task. The whole of Seldwyla now, having in their peculiar +reckless way already forgotten the immediate cause of the whole +turmoil, was now celebrating and making a night of it. In many houses +there was dancing, and in the taverns there was much drinking and +singing and noise, just as on the greatest Seldwyla holidays. For the +people of Seldwyla never required much urging to enjoy themselves to +the top of their bent. When the two poor devils saw how their own +superior cunning with which they had counted on making a good haul had, +on the contrary, only served these careless people in all their folly +to make a feast of it, how they themselves had been the immediate cause +of their own downfall, and had made a laughingstock of themselves for +all the world, they thought their hearts would break. For they had +managed not only to defeat the wise and patient plans of so many years, +but had also lost forever the reputation of being shrewd men +themselves. + +Jobst as the oldest of the three and having spent in Seldwyla full +seven years, was wholly overwhelmed and dazed by the collapse of all +his secret hopes, and quite unable to reconstruct a new world after +having lost the one of his dreams. Utterly dejected he left his +sleepless pillow before daybreak, wandered away from town and crept to +the very spot where the day before they and Zues had sat under the +linden tree, and there he hanged himself to one of the lowest branches. +When the Bavarian, but an hour later, passed there on his way into +strange parts, such a fit of fright seized him that he ran off like a +lunatic, altered completely his whole ways, and later on was heard to +have become a dissolute spendthrift, who never saved a penny, and who +was in the habit of cursing God and men, being no one's friend any +more. + +Dietrich the Suabian alone remained one of the Decent and Just, and +stayed on in the little town. But he had little good of it, for Zues +left him nothing to say, and ruled him strictly, never allowing him to +have his way in anything. On the contrary, she continued to consider +herself the sole source of all wisdom and success. + + + + + + DIETEGEN + + + + + DIETEGEN + + +To the north of those hills and woods where Seldwyla nestles, there +flourished as late as the end of the fifteenth century the town of +Ruechenstein, lying in the cool shade, whereas her rival Seldwyla +basked in the full glare of the midday sun. Gray and forbidding looked +the massed body of its towers and strong walls, and upstanding and just +were its councilmen and citizens, but severe and morose also, and their +chief employment consisted in the execution of their prerogatives as an +independent city, in the exercise of law and justice, the issuing of +mandates and decrees, of impeachments and committals. The greatest +source of their pride was the fact that there had been conferred on +them the exercise and enforcement of the power over life and death of +all subject to their sway, and so eager and willing they were to +sacrifice for this power their all, their privileges and their +substance, as entrusted to them by Empire and supreme ruler, as other +commonwealths were to achieve their liberty of conscience and the +freedom of worship according to their faith. + +On the rocky promontories all around their town wore conspicuous the +emblems of their dread sovereignty. Such as tall gallows and scaffolds, +sundry places of execution, showing the wheel where miscreants had +their limbs broken, the stake where heretics or other evildoers were +made to suffer, and their grim-faced town hall was hung full of iron +chains with neck rings; steel cages were exhibited on the towers of the +walls, and wooden drills wherein loose-tongued or wicked women were +being stretched and turned, could be seen at almost every corner. Even +by the shore of the dark-blue river which washed the walls of the town, +sundry stations had been erected where malefactors could be drowned or +ducked, with tied feet or in sacks, according to the finer +discriminations of the decree of judgment. + +Now it need not be supposed that because of all this the +Ruechensteiners were iron men, robust and inspiring terror by their +looks, such as one would be inclined to think from their favorite +pastimes. That was indeed not the case. Rather were they people of +ordinary, philistine appearance, with thin shanks and pot-bellies, +their only distinctive mark being their yellow noses, the same noses +with which the year around they used to besniff and watch each other. +And nobody indeed would have guessed from the more than commonplace and +scanty semblance of their whole physical being that their nerves were +like ropes, such as were absolutely required not only to view all along +the grewsome sights offered to them by their authorities in the putting +to a shameful and lingering death of scores and scores of felons and +other poor wretches condemned by their councilmen, but actually to +enjoy the sight. These cruel instincts of theirs were not apparent on +their faces; they were hidden away in their hearts. + +Thus they kept spread like a dense net their judiciary powers over the +dominion subject to their fierce rule, always eager for a chance to +apply it. And indeed nowhere were there such singular crimes to punish +as in this same Ruechenstein. Their inventive gift was fairly +inexhaustible. It seemed almost as though their talent for discovering +ever new and hitherto unheard-of crimes acted as a spur on sinners to +commit the latest delinquencies threatened with penalties of the +severest type. However, if despite all this at any time there was a +lack of evildoers, the people of the town knew how to help themselves. +For then they simply caught and punished the rascals of other towns. +And it was only a man with a clear conscience who had the hardihood to +cross at any time the territory of Ruechenstein. For when they heard of +a crime committed, even if done far away from their own area, they +would seize and hold the first landloper that came along, put him to +the torture and make him confess his guilt. Not infrequently it would +happen that such enforced confession related to a crime that, as later +turned out, had only been based on hearsay, and had really never been +done. But then it was too late. The supposed malefactor had been hung +in chains on the gallows or otherwise disposed of, and could not be +brought to life again. Of course, it was unavoidable that because of +this inclination of the people of Ruechenstein they would often get +into a more or less acrimonious controversy with other towns whose +citizens they had thus overzealously dispatched, and they even had +constantly pending a number of such cases before the Swiss federal +council, and had to be sharply reprimanded, but that did not cure them. + +By preference the people of Ruechenstein liked calm, sunny, pleasant +weather when indulging in their favorite amusement of holding penal +executions, burnings at the stake, and forcible drownings, and that is +why on fine summer days there was always something of the kind going on +there. The wanderer in a far-off field might then, keeping his eyes +fastened on the greyish rock buttress high up on the horizon, notice +not infrequently the flashing of the headsman's sword, the smoke pillar +of the stake, or in the bed of the river something like the glittering +leaping of a fish, which would usually mean the bobbing up and down of +a witch undergoing the solemn test. And the word of God on a Sunday +they would not have relished at all without at least one erring lovers' +couple with straw wreaths before the altar and without the reading out +of some sharpened moral mandates. + +Other festivals, processions and public pleasures there were none; all +such were prohibited by numerous mandates or ordinances. + +It may easily be supposed that a town of that stripe could have no more +distasteful neighbors than Seldwyla, and behind their woods, too, they +would forever think up new methods of interfering with and annoying +them. Any Seldwylian whom they caught on their own soil was seized and +tortured to get at the facts regarding the latest breach of the peace +or any other misdemeanor charged upon their neighbor's score. And on +their account, to get even, the Seldwyla people made fast every man of +Ruechenstein and, on their public market square, administered to him +six choice blows with the rod, on the spot which they deemed specially +adapted for that purpose. This, though, was as far as they ever went, +for they had a prejudice against bloody spectacles, and amongst +themselves never indulged in corporal punishments. But in addition to +this mild chastisement they would also blacken the long nose of the +culprit, and then they would let him run home. That was why there +always were in Ruechenstein several specially disgruntled persons with +noses dyed black that but slowly were recovering their pristine hue, +and these naturally were particularly zealous in trying to unearth +miscreants that could be dealt with severely and subjected to +castigation or torture. + +The Seldwylians on their part kept this black paint constantly ready in +a huge iron pot, and upon this was limned the Ruechenstein town +escutcheon, and they denominated this pot the "friendly neighbor." This +and the huge paint brush belonging to it was always suspended under the +arch of the gate fronting towards Ruechenstein. When this tincture had +dried up or been used up it was renewed and the occasion utilized to +get up a frolicsome procession ending with a gay banquet, all with a +view to rendering the neighbor ridiculous. And because of this at one +time the latter became so wrathful that their whole town turned out, +banners flying, to inflict punishment on the Seldwylians. + +But these, informed of this intention, quickly issued forth and waylaid +the Ruechenstein hosts, attacking them unawares. However, the +Ruechensteiners had marching at the head of their column a dozen of +graybearded and fierce-looking civic soldiers, with new ropes tied to +the handles of their long swords, and these wore such an unholy mien as +to scare the merry Seldwylian blades. The latter, in fact, began to +back out, and they were on the point of losing the fight if a clever +conceit had not saved them. For just for fun they had been carrying +along the punitive pot of paint, etc., "the friendly neighbor," and +instead of a banner the long paint brush. With quick intuition the +bearer of the latter dipped his brush deeply into the dark liquid, +bounded ahead of his comrades like a flash, and bedaubed the faces of +the leading rank of foes a sable hue before these knew what he was +about. So that all those in front, threatened immediately with this +indelible paint, turned and fled, and that nobody of them all further +felt like marching in the van of the host. With that the whole outfit +began to sway, and a strange terror fell on them all, whereas the +Seldwylians now, their courage restored, manfully went up against the +men of Ruechenstein, pressing them back towards the rear, in the +direction of their own town. With savage laughter the Seldwyla people +took advantage of the occasion, and wherever their foes dared to defend +themselves the dreaded paint brush came into instant action, handled +with supreme skill by means of its long shaft, and in the męlée there +was indeed no lack of real heroism. For twice already the daring +painters had been pierced by arrows and fallen to rise no more. But +each time some other equally courageous fellow had sprung into the gap, +and had treated the foe in the same ignominious manner. + +In the end the Ruechensteiners were totally defeated, and they fled +with their banner towards the clump of woods which led to their town, +with the Seldwyla people on their heels. Barely were they able to find +refuge in their town, and to close the gate thereof, and the latter, +too, was painted all over by the pursuing foe with the black paint, +together with its drawbridge, until the Ruechensteiners, somewhat +recovered and collected again, threw potfuls of whitewash upon the +heads of the uproarious painters. + +But because a few Seldwylians of note who in the heat of combat had +penetrated into the town and there been taken prisoner, and also about +a dozen of the Ruechensteiners had likewise been seized and held by the +victors, there was effected an armistice after the lapse of a few days. +The prisoners were exchanged on both sides, and a regular peace was +concluded, in which both sides gave way a bit. There had been fighting +enough to suit them for a spell, and there was a desire for a mutual +adjustment. So it came to pass that both sides made fair promises of +future good behavior. The Seldwyla people bound themselves to give up +the iron paint pot, and to abolish it forever, and the people of +Ruechenstein solemnly relinquished all rights of seizure against +Seldwylians out walking or strolling in the Ruechenstein territory, and +all other privileges and prerogatives on either side were carefully +weighed and mostly abolished. + +To confirm this agreement a day was appointed, and as place of meeting +was chosen the mountain clearing where the chief fight had occurred. +From Ruechenstein came a few of the younger councilmen; for their +elders had not succeeded in overcoming their strong feelings of +reluctance to consort with their ancient foes on terms of quasi +friendship. The Seldwyla people on their part showed up in goodly +numbers, brought the "friendly neighbor," the heraldic paint pot, as +well as a small cask of their choicest and oldest wine, grown on the +municipal vineyards, with them, and also a number of their finest +silver or gilt tankards and trenchers which belonged to their municipal +treasure. In this way they nicely befooled the delegates from +Ruechenstein, glad to escape for even a short spell the rigid regimen +of their own town, and they were so charmed at this reception that +they, instead of immediately returning after the consummation of their +errand, allowed themselves to be inveigled in following the tempters to +Seldwyla itself. There they were escorted to the town hall, where a +grand feast was awaiting them. Beautiful ladies and maidens attended +the occasion, and more and more tankards, beakers, and flagons were set +up on the banqueting board, so that with the glitter and sheen of all +this precious metal and the gleaming of all these bewitching eyes the +poor Ruechensteiners clean forgot their original mission and became as +gay as larks. They sang, since they knew no other tunes, one Latin +psalm after another, while the Seldwylians on their part hummed wicked +drinking songs, and finally they wound up in the midst of the noise by +inviting their new Seldwyla friends to make a return visit to their own +town, being most particular to include the Seldwyla ladies in the +invitation, and promising them the most hospitable reception. + +This invitation was accepted unanimously, amidst great enthusiasm on +both sides, and when the delegates from Ruechenstein at last departed, +they did so under the happiest auspices, smiling blissfully from all +the choice wine under their belts, and deeming themselves conquerors of +the handsome Seldwyla ladies besides, since a number of these, laughing +and in rosy humor, gave them safe conduct as far as the gates of the +city. + +Of course, things took on a somewhat different hue when these jolly +young councilmen of Ruechenstein on the following day awoke in their +stern city and had to give an account of their stewardship and of the +whole proceedings on the day previous. Little was wanting indeed, and +they would have been incarcerated and subjected to ardent tests on the +charge of having been bewitched. However, they themselves had also a +right to speak with authority, and notwithstanding that the whole +matter already seemed to them a mistake on their part, they +nevertheless stuck to their bargain, and strongly represented to their +elder colleagues that the very honor of the city demanded a resplendent +reception of the Seldwylian folks. Their views gained acceptance among +a section of the citizens, especially when they described the +magnificent table silver that had been brought out to honor them, and +when they spoke of the handsome Seldwyla ladies and their gracefulness +and beautiful attire. The men were of opinion that such ostentatious +hospitality must not go unrebuked and unrivaled, and that it was +necessary to reciprocate at the coming return visit of their ancient +foes by a display of their own wealth, jeweled and precious tableware +glittering in their own iron safes aplenty. The women again were +itching to circumvent on such a favorable occasion the strict decrees +against too profuse finery from which they had been suffering so long, +and under the guise of civic patriotism to make a gaudy display of all +their hidden trinkets and gorgeous silks. For in their coffers and +lockers there was slumbering enough of costly stuffs to outshine the +Seldwyla ladies tenfold, they thought. If that had not been the case +they would surely long ago have rebelled against the severe sumptuary +decrees in vogue and brought the regiment in power to its fall. +Therefore, everything considered, the promise made by the Ruechenstein +emissaries was formally approved, to the great grief of the elder and +sterner members of the council. + +To offset this piece of laxity they were unable to hinder these latter, +the graybeards of the city, resolved, however, to enjoy another kind of +spectacle on their own account, and thus they began to make their +arrangements to have an execution performed on the very day when the +Seldwyla people were to dwell within their walls, and thus to dampen at +least, so far as they could, the unseemly spirit of merriment which +otherwise would go unchecked. And so while the younger members of the +council were busy with their preparations for the feast, the others +quietly made arrangements for another show after their own heart, and +for that purpose they selected a young, fatherless boy who was just +then caught in the net of their barbarous laws. It was a very handsome +boy of eleven, whose parents had both been engulfed in the recent wars, +and who was being educated and taken care of by the town. That is to +say, he had been put to board with the parish beadle, a conscienceless +and pitiless scoundrel, and there the little fellow--a slender, +vigorous and well-formed child enough--had been treated just like a +domestic animal, the wife aiding her husband in the task. The boy had +been named Dietegen, and this his baptismal name was all he really +owned in the world. It was his sole piece of property, his past and his +future. He was dressed in rags, and had never even had a holiday +garment, so that if it had not been for his good looks he would have +presented a miserable appearance. He had to sweep and dust, and to do +all the tasks that usually fall to a maid servant, and whenever the +beadle's wife did not happen to have anything to do for him in her own +house she lent him out to women neighbors for a trifle, there to do +anything that might be asked of him. They all thought him, in spite of +his strength and skill to do any work demanded of him, a stupid fellow, +and this because he obeyed silently all the orders he received and +because he never remonstrated. Yet it was the truth that none of the +women was able to look him in his fiery eyes for long, and these eyes +would often wander about as keen as an eagle's. + +Now several days before Dietegen had been sent on an errand to the +cooper in order to fetch some vinegar for a lettuce salad that his +foster parents wanted to prepare. Their vinegar the couple had been +keeping for a long time customarily in a small jug, and this was almost +black with age and had always been deemed cheap tin, having been bought +many years ago by the mother of the beadle's wife for a couple of +pennies from a peddler. But in reality the little jug was of silver. +The cooper of whom the vinegar was to be purchased dwelt rather far, in +a lonesome place near the city wall. As now the boy came walking along +with his small vessel, an ancient Hebrew came past him with his bag, +and threw a rapid glance at the curiously fashioned little jug, and +stopped the boy with the request to be allowed to examine this vessel +more closely. Dietegen handed it to him, and the Jew quickly and +secretly scratched the surface of the vessel with his thumb nail, +offering then to the astonished boy a pretty crossbow in exchange, and +this he produced at once out of a bag made of moth-eaten otterskin, +with a few bolts to boot. Boy-like, Dietegen at once seized the weapon +and relinquished his small jug to the Jew, who then at once +disappeared. Rejoicing in his good fortune the boy now began to aim and +shoot at the small gate of the near-by door of a tower, and without +being at all disturbed he continued this enticing sport, forgetting +everything else, until dusk came and then moonlight, improving his aim +steadily, and shooting by the bright light of the orb. + +Meanwhile the beadle had also made a last inspection tour around the +inside of the town walls, and had met with and held the Jew with his +bag. Examining the latter he had with amazement recognized his own +vinegar jug, and questioning the Jew the latter, in fear of his own +neck, owned at once that it was of silver, and pretended that a young +boy had forced it on him in lieu of a fine crossbow. Now the beadle ran +and consulted a goldsmith, who on testing the vessel likewise +pronounced it fine pure silver and of rarest workmanship. Thereupon the +beadle and his wife, the latter now having joined him, became +exceedingly angry, not only because they had had, without knowing it, +for so many years such a valuable piece of property, but also because +they had almost lost it. + +The world to them seemed to be full of the grossest wrong; the child +now appeared to them as their archenemy who had almost cheated them out +of their eternal reward, the reward for their infinite merits and +frugality. They suddenly pretended to have known for a long time that +the small jug was of silver, and that it had always been so considered +in their house. Cursing him bitterly they clamorously charged the +little fellow with larceny, and while he, entirely unconscious of all +this, was still engaged with his crossbow practice, and was hitting his +goal more and more often, two groups of searchers were already out +looking for him. At the head of the one party was the beadle, while the +woman, his wife, was heading the other. Thus they soon found him, still +busily engaged with his bow and bolts, and unpleasantly wakened from +his occupation when surrounded by the thief-takers. And now only he +remembered his errand and at the same time the loss of the small +vessel. But he believed he had made a good bargain, and handed the +beadle smilingly his crossbow, in order to pacify him. Notwithstanding +this he was instantly bound and gagged, carried off to jail, and then +examined. He admitted at once having exchanged the little pitcher for +the Jew's crossbow, and did not even attempt to defend himself. + +The poor little child was condemned to the gallows, and the time of his +death set for the very day when the Seldwylians were to visit the +people of Ruechenstein. + +And indeed they did appear on the appointed day, making a gorgeous +procession, in luminous colors and rich finery, with their town +trumpeter to lead them. They were, however, all armed with swords and +daggers, although that did not hinder them from bringing along a dozen +of their most fearless ladies. These rode in the centre of the +cavalcade, charming and richly attired, and even a number of pretty +children were with them, costumed in the colors of Seldwyla and bearing +gifts. + +The young councilmen of Ruechenstein, their new-won friends, rode out +some little distance without the city gates to welcome them, and led +them a bit crestfallen within. The strong entrance gate had had that +ominous black paint scratched off as much as had been found feasible, +had then been plentifully whitewashed and decorated with wreaths. But +just within this gate the guests found the whole contingent of +Ruechenstein's town mercenaries in rank and file, clad in full armor +and looking like brawny warriors indeed. These escorted the guests, +rattling and clanging in their iron harness, through the shady and +rather dark streets, with fierce mien. The people of the town peered +mute but curious out of their windows, as though their guests had been +beings from another world. When one of the gay Seldwylians gazed +upwards at the ladies leaning out of their windows, these would at once +duck and disappear. Their menfolk, though, flattened the tips of their +long noses against the greenish window panes, in order to observe as +closely as possible the spectacle of bare female necks, such as the +Seldwyla ladies offered. + +Thus, then, the whole cavalcade finally reached the huge hall inside +the town house, and that looked ornate but forbiddingly austere. Walls +and ceiling were decorated entirely with black-tinted oak, here and +there gilt. A long, long banqueting board was covered with beautiful +linen, and woven into it were foliage, stags, huntsmen and dogs of +green silk picked out with thin gold wire. Above this were further +spread dainty napkins of snowy white damask, and these again on nearer +sight exhibited patterns woven into them representing rather broadly +joyous scenes from Roman and Greek mythology, such as would have been +least expected in this grave concourse. Thickly grouped there stood on +this festal table everything which at that time belonged to a gala +meal, and what particularly claimed the attention of the Seldwyla +observers was a number of truly magnificent pieces of tableware--some +of them being in repoussé work, some round and some in relief, a +glittering world of nymphs, fauns, nude demigods and heroes, with +lovely feminine forms intermingled. Even the chief table ornament, a +warship in solid silver, with sails spread and bellying in the breeze, +otherwise very respectable and officially stiff, showed as its emblem a +Galathea of the most opulent forms. + +Along this table of enormous dimensions a number of the wives of +councilors were slowly pacing to and fro, all of them dressed either in +black or scarlet silks and satins, heavy lace covering bosom and neck +up to the very chin. They did wear many gold chains, girdles and caps, +encrusted with jewels in many cases, and on their fingers they had, +over their gloves, priceless rings. And these ladies were not ugly to +look at, but rather in most instances handsome and of regular features; +many of them, too, showed a delicate complexion and their pretty oval +cheeks were rosy. But nearly all had an unpleasant glance, severe and +sour, so that it seemed doubtful whether they had ever smiled in their +lives, save perhaps at nighttime after fooling their gullible husbands. + +The mutual introductions were therefore not very cordial, and everybody +seemed indeed glad when this ceremony was over and guests and hosts +both sat down at table and the feelings of embarrassment could be +concealed by the engrossing charms of eating and drinking. The +Seldwylians were the first to recover their natural equanimity, and +then there could be heard among them frequent outbursts of hilarity as +they admired the dazzling table trappings. That indeed was to the +liking of their hosts, and they were just on the point of starting a +formal conversation on that topic, when the matter took a turn wholly +unexpected by them. For the Seldwyla people, accustomed always to use +their eyes, had quickly discovered the amorous and graceful topics +which the weaver's art had embodied in the woof of this linen and the +goldsmith's in the silver and goldware so liberally displayed before +their eyes. After allowing, therefore, their ribald glances to dwell +with a close scrutiny on the lustful scenes depicted here, many +Seldwylians called the attention of their neighbors to it all, all +smiles and good humor, and interpreted the true meaning of the scene in +each instance, often naming Ovid or some other heathen author as the +original source. Even the Seldwyla ladies did not refrain, but shared +in this amusement of their husbands. The hosts at first were slow to +understand this and were inclined to think it one of the childish +tricks for which they were forever blaming their merry neighbors of +Seldwyla, but as they finally likewise bent their glances on the things +occasioning the outbursts of their guests, they were as though smitten +with palsy. For it had never entered their minds before to look with +attention at these table appointments, and had merely accepted, when +ordered by them, the exquisite products of the loom or of the +goldsmith's skill as finished ware without ever bothering their heads +further about it, and nothing had been further from them than to cast +critical glances at the subjects represented by these artisans, and it +was thus reserved for their gay guests from Seldwyla to sharpen their +vision so to speak. Now when looking closer and closer, they perceived +what pagan horrors they had chosen to ornament their own board with, +and they were struck dumb with painful amazement. But what irked them +still more was what they deemed the lack of tact and decorum on the +part of their guests who, instead of purposely overlooking such an +involuntary blunder of their hosts actually magnified it and drew it +into the full glare of publicity. According to their way of thinking +what the Seldwylians ought to have done under these peculiar +circumstances was to praise and pay attention to the costliness of the +stuff out of which these implements had been fashioned, and not to go +beyond that. The Ruechensteiner grandees now were obliged to smile with +faces as sour as vinegar when a Seldwylian neighbor would call their +attention to an exquisitely wrought silver Leda and the Swan, or to a +Europa on the back of her bull. Their wives, however, showed their +displeasure more openly, blushed and paled by turns with wrath, and +were just on the point of demonstratively leaving the banquet when the +mournful sound of a bell quickly reassured them. For it was the poor +sinners' bell of Ruechenstein. A dull and confused din in the streets +gave notice that young Dietegen was now being led to his shameful +death. All the company rose from the table, and hastened to the +windows, the Ruechensteiners purposely making room for their guests to +enable these to view the sad spectacle plainly, while they themselves +stood in the rear, an insidious grin on their sallow features. + +A priest, a hangman with his helper, some court officials, and a few +armed attendants of the council went slowly past, and at their head +walked Dietegen, barefooted and clad only in a white, black-edged +delinquent shift, his hands tied in the back, and led by the hangman at +a rope. His golden hair fell in a shower down his white neck, and +confused and appealingly he looked aloft at the houses which he passed. +Under the portal of the town hall stood the boys and girls from +Seldwyla, who had, after the manner of children, left the table and the +weary banquet, and had hastened into the open air. When the pitiful +delinquent saw these pretty and happy children, the like he had never +yet perceived before, he wanted to stop a moment and talk to them, +while tears were streaming down his pale cheeks. But the executioner +roughly pushed him on, so that the train passed on and had soon +disappeared from view. The Seldwyla ladies lost color when they watched +this scene, and their men were seized with a deep dismay, since they at +no time loved to see sights of this kind. They felt out of spirits and +not at home with their hosts after such an exhibition, and thus they +soon yielded to the urging of their womenfolk, and as politely as they +could took leave of their grim hosts. The people of Ruechenstein, on +the other hand, were satisfied with the triumph they had scored against +their volatile guests, and thereby rendered almost complaisant towards +them, so that both sides parted amicably. The hosts even escorted their +honored guests, as they put it, to the town gate, and were talkative, +gallant towards the ladies, and courteous. + +Outside the gate the Seldwyla cavalcade met the small group of hangmen +and their assistants, who passed them morosely. Behind them there came +a single helper pushing a small cart whereon lay, in a plain pine +coffin, the young delinquent's body. Shy and bitten with curiosity to +watch this number of brilliantly attired persons, this fellow stopped +for a moment, and turned aside, in order to let the procession file +past him. He was placing the loose lid of the bier in its proper place, +it having almost slid off and exposed the sight of the hanged. + +Among the children of Seldwyla there was a seven-year-old maid, bold, +pretty and curly, who had never ceased to weep since seeing the poor +boy being led to the gallows, and refused to be consoled. And as the +train of Seldwylians now slowly swept on, the child at the moment she +came up with the cart and coffin, quickly sprang towards it, stood on +its large wheel, and threw off the lid, so that the lifeless Dietegen +lay exposed to view. At that moment he opened his eyes and drew a +breath. For in the confusion of that day he had not been hanged +according to traditional rules, and had been taken off the gallows too +early, because his executioners were in a great hurry in the hope of +returning to town in time to get some of the remnants of the feast. The +bold little girl loudly exclaimed, "He is still alive! He is still +alive!" + +At once the women of Seldwyla surrounded the bier, and when they saw +indeed the handsome pale boy move about and give signs of life, they +took possession of him, removed him from the cart, and fully recalled +him to this world by rubbing his stiffened joints, sprinkling him with +water, making him swallow some wine, and using all their endeavors in +other ways. The men indeed also gave their assistance, while the +gentlemen of Ruechenstein stood by dazedly, and did not know what to +say or do. When at last the boy again stood on his own feet, and gazed +about him as though he had waked in paradise, he suddenly caught a +glimpse of the hangman's assistant, and quite astounded that he, too, +as he thought, had gone to heaven, he fled and squeezed in among the +crowd of women. Touched and moved to tears, they begged with great +earnestness of their stern neighbors to pardon the boy and to make them +a gift of him, as a token of their new friendship. Their husbands +joined in this petition, and finally, after a brief consultation +amongst themselves, the Ruechensteiners yielded assent, saying that +henceforth the youthful sinner was to be theirs. On this the pretty +Seldwyla ladies and their young children rejoiced abundantly, and +Dietegen went along with them just as he was, in his poor delinquent's +shift. + +It happened to be a fine mild summer evening, wherefore the Seldwyla +folks, as soon as they had reached the crest of the mountain and +therewith also their own territory, resolved to amuse themselves here +in this delightful grove, on their own account, and to recover from the +frightful experience on their neighbors' ground. And this all the more +because there now approached a numerous reënforcement from Seldwyla +itself, full of curiosity to learn what their luck had been in +Ruechenstein. Thus it came to pass that the musicians had to intone a +merry tune and next a dance, and the goblets and tankards were filled +with the wine they had brought along, and then circulated quite +rapidly. + +During all these scenes Dietegen let his eyes roam all around, and all +who saw him perceived clearly that he was indeed nothing worse than an +innocent and harmless child, a notion which his tale, when asked to +state the facts, amply confirmed. The Seldwyla women could hardly get +their fill of the sight, wove a wreath of wildflowers for him, and +placed it on his young head, so that in his long and ample shift he +looked almost like a little saint. He won their hearts, and at last +they kissed him to their full content, and when he had thus passed +through the concourse of rivaling femininity they began anew with their +kissing. + +But the little girl who really had saved Dietegen from a horrible and +premature death did not at all approve of this proceeding. Quite wroth +she suddenly placed herself between the boy and the woman who just that +moment was on the point of kissing him, and took him by the hand, +leading him to a group of other children. Then the whole company burst +out laughing, saying: "That is quite right. Little Kuengolt clings to +her property! And she has taste likewise. Only see how well she and the +boy look alongside of each other!" + +Kuengolt's father, however, the chief forester of the town, remarked: +"I like the looks of that boy. He has eyes that speak truth and good +sense. If you gentlemen have no objection, I will take him along for +the time being, since I have but one child, and I will try and make an +honest huntsman out of him." + +This proposal met the unanimous approval of the Seldwylians, and thus +Kuengolt, well contented, did not let the boy's hand slip out of her +fingers more, but kept tight hold of it. And indeed, these two did make +a very comely pair. The little girl also wore a wreath on her head and +was clad in green and red, the town's colors. Hence they went at the +head of the whole merry procession like a picture from fairyland, in +the midst of the gay townspeople. And thus they all in the glow of +sunset poured down the mountain side on their way homewards. Soon, +however, the chief forester separated from the procession and went on +with the children on side paths to his cosy residence, which lay not +far from the city itself in the forest. A double row of tall trees led +to the main entrance, and there the demure wife of the forester sat +now, and saw with amazement the approach of the two children. + +The household servants also gathered, and while the wife gave the two +hungry children an abundant supper her husband related in detail the +adventures of the boy. The latter was now completely exhausted, and +with that he felt cold in his flimsy costume, and hence the question +was put who would share overnight his bed with him. But the servant +maids as well as the men anxiously avoided to answer. They dreaded as +unlucky and impious close touch with any one who had just been hanging +from the gallows. But Kuengolt cried: "Let him share my bed. It is +large enough for both of us." + +And when everybody was laughing at this, her mother said pleasantly: +"You are quite right, my little daughter." And looking closely at the +boy she added: "From the very first moment I saw the poor little chap +enter the door a strange foreboding crept over me, as though a good +angel were coming who will yet bring us a blessing. That much is +certain, according to my idea: he will not be of evil to us all!" + +With that she took the two children into the adjoining bedchamber, next +to the large one, and put them to bed. Dietegen, who was so sleepy that +he scarcely noticed what was going on around him, instinctively went +through the motions for disrobing. But since he was already, in a +manner of speaking, in his shirt, his drowsy motions made such a +ludicrous impression, especially upon the little girl, that she, +already under her blanket, could not help screaming with mirth: "Oh, +just watch the comical shirtmannikin! He is always trying to take off +his spenser and boots, and yet he hasn't any!" Her mother, too, had to +smile and said to the boy: "In God's name, go to bed in your poor +sinner's shift! My poor boy, that shift is quite new and really of good +linen. Truly, these wicked people of Ruechenstein at least do their +atrocities with a certain amount of decency." + +In saying which she wrapped the two little ones up well in their +blankets, and could not forbear to kiss both of them, so that Dietegen +was really better off than he had ever been in his whole life. But his +eyes were already tightly closed and his soul in deep sleep. "But now +he has not said his prayers at all," whispered Kuengolt in sorrow. Her +mother replied: "Then you will do it for both of you, my little +daughter!" and left the two. And indeed, the girl now said the Lord's +prayer twice, once for herself, once for her new bedfellow. And then +quiet reigned in the little chamber. + +Some time after midnight Dietegen woke up, because only now his neck +had begun to pain him from the unfriendly rope of the hangman. The +chamber was flooded with moonlight, but he was perfectly unable to +recall where he was and how he had come there. Merely this he was +conscious of, that he aside from his sore throat, was far better of! +than ever before in his young life. The window stood open, a spring +outside murmured softly, and the silver night blew whisperingly through +the tree tops; over them all the moon shone in gentle radiance. All +this to him was wondrous, since he had never before seen the solitude +of the forest, neither by day nor by night. He gazed sleepily, he +listened, and finally he assumed a sitting posture. Then he perceived +next to him on the couch little Kuengolt, the moon's beams playing +right over her small face. She lay still, but was broad awake, since +excitement and joy would not let her sleep. Because of that her eyes +were opened to their full extent, and her mouth was smiling when +Dietegen peered into her face. + +"Why don't you sleep? You ought to sleep," said the girl. But he then +complained of the pain at his throat. At once little Kuengolt weaved +her tender arms around his neck and full of pity put her own cheeks +against his. And really it soon seemed to him that his pain subsided +under such sympathetic treatment. And then they began to chat in a low +voice. Dietegen was asked to tell about himself. But he was reticent +because there was not much to tell that was pleasant, and about the +misery of his childhood he also was not able to say a great deal, since +no contrasts were within his ken, with the single exception of that +evening. Suddenly, however, he recalled his pleasant sport with the +crossbow, which had slipped his mind before, and so he told the little +girl all about the Jew, and how that one had been the cause of his +imprisonment and unjust sentence, but also about how he had taken great +delight in shooting with the crossbow, for over an hour, and how he now +longed for just such a weapon. + +"My father has crossbows and weapons of every type in plenty," +commented Kuengolt breathlessly. "And you may start in to-morrow and +shoot all you wish." + +And then she set out to tell him about all the nice things in the +house, and she included in these her own pretty knicknacks, locked up +in a casket, especially two golden "rainbow" keys, a necklace of amber, +a volume full of holy legends, illustrated with pictures showing saints +in their beautiful vestments, and also a multicolored medallion in +which sat a Mother of God clad in gold brocade and vermilion silk, and +covered with a tiny round glass. Also, she enumerated further, she +owned a silver-gilt spoon, with a quaintly turned handle, but with that +she would be permitted to eat only when she was grown up and had a +husband of her own. And when it came to her wedding she would get the +bridal jewelry of her mother, together with her blue brocade dress, +which was so thick and heavy that it stood up without any one being +inside of it. Then she kept still a short while, but pressing her +bedfellow more closely against her heart, she said in a very low voice: +"Listen, Dietegen!" + +"Well, what is it?" he answered. + +"You must be my husband when we are big. For you belong to me. Will +you, of your own free will?" + +"Why, yes," he replied. + +"Then you must shake hands on it," she remarked, in a peremptory voice. +He did so, and after this binding promise the two children finally fell +asleep and did not wake till the sun stood high in the heavens. For the +kind mother had purposely refrained from rousing them, so that the poor +boy should have a thorough rest. + +But now at last she cautiously crept into the little chamber, bearing +on her arm a complete boy's suit of clothing. Two years before her own +son had been killed by the fall of an oak tree, and the clothes of this +boy of hers, although he had been Dietegen's senior by a whole year, +were likely to fit him, since he was just his size. And it was her lost +boy's holiday attire, which in a saddened spirit she had preserved. +Therefore she had risen with the sun, in order to remove from the +doublet some gay ribbons ornamenting it, and to sew up the slits in the +sleeves which let the silk lining peep forth. Her tears had flown anew +in doing this labor, when she saw the scarlet silken lining that +glinted from below the black jerkin gradually disappear from view, as +jocund spring vanished in sorrow, and become of a piece with the black +trunks. The tears were shed because of the death of her own dear boy, +but a sweet consolation tinctured her soul since Fate now had sent her +such a handsome, lovable little fellow, one who had been snatched, so +to speak, out of Death's hard grasp, and whom she now could clothe in +the habiliments of her own son. And it was not from haste or fear of +the task that she left the gay silken lining under the sable outer +covering, but on purpose, as the hidden fire of affection in her bosom +moved her. For she was of those who mean better by their familiars than +they dare show openly. If the new boy proved worthy of it, she vowed to +herself, she would open the seams of the slits again, for his joy and +pride. Anyway, on workadays Dietegen was to wear this suit but for a +few days, until one of stronger and more suitable material should have +been made for him to measure by the tailor, one that he could expose to +rough usage during his ordinary occupations. But while she instructed +the boy how to put on this fine suit of a kind to which he was quite +unused, little Kuengolt had slipped out of bed, and in a spirit of +childish mischief had got hold of the gallows shift, which she now put +on and was stalking gravely in about the room, trailing its tail behind +her on the floor. With that she kept her little hands folded behind +her, as though they were tied by the hangman. Then she sang aloud: "I +am a miserable sinner now, and even lack my hose, I trow." At this the +kindly woman fell into a great affright, grew deadly pale, and said in +a low, soft voice: "For our Savior's sake, who is teaching you such +wicked jokes, my child?" And she seized the ominous shift from the +little girl's hands, who smiled at this, but Dietegen took it, being +wroth at the scene, and tore it into a score of pieces. + +Now that the two children were dressed they were taken along for +breakfast in the adjoining room. Early in the morning bread had been +baked, and with the milk soup the little ones received each a fresh +loaf of cummin seed bread, and in place of the one sweet roll which on +ordinary days was specially baked for Kuengolt, there were two that +day, and the little girl would have it that the boy received the larger +of them. Dietegen ate without urging all that was offered him, just as +though he had returned to his father's house after an enforced stay +with evil strangers. But he was very still throughout, and he keenly +observed everything around him: the pleasant mild woman who treated him +like her own son, the sunny, light room, and the comfortable furniture +with which it was fitted up. And after having eaten his breakfast with +a good appetite, he continued these observations, noticing that the +walls were wainscoted with smooth pine, and higher up decorated with +painted wreaths and flowers, and that the leaded window panes showed +the arms both of husband and wife. When he also carefully inspected the +handsome closets and the sideboard with its load of shining vessels and +tableware, he suddenly remembered the dingy silver jug that had almost +brought him to his death, and the cheerless house of the beadle in +Ruechenstein, and then, afraid that he should have to return there +again, he asked with a tremor in his voice: "Must I now return home? +But I don't know the way." + +"There is no need of your knowing it," said the housewife, moved by his +evident dread, and she stroked his smooth chin. "Have you not yet +noticed that you are to remain with us? Go along with him now, my +little Kuengolt, and show him the house and the woods, and everything +else. But do not go too far away!" + +Then Kuengolt took the boy by the hand, and first led him into the +forester's armory where he kept his weapons. And there hung seven +magnificent crossbows and arquebuses, and spears and javelins for the +chase, hangers and dirks, and also the long sword of the master of the +house which stood in the corner by itself. Dietegen examined all this, +silently but with gleaming eyes, and Kuengolt mounted a chair to take +down several of the finest crossbows from the wall, which she handed +him so that he could look them over more at leisure, and he was +delighted with these, for they showed ornaments inlaid in ivory or +mother-of-pearl, daintily done by some expert artisan. The boy admired +it all, in a silent sort of ecstasy, about as would a rather talented +prentice in the studio of a great master painter while the latter might +be absent from home. But Kuengolt's quick proposal to have him try his +marksmanship outside in a meadow could not be realized at the time, +because the bolts and arrows were locked away in a separate receptacle. +But to make up for that she gave him a fine hunting spear to hold so +that he should have a weapon of some kind to take along into the +greenwoods. Near the house she showed him a hedged-in space full of +deer and game, in which the town constantly kept its reserve of stock, +so that at no time there should be lack of venison and other fine +roasts for public or private banquets. The girl coaxed several roes and +stags to come to her at the hedge, and this was astonishing to +Dietegen, for so far he had seen such animals only when dead. With his +spear, therefore, he stood attentive, his eyes fixed on these pretty +denizens of the woods, and could not get his fill of watching them. +Eagerly he held out his hand to fondle a finely antlered stag, and when +the latter shyly bounded aside and leisurely trotted off, the boy +scurried after him with a joyous halloo, and ran and jumped with the +animal around in a wide circle. It was perhaps the first time in his +life that he could use his young limbs in this way, and when he felt +how his tendons stretched with the violent exercise and how he was able +to race with the swift stag, the latter apparently taking as much +pleasure in the sport as Dietegen himself, a feeling of untried +strength and agility first woke within him. + +But as they later on stepped into the domain of the deep forest, high +up on the hill, the boy resumed once more his usual air of thoughtful +quiet and deliberation. Up there mighty trees grew closer together, +leaving hardly a fragment of sky to discover from below--tall pine and +gnarled oak, spreading lindens, beeches, maple and spruce, all growing +in a semidarkness where the sunlight seldom pierced. Red squirrels +glided spectrelike from trunk to trunk, woodpeckers hammered +incessantly for their fare, high up birds of prey shrilly pursued their +quarry in the open, and a thousand forest mysteries were dimly at work. +Below, in the dense underbrush, hares and foxes, deer and smaller game +were waging war, and song birds twittered or warbled in a chorus of +multiform sound. Kuengolt laughed and laughed because the boy knew +nothing of all these secret doings in the forest, although he had grown +up in a mountain fastness surrounded by the very life of the woods, but +she at once began to explain to him these things of which he was so +profoundly ignorant. She showed him the hawk and his nest, the cuckoo +in his retreat, and the gay-clad woodpecker as he was just clambering +up a thick trunk with bark promising him rich harvest. And about all +these things he was highly amazed, and wondered that trees and bushes +should bear so many names, and that each should differ from the next. +For he had not even known the hazelnut bush or the whortleberry in +their haunts. They came to a rushing brook, and disturbed by their +steps, a snake made off into the water, and the girl seized the spear +in the boy's hand and wanted to stick it into the rocky nook. But when +Dietegen saw that she was going to blunt or break the edge of the +finely tempered weapon, he at once took it out of her fingers, saying +that she might damage the spear. + +"That is well done," suddenly came the voice of the chief forester, his +patron; "you will prove a help to me." With a gamekeeper he stood +behind the two children. For the noise of the rushing water had drowned +in their ears all other noise. The gamekeeper bore in his hand a +woodcock, just shot, for the two had gone forth early in the morning. +Dietegen was permitted to hang the stately bird to the tip of his +spear, flinging it over his shoulder, so that the spread wings of the +bird enveloped him, and the forester gazed with approval upon the +handsome youngster, and made up his mind to make an all-around woodsman +of him. + +Just now, though, he was to learn somewhat the difficult arts of +reading and writing, and for that purpose was obliged to walk every day +to town with the little girl; there in a convent and in a monastery the +two were taught as much of these mysteries as seemed good for them. But +his chief lessons Dietegen had from the little girl herself when coming +and going from town, Kuengolt delighting in informing him as to all +that was going on in the world, so far at least as she herself knew, +and more particularly as to the ordinary things of life, as to which +Dietegen had been left in deplorable ignorance by his former +taskmaster, the beadle. + +But the little instructress was in her way a ruthless practical joker, +and followed a unique method of her own in teaching the boy. She +exaggerated, distorted or plainly misstated the facts as to most things +in talking to her pupil, and abused grossly the credulity and +trustfulness of the boy, merely for her amusement, and she did this as +to most things. In this she showed a wonderful gift of invention, an +exuberant fancy of the rarest. When Dietegen then had accepted her +fictions, and would perhaps express his wonder at them, she would shame +him with the cool statement that not a single word had been true. She +would scornfully blame him for believing such palpable untruths, and +then, with a show of infinite wisdom, she would tell him the real +facts. Then he would redden under her sarcastic remarks, and would +endeavor to avoid her pitfalls, but only until she saw fit to make +sport of him once more. However, in the course of time Dietegen's +powers of judging facts began to widen, and he ceased to be so +gullible, and this another boy who attempted to emulate Kuengolt's +example found out to his sorrow. For Dietegen simply slapped his face +when he came out with a particularly outrageous whopper. + +Kuengolt, rather taken aback at witnessing this castigation, was +curious to ascertain whether this wrath under given circumstances would +also turn against herself. She made a test on the spot, feeding him +with some of her choicest fairy tales. But from her he accepted +everything without a murmur, and so she continued her peculiar method +of instruction. At last, though, she discovered that he had acquired +enough independence of thought and a large enough stock of knowledge to +enable him to play with her himself. He would answer her inventions +with counterinventions, and would argue from her nonsensical statements +in such shrewd fashion as to turn her first doctrines into ridicule, +and he would do this in perfect good-nature, proving the untenableness +of her own theories. Then she came to the conclusion that it was time +to give up her nonsense. But in place of that amusement she now +indulged in another. Namely, she began to tyrannize over him most +unmercifully. It grew so that it was almost worse than things had been +with the beadle's wife. His servitude was deplorable. She made him +fetch and carry during all his spare time. He had to haul and hoist and +labor for her in a truly ridiculous manner. She constantly required his +presence about her; he had to bring her water, shake the trees, dig in +the garden, crack open nuts after getting them for her, hold her little +basket, and even to brush and comb her hair she wanted to train +him--only that is where he drew a line. But then he was scolded by her +for refusing this, and when her mother took sides against her she +became quite obstreperous with the latter as well. + +But Dietegen did not pay her back in her own coin, never lost his +patience with her, and was always equally submissive and indulgent with +her. Her mother saw that with vast pleasure, and to reward him for his +fine conduct she treated the boy like her own son, and gave him all +those finer hints and that almost imperceptible guidance and advice +which else are only saved for children of one's own, and by means of +which children finally acquire without knowing it those habits and +better manners which are commonly comprised under the name of a careful +education. Of course, she herself gained in a way from this; for her +own daughter thus acquired unconsciously many of her lessons, Dietegen +being there as a sort of mirror of what was expected of her. Truly, it +was almost comical how little Kuengolt in her restless temperament +veered and shifted constantly between imitating her better model or +else becoming jealous and wroth and scorning it for the time. On one +occasion she became so excited as to stab at him with all her might +with a sharp pair of scissors. But Dietegen caught her wrist quickly, +and without hurting her or showing any anger he made her drop them. +This little scene which her mother had espied from a hiding-place, +moved the latter so strongly that she came forth, took the boy in her +arms, and kissed him. Pale and excited the girl herself left the room +with out a word. "Go, follow her, my son," whispered the mother, "and +reconcile her. You are her good angel." + +Dietegen did as bidden. He found her behind the house and under a lilac +bush. She was weeping wildly and tearing her amber necklace, trying, in +fact, to throttle herself by means of it, and stamping on the scattered +beads on the ground. When Dietegen approached her and wanted to seize +her hands, she cried with a great sob: "Nobody but I may kiss you. For +you belong to me alone. You are mine, my property. I alone have freed +you from that horrid coffin, in which without me you would have +remained forever." + +As the boy grew up marvelously, becoming handsomer and more manly with +every day, the forester declared at breakfast one morning that the time +was now ripe to take him along into the woods and let him learn the +difficult craft of the huntsman. Thus he was taken from the side of +Kuengolt, and spent now all his time, from dawn until nightfall, with +the men, in forest, moor and heath. And now indeed his limbs began to +stretch that it was a pleasure to watch him. Swift and limber like a +stag, he obeyed each word or hint, and ran whither he was sent. Silent +and docile, he was forever where wanted; carried weapons and tackle, +gear and utensils, helped spread the nets, leaped across trenches and +morass, and spied out the whereabouts of the game. Soon he knew the +tracks of all the animals, knew how to imitate the call of the birds, +and before any one expected it, he had a young wildboar run into his +spear. Now, too, the forester gave him a crossbow. With it he was every +day, every hour almost, exercising his skill, aiming at the target, +shooting at living objects as well. In a word, when Dietegen was but +sixteen, he was already an expert woodsman who might be placed +anywhere, and it would happen now and then that his patron sent him out +with a number of his men to guard the municipal woods and head the +chase. + +Dietegen, therefore, might be seen not alone with the crossbow on his +back, but also with pen and ink-horn in his girdle upon the mountain +side, and with his keen watchful eyes and his unfailing memory he was a +great help to his fosterfather. And since with every day he became more +reliable and useful, the master forester learned to love him better +all along, and used to say that the boy must in the end become a +full-fledged, an honorable and martial citizen. + +It could under these circumstances not be otherwise than that Dietegen +on his part was devoted soul and body to the forester. For there is no +attachment like that of the youth for the mature man of whom he knows +that he is doing his best to teach him all the secrets of his craft, +and whom he holds to be his unapproached model. + +The chief forester was a man of about forty; tall and well-built, with +broad shoulders and of handsome appearance and noble carriage. His hair +of golden sheen was already lightly sprinkled with silver, but his +complexion was ruddy, and his blue eyes shone frank, open and full of +fire. In his younger days, too, he had been among the wildest and +merriest of Seldwyla's choice spirits, and many were the quaint and +original quips he had perpetrated at that time of his life. But when he +had won his young wife, he altered instantly, and since then he had +been the soberest and the most sensible man in the world. For his dear +wife was of a most delicate habit, and of a kindness of heart that +could not defend itself, and although by no means without a spirit and +a wit of her own, she would have been unable to meet unkindness with a +sharp tongue. A wife of ready wit and pugnacity would probably have +spurred this naturally sprightly man on to further doings, but in +contest with the graceful feebleness of this delicate wife of his he +behaved like the truly strong. He watched over her as over the apple of +his eye, did only those things which gave her pleasure, and after his +busy day's work remained gladly at his own hearth. + +At the most important festivities of the town only, three or four times +a year, he went among the councilmen and other citizens, led them with +his fresh vigor in deliberation and at the festive board, and after +drinking one after the other of the great guzzlers under the table, he +would, as the last of the doughty champions, rise upright from his +seat, stride quietly out of the council chamber, and then with a jolly +smile walk uphill to his forest home. + +But the chief comedy would always come the next day. For then he would +waken, after all, with a head that hummed like a beehive, and then he +would rouse himself fully, half morosely, half with a leonine jovial +humor that indeed had the dimensions of a lion when compared with the +proverbial distemper of the average toper. Early he would then show up +at breakfast, the sun shining with strength upon his naked scalp, and +ignoring his symptoms, he would jest and make fun of himself and his +achievements of the previous night. His wife, then, always hungering +after her husband's humor, he being usually rather reticent, would then +answer his sallies with a merry laughter, so bell-like and wholesouled +as one would never have suspected in a being so demure as she. His +children would laugh, also his gamekeepers and huntsmen, and lastly his +servants. And in that way the whole day would pass. Everything that day +would be done with a bright smile and a salvo of hearty laughter. And +always the chief forester leading them all, handling his axe, lifting +heavy weights, doing the work of three ordinary men. On such a day it +was once that fire broke out in the town. High above burning roofs a +poor old woman, in her frail wooden balcony, forgotten and disregarded, +was shrilly crying and moaning for help from a fiery death, and above +her shoulder her tame starling went through the drollest of antics, +likewise claiming attention. Nobody could think of a way to save +mistress and bird. The flames came nearer and ever nearer. But our +chief forester climbed up to a protruding coping on a high wall facing +the old woman's nook, a spot where he stood like a rock. Then with +herculean strength he pulled up a long ladder to him, turned it over +and balanced it neatly until it touched the window where the old hag +was struggling for breath. He placed it securely within the opening, on +the sill, and then he strode across it, firm and unafraid, back and +forth, carrying the ancient woman safely across his shoulder, and the +stuttering starling on his head, the greedily licking flames and the +swirling clouds of smoke beneath his feet. And all this he did, not by +any means in a heroic pose, as something dangerous or praiseworthy, but +as though it were a harmless joke, smiling and laughing. + +After a solid piece of work of that kind he would feast with his family +in jolly style, dishing up the best the house afforded. And at such +times he always was particularly tender to his wife, taking her on his +knee, to the great amusement of the children, and dubbing her his +"little whitebird," and his "swallow," and she, her arms clasped in +pleasurable self-forgetfulness, would laughingly watch his antics. + +On a day like that, too, he once arranged for a dance, it being the +first of May. He had a musician fetched from town, and got likewise +some merry young folks to increase the sport. And there was dancing +aplenty on the smooth greensward in front of the house, right under the +blooming trees, and dainty dancing it was. The chief forester opened +the merriment with his smiling young wife, she in her modest finery and +with her girlish shape. As they made the first steps, she looked over +her shoulder at the youngsters, happy as could be, and tipping her foot +on the green sod, impatient to be off. Just then Dietegen, who for much +of the time past had kept to the men entirely, threw a glance at +Kuengolt, and lo! he saw that she also was growing up to be a handsome +woman, as pretty a picture as her mother. Her features indeed strongly +resembled those of her mother, small, regular and charming. But in her +figure she took more after her father, for she was trimly built like a +straight young pine, and although but fourteen her bosom was already +rounded like that of a grown-up damsel. Golden curls fell in a shower +down her back and hid the somewhat angular shoulderblades. She was clad +all in green, wore around her neck her amber beads, and on her head, +according to the fashion of those days, a wreath of rosebuds. Her eyes +shone pleasantly and frankly from a guileless face, but once in a while +they would flash wilfully and glide casually over the row of youths +whose eyes hung on her youthful beauty, with a slightly critical bent, +and at last rest for an instant on Dietegen, then turn away again. +Dietegen looked as though hungering for recognition, but she only once +more glanced back at him. But that glance seemed to have somewhat +embarrassed her, for she stopped to arrange her hair, while he flushed +deeply. + +That indeed was the first time when they two felt they were no longer +mere children. But a few minutes later they met and found themselves +partners in a country dance, hand in hand. A new and sweet sensation +pulsed through his veins, and this remained even after the ring of +dancers had again been broken. + +Kuengolt, however, had still the same feeling regarding him; she looked +upon the youth as upon something all her own, as something belonging to +her, and of which, therefore, one may be sure and need not guard +closely. Only once in a while she would send a spying glance in his +direction, and when accident would bring him into the close +neighborhood of another maiden, there would also be Kuengolt watching +him. + +Thus innocent pleasure reigned until an advanced hour of the evening. +The young people became as sprightly as new-fledged wood pigeons, and +soon even excelled in their merry humor their bounteous host, and the +latter on his part delighted to pleasure his amiable young wife, while +soberly encouraging his youthful guests in amusing themselves. She, the +wife, was serene and happy as sunlight in springtime. And she even +became playful enough to call her brawny husband by intimate nicknames. + +But harmless and decorous as all this was, it may be that the citizens +of other towns where merriment was not the natural birthright, as in +the case of the Seldwylians, would have deemed it a trifle beyond the +proper limits. The spiced May wine which was served the guests had been +mingled in its elements according to ancient usage, but just as in +their joy itself there was a bit too much license, so also there was a +trifle too much honey in the drink. The hands of the young girls lay +perhaps somewhat too frequently upon the shoulders of the youths, and +now and then, without meaning any harm, a couple would quickly kiss and +part, and this without playing at blind man's buff, as do the +philistines of our days under similar conditions. In short, what these +young people of Seldwyla lacked in their diversion was the gift of +attracting without seeming to; but with this gift, on the other hand, +Dietegen, as a regulation Ruechensteiner, was plentifully endowed. For +although he was already in love, he fled like fire from the fondling +and caressing which with these Seldwyla couples was by now rather +freely indulged in, and preferred to keep himself out of the danger +line. All the bolder and provoking was Kuengolt who, in her childish +ignorance and after the manner of half-grown girls, did not know how to +control her affections, and who went to look up the frigid youth. She +discovered him seated in the shadow of a group of darksome trees, and +sat down beside him, seizing his hand and playfully twining his +fingers. When he submitted to that and even, gently and almost in a +fatherly way, spun her ringlets in his palm, the girl at once put her +arms around his neck and caressed him with the innocence but also with +the abandon of a child, whereas in truth it was already the maiden that +spoke out of her. Dietegen, however, no longer a child, essayed to use +his maturer judgment for both of them, and thus was strenuously trying +to loosen her hold on him, when his fostermother, the chief forester's +wife, came joyously running up to the bench, and noticed with +particular pleasure how matters stood apparently. + +"That is right," she cried, "that you, too, are of accord," and she +embraced them both tightly. "I hope and trust, my dearest daughter, +that you will love and cherish Dietegen with all your might. He is +deserving indeed, my child, that he not only has found a new home in +our house, but that you, too, will give him a home in your little +heart. And you, dear Dietegen, will, I know, at all times be a true and +faithful protector and guardian to my little Kuengolt. Never leave her +out of your sight, for your eyes are keen and observant." + +"He is nobody's but mine, and has been for long," said Kuengolt to +this, and she kissed him boldly and lightly upon the cheek, half like a +bride and half as a child caresses a kitten which belongs to it. But +now the situation for the poor bashful youth, thus hemmed in between +mother and daughter, became unbearable, and he flushed and awkwardly +loosened their combined hold of him, stepping back a few paces to +escape their blandishments. But Kuengolt, in her wilful mood, pursued +him laughing, and when in his retreat from her he came into close +proximity to the pretty mother, the latter jestingly caught him by the +arm, saying: "Here he is, my little daughter, now come and hold him +fast." + +When thus entrapped anew by them, his heart beat excitedly, and while +finding himself thus wooed, so to speak, by both feminine tempters, he +at the same time felt intensely his lonesome condition in the world. +The odd conceit overcame him that he was a lost soul shaken from the +tree of life, which while cherished by soft hands, was nevertheless to +be forever deprived of its own existence and individuality, a state of +mind which with callow youths thus beset may be more frequent than +commonly supposed. Therefore, a prey to two conflicting emotions +equally powerful, of which one necessarily excluded the other, his +strong sense of personal freedom struggling within his breast with the +new-born sentiment of tender regard, he stood mute and trembling, half +in rebellion against the sudden intimate aggression of the two women, +and half strongly inclined to draw the young girl into his arms and to +overwhelm her with caresses. His Ruechenstein blood was against him. +While he loved the mother with a wholesouled and most grateful +devotion, her thoughtless encouragement of him to play a lover's part +towards her daughter seemed to him strange and unbecoming. He looked +upon himself as really Kuengolt's property, as truly belonging to her +by reason of her having saved his forfeited life. But at the same time +he felt himself seriously responsible for her moral conduct, for her +maiden chastity and her correct manners, and when now Kuengolt strove +to kiss him on the mouth, he said to her, in perfect good humor but +withal in the tone of a crabbed schoolmaster: "You are really still too +young for things of that kind. This is not suitable for your age." + +At these words the girl paled with shame and annoyance. Without another +syllable she turned away and joined once more the throng of +merrymakers, where she danced and sprang about recklessly a few times, +and then sat down a little distance away by herself, with a face that +betrayed clearly how hurt she was at the rebuff. + +The chief forester's wife smilingly stroked the strict young moralist's +cheek, saying: "Well, well, you are certainly very strict. But the more +faithfully you will one day take care of my child. Give me your promise +never to desert her! Only don't forget, we Seldwyla folk are all of us +rather gay and debonair, and it is possible that in being so we +sometimes do not think enough of the future." + +Dietegen's eyes grew wet, and he gave her his hand in solemn vow. Then +she conducted him back to the others. But Kuengolt turned her back on +him, and instead in real grief gazed into the mild May night. + +He on his part now marveled at himself. Strange, now of a sudden this +girl whom but a minute before he had misnomed a mere child, was old and +grown-up enough to cause him, the moralizing youth, love pangs. For sad +and confused he too stood now aside and felt still more ashamed than +the girl herself. + +"What ails you? Why do you look so sorrowful?" asked the forester, when +he in the best humor in the world now approached the group. But +Kuengolt at the question broke into passionate tears, and exclaimed +before everybody: "He was a gift to me by the judges when he was really +nothing but a poor lifeless corpse, and I have reawakened him to life. +And therefore he has no right to sit in judgment on me, but rather I +alone am his judge. And he must do everything I want, and when I love +to kiss him it is his business to simply keep still and let me do it." + +They all laughed at this odd statement, but the mother took Dietegen's +hand and led him to the child, saying: "Come, make up with her and let +her kiss you once more. Later on you, also, shall be her master, and +shall do as you see fit in such matters." + +Blushing deeply because of the many onlookers, Dietegen offered his +mouth to the girl, and she seized him by his curls, quite in a frenzy, +and kissed him hard, more in wrath than in love, and then, having once +more thrown him a look that betrayed anger, she quickly turned on her +heels and dashed away in such haste that her golden ringlets fluttered +in the night air and in passing brushed his face. + +But now the reluctant fire of love had also been kindled in his own +young soul, and soon after he left the throng and went in search of +rash Kuengolt, striding rapidly and gazing all about for her. At last +he discovered her on the other side of the house where she sat dreamily +at the well, and was playing with the amber beads of her necklace. +Advancing quickly he seized both her hands, compressed them in his +vigorous right, and then laid his left on her shoulder so that she +shuddered, and said: "Listen, child, I shall not permit you to trifle +with me. From to-day on you are just as much my own property as I am +yours, and no other man shall have you living. Keep that in mind when +some day you will be grown up." + +"Oh, you big old man," she murmured slowly and smiled at him, but +pallor had overspread her features. "You indeed are mine, but not I +yours. However, you need not mind that, because I don't think I'll ever +let you go!" + +So saying she rose and went, without first looking at her old +playfellow once more, over to the other side of the house. + +But this was not all. The forester's wife caught a cold in the suddenly +chilled air of this very May night, and an insidious disease grew out +of it which carried her off within a few months. On her deathbed she +grieved much about her husband and her child, and expressed great +anxiety on their behalf. She also denied till her last breath the real +cause of her illness and death, deeming it scarcely a fit thing for a +housewife and a mother to thus go out of life merely because of a +surfeit of riotous pleasure. + +But while she thus lay lifeless in the house, all that had loved her +mourned for her; indeed the whole town did so, for she had not had a +single enemy in the world. Her widowed husband wept at night in his +bed, and at daytime he spoke never a word, but only from time to time +stepped up to the coffin in which she lay so still and peaceful, +looking and looking at his sweet partner, and then, shaking his head, +slowly walking off again. + +He had a heavy wreath of young pine twigs fashioned for her and placed +it on the bier. Kuengolt heaped a perfect mountain of wildflowers on +top of that, and thus the graceful form of the dead was borne down from +the hillside to the church below, followed by the bereaved family and a +crowd of relatives, friends and members of the household. + + +After the burial the chief forester took all the mourners to the +tavern, where he had caused a bounteous meal in honor of the dead to be +prepared, according to ancient custom. The roast venison for it, a +capital roebuck, and two fine grouse, he had shot himself, grieving all +the while at the loss he had sustained. And when the gorgeously +feathered birds now appeared on the long board he minded him again of +the dense grove of mighty oak and maple, high up on the mountain side, +in which she had sat awaiting his return from the chase, and in which +he, his heart full of love of her who now rested in the cool ground, +had many a time been stalking the deer. The image of her stood before +his thoughts like life itself. But yet he was not to be left long to +brooding, for strict laws of custom called for his active services as +host on this occasion. When the claret from France and the golden +malmsey had been uncorked and poured into capacious goblets, and the +heavy table been loaded with sweets and cakes that scented the precious +spices from the Indies, the guests grew lively and clamorous, and he +had to propose and answer many a toast, despite his sincere mourning, +and the noise soon drowned the still voice within him. Life and death +were twin brothers in those days of our forbears. + +The forester was seated at table between Kuengolt and Dietegen, and +these two because of his tall and broad-backed person were unable to +catch a look of one another save by bending over or behind him, and +this neither of them wished to do for decency's sake, for they were the +only ones who among this crowd of buzzing guests remained sad and +serious. Across the board from him sat a cousin, a lady of about thirty +named Violande. + +This lady indeed could not well be overlooked, for she wore a singular +costume, one which did not seem fit for a person satisfied with her +lot, a person living in happy circumstances, but rather one who is +restless and hollow of heart. Yet she was handsome, and knew well how +to impress people with her charms, but ever and anon something selfish +and mendacious would flash out of her handsome eyes that destroyed all +these efforts at enforced amiability. + +When but fourteen she had already been in love with the forester, her +cousin, merely because amongst those young men that came before her +vision he was the best-looking and the tallest and strongest. He, +however, had never noticed the preference shown for him. Indeed he had +not given a thought to this overyoung cousin of his, since his serious +choice lay altogether among the more adult persons of the other sex, +and wavered among several of these. Full of envy and jealousy, this +unmature cousin, though, was already so skilled in feminine intrigue as +to be able to destroy the chances of two or three young women that the +forester had looked upon with favor, using for that purpose that +poisonous weapon, gossip and backbiting. Always when he was on the +point of proposing to a beauty that had won his regard, this sly +half-woman skillfully understood how to spread rumors calculated to +entangle the two, fictitious words uttered by one or the other seeming +to show mutual dislike, or something equally efficacious in bringing +about a rupture. If her designs miscarried with him, why then she spun +her threads so as to make the other believe that the swain was false or +fickle, full of guile or not dependable. Thus it came to pass +repeatedly that without his ever discovering the author the lady of his +suit would suddenly swerve and leave him out in the cold, while +another, of whom he had never thought in that connection, would as +quickly show him her favor--all owing to the arts of this Macchiavell +in petticoats. And then impatiently and disgustedly he would turn his +back on both the willing and the unwilling and plunge once more for a +spell into his easy bachelordom. In this way it was that, one after the +other, all his wooings came to nought, until he at last happened to +meet the mild and amiable lady that subsequently became his spouse. +This one, though, kept hold of him, since she was just as guileless as +he himself, and all the artifices and stratagems of the little witch +were in vain. Yea, she never even noticed the other's cleverest +schemes, simply because she kept her eyes all the time fixed upon him +she loved. And indeed he too had been grateful to her for her +singlemindedness, and held her all the years of their happy union as a +jewel of rare price. + +Violande, however, when she saw the man whose love she had aspired to +married, after all, to another had not given up the frequent use of her +talent for mischiefmaking, for fear she might get out of practice. The +older she grew the more artistic became her endeavors in that line, but +without success for herself, since she remained a spinster, and since +even the men themselves whom by her wiles she had alienated from other +women turned away from her as from a dangerous person, feeling in their +hearts only contempt and hatred for her. Then it was she turned her +face heavenwards, giving it out that she was on the point of entering a +convent and becoming a nun. But she changed her mind in the last hour, +and instead of a convent entered a house devoted to some holy order, +but such a one as would permit her, in case the chance of becoming a +wife should unexpectedly present itself to her, to leave it. Thus she +disappeared for years from view, since she was in the habit of going +from one town to another at short intervals, and nowhere feeling rested +or contented. Suddenly, when the forester's wife was lying sick to +death, she reappeared again, in Seldwyla, and in worldly dress, and so +it had come about that here she was as one of the guests at this +funeral celebration, seated opposite the widower. + +She put restraint on her restlessness, and now and then looked modest +and almost childlike, and when the women rose and walked about in +couples, the while the men remained seated at table drinking and +talking, she went up to Kuengolt, kissed her on both cheeks, and made +friends with her. The half-grown girl felt honored by these advances of +a semi-clerical woman, one who had apparently great knowledge of the +world and had been about a good deal, and so these two were at once +involved in a long and intimate conversation, as though they had known +each other all their lives. When the company broke up Kuengolt asked +her father to invite Violande to his house, in order to manage the big +household, a task for which she herself felt not equal and entirely too +young and inexperienced. The forester whose mood at that moment was a +curious compound of mourning and vinous elation, and whose thoughts +still belonged altogether to his departed wife, raised no objection to +this request, although he did not care much for his cousin and thought +her a queer sort of person. + +Thus in a day or two Violande made her formal entrance into the +widower's house, and had sense enough to take the place of the dead +wife at the hearth with judicious modesty and not without a spice of +sentimentality, the reflection no doubt occurring to her that here she +was at last, after long wanderings, where the desires of her first +youth seemed at last on the point of being realized. Without undue +elation she opened the closets and presses of her predecessor, +examining in detail their contents: linen and homespun cloth piled up +in orderly rows, and provisions of every kind arranged for instant or +occasional use, such as preserved fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, stored +away in carefully tied-up pots; many flitches of bacon and salted beef +and pork, smoked hams and potted venison, and hundreds of bunches of +flax hung up to dry under the ceilings of the roof. Her heart beat at a +more lively gait when inspecting all these domestic riches speaking so +eloquently of the forester's easy circumstances, and almost tenderly +she handled these hundreds of vessels and receptacles, dreaming of a +near housewifely future. And in this peaceable frame of mind she +remained for a number of weeks. But then her old restlessness seized +her again. It had to find a vent. And so she began to turn everything +topsy-turvy, starting with the pots and kettles, each of which she +assigned to a new place, mingling the big and little, shoving about the +bolts of linen and cloth, entangling the flax carded and uncarded, and +when she finally had done all this she had also managed to seriously +interfere with human affairs in the house, upsetting them as much as +she dared. + +Since it was her design to become, after all, the forester's wife, so +as to acquire a more dignified and assured position in life, it became +clear to her that what above all would be necessary was to part +permanently Kuengolt and Dietegen, as to whose inclination for each +other she had soon satisfied herself. For she argued quite correctly +that Dietegen, once he married Kuengolt, would doubtless become the +forester's successor, and thus not only remain permanently in the +house, but that in that case the forester himself, in view of his +strong affection for the memory of his departed wife, would never wed +again. But, she reasoned, if both the children in some way could be +made to shun the house, it would be much more likely that the forester +would marry again, feeling lonesome all by himself. + +And as now, as she discovered, Kuengolt every day grew handsomer and +more womanly, she took care to make the girl constantly conscious both +of her own beauty and of the gifts of her mind, as well as to further +develop in her an inborn leaning towards coquetry. To do the latter she +skillfully manipulated Kuengolt's natural vanity, insinuating to her +that every young man with whom she came in contact was smitten with her +charms and a ready suitor for her hand and love, and this with such +success that Kuengolt actually learned to look upon all the youths of +her acquaintance solely from the point of view whether they readily +acknowledged her preëminence in beauty and intellectual gifts or not, +while by her shrewd maneuvers Violande on the other hand made every one +of all these young men think that the girl's affections were centered +wholly upon himself. + +Another trick used by Violande with the same end in view was to +cultivate social intercourse with a number of other young girls of +marriageable age, who were frequently invited to the house for parties +to which young men were encouraged to come, and under her guidance and +leadership there was much courting and gallivanting going on at these +meetings. Thus it came about that Kuengolt, when less than sixteen, had +already assembled around her a circle of unquiet young people, each +more or less an expert in playing the love game as a species of +delightful sport. + +In the pursuance of her one aim Violande, too, arranged all sorts of +festivities, great and small, at the house, and there was mongering in +scandal, stories more or less compromising this or that couple or +individual, many quarrels and much noise and singing and music or +dancing, and it was usually the most objectionable of the customary +guests on these occasions that were also the boldest and most foolish, +and at the same time the most difficult to get rid of. + +All these things were not to Dietegen's taste. At first he was a mere +onlooker, indifferent and still in the grasp of his sincere and deep +mourning for the death of his fostermother, making a melancholy face +which to a growing youth is not the most becoming. But when all these +pleasure-mad young people were rather amused by a seriousness which +seemed unsuitable to his age, and as Kuengolt herself took the same +attitude towards him, the youth tried to revenge himself by awkward +attempts at dignified silence. But these tactics were even less +successful, and ended one day with Dietegen's clearly perceiving that +he among them all was out of tune. In fact, on one occasion he observed +Kuengolt seated in the midst of a group of scornful youths all of whom +were deriding him and she, instead of disapproving, evidently siding +with them against him. + +When Dietegen had experienced this, he turned silently away, and from +that day on avoided the whole company. Anyway, he had now attained the +age when vigorous youths begin to think of making strong men of +themselves. Upon the holding upon which stood the forester's house +there was, from time immemorial laid the duty of maintaining three or +four fully equipped fighting men, and this obligation the forester +himself had always carried out most scrupulously. With great pleasure +he found that Dietegen, shot up straight and nimble, would soon fill +the same fine armor in which he had once hoped to see his own son. + +Thus Dietegen with other young gamekeepers and helpers on lengthy +winter evenings went to fencing school, where he learned to make proper +use of the shorter weapons, according to the methods of his home, and +during the spring and summer seasons he spent many a Sunday or holiday +upon spacious fields or forest clearings where the youths of the +district learned to march in closed formations for hours at a stretch, +and to attack, leaping broad trenches by the aid of their long spears, +and in every other way to render their bodies supple, active and +strong, or else, perhaps, to practice the new art of the musketeer +whose weapon is loaded with powder and shot. + +Since by all these changes mentioned above life in the forester's house +altered greatly, and since particularly the feminine doings there +disturbed him sadly, although he paid scant attention to the latter, it +happened that he little by little acquired the habit of frequenting the +taverns where his townsfellows met much oftener than had been the case +during his married life. And while absenting himself from the childish +folly practiced at his own house, he succumbed to the maturer folly of +men, and it would happen now and then that he would carry his head like +a heavy burden, but always upright, to his forest home as late as +midnight or more. + +Things went on in this way until, on a sunny St. John's Day, a network +of events began to close in. + +The forester himself went to town to the headquarters of his guild, +where on that festive day all were summoned to attend the settlement of +important affairs concerning the craft, to conclude with a great annual +feast, and he intended to remain and join there in the carousal until +the advance of night. + +Dietegen on his part went to the sharpshooter's meeting place, +intending to spend the whole long midsummer's day in perfecting himself +as a marksman. The other assistants of the forester and his servants of +the household also went their own way, the one to visit his relatives +some distance across the country, another to the dance with his +sweetheart, and the third to the holiday fair to buy himself cloth for +a new coat and a pair of shoes. + +So the women were sitting all by themselves in the house, not at all +delighted with the rude manner in which the men had left them to their +own devices, but yet eyeing every passer-by and peering out at the +sunny landscape in the hope that some guests would show up and with +their help a festivity of their own might be arranged. + +As a suitable preparation for that or any contingency they began to +bake spice cakes and prepare all sorts of sweets, and they brewed a +huge bowlful of heady May wine flavored with honey and herbs, so as to +be ready for either chance comers or to offer a night cup to the men +returning home. Next they decked themselves in holiday finery, and +ornamented head and bosom with flowers, while other young maidens, +bidden to join them in a feminine festival time, one after the other +also came from town, and even the very last and least of the serving +maids belonging to the household was freshly attired to look her best. + +Under broadspreading linden trees, right in front of the house, the +table was set for a dainty meal, the westering sun sending his last +golden rays like a benediction abroad over town and valley. + +There the women now were seated about the table, relishing all the good +things prepared for them, and soon the chorus of them were intoning +folk-songs with melodious voices, songs telling in many stanzas of the +delights and despair of love, songs like that of the two royal +children, or "There dallied a knight with his maiden dear," and similar +ones. All the tunes sounded the longing of love-lorn hearts, the faith +kept or broken, the eternal drama of passion. Far out into the evening +the sweet voices were carrying, alluring, inviting. The birds nesting +up in the dense foliage of the linden trees, after being silenced for a +spell, now joined in, rivaling their human competitors, and from over +in the forest other feathered songsters assisted. But suddenly another +band of choristers could be heard above the din. That new volume of +sound came floating down the mountain side, a mingling of male voices +with the more strident notes of fiddle and tabor pipes. A troop of +youths had come from Ruechenstein, and this instant issued from the +edge of the woods. Thus they came, striding along the path that led +past the forester's home down to the valley, a number of musicians at +their head. There was the son of the burgomaster of Ruechenstein, +rather a madcap and therefore a great exception to the overwhelming +majority of his townsfolk, who clearly dominated the noisy throng. +Having left the university abroad, he had brought with him a few +fellow-students after his own heart, among them being a couple of +divinity students and a young and jolly monk, as well as Hans +Schafuerli, the council scribe, or secretary, of Ruechenstein, who was +a scrawny, bent figure of a man, with a mighty hunchback and a long +rapier. He was the last of the train, all walking singly because of the +narrow path. + +But when they set eyes on the row of singing ladies, their own music +ceased, and they stood all there, listening attentively to the charming +tune. However, the ladies likewise became mute, being surprised and +wishful to see what now was going to happen. Violande alone retained +her presence of mind, and stepped to the burgomaster's son, who in turn +saluted her with elaborate courtesy, and telling her that he with his +friends purposed to pay a flying and amusing visit to the merry +neighboring town, in order to spend St. John's Day in a manner +agreeable to them all. But, he continued, having had the good fortune +to meet with these ladies in this unhoped-for way, they counted on the +pleasure of a dance with them, if they might make so bold as to offer +themselves as partners, in all honor and decency. + +Within the space of a few minutes these formalities had been complied +with, and the dance was in full swing on the floor of the big +banqueting hall of the forester's house. Kuengolt led with the +burgomaster's son, Violande with the jolly monk, and the other ladies +with the young scholars. But the most expert and ardent dancer proved +to be the hunchback scribe. And despite his crooked back this valiant +devotee of the terpsichorean art understood marvelously well how to +advance and retreat with his long shanks in the maze, these legs of his +seeming to begin right below his chin. + +But Kuengolt's humor was no joyous one, and when Violande whispered to +her to aim at the conquest of the burgomaster's son, in order to become +herself one day the mistress of Ruechenstein, she remained frigid and +indifferent. But suddenly she perceived the herculean efforts of the +artful hunchback, and this extraordinary sight restored her spirits, so +that she laughed with all her heart. And she instantly demanded to +dance with the crooked monster. Indeed it looked like a scene in a +curious fairy tale, to see her graceful figure, clad in green and the +head set off by a wreath of ruby roses, flitting to and fro in the arms +of the ghastly scribe, his hump covered with vivid scarlet. + +But swiftly her mind altered. From the scribe she flew into the arms of +the monk, and from those into the keeping of the young students, so +that within less than half an hour she had taken a turn or two with +each one of the young strangers. All of these now centered their gaze +upon the beautiful damsel, while the other young women present +attempted in vain to recapture their partners. + +Violande seeing the state of the case, quickly summoned all the couples +to the table beneath the lindens, to rest there for a while and to be +hospitably entertained. She placed the whole company most judiciously, +each young man next a damsel, and Kuengolt beside the burgomaster's +son. + +But Kuengolt was tormented by a craving to see all these young men +subject to her will and under the complete influence of her charms. She +exclaimed that she herself wished to wait upon her guests, and hastened +into the house to get more wine. There she quickly and surreptitiously +found her way into Violande's chamber, where she rummaged in her +clothes press. In an hour of mutual confidences Violande had shown her +a small phial and told her that this contained a philtre, or love +potion, called "Follow Me." Whoever should drink its contents when +served by the hand of a woman, would inevitably become her slave and +victim, being bound to follow her even to death's door. True, Violande +had added, there was not contained in that potion any of the strong and +dangerous poison denominated Hippomanes, brewed from the liquor +obtained from the frontal excrescence of a first-born foal, but rather +it came from the small bones of a green frog that had been placed upon +an ants' nest and cleanly scraped and gnawed off by these insects, +until ready for occult use. But all the same, Violande had stated, this +preparation was potent enough to turn the heads of a half dozen of +obstreperous men. She herself, Violande said, had obtained the philtre +from a nun whose whilom lover had succumbed to the pest before the +philtre had had time to work, so that she, the nun, had resigned +herself to a convent life, and now Violande had possession of this +sovereign remedy without knowing exactly what to do with it. For she +did not dare to throw it away for fear of the unknown consequences. + +This phial Kuengolt now found after some search, and poured its +contents into the jug of wine she carried, and with a beating heart she +hastened outside to her guests. She bade the youths all quaff their +drink inasmuch as she would offer to them a new and sweet spice wine, +and when serving out the contents of the jug she knew how to contrive +matters in such wise that not a drop of the fluid remained. To +accomplish this she had first evenly distributed wine into all the +goblets, and afterwards poured something more into each man's, in every +instance sending an alluring glance into the soul of every swain, so +that the sorcery should have its full effect, as she thought. + +But indeed the magical workings of the philtre really consisted in +these impartially and enticingly subdivided glances of her roguish eye, +so that the youths all vied, blind and selfish with passion, to gain +her sole favor, as will always happen when a goal striven for by all in +common lies temptingly there for the boldest and luckiest to achieve. + +All the young men without exception participated in this love game, +leaving their partners rudely to themselves, and the latter, feeling +deeply the disgrace and humiliation of being outstripped by Kuengolt, +paled with anger and disappointment, casting their eyes down and vainly +trying to cover their defeat by a whispered conversation amongst +themselves. Even the monk suddenly abandoned a dusky serving maid whom +but a moment before he had embraced tenderly, while the haughty scribe, +the hunchback, with energetic steps crowded out the burgomaster's son +who at that instant held Kuengolt's lovely hand in his own, caressing +it subtly. + +But Kuengolt showed no favors to any one in particular. Cold as an +icicle she remained towards each and every one of her young guests, and +like a smooth snake she glided about among them, with head and senses +cool. And when she saw that thus she held them all in the hollow of her +hand, she even attempted to reconcile anew the other women, speaking +pleasantly to them and urging them to return to the table. + +Darkness had fallen. The stars glinted high in the heavens, and the +sickle of the new moon stood above the forest, but this gentle light +now was wiped out by the gleaming and wavering flames of a huge St. +John's bonfire that had been lighted up on the summit of a lone hill by +the peasant population, visible from afar. + +"Let us all go and look at this bonfire," cried Kuengolt. "The way to +it is short and pleasant through the woods! But we must have it done as +beseems us all--the women and girls first, and the young men in the +rear." + +And so it was done. Pitch torches lighted up the path for them, and +song cheered the company. + +Violande alone had remained behind as custodian of the house, but more +especially to await the coming of the chief forester. For she, too, +meant to make her catch that day. And she had not long to wait. He came +in the roused mood of a toper, and with his senses only partly under +control. When he saw the tables under the lindens before the house, he +sat down and called for a sleeping draught at Violande's hands. + +Without loss of time she went to do his bidding. But she also first +disappeared into her own room to get the small vial containing the love +potion which she meant to serve the man who had scorned her so far. +However, her hasty search for it was fruitless. Neither did she +discover it in Kuengolt's chamber, whither instant suspicion had driven +her. For the truth was that that serving maid who had been carelessly +pushed aside by the monk when Kuengolt had triumphed over her rivals, +had picked it up on the stairs where it had been cast by the haughty +girl. + +But Violande lost no time in searching further. Instead she made his +cup all the stronger and sweeter, and then she bent over the man of her +choice while he slowly and rapturously emptied the tankard. Violande +was dressed for the occasion. She wore over her skirt a tunic of pale +gold, the edges and seams picked out in red, and allowing her delicate +white skin to peep forth here and there. Her bosom heaved stormily and +she showed a tenderly caressing humor. Thus she leaned on the table in +close proximity to him. + +"Ah indeed, cousin," said the forester, when accidentally he cast a +glance in her direction, "how handsome you look to-night." + +At these words she smiled happily and looked full at him with eyes that +spoke eloquently, saying: "Do you indeed like my looks? Well, it has +taken you a long time to find that out. If you only knew for how many +years, in fact, ever since I was a child, I have cherished you in my +heart." + +That had a greater effect on the good man than any love potion made of +frog's bones, and he seemed to see before his eyes dim recollections. +Of a pretty girl child he dreamed, and now he saw her before him at his +side, a matured beauty in the full development of her womanly charms, +and it was as if she had come to him from a far distance, bringing to +him unsolicited the splendid gift of her fine person. His generous +heart became entangled with his excited senses, and reshaped and +formulated all sorts of enticing images. Through his hazy brain in its +vinous exaltation there floated a Violande who suddenly had been +metamorphosed into a winsome being that, after all manner of +sufferings, had been offered to his arms as something that to embrace +and call his would not only make herself happy but would likewise +entrust to his care a chaste and loving woman that would render himself +happy once more. The memory of his dead wife paled for the nonce before +this glittering picture. + +He seized her hand, fondled her cheeks, and said: "We are not yet old, +dear Cousin Violande! Will you become my wife?" + +And since she left her hand in his grasp, and bent nearer to him, this +time, seeing at last the realization of her ambition, actually glowing +with her new-found bliss, he loosened the bridal ring of his wife from +the handle of his dagger where since her death he had worn it, and +placed the trinket on Violande's finger. She thereupon pressed her own +face against the leonine and ruddy countenance of her middle-aged +lover, and the two embraced tenderly and kissed under the whispering +linden trees which were stirred by the night breeze. The shrewd man, +ordinarily of such sound judgment, thought he had discovered the +sovereign blessing of life itself. + +At this moment Dietegen returned home, bearing his weapons in his +hand. Since he went towards the house across the greensward, the fond +couple did not hear his approach, and he saw with confusion and +amazement the whole scene. Shamed and reddening, he retired as quietly +as he could, so that they did not notice him, and he went around the +whole house, in order to make his entrance by the back door. But while +still on his way he heard suddenly loud calling and noise as though +someone were in peril and hot dispute. Without a moment's hesitation +Dietegen hurried off in the direction of the hubbub. And soon he found +the same company that had ere now left the house in the happiest humor +in a terrible uproar. + +It seemed that the young men, half-crazed by the strong wine and by +jealousy of each other, on their way back from the St. John's bonfire, +being now mingled with the young women, had begun to quarrel among +themselves. From words they had come to daggers drawn, and more than +one was bleeding from serious wounds. But just the very moment of his +arrival he had seen the Ruechenstein scribe furiously attacking the +burgomaster's son, and running him through with his long rapier. The +victim, also with sword in hand, lay prone on the grass and was just +giving up the ghost. The others, unaware of this, had seized each other +by the throats, and the women were shrieking and calling loudly for +help. Only Kuengolt stood there pale as death but watching the horrible +scene with open mouth. + +"Kuengolt, what is up here?" asked Dietegen, when he had made her out. +She shuddered at his address, but looked as though relieved. However, +he now vigorously began to interfere, and by dint of rough handling of +some of the worst fire-eaters he soon succeeded in separating the +struggling and cursing mass. Then he pointed to the dead youth on the +ground, and that sobered them even more quickly than his remonstrances. +Then they all stared like mutes upon the dead man and upon the grim +hunchback, who seemed to have lost his wits completely. + +In the meanwhile some peasants from the neighborhood as well as the +homecoming gamekeepers from the forestry had appeared on the scene, and +these bound securely the raging Schafuerli, the murderous scribe, and +arrested the remainder of the Ruechensteiners. + + +And that was a bad morning that now followed. The forester was engaged +to the wicked Violande, and his head buzzed unmercifully. One dead +Ruechensteiner lay in the house, and the rest of them were kept in the +dungeon. Before the noon hour had tolled a delegation from +Ruechenstein, with the burgomaster himself, the father of the slain, at +its head, had arrived in order to inquire carefully into the whole +matter and to demand strict justice and punishment of the guilty. + +But already the imprisoned secretary of the Ruechenstein council, the +grim Schafuerli, knowing that his neck was in peril, had made a +deposition in his tower in which he charged responsibility for the +whole bad business upon the women of Seldwyla whom they had met on the +previous day, and more especially upon Kuengolt, whom he accused of +sorcery and black art. + +That maid servant who had become disgruntled for a cause mentioned +before had passed on the empty vial that had contained Violande's +philtre, to the monk, and the latter had hastened to put it into the +hands of the scribe, who now used it as a powerful weapon. + +To the grave dismay of the Seldwylians the whole matter in the course +of that first day even turned against the forester's daughter and +against his household. Everybody in those days, and not alone in +Seldwyla, firmly believed in sorcery and love potions, and the members +of the Ruechenstein delegation behaved so menacingly and hinted at such +terrible reprisals that the popularity and the respect in which the +forester was held could not prevent the imprisonment of Kuengolt, +especially as he was still severely suffering from his excesses of the +previous day, and felt like one paralyzed. + +She instantly made a full confession, being more dead than alive from +terror, and Schafuerli and his boon companions were liberated. And then +the Ruechensteiners made the formal demand to have the girl delivered +up to them for adequate atonement, since she had injured a number of +their townsfolk and caused the death of one of them. This, however, was +not conceded to them, and then the Ruechensteiners departed in an angry +mood, threatening dire reprisals. The body of the burgomaster's son +they took along. But when later on they heard that the Seldwyla +authorities had sentenced the girl but to a twelvemonth's mild +incarceration, the ancient enmity which had slept for a number of years +now reawakened, and it became a perilous adventure for any Seldwylian +to be caught on Ruechenstein soil. + +Now the town of Seldwyla counted as a fit penalty for misdeeds which +according to their notions were reckoned among the lighter ones and +which consequently required no severe treatment, not imprisonment +proper but rather the awarding of the culprits to persons that became +responsible for their further conduct. In the custody of such persons +the culprits remained during the length of the sentence, and these +custodians were held to employ them suitably and to feed and shelter +them adequately. This mode of punishment was used most often with women +or youthful persons. Thus, then, Kuengolt, too, was taken to one of the +chambers of the town hall, and there she was to be auctioned off, at +least her services and keep. And before that ceremony she had to submit +to being publicly exhibited there. + +The forester, whose sunny humor had altogether disappeared with these +trials, said sighing to Dietegen that it was a hard thing for him to go +to the town hall and watch there in behalf of his daughter, but +somebody surely must be there of her family during these bitter hours. + +Then Dietegen said: "I will go in your stead; that is, if I am good +enough for it in your opinion." + +His patron shook hands with him. "Yes, do it!" he said, "and I will +thank you for it." + +So Dietegen went where some of the councilmen were seated and a few +persons willing to take charge of the prisoner. He had girded his sword +around his loins, and had a manly and rugged air about him. + +And when Kuengolt was led inside, white as chalk and deeply chagrined, +and was to stand in front of the table, he swiftly pulled up a chair +and made her sit down in it, he placing himself behind and putting his +hand on the back of it. She had looked up at him surprised, and now +sent him a glance fraught with a painful smile. But he apparently paid +no heed looking straight on over her head, severe of mien. + +The first who made a bid for her custody was the town piper, a +drunkard, who had been sent by his poor wife in order to help increase +their receipts a bit. This, she calculated, was all the more to be +expected because Kuengolt would probably receive from her home all +sorts of good things to eat, and these, she considered, they would +secure wholly or in part. + +"Do you want to go to the town piper's house?" Dietegen curtly asked +the girl. After attentively regarding the red-nosed and half-drunken +fellow, she said: "No." And the piper, with a blissful smile, remarked +laughing: "Good, that suits me too," and toddled off on shaking legs. + +Next an old furrier and capmaker made a bid, since he thought he could +utilize Kuengolt very handily in sewing and making a goodly profit out +of her services. But this man had a large sore on his thigh, and this +he was greasing and plastering with salve all day long, and also a +growth the size of a chicken's egg on the top of his pate, so that +Kuengolt had already been afraid of him when she passed his shop as a +child going to school. When, therefore, Dietegen put the query to her +whether she was willing to go to his house, and the girl decidedly +negatived that, the man went off loudly venting his spleen. He grumbled +and growled like a bear whose honeycomb has been snatched away. + +Now a money changer stepped up, one who was notorious both for his +greed and usurious avarice and for his lewdness. But scarcely had that +one leveled his red eyes upon her, and opened his wry mouth for a bid, +when Dietegen motioned him off with a threatening gesture, even without +asking the terrified girl herself. + +And now there were left but a few more, decent and respectable +citizens, people against whom nothing could be urged reasonably, and it +was these between whom the final choice and decision lay. The smallest +bid was made by the gravedigger of the cemetery next the town +cathedral, a quiet and good man, who also possessed an excellent wife +and, so he thought, a suitable place where to keep such a prisoner in +safe custody, and who certainly had already had charge of several other +prisoners before. + +To this man, then, Kuengolt was given in charge, and was taken at once +to his house which was situated between the cemetery and a side street. +Dietegen went along in order to see how she would be housed. It turned +out that her quarters would be an open, small antechamber of the house +itself, immediately adjoining the graveyard and only separated from it +by an iron fence. There, as it seemed, the sexton was in the habit of +keeping his prisoners during the warm season of the year, while for the +winter he simply admitted them into his own dwelling room, a slender +chain fastening them to the tile stove. + +But when Kuengolt found herself in her prison and was separated merely +by a fence from the graves of the dead, moreover saw near by the old +deadhouse filled with skulls and bones, she began to tremble and begged +they would not leave her there all through the night. But the sexton's +wife who was just dragging in a straw mattress and a blanket, and also +hid the sight of the graves by suspending a curtain, answered that this +request could not be listened to, and that her new abode would be +wholesome for her moral welfare and as a means of repenting her sins. +And she could not be shaken in this resolve. + +But Dietegen replied: "Be quiet, Kuengolt, for I am not afraid of the +dead or of any spook, and I will come here every night and keep watch +in front of the iron fence until you, too, will no longer fear." + +He said this, however, in an aside to her, so that the woman could not +overhear it, and then he left for home. There he found the saddened +forester who had just reached an understanding with Violande that they +would not celebrate their wedding until after Kuengolt's release from +prison and after the scandal created by the occurrence should have had +time to blow over. During all their discussion of the matter Violande +kept still as a mouse, glad that she as the prime author of the whole +mischief should have escaped all the consequences, for the magical +philtre had been hers, as we know. + +When the early hours of evening were over and midnight approaching, +Dietegen began to make good his promise. He started unobserved, took +his sword and a flask of choice wine along, and climbed from the high +slope down into the valley and so to town, and there he swung himself +fearlessly over the graveyard wall, strode across the graves +themselves, and at last stood in front of Kuengolt's new abode. She sat +breathlessly and shaking with fright upon her straw mattress, behind +the curtain, and listened with freezing blood to every noise, even the +slightest, that struck her ear. For even before this ghostly hour of +twelve she had undergone several convulsions of dread and unreasoning +fear. In the deadhouse, for instance, a cat had slyly climbed over the +bones, and these had clattered somewhat. Then also the night wind had +moved the bushes growing over the tombs, so that they made a weird +noise, and the iron rooster that served as a weather vane on top of the +church roof had creaked mysteriously, making an awful sound never heard +in daytime. So that the girl was in a frenzy of terror. + +When she therefore heard the steps nearing more and more, Kuengolt had +a new fit of fright, and shook like a leaf. But when he stretched his +hands through the iron bars of the fence and pushed back the curtain, +so that the full moon lit up the whole dark space around her, and in a +low voice called her name, she rose quickly, ran in his direction and +stretched out both hands to him. + +"Dietegen!" she exclaimed, and burst into tears, the first she had been +able to shed since that ominous day; for until that hour she had lived +as though smitten with paralysis, dazed and benumbed. + +Dietegen, however, did not take her hand, but instead handed her the +flask of wine, saying: "Here, take a mouthful! It will do you good." + +So she drank, and also ate of the dainty wheaten bread of her father's +house that he had brought along. And by and by her courage was +restored, and when she clearly perceived that he had no mind to +converse any more with her, she retired silently to her couch and cried +without a stop, till at last she sank into a quiet sleep. + +But he, the young man, in his narrow youthful ideas and in his +inexperience of real life had made up his mind that she was a being +turned completely to wickedness and evil, and one that was unable to do +right. And he served as her sentinel during this and other nights, +seating himself upon an ancient gravestone leaning against the wall +solely out of regard for her departed mother and because she had saved +his own life. + +Kuengolt slept until sunrise, and when she awoke and looked about she +observed that Dietegen had softly stolen away. + +Thus one night after another passed, and he faithfully watched and +guarded her, for he indeed held the belief that the place was not +without danger for anyone without a good conscience and shaken with +fear. But each time he brought her something of a relish along, and +often he would ask her what she desired for herself, and he would carry +out her wishes if at all justifiable. + +He also came when it rained or stormed, missing not a single night, and +on those nights when, according to the popular superstitions then +universally held, the dead walked and which were considered +particularly perilous to the living, he came all the more promptly. + +Kuengolt on her part by and by managed to arrange things so that during +the daytime she had her curtain drawn, in order, as she said, to +conceal herself from the curious who went to the cemetery to spy on +her, but in reality to sleep, for she preferred to remain awake at +night, to keep her faithful sentinel in view all the time, and to +ponder the things that had brought her there, and how he had conducted +himself towards her these last few years. But Dietegen knew nothing of +all this, believing her to be sound asleep. + +She felt herself engrossed with a new and unexpected happiness, and +while he diligently kept watch over her during the hours of darkness, +she enjoyed his mere presence, and all her thinking was of him. She had +no slightest suspicion that he judged her so harshly, and was living in +hopes that she could reestablish her claim on him, seeing that he +proved so faithful to her. Her father, however, did not share her +dreams. He visited her at least once every week, and when she on these +occasions nearly always shyly mentioned Dietegen's name, and he marked +that she indeed had again turned to him in her thoughts, he would sigh +and groan in spirit, because while also wishing for a union of those +two, and feeling convinced that his fine foster son alone was able to +again rehabilitate his daughter, it appeared highly improbable to him +that Dietegen would wish to woo a witch that had been punished for her +uncanny doings by his fellow citizens, and as it seemed to him, justly. + +In the meantime another caller had put in an appearance with Kuengolt, +no less a person than the secretary of the council of Ruechenstein +himself. + +This highly enterprising and venturesome hunchback was unable to forget +the beautiful being on whose account he had committed murder. The blood +coursed through his veins more rapidly than in those of a normally +shaped fellow, and waking or sleeping her image did not lose its hold +on him. His belief was that the image of this witch dwelt in his heart +by virtue of her black art, and that it was shooting along within his +blood vessels as does a frail boat in a powerful storm, all in a +magical way. + +The more he reflected the more convinced he became of this, and since +he had daring enough and to spare, he finally made up his mind to seek +alleviation of his tortures from the primal source, the witch herself. +At the Capuchin monastery, where he had first gone for a ghostly cure, +he had failed, and thus one moonless, dark night he started out, across +the mountain and as far as the cemetery where he knew her to be kept a +captive. + +Kuengolt heard his approaching steps. Since it was not yet the hour +when Dietegen used to come, and also because these steps did not seem +to be his, she took fright and hid behind the curtain. But Schafuerli +now lighted a candle he had brought along, and thrust his hand with it +through the aperture, searching the dark space with his eager eyes +until he had finally discovered her crouched in a corner. + +"Come here, witch maid," he muttered excitedly, "and give me both thine +hands and that scarlet mouth of thine. For thou must quench the fire +thou hast caused." + +The girl was frightened beyond words. By his crooked shape she had +recognized him in the dusky half-light, and the recollection of the +sufferings this misshapen recreant had occasioned her, together with +the repugnant presence of the man himself, drove her almost to madness. +Powerless to utter a sound, she sank down trembling in every limb. + +Seeing this, the bold knave began to shake the iron bars of her grate, +and since it was by no means very strong but rather intended only for +the keeping of less vigorous prisoners, it began to yield, and he was +about to tear it out of its staples. But just that instant Dietegen +arrived on the scene. To notice the whole proceeding and to seize the +madman firmly by the shoulder was the work of a flash. The enraged +scribe yelled like one possessed, and was for drawing his poniard. But +Dietegen kept an iron hold on him, grasping his hands and wrestling +with him until the humpback owned himself beaten. Then Dietegen was +uncertain whether to hand the maddened creature over to the authorities +or to let him go. Not knowing the circumstances of the case and +unwilling to cause new complications for Kuengolt, he finally allowed +the scribe to escape, warning him, however, on pain of death, not to +return again to the place. Next Dietegen woke the sexton and induced +him, since autumn with its cool nights was approaching, to afford +shelter to his prisoner henceforth within his own dwelling, in order to +avert repetition of a scene like the one of that night. + +Therefore Kuengolt that very night was taken inside, and secured by a +light chain to the foot of the stove. The latter was a trim structure +built of green tiling and showing in raised outlines the biblical story +of the creation of man and his fall from grace. At the four corners of +this stove there stood the four greater prophets upon twisted pillars, +and the whole of it formed a somewhat attractive monument. Against it +and tied to it by her gyves Kuengolt now lay stretched out on a bench +for her couch. + +She was glad of having obtained a more sheltered spot, and more still +of having been rescued out of the hands of this evil hunchback, and she +ascribed the whole of Dietegen's efforts to his devoted feelings for +her, and this despite the fact that he had not spoken a syllable to her +through it all and had gone away immediately after the new arrangements +had been effected. + +When, however, Kuengolt had thus been installed in a more convenient +place, a new admirer of her charms turned up in the person of a +chaplain whose duties obliged him to attend to a number of small +matters in the church building close by, and to whose obligations it +also belonged to offer ghostly counsel and consolation to the sick or +imprisoned. This young priest came, once Kuengolt was an inmate of the +gravedigger's household, more and more frequently, not only to exorcise +her and to expel from her soul all inclination towards magic, sorcery +and witchcraft, but also to enjoy incidentally her rare feminine charms +and beauty. He strenuously endeavored to dissuade her from using any +more love philtres and similar means forbidden by the canons of the +Church, but in doing so became thoroughly imbued with her physical +attractions. + +For of late, that is, since these trials had overtaken her, the maiden +had wonderfully grown in beauty. She had become a more mature, slender +and spiritualized being, albeit pallor had succeeded her former healthy +complexion, and her eyes now shone with a gentle and lovely fire, +encircled with a shadow of sadness. + +Save for her being tied to the foot of the warm stove, she was being +treated in every respect like a member of the sexton's family, among +the members of which there were several children, and when the chaplain +came to visit her, he was usually regaled with a tankard of ale or a +flask of drinkable wine, these being supplied by the forester, +Kuengolt's father. But whenever the reverend divine had sufficiently +indulged in his admonishments, had partaken of the refreshment provided +for him, and still remained behind, evidently to enjoy the society of +the charming penitent, there would be some queer goings-on. For the +chaplain would squeeze and caress the pretty hand of his spiritual +daughter, would sigh and groan audibly, and then Kuengolt, comparing +this sniffling priest in her thoughts with the stately and handsome +Dietegen whom she considered in truth her lover, was prone to scoff at +the inconspicuous Levite, but in a good-natured and gentle manner. + +In this way it came about that Kuengolt, after displaying all day long +her cheerful and somewhat sportive disposition, would be the declared +favorite of the sexton's household in the evening, the big family table +invariably being pushed over towards her where she perforce sat tied to +the stove. So also it was on New Year's Eve, and the young priest was +one of the company, so that the sexton, his wife and children, together +with the chaplain, were seated near the prisoned girl, all of them +munching walnuts and sweet honey cakes, and Kuengolt having just +laughed at something the priest had said, the latter meanwhile holding +her hand, when Dietegen entered the room. He brought for his patron's +daughter and his own whilom playmate some dainties from home. In coming +he had yielded to the instinctive promptings of his heart, a mingling +of pity, sympathy and affection, an unconscious longing for her +company, and the desire had been strong within him to spend at least an +hour that evening with her, this being the first time in her young life +she had to pass away from home on a night like that. + +But when he saw the merry scene and caught sight of the chaplain's +caressing hand, his blood seemed to freeze within him, and he left her +after just a couple of words in explanation of his mission, without any +more ado. In going, perhaps unconsciously, Dietegen muttered as though +to himself: "Forgotten is forgotten!" + +Only now Kuengolt suddenly felt the full force and meaning of these +words and of his previous devotion, and her heart seemed to stand +still. Pale and faint she sank down on her bench at the stove, and the +jolly gathering broke up. Even before the midnight bells tolled out the +new year the light in the sexton's window was gone, and the girl was +weeping bitter tears of sorrow. + +From that night on she remained almost forgotten by the forester and +his household. Great days were on the way. The Swiss federation was +humming like a beehive with war's alarum. Those events were in the +making which in history are known as the Burgundian War. + +When spring had come and the great day of Grandison approached, the +town of Seldwyla, too, like Ruechenstein and many others, sent her +embattled citizens into the field, and it was for the forester as well +as for Dietegen a happy release to be able to leave the disturbed +harmony and comfort of the house and to step into the clear, rugged +atmosphere of war. + +With firm tread they both went along with their banner, though perhaps +more silent than most, and joined with the other hurrying detachments +the mighty battle array of the federated Swiss allies, coming most +opportunely to the armed aid of the latter. + +Like unto an iron garden stood the long square of the fighting men, and +in its midst waved the standards and pennons of the cantons and towns +there represented. In serried ranks they stood, many thousands of them, +each in his independence and reliability again a world in himself; in +fearlessness and will each could depend on his neighbor, and yet all of +them together, after all, but a throng of fallible human beings. + +There was the spendthrift and the light-hearted side by side with the +curmudgeon and the cautious, each awaiting the hour of supreme +sacrifice. The quarrelsome and the peaceable had to stay on with equal +patience. He whose heart was heavy within his bosom was no more +taciturn than the talkative and the braggart. The poor and indigent +stood in equal pride next to the wealthy and domineering. Whole squares +made up of neighbors ordinarily disagreeing were here one single unit. +And envy or jealousy held spear or halberd as manfully and firmly as +did generosity or reconciliation, and unjust as just aimed for the +nonce both of them to fulfil the duty immediately urgent. Whoever had +done with life and meant to sacrifice without regrets the mean remnant +of it, was no more or less than the reckless red-cheeked youth upon +whom his mother had built all her hope and in whom rested the future. +The morose submitted without protest to the silly sallies of the jester +or buffoon, and the latter on his part saw without ridicule the prosaic +conceits of the small-souled philistine. + +Next to the banner of Seldwyla was visible that of Ruechenstein, so +that the serried ranks of the inimicable neighbors closely touched each +other, and the forester who was leader of a section of his fellow +citizens and formed the cornerstone of their whole formation, was the +very neighbor of the council scribe of Ruechenstein, who on his part +stood at the tail end of one of the ranks of his townsmen. But at this +hour not one of them all seemed to recall reasons for differences or to +remember the past. Dietegen was among the sharpshooters and "lost +fellows," somewhat outside these regimental formations, and was already +in the very heat of combat when the main body of the Swiss suddenly +began to move and to plunge right into the midst of battle, in order +to administer a stupendous defeat upon one of the most brilliant +warrior-princes and his luxurious and splendid army, and to drive him +to ignominous flight like a fabled king. + +In the pressure of the hard-fought battle the forester with some of his +gamekeepers had been separated by Burgundian cavalry from his banner +and now fought his way through the latter, but only to encounter on the +other side enemy foot soldiery. In meeting his new foe the doughty +warrior set to work hewing and carving out for himself a roomy corner +of his own, and he had already achieved this task when through this new +opening a belated and spent cannon ball from the hosts of Charles the +Bold came smashing and crushed the broad manly chest of the man, so +that within another moment or two he had found in peace his eternal +rest, and nothing more troubled him. + +When Dietegen, sound and hearty, returned from the fight and from +following the fleeing Burgundians, inquiring for his friend and father, +he found his body after but a short search, and he buried him together +with his trusty sword within the mighty roots of a far-spreading oak, +not far from the battlefield on the edge of a grove. + +Then he returned home with the remainder of the Swiss hosts, and +because of his intrepidity and the ability shown by him during the +campaign he was by the town authorities made provisional chief +forester, and was given the house that had been his home for so long as +his new abode and to supervise the assistants. With the death of his +dear old patron his household had been dissolved. His savings and +accumulated wealth had vanished during the last few years preceding his +death, owing to careless management, and now Kuengolt had nothing left +in the world save her own self and the care of Dietegen, provided he +was able to give it, for he himself was but poor. She sat day after day +at her stove, leaning her cheeks against its tiles representing, in +four or five groups that recurred around the whole surface, the loss of +Paradise, the creation of Adam and of Eve, the Tree of Knowledge, and +the expulsion at last from their blessed abode. When the girl's face +ached from the rough imprint of these raised images, she shifted it by +turning to the next series, always and always contemplating them, and +between the intervals shedding tears over her lot. But even then she +could sometimes not help laughing outright when her glance traveled to +that scene showing the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. For by reason +of the potter's inadvertence this picture had been so modelled as to +give to Adam instead of a real navel on his abdomen, a round little +button and this protuberance repeating itself twentyfold on the surface +of the stove excited unfailingly her playful humor, though it also +heightened her discomfort when leaning against it. + +In the midst of her fit of laughter, however, at this harmless blunder +poor Kuengolt was invariably overcome by the weight of her misery, +which would constrict heart and throat alike, and this conflict of +thought and impressions produced a keen physical pain, so that her eyes +grew wet and her face would look like that of a person wanting to +sneeze yet unable to. So that at last she avoided looking at all at +this particular group. + +Meanwhile the great battle of Murten had also been fought, and at the +same time Kuengolt's term of imprisonment was ended. Dietegen had given +instructions for herself and Violande to keep house provisionally at +the forestry lodge. Violande of late had become rather modest, contrite +and well-behaved, for to her feminine sense of pride it had been a +great gratification that the late forester, although he had postponed +the wedding indefinitely and perhaps unduly, yet had wooed her and +proposed marriage. But Dietegen himself did not remain at home. On the +contrary, he drifted back and forth at the various scenes of the great +war that had not yet ended. + +And it must be owned that he, too, during all these troublous times, +was not without faults. The rude customs of war, combined with the ever +gnawing grief of what he had lost of his one-time hopes, had molded him +afresh, so that a certain savagery and relentlessness had crept into +the very fibre of his being. He joined that throng of adventurous young +lads who under the name of "The Giddy Life" had started out on their +own behalf to force the town of Geneva to pay out that amount of ransom +which in the peace treaty was specified as its share. Out of Burgundian +booty that had fallen to him he had had luxurious garments fashioned +for himself. Trailing behind the banner of the Wild Boar (token of the +aforementioned wild brotherhood) he wore a magnificent surcoat of +roseate Burgundian damask, and the cross of the Swiss Federation on +chest and back was made of heavy argent stuff and trimmed with seed +pearls. His broad velvet hat was all about covered by a load of waving +ostrich plumes, taken from knightly plunder in camps stormed during the +campaign. Poniard and sword were suspended from costly girdles +ornamented with blood-red rubies or emeralds. And beside a ponderous +musket he carried a long spear which he used to balance himself with +when striding along. His broad shoulders and straight, sinewy body +looked formidable when his hawk eyes peered forth under his beplumed +hat at a cowardly braggart or in order to strike terror in controversy. +He was fond those days of seizing perhaps a shrieking maid by her +braids, glancing a moment at her startled face, and then letting her go +again at a venture. + +Dressed up in this gorgeous style he had also, before joining the +companions of The Giddy Life, paid a short call at the forestry lodge +of Seldwyla. He was the very image of a nobly descended, pure-blooded +warrior, so bold and strong, elastic and sure of himself he seemed. + +When Kuengolt saw him thus, receiving from him just one short cold +smile in passing, such as stern war had fixed on his features, her eyes +were dazzled. And while subsequently he was in foreign parts she loved +nothing better than to ponder the past and to live over in her thoughts +the happy days of her childhood. And almost at all times her +recollection dwelt upon that hour up on the steep slope where the +Seldwyla ladies had caressed and fondled little Dietegen, clad in +nothing but his poor sinner's shift and just escaped from an +ignominious death; how they had crowned him with wildflowers, and made +him their darling. Then she would hasten up to the summit of that hill, +and would scan the far horizon towards the Southwest where, as people +said, that unconquerable throng of youths, with him amongst them, was +doing deeds of valor. + +But in that same mountainous landscape, bifurcated as it was by the +Ruechenstein territorial limits, that ominous scribe, Schafuerli, was +frequently roaming about. This man was still thirsting for revenge +because of the injury done his soul and his reputation alike, as he +deemed; for though he had escaped that time any penalty he was yet +looked upon with disfavor by most of the Ruechenstein citizens on +account of the homicide committed by him. He still lived in hopes, +therefore, of making amends by capturing the "witch" and turning her +over for expiation to the authorities of his home town. When then one +day poor Kuengolt was seated carelessly upon the very boundary line +stone, deep in her meditations, with her feet resting on Ruechenstein +soil, the vengeful hunchback quickly stepped out from some bushes, and +assisted by a municipal guard, took her prisoner and brought her +securely bound to Ruechenstein itself. And there she had to submit a +second time to a penal trial for having with her witchery caused the +death, wholly unatoned according to their notions, of the burgomaster's +son. + +In Seldwyla there was, notably in those stirring war times, nobody who +felt at all any obligation to interfere in her behalf, even if there +had been much of a hope for her. Hence the rumor soon spread that +Kuengolt's life would soon pay the forfeit. + +And it was Violande, once false and wicked, who now alone began to +bestir herself for the rescue of her young relative. Pity and +repentance moved her to the resolve to go in search of the only human +being from whom prompt aid might be expected. Thus she went off, being +on her errand night and day, ever going in a southwesterly direction, +in order to find that band of overbold adventurers yclept "The Giddy +Life," with Dietegen in their midst, as she knew. And since rumor was +at all times quite busy with that mettlesome brotherhood she soon found +herself in the right neighborhood, and at last came across Dietegen +himself, just as he was throwing dice for money and booty with some of +his hardy companions in a tavern. + +Violande at once let him know about the ill-starred excursion of +Kuengolt and about the danger now threatening her on the part of the +Ruechensteiners, and against her own expectation he listened +attentively. But his reply was discouraging. + +"I am powerless to do anything in this case," he remarked, rather +coldly. "For this is a matter of law, and since the Seldwyla people +themselves do not choose to intervene, I should not be able to find +even ten trusty comrades-in-arms to follow me and help free the child." + +Violande, though, with that special knowledge which she had acquired +from her former experiences, interrupted him. + +"There is no need of force in this case," quoth she. "The Ruechenstein +people have from old a law which says that any woman sentenced to death +may be saved by a man and delivered over to him if he is willing and +able to wed her on the spot." + +Dietegen gazed at Violande long and in amazement wearing the while his +sneering soldier's smile. + +At last he spoke. + +"I am then to marry a sort of courtesan," he growled darkly, twirling +his small moustache daintily and putting on an incredulous mien, while +yet at the same time a look of tenderness beamed forth from his eyes. + +"Do not say so," put in Violande, "for it is not so." + +And bursting into tears she seized Dietegen's hand, and continued: "In +so far as she is to blame it is my own fault. Let me here confess it, +that I wished to separate you and her, for I wanted you two out of the +house in order to marry the father. And that is why I led the child +into all sorts of folly." + +"But she ought not to have let you do so," exclaimed Dietegen. "Her +parents indeed came of good stock and deserved respect, but she has +gone astray." + +"But I swear to you on my hope of salvation," cried Violande, "it is as +if a cleansing fire had passed over her, and all that once disfigured +her has been removed. She is good and true, and she is so much in love +with you that she long ago would have died if you also had left this +world like her father. Besides, have you quite forgotten what you owe +her? Would you now stand here in front of me, strong and handsome, if +she had not rescued you out of the hangman's coffin? And mind you too +of Kuengolt's kind mother and of her excellent father, who have +educated and loved you like their own son. And are you entitled to be +judge over the failings of a frail woman? Have you yourself never done +wrong? Have you never slain a man in battle when there was no need of +it? Have you never laid in ashes the hut of a defenceless and poor +person during these wars? And even though you have not done any of +these things, have you always shown mercy where you might?" + +At this earnest plea Dietegen reddened, and then said: "I will not owe +anything I can pay off, and will leave no debts behind me. If it be as +you say regarding this Ruechenstein legal custom, I will go and help +the child and take her to my heart. May God then help me and her if she +is no longer able to conduct herself properly!" + + +Then Dietegen gave a sum of money to Violande, who was quite exhausted +from the fatigues of her journey, and who needed rest and nourishment +to strengthen herself for her return home. But he himself, only seizing +his weapons, started off instantly right across the country, and had no +rest or sleep until he discerned the dark towers and walls of +Ruechenstein rising before his eyes. + +There they had not delayed matters. They had, after the lapse of a few +days consumed with legal formalities, condemned Kuengolt, who had +meanwhile been confined in an old tower, to death. But inasmuch as her +father had been of blameless life and reputation and had, moreover, +fallen as a hero battling for his country, the sentence was that she +would, as a sign of unusual mercy, be merely beheaded, instead of being +brought from life to death by fire or the wheel, or by some other of +their customary procedures. + +Accordingly she was taken to the place of execution, just outside the +great gate of the town, barefooted and clothed in nought but a +delinquent's shift. All adown her back and neck floated her heavy +golden strands of hair. Step for step she went her death path, in the +midst of her tormentors, several times stumbling, but of good heart and +steady courage, since she had quite submitted to her sad fate and had +abandoned all hope of life or happiness. + +"Thus luck may turn!" she was saying to herself, with a slight smile, +but just then she was thinking again of Dietegen, and sweet tears +rained down her cheeks. Memory came back to her of how he owed his +vigorous life to her, and, so good and unselfish she had grown in +adversity, she felt glad of it and kindly towards him. + +Already she had been placed in the fatal chair and was, in a sense, +thankful of the chance to renew her drooping strength before receiving +the death stroke. For the last time she gazed ahead at the glories of +the land, at the hazy chain of mountains and the darksome woods. Then +the headsman tied up her eyes, and was on the point of cutting off the +wealth of her hair, or as much of it as protruded from under the cloth. +But he held his hand, for Dietegen was there, only a short distance +away, shouting with all his strength and waving his spear and hat to +draw attention. At the same time, though, to insure delay, he tore his +musket from the shoulder and sent a shot over the executioner's head. +Astonished and affrighted both judges and headsman stopped in their +doings, and all around the spectators took firm hold of their weapons. +But Dietegen did not hesitate. In a few bounds he had arrived at the +place, and had climbed to the bloody scaffold, so that under his weight +it nearly broke. Seizing Kuengolt in her chair by the hair and +shoulder, since her hands were already fastened behind, he for a moment +had to recover his breath before being able to speak. + +The Ruechensteiners, as soon as assured that there was but a single man +and that no murderous attack was intended, grew attentive and waited +for further developments. When at last he had stated his business, the +judges retired to take counsel. + +Not only their own habit of always strictly conforming with customs +firmly rooted in the past, but also the reputation enjoyed by Dietegen +himself in those warlike days and his whole appearance and demeanor, +were in favor of adjusting this matter according to his wishes, once +the first annoyance at the unceremonious interruption of so solemn a +spectacle as an execution had been overcome. Even the rancorous scribe, +Hans Schafuerli, who had put in an appearance to make sure of the death +of the witch, hid from the grim man of war, whose heavy hand he feared +despite his ordinarily daring temper. + +The same priest who a short while back had been praying for the poor +delinquent, now was told to perform the wedding ceremony on the very +scaffold itself. Kuengolt was untied, placed upon her swaying feet, and +then asked whether she was willing to marry this man who sought her as +his lawful wife, and to follow him through life. + +Mute she looked up to him who, after the cloth had been removed from +her eyes was the first object she saw again of this world that she had +taken leave from a few moments before, and it seemed to her that it +must all be a delicious dream. But in order to miss nothing even if it +should only turn out a dream, she nodded, being still unable to speak, +with great presence of mind, three or four times in rapid succession, +in a ghost-like manner, so that the severe councilmen of Ruechenstein +were touched, and to make quite sure she repeated her nodding another +few times. And tremblingly Kuengolt was supported during the wedding +ceremony by the same sinister men who had come to witness her shameful +death. But she became his wife according to all the established forms +of the Church. + +And now, this done, she was handed over to Dietegen "with life and +limb," as the phrase went, just as she was, without any later claim of +dowry or recompense, damages, or excuse, against his payment of fees +for the priest and of money for ten gallons of wine for headsman and +assistants, as a wedding gift, and of three pounds of pennies for a new +jerkin for the headsman. + +After paying all this, Dietegen took his wife by the hand and left with +her the place of execution. + +Since he had to take her, however, just as she was, and she was not +only barefooted but merely clad in her death shift, the season also +being early and the weather chilly, she was suffering from this and +unable to keep step with her husband. He lifted her, therefore, from +the ground to his arms, pushed his hat back from his forehead, and then +she put her arms around his neck, leaned her head against his, and +immediately fell asleep, while he used his long spear as a staff in his +other hand. Thus he walked swiftly along on the mountain path, all +alone by himself, and he felt how in her sleep she was weeping softly, +and how her breath grew less agitated. At last her tears ran along his +own face, and then a strange illusion as though blessed bliss were +baptising him anew came over him. And this rough, war-hardened man, for +all his self-command, felt his own tears staining his ruddy bearded +chin. His was the life he bore in his arms, and he held it as if God's +whole world were in his keeping. + +When they arrived on the spot where he himself, a small child, had sat +among the women in his scanty garb and where more recently poor +Kuengolt had been taken prisoner, the March sun shone clear and warm, +and he concluded to take a short rest. Dietegen sat down on the +boundary stone, and let his burden slowly glide down on his knees. The +first glance which she gave him, and the first poor words which she +stammered, were proof to him that he not only had truly fulfilled a +sacred duty towards her by what he had done, but that in addition he +had undertaken another, an even more sacred one, namely, to conduct +himself through life in such a manner as to be worthy of the happy lot +that had fallen to him in becoming the husband of the charming creature +at his side. And this he silently vowed to do. + +The soil around the boundary stone was already thickly speckled with +primroses and wild violets, the sky was cloudless, and not a sound +broke the still air but the cheery song of the finches in the wood. + +So they spoke no more for some time, but both breathed the soft air +that filled their lungs with new hope and life, but at last they rose, +and because from now on there was but the velvety moss-covered ground +to traverse which led through the beeches down to the forestry lodge, +Kuengolt was able to walk by his side. Suddenly she touched her golden +hair, being afraid that it had been shorn by the headsman. But as she +still found it unharmed, she halted for a moment, saying: "May I not +have a little bridal wreath?" And she looked at her husband with a +half-roguish smile. + +He let his eyes roam all about him, and discovered a bunch of snowdrops +in full bloom. Quickly he went and cut off enough of the flowers to +weave into a coronet for his bride, and then he carefully placed it on +her head, saying: "It is not much. It is out of fashion. But let this +wreath be a token to us and all the world that our domestic honor will +remain as spotless as these. Whoever by word or deed will harm it, let +him pay the penalty!" + +Then he kissed her once, firmly and with a look that boded ill to any +disturber of his peace, right under the wreath, and she looked up at +him, satisfied and with confidence, and then they two resumed again +their walk. + +The forestry lodge they found empty and deserted. The house servants +had left it unguarded, partly from mourning Kuengolt whose death on the +scaffold they had assumed as certain, partly from neglect of their +duty. None of them returned under its roof that day. But Kuengolt and +Dietegen did not miss them. She now with every minute recovered more +and more from the numbing effects of her recent miseries, and to feel +herself at last in truth the mistress of this house and clothed with +wifely dignity poured balm into her soul. Like a squirrel she busied +herself, hurried from chamber to chamber, from closet to closet, +counting her treasures, investigating all. Soon she returned dressed in +the splendid bridal costume of her mother, the one she had told +Dietegen about that night when they, both small children, had shared +the same cot on the night of his first arrival, and she shone like a +queen in it. But next she set the table, using the linen which her +mother had always reserved for festive occasions, and placed in +platters and dishes on the snowy surface what she had been able to find +in the house. + +All by themselves, with no noise from the outside world to disturb +them, they then sat down, she in her wreath, and he with weapons laid +aside, and ate the simple meal prepared by her. And then they went to +bed just as peacefully. + +"Thus luck may turn!" she said, the second time that day, as she lay +content by the side of her beloved. For after all there was a bit of +roguishness left in her heart, despite all she had gone through. + + +Dietegen rose to be a man of great and generally acknowledged +reputation as a warrior and military leader in those troubled days. He +was not much better than others of his ilk in those times, but rather +subject to similar failings. He became a doughty captain in the field, +taking service with or against various countries and belligerents, +according to what seemed to him good and where his own advantage lay. +He hired mercenaries, earned gold and rich booty, and so he drifted +from one war to another, conducted one campaign after the other, always +fighting and seeing the horrors of warfare closely. And in so doing he +did precisely what the first men of his country did in those warlike +days, and he grew steadily in power and influence, and his word and his +mailed fist were held in awe in all those parts. + +But with his wife he lived in uninterrupted concord and affection, and +the honor of his hearth was never questioned. And she bore him a number +of strong and militant children, all endowed with the vigorous spirit +alive in father and mother. And of their descendants there are +flourishing even at this day a number in sundry countries, rich in +substance and potency, in countries whither the warlike gifts of their +forbears had blown them. + +Violande on her part soon after Dietegen's and Kuengolt's union, which +latter had been in such large part brought about by herself, retired to +a veritable convent, and became a nun for good and all. To the children +of the couple she sent quite often all sorts of goodies and tidbits. +She also rather retained her habit of being interested in the great +events of the day, and in influencing them by dint of feminine +intrigues more or less. She liked to sit along with other guests of +distinction, respected as a woman of shrewd and subtle mind and with a +huge golden cross on her bosom, on banquet days at Dietegen's house, +and she would demurely advise Dietegen, now adorned not only with a +long and majestic beard, but also with the heavy golden chain denoting +knighthood, in matters of state. Her counsel would still flow as +mellifluously as ever, and her politeness remained proverbial. + +How Kuengolt looked at the beginning of the sixteenth century, after +many years of happy married life, may still be studied from the +painting of a great artist which hangs among others in a well-known +collection and which is expressly designated as her portrait. One sees +there a slim elegant patrician woman, the beautiful lineaments of the +face bespeaking plainly deep seriousness and uncommon understanding, +but tempered by a gentle and somewhat roguish humor. + +She also died before old age had claimed her, like her mother in +consequence of a chill. That was when her husband, in one of the +campaigns for the possession of Milan, had perished and was buried in +the cemetery next a small chapel in Lombardy. Kuengolt hastened there, +intending to have a monument in his honor erected; but indeed she spent +two long nights at his tomb, with a ceaseless rainstorm raging, thus +contracting a fever that carried her off within a couple of days, and +she thus lies next to her husband in Italian soil. + + + + + + ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE + + + + + ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE + + +Near the fine river which flows along half an hour's distance from +Seldwyla, rises in a long stretch a headland which finally, itself +carefully cultivated, is lost in the fertile plain. Some distance away +at the foot of this rise there lies a village, to which belong many +large farms, and across the hillock itself there were, years ago, three +splendid holdings, like unto as many giant ribbons, side by side. + +One sunny September morning two peasants were plowing on two of these +vast fields, the two which stretched along the middle one. The middle +one itself seemed to have lain fallow and waste for a long, long time, +for it was thickly covered with stones, bowlders and tall weeds, and a +multitude of winged insects were humming around and over it. The two +peasants who on both sides of this huge wilderness were following their +plows, were big, bony men of near forty, and at the first glance one +could tell them as men of substance and well-regulated circumstances. +They wore short breeches made of strong canvas, and every fold in these +garments seemed to be carved out of rock. When they hit against some +obstacle with their plow their coarse shirt sleeves would tremble +slightly, while the closely shaved faces continued to look steadfastly +into the sunlight ahead. Tranquilly they would go on accurately +measuring the width of the furrow, and now and then looking around them +if some unusual noise reached their ears. They would then peer +attentively in the direction indicated, while all about them the +country spread out measureless and peaceful. Sedately and with a +certain unconscious grace they would set one foot before the other, +slowly advancing, and neither of them ever spoke a word unless it was +to briefly instruct the hired man who was leading the horses. Thus they +resembled each other strongly from a distance; for they fitly +represented the peculiar type of people of the district, and at first +sight one might have distinguished them from each other only by this +one fact that he on the one side wore the peaked fold of his white cap +in front and the other had it hanging down his neck. But even this kept +changing, since they were plowing in opposite directions; for when they +arrived at the end of the new furrow up on high, and thus passed each +other, the one who now strode against the strong east wind had his cap +tip turned over until it sat in the back of the bull neck, while the +second one, who had now the wind behind him, got the tip of his cap +reversed. There was also a middling moment, so to speak, when both caps +of shining white seemed to flare skywards like shimmering flames. Thus +they plowed and plowed in restful diligence, and it was a fine sight in +this still golden September weather to see them every short while +passing each other on the summit of the hill, then easily and slowly +drifting farther and farther apart, until both disappeared like sinking +stars beyond the curve of the rise, only to reappear a bit later in +precisely the same fashion. + +When they found a stone in their furrows they threw it on the fallow +field between them, doing so leisurely and accurately, like men who +have learnt by habit to gauge the correct distance. But this occurred +rarely, for this waste field was apparently already loaded with about +all the pebbles, bowlders and rocks to be discovered in the +neighborhood. + +In this quiet way the long forenoon was nearly spent when there +approached from the village a tiny vehicle. So small it looked at first +when it began to climb up the height that it seemed a toy. And indeed, +it was just that in a sense, for it was a baby carriage, painted in +vivid green, in which the children of the two plowers, a sturdy little +youngster and a slip of a small girl, jointly brought the lunch for +their parent's delectation. For each of the two fathers there lay a +fine appetizing loaf in the cart, wrapped neatly in a clean napkin, a +flask of cool wine, with glasses, and some smaller tidbits as well, all +of which the tender farmer's wife had sent along for the hard-working +husband. But there were other things as well in the little vehicle: +apples and pears which the two children had picked up on the way and +out of which they had taken a bite or so, and a wholly naked doll with +only one leg and a face entirely soiled and besmeared, and which sat +self-satisfied in this carriage like a dainty young lady and allowed +herself to be transported in this way. This small vehicle after sundry +difficulties and delays at last arrived in the shade of a high growth +of underbrush which luxuriated there at the edge of the big field, and +now it was time to take a look at the two drivers. One was a boy of +seven, the other a little girl of five, both of them sound and healthy, +and else there was nothing remarkable about them except that they had +very fine eyes and the girl, besides, a rather tawny complexion and +curly dark hair, and the expression of her little face was ardent and +trustful. + +The plowers meanwhile had also reached once more the top, given their +horses a provender of clover, and left their plows in the half-done +furrow; then as good neighbors they went to partake jointly of the +tempting collation, and meeting there they gave greeting, for until +that moment they had not yet spoken to each other on that day. + +While they ate, slowly but with a keen appetite, and of their food also +shared with the children, the latter not budging as long as there were +eatables in sight, they allowed their glances to roam near and far, and +their eyes rested on the town lying there spread out in its wreath of +mountains, with its haze of shiny smoke. For the plentiful noonday meal +which the Seldwylians prepared each and every day used to conjure up a +silvery cloud of smoke surrounding the roofs and visible from afar, and +this would float right along the sides of their mountains. + +"These loafers at Seldwyla are again living on the fat of the land," +said Manz, one of the two peasants, and Marti, the other, replied: +"Yesterday a man called on me on account of these fallow fields." + +"From the district council? Yes, he saw me too," rejoined Manz. + +"Hm, and probably also said you might use the land and pay the rental +to the council?" + +"Yes, until it should have been decided whom the land belongs to and +what is to be done with it. But I wouldn't think of it, with the land +in the condition it's in, and told him they might sell the land and +keep the money till the owner had been found, which probably will never +be done. For, as we know, whatever is once in the hands of the +custodian at Seldwyla, does not easily leave it again. Besides, the +whole matter is rather involved, I've heard. But these Seldwyla folks +would like nothing better than to receive every little while some money +that they could spend in their foolish way. Of course, that they could +also do with the sum received from a sale. However, we here would not +be so stupid as to bid very high for it, and then at least we should +know whom the land belongs to." + +"Just what I think myself, and I said the same thing to the fellow." + +They kept silent for a moment, and then Manz added: "A pity it is, all +the same, that this fine soil is thus going to waste every year. I can +scarce bear to see it. This has now been going on for a score of years, +and nobody cares a rap about it, it seems, for here in the village +there is really nobody who has any claim to it, nor does anybody know +what has become of the children of that hornblower, the one who went to +the dogs." + +"Hm," muttered Marti, "that is as may be. When I have a look at the +black fiddler, the one who is a vagrant for a spell, and then at other +times plays the fiddle at dances, I could almost swear that he is a +grandson of that hornblower, and who, of course, does not know that he +is entitled to these fields. And what in the world could he do with +them? To go on a month's spree, and then to be as badly off as before. +Besides, what can one say for sure? After all, there is nothing to +prove it." + +"Indeed, yes, one might do harm by interfering," rejoined Manz. "As it +is we have to do with our own affairs, and it takes trouble enough now +to keep this hobo from acquiring home rights in our commune. All the +time they want to burden us with that expense. But if his folks once +have joined the stray sheep, let him keep to them and play his fiddle +for a living. How can we really know whether he is the hornblower's +grandson or no? As far as I'm concerned, although I believe I can +recognize the old fellow in his dark face, I say to myself: It is human +to err, and the slightest scrap of a legal document, a bit of a +baptismal record or something, would be to my mind better proof than +ten sinful human faces." + +"My opinion exactly," opined Marti, "although he says it is not his +fault that he never was baptized. But are we to lug our baptismal fount +around in the woods? No indeed. That stands immovable in the church, +and on the other hand, to carry around the dead we have the stretcher +which is always hanging from the wall. As it is, we are too many now in +our village and shall soon need another schoolmaster." + +With that the colloquy and the midday meal of the two peasants came to +an end, and they now rose and prepared to finish the rest of their +day's task. The two children, on the other hand, having vainly planned +to drive home with their fathers, now pulled their little vehicle into +the shade of the linden saplings close by, and next undertook a +campaign of adventure and discovery into the vast wilderness of the +waste fields. To them this wilderness was interminable, with its +immense weeds, its overgrown flower stalks, and its huge piles of stone +and rock. After wandering, hand in hand, for some time in the very +center of this waste, and after having amused themselves in swinging +their joined hands over the top of the giant thistles, they at last sat +down in the shade of a perfect forest of weeds, and the little girl +began to clothe her doll with the long leaves of some of these plants, +so that the doll soon wore a beautiful habit of green, with fringed +borders, while a solitary poppy blossom she had found was drawn over +dolly's head as a brilliant bonnet, and this she tied fast with a grass +blade for ribbon. Now the little doll looked exactly like a good fairy, +especially after being further ornamented with a necklace and a girdle +of small scarlet berries. Then she sat it down high in the cup on the +stalk of the thistle, and for a minute or so the two jointly admired +the strangely beautified dolly. The boy tired first of this and brought +dolly down with a well-aimed pebble. But in that way dolly's finery got +disordered, and the little girl undressed it quickly and set to anew to +decorate her pet. But just when the doll had been disrobed and only +wore the poppy flower on her head, the boy grasped the doll, and threw +it high into the air. The girl, though, with loud plaints jumped to +catch it, and the boy again caught it first and tossed it again and +again, the little girl all the while vainly attempting to recover it. +Quite a while this wild game lasted, but in the violent hands of the +boy the flying doll now came to grief, and sustained a small fracture +near the knee of her sole remaining limb. And from a small aperture +some sawdust and bran began to escape. Hardly had he perceived that +when he became quiet as a mouse, with open lips endeavoring eagerly to +enlarge the little hole with his nails, in order to investigate the +inside and find out whence the scattered bran came. The poor little +girl, rendered suspicious by the boy's sudden silence, now squeezed up +and noticed with terror his efforts. + +"Just look!" shouted the boy and swung the doll's leg right before his +playmate's nose, so that the bran spurted into her face. When she tried +to recover her doll, and pleaded and shrieked, he sprang away with his +prey, and did not desist before the whole leg had been emptied of its +filling and hung, a mere hollow shell, from his hand. Then, to crown +his misdeeds, he actually threw the remains of the doll away, and +behaved in a rude and grossly indifferent manner when the little girl +gathered up her treasure and put it weeping in her apron. + +But she took it out after a while and gazed with tears at what was +left. When she fathomed the full extent of the damage, she resumed +weeping, and it was particularly the ruined leg that grieved her; +indeed it hung just as limp and thin as the tail of a salamander. When +she wept aloud for sorrow the sinner evinced evidently some qualms of +conscience, and he stood stock-still, his features suffused with +anxiety and repentance. When she became aware of this state of the +case, she stopped crying and struck him several times with her doll, +and he pretended that she hurt him and exclaimed in a natural manner: +"Outch!" So naturally indeed did he do so that she was satisfied and +now engaged with him in the great sport of further and complete +destruction. Together they bored hole upon hole into the martyred body, +and let the bran out everywhere. This bran they collected with great +pains, deposited it on a big flat stone, and stirred it over and over +to ascertain its mysterious properties. + +The sole part of the doll still in its former state was the head, and +thus of course it attracted the special attention of the two children. +With great care they separated it from the trunk, and peered in +amazement at its hollow interior. Seeing this great hollow the thought +occurred to them to fill it up with the loose bran. With their tiny +baby fingers they stuffed and stuffed by turns the bran into the empty +space, and for the first time in its existence this head was filled +with something. The boy, however, evidently deemed the task incomplete; +probably it required some life, something moving, to satisfy him. So he +caught a huge blue fly, and while he held it tight he instructed the +little girl to let out the bran once more. Then he placed the fly into +the hollow head, and stopped up the exit with a small bunch of grass. +The two children held the head to their ears, and then put it solemnly +upon a great rock. Since the head was still covered with the scarlet +poppy, this receptacle of sound now closely resembled a soothsaying +oracle, and the two listened with great respect to queer noises it +emitted, in deep silence as if fairy tales were being told, holding +each other close meanwhile. But every prophet awakens not only respect +but also terror and ingratitude. The odd noises inside the hollow head +aroused the human cruelty of the children, and jointly they resolved to +bury it. They dug a shallow grave, and placed the head in it, without +first obtaining the views of the imprisoned fly on it. Then they +erected over the grave a monument of stone. But awe seized them at this +instance, since they had buried something living and conscious, and +they went away from the scene of this pagan sacrifice. In a spot wholly +overgrown with green herbs the little girl lay down on her back, being +tired, and began singing, over and over again, a few simple words in a +monotonous voice, and the little boy sat near and joined singing, and +he, too, was so tired as almost to fall asleep. The sun shone right +into the open mouth of the singing girl, illuminating her white little +teeth, and rendered her scarlet lips semi-transparent. The boy saw +these white teeth, and he held her head and curiously investigating +them he said: "Guess how many teeth you have." The little girl +reflected for a moment, and then she said at random: "A hundred!" "No," +said the boy, "two and thirty." But he added: "Wait, I will count +them!" + +And he started to count them, and counted over and over, and it was at +no time thirty-two, and so he resumed his count. The girl kept patient +for a long time, but at last she got up and said: "Now I will count +yours." And the boy lay down amongst the herbs, the little one above +him, and she embraced his head, he opened wide his mouth, and she began +to count: One, two, seven, five, two, one; for the little thing knew +not yet how to count. The boy corrected her and instructed her how to +go about it, and thus she also started again and again, and curiously +enough it was precisely this little game that pleased them best of all +that day. But at last the little girl sank down on the soft couch of +herbs, and the two children fell asleep in the full glare of the noon +sun. + +Meanwhile the fathers had finished their job of plowing and had changed +the stubble field into a brown plain, strongly scenting the earth. When +at the end of the last furrow the helper of one of the two wanted to +stop, his master shouted: "Why do you stop? Turn up another furrow!" +"But we're done," said the helper. "Shut your mouth, and do what I tell +you," replied the other. And they did turn once more and tore a big +furrow right into the middle, the ownerless, field, so that weeds and +stones flew about. But the peasant took no time to remove these. +Probably he considered that there was ample time for that some other +day. He was satisfied to do the thing for the nonce only in its main +feature. Thus he went up the height softly, and when up on top and the +delicious play of the wind now turned once more the tip of his white +cap backwards, on the other side of the fallow field the second peasant +was just plowing a similar furrow, the wind having also reversed the +tip of his cap, and cut also a goodly furrow off from the same fallow +field. Each of them saw, of course, what the other did, but neither +seemed to do so, and thus they once more strode away one from the +other, each falling star finally disappearing below the curve of the +ground. Thus the woof of Fate spins its net around us, "and what he +weaves no weaver knows." + + +One harvest after another went by and the two children grew steadily +taller and handsomer, and the ownerless fields as steadily smaller +between the two neighbors. With every new plowing the section between +lost hither and thither one furrow, without there being a word said +about it, and without a human eye apparently noting the misdeed. The +stones and rocks became more and more compact and formed already a +perfect and continuous ridge the whole length of the field, and the +shrubs and weeds on it had already attained such an altitude that the +two children, although they, too, had grown, could no longer see each +other across them. + +They no longer went to the field together, since ten-year-old Salomon, +or Sali, as he was mostly called, now kept with the bigger boys or the +men, and dusky Vreni,[1] though a fiery little thing, had already to +place herself under the supervision of those of her sex, for fear of +being laughed at as a tomboy. In spite of all that they improved the +occasion of the harvest, when everybody was out in the fields, to climb +once on top of the huge stony ridge, or breastworks, which ordinarily +divided them, and to wage a toy war, pushing each other down from it, +as the culmination of the battle. Even though they had no longer +anything more to do with each other, this annual ceremony was +maintained by them all the more carefully since the land of their +fathers did not meet anywhere else. + +However, now the fallow field was to be sold, after all, and the sum +realized provisionally kept by the authorities. The day came at last, +and the public sale took place on the spot itself. But beside Manz and +Marti there were present only a few curious ones, since nobody but they +felt like buying the odd piece of ground and cultivating it between the +property of the two peasants. For although these two belonged among the +best farmers of the village, and had done nothing but what two-thirds +of the others would also have done under like circumstances, still now +they were looked at askance because of it, and nobody wanted to be +squeezed in between them in the diminished and orphaned field. For most +men are so made as to be quite ready to commit a wrong which is more or +less in vogue, especially if the circumstances of the case facilitate +the wrong. But as soon as the wrong has been perpetrated by some one +else, they are glad that it was not they who had been exposed to the +temptation, and then they regard the guilty one almost as a warning +example in regard to their own failings, and treat him with a delicate +aversion as a sort of lightning rod of evil itself, as one marked by +the gods themselves, while all the while their mouths are watering for +the advantages thus accrued to him by means of his sin. + +Manz and Marti were, therefore, the only ones who seriously bid on the +ownerless land, and after a rather spirited contest, during which the +price was driven up higher than had been supposed, it was Manz to whom +it was awarded. The officials and the lookers-on soon drifted away, and +the two neighbors who had been busy on their fields after the sale, met +again, and Marti said: "I suppose you will now put your land, the old +and the new, together, halve it, and work it in that way? That, at +least, is what I should have done if I had got the land." + +"That indeed is what I mean to do," answered Manz, "for as one single +field it would not be easy to manage. But there is another thing I want +to say. I noticed the other day that you drove into the lower end of +this field that has now become mine, and that you cut off quite a +good-sized triangle. It may be you thought at the time that you +yourself would soon own the whole of it and that then it would make no +difference anyway. But since now it belongs to me, you will admit that +I cannot and will not permit such a curtailment of my property rights, +and you will not take it amiss if I again straighten out the right +lines. Of course you will not. There need be no hard feelings on that +score." + +Marti, however, replied just as coolly: "Neither do I look for any +trouble. For my opinion is you have purchased the field just as it is. +We both examined it before the sale, and of course it has not changed +within an hour or so." + +"Nonsense," said Manz, "what was done formerly, under different +conditions, we will not go into. But too much is too much, and +everything has its limit, and must be adjusted according to reason in +the end. These three fields have from of old been lying one next to the +other just as though marked with the measuring tape. You may think it +funny to put in such an unjustifiable objection or claim. We both of us +would get a new nickname if I let you keep that crooked end of it +without rhyme or reason. It must come back where it by right belongs." + +But Marti only laughed and said: "All at once so afraid of what people +may think? But then, it's easily arranged. I have no objection at all +to such a crooked-shaped bit of land. If you don't like it, all right, +we can straighten it out. But not on my side, I swear." + +"Don't talk so strange," replied Manz with some heat. "Of course it +will be straightened out, and that on your side. You can bet your +bottom dollar on that." + +"Well, we'll see about that," was Marti's parting remark, and the two +men separated without even looking at each other. On the contrary, they +gazed steadfastly in different directions, as if something of enormous +interest were floating in the air which it was absolutely necessary to +keep an eye on. + +On the next day already Manz sent his hired boy, also a wench working +for daily wage, and his own boy Sali out to the new field, to begin +removing the weeds and wild growths, and to pile them up at certain +places, so as to make the loading up and carting away of the crop of +stones all the easier. This noted a change in his character, this +sending the little boy, scarcely eleven, whom he had never before +driven to hard work such as weeding, out to field labor, and this +against the will of the mother. It seemed indeed, since he defended his +order with solemn and high-sounding words, as if he wanted to daze his +own better conscience. At any rate, the slight wrong thus done to his +own flesh and blood in insisting on onerous and unfit labor, was but +one of the consequences growing out of the original wrong done by him +for years in regard to the field itself. One by one more wrong, more +evil unfolded itself. The three meanwhile weeded away industriously on +the long strip of ground, and hacked away at the queer plants that had +been flourishing on the soil for so many years. And to the young people +doing this hard work, albeit it taxed and tried their strength greatly, +it really was something of an amusement, since it was no carefully +graduated and scaled task, but rather a wild job of destruction. After +piling all this vegetable refuse up in heaps and letting the sun dry +it, it was set afire with great jubilation and noise, and when the +murky flames shot up and broad swaths of smoke waved irregularly, the +young people jumped and danced about like a band of wild Indians. + +But this was the last festival on the ominous new field, and little +Vreni, Marti's young daughter, also crept out and joined the revels. +The unusual occasion and the spirit of rampant gaiety easily brought it +about that the two playmates of yore once more came in contact and were +happy and jolly at their bonfire. Other children, too, gathered, until +there was quite a crowd of youthful, excited merrymakers assembled. But +always it happened that, as soon as the two became separated in the +throng, Vreni would rejoin Sali, or Sali Vreni. When it was she it was +a treat to watch her face when she slipped her little hand in that of +the boy, her animated features and her glowing eyes fairly brimming +with pleasure. To both of them it seemed as though this glorious day +could never end. Old Manz, though, came out toward evening, to see what +had been accomplished, and despite the fact that their labor had been +done well and as directed, he scolded at the childish jollification and +drove the young people off his ground. Almost at the same time Marti +visited his own section adjoining, and noticing his little daughter +from afar, he whistled to her shrill and peremptory, and when she +obeyed the summons in frightened haste he struck her harshly in the +face without giving any reason. So that both little ones went home +weeping and sad; yet they were both still so much children that they +scarcely knew at this time why they were so sad or knew before why they +felt so happy. As for the rudeness of their fathers they did not +understand the underlying motive of it, and it did not touch their +hearts. + +During the next days the labor became harder and more strenuous, and +some men had to be hired for it. For the task was this time to load and +clean off the huge crop of stones along the entire length of the field. + +There seemed to be no end to this work, and one would have said that +all the stones in the world had been collected there. But Manz did not +have the stones carted off entirely from the field, but every load was +taken to the triangular piece of ground in dispute, where it was +dumped. It was dumped on the neatly plowed soil that Marti had toiled +over. Manz had previously drawn a straight line as boundary, and now he +loaded this spot down with all these thousands upon thousands of +pebbles, rocks and bowlders which he and Marti had for whole decades +thrown upon ownerless soil. The heap grew, and grew for days and weeks, +until there was a mighty pyramid of stone which, as Manz felt +convinced, his adversary would surely be loath to trouble with. Marti, +in fact, had expected nothing of the kind. He had rather thought that +Manz would go to work with his plow, as he used to do, and had +therefore waited to see him appear in that part. And Marti did not hear +of the rocky monument until almost completed. When he ran out in the +full blast of his anger, and saw it all, he hastened home and fetched +the village magistrate in order to protest against the accumulation of +stones on "his" ground, and to have the small bit of ground officially +declared as in litigation. + +From that sinister day on the two peasants sued and countersued each +other in court, and neither desisted until both were completely ruined. + +The thinking of these two ordinarily shrewd and fair men became +fundamentally wrong and fallacious. They were unable to view anything +henceforth as unrelated with their quarrel. Their arguments fell short +of the mark in everything. The most narrow sense of legality, of what +was permitted and what not, filled the head of each of them, and +neither was able to understand how the other could seize so entirely +without reason or right this bit of soil, in itself so insignificant. +In the case of Manz there was added a wonderful sense for symmetry and +parallel lines, and he felt really and truly shortened in his rights by +Martins insistence on retaining hold of a fragment of property laid out +on different geometrical lines. But both tallied in their conceptions +in this that the other must think him a veritable fool to try and get +the better of him in this particular manner, in this impudent and +unparalleled manner, since to make such an attempt at all was perhaps +thinkable in the case of a mere nobody, of a man without reputation and +substance, but surely not in the case of an upstanding, energetic and +able man, of one who was both willing and able to take care of his +interests. And it was this consideration above all that rankled and +festered in the heart of each of the two once so friendly neighbors. +Each felt himself hurt in his quaint sense of honor, and let himself go +headlong in the rush of passion and of combativeness, without even +attempting at any time to stop the resultant moral and material decay +and ruin. Their two lives henceforth resembled the torture of two lost +souls who, upon a narrow board, carried along a dark and fearsome +river, yet deal tremendous blows at the air, seize upon each other and +destroy each other finally, all in the false belief of having seized +and trying to destroy their evil fate itself. + +As their whole matter in dispute was in itself and on both sides not +clean or lucid, they soon got into the hands of all sorts of swindlers +and cutthroats, of pettifoggers and evil counselors, men who filled +their imagination with glittering bubbles, containing no substance +whatever. And especially it was the speculators and dishonest agents of +Seldwyla who found this case one after their own heart, and soon each +of the two litigants had a whole train of advisers, go-betweens and +spies around him, fellows who in all sorts of crooked ways knew how to +draw cash money out of them. For the quarrel for that tiny fragment of +soil with the stone pyramid on top on which already a perfect forest of +weeds, thistles and nettles had grown anew, was only the first stage in +a labyrinth of errors that little by little changed the whole character +and method of living for the two. It was singular, too, how in the case +of two men of about fifty there could shoot up and become fixed an +entire crop of new habits and morals, principles and hopes, all of a +kind which were foreign to their former natures, how men who all +their lives had been noted for their hard common-sense could become +day-dreamers and gullible oafs. + +And the more money they lost by all this the more they longed to +acquire more, and the less they possessed the more persistently they +endeavored to become rich and to shine before their fellows. Thus they +easily allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the clumsiest tricks, and +year after year they would play in all the foreign lotteries of which +Seldwyla agents were praising to them the splendid chances. But never +so much as a dollar came their way in prizes. On the other hand, they +forever heard of the big winnings in these lotteries made by others; +they also were told that it had hung just by a hair that they would +have done as well, and thus they were constantly bled by these leeches +of their scantier and scantier means. + +Now and then the rascally Seldwylians played a trick on the two deadly +enemies which for its peculiar raciness was specially relished by them, +the people of Seldwyla, that is. They would sell the two peasants +sections of the same lottery tickets, so that Manz as well as Marti +would build their hopes of a rich strike on precisely the same +fallacious foundation, and also in the end would feel the same +despondency from the same source. Half their time the two now spent in +town, and there each had his headquarters in a miserable tavern. There +they would indulge in foolish bragging and bluster, would drink too +much and play the Lord Bountiful to loafers that would flatter the +simpletons to the top of their bent, and all the while the dark doubt +would assail them that they who in order not to be reckoned dunces had +gone to law about a trifling object, had now really become just that +and furthermore, were so reckoned by general consent. + +The other half of the time they spent at home, morose and incapable of +steady work or sober reflection. Habitually neglecting their farm +labor, at times they tried to make up for that by undue haste, +overworking their help and thus soon unable to retain any respectable +men in their employ. + +Thus things went from bad to worse little by little, and within less +than ten years both of them were overburdened with debts, and stood +like storks with one leg upon their farms, so that the slightest change +might blow them over. But no matter how else they fared, the hatred +between them grew more intense every day, since each looked upon the +other as the cause of his misfortune, as his archenemy, as his foe +without rhyme or reason, as the one being in the world whom the devil +purposely had invented to ruin him. They spat out before each other +when they saw the adversary approaching from afar. Nobody belonging to +them was permitted to speak to wife, child or servants of the other, on +pain of instant brutal punishment. Their wives behaved differently +under these circumstances. Marti's wife, who came of good family and +was of a fine disposition, did not long survive the rapid downfall of +her house and family, sorrowed silently and died before her little +daughter was fourteen. The wife of Manz, on the other hand, altered her +whole character. Only for the worse, of course. And to do that all she +needed to do was to aggravate some of her natural defects, let them go +on, so to speak, without bridling them at all. Her passion for tidbits +and sweets became boundless; her love of gossip deteriorated into a +veritable craze, and she soon became unable to tell the truth about +anything or anybody. She habitually spoke the very contrary of what was +in her thoughts, cheated and deceived her own husband, and found keen +pleasure in getting everybody by the ears. Her original frankness and +her harmless delight in satisfying her feminine curiosity turned into +evil intrigue and the inclination to make mischief between neighbors +and friends. Instead of suffering patiently under the rudeness and +changed habits of her husband, she fooled him and laughed behind his +back in doing so. No matter if he now and then behaved with cruelty to +her and his household, she did not care. She denied herself nothing, +became more luxurious in her tastes as his money affairs grew steadily +more involved, and fattened on the very misfortunes that were rapidly +leading to complete ruin. + +That with all that the two children fared any better was scarcely to be +expected. While still mere human buds and incapable of meeting the +harsh fate slowly preparing for them, they were done out of their youth +and out of the hopes and advantages incident to their tender years. +Vreni indeed was worse off in this respect than Sali, the boy, since +her mother was dead and she was exposed in a wasted home to the tyranny +of a father whose violent instincts found no check whatever. When +sixteen Vreni had developed into a slender and charming young girl. Her +hair of dark-brown naturally curled down to her flashing eyes; her +swiftly coursing blood seemed to shimmer through the delicate oval of +her dusky cheeks, and the scarlet of her dainty lips made a strikingly +vivid contrast, so that everybody looked twice when she passed. And +despite her sad bringing-up, an ardent love of life and an +inextinguishable cheerfulness were trembling in every fibre of Vreni's +being. Laughing and smiling at the least encouragement she forgot her +troubles easily, and was always ready for a frolic and a romp if +domestic weather permitted at all, that is, if her father did not +hinder and torture her too cruelly. However, with all her +lightheartedness and her buoyant temperament, the deepening shadows +over the house inevitably enshrouded her all too often. She had to bear +the brunt of her father's soured disposition, and she had hardly any +help in trying to keep house for him after a fashion. On her young +shoulders mainly rested the embarrassments of a home constantly +threatened by importunate creditors and wild boon companions of her +dissolute father. And not alone that. With the natural taste of her sex +for a neat and clean appearance her father refused her nearly every +means to gratify it. Thus she had great trouble to ornament her pretty +person the way it deserved. But somehow she managed to do it, to +possess always a becoming holiday attire, including even a couple of +vividly colored kerchiefs that set off marvelously her darksome beauty. +Full of youthful animation and gaiety she found it hard to mostly have +to renounce all the social pleasures of her years; but at least this +prevented her from falling into the opposite extreme. Besides, young as +she was, she had witnessed the declining days and the death of her +mother, and had been deeply impressed by it, so that this had acted as +another restraint on her joyous disposition. It was almost a pathetic +sight to observe how notwithstanding all these serious obstacles pretty +Vreni instantly would respond to the calls of joy if the occasion was +at all favorable, as a flower after drooping in a heavy rainstorm will +raise its head at the first rays of the reappearing sun. + +Sali was not faring quite so ill. He was a good-looking and vigorous +young fellow who knew how to take care of himself and whose size and +physical strength alone would have forbidden harsh bodily mistreatment. +He saw, of course, how his parents were sliding down-hill more and +more, and he seemed to remember a time when things had been otherwise. +He even carried in his memory the picture of his father as that of an +upstanding, determined, serious and energetic peasant, while now he saw +before him all the while a man who was a gray-headed dolt, a +quarrelsome fool, who with all his fits of impotent rage and all his +brag and bluster was every hour more and more crawling backwards like a +crawfish. But when these things displeased him and filled him with +shame and sorrow, although he could not very well understand how it all +had come about, the influence of his mother came to deaden this feeling +and to fill him with an unjustified hope of improvement. She would +flatter her son in the same extravagant and wholly unreasonable manner +which had become her second nature in dealing with the new troubles +that were gradually overcoming the whole family. For in order to lead +her life of self-indulgence the more easily and to have one critical +observer the less, and to make her son her partisan, but also as a vent +for her love of display, she contrived to let her son have everything +he had a desire for. She saw to it that he was always dressed with +care, and entirely too expensively for the means of the family, and +indulged him in his pleasures. He on his part accepted all that without +much thought or gratitude, since he noticed at the same time how his +mother was juggling with and tricking his father, and how she was +continually telling untruths and vainly boasting. And while thus +allowing his mother to spoil him without paying much attention to the +process itself, no great harm was yet done in his case, since he had so +far not been much tainted by the vices and sins of mother or father. +Indeed, in his youthful pride he had the strong wish to become, if +possible, a man such as he recalled his own father once to have been, a +man of substance and of rational and successful conduct of his life. +Sali was really very much as his father knew himself to have been at +his own age, and a queer remnant of respectability urged the father to +treat his son well. In honoring him he seemed to honor his old self. +Confused reminiscences at such times drifted through his beclouded +soul, and they afforded him a species of subconscious delight. But +although in this manner Sali escaped some of the natural consequences +of the process of domestic decay which was going on around him, he was +not able to genuinely enjoy his life and to make rational plans for an +assured future. He felt well enough that he was resting on quicksand, +that he was neither doing anything much to bring himself into a +position of independence nor to look for any secured future; nor was he +learning much towards that end in the broken-down household and on the +neglected farm of his father. The work done there was done haphazard +style, and no systematic and orderly effort was made to get things done +in season. His best consolation, therefore, was to preserve his good +reputation, to work with a will on the farm when he could, and to turn +his eyes away from a threatening future. + +The sole orders laid upon him by his father were to avoid any sort of +intercourse with all that bore the name of Marti. All he knew about the +matter personally was that Marti had done wrong to his father, and that +in Marti's house precisely the same bitter enmity was felt towards the +Manz family. Of the details involved in this state of affairs, of the +manner in which the old-time good-neighborliness and friendship +existing for so many years between the two families had been turned +into hatred and scorn Sali knew nothing, these things having shaped +themselves at a period of his life when his boyish brain had been +unable to grasp their true meaning. He had perforce been content with +the verdict of his father, obeying the latter's prohibition to further +consort with the Marti people without attempting to ascertain the +underlying causes of the quarrel. So far he had not found it difficult +to do as his father told him, and he did not meddle in the least with +the whole business. He made no effort to either see or avoid Marti and +his daughter Vreni, and while he assumed that his father must be in the +right of it, he was no active enemy of the Martis. Vreni, on her part, +was differently constituted from the lad. Having to suffer much more +than Sali at home and feeling more deeply than he, woman-fashion, her +almost total isolation, she was not so ready to let a sentiment of +declared enmity enter her young and untried heart. In fact, she rather +believed herself scorned and despised by the much better clad and +apparently also much more fortunate former playmate. It was, therefore, +only from a feeling of embarrassment that she hid from him, and +whenever he came near enough to perceive her, she fled from him. He +indeed never troubled to glance at her. So it happened that Sali had +not seen the girl near enough for a couple of years to know what she +was like. He had no notion that she was now almost grown-up, and that +she was distinctly beautiful. And yet, once in a while he would +remember her as his little playmate, as the merry companion of his +carefree boyhood, and when at his home the Martis were mentioned he +instinctively wondered what had become of her and how she would look +now. He certainly did not hate her. In his memory she lived in a +shadowy sort of way as a rather attractive girl. + +It was his father, Manz, now who first had to go under. He was no +longer able to stave off his creditors and had to leave farm and house +behind. That he, though somewhat of better means originally than his +neighbor and foe, was first to collapse was owing to his wife, who had +lived in quite an extravagant style, and then he, too, had a son who, +after all, cost him something. Marti, as we know, had but a little +daughter who was scarcely any expense to him. Manz did not know what +else to do but to follow the advice of some Seldwyla patrons and move +to town, there to turn mine host of an inn or low tavern. It is always +a sad sight to see a former peasant of some substance, a man who has +been leading for many years a life of unremitting toil, it is true, but +also one of independence and usefulness, after growing old among his +acres, seek refuge from ill-fortune in town, taking the small remnants +of his belongings with him and open a poor, shabby resort, in order to +play, as the last safety anchor, the amiable and seductive host, all +the while feeling by no means in a holiday mood himself. When the Manz +family then left their farm to take this desperate step, it was first +apparent how poor they had already grown. For all the household goods +that were loaded on a cart were in a deplorable state, defective and +not repaired for many years. Nevertheless the wife put on her best +finery, when seating herself on top of the crazy old vehicle, and made +a face of such pride as though she already looked down upon her +neighbors as would a city lady of taste and refinement, while all the +while the villagers peeped from behind their hedges full of pity at the +sorry show made by the exodus. For Mother Manz had settled it in her +foolish noddle to turn the heads of all Seldwyla by her fine manners +and her wheedling tongue, thinking that if her boorish husband did not +understand how to handle and cajole the town folks, it was vastly +different with herself who would soon show these Seldwyla people what +an alluring hostess she would make at the head of a tavern or inn doing +a rushing business. + +Great was her disenchantment, however, when she actually set eyes on +this inn vaunted so much in advance by her addled spirits. For it was +located in a small side-street of a rather disreputable quarter of +Seldwyla, and the inn itself was one in which the predecessor, one of +several that had gone the same way, had just been forcibly ousted +because of being unable to pay his debts. His Seldwyla patrons had, in +fact, rented this mean public house for a few hundred dollars a year to +Manz in consideration of the fact that the latter still had some small +sums outstanding in town, and because they could find nobody else to +take the place at a venture. They also sold him a few barrels of +inferior wine as well as the fixtures which consisted in the main of a +couple of dozen glasses and bottles, and of some rude and hacked pine +tables and benches that had once been painted a hue of deadly scarlet +and were now reduced to a dingy brownish tint. Before the entrance door +an iron hoop was clattering in the wind, and inside the hoop a tin hand +was pouring out forever claret into a small shoppen vessel. Besides all +these luxuries there was a sun-dried bunch of datura fastened above the +door, all of which Manz had noted down in his lease. Knowing all this +Manz was by no means so full of hopes and smiling humor as his spouse, +but on the contrary whipped up his bony old horses, lent him by the new +owner of his farm, with considerable foreboding. The last shabby helper +he had had on his farm had left him several weeks before, and when he +left the village on this his present errand he had not failed to note +Marti who, full of grim joy and scorn, had busied himself with some +trifling task along the road where his fallen foe had to pass. Manz saw +it, cursed Marti, and held him to be the sole cause of his downfall. +But Sali, as soon as the cart was fairly on the way, got down, speeded +up his steps and reached the town along by-paths. + +"Well, here we are," said Manz, when the cart had reached its +destination. His wife was crestfallen when she noticed the dreary and +unpropitious aspect of the place. The people of the neighborhood +stepped in front of their housedoors to have a look at the new +innkeeper, and when they saw the rustic appearance of the outfit and +the miserable trappings, they put on their Seldwyla smile of +superiority. Wrathfully Mother Manz climbed down from her high seat, +and tears of anger were in her eyes as she quickly fled into the house, +her limber tongue for once forsaking her. On that day at least she was +no more seen below. For she herself was well aware of the sorry show +made by her, and all the more as the tattered condition of her +furniture could not be concealed from prying eyes when the various +articles were now being unloaded. Her musty and torn beds, +particularly, she felt ashamed of. Sali, too, shared her feelings, but +he was obliged to help his father in unloading, and the two made quite +a stir in the neighborhood with their rustic manners and speech, +furnishing the curious children with food for laughter. These little +folks, indeed, amused themselves abundantly that day at the expense of +the "ragged peasant bankrupts." Inside the house, though, things looked +still more desolate; the place, in fact, had more the looks of a +robbers' roost than of an inn. The walls were of badly calsomined +brick, damp with moisture, and beside the dark and poorly furnished +guest room downstairs there were but a couple of bare and uninviting +bedrooms, and everywhere their predecessor had left behind nothing but +spider's webs, filth and dust. + +That was the beginning of it, and thus it continued to the end. During +the first few weeks indeed there came, especially in the evenings, a +number of people anxious to see, out of sheer curiosity, "the peasant +landlord," hoping there would be "some fun." But out of the landlord +himself they could not get much of that, for Manz was stiff, +unfriendly, and melancholy, and did not in the least know how to treat +his guests, nor did he want to know. Slowly and awkwardly he would pour +out the wine demanded, put it before the customer with a morose air, +and then make an unsuccessful attempt to enter into some sort of +conversation, but brought forth only some stammered commonplaces, +whereupon he gave it up. All the more desperately did his wife endeavor +to entertain her guests, and by her ludicrous and absurd behavior +really managed, for a few days at least, to amuse people. But she did +this in quite a different way from that intended by her. Mother Manz +was rather corpulent, and she had from her own inventive brain composed +a costume in which to wait on her guests and in which she believed +herself to be simply irresistible. With a stout linen skirt she wore an +old waist of green silk, a long cotton apron and a ridiculous broad +collar around the neck. Out of her hair, no longer abundant, she had +twisted corkscrew curls ornamenting her forehead, and in the back she +had stuck a tall comb into her thin braids. Thus made up she mincingly +danced on the tips of her toes before the particular guest to be +entranced, pointed her mouth in a laughable manner, which she thought +was "sweet," hopped about the table with forced elasticity, and serving +the wine or the salted cheese she would exclaim smilingly: "Well, well, +so alone? Lively, lively, you gentlemen!" And some more of such +nonsense she would whisper in a stilted way, for the trouble was that +although usually she could talk glibly about almost anything with her +cronies from the village, she felt somewhat embarrassed with these city +people, not being acquainted with the subjects of conversation they +liked to touch on. The Seldwyla people of the roughest type who had +dropped in for something to laugh at, put their hands before their +mouths to prevent bursting out in her face, nearly suffocated with +suppressed merriment, trod upon each other's feet under the table, and +afterwards, in relating the matter, would say: "Zounds, that is a woman +among a thousand, a paragon!" Another one said: "A heavenly creature, +by the gods. It is worth while coming here just to watch her antics. +Such a funny one we haven't had here for a long while." + +Her husband noticed these goings on, with a mien of thunder, and he +would perhaps punch her in the ribs and say: "You old cow, what is the +matter with you?" + +But then she gave him a superior glance, and would murmur: "Don't +disturb me! You stupid old fool, don't you see how hard I am trying to +please people? Those over there, of course, are only low fellows from +among your own acquaintance, but if you don't interfere with me I shall +soon have much more fashionable guests here, as you'll see." + +These illusions of hers were illuminated in a room with but two tallow +dips, but Sali, her son, went out into the dark kitchen, sat down at +the hearth and wept about father and mother. + +However, these first guests had soon their fill of this kind of sport, +and began to stay away, and then went back to their old haunts where +they got better drink and more rational conversation, and there they +would laughingly comment on the queer peasant innkeepers. Only once in +a while now a single guest of this type would drop in, usually to +verify previous reports heard by him, and such a one found as a rule +nothing more exciting to do than to yawn and gaze at the wall. Or +perhaps a band of roystering blades, having heard the place spoken of +by others, would wind up a jolly evening by a brief visit, and then +there would be noise enough, but not much else, and the old couple +could often not even thus be roused from their melancholy. For by that +time both wife and husband had grown heartily sick of their bargain. +The new style of living felt to him almost as lonesome and cold as the +grave. For he who as a lifelong farmer had been used to see the sun +rise, to hear and feel the wind blow, to breathe the pure air of the +country from morning till night, and to have the sunshine come and go, +was now cooped up within these dingy, hopeless walls, had to draw in +his lungs with every breath the contaminated atmosphere of this +miserable neighborhood, and when he thus dreamed day-dreams of the wide +expanse of the fields he once owned and tilled, a dull sort of despair +settled down on him like a pall. For hours and hours every day he would +stare in a dark humor at the smoke-begrimed ceiling of his inn, having +mostly little else to do, and dull visions of a future unrelieved by a +single ray of hope would float across his saturnine mind. Insupportable +his present life seemed to him then. Then a purposeless restlessness +would come over him, when he would get up from his seat a dozen times +an hour, run to the housedoor and peer out, then run back and resume +his watch. The neighbors had already given him a nickname. The "wicked +landlord," they dubbed him, because his glance was troubled and fierce. + +Not long and they were totally impoverished, had not even enough ready +money left to put in the little in drink and provisions needed for +chance customers, so that the sausages and bread, the wine and liquor +that were ordered by guests had to be got on trust. Often they even +lacked the wherewithal to make a meal of, and had to go hungry for a +while. It was a curious tavern they were keeping. When somebody +strolled in by accident and demanded refreshment they were forced to +send to the nearest competitor, around the corner, and obtain a measure +of wine and some food, paying for it an hour or so later when they +themselves had been paid. And with all that, they were expected to play +the cheerful host and to talk pleasantly when their own stomachs were +empty. They were almost glad when nobody came; then each of them would +cower in a dark corner by the chimney, too lethargic to stir. + +When Mother Manz underwent these sad experiences she once more took off +her green silk waist, and another metamorphosis was noticed. As +formerly she had shown a number of feminine vices, so now she exhibited +some feminine virtues, and these grew with the evil times. She began to +practice patience and sought to cheer up her morose husband and to +encourage her young son in trying for remunerative work. She sacrificed +her own comfort and convenience even, went about like a happy busybody, +and chattered incessantly merrily, all in an attempt to put some heart +into the two men. In short, she exerted in her own queer way an +undoubted beneficial influence on them, and while this did not lead to +anything tangible it helped at least to make things bearable for the +time being and was far better than the reverse would have been. She +would rack her poor brains, and give this advice or that how to mend +things, and if it miscarried she would have something fresh to propose. +Mostly she proved in the wrong with her counsel, but now and then, in +one of the many trivial ways that her petty mind was dwelling on she +was successful. When the contrary resulted, she gaily took the blame, +remained cheerful under discouragement, and, in short, did everything +which, if she had only done it before things were past repair, might +have really cured the desperate situation. + +In order to have at least some food in the house and to pass the dull +time, father and son now began to devote their leisure time to the +sport of fishing, that is, with the angle, as far as it is permissible +to everybody in Switzerland. This, be it said, was also one of the +favorite pastimes of those decrepit Seldwylians who had come to grief +in the world, most of them having failed in business. When the weather +was favorable, namely, and when the fish took the bait most readily, +one might see dozens of these gentry wander off provided with rod and +pail, and on a walk along the shores of the river you might see one of +them, every little distance, angling, the one in a long brown coat once +of fashionable make, but with his bare feet in the water, the next +attired in a tattered blue frock, astride an old willow tree, his +ragged felt hat shoved over his left ear. Farther down even you might +perceive a third whose meagre limbs were wrapped in a shabby old +dressing gown, since that was the only article of clothing he had left, +his long tobacco pipe in one hand, and an equally long fishing rod in +the other. And in turning a bend of the river one was apt to encounter +another queer customer who stood, quite nude, with his bald head and +his fat paunch, on top of a flat rock in the river. This one had, +though almost living in the water during the warm season, feet black as +coal, so that it looked from a distance as if he had kept his boots on. +Each of these worthies had a pot or a small box at his side, in which +were swarming angle worms, and to obtain these they were industriously +digging at all hours of the day not actually employed in fishing. +Whenever the sky began to cloud up and the air became close and sultry, +threatening rain, these quaint figures could be seen most numerously +along the softly rolling stream, immovable like a congregation of +ancient saints on their pillars. Without ever deigning to cast a glance +in their direction, rustics from farm and forest used to pass them by, +and the boatmen on the river did not even look their way, whereas these +lone fishermen themselves used to curse in a forlorn way at these +disturbers of their prey. + +If Manz had been told twelve years before when he was still plowing +with a fine team of horses across the hillock above the shore, that he, +too, one day would join this strange brotherhood of the rod, he would +probably have treated such a prophet rather roughly. But even to-day +Manz hastened past those fishermen that were rather crowding one +another, until he stood, upstream and alone, like a wrathful shadow of +Hades, by himself, just as if he preferred even in the abode of the +damned a spot of his own choosing. But to stand thus with a rod, for +hours and hours, neither he nor his son Sali had the patience, and they +remembered the manner in which peasants in their own neighborhood used +to catch fish, especially to grasp them with their hands in the purling +brooks. Therefore, they had their rods with them only as a ruse, and +they walked upstream further and further, following the tortuous +windings of the water, where they knew from of old that trout, dainty +and expensive trout, were to be had. + + +Meanwhile Marti, though he had still nominal possession of his farm, +had likewise been drifting from bad to worse, without any gleam of +hope. + +And since all toil on his land could no more avert the final +catastrophe, and time hung heavy on his hands, he also had taken to +this sport of fishing. Instead of laboring in his neglected fields he +often would fish for days and days at a time. Vreni at such times was +not permitted to leave him, but had to follow him with pail and nets, +through wet meadows and along brooks and waterholes, whether there was +rain or shine, while neglecting her household labors at home. For at +home not a soul had remained, neither was there any need, since Marti +little by little had already lost nearly all his land, and now owned +but a few more acres of it, and these he tilled either not at all or +else, together with his daughter, in the slovenliest way. + +Thus it came to pass that he, too, one early evening was walking along +the borders of a rapid and deep brook, one in which trout were leaping +plentifully, since the sky was overhung with dark and threatening +clouds, when without any warning he encountered his enemy, Manz, who +was coming along on the other side of it. As soon as he made him out a +fearful anger began to gnaw at his very vitals. They had not been so +near each other for years, except when in court facing the judge, and +then they had not been permitted to vent their hatred and spite, and +now Marti shouted full of venom: "What are you doing here, you dog? +Can't you stay in your den in town? Oh, you Seldwylian loafer!" + +"Don't talk as if you were something better, you scoundrel," growled +Manz, "for I see you also catching fish, and thus it proves you have +nothing better to do yourself!" + +"Shut your evil mouth, you fiend," shrieked Marti, since to make +himself heard above the rush of waters he had to strain his voice. "You +it is who have driven me into misery and poverty." + +And since the willows lining the brook now also were shaken by the +gathering storm, Manz was forced to shout even louder: "If that is +true, then I should feel glad, you woodenhead!" + +And thus, a duel of the most cruel taunts went on from both borders of +the brook, and finally, driven beyond endurance, each of the two +half-crazed men ran along the steep path, trying to find a way across +the deep water. Of the two Marti was the most envenomed because he +believed that his foe, being a landlord and managing an inn, must at +least have food enough to eat and liquor to drink, besides leading a +jolly sort of life, while he was barely able to eke out a meal or two +on the coarsest fare. Besides, the memory of his wasted farm stung him +to violence. But Manz, too, now stepped along lively enough on his side +of the water, and behind him his son, who, instead of sharing his +father's grim interest in the quarrel, peeped curiously and amazedly at +Vreni. She, the girl, followed closely behind her father, deeply +ashamed at what she heard and looking at the ground, so that her curly +brown hair fell over her flushed face. She carried in her hand a wooden +fishpail, and in the other her shoes and stockings, and had shortened +her skirt to avoid its dragging in the wet. But since Sali was walking +on the other side and seemed to watch her, she had allowed her skirt to +drop, out of modesty, and was now thrice embarrassed and annoyed, since +she had not alone to carry all, pail, nets, shoes and stockings, but +also to hold up her skirt and to feel humiliated because of this bitter +and vulgar quarrel. If she had lifted her eyes and read Sali's face, +she would have seen that he no longer looked either proud or elegant as +hitherto his image had dwelt in her mind, but that, on the contrary, +the young man also wore a distressed and humbled mien. + +But while Vreni so entirely ashamed and disconcerted kept her eyes on +the ground, and Sali stared in amazement at this dainty and graceful +being that had so suddenly crossed his path, and who seemed so weighed +down by the whole occurrence, they did not properly observe that their +fathers by now had become silent but were both of them striving in +increased rage to reach the small wooden bridge a short distance off +and which led across to the other shore. + +Just then the first forks of lightning were weirdly illuminating the +scene. The thunder was rolling in the dun clouds, and heavy drops of +rain were already falling singly, when these two men, almost driven out +of their senses, simultaneously reached the tiny bridge with their +hurried and determined tread, and as soon as near enough seized each +other with the iron grip of the rustic, striking with all the power +they could summon with clenched fists into the hateful face of the +adversary. Blows rained fast and furious, and each of the combatants +gnashed his teeth with rage. + +It is not a becoming nor a handsome sight to see elderly men usually +soberminded and slow to act in a personal encounter, no matter whether +occasioned by anger, provocation or self-defense, but such a spectacle +is harmless in comparison with that of two aged men who attack each +other with uncontrolled fury because while knowing the other deeply and +well, now out of the depths of that very knowledge and out of a fixed +belief that the other has destroyed his very life, seize each other +with their naked fists and try to commit murder from unrequited +revenge. But thus these two men now did, both with hair gray to the +roots. More than fifty years ago they had last fought with each other +as lads, merely out of a youthful spirit of rivalry, but during the +half century succeeding they had never laid hands on each other, except +when, as good neighbors and fellow-peasants, they had grasped each +other's hand in peace and concord, but even that, with their rather dry +and undemonstrative ways, but rarely. After the first two or three +frenzied blows, they both became silent, and now they struggled and +wrestled in all the agony of senile impotence, their stiffened muscles +and tendons stretched with the tension, murder in their glaring eyes, +each groaning with the supreme effort to master the other. They now +attempted, both of them, to end the fearsome fight by pushing the other +over into the rushing flood below, the slender supports of the rails +creaking under the pressure. But now at last their children had reached +the spot, and Sali, with a bound, came to his father's help, to enable +the latter to make an end of the hated foe, Marti being just about +spent and exhausted. But Vreni also sprang, dropping all her burdens, +to the rescue, and after the manner of women in such cases, embracing +her father tightly and really thus rendering him unable to move and +defend himself. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she looked with +silent appeal at Sali, just at the moment when he was about also to +grasp old Marti by the throat. Involuntarily he laid his hand upon the +arm of his father, thus restraining him, and next attempted to wrest +his father loose. The combat thus grew into a mutual swaying back and +forth, and the whole group was impotently straining and pushing, +without either party coming to a rest. + +But during this confused jumbling the two young people had, interfering +between their elders, more and more approached each other, and just at +this juncture a break in the dark bank of clouds overhead let the +piercing rays of the setting sun reach the scene and illuminate it with +a blinding flash, and then it was that Sali looked full into the +countenance of the girl, rosy and embellished by the excitement. It was +to Sali like a glimpse of another, a brighter and more heavenly world. +And Vreni at the same instant, too, quickly observed the impression she +had made on her onetime playmate, and she smiled for the fraction of a +second at him, right in the midst of her tears and her fright. Sali, +however, recovered himself instantly, warned by the energetic struggles +of his father to shake off the restraining arm of his son. By holding +him firmly and by speaking with authority to his father, he managed to +calm him down at last and to push him out of the reach of the other. +Both old fellows breathed hard at this outcome of their desperate +fight, and began again to heap insults on one another, finally turning +away, however. Their children, though, were now silent in the midst of +their relief. But in turning away and separating they for a moment +glanced once more at each other, and their two hands, cool and moist +from the water and the rain, met and each noticed a slight pressure. + +When the two old men turned from the scene, the clouds once more +closed, darkness fell, and the rain now poured down in torrents. Manz +preceded his son upon the obscured wet paths, bent to the cold rain, +and the terrific excitement still trembled in his features. His teeth +were chattering, and unseen tears of defeated hatred ran into his +stubbly beard. He let them run, and did not even wipe them away, +because he was ashamed of them, and had no wish for his son to see +them. + +But his son had seen nothing. He went through rain and storm in an +ecstasy of happiness. He had forgotten all, his misery and the awful +scene just witnessed, his poverty and the darkness around him. In his +heart there was a happy song. Light and warm and full of joy everything +within him was. He felt as rich and powerful as a king's son. He saw +nothing but the smile of a second. He saw the beautiful face lit up by +the miracle of love. And he returned that smile only now, a half hour +later, and he laughed at the beautiful face and returned its gaze, +looking into the night and storm as into a paradise, the face shining +through the murk of rain like a guiding star. Indeed, he believed Vreni +could not help noticing his answering smile miles away, and was smiling +back at him. + + +Next day his father was stiff and sore and would not leave the house, +and to him the whole wretched meeting with his foe and the whole +development of the enmity between them, and the long years of misery +that had grown out of it suddenly seemed to take on a new form and to +become much plainer, while its influence spread around even in his +dusky tavern. So much so that both Manz and his wife were moving about +like ghosts, out of one room into another, into the cheerless kitchen +and the bedchambers, and thence back again into the equally bare and +dark guest room, where not a person was to be seen all day. At last +they both began to grumble, one blaming the other for things that had +gone wrong, dropping into an uneasy slumber from time to time from +which a nightmare would waken them with a start, and in which their +unquiet consciences upbraided them for past misdeeds. Only Sali heard +and saw nothing of all this, for his mind was entirely engrossed with +Vreni. Still the illusion was strong with him of being immeasurably +wealthy, but beside that he had a hallucination that he was powerful +and had learned how to conduct the most complicated and important +affairs in the world. He felt as if he knew all the wisdom on earth, +everything great and beautiful. And forever there stood before his +dreamy soul, clear and distinct, that great happening of the night +before, that wonderful creature with her enticing smile, that smile +which had shed a blinding flash of happiness on his path. The +consciousness of this great adventure dwelt with him like an +unspeakable secret, of which he was the sole possessor and which had +fallen to his share direct from heaven. It afforded him constant food +for thought and wonderment. And yet with all that it seemed also to him +that he had always known this would happen to him, and as if what now +filled him with such marvelous sweetness had always dwelt in his heart. +For nothing is just like this happiness of love, this sharing of a +mystery between two persons, which approaches human beings in the form +of unspeakable bliss, yet in a form so clear and precise, sanctioned +and sanctified by the priest, and endowed with a name so mellifluously +fine that no other word sounds half so sweet as Love. + +On that day Sali felt neither lonesome nor unhappy; where he went and +stood Vreni's image followed him and glowed in his inner self; and this +without a moment's respite, one hour after another. But while his whole +being was engrossed with the lovely image of the girl at the same time +its outlines constantly became blurred, so that, after all, he lost the +faculty of reproducing it clearly. If he had been asked to describe her +in detail he would have been unable to do it. Always he saw her +standing near him, with that wizard smile; he felt her warm breath and +the whole indefinable charm of her presence, but it was for all that +like something which is seen but once and then vanishes forever. Like +something the potency of which one cannot escape and yet which one +never can know. In dreaming thus he was able to recall fully the +features of her when still a tiny maiden, and to experience a most +pronounced pleasure in doing so, but the one Vreni of yesterday he +could not recall as plainly. If indeed he had never seen Vreni again it +might be that his memory would have pieced her personality together, +little by little, until not the slightest bit had been wanting. But now +all the strength of his mind did not suffice to render him this +service, and this was because his senses, his eyes, imperatively +demanded their rights and their solace, and when in the afternoon the +sun was shining brilliantly and warm, gilding the roofs of all these +blackened housetops, Sali almost unconsciously found himself on the way +towards his old home in the country, which now seemed to him a heavenly +Jerusalem with twelve shining portals, and which set his heart to +beating feverishly as he approached it. + +While on his way, though, he met Vreni's father, who with hurried and +disordered steps was going in the direction of the town. Marti looked +wild and unkempt, his gray beard had not been shorn for many weeks, and +altogether he presented indeed the picture of what he was: a wicked and +lost peasant who had got rid of his land and who now was intent on +doing evil to others. Nevertheless, Sali under these radically +different circumstances did not regard the crazed old man with hatred +but rather with fear and awe, as though his own life was in the hands +of this man and as though it were better to obtain it by favor than by +force. Marti, however, measured the young man with a black look, +glancing at him from his feet upwards, and then he went his way +silently. But this encounter came most opportunely to Sali. For seeing +the old man leaving the village on an errand it for the first time +became quite clear to him what his own object had been in coming. Thus +he proceeded stealthily on by-paths towards the village, and when +reaching it cautiously felt his way through the small lanes until he +had Marti's house and outbuildings right in front of him. + +For several years past he had not seen this spot so closely. For even +while he still dwelt in the village itself he had been forbidden to +approach the Marti farm, avoiding meeting the family with whom his +father lived on terms of enmity. Therefore he was now full of wonder at +what, just the same, he had had ample opportunity to observe in the +case of his own father's property. Amazedly he stared at this once +prosperous and well-cultivated farm now turned into a waste. For Marti +had had one section after another of his property sequestrated by +orders of the court, and now all that was left was the dwelling house +itself and the space around it, with a bit of vegetable garden and a +small field up above the river, which latter Marti had for some time +been defending in a last desperate struggle with the judicial power. + +There was, it is true, no longer any question of a rational cultivation +of the soil which once had borne so plentifully and where the wheat had +waved like a golden sea toward harvest time. Instead of that now there +was a mixed crop sprouting: rye, turnips, wheat and potatoes, with some +other "garden truck" intermingling, all from seed that had come from +paper packages left over or purchased in small quantities at random, so +that the whole cultivated space looked like a negligently tended +vegetable bed, in which cabbage, parsley and turnips predominated. It +was plainly to be seen that the owner of it, too lazy or indifferent to +do his farmer's work properly, had mainly had in mind to raise such +things as would enable him to live from day to day. Here a handful of +carrots had been torn out, there a mess of cabbage or potatoes, and the +rest had fared on for good or ill, and much of it lay rotting on the +ground. Everybody, too, had been in the habit of treading around and in +it all, just as he listed, and the one broad field now presented nearly +the desolate appearance of the once ownerless field whence had grown +all the mischief that had wrought havoc and brought the two neighbors +of old down so low. About the house itself there was no visible sign at +all of farm work. The stable stood vacant, its door hung loosely from +the broken staples, and innumerable spider's webs, grown thick and +large during the summer, were shimmering in the sunshine. Against the +broad door of a barn, where once were housed the fruits of the field, +hung untidy fishermen's nets and other sporting apparatus, in grim +token of abandoned farming. In the farmyard was to be seen not a single +chicken, pigeon or turkey, no dog or cat. The well only was the sole +live thing. But even its clear water no longer flowed in a regular gush +through the spout, but trickled through the broken tube, wasting itself +on the ground and forming dark pools on the soggy earth, a perfect +symbol of neglect. For while it would not have taken much time or +trouble to mend the broken tube, now Vreni was forced to use the water +she needed for her domestic tasks, for cooking and laundry work, from +the tricklings that escaped. The house itself, too, was a sad thing to +see. The window panes were all broken and pasted over with paper. Yet +the windows, after all, were the most cheerful-looking objects, for +Vreni kept them clean and shiny with soap and water, as shiny, in fact, +as her own eyes, and the latter, too, had to make up for all lack of +finery. And as the curly hair and the bright kerchiefs made amends for +much in her, so the wild growths stretching up toward windows and along +the jamb of the doorsills, and almost covering the very broken panes on +the windows, gave a charm to this tumbledown homestead. A wilderness of +scarlet bean blossoms, of portulac and sweet-scented flowers ran riot +along the house front, and these in their vivid colors clambered along +anything that would give them a hold, such as the handle of a rake, a +stake or broken rod. Vreni's grandfather had left behind a rusty +halberd or spontoon, such as were weapons much in vogue in his days, +for he had fought as a mercenary abroad. Now this rusty implement had +been stuck into the ground, and the willowy tendrils of the beanstalk +embraced it tightly. More bean plants groped their way up a shattered +ladder which had leaned against the house for ages, and thence their +blossoms hung into the windows as Vreni's curls hung into her pretty +face. + +This farmyard, so much more picturesque than prosperous, lay somewhat +apart from its neighbors, and therefore was not exposed so much to +their inspection. But for the moment as Sali stared and watched nothing +human at all was visible. Sali thus was undisturbed in his reflections +as he leaned with his back against the barndoor, about thirty paces +away, and studied with attentive mien the deserted yard. He had been +doing this for some time when Vreni at last appeared under the +housedoor and gazed calmly and thoughtfully before her as if thinking +deeply of only one matter. Sali himself did not stir but contemplated +her as he would have done a fine painting. But after a brief while her +eyes traveled towards him, and she perceived him. Then she and he stood +without motion and looked, looked just as if they did not see living +beings but aerial phenomena. But at last Sali slowly stood upright, and +just as slowly went across the farmyard and towards Vreni. When he was +but a step or so from her, she stretched out her hands toward him and +pronounced only the one word: "Sali!" + +He seized her hands speechlessly, and then continued gazing into her +face which had suddenly grown pale. Tears filled her eyes, and +gradually under his gaze she flushed painfully, and at last she said in +a very low voice: "What do you want here, Sali?" + +"Only to see you," he replied. "Will we not become good friends again?" + +"And our fathers, Sali?" asked Vreni, turning her weeping face aside, +since her hands had been imprisoned by him. + +"Must we bear the burden of what they have done and have become?" +answered Sali. "It may be that we ourselves can redeem the evil they +have wrought, if we only love each other well enough and stand together +against the future." + +"No, Sali, no good will ever come of it all," replied Vreni sobbingly; +"therefore better go your ways, Sali, in God's name." + +"Are you alone, Vreni?" he asked. "May I come in a minute?" + +"Father has gone to town for a spell, as he told me before leaving," +remarked Vreni, "to do your father a bad turn. But I cannot let you in +here, because it may be that later on you would not be able to leave +again without attracting notice. As yet everything around here is still +and nobody about. Therefore, I beg of you, go before it is too late." + +"No, I could not leave you without speaking," was his answer, and his +voice shook with emotion. "Since yesterday I have had to think of you +constantly, and I cannot go. We must speak to each other, at least for +half an hour or an hour; that will be a relief to both of us." + +Vreni reflected a minute. Then she said thoughtfully: "Toward sundown I +shall walk out toward our field. You know the one I mean--we have but +the one left. I must pick some vegetables. I feel sure that nobody else +will be there, because they are mowing all of them in a different +direction. If you insist on coming, you may come there, but for the +present go and take care nobody else sees you. Even if nobody at all +bothers any longer about us, they would nevertheless gossip so much +about it that father could not fail to hear it." + +They now dropped their hands, but once more seized them, and both also +asked: "How do you do?" + +But instead of answering each other they repeated the same phrase over +and over again, since they, after the manner of lovers, no longer were +able to guide or control their words. Thus the only answer each +received was given with the eyes, and without saying anything more to +each other they finally separated, half sad, half joyful. + +"Go there at once," she called after him; "I shall be there almost as +soon as yourself." + +Sali followed this advice, and went at once up the steep path that led +to the hill where the busy world seemed so far away and where the soul +expanded, to the undulating fields that stretched out far on both +sides, where the brooding July sun shone and the drifting white clouds +sailed overhead, where the ripe corn in the gentle breeze bobbed up and +down, where the river below glinted blue, and all these scenes of past +happiness filled his soul after a long dearth with peace and gentle +joy, and his griefs and fears were left below. At full length he threw +himself down amid the half-shade of the upstanding wheat, there where +it marked the boundary of Marti's waste acres, and peered with +unblinking eyes into the gold-rimmed clouds. + +Although scarcely a quarter hour elapsed until Vreni followed him, and +although he had thought of nothing but his bliss and his love, dreaming +of it and building castles in the air, he was yet surprised when Vreni +suddenly stood at his side, smiling down at him, and with a start he +rose. + +"Vreni," he exclaimed in a voice that trembled with love, and she, +still and smiling, tendered both her hands to him. Hand in hand they +then paced along the whispering corn, slowly down towards the river, +and then as slowly back again, with scarcely any words. This short walk +they repeated twice or thrice, back and forth, still, blissful, and +quiet, so that this young pair now resembled likewise a pair of stars, +coming and going across the gentle curve of the hillock and adown the +declivity beyond, just as had once, years and years ago, the accurately +measuring plows of the two rustic neighbors. But as they once on this +pilgrimage lifted their eyes from the blue cornflowers along the edge +of the field where they had rested, they suddenly saw a swarthy fellow, +like a darksome star, precede them on their path, a fellow of whom they +could not tell whence he had appeared so entirely without warning. +Probably he had been lying in the corn, and Vreni shuddered, while Sali +murmured with affright: "It's the black fiddler!" And indeed, the +fellow ambling along before them carried under his arm a violin, and +truly, too, he looked swarthy enough. A black crushed felt hat, a black +blouse and hair and beard pitchdark, even his unwashed hands of that +hue, he made the impression of a man carrying along an evil omen. This +man led a wandering life. He did all sorts of jobs: mended kettles and +pans, helped charcoal burners, aided in pitching in the woods, and only +used his fiddle and earned money that way when the peasants somewhere +were celebrating a festival or holiday, a wedding or big dance, and +such like. Sali and Vreni meant to leave the fiddler by himself. Quiet +as mice they slowly walked behind him, thinking that he would probably +turn off the road soon. He seemed to pay no attention to the two, never +turning around and keeping perfect silence. With that they felt a weird +influence coming from the fellow, so that they had not the courage to +openly avoid him and turning aside unconsciously they followed in his +tracks to the very end of the field, the spot where that unjust heap of +stone and rock lay, the one that had started the two families on their +downward road. Innumerable poppies and wild roses had grown there and +were now in full bloom, wherefore this stony desert lay like an +enormous splotch of blood along the road. + +All at once the black fiddler sprang with one jump on top one of the +irregular ramparts of stone, the rim of which was also scarlet with +wild blossoms, then turned himself around, and threw a glance in every +direction. The young couple stopped and looked up at him shamefaced. +For turn they would not in face of him, and to proceed along on the +same path would have taken them into the village, which they also +wished to avoid. + +He looked at them keenly, and then he shouted: "I know you two. You are +the children of those who have stolen from me this soil. I am glad to +see you here, and to notice how the theft has benefited you. Surely, I +shall also live to see you two go before me the way of all flesh. Yes, +look at me, you little fools. Do you like my nose, eh?" + +And indeed, he had a terrible nose, one which broke forth from his +emaciated swarthy face like a beak, or rather more like a good-sized +club. As if it had been pasted on to his bony face it looked and below +that the tiny mouth, in the shape of a small round hole, singularly +contracted and expanded, and out of this hole his words constantly +tumbled, whistling or buzzing or hissing. His small twisted felt hat, +shapeless and shabby, pushed over his left ear, heightened the uncanny +effect. This piece of his apparel seemed to change its form with every +motion of the queer-looking head, although in reality it sat immovable +on his pate. And of the eyes of this strange fellow nothing was to be +noticed but their whites, since the pupils were flashing around all the +time, just as though they were two hares jumping about to escape being +seized. + +"Look at me well," he then continued. "Your two fathers know all about +me, and everybody in the village can identify me by my nose. Years ago +they were spreading the rumor that a good piece of money was awaiting +the heir to these fields here. I have called at court twenty times. But +since I had no baptismal certificate and since my friends, the +vagrants, who witnessed my birth, have no voice that the law will +recognize, the time set has elapsed, and they have cheated me out of +the little sum, large enough all the same to permit my emigrating to a +better country. I have implored your fathers at that time, again and +again, to testify for me to the effect that they at least believed me, +according to their conscience, to be the rightful heir. But they drove +me from their farms, and now, ha! ha! ha! they themselves have gone to +the devil. Well and good, that is the way things turn out in this +world, and I don't care a rap. And now I will just the same fiddle if +you want to dance." + +With that he was down again on the ground beside them, at a mighty +bound, and seeing they did not want to dance he quickly disappeared in +the direction of the village; there the crop was to be brought in +towards nightfall, and there would be gay doings. + +When he was gone the young couple sat down, discouraged and out of +spirits, among the wilderness of stone. They let their hands drop and +hung their poor heads too. For the sudden appearance of the vagrant +fiddler had wiped out the happy memories of their childhood, and their +joyous mood in which they, like they used in their younger days, had +wandered about in the green and among the corn, had gone with him. They +sat once more on the hard soil of their misery, and the happy gleam of +childhood had vanished, and their minds were oppressed and darkened. + +But all at once Vreni remembered the fiddler's nose, and his whole odd +figure, and she burst out laughing loud and merry. She exclaimed: "The +poor fellow surely looks too queer. What a nose he had!" And with that +a charmingly careless merriment flashed out of her brown eyes, just as +though she had only been waiting for the fiddler's nose to chase away +all the sad clouds from her mind. Sali, too, regarded the girl, and +noticed this sunny gaiety. But by that time Vreni had already forgotten +the immediate cause of her gleefulness, and now she laughed on her own +account into Sali's face. Sali, dazed and astonished, involuntarily +gazed at the girl with laughing mouth, like a hungry man who suddenly +is offered sweetened wheat bread, and he said: "Heavens, Vreni, how +pretty you are!" + +And Vreni, for sole answer, laughed but the more, and out of the mere +enjoyment of her sweet temper she gurgled a few melodious notes that +sounded to the boy like the warblings of a nightingale. + +"Oh, you little witch," he exclaimed enraptured, "where have you +learned such tricks? What sorcery are you applying to me?" + +"Sorcery?" she murmured astonished, in a voice of sweet enchantment, +and she seized Sali's hand anew. "There's no sorcery about this. How +gladly I should have laughed now and then, with reason or without. Now +and then, indeed, all by myself, I have laughed a bit, because I +couldn't help it, but my heart was not in it. But now it's different. +Now I should like to laugh all the time, holding your hand and feeling +happy. I should like to hold your hand forever, and look into your +eyes. Do you too love me a little bit?" + +"Ah, Vreni," he answered, and looked full and affectionately into her +eyes, "I never cared for any girl before. And I have never until now +taken a good look at another girl. It always seemed to me as though +some time or other I should have to love you, and without knowing it, I +think, you have always been in my thoughts." + +"And so it was in my case," said Vreni, "only more so. For you never +would look at me and did not know what had become of me and what I had +grown into. But as for me, I have from time to time, secretly, of +course, and from afar, cast a glance at you, and knew well enough what +you were like. Do you still remember how often as children we used to +come here? You know in the little baby cart? What small folk we were +those days, and how long, long ago that all is! One would think we were +old, real old now. Eh?" + +Sali became thoughtful. + +"How old are you, Vreni?" he asked. "I should think you must be about +seventeen?" + +"I am seventeen and a half," answered she. "And you?" + +"Guess!" + +"Oh, I know, you are going on twenty." + +"How do you know?" he asked. + +"I won't tell you," she laughed. + +"Won't tell me?" + +"No, no," and she giggled merrily. + +"But I want to know." + +"Will you compel me?" + +"We'll see about that." + +These silly remarks Sali made because he wanted to keep his hands busy +and to have a pretext for the awkward caresses he attempted and which +his love for the beautiful girl hungered for. But she continued the +childish dialogue willingly enough for some time longer, showing plenty +of patience the while, feeling instinctively her lover's mood. And the +simple sallies on both sides seemed to them the height of wisdom, so +soft and sweet and full of their mutual feelings they were. At last, +however, Sali waxed bold and aggressive, and seized Vreni and pressed +her down into the scarlet bed of poppies by main strength. There she +lay panting, blinking at the sun with eyes half-closed. Her softly +rounded cheeks glowed like ripe apples and her mouth was breathing hard +so that the snow-white rows of teeth became visible. Daintily as if +penciled her eyebrows were defined above those flashing eyes, and her +young bosom rose and fell under the working four hands which mutually +caressed and fought each other. Sali was beyond himself with delight, +seeing this wonderful young creature before him, knowing her to be his +own, and he deemed himself wealthier than a monarch. + +"I see you still have all your teeth," he said. "Do you recall how +often we tried to count them? Do you now know how to count?" + +"Oh, you silly," smilingly rejoined Vreni, "these are not the same. +Those I lost long ago." + +So Sali in the simplicity of his soul wanted to renew the game, and +prepared to count them over once more. But Vreni abruptly rose and +closed her mouth. Then she began to form a wreath of poppies and to +place it on her head. The wreath was broad and long, and on the brow of +the nut-brown maid it was an ornament so bewitching as to lend her an +enchanting air. Sali held in his arms what rich people would have +dearly paid for if merely they had had it painted on their walls. + +But at last she sprang up. "Goodness, how hot it is here! Here we +remain like ninnies and allow ourselves to be roasted alive. Come, +dear, and let us sit among the corn!" + +And they got up and looked for a suitable hiding-place among the tall +wheat. When they had found it, they slipped into the furrows of the +field so that nobody would have discovered them without regular search, +leaving no trace behind, and they built for themselves a narrow nest +among the golden ears that topped their heads when they were seated, so +that they only saw the deep azure of the sky above and nothing else in +the world. They clung to each other tightly, and showered kisses on +cheeks and hair and mouth, until at last they desisted from sheer +exhaustion, or whatever one wishes to call it when the caresses of two +lovers for one or two minutes cease and thus, right in the ecstasy of +the blossom tide of life, there is the hint of the perishableness of +everything mundane. They heard the larks singing high overhead, and +sought them with their sharp young eyes, and when they thought they saw +one flashing along in the sunlight like shooting stars along the +firmament, they kissed again, in token of reward, and tried to cheat +and to overreach each other at this game just as much as they could. + +"Do you see, there is one flitting now," whispered Sali, and Vreni +replied just as low: "I can hear it, but I do not see it." + +"Oh, but watch now," breathed Sali, "right there, where the small white +cloud is floating, a hand's breadth to the right." + +And then both stared with all their might, and meanwhile opened their +lips, thirsty and hungry for more nourishment, like young birds in +their nest, in order to fasten these same lips upon the other if +perchance they both felt convinced of the existence of that lark. + +But now Vreni made a stop, in order to say, very seriously and +importantly: "Let us not forget; this, then, is agreed, that each of us +loves the other. Now, I wish to know, what do you have to say about +your sweetheart?" + +"This," said Sali, as though in a dream, "that it is a thing of beauty, +with two brown eyes, a scarlet mouth, and with two swift feet. But how +it really is thinking and believing I have no more idea than the Pope +in Rome. And what can you tell me about your lover? What is he like?" + +"That he has two blue eyes, a bold mouth and two stout arms which he is +swift to use. But what his thoughts are I know no more than the Turkish +sultan." + +"True," said Sali, "it is singular, but we really do not know what +either is thinking. We are less acquainted than if we had never seen +each other before. So strange towards each other the long time between +has made us. What really has happened during the long interval since we +grew up in your dear little head, Vreni?" + +"Not much," whispered Vreni, "a thousand foolish things, but my life +has been so hard that none of them could stay there long." + +"You poor little dear," said Sali in a very low voice, "but +nevertheless, Vreni, I believe you are a sly little thing, are you +not?" + +"That you may learn, by and by, if you really are fond of me, as you +say," the young girl murmured. + +"You mean when you are my wife," whispered Sali. + +At these last words Vreni trembled slightly, and pressed herself more +tightly into his arms, kissing him anew long and tenderly. Tears +gathered in her eyes, and both of them all at once became sad, since +their future, so devoid of hope, came into their minds, and the enmity +of their fathers. + +Vreni now sighed deeply and murmured: "Come, Sali, I must be going +now." + +And both rose and left the cornfield hand in hand, but at the same +instant they spied Vreni's father. With the idle curiosity of the +person without useful employment he had been speculating, from the +moment he had met Sali hours before, what the young man might be +wanting all alone in the village. Remembering the occurrence of the +previous day, he finally, strolling slowly towards the town, had hit +upon the right cause, merely as the result of venom and suspicion. And +no sooner had his suspicion taken on a definite shape, when he, in the +middle of a Seldwyla street, turned back and reached the village. There +he had vainly searched for Vreni everywhere, at home and in the meadow +and all around in the hedges. With increasing restlessness he had now +sought her right near by in the cornfield, and when picking up there +Vreni's small vegetable basket, he had felt sure of being on the right +track, spying about, when suddenly he perceived the two children +issuing from the corn itself. + +They stood there as if turned to stone. Marti himself also for a moment +did not move, and stared at them with evil looks, pale as lead. But +then he started to curse them like a fiend, and used the vilest +language toward the young man. He made a vicious grab at him, +attempting to throttle him. Sali instantly wrested himself loose, and +sprang back a few paces, so as to be out of the reach of the old man, +who acted like one demented. But when he perceived that Marti instead +of himself now took hold of the trembling girl, dealing her a violent +blow in the face, then seizing her by the back of her hair, trying to +drag her along and mistreat her further, he stepped up once more. +Without reflecting at all he picked up a rock and struck the old man +with it against the side of the head, half in fear of what the maniac +meant to do to Vreni, and half in self-defense. Marti after the blow +stumbled a step or two, and then fell in a heap on a pile of stones, +pulling his daughter down with him in so doing. Sali freed her hair +from the rough grasp of the unconscious man, and helped the girl to her +feet. But then he stood lifeless, not knowing what to say or do. + +The girl seeing her father lying prone on the ground like dead, put her +hands to her face, shuddered and whispered: "Have you killed him?" + +Sali silently nodded his head, and Vreni shrieked: "Oh, God, oh, God! +It is my father! The poor man!" + +And quite out of her senses she knelt down alongside of him, lifted up +his head and began to examine his hurt. But there was no flow of blood, +nor any other trace of injury. She let the limp body drop to the ground +again. Sali put himself on the other side of the unconscious old man, +and both of them stared helplessly at the pale and motionless face of +Marti. They were silent and their hands dropped. + +At last Sali remarked: "Perhaps he is not dead at all. I don't think he +is dead. That blow can never have killed him." + +Vreni tore a leaf off one of the wild roses near her, and held it +before the mouth of her father. The leaf fluttered a little. + +"He is still alive," she cried, "Run to the village, Sali, and get +assistance." + +When Sali sprang up and was about to run off, she stretched out her +hand towards him, and cried: "Don't come back with the others and say +nothing as to how he came by his injury. I shall keep silent and betray +nothing." + +In saying which the poor girl showed him a face streaming with tears of +distress, and she looked at her lover as though parting from him +forever. + +"Come and kiss me once more," she murmured. "But no, get along with +you. Everything is over between us. We can never belong to each other." +And she gave him a gentle push, and he ran with a heavy heart down the +path to the village. + +On his way he met a small boy, one he did not know, and him he bade to +get some people and described in detail where and what assistance was +required. Then he drifted off in despair, wandering at random all night +about the woods near the village. + +In the early morning he cautiously crept forth, in order to spy out how +things had gone during the night. From several persons early astir he +heard the news. Marti was alive, but out of his senses, and nobody, it +seemed, knew what really had happened to him. And only after learning +this his mind was so far at ease that he found the way back to town and +to his father's tavern, where he buried himself in the family misery. + + +Vreni had kept her word. Nothing could be learned of her but that she +had found her father in this condition, and as he on the next day +became again quite active, breathed normally and began to move about, +although still without his full senses, and since, besides, there was +no one to frame a complaint, it was assumed that he had met with some +accident while under the influence of drink, probably had had a bad +fall on the stones, and matters were left as they were. + +Vreni nursed him very carefully, never left his side, except to get +medicine and remedies from the shop of the village doctor, and also to +pick in the vegetable patch something wherewith to cook him and herself +a simple stew or soup. Those days she lived almost on air, although she +had to be about and busy day and night and nobody came to help her. +Thus nearly six weeks elapsed until the old man recovered sufficiently +to take care of himself, though long before that he had been sitting up +in bed and had babbled about one thing or another. But he had not +recovered his mind, and the things he was now saying and doing seemed +to show plainly that he had become weak-minded, and this in the +strangest manner. He could recall what had happened but darkly, and to +him it seemed something very enjoyable and laughable. Something, too, +which did not touch him in any way, and he laughed and laughed all day +long, and was in the best of humor, very different from what he had +been before his accident. While still abed he had a hundred foolish, +senseless ideas, cut capers and made faces, pulled his black peaked +woollen cap over his ears, down to his nose and his mouth, and then he +would mumble something which seemed to amuse him highly. Vreni, pale +and sorrowful, listened patiently to all his stories, shedding tears +about his idiotic behavior, which grieved her even more than his former +malicious and wicked tricks had. But it would nevertheless happen now +and then, that the old man would perform some particularly ludicrous +antics, and then Vreni, tortured as she was by all these scenes, would +be unable to help bursting into laughter, as her joyous disposition, +suppressed by all these sad events, would sometimes rend the bounds +which confined her, just like a bow too tightly strung that would +break. + +But as soon as the old man could once more get out of bed, there was +nothing more to be done. All day long he did nothing but silly things, +was grinning, smirking and laughing to himself constantly, turned +everything in the house topsy-turvy, sat down in the sunshine and +blared at the world, put out his tongue at everybody that passed, and +made long monologues while standing in the midst of the bean field. + +Simultaneous with all this there came also the end of his ownership in +the farm. Everything upon it had, of course, gone to wrack and ruin, +and disorder reigned supreme. Not only his house, but also the last bit +of land left him, pledged in court some time before, were now seized +and the day of forced sale was named. For the peasant who had claims to +these pieces of property, very naturally made use of the opportunities +now afforded him by the illness and the failing powers of Marti to +bring about a quick decision. These last proceedings in court used up +the bit of cash still left to Marti, and all this was done while he in +his weakness of mind had not even a notion what it was all about. + +The forced sale took place, and at its close, Marti being penniless and +bereft of sense, by the action of the village council, it was decided +to make him an inmate of the community asylum that had been founded +many years before for the precise benefit of just such poor devils as +himself. This asylum was located in the cantonal capital. Before he +started for his destination he was well fed for a day or two, to the +eminent satisfaction of the idiot, who had developed an enormous +appetite of late, and then was put on a cart drawn by a phlegmatic ox +and driven by a poor peasant who besides attending to this community +errand wanted to sell also a sack of potatoes at the town. Vreni sat +down on the same vehicle alongside of her father in order to accompany +him on this day of his being buried alive, so to speak. + +It was a sad and bitter drive, but Vreni watched lovingly over her +father, and let him want for nothing; neither did she grow impatient +when passers-by, attracted by the ridiculous behavior of the old man, +would follow the cart and make all sorts of audible remarks on its +inmates. Finally they did reach the asylum, a complex of buildings +connected by courts and corridors, and where a big garden was seen +alive with similarly unfortunate beings as Marti himself, all dressed +in a sort of uniform consisting of white coarse linen blouses and +vests, with stiff caps of leather on their foolish old heads. Marti, +too, was put into such a uniform, even before Vreni's departure, and +her father evinced a childish joy at his new clothes, dancing about in +them and singing snatches of wicked drinking songs. + +"God be with you, my lords and honored fellow-inmates," he harangued a +knot of them, "you surely have a palace-like home here. Go away, Vreni, +and tell mother that I won't come home any more. I like it here +splendidly. Goodness me, what a palace! There runs a spider across the +road, and I have heard him barking! Oh, maiden mine, oh, maiden mine, +don't kiss the old, kiss but the young! All the waters in the world are +running into the Rhine! She with the darkest eye, she is not mine. +Already going, little Vreni? Why, thou lookest as though death were in +thy pot. And yet things are looking up with me. I am doing fine. Am +getting wealthy in my old days. The she-fox cries with him: Halloo! +Halloo! Her heart pains her. Why--oh, why? Halloo! Halloo!" + +An official of the institution bade him hold his infernal noise, and +then he led him away to do some easy work. Vreni took her leave sadly +and then began to look up her ox cart with the peasant. When she had +found it she climbed in and sat down and ate a slice of bread she had +brought with her. Then she lay down and fell asleep, and a couple of +hours later the peasant came and woke her, and then they drove home to +the village. They arrived there in the middle of the night. Vreni went +to her father's house, the one where she had been born and had spent +all her days. For the first time she was all alone in it. Two days' +grace she had to get out and find some other shelter. She made a fire +and prepared a cup of coffee for herself, using the last remnants she +still had. Then she sat down on the edge of the hearth, and wept +bitterly. She was longing with all her soul to see and talk once more +to Sali, and she was thinking and thinking of him. But mingling with +these desires of hers were her anxieties and her fears of the future. +Thus sat the poor thing, holding her head in her hand, when somebody +entered at the door. + +"Sali!" cried Vreni, when she looked up and saw the face dearest to her +in the world. And she fell on his neck, but then they both looked at +one another, and they shouted: "How poorly you look!" For Sali was as +pale and sorrowful as the girl herself. Forgetting everything she drew +him to her on the hearth, and questioned him: "Have you been ill, or +have you also fared badly?" + +"No, not ill," said Sali, "but longing for you. At home things are +going fine. My father now has rare guests, and as I believe, he has +become a receiver of stolen goods. And that is why there are big doings +at our place, both day and night, until, I suppose, there will come a +bad end to it all. Mother is helping along, eager to have guests of any +kind at all, guests that fetch money into the house, and she tries to +bring some order out of all this disorder, and also to make it +profitable. I am not questioned about the matter at all, neither do I +care. For I have only been thinking of you all along. Since all sorts +of vagrants come and go in our place, we have heard of everything +concerning you, and my father is beside himself with joy, and that your +father has been taken to-day to the asylum has delighted him immensely. +Since he has now left you I have come, thinking you might be lonesome, +and maybe in trouble." + +Then Vreni told him all her sorrows in detail, but she did this with +such fluency and described the intimate details in such an almost happy +tone of voice as if what she was saying did not disturb her in the +least. All this because the presence of her lover and his solicitude +about her really rendered her happy and minimized her anxieties. She +had Sali at her side. And what more did she want? Soon she had a vessel +with the steaming coffee which she forced Sali to share with her. + +"Day after to-morrow, then, you must leave here?" said Sali. "What is +to become of you now?" + +"I don't know," answered Vreni. "I suppose I shall have to seek some +service and go away from here, somewhere in the wide world. But I know +I won't be able to endure that without you, Sali, and yet we cannot +come together. If there were no other reason it would not do because +you hurt my father and made him lose his mind. That would always be a +bad foundation for our wedded state, would it not? And neither of us +would ever be able to forget that, never!" + +Sali sighed deeply, and rejoined: "I myself wanted a hundred times to +become a soldier or else go far away and hire out on a farm, but I +cannot do it, I cannot leave you here, and after we are separated it +will kill me, I feel sure of it, for longing for you will not let me +rest day or night. I really believe, Vreni, that all this misery makes +my love for you only the stronger and the more painful, so that it +becomes a matter of life or death. Never did I dream that this should +ever be my end." + +But Vreni, while he was thus pouring out his burdened mind, gazed at +him smilingly and with a face that shone with joy. They were leaning +against the chimney corner, and silently they felt to the full the +intense ecstasy of communion of spirits. Over and above all their +troubles, high above them all, there was hovering the genius of their +love, that each felt loving and beloved. And in this beatitude they +both fell asleep on this cold hearth with its feathery ashes, without +cover or pillow, and slept just as peacefully and softly as two little +children in their cradle. + +Dawn was breaking in the eastern sky when Sali awoke the first. Gently +he woke Vreni, but she again and again snuggled near to him and would +not rouse herself. At last he kissed her with vehemence on her mouth, +and then Vreni did awaken, opened her eyes wide, and when she saw Sali +she exclaimed: "Zounds, I've just been dreaming of you. I was dreaming +I danced on our wedding-day, many, many hours, and we were both so +happy, both so finely dressed, and nothing was lacking to our joy. And +then we wanted to kiss each other, and we both longed for it, oh, so +much, but always something was dragging us apart, and now it appears +that it was you yourself that was interfering, that it was you who +disturbed and hindered us. But how nice, how nice, that you are at +least close by now." + +And she fell around his neck and kissed him wildly, kissed him as if +there were to be no end to it. + +"And now confess, my dear, what have you been dreaming?" and she +tenderly caressed his cheeks and chin. + +"I was dreaming," he said, "that I was walking endlessly along a +lengthy street, and through a forest, and you in the distance always +ahead of me. Off and on you turned around for me, and were beckoning +and smiling at me, and then it seemed to me I were in heaven. And that +is all." + +They stepped on the threshold of the kitchen door left open the whole +night and which led direct into the open, and they had to laugh as they +now saw each other plainly. For the right cheek of Vreni and the left +one of Sali, which in their sleep had been resting against each other, +were both quite red from the pressure, while the pallor of the opposite +cheeks was engrossed by the coolth of early morning. So then they +rubbed vigorously the pale cheeks to bring them into consonance with +the others, each performing that service for the other. The fresh +morning air, the dewy peace lying over the whole landscape, and the +ruddy tints of coming sunrise, all this together made them forget their +griefs and made them merry and playful, and into Vreni especially a gay +spirit of carelessness seemed to have passed. + +"To-morrow night then, I must leave this house," she said, "and find +some other shelter. But before that happens I should love to be merry, +real merry, just once, only once. And it is with thee, dear, that I +want to enjoy myself. I should like to dance with you, really and +truly, for a long, long time, till I could no longer move a foot. For +it is that dance in my dream that I have to think of steadily. That +dream was too fine, let us realize it." + +"At all events I must be present when you dance," said Sali, "and see +what becomes of you, and to dance with you as long as you like is just +what I myself would love to do, you charming wild thing. But where?" + +"Ah, Sali, to-morrow there will be kermess in a number of places near +by. Of two of these I know. On such occasions we should not be spied +upon and could enjoy ourselves to our heart's content. Below at the +river front I could await you, and then we can go wherever we like, to +laugh and be merry--just once, only once. But stop--we have no money." +And Vreni's face clouded with the sad thought, and she added blankly: +"What a pity! Nothing can come of it." + +"Let be," smilingly said Sali, "I shall have money enough when I meet +you." + +But Vreni flushed and said haltingly: "But how--not from your father, +not stolen money?" + +"No, Vreni. I still have my silver watch, and I will sell that." + +"Then that is arranged," said Vreni, and she flushed once more. "In +fact, I think I should die if I could not dance with you to-morrow." + +"Probably the best for us," said Sali, "if we both could die." + +They embraced with tearful smiles, and bade each other good-by, but at +the moment of parting they again laughed at each other, in the sure +hope of meeting again next day. + +"But when shall we meet?" asked Vreni. + +"At eleven at latest," answered Sali. "Then we can eat a good noon meal +together somewhere." + +"Fine, fine," Vreni cried after him, "come half an hour earlier then." + +But the very moment of their parting Vreni summoned him back once more, +and she showed suddenly a wholly changed and despairing face: "Nothing, +after all, can come of our plans," she then said, weeping hard, +"because I had forgotten I had no Sunday shoes any more. Even yesterday +I had to put on these clumsy ones going to town, and I don't know where +to find a pair I could wear." + +Sali stood undecided and amazed. + +"No shoes?" he repeated after her. "In that case you'll have to go in +these." + +"But no, no," she remonstrated. "In these I should never be able to +dance." + +"Well, all we can do then is to buy new ones," said Sali in a +matter-of-fact tone. + +"Where and what with?" asked Vreni. + +"Why, in Seldwyla, where they have shoe stores enough. And money I +shall have in less than two hours." + +"But, Sali, I cannot accompany you to all these shoe stores, and then +there will not be money enough for all the other things as well." + +"It must. And I will buy the shoes for you and bring them along +to-morrow." + +"Oh, but, you silly, they would not fit me." + +"Then give me an old shoe of yours to take along, or, stop, better +still, I will take your measure. Surely that will not be very +difficult." + +"Take my measure, of course. I never thought of that. Come, come, I +will find you a bit of tape." + +Then she sat down once more on the hearth, turned her skirt somewhat up +and slipped her shoe off, and the little foot showed, from yesterday's +excursion to town, yet covered with a white stocking. Sali knelt down, +and then took, as well as he was able, the measure, using the tape +daintily in encompassing the length and width with great care, and +tying knots where wanted. + +"You shoemaker," said Vreni, bending down to him and laughingly +flushing in embarrassment. But Sali also reddened, and he held the +little foot firmly in the palm of his hand, really longer than was +necessary, so that Vreni at last, blushing still a deeper red, withdrew +it, embracing, however, Sali once more stormily and kissing him with +ardor, but then telling him hastily to go. + +As soon as Sali arrived in town he took his watch to a jeweler and +received six or seven florins for it. For his silver watch chain he +also got some money, and now he thought himself rich as Croesus, for +since he had grown up he had never had as large a sum at once. If only +the day were over, he was saying to himself, and Sunday come, so that +he could purchase with his riches all the happiness which Vreni and +himself were dreaming of. For though the awful day after seemed to loom +darker and darker in comparison, the heavenly pleasures anticipated for +Sunday shone with all the greater lustre. However, some of his +remaining leisure time was spent agreeably by him in choosing the +desired pair of shoes for Vreni. In fact this job to him was a most +joyous diversion. He went from one shoestore to another, had them show +him all the women's footwear they had in stock, and finally bought the +prettiest pair he could find. They were of a finer quality and more +ornate than any Vreni had ever owned. He hid them under his vest, and +throughout the rest of the day did not leave them out of his sight; he +even put them under his pillow at night when he went to bed. Since he +had seen the girl that day and was to meet her again next day, he slept +soundly and well, but was up early, and then began to pick out his +Sunday finery, dressing with greater care than ever before in his life. +When he was done he looked with satisfaction at his own image in his +little broken mirror. And indeed it presented an enticing picture of +youth and good looks. His mother was astonished when she saw him thus +attired as though for his wedding, and she asked him the meaning of it. +The son replied, with a mien of indifference, that he wanted to take a +long stroll into the country, adding that he felt the effects of his +constant confinement in the close house. + +"Queer doings, all the time," grumbled his father with ill-humor, "and +forever skirmishing about." + +"Let him have his way," said the mother. "Perhaps a change of air and +surroundings will do him good. I'm sure to look at him he needs it. He +is as pale as a ghost." + +"Have you some money to spend for your outing?" now asked his father. +"Where did you get it from?" + +"I don't need any," said Sali. + +"There is a florin for you," replied the old man, and threw him the +coin. "You can turn in at the village and visit the tavern, so that +they don't think we're so badly off." + +"I don't intend to go to the village, and I have no use for the money. +You may keep it," replied Sali, with a show of indignation. + +"Well, you've had it, at any rate, and so I'll keep the money, you +ill-conditioned fellow," muttered the father, and put the coin back in +his pocket. + +But his wife who for some reason unknown to herself felt that day +particularly distressed on account of her son, brought down for him a +large handkerchief of Milan silk, with scarlet edges, which she herself +had worn a few odd times before and of which she knew that he liked it. +He wound it about his neck, and left the long ends of it dangling. And +the flaps of his shirt collar, usually worn by him turned down, he this +time let stand on end, in a fit of rustic coquetry, so that he offered +altogether the appearance of a well-to-do young man. Then at last, +Vreni's little shoes hid below his vest, he left the house at near +seven in the morning. In leaving the room a singularly powerful +sentiment urged him to shake hands once more with his parents, and +having reached the street, he was impelled to turn and take a last +glance at the house. + +"I almost believe," said Manz sententiously, "that the young fool is +smitten with some woman. Nothing but that would be lacking in our +present circumstances indeed." + +And the mother replied: "Would to God it were so. Perhaps the poor +fellow might yet be happy in life." + +"Just so," growled the father. "That's it. What a heavenly lot you are +picking for him. To fall in love and to have to take care of some +penniless woman--yes indeed, that would be a great thing for him, would +it not?" + +But Mother Manz only smiled slightly, and said never another word. + +Sali at first directed his steps toward the shore of the river, to that +trysting-place where he was to meet Vreni. But on the way he changed +his mind and steered straight for the village itself, hoping to meet +her there awaiting him, since the time till noon otherwise seemed lost +to him. + +"What do we have to care about gossips now?" he said to himself. "And +they dare not say anything against her anyway, nor am I afraid of +anyone." + +So he stepped into Vreni's room without any ceremony, and to his +delight found her already completely dressed and bedecked, seated +patiently on a stool, and awaiting her lover's coming. Nothing but the +shoes was lacking. + +But Sali stopped right in the centre of the room and stood like one +nailed to the spot, so beautiful and alluring Vreni looked in her +holiday attire. Yet it was simple enough. She wore a plain skirt of +blue linen, and above that a snow-white muslin kerchief. The dress +fitted her slender body wonderfully, and the brown hair with its pretty +curls had been well arranged, and the usually obstinate curls lay fine +and dainty about head and neck. Since Vreni had scarcely left the house +for so many weeks, her complexion had grown more delicate and almost +transparent; her griefs also had contributed toward that result. But at +that instant a rush of sudden joy and love poured over that pallor one +scarlet layer after another, and on her bosom she wore a fine nosegay +of roses, asters and rosemary. She was seated at the window, and was +breathing still and quiet the fresh morning air perfumed by the sun. +But when she saw Sali she at once stretched out her pretty arms, bare +from the elbow. And with a voice melodious and tender she exclaimed: +"How nice of you and how right to come already. But have you really +brought me the shoes? Surely? Well, then I won't get up until I have +them on." + +Sali without further ado produced the shoes and handed them to the +eager maiden. Vreni instantly cast her old ones aside, slipped the new +ones on, and indeed, they fitted excellently. Only now she rose quickly +from her seat, dandled herself in the shoes, and walked up and down the +room a few times, to be sure of their fit. She pulled up a bit her blue +dress in order to admire them the better, and with extreme pleasure she +examined the red loops in front, while Sali could not get his fill of +the charming picture the girl presented--the lovely excitement that +beautified her the more, the willowy shape, the gently heaving bosom, +the delicate oval of the face with its pretty features, animated with +feminine enjoyment of the moment, eager with the mere joy of living, +grateful to the giver of this last bit of finery that her childish soul +had longed for. + +"You are looking at my posy," she said. "Have I not managed to pick a +nice one? You must know these are the last ones I have managed to find +in this wasted place. But there was, after all, still left a rosebud, +over at the hedge in a sheltered spot a few of them and some other +flowers, and the way they are now gathered up and arranged one would +never think they came from a house decayed and fallen. But now it is +high time for me to leave here, for not a single flower is there, and +the whole house is bare." + +Then only Sali noticed that all the few movables still left were gone. + +"You poor little Vreni," he deplored, "have they already taken +everything from you?" + +"Yes," she said with a ludicrous attempt to be tragic, "yesterday, +after you had left, they came and took everything of mine away that +could be moved at all, and left me nothing but my bed. But that I have +also sold at once, and here is the money for it--see!" And she hauled +forth from the depths of an inside pocket a handful of bright new +silver coins. + +"With this," she continued, "the orphan patron said to me, I was to +find another service in town somewhere, and that I was to start out +to-day." + +"Really," said Sali, after glancing about in the kitchen and the other +rooms, "there is nothing at all left, no furniture, no sliver of fuel, +no pot or kettle, no knife or fork. And have you had nothing to eat +this morning?" + +"Nothing at all," answered Vreni, with a happy laugh. "I might have +gone out and got myself something for breakfast, but I preferred to +remain hungry, so I could eat a lot with you, for you cannot think how +much I am going to enjoy my first meal with you--how awfully much I am +going to eat with you present. I am almost dying with impatience for +it." And she showed him a row of pearly teeth and a little red tongue +to emphasize what she said. + +Sali stood like one enchanted. + +"If I only might touch you," murmured Sali, "I should soon show you how +much I love you, you pretty, pretty thing." + +"No, no, you are right," quickly rejoined Vreni, "you would ruin all my +finery, and if we also handle my flowers with some care my head and +hair will profit from it, because ordinarily you disarrange all my +curls." + +"Well, then," grumbled Sali, "let us go." + +"Not quite yet; we must wait till my bed has been fetched away. For as +soon as that is gone I am going to lock up the house, and I am never to +return to it. My little bundle I am going to give to the woman to keep, +to the one who has bought my bed." + +So they sat down together and waited until the woman showed up, a +peasant woman of squat shape and robust habit, one who loved to talk, +who had a stout boy with her that was to carry the bedstead. When this +woman got sight of Vreni's lover and of the girl herself in all her +finery, she opened mouth and eyes to their fullest, squared herself and +put her arms akimbo, shouting: "Why, look only, you're starting well, +Vreni. With a lover and yourself dressed up like a princess." + +"Don't I?" laughed Vreni, in a friendly way. "And do you know who that +is?" + +"I should think so," said the woman. "That is Sali Manz, or I am much +mistaken. Mountains and valleys, they say, do not meet, but people most +certainly do. But, child, let me warn you. Think how your parents have +fared." + +"Ah, that is all changed now," smilingly replied Vreni. "Everything has +been adjusted, and now things are smoothed out. See here, Sali is my +promised husband." And the girl told this bit of news in a manner +almost condescending, and bent toward the woman one of her bewitching +glances. + +"Your promised husband, is he? Well, well, who would have thought it?" +chattered the peasant woman, feeling highly honored at being the +recipient of this interesting intelligence. + +"Yes, and he is now a wealthy gentleman," went on Vreni, "for he has +just won a hundred thousand dollars in the lottery. Just think!" + +The woman gave a jump of surprise, threw up her hands, and shouted: +"Hund--hundred thousand--Hund--" + +Vreni repeated it with a serious face. + +The woman grew still more excited. + +"Hundred thousand--well, well. But you are making fun of me, child. +Hund--Is it possible?" + +"All right, as you choose," went on Vreni, still smiling. + +"But if it is true, and he gets all that money, what are you two going +to do with it? Are you to become a stylish lady, or what?" + +"Of course, within three weeks our wedding takes place--such a +wedding." + +"Oh, my goodness, is it possible? But no, you are telling me stories, I +know." + +"Well, he has already bought the finest house in Seldwyla, with a fine +vineyard and the biggest garden attached. And you must come and pay us +a visit, after we're there--I count on it." + +"Why, what a witch you are," the woman went on between belief and +unbelief. + +"You will see how nice it is there," continued Vreni unabashed. "A cup +of coffee you'll get, such as you never drank before, and plenty of +cake with it, of butter and honey." + +"Oh, you lucky duck!" shrieked the woman, "depend upon my coming, of +course." And she made an eager face, as though she already saw spread +before her all these dainties. + +"But if you should happen to come at noontime," went on Vreni in her +fanciful tale, "and you would be tired from marketing, you shall have a +bowl of strong broth and a bottle of our extra wine, the one with the +blue seal." + +"That will certainly do me good," said the woman. + +"And there shall be no lack of some candy and white wheaten rolls, for +your little ones at home." + +"I think I can taste it already," answered the woman, and she turned +her eyes heavenwards. + +"Perhaps a pretty kerchief, or the remnant of a bolt of extra fine +silk, or a costly ribbon or two for your skirts, or enough for an apron +I suppose will be found, if we rummage in my drawers and trunks +together sometime when we are talking things over." + +The woman turned completely on her heels and shook her skirts with a +jubilant yodel. + +"And in case your husband could start in the cattle dealing way, and +needed a bit of capital for it, you would know where to apply, would +you not? My dear Sali will always be glad to invest some of his +superfluous money in such a manner. And I myself might add a few +pennies from my savings to help out a good and intimate gossip, you may +be certain." + +By this time the last faint doubts had vanished. The woman wrung her +uncouth hands, and said, with a great deal of sentiment: "That's what I +have always been saying, you are a square and honest and beautiful +girl! May the Lord always be good to you and reward you for what you +are going to do for me!" + +"But on my part, I must insist that you, too, treat me well." + +"Surely you have a right to expect that," said the woman. + +"And that you at all times offer me first all your produce, be it fruit +or potatoes, or vegetables, and to do this before you take them to the +public market, so that I may always be sure of having a real peasant +woman on hand, one upon whom I may rely. Whatever anybody else is +willing to pay you for your produce, I will also be willing to give. +You know me. Why, there is nothing nicer than a wealthy city lady, one +who sits within town walls and cannot know prices and conditions there, +and yet needs so many things in her household, and an honest and +well-posted woman from the country, experienced in all that concerns +her, who are bound together by durable friendship and a community of +interests. The city lady profits from it at all sorts of occasions, as +for example at weddings and baptisms, at seasons of illness or crop +failure, at holidays and famine time, or inundations, from which the +Lord preserve us!" + +"From which the Lord preserve us!" repeated the woman solemnly, +sobbing and wiping her wet face on her ample apron. "But what a +sensible and well-informed little wife you'll make, to be sure! Without +doubt you will live as happily as a mouse in the cheese, or there is no +justice in this world. Handsome, clean, smart and wise, fit for and +willing to tackle all work at any time. None is as good-looking and as +fine as thou art, no, not in the whole village, and even some distance +further away. And who has got you for wife can congratulate himself; he +is bound to be in paradise, or he is a scoundrel, and he will have me +to deal with. Listen, Sali, do not fail to be nice to Vreni, or you +will hear a word from me, you lucky devil, to break such a rose without +thorns as this one here!" + +"For to-day, my dear woman," concluded Vreni, "take this bundle along, +as we agreed yesterday, and keep it till I send for it. But it may be +that I myself come for it, in my own carriage, and get it, if you have +no objection. A drink of milk you will not refuse me in that case, and +a nice cake, such as perhaps an almond tart, I shall probably bring +along myself." + +"You blessed child, give it here, your bundle," the peasant woman +quavered, still completely under the influence of Vreni's eloquence. + +Vreni therefore deposited on top of the bedding which the woman had +already tied up, a huge bag containing all the girl's belongings, so +that the stout-limbed woman was bearing a perfect tower of shaking and +trembling baggage on her head. + +"It is almost too much for me to carry at once," she complained. "Could +I not come again and divide the load in halves?" she wanted to know. + +"No, no," answered Vreni, "we must leave here at once, for we have to +visit a whole number of wealthy relatives, and some of these are far +away, the kind, you know, who have now recognized us since we have +become rich ourselves. You know how the world wags." + +"Yes, indeed," said the woman, "I do know, and so God keep you, and +think of me now and then in your glorious new state." + +Then the peasant woman trundled off with her monstrously high tower of +bundles, preserving its equilibrium by skillfully balancing the weight, +and behind her trudged her boy, who stood up in the center of Vreni's +gaily painted bedstead, his hard head braced against the baldaquin of +it in which the eye beheld stars and suns in a firmament of +multicolored muslin, and like another Samson, grasping with his red +fists the two prettily carved slender pillars in front which supported +the whole. As Vreni, leaning against Sali, watched the procession +meandering down between the gardens of the nearer houses, and the +aforesaid little temple forming part of her whilom bedstead, she +remarked: "That would still make a fine little arbor or garden pavilion +if placed in the midst of a sunny garden, with a small table and a +bench inside, and quickly growing vines planted around. Eh, Sali, +wouldn't you like to sit there with me in the shade?" + +"Why, yes, Vreni," said he, smiling, "especially if the vines once had +grown to a size." + +"But why not go now?" continued she. "Nothing more is holding us here." + +"True," he assented. "Come, then, and lock up the house. But to whom +will you deliver up the key?" + +Vreni looked around. "Here to this halberd let us hang it. For more +than a century it has been in our house, as I've often heard father +say. Now it stands at the door as the last sentinel." + +So they hung the rusty key of the housedoor to one of the rustier +curves of the stout weapon, which was fairly overgrown with bean vines, +and sallied forth. + +But after all Vreni grew faint, and Sali had to support her the first +score steps, the parting with the place where her cradle had stood +making her sad. But she did not look back. + +"Where are we bound for first?" she wanted to know. + +"Let us make a regular excursion across the country," said Sali, "and +stop at a spot where we shall be comfortable all day long. And don't +let us hurry. Towards evening we shall easily be able to find a dance +going on." + +"Good," answered Vreni. "Thus we shall be together the whole day, and +go where we like. But above all, I feel quite faint. Let us stop in the +next village and get some coffee." + +"Of course," said the young man. "But let us first get away from here." + +Soon they were in the open, fields of ripe, waving corn or else of +fresh stubble around them, and went along, quietly and full of deep +contentment, close to each other, breathing the pure air as though +freed from prison walls. It was a delicious Sunday morning in +September. There was not a cloud to be seen in the sky of deep azure, +and in the distance the hills and woods were enwrapped in a delicate +haze, so that the whole landscape looked more solemn and mysterious. +From everywhere the tolling of the church bells was heard, the +harmonious deep tones of a big swinging bell belonging to a wealthy +congregation, or the talkative two small bells of a poor village that +made fast time to create any impression at all. The lovers forgot +completely as to what was to become of them at the end of this rare +day, forgot the disturbing uncertainties of their young lives, and gave +themselves up completely to the intoxicating delights of the moment, +sank their very souls in a calm joy that knew no words and no fears. +Neatly clothed, free to come or go, like two happy ones who before God +and men belong to each other by all rights, they went forth into the +still Sunday country side. Each slight sound or call, reverberating and +finally losing itself in the general silence, shook their hearts as +though the strings of a harp had been touched by divine fingers. For +Love is a musical instrument which makes resound the farthest and the +most indifferent subjects and changes them into a music all its own. + +Though both were hungry and faint, the half hour's walk to the next +village seemed to them but a step, and they entered slowly the little +inn that stood at the entrance to the place. + +Sali ordered a substantial and appetizing breakfast, and while it was +being prepared they observed, quiet as two mice, the interior of this +homely place of entertainment, everything in it being scrupulously +clean and orderly, from the walls and tables and napkins to the hearth +and floor. The guest room itself was large and airy, and the window +panes glittered in the furtive rays of the sun. The host of the inn was +at the same time a baker, and his last baking, just out of the oven, +spread a delicious odor through the whole house. Stacks of fresh loaves +were carried past them in clean baskets, since after church service the +members of the congregation were in the habit of getting here their +white bread or to drink their noon shoppen. The hostess, a rather +handsome and neat woman, dressed in their Sunday finery all her little +brood of children, leisurely and pleasantly, and as she was done with +one more of the little ones, the latter, proud and glad, would come +running to Vreni, showing her all their finery, and innocently boasting +and bragging of their belongings and of all else they held precious. + +When at last the fragrant coffee was brought and served for them, +together with other good things, at a convenient table, the two young +people sat down somewhat embarrassed, just as if they had been invited +as honored guests to do so. But they got over this mood, and whispered +to each other modestly but happily, feeling the joy of each other's +presence. And oh, how Vreni enjoyed her breakfast, the strong coffee, +the cream, the fresh rolls still warm from the oven, the rich butter +and the honey, the omelet, and all the other splendid things dished up +for them. Delicious it all tasted, not only because she had been really +hungry, but because she could look all the while at Sali, and she ate +and ate, as if she had been fasting for a whole year. + +With that she also took pleasure in the pretty service, the fine cups +and saucers and dishes, the dainty silver spoons, and the snowy linen. +For the hostess seemed to have made up her mind about these two, and +she evidently regarded them as young people of good family, who were to +be waited upon in proper style, and several times she came and sat down +by them, chatting most agreeably, and both Sali and Vreni answered her +sensibly, whereat the woman became still more affable. And Vreni felt +the wholesome influence of all this so strongly, and a sense of snug +comfort coursed so pleasantly through her veins that she in her mind +found it hard to choose between the delights of wandering about in the +woods and fields, hand in hand with her lover, or remaining for some +time longer here in this inn, in this haven of rest and creature +comfort, honored and respected and dreaming herself into the illusion +of owning such a nice home as this herself. + +But Sali himself rendered the choice easier, for in a perfectly proper +and rather husbandlike manner he urged departure, just as though they +had duties to fulfil elsewhere. Both host and hostess saw the young +couple to the door, and bade them good-by in the most orthodox and +well-meaning way, and Vreni, too, showed her manners and reciprocated +their courtesy like one to the manner born, then following Sali in most +decent and moral style. But even after reaching the open country once +more and entering an oak forest a couple of miles long, both of them +were still under the influence of the spell, and they went along in a +dreamy mood, just as though they both did not come from homes destroyed +and filled with hatred and discord, but from happy and harmonious +homes, expecting from life the near fulfilment of all their rosy hopes. + +Vreni bent her pretty head down on her flower-bedecked bosom, deep in +thought, and went along the smooth, damp woodpath with hands carefully +held along her sides, while Sali stepped along elastic and upright, +quick and thoughtful, his eyes fastened to the oak trunks ahead of him, +like a well-to-do peasant reflecting on the problem which of these +trees it would best pay to cut down and which to leave. But at last +they awoke from these vain dreams, glanced at each other and discovered +that they were still maintaining the attitude with which they had left +the inn. Then they both blushed and their heads drooped in melancholy +fashion. Youth, however, soon reasserted itself. The woods were green, +the sky overhead faultlessly blue, and they were alone by themselves in +the world, and thus they soon drifted back into that train of thought. +But they did not long remain by themselves, since this attractive +forest road began to be alive with groups and couples out for a bracing +walk in the cool shade, most of them returning from service in church, +and nearly all of these were singing gay worldly tunes, trifling and +joking with each other. For in these parts it so happens that the +rustics have their customary walks and promenades as well as the city +dwellers, to which they resort at leisure, only with this great +difference that their pleasure grounds cost nothing to maintain and +that these are finer in every way, since Nature alone has made them. +Not alone do they stroll about on Sundays through fields and meadows +and woods with a peculiar sense of freedom and recreation, taking stock +of their ripening crops and the prospects of the harvest to come, but +they also choose with unerring taste excursions along the edge of +forest or meadow, hill or dale, sit down for a brief rest on the summit +of a height, whence they enjoy a fine view, or sing in chorus at +another suitable spot, and certainly obtain fully as much, if not more, +pleasure out of all this as town folk do. And since they do all this, +not as labor but diversion, one must conclude that these rustics, +despite of what has often been claimed to the contrary, are lovers of +nature, aside from the strictly utilitarian view of it. And always they +break off something green and living, young and old, even weak and +decrepit women, when they revisit the scenes of long ago, and the same +spirit is seen in the habit that these country people have, including +sedate men of business, of cutting for themselves a slender rod of +hazel, or a snappy cane, whenever they walk through woods or forest, +and these they will peel all but a small bunch of green leaves at the +point. Such rods or twigs they will bear as though it were a sceptre, +and when they enter an office or public place they will put them in a +corner of the room, and never forget to get them again, even after the +most serious and important matters have been discussed, and to take +them along with them home. And it is then only the privilege of the +youngest of their boys to seize it, break it, play with it, in fine, +destroy it. + +When Sali and Vreni noticed these many couples out for a holiday +stroll, they laughed to themselves, and rejoiced that they, too, were +such a happy pair; they lost themselves on side paths that led away +from every noise, and there they felt protected by the green solitude. +They remained where they liked, went on or rested again for a spell, +and in unison with the sky overhead which was cloudless, no carking +care came to disturb their serenity. This state of perfect, unalloyed +bliss lasted for them for hours, and they for the time forgot wholly +whence they came and whither they were going, and behaved with such a +degree of decorum that Vreni's little posy actually remained as fresh +and intact as it had been early in the morning, and her plain Sunday +dress showed neither crease nor stain. As to Sali, he behaved all this +time not like a youthful rustic of less than twenty, nor like the son +of a broken-down tavern keeper, but rather like a youth a couple of +years younger and quite innocent, withal of the best education. It was +almost comical to observe his conduct towards his merry Vreni, looking +at her with a touching mixture of tenderness, respect and care. For +these two lovers, so unsophisticated and so entirely without guile, +somehow understood how to run in the course of this one day of perfect +joy vouchsafed them through all the gamut of love, and to make up not +alone for the earlier and more poetic stages of it but also to taste +its bitter and ultimate end with its passionate sacrifice of life +itself. + +Thus they thoroughly tired themselves running about part of the day, +and hunger had come a second time that day when, from the crest of a +shady mountain, they at last perceived, far down at their feet, a +village of some size lying there in the glow of the westering sun. +Rapidly they made the descent, and entered the village just as +decorously as they had done the other earlier in the day. Nobody was +about that knew them even by sight, for Vreni particularly had scarcely +at all mingled with people during the last few years, nor had she been +off on visits to other villages. Therefore they presented entirely the +appearance of a decent young couple out on an errand of importance. + +They went to the best inn of the place, and there Sali at once ordered +a good and substantial meal. A table was specially reserved for them, +and everything needful was there laid out and they sat down again +demurely in the corner and eyed the trappings and furniture of the +handsome room, with its wainscoted walls of polished walnut, the +well-appointed sideboard of the same wood, and the filmy window +curtains of white lace. The hostess stepped up to them in a sociable +manner, and set a vase full of fresh flowers on the table. + +"Until the soup is ready," she said pleasantly, "you may like to feast +your eyes on these flowers from our garden. From all appearance, if you +don't mind my curiosity, you are a young couple on their way to town to +get married to-morrow?" + +Vreni blushed furiously, and did not dare raise her head. Nor did Sali +say anything in reply, and the hostess continued: "Well, of course, you +are both still very young. But young love, long life, as the saying is, +and at least you are both good-looking enough and need not hide +yourselves from people. If you will but work and strive together like +sensible folk, you may succeed in life before you know it, for youth is +a good thing, and so are diligence and faith in one another. But that, +of course, is necessary, for there will come also days you will not +like, many days, many days. But after all, life is pleasant enough, if +one but understands how to make a proper use of it. And don't mind my +chatter, you young people, but it does me good to look at you two, so +handsome and young." + +Just then the waitress brought in the soup, and since she had overheard +the concluding phrases, and would herself have liked to get married, +she regarded Vreni with envious eyes, for she begrudged her what she +assumed was so soon in store for this young girl. She retired +precipitately into the adjoining room, and there she let her tongue go +clacking. To the hostess who was busy there with some household task, +she said, so loud as to be distinctly heard by the young people: "Yes, +these are indeed the right kind of people to go to town and hurry up +marrying, without a penny, without friends, without dowry, and with +nothing in view but misery and beggary! What in the world is to become +of such people if the girl is still so young that she does not even +know how to put on her frock or jacket, nor how to cook a plate of +soup! Oh, what fools! But I feel sorry for the young fellow, such a +good-looking fellow he is, and then to get a little ignorant doll like +that!" + +"Sh-sh--will you keep your mouth shut, you evil-mouthed slut," broke in +the indignant hostess. "Don't you dare say anything against them. I am +pretty sure that is a deserving young couple, and I will not hear them +wronged. Probably they are from the mountains where the factories are, +and while they are not dressed richly they look neat and cleanly, and +if only they are fond of each other and not afraid of work, they will +get along better than you with your bitter tongue. And that I will tell +you--you'll have to wait a long while before anybody will take you, +unless you change considerably, you vinegary old thing!" + +Thus it was that Vreni tasted all the delights of a bride on her +wedding trip: the well-meaning conversation of an experienced and +sensible woman, the jealousy of a wicked and man-crazy person, one who +from anger at the bride praises and sympathizes with the lover, and an +appetizing meal at the side of this same lover. She glowed in the face +like a carnation, her heart beat like a trip hammer, but she ate and +drank nevertheless with a perfectly normal appetite, and was all the +more amiable with the waitress who served them, but could not help on +such occasions looking tenderly at Sali, and whispering to him, so that +he also began to feel rather amorous. However, they sat a long time +over their meal, delaying its end, as though they were both unwilling +to destroy the lovely deception. The hostess came and brought them for +dessert all sorts of sweet cakes and other dainties, and Sali ordered +rarer and more fiery wine, so that the choice liquor ran through +Vreni's veins like a flame, albeit she was cautious and sipped it but +sparingly and kept up the semblance of a chaste and prudent young +bride. Half of this was natural cunning on her part; but as for the +other half, she felt indeed as if the rôle were reality, and what with +anxiety and what with ardent love for Sali she thought her little heart +would burst, so that the walls seemed to her too narrow, and she begged +him to go. And they went off. It was now as if they were afraid to turn +aside from the main road and into side paths, where they would be by +themselves, for they continued on the highway, right through the throng +of pleasure seekers, not looking to right or left. But when they had +left the village behind them and were on their way towards the next, +where kermess was being celebrated, Vreni linked her arm in his and +whispered: "Sali, why not belong altogether one to the other and be +happy!" + +And Sali answered, fastening his dreamy eyes upon the sun-flooded +valley below where the meadows showed like a purple carpet of +wildflowers, "Ah, why not?" + +And they instantly stopped in the road, and wanted to kiss each other. +But suddenly a group of passers-by broke out of the near woods, and +then they felt shy and desisted. On they went towards the big village +in which the bustle of kermess was already noticeable from afar. The +lanes were crowded, and before the most considerable tavern of the +place a multitude of noisy, shouting people were assembled. From inside +the tavern the strains of a lively, gay tune were heard. For the young +villagers had begun dancing shortly after the noon hour, and on an open +square in front of the tavern a market had been established where all +sorts of sweets were for sale, and in another couple of booths could be +seen flimsy bits of finery, ornaments, silk kerchiefs and the like, and +around these were to be seen children and some others who for the +moment were content to be mere observers. + +Sali and Vreni also stepped up to these booths, and they let their eyes +travel over all these things. For both had instantly put their hands in +their pockets and each wanted to present the other with a little gift, +since that was the first and only time they had been together at a +fair. Sali, therefore, bought a big house of gingerbread, the walls of +which were calsomined with a mixture of butter and melted sugar, and on +the green roof of which were perching snow-white pigeons, while from +the chimney a small cupid was peeping forth clad as a chimney sweep. At +the open windows of this wonderful house plump-cheeked persons with +diminutive red mouths were embracing each other most affectionately, +the kissing process being represented by the gingerbread artist by a +sort of double mouth, or twins, one melting into the other. Black +points meant eyes, and on the pinky-red housedoor there could be read +the following touching stanzas: + + + Enter my house, beloved, + Yet do not thou forget + That all the coin accepted + Is kisses sweet, you bet. + + His sweetheart said: "Oh, dear one, + This threat does not deter! + My love for thee is greater + Than any kind of fare. + + "And come to think it over, + 'Twas kisses I did seek." + Well, then, step in, my lady, + And let thy lips now speak. + + +A gentleman in a blue frock coat and a lady with an expansive bosom +thus complimented each other by these rhymes into the house; both were +painted to right and left of the wall. Vreni on her part presented Sali +with a gingerbread heart, on which on either side these verses were +pasted: + + + A sweet, sweet almond pierces my heart, as you see, + But sweeter far than almonds is my love for thee. + + When thou my heart hast eaten, + Oh, let me not disguise + That sooner than my love can break + Will break my nutbrown eyes. + + +Both of them eagerly read these verses, and never had rhymes, never had +any kind of poetry, been more deeply felt and appreciated than were +these gingerbread stanzas. They could not help fancying that they had +been specially written for them, for they fitted so marvelously their +requirements. + +"Ah, you give me a house," sighed Vreni. "But I have first made thee a +gift of one myself, and of the real one. For our hearts are now our +sole dwellings, and within them we live, and we carry our houses about +with us wherever we may go, just like the snail. Other abode we have +none left now." + +"But then we are snails really, of which each carries the house of the +other," replied Sali. + +"Then we must never leave each other, for fear that we lose the other's +house," answered Vreni. + +They did not notice that they themselves were perpetrating the same +species of humor as was spread out on the printed pasters of the +gingerbread literature. So they continued to study the latter with deep +interest. The most pathetic sentiments, both agreed, were found on the +heartshaped cakes, whereof there was a great choice, both plain and +ornamental, small and large. All the verses they read seemed to them +wonderfully apt and appropriate to the occasion. When Vreni read on a +gilt heart which like a lyre bore strings: + + + My heart is like a fiddlestring, + Touch gently it and it will sing, + + +she could not refrain from remarking: "How true that is! Why, I can +hear my own heart making music!" + +An image of Napoleon in gingerbread was also there, and even this, +instead of speaking in heroic measure, symbolized a love-smitten swain, +for it declared in wretched rhyme: + + + Terrific was Napoleon's might, + His sword of steel, his heart was light; + My love is sweet like any rose, + Yet is she faithful, goodness knows. + + +But while both seemed busy sounding all the depths of these appeals to +the muses, they secretly made a purchase. Sali bought for Vreni a small +gift ring, with a stone of green glass, and Vreni a ring fashioned out +of chamois horn, in which a gold forget-me-not was cleverly inlaid. +Probably both were moved with the same idea, that of a farewell gift. + +However, while they thus were entirely engrossed with these things they +had not remarked that a wide ring was forming gradually around them +made up of people who watched them closely and curiously. For as quite +a number of lads and lasses from their own village had come to the +kermess, they had been recognized, and these all now stood at some +little distance away from them, regarding with astonishment this neatly +dressed couple that in their intense preoccupation had eyes for nothing +else in the world. + +"Just look," the murmuring went round; "why, that is Vreni Marti and +Sali from town. They surely have met and made up. And what tenderness, +what friendship for one another! Only notice!" + +The amazement of these onlookers was strangely mingled of pity with the +ill-fortune of the young couple, of disdain for the wickedness and +poverty of their parents, and of envy for the happiness and deep +affection of these two. For it struck these coarse materialistic +rustics that the couple were fond of each other in a manner most +unusual in their own circles, excited to an uncommon degree and so +taken up with one another and indifferent to all else, as to make them +almost appear to belong to a more aristocratic sphere, so that +altogether they seemed singular and strange to these gross villagers. + +When therefore Sali and Vreni finally awoke from their dreams and threw +a glance around, they saw nothing but staring faces. Nobody greeted +them; and they themselves knew not whether to salute anyone of these +former acquaintances, whose show of unfriendliness was, just the same, +not so much design as astonishment. Vreni became afraid and blushed +from sheer embarrassment, but Sali took her hand and led her away. And +the poor girl followed him willingly, bearing in her hand the huge +gingerbread cottage, although the trumpets and horns from inside the +inn sounded so invitingly, and although she was most anxious and eager +to dance. + +"We cannot dance here," said Sali, when they had been going some little +distance aside, "for there would not be any amusement in it under the +circumstances." + +"You are right," Vreni said sadly, "and I really think now we had +better drop the whole idea and I will try and find a place for me to +stay overnight." + +"No," Sali cried, "you must have a chance to dance for once. For that, +too, I brought you the shoes. Let us go where the poor folks are having +a good time, since we, too, belong to them. They will not look down on +us. At every kermess here there is also dancing at the Paradise Garden, +since it belongs to this parish, and we are going there, and you can, +if it comes to the worst, also find a bed to sleep there." + +Vreni shuddered at the thought of having to sleep for the first time of +her young life in a place where nobody knew her. But she followed +without a murmur where Sali led her. Was he not everything in the world +to her now? The so-called Paradise Garden was a house of entertainment +situated in a beautiful spot, lying all by itself at the side of a +mountain from which one had a view far over the whole country. But on +holidays like this only the poorer classes, the children of small +farmers and of day laborers, even vagrants, used to resort to it. A +hundred years before a wealthy man of queer habits had built it as a +summer villa for himself, and nobody had succeeded him as tenant, and +since the house could not be used for anything else, the whole place +after a while began to decay, and so finally it got into the hands of +an innkeeper who managed it in his own peculiar way. + +The name alone and the style of architecture had remained. The house +itself consisted of but one story, and on top of that an open loggia +had been erected, the roof of which was borne on the four corners by +statues of sandstone. These were meant for the four archangels and were +wholly defaced. At the edge of the roof could be seen all about small +angels carved of the same material and all of them playing some musical +instrument, the angels themselves showing monstrous heads and big +paunches, fiddling, touching the triangle, blowing the flute, striking +the cymbal or the tambourine; these instruments had originally been +gilt. The ceiling inside and the low sidewalls, as well as all the rest +of the house were still covered with rather dingy fresco paintings, and +these represented dancing and singing saints. But all of it had +suffered from the weather and the rain, and was now as indistinct and +chaotic as a dream itself. And besides, all over the walls clambered +grapevines, and at this time of year purplish ripening grapes peeped +forth from between the foliage. All about the house itself there stood +chestnut trees, and gnarled big rosebushes, growing wildly after a +fashion of their own, just as lilac bushes would grow elsewhere. + +The loggia served as dance hall, and as Vreni and Sali came in sight of +the building they could notice the dancing couples turning around and +around under the open roof, and outside, under the trees, drinking, +shouting and noisy men and women were disporting themselves. It was a +merry throng. + +Vreni, who was carrying in her hand, demurely and almost piously, her +wonderful gingerbread palace, resembled one of those ancient and +sainted church patronesses sometimes seen in missals, with a model of +the cathedral or other devout foundation displayed which would earn her +the Church's benediction. But as soon as she heard the wild music that +came down in a tumbling stream from the loggia, the poor thing forgot +her grief. Suddenly all alive she demanded rapturously that Sali should +dance with her. They pushed their way through all these people that +were crowding the environs of the house and the lower floor, these +being mostly ragged people from Seldwyla, with some who had been making +a cheap excursion into the country, and all sorts of homeless vagrants. +Then they ascended the stairs and at once after arriving on top they +seized each other and were whirling away in a lively waltz. Not an eye +did they give to their surroundings until the music came to a temporary +halt. Then they stopped and turned around. Vreni had crushed her +gingerbread house, and was just going to shed a few tears on that +account when she noticed the black fiddler, and now felt a veritable +terror. + +He was seated near them, upon a bench which itself stood upon a big +table, and he looked just as black and tawny as ever. But to-day he +wore a bunch of green holly and pine in his funny little hat, and at +his feet there stood a big bottle of claret and a tumbler, and he did +not in the least touch either of these with his feet, although he was +forever kicking up his legs to keep the tune while fiddling. Next to +him sat a handsome young man with a French horn, but the young man +looked melancholy, and a hunchback there also was, standing next a bass +viol. Sali also had a fright in seeing the black fiddler, but the +latter greeted them both in the friendliest manner and called out to +them: "You see I knew that some day I should play to your dancing, just +as I said when I last met you. And now, you darlings, I trust you'll +have a good time, and take a drink with me." + +He offered the full glass to Sali, who accepted it, emptied it and +thanked the fiddler. And when he saw that Vreni was badly scared at +seeing him, he did his best to reassure her, and jested with her in a +rather nice way, until he had made her laugh. Thereupon Vreni recovered +her courage, and both of them felt rather glad that they had an +acquaintance there and were in a certain sense standing under the +special protection of the black fellow. Then they danced steadily, +forgetting themselves and the whole world in the constant twirling, +singing, shouting and general noise, a noise which rolled down the hill +and over the whole landscape which gradually began to be shrouded in a +silvery autumn haze. They danced until twilight, when most of the merry +guests disappeared, unsteady on their feet and shouting at the top of +their voices. Those still remaining were the vagrants and stragglers, +houseless and strongly inclined to turn night into day. Amongst these +there were some who seemed on very friendly terms with the black +fiddler and who for the most part looked outlandish because of oddities +of costume. There was, for instance, a young man in a green corduroy +jacket and a tattered straw hat, who wore around the crown of the +latter a wreath of wild scarlet berries. He again had with him a savage +sort of female who wore a skirt of cherry-red chintz and had a hoop +made of young grapevine tied around her temples, so that at each side +of her face hung a bunch of grapes. This couple was the jolliest of +all, to be met with everywhere, and was dancing and singing without a +stop. Then there was a slender, graceful girl there, wearing a thin +silk dress and a white cloth on her head, the ends of which fell on her +shoulders. The cloth had evidently once been a napkin or towel. But +below this doubtful cloth there glowed a pair of magnificent eyes of +deep violet hue. Around her neck this extravagant person wore a sixfold +chain of the same autumnal berries, and this ornament suited her +complexion marvelously well. This strange woman was dancing perpetually +with none but herself, whirling almost unintermittently, with great +grace and a very light step, refusing every partner that offered +himself. Every time she passed in her dancing the sad hornblower she +smiled, and the musician turned away his head. + +Some other gay women or girls there were, together with their escorts, +all of them poorly or fantastically clad, but with all that they +assuredly enjoyed themselves greatly, and there seemed to be perfect +accord among them all. When it had turned completely dark the host +refused to furnish light for illumination, since the wind would blow +the candles out anyway, and besides the full-moon would be out in a +short spell, and for the present company, he claimed, the moonlight was +ample. This declaration, instead of being opposed, caused general +satisfaction among this mongrel crowd; they all stood up at the open +sides of the dance hall and watched the moon rise in her full splendor, +and when the new golden light flooded the wide hall, dancing was +resumed with great earnestness. And so quiet, good-natured and +well-mannered was it done as if they were turning under the light of a +hundred wax candles. This singular light, too, made them all more +intimately acquainted with each other, as though they had known them +for years, and thus it was that Sali and Vreni could not very well +avoid mingling with the rest and dancing with other partners. But +whenever they had been separated for just a short while they flew and +rejoined the other without delay, and felt delighted thereat. Sali made +a sad face at this, and when dancing with another person would turn +toward Vreni. But she would not notice that, but would glide along like +a fairy, her features transfigured with pleasure, and her whole soul +enraptured with the swaying motions of the dance, no matter who her +partner. + +"Are you jealous, Sali?" she asked smilingly, when the musicians took a +longer rest. + +"Not the least," he replied. + +"Then why are you so angry when I'm dancing with somebody else?" she +wanted to know. + +"I am not angry because of that," he said, "but only because I am +forced to dance with another person but you. I cannot feel pleasant +towards another girl. In fact, I feel just as though I had a block of +wood in my arms if it is anybody but you. And you? How do you feel +about that?" + +"Oh, I feel as though I were in heaven so long as I merely can dance +and know that you are present," replied Vreni. "But I believe I should +at once fall down dead if you went and left me here by myself." + +They had gone down from the dance hall and were now standing in the +grounds before the house. Vreni put both her arms around his neck, +pressed her slender trembling body against him, and put her burning +cheek, wet from hot tears, to his, sobbing out: "We cannot marry, and +yet I cannot leave you, not for a moment, not for a minute." + +Sali embraced the girl, pressed her ardently against his heart, and +covered her with kisses. His confused thoughts were struggling for some +way out of the labyrinth that encompassed them both, but he saw none. +Even if the blot of his family misery and his neglected education were +not weighing against him, his extreme youth and his ardent passion +would have prevented a long period of patience and self-denial, and +then there would still have been his misfortune in having injured +Vreni's father for life. The consciousness that happiness for himself +and her was, after all, to be found only in a union honest, blameless +and approved by the whole world, was just as much alive in him as in +Vreni. In her case as in his, two beings ostracized by all, these +reflections were like the last flaring up of their lost family honor, +an honor that had been blazing for centuries in their respectable +houses like a living flame, and which their fathers had involuntarily +extinguished and destroyed by a misdeed which at the time had been +committed more in thoughtlessness than with malice aforethought. For +when they, in the attempt to enlarge their holdings by a piece of +dishonesty that seemed at the time wholly without risk and not likely +to entail serious consequences, had been guilty of a wrong to a person +that had been universally given up as lost, they had done something +which many of their otherwise correct neighbors would, under the same +circumstances, likewise have done. + +Such wrongs as that are indeed perpetrated every day in the year, on a +large or a small scale. But once in a while Fate furnishes an example +of how two such transgressors against the honor of their houses and +against the property of another may oppose each other, and then these +will unfailingly fight to the death and devour one the other like two +savage beasts. For those who furtively or forcibly increase their +estate may commit such fateful blunders not only when they are seated +on thrones and then apply a high-sounding name to their lust and their +misdeed, but the same in substance is often done as well in the +humblest hut, and both categories of sinners frequently accomplish the +very reverse of what they aimed at, and their shield of honor then +becomes overnight a tablet of shame. But Sali and Vreni had both of +them, when still children, seen and cherished the honor of their +families, and well remembered how well they themselves were taken care +of and how respected and highly considered their fathers had been in +those days. + +Later they had been separated for long years, and when they met again +they saw in each other also the lost honor and luck of their houses, +and that instinctive feeling had helped to make them cling to each +other all the more tenaciously. They longed indeed, both of them, for +happiness and joy, but only if it might be done legitimately and in the +sight of all; yet at the same time their ardent affection for each +other could not be suppressed and their senses, their bounding blood, +called loudly for the consummation of their desires. + +"Now it is night," said Vreni in a low tone of voice, "and we will have +to part." + +"What, I am to go home now and leave you alone?" retorted Sali. "No, +that can never be." + +"But what then?" said Vreni, plaintively. "Tomorrow morning by daylight +things will look no better." + +"Let me give you a piece of advice," a shrill voice suddenly was heard +behind them. It was the black fiddler, who now came up to them. "You +foolish young things! There you are now, and you know not what to do +with yourselves, although you are fond of each other. Yet nothing +easier than that. I advise you to delay no more. Let one take the +other, just as you are. Come along with me and my good friends here, +right into the mountains, for there you need no priest, no money, no +documents, no honor, no dowry, no bed and no wedding--nothing but your +mutual good will. Don't get frightened. Things are not at all so bad +with us. Pure air and enough to eat, provided one is not afraid to +work. The green woods are our home, and there we love and keep house +just as we wish. During the winter we lie snug in some warm, cosy den +of our own contriving, or else we creep into the warm hay of the +peasants. Therefore, lose no time. Keep your wedding right now and +here, and then come along with us, and you are rid of all your cares, +and may belong to each other forever and aye, or at least as long as +you want to. For have no fear--you'll grow old with us; our style of +life procures good strong health, you may well believe me. And don't +think, you silly young folk, that I am bearing you a grudge because of +what your fathers have done to me. No indeed. Of course, it gives me +pleasure to see you arrived there where you now are. But with that I +rest content, and I promise you to help and aid you in all sorts of +ways if you will only be guided by me." + +He said all this in a sincere and well-meaning tone. "Well, think it +over, if you wish, for a spell," he encouraged them still further, "but +follow my counsel if you are wise. Let the world go, and belong to each +other and ask nobody's consent. Think of the gay bridal bed in the deep +forest glade, and of the comfortable hay barn in winter." And saying +which he disappeared again in the house. + +But Vreni was trembling like aspen in Sali's arms, and he asked her: +"What do you think of all that? To me it seems indeed it would be best +to let the whole world go hang, and to love each other without +hindrance and fear." + +But Sali said this more jokingly than in earnest. Vreni, on the other +hand, took it all seriously, kissed him and replied: "No, I should not +like that. These people do not act according to my notions. That young +man with the French horn, for instance, and the girl in the silk skirt +also belong together in that way, and are said to have been very much +in love. But last week, it seems, she has been, for the first time, +unfaithful to her lover, and he grieves greatly on that account, and he +is angry at her and at the others, but they merely ridicule him. And +she is imposing a kind of self-inflicted and ludicrous penance on +herself by dancing all alone, without any partner, and without speaking +to anyone, but that, too, is only making a fool of him. However, one +may see that the poor musician is going to make up with her this very +night. But I must say, I should not like to be with a company where +such doings are common, for I never could be unfaithful to you, +although I would not mind undergoing all else for the sake of +possessing you." + +For all that, poor Vreni, being held in Sali's arms, became more and +more feverish, for ever since noon when that hostess at the inn had +mistaken her for a bride, and she herself had not contradicted, this +alluring prospect had been burning in her veins, and the less hopeful +things seemed to turn for a realization of this idea, the more +relentlessly her pulses were hammering with expectation and desire. And +Sali was experiencing similar hallucinations, since the fiddler's +enticing remarks, while he meant not to listen to them, had also been +fuel to his passion. So he said in embarrassment to Vreni: "Let us go +inside for a spell. At least we must eat and drink something." + +They were greeted in entering the guest room where nobody had remained +but the fiddler's friends, the vagrants, which latter were seated about +a poor meal at table, by a merry chorus: "There comes our bridal pair!" +"Yes," added the fiddler, "now be friendly and comfortable, and we will +see you married." + +Urged to join the company the two young lovers did so rather +shamefacedly. But after a moment they began to brighten, and were glad +to be at least rid for the moment of the darker problem that was yet to +be solved. Sali ordered wine and some choicer dishes, and soon general +merriment spread among them all. The heretofore implacable lover had +become reconciled to his unfaithful one, and the couple now fondled and +caressed each other in reestablished ecstasy, while the giddy other +pair ceaselessly yodled, sang and guzzled, but they also did not forget +to give plain evidences of their amatory disposition. The fiddler and +the hunchback accompanied all this with a great deal of cheerful noise. +Sali and Vreni kept very close to each other, tightly holding hands, +and all at once the fiddler bade all the company be quiet, and a +jocular ceremony was performed signifying the union of the two young +people. They had to clasp hands, and the whole audience rose and, one +by one, stepped up to congratulate them and to bid them welcome within +their fraternity. They placidly submitted to it all, but said never a +word, and regarded the whole as a jest, while all the while a shudder +of voluptuous feeling ran through them. + +The merry company now became louder and more excited, the fiery wine +spurring them on, until at last the black fiddler urged departure. + +"We have a long way before us," he cried, "and it is past midnight. Up, +all of you! Let us solemnly escort the young bridal couple, and I +myself will open the procession. You will hear me fiddling as never +before." + +Since Sali and Vreni felt perfectly dazed, and scarcely knew what they +were doing in this hurly-burly around them, they did not protest when +they were made to head the file, the other two couples following, and +the hunchback, with his huge bass viol on his shoulder, being at its +tail end. The black fiddler, though, strode in advance, playing like a +man possessed, skipping down the steep hill path like a chamois, and +the others laughed, singing in chorus, and jumping from rock to rock. +Thus this nocturnal procession hastened on and on, through the quiet +fields and at last through the home village of Sali and Vreni, now sunk +in deep slumber. + +When they two came through the still lanes and past their abandoned +homes, a painfully savage mood seized them, and they danced and whirled +along with the others behind the fiddler, kissed, laughed and wept. +They also danced up the hill with the three fields that had tempted +their fathers to their ruin, the fiddler all the time leading, and on +its crest the dusky fiddler fell into a frenzy of fantastic melody, and +his train of followers jumped about like veritable demons. Even the +poor hunchback acted like demented. This quiet hill resounded with the +infernal noise of the whole crew, and it was a perfect witches' Sabbath +for a short while. The hunchback breathed hard and in a muffled voice +squeaked with delight, swinging his heavy instrument like a baton. In +their paroxysm none saw or heard the next. + +But Sali seized Vreni and thus forced her to halt. He imprinted a kiss +on her mouth, thus stopping her shouts of joy. At last she gathered his +meaning, and ceased struggling. They stood there, right on the spot +where they first had encountered the black fiddler, listening to the +wild music and to the singing and shrieking of the demoniac cortčge, as +the sounds gradually swept onwards down the hill towards the river +below. Nobody evidently had missed them in the midst of the whole +spook. The shrill tones of the fiddle, the laughter of the girls, and +the yodels of the men resounded for another spell through the night, +fainter and fainter, until at last the noise died away down by the +shores of the river. + +"We have escaped those," now said Sali, "but how are we going to escape +from ourselves? How shall we separate, and how keep apart?" + +Vreni was not able to answer him. Breathing hard she lay on his breast. + +"Had I not better take you back to the village, and wake some family in +order to make them take you in for the night? To-morrow you can leave +and look for some work. You'll be able to get along anywhere." + +"But without you? Get along without you?" said the girl. + +"You must forget me." + +"Never," she murmured sadly. "Never in my life." And she added, +glancing sternly at him: "Could you do that?" + +"That is not the point, dear heart," answered Sali, slow and distinct. +He caressed her feverish cheeks, while she kept pressing herself +against his bosom. "Let us only consider your own case. You, Vreni, are +still so very young, and quite likely you will fare well enough after a +short while." + +"And you also--you ancient man," she said, smiling wistfully. + +"Come!" now said Sali, and dragged her along. But they only went on a +few steps, and then they halted once more, the better to embrace and +kiss. The deep quiet of the world ran like music through their souls, +and the only sound to be heard around them was the gentle rush and +swish of the waves as they slowly went on further down the valley +below. + +"How beautiful it is around here! Listen! It seems to me there is +somebody far away singing in a low voice." + +"No, sweetheart; it is only the water softly flowing." + +"And yet it seems there is some music--way out there, everywhere." + +"I think it is our own blood coursing that is deceiving our ears." + +But though they hearkened again and again, the solemn stillness +remained unbroken. The magic effect of the light of a resplendent full +moon was visible in the whole landscape, as the autumnal veil of fog +that rose in semi-transparent layers from the river shore mingled with +the silvery sheen, waving in grayish or bluish bands. + +Suddenly Vreni recalled something, and said: "Here, I have bought you +something to remember me by." + +And she gave him the plain little ring, and placed it on his finger. +Sali, too, found the little ring he had meant for her, and while he put +it on her hand, he said: "Thus we have had the same thought, you and +I." + +Vreni held up her hand into the silvery light of the moon and examined +the little token curiously. + +"Oh, what a fine ring," she then said, laughing. "Now we are both +betrothed and wedded. You are my husband, and I'm your wife. Let us +imagine so, just long enough until that small cloud has passed the +moon, or else until we have counted twelve. You must kiss me twelve +times." + +Sali was surely fully as much in love as was Vreni, but the marriage +problem was, after all, not of such intense interest to him, not such a +question of Either--Or, of an immediate To Be or Not To Be, as it was +in the case of the girl. For Vreni could feel just then only that one +problem, saw in it with passionate energy life or death itself. But now +at last he began to see clearly into the very soul of his companion, +and the feminine desire in her became instantly with him a wild and +ardent longing, and his senses reeled under its potency. And while he +had previously caressed and embraced her with the strength and fervor +of a devoted lover, he did so now with an incomparably greater +abandonment to his passion. He held Vreni tightly to his beating heart, +and fairly overwhelmed her with endearments. In spite of her own love +fever, the girl with true feminine instinct at once became aware of +this change, and she began to tremble as with fear of the unknown. But +this feeling passed almost in a moment, and before even the cloud had +flitted over the moon's face her whole being was seized by the +whirlwind of his ardor, and engulfed in its depths. While both +struggled with and at the same time fondled the other, their beringed +hands met and seized the other as though at that supreme moment their +union was consummated without the consent of their will power. Sali's +heart knocked against its prison door like a living being; anon it +stood still, and he breathed with difficulty and said slow and in a +whisper: "There is one thing, only one thing, we can do, Vreni; we keep +our wedding this hour, and then we leave this world forever--there +below is the deep water--there is everlasting peace and fulfilment of +all our hopes--there nobody will divorce us again--and we have had our +dearest wish--have lived and died together--whether for long, whether +for short--we need not care--we are rid of all care--" + +And Vreni instantly responded. "Yes, Sali--what you say I also have +thought to myself--not once but constantly these days--I have dreamed +of it with my whole soul--we can die together, and then all this +torment is over--Swear to me, Sali, that you will do it with me!" + +"Yes, dearest, it is as good as done--nobody shall take you from me now +but Death alone!" Thus the young man in his exaltation. But Vreni's +breath came quick and as if freed from an intolerable burden. Tears of +sweetest joy came to her eyes, and she rose with spontaneous alacrity +and, light as a bird, flew down towards the river side. Sali followed +her, thinking for a moment she wanted to escape him, while she fancied +he would wish to prevent her. Thus they both sprang down the steep +path, and Vreni laughed happily like a child that will not allow her +playmate to catch her. + +"Are you sorry for it already?" Thus they both apostrophized the other, +as they in a twinkling had reached the river shore and seized hold of +each other. And both answered: "No, indeed, how can you think so?" + +And carefree they now walked briskly along the river bank, and they +outdistanced the hastening waves, for thus keenly they sought a spot +where they could stay for a while. For in the trance of their +enthusiasm they knew of nothing but the bliss awaiting them in the full +possession of each other. The whole worth and meaning of their lives +just then condensed itself into that one supreme desire. What was to +follow it, death, eternal oblivion, was to them a mere nothing, a puff +of air, and they thought less of it than does the spendthrift think of +the morrow when wasting his last substance. + +"My flowers shall precede me," cried Vreni, "only look! They are quite +withered and dusty!" And she plucked them from her bosom, cast them +into the water, and sang aloud: "But sweeter far than almonds is my +love for thee!" + +"Stop!" called out Sali. "Here is our bridal chamber!" + +They had reached a road for vehicles which led from the village to the +river, and here there was a landing, and a big boat, laden high with +hay, was tied to an iron ring in the bank. In a reckless mood Sali +instantly set to freeing the ship from the strong ropes that held it to +the landing. But Vreni grasped his arm, and she shouted laughing: "What +are you about? Are we to wind up by stealing from the peasants their +haycock?" + +"That is to be the dowry they give us," replied Sali with humor. "See! +A swimming bedstead and a couch softer than any royal couple ever had. +Besides, they will recover their property unharmed somewhere near the +goal whither it was to travel anyway, and they will hardly trouble +their hard heads with the question how it got there. Do you notice, +dear, how the boat is swaying and rocking? It is impatient to start on +the journey." + +The ship lay a few paces off the shore in deeper water. Sali lifted +Vreni in his arms high up, and began to wade through the water towards +the boat. But she caressed him so fervently and wriggled like a fish on +the angle, that Sali was losing his footing in the rather strong +current. She strained her hands and arms in order to plunge them in the +water, crying: "I also want to try the cool water. Do you remember how +cold and moist our hands were when we first met? That time we had been +catching fish. Now we ourselves will be fish, and two big and handsome +ones to boot." + +"Keep still, you wriggling darling," said Sali, scarcely able to stand +up in the water, with his sweetheart tossing in his arms and the +current pulling at him, "or it will drag me under!" + +But now he lifted his pretty burden into the boat, and scrambled up its +side himself. Then he hoisted her up to the hay, packed in orderly +fashion in the middle, sweet-scented and downy like a vast pillow, and +next he swung himself up to her. When they both were thus enthroned on +their bridal bed the ship drifted gently into the middle of the stream, +and then, turning slowly, it headed sluggishly in an easterly +direction. + + +The river flowed through dark woods, shadowing it; it flowed through +the fruitful plain, past quiet villages and hamlets and single +homesteads; there it broadened out like a still lake and the ship moved +but slightly downwards, and here it turned tall rocks and left the +slumbering landscape quickly behind. And when dawn broke there was in +sight at some distance a town rising with its age-worn towers and +steeples above the silver-gray river. The setting moon, red as gold, +cast a quivering track of light upstream towards the dim outlines of +the ancient city, and into this luminous bed the ship finally turned +its prow. When the houses of the town at last approached closely two +pale shapes, locked in a tight embrace, glided in the autumnal frost of +early morn from off the dark mass of the ship into the silent waters. + +The ship itself shortly after fetched up near a bridge, unharmed, and +remained there. When sometime later the two bodies, still locked in +each others' arms, were found, and details about the young man and his +sweetheart were learned, one might have read in the newspapers that +these two, the children of two ruined and impoverished families that +had lived in bitter enmity, had sought death in the water together +after dancing with great animation at a kermess. This event probably +was connected with the other fact that a boat laden with hay had landed +in town without anyone on board. It was supposed that the young couple +had cut loose the boat somewhere in order to hold their godforsaken +wedding on it. "Once again a proof of the spread of lawless and impious +passion among the lower classes." That was the concluding paragraph in +the newspaper report. + + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[Footnote 1: Vreni, Vreneli, Vreeli; Swiss diminutive forms of +Veronica.] + + + + THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seldwyla Folks, by Gottfried Keller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELDWYLA FOLKS *** + +***** This file should be named 34505-8.txt or 34505-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/0/34505/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Seldwyla Folks + Three Singular Tales + +Author: Gottfried Keller + +Translator: Wolf von Schierbrand + +Release Date: November 29, 2010 [EBook #34505] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELDWYLA FOLKS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> +Page scan source: +http://www.archive.org/details/seldwylafolksthr00kellrich</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>SELDWYLA FOLKS</h2> + +<h3>THREE SINGULAR TALES</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>SELDWYLA FOLKS</h1> + +<h2>THREE SINGULAR TALES</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h4>THE SWISS POET</h4> +<h3>GOTTFRIED KELLER</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>TRANSLATIONS BY</h4> +<h3>WOLF VON SCHIERBRAND, Ph.D.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h2>BRENTANO'S</h2> +<h3>PUBLISHERS</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>COPYRIGHT, 1919<br> +<span class="sc">BRENTANO'S</span></h4> + +<hr class="W10"> + +<h4><i>All rights reserved</i></h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_preface" href="#div1Ref_preface">PREFACE</a></h2> + +<br> +<p class="continue">Gottfried Keller may fitly be called the greatest narrative writer that +Switzerland has ever produced. Born July 19, 1819, near Zurich, he was +reared in direst poverty. By dint of the hardest labor and by +practicing the utmost frugality, his father was barely able to provide +bread for wife and children. But in the midst of this penury the genius +of his young son Gottfried expanded. As a mere child he gave already +unmistakable evidence of being a dreamer, a thinker, a philosopher, a +"fabulist," an artist. Just able to write, the little boy forever +scribbled poems and fanciful tales, made rapid sketches with pencil and +pen, portraits, caricatures, landscapes. At the village school he +imbibed knowledge like a sponge. Soon the gnarled old schoolmaster, +half peasant, half teacher, looked aghast at his little scholar: he had +no more to teach him. Generous friends sent the youth to Munich, there +to study art. For at that time his desire was to become a great +painter. Desperately and with fiery energy the young fellow devoted +himself to study, and his attainments were considerable. They would +fully have sufficed for a career as a mediocre portrait painter. But +his very excess of zeal led to surfeit, to exhaustion, to a period of +lethargy. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This fit of +listlessness lasted even for some time after Gottfried's return home. +All effort with him slackened.</p> + +<p class="normal">Patrons finally intervened. With their aid he went to Heidelberg, and +for two full years, 1848-1850, he there pursued literary and historical +research. The historian, Hettner, took great interest in the young +Swiss. Next he went to Berlin, and during the ensuing five years he +wrote and studied in a desultory manner there. Great attention was paid +him by Goethe's intimate friend, Varnhagen von Ense, and the latter's +wife, the "seeress," Rahel, who drew the shy young man into their wide +literary circle, comprising for two decades the <i>beaux esprits</i> of the +capital. But his bluntness of speech, his sturdy Swiss republicanism, +often gave offense.</p> + +<p class="normal">For that was one of the remarkable points about Gottfried Keller: +despite his long residence on German soil and the flattering reception +accorded him by the intellectual <i>élite</i> there, he remained a thorough +democrat, an uncompromising friend of the plain people, a fearless +champion of Swiss free government, a hater of tyranny in any form, a +despiser of monarchs and their favors. Among his poems, later collected +into a bulky tome, there are many that breathe defiance to royalty by +"divine grace."</p> + +<p class="normal">Much of this sentiment of anti-monarchism has crept into his first +great work, the "Gruener Heinrich." This, a sort of autobiography in +guise of a big novel, alive with adventure as well as thoughts on men +and things, he first published from 1854 to 1855, but it was afterward +recast in characteristic fashion, 1879-1881. In a manner of speaking, +his "Gruener Heinrich" is also a confession of faith. There are many +didactic passages in it; the whole book, in fact, breathes the +convictions of its author. This is still more the case with the last +great work from Keller's pen, "Martin Salander," where the frequent +political and social precepts interwoven into the text of the story +form, from the purely artistic viewpoint, a serious blemish.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is generally conceded that Keller's masterpiece is "Seldwyla Folks" +("Die Leute von Seldwyla"), which appeared in two sections, the first +of these in 1856, the second in 1874. From this group of weird, +fantastic tales the three forming the contents of this book are taken. +About the origin of the title Keller himself has written in his +inimitably oracular and whimsical style. The name and the town itself +are wholly fictitious. They represent a sort of collective traits of a +number of ancient, unprogressive Swiss towns, left head over heels in +medievalism, in outworn customs, with some peculiar features +exclusively their own. Each tale is a jewel cut and polished, a +distinctive literary entity, something that may not be duplicated +elsewhere in the whole realm of letters, with a full flavor of its own. +Where, for instance, in the literature of any tongue, is to be found a +humorous-sarcastic story of the raciness of "The Three Decent +Combmakers"?</p> + +<p class="normal">From 1861 to 1878 Keller filled, to the eminent satisfaction of his +countrymen, the important and remunerative office of "Staatsschreiber," +one that combined the duties of secretary of state with those of +custodian of documents and librarian for his native canton, which was +offered him in direct recognition of his literary merits. As such he +utilized for a cycle of semi-historical tales some of the most curious +records in his keeping, which are embalmed in his "Zurich Stories" +(Zuericher Novellen), 1877. In the year after that he retired from +office, and in 1882 appeared "The Epigram" (Das Sinngedicht), in 1883 +his "Seven Legends," based on some of the Lives of the Saints, +singularly humanized and modernized, and in 1886 finally "Martin +Salander," an intensely patriotic and peculiarly Helvetian novel. He +was also a master of the short story, a sadly neglected field in +Teutonic literature.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, wherever German was understood or spoken the writings of +Gottfried Keller had found intense appreciation, at first slowly, then +more rapidly, and eminent German critics and authors, such as Theodore +Storm, Berthold Auerbach, F. Th. Vischer and others, had pronounced +themselves ardent admirers of his. But in 1890 he died, after a +lingering illness.</p> + +<p class="normal">The question may well be asked how it is that the literary lifework +of such a man as Gottfried Keller has for so many years been denied +the most sincere form of homage, that of translation, by the whole +non-German-speaking world. There may be additional reasons for this +seeming neglect, but I believe the chief one lies in the fact of the +unusual difficulty of the task. To cast the thoughts and conceits of an +individualistic writer into another vehicle of speech is in itself no +easy matter. But in the case of Gottfried Keller it is especially so. +For the man, as I took pains to point out, was a Swiss, not by any +manner of means a German. And not only is the subject matter of his +lyrical and epical output strongly tinged with Helvetism, but his very +language as well. The Swiss-German vernacular is more than a mere +dialect; it is almost a tongue of its own. On all but on the few solemn +and formal occasions of life the Swiss expresses himself in what he +terms "Schwyzer-Dütsch," which is indeed scarcely understood by persons +habituated to German proper, and even when the Swiss author perforce +drops into the latter he uses so many peculiarly Helvetian terms and +modes of speech, so many archaic saws, his whole method of handling the +language is so different that to reshape what he says into another +tongue without doing violence to the spirit, the soul, the flavor and +thus marring the translation irretrievably and doing gross injustice to +the original becomes doubly hard.</p> + +<p class="normal">I can only say that I have done in this respect what was humanly +possible. What the final result has turned out to be is for the court +of last resort, for the final arbiter, the reader, to say.</p> + +<p class="right">W. V. S.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div style="margin-left:20%"> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="continue"><a name="div1Ref_preface" href="#div1_preface">PREFACE</a></p> + +<p class="continue"><a name="div1Ref_three" href="#div1_three">THREE DECENT COMBMAKERS</a></p> + +<p class="continue"><a name="div1Ref_dietegen" href="#div1_dietegen">DIETEGEN</a></p> + +<p class="continue"><a name="div1Ref_romeo" href="#div1_romeo">ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE</a></p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>THE THREE DECENT COMBMAKERS</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_three" href="#div1Ref_three">THE THREE DECENT<br> +COMBMAKERS</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="continue">The people of Seldwyla have furnished proof that a whole townful of the +unjust or frivolous may, after all, continue for ages to exist despite +changes of time and traffic; the three combmakers, though, demonstrate +as clearly that not even three decent human beings may manage to live +for a long stretch under one roof without getting their backs up. And +with decent, with just, is not by any means meant heavenly justice, nor +even the natural justice of the human conscience, but rather that +vacuous justice which from the Lord's Prayer has struck the plea: And +forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors! And this simply +because they never contract any debts whatever and cannot stand the +idea of debts. Indeed, also because they live to no one's harm, but +also to no one's pleasure; because, true enough, they work and earn +money, but will not spend a stuyver, and find in their laboring task +some small profit but never any joy. Such soberly decent chaps do not +smash window panes for the wicked fun of it, but neither do they ever +light any lanterns of their own, and no enlightenment proceeds from +them. They toil at all sorts of things, and one thing, to their minds, +is as good as another, so long as no risk or danger be involved. But +they prefer to settle in such places where there are many unjust in +their sense. For if left to themselves, without any mingling with the +said unjust, they would soon grind each other sorely, as do millstones +which lack corn between. And if at any time some piece of ill-luck +befalls them, they are greatly amazed and wail and whine as though +their last hour had come, inasmuch as they, so they say, have never +done harm to anyone. For they look upon this world of ours as a huge +and well-organized police department in which nobody need fear any fine +or punishment so long as he unfailingly sweeps his sidewalk, does not +leave flowerpots standing loosely on his window sill and does not pour +any water into the street.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now in Seldwyla there was a combmaking establishment the owner of which +habitually changed every fifth or sixth year, and this although it did +fair business when taken proper care of. For the small traders and +stand-keepers who attended the fairs in the neighborhood, obtained +there their horn wares. Beside the horn rasps and files, the implements +of various kinds, the most marvelous ornaments and back-combs of every +description for the use of the village belles and servant maids were +made there out of handsome transparent ox horns, and the rare skill of +the workmen (for, of course, the master never actually toiled himself) +consisted in branding and searing the close counterfeit of the most +artistically designed clouds of reddish brown tortoise shell, each +according to his conceit and fancy, so that, when admiring these combs +as the light played on their fantastic cumulations, it looked almost as +though the most magnificent sunups and sundowns were concealed within +the polished horn surface, rubicund gatherings of cloudlets, +thunderstorms and tornadoes, as well as still other varicolored +manifestations of the forces of Nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the summertime, when these proud artisans loved to wander over the +surface of the land and when they were scarce, they were treated with +courtesy by the masters, and received good board and wages. But during +the winter, at a time when they were looking for shelter and were +plentiful, they had to be humble, had to turn out combs till their very +pates smoked with the effort, and all for slender pay. During that +inauspicious season the mistress of the house one day after another +would put a big dish of sourkrout on the table, and the master himself +would then say: "These are fish!" And if at such a time any fellow was +rash enough to remark: "With your permission, this is sourkrout!" he +was instantly handed his walking papers and had to issue forth into the +dreary winter landscape. However, as soon as the meadows once more +turned green and the roads became passable, they all said: "All the +same, it's sourkrout!" and made up their bundle. For even in case the +mistress instantly threw a boiled ham on top of the smoking sourkrout, +and the master would murmur: "Goodness, I thought all along it was +fish! But this time, surely, it is a ham!" nevertheless the workmen +were not to be propitiated any longer. They longed for freedom and the +open, as during the long winter all three of them had had to sleep in +one bed and had grown thoroughly tired of each other because of the +continual kicking of ribs and because of frozen and numbed bare sides. +But it so happened that once a decent and gentle soul came that way, +from out of the Saxon lands, and this good fellow complied with +everything, worked as hard as any ant and was absolutely not to be +frozen out, in such fashion that finally he became so to speak a part +of the furnishings of the house and saw the owners changing several +times, those years being somewhat more given to changes than of yore. +Jobst (such was the creature's name) stretched himself in the bed as +stiff as a ramrod and maintained his particular place next the wall, +both winter and summer. He likewise willingly accepted the sourkrout +for fish, and in the spring received with humble thanks a mouthful of +the ham. His lesser wages he put aside as he did his larger ones. For +he never spent anything; rather he saved every penny. He did not live +like the other workmen: he never touched a drop of wine, did not +associate with any of his own countrymen nor with other young fellows, +but stood evenings under the house door and joked with the old women, +lifted the heavy water pails upon their padded heads, at least when he +chanced to be in good humor, and went to bed with the chickens, except +at such times as he could do extra work against extra pay. Sundays he +also toiled until late into the afternoon, no matter if the weather was +fine. But do not assume that he did all this with pleasure and +alacrity, as did John the merry Chandler in the well-known song. On the +contrary, he was always cast-down and of ill-humor because of these +voluntary abstentions from the amenities of life, and he was forever +complaining about his hard lot. Come Sunday afternoon, however, Jobst +went in all the disarray and filth of workaday, and with his clattering +sabots across the lane and fetched from the laundress his clean shirt +and his neatly ironed "dicky," his high linen collar or his better +handkerchief, and proceeded to carry these things in his hands to his +room, stepping the while with that rooster-like majesty which used to +distinguish the prideful artisan of former days. For it belonged to +their privileges, when walking attired in leather apron and heavy +slippers, to observe a very peculiar stride, affected and as though +they were floating in upper spheres. And of them all the highly +instructed bookbinders, the jolly shoemakers and cobblers, and the +rarer and queer-mannered combmakers excelled in these mannerisms. But +arrived in his little chamber Jobst once more took thought to himself, +ruminating and seriously reflecting as to whether it was really worth +while to don the clean shirt and the snowy "dicky." For with all his +gentleness and moral decency he was, after all, somewhat of a swinish +fellow, and thus doubts arose in his penurious little soul as to the +advisability of the whole proceeding, and as to whether the soiled +linen would not do just as well for another week or so, in which latter +case he would simply remain at home and work a little more. Then he +would sit down with a sigh and begin anew, teeth clenched and mien +fierce, cutting into the horn, or else he would transmute the horn into +pseudo-tortoise shell, in doing which, however, he never forgot his +innate sobriety and want of imagination, so that he always put but the +same odious three splotches into the smooth surface. For with him it +was always thus that he would not use even the slightest trouble if he +was not specially bidden to do so.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the other hand, if his resolution ripened into the actual taking of +a walk, he spent first one or two hours painfully adorning himself, +next he took his dapper little cane and stalked stiffly towards the +gate of the town, and there he would stand around humbly and tediously +and would carry on stupid gossip with others of the same ilk, some of +those who did not know any more than himself how to kill time +pleasantly, perhaps ancient and decrepit Seldwylians who had neither +money nor gumption to find their way into the gay tavern. With such +godforsaken old fossils he was in the habit of placing himself in front +of a house in process of construction, or near a field in seed, before +an apple tree injured in the last storm, or perhaps next to a new yarn +factory, and then he would discuss with an infinitude of detail these +things, the need of them, their cost, about the hopes entertained as to +the next crop, and about the actual condition of the fields, of all of +which he would know no more than the man in the moon. In fact, he did +not care whether he did or not; the main thing with him was that time +thus slipped away in what to him appeared the cheapest and the +pleasantest manner. And thus it came about that these, the old and +decrepit Seldwylians, only spoke of him as the "well-mannered and +sensible Saxon," for they themselves understood not a whit more than he +himself. When the people of Seldwyla founded a large brewery on shares, +hoping therefrom for huge business in their town, and when the +extensive foundation walls emerged from the ground, Jobst used to make +it his task of boring into the soil thereabouts with his cane, talking +like an expert and showing the keenest interest in the progress of the +work, for all the world as if he were the most assiduous toper himself +and as if the success or non-success of the enterprise were a matter of +life and death with him. "No indeed," he would then exclaim in his +lisping voice, "this is a shplendid undertakking. Only, the devil of it +is it costs so mooch monnee! So mooch monnee! It's a pity! And here, +this here vault ought really to be a leetle, yoost a leetle bit deeper, +and this wall a leetle bit thicker." And the other idiots sided with +him and said he knew all about it.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, for all his enthusiasm he never failed to show up in time for +his Sunday supper. For that was indeed the sole chagrin he inflicted on +the mistress at home that he never missed a meal, Sunday or any other +day. The other workmen would go to the tavern with their comrades and +friends, dance, play cards and amuse themselves. But not so Jobst. On +his account alone the master's wife was forced to remain at home +Sundays, or else to provide his lonesome supper. And then, after +chewing as long as he could his portion of bread and sausage or cold +meat, he would spend another considerable while pawing over his slender +possessions, fingering them as though they were the treasures of +Aladdin, with bated breath, and then he would retire to his strictly +virtuous couch. That according to his notions had been an enjoyable, a +roystering Sunday.</p> + +<p class="normal">But with all his humble, decent and inconspicuous ways, Jobst was not +lacking in a species of inner, hidden irony, as though in his own +peculiar way he were making fun of the world with its vanity and its +foolishness. Indeed he seemed even to have strong doubts as to the +grandeur and worth of things in general, and to be conscious of +harboring within his own soul plans far more momentous and stirring. On +Sundays, notably when delivering his expert opinions on creation as a +whole, he often showed a face alive with superior, with almost owlish +wisdom. It was plainly to be seen in his pinched features how he +carried within his inmost ken plans of immense importance, plans +compared with which the doings of the others, after all, were but as +child's play. The great, the overwhelmingly great plan he cherished day +and night and which had been all these years his loadstar, ever since +he had first appeared in Seldwyla, amounted indeed to this: To save his +wages until there would be a sum sufficient to present himself some +fine morning, on an occasion when the business would be once more for +sale, with the money in his hand and purchase it, himself at last +becoming owner and master.</p> + +<p class="normal">This darling hope lay at the bottom of all his scheming and contriving, +as he had not failed to notice how an industrious and abstemious man +could not fail to flourish in Seldwyla. He, to be sure, was such a man, +one who went his own quiet way and who was bound to profit from the +carelessness of the people thereabouts without falling into the same +errors as these. And once master and owner of the establishment, it +would not be difficult for him to acquire citizenship and then, he +calculated, he would spend the remainder of his life more sensibly and +economically than any previous citizen of Seldwyla had ever done, not +bothering the slightest about anything which was not likely to increase +his wealth, not spending a penny, but accumulating more and more money, +watching all the time his chances among the spendthrifts of the town. +This plan was indeed as simple as it was sensible and well-considered, +especially as he had begun to realize it, in his own slow but sure way, +for a number of years past. For he had already saved up quite a neat +little sum; this he had hidden away securely, and with things going on +as they had hitherto, it was but a question of time when his scheme +would attain full fruition.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there was one point about his plan which seemed to brand it as +almost inhuman. That was the fact that Jobst had conceived it at all, +that is, in Seldwyla, for nothing in his heart really inclined him to +Seldwyla, and nothing compelled him to remain there. He cared not a fig +really either for the town or its inhabitants, either for the political +condition of the country or its manners and customs. All this was as +indifferent to him as was his own native land, and which latter he did +not even care to ever see again. In a hundred other places of the world +he might have equally well succeeded with his diligence and his habits. +However, he had discarded all sense of free choice, and with his +grossly grasping senses he had seized upon the first tendril of hope +that offered, in order to keep hold and suck himself through it full of +wealth and vigor. The saying, it is true, is: "Where I fare well, there +is my home," and this may be true enough in the case of those who can +really show some good and sufficient reasons why they love their new +country and who of their free and conscious will went out into the wide +world in order to achieve success and to return as men of weight, or of +those who escape unfortunate conditions at home and, obeying a strong +tendency, join the modern migration across the seas; or of those who +somewhere have found better and truer friends than at home, or who +discovered conditions abroad that suited their ideals and secret hopes +better or who became bound by stronger ties abroad. And this new home +in any case, this second home where they found things more to their +taste and where they succeeded well, they necessarily must care for, so +long as there they are treated humanely and fairly. Jobst, however, +scarcely knew where he was; the institutions and customs of the Swiss +he was unable to understand, and he merely said sometimes: "Why, yes, +the Swiss are strong on politics. Maybe that's good, so long as one +likes it. But I don't, and where I'm from nobody ever bothered about +political things."</p> + +<p class="normal">The customs of the Seldwylians he hated, and he felt afraid of their +noisy demonstrations when they organized a political procession or had +mass meetings. At such times he sat in the rear of the workshop and +feared bloody riots and murder growing out of it all. But nevertheless +it remained his sole object and his great secret to stay on in Seldwyla +until the end of his days. Such just and decent persons like him you +will find scattered all over the earth, and where they are for no +better reason than that it just so happened they got hold without +trouble of their own of one of these sucking tubes guaranteeing a +satisfactory income. And this they do steadily, giving no thought the +while to the land of their birth, but without loving their new home, +without a glance to right or left, and thus resembling not so much a +freeman as one of those lower organisms, odd animalculae or vegetable +seeds, which by the whims of wind or water are accidentally carried to +the spot where they flourish.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus Jobst had lived year after year in Seldwyla, slowly but constantly +adding to his secret store which he had buried under the tiles of his +chamber floor. No tailor could boast of having earned anything through +him, for he still possessed the same Sunday coat in which he had +arrived in town, and the garment was still in the same condition. +Neither had any shoemaker done any work for him in Seldwyla, for the +soles of his boots were still intact. The year, after all, has but +fifty-two Sundays, and only the half of these were utilized by him for +a walk. Nobody, in fact, had been the better for his stay in town; as +soon as he received his wages the money went to the hiding-place +mentioned, and even when he went off on his Sunday excursions he never +put a coin in his pocket, so as to foil any temptation for spending. +When hucksters or old women came to the shop with goods or fruit, with +cherries, plums or pears, it was amusing to watch Jobst, who tenderly +felt of the quality of the fruit, entered into discussions with the +vendors, thus leading these to indulge false and extravagant hopes, +only to be disappointed. He would, however, advise his comrades as to +how to make the most of their purchases, how to bake their apples in +the oven, to peel them or to stew them, without ever asking for or +receiving one mouthful himself. But though nobody ever saw the color of +his money, neither did they ever hear him swear, show any anger, demand +anything not strictly within his rights, or give vent to ill-humor. He +was the very essence of pacifism. He carefully avoided quarrels or +argument, and he did not even make a wry face when anyone, as happened +frequently, would play tricks on him. And while indeed eaten up +constantly with curiosity as to the issue of every kind of gossip, +disputes or wrangling he had come to know about, since these furnished +him with one of his chief amusements, and while he would keep a strict +account and inquire in a mild way about them and the right and wrong in +each case, the while the other workmen were indulging in their rude +brawls or tavern orgies, he nevertheless was mighty careful never to +interfere or to take a decided part for or against. In short, he was a +most curious medley of truly heroic wisdom and persistence, coupled +with a gentle but pronounced want of heart and feeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">At one time he had been for many weeks the sole workman in the +establishment, and he had flourished under these circumstances like a +green bay tree. Nights especially he rejoiced in the exclusive tenancy +of the big, wide bed. He made full use of his opportunities, and went +through incredible contortions while stretching his lank limbs in the +bed. He in a manner trebled his person, changing his posture +ceaselessly, and indulged in the hallucination that, as usual, there +were three of them and he were urgently requested by the other two not +to stand on ceremony and to take things easy. The third one being +himself, he voluptuously complied with the invitation, wrapped himself +completely in the feather bed, or else straddled his legs, lay across +the full width of the couch, or in the harmless exuberance of delight +would even turn a decent somersault or two.</p> + +<p class="normal">But alas! the day came when he, already indulging in some such innocent +capers, after having retired early, suddenly saw a strange workman +sedately enter the chamber, being led thither by the mistress of the +house. Jobst was just lying in measureless comfort with his head at the +foot of the bed, his not quite immaculate feet on the pillows, when +this happened. The stranger unfastened his heavy knapsack from his +back, stood it in a corner, and then, without loss of time, began to +undress, since he felt very tired. Jobst quick as a flash assumed the +proper position in bed and stretched himself along his accustomed spot +next to the wall. While doing this the thought rushed through his head: +"Surely he'll soon clear out again, since it is summertime and fine +weather for roaming about."</p> + +<p class="normal">This hope on further consideration took firm root, and with sundry +sighs and grunts lulled him to sleep. He dreamt, though, of a speedy +resumption of the kicking and rowing in bed, and a nightmare woke him +in the middle of the night, an evil omen. He was amazed, however, when +dawn came, and he had felt neither pokes in the ribs, nor had been +feloniously deprived of his share of the covering. Not only that; the +new arrival, although a Bavarian, was inordinately polite, peaceable +and well-behaved, for all the world like a counterpart of his own self. +This unheard-of fact cost Jobst his calmness of mind. He could not +drive the misgivings thus engendered from his head. And while the two +were dressing in the dim light of early morning, he scrutinized his new +fellow-worker closely. It seemed a singular case to him. He observed +that this new man, like himself, was no longer quite young, but cleanly +and decent in speech and manners. The Bavarian on his part with words +well-set and sober inquired of Jobst about the circumstances of life in +Seldwyla, just about in the same way in which he himself would have +done it. As soon as this became apparent to him, Jobst grew secretive +and kept to himself the simplest and most harmless things, opining +that, of course, the Bavarian must have some occult motive in coming to +this town. To ascertain this secret now became the prime object with +him. That there was a deep secret he never had the slightest doubt. +Why else should this man, just like himself, be such a gentle, +smooth-spoken and experienced sort? Only by the theory of his harboring +a deep-laid scheme, of being a designing person, could he explain +matters to himself. And thus began a kind of silent, never-sleeping +warfare between these two. Each did his best to find out the "secret" +of the other; but it was all done with the greatest precaution, in +words of double meaning, by amiable subterfuges and in peaceable ways. +Neither ever gave a clear answer to any question, but yet after the +lapse of but a few hours each of the pair was firmly convinced that the +other was in all essential respects his own double. And when in the +course of the day Fridolin, the Bavarian, several times visited the +chamber and busied himself with something, Jobst seized upon the first +chance to go there likewise at a moment when the other was fully +occupied with his work, and hurriedly made a search of Fridolin's +personal property. However, he discovered nothing but almost precisely +the same articles owned by himself, down to a small wooden needle case, +except that here he found it in the shape of a fish, while his own bore +a sportive resemblance to a baby; and, further, in lieu of a somewhat +dilapidated conversational grammar for popular use in which Jobst +sometimes studied French, the Bavarian could boast of a neatly bound +copy of a book entitled "The cold and the hot Vat, an indispensable +Handbook for Dyers." And in it there was a penciled note on the margin: +"Pledge for three Stuyvers which the Nassau man borrowed of me." From +this Jobst judged that he was dealing with somebody who knew how to +take care of his own, and thinking so instinctively cast searching +glances along the floor. Soon, too, he noticed a tile which seemed to +have recently been removed. And sure enough, when he took this out, he +found the man's treasure, folded and wrapped in the half of an old +handkerchief tightly wound about with tough twine, almost as heavy as +his own, although his was encased in an old sock. Trembling with +excitement he replaced the tile in its yawning hole, trembling at the +thought of such admirable foresight and wise economy in the case of +another, a rival, a competitor. He flew down the stairs, and in the +workshop he set to as if it depended on his exertions to provide the +entire world with combs for generations to come. And the Bavarian did +the same, as if Heaven itself must also be combed. During the ensuing +week each found full confirmation of his first suspicion. For if Jobst +was industrious and frugal, Fridolin was active and abstemious, and +with the same regretful sighs at the difficulty of these virtues. And +when Jobst was serene and sapient, Fridolin was jocular and knowing. If +the one was humble, the other was even more so. When Jobst showed +himself sly or ironical, the other was sarcastic and almost astute. And +if Jobst made a face betraying his peaceful disposition, his double +succeeded in putting on an air of incomparable asininity.</p> + +<p class="normal">The whole was not so much a race between the two as it was the simple +exercise of conscious mastery in all these arts. Each was fully +permeated with the conviction that the other would excel him if not +constantly on the watch. Neither disdained imitating the other. Each of +them was forever on the lookout to perfect himself, taking the other as +a model in any traits which he himself might yet lack or be deficient +in. And with all that they looked most of the time as though each was +perfectly incapable of seeing through the other. Thus they resembled +two doughty heroes who behave towards each other with knightly courtesy +and even assist one another until the moment shall arrive when they +begin to hack away at each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, after the lapse of this week a third came, a Suabian, by name +Dietrich, whereat the two in silence rejoiced, as at a jolly foil +against which their own greatness of soul could best be measured and +compared. And they intended to place the poor little Suabian between +their own selves, to make the contrast between him and their own patent +virtues all the more striking, about as in the case of two stately +lions with a tiny monkey between, with whom they might deign to play.</p> + +<p class="normal">But who can describe their astonishment when they observed that the +Suabian behaved precisely in the same manner as themselves, and when +the recognition of a kindred soul took place by the identical processes +as had been the case before. The same adroit system of standing +sentinel over each other was repeated. But with this signal difference, +that now it was a triangular game, whereby not only they themselves +altered somewhat their own attitude, but the third man his also, and +that they all three finally stood towards each other in distinctly +different positions.</p> + +<p class="normal">This became first apparent on the night of his arrival when they took +him between themselves in bed. The Suabian demonstrated his entire +parity. Like a match he lay within the slim space, so perfectly poised +and without the flicker of an eyelid that there actually remained a bit +of room, of neutral territory, on either side. And the bed cover +remained spread over the trio as tight and smooth as the wrapping paper +over three herrings. He was evidently their match. The situation now +commenced to be more serious, more complicated, and since all three now +faced each other like the three corners of a triangle, and since no +friendly or confidential relations were under these circumstances +feasible between them, no armistice or courtly tournament, they got +into a state of mind where they with malice aforethought, each in his +own way and with his own weapons, gently and slily began to try ousting +each other out of bed and house.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the master of the house saw that these three queer customers would +put up with anything, if only they were allowed to remain in his +service, he first lowered their wages, and next gave them scanter fare. +But this only led to an aggravation of diligence on their part, and +that again enabled him to flood the whole surrounding district with his +goods, and he got orders upon orders, so that he made a pile of money +out of their cheap labor and possessed a veritable gold mine in them. +He let out his leather belt around the loins by several holes and +began to play quite an important part in the town, while all this time +his foolish workmen slaved like beasts of burden in their dark and +ill-ventilated shop at home, striving, each of them, to force the other +two out of the race. Dietrich, the Suabian, although the youngest of +them, proved of the same calibre as the other two. The only difference +was that he as yet had scarcely any savings, inasmuch as he had not yet +traveled around much, having been a prentice until recently. This would +have been an unfortunate obstacle for him in the race, for Jobst and +Fridolin would have had greatly the start of him, if he as a Suabian +had not been inventive in stratagem. For although Dietrich's heart, +like that of the others, was wholly bare of any sinful or earthly +passion, always excepting the one of persisting to remain in Seldwyla +and nowhere else, and to reap all the advantages of that plan, he +nevertheless bethought him of the trick of falling in love and to woo +such a maiden as should possess about such a dowry in size as the +respective treasures which the Saxon or the Bavarian had hidden under +their tiles.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was one of the better peculiarities of the Seldwyla folk that they +were averse to wed unattractive or unamiable women just for the sake of +a somewhat larger dowry. There was no very great temptation anyway, for +wealthy heiresses there were none in their town, either pretty or +homely ones, and thus they at least maintained their sturdy and manly +independence even by disdaining the smaller mouthfuls, and preferred to +unite themselves rather with goodlooking and merry girls, and thus lead +for a few years with them at any rate a happy life. Hence it was not +hard for the Suabian, spying about for a suitable partner, to find his +way into the good graces of a virtuous maiden. She dwelt in the same +street, and in conversation with old women he had soon ascertained that +she possessed as her own undoubted property a mortgage of seven hundred +florins. This maiden was Zues Buenzlin, the twenty-eight-year-old +daughter of a washerwoman. She lived with her mother, but could freely +dispose of this legacy from her deceased father. This valuable bit of +paper she kept in a highly varnished trunk. There, too, she had the +accumulated interest money, her baptismal certificate, her testimonial +of confirmation, and a painted and gilt Easter egg; in addition to all +this she preserved there half a dozen silver spoons, the Lord's Prayer +printed in gold letters upon transparent glass, although she believed +the material to be human skin, a cherry stone into which was carved the +Passion of Christ, and a small box of ivory, lined with red satin, and +in which were concealed a tiny mirror and a silver thimble; there was +also in it another cherry stone in which you could hear clattering a +diminutive set of ninepins, a nutshell in which a madonna became +visible behind glass, a silver heart, in a hollow of which was a scent +bottle, and a candy box fashioned out of dried lemon peel, on the cover +of which was painted a strawberry, and in which there might be +discovered a golden pin displayed on a couch of cotton wool +representing a forget-me-not, and a locket showing on the inside a +monument woven out of hair; lastly, a bundle of age-yellowed papers +with recipes, secrets, and so forth; also a small flask of Cologne +water, another holding stomach drops, a box of musk, another with +marten excrements, and a small basket woven out of odoriferous grasses, +another of beads and cloves, and then a small book bound in sky-blue +silk and entitled "Golden Life Rules for the Maiden as Betrothed, Wife +and Mother"; and a dream book, a letter writer, five or six love +letters, and a lancet for use to let blood. This last piece came from a +barber and assistant surgeon to whom she had once been engaged, and +since she was a naturally skillful and very sensible person she had +learned from her fiancé how to open a vein, to put on leeches, and +similar things, and had even been able to shave him herself. But alas, +he had proved an unworthy object of her affections, with whom she might +easily have risked her temporal and heavenly welfare, and thus she had +with saddened but wise resolution broken the engagement. Gifts were +returned on both sides, with the exception of the lancet. This she kept +in pawn as pledge for one florin and eight and forty stuyvers, which +sum she on one occasion had lent him in cash. The unworthy one claimed, +however, that she had no right to it since she had given him the money +on the occasion of a ball, in order to defray joint expenses, and he +added that she had eaten twice as much as himself. Thus it happened +that he kept the florin and forty-eight stuyvers, while she kept the +surgical appliance, with which Zues operated extensively among her +female acquaintance and earned many a penny. But every time she used +the instrument she could not help mentioning the low habits of him who +had once stood so close to her and who had almost become her partner +for life.</p> + +<p class="normal">All these things were locked up in that trunk, and the trunk again was +kept in a large walnut wardrobe, the key to which Zues had constantly +in her pocket. As to her person, Zues had rather sparse reddish hair as +well as clear pale-blue eyes; these now and then possessed some charm, +and then would throw glances both wise and gentle. She owned an +enormous store of clothes, but of these she only wore the oldest. +However, she was always carefully and cleanly dressed, and just as neat +was the appearance of her room. She was very industrious and helped her +mother in her laundry work, ironing out the finer and more delicate +fabrics and washing the lace caps and the jabots of the wealthier +Seldwyla ladies, thus earning quite a bit. And it may be that it was +due to this sort of activity that Zues always exhibited the peculiar +stern and dignified bent of mind which women show when they are dealing +with laundry work, especially with the work over the tub. For Zues +never unbent at all until the ironing began. Then, it might be, a +species of sedate cheerfulness would seize upon her, in her case, +however, invariably spiced with words of wisdom. This sedate spirit, +too, was recognizable in the chief decorative piece on the premises, +namely, a garland of soap cakes, square, accurately gauged cakes, which +encircled the large living room on shelves. The soap was thus exposed +to the warm air currents in order to harden and become fitter for use. +And it was Zues herself who always cut out the cakes by means of a +brass wire. The wire had fastened to it at either end two small wooden +knobs so one could seize them there for a more commodious cutting of +the soft soap. But a fine pair of compasses used in dividing the soap +in equal sections was also there. This instrument had been made for her +and presented as a valued gift by a journeyman mechanician with whom +she had at one time been as good as engaged. From him, too, came a +gleaming small brass mortar for the pulverization of spices. This +decorated the edge of her cupboard, right between the blue china tea +can and the painted flower vase. For long such a dainty little mortar +had been her special desire, and the attentive mechanician was +therefore extremely welcome when he appeared one afternoon on her +birthday and likewise brought along something to put the mortar to its +legitimate use: a boxful of cinnamon, lump sugar, cloves and pepper. +The mortar itself he hung, before entering at the door, by one of its +handles to his little finger, and with the pestle he started a gay +tinkling, just like a bell, so that out of the adventure grew a jolly +day of festivity. However, shortly afterwards the false scoundrel fled +from the district, and was never heard of more. Besides that, his +master even demanded the return of the mortar, since the fugitive had +taken it from his shop, but had forgotten to pay for it. But Zues did +not deliver up this valuable object. On the contrary, she went to law +for its undisputed possession, and in court she defended her claim +valiantly, basing her rights on the fact that she had washed, starched +and ironed a set of "dickies" for the vanished lover. Those days, the +days when she was forced to defend her rights to the mortar in open +court, were the most conspicuous and painful of her whole life, since +she with her deep feelings felt these things and more particularly her +appearance in court for the sake of such delicate affairs much more +keenly than others of a lighter disposition would have done. All the +same she scored a victory and kept her mortar.</p> + +<p class="normal">If, however, this neat soap gallery proclaimed her exact working +tactics and her passion for toil, a row of books, arranged in orderly +fashion on the window ledge, did honor to her religious and disciplined +mind. These books were of a miscellaneous description, and she read and +reread them studiously on Sundays. She still possessed all her school +books, never having lost a single one of them. She also still carried +in her head all her little stock of scholastic learning acquired at +school; she knew the whole catechism by heart, as well as the contents +of the grammar, of the arithmetic, of her geography book, of the +collection of biblical stories, and of the various readers and +spellers. Then she also owned some of the pretty tales by Christoph +Schmid and the latter's short novelettes, with handsome verses at the +end, at least a half dozen of sundry treasuries of poetry and +gatherings of popular fairy tales, a number of almanacs full of +specimens of homely wisdom and practical experience, several precise +and remarkable prophecies of tremendous events to come, a guide for +laying the cards, a book of edification for every day of the year +intended for the use of thoughtful virgins, and an old and slightly +damaged copy of Schiller's "The Robbers," which she slowly perused +again and again, as often as she feared she might begin to forget this +stirring drama. And each time she read it, the play appealed to her +sentimental heart anew, so that she made constant references to it and +commented in a highly praiseworthy manner on the various personages +presented in it. And really all there was in these books she also +retained in her memory, and understood exceedingly well how to speak +about them and about many other things as well. When she felt cheerful +and contented and did not have to hasten her labors too greatly, speech +flowed continuously from her lips, and everything under the sun she +knew how to judge and to put into its proper category. Young and old, +high and low, learned and unlearned, they all were compelled to listen +and to receive instruction from her. First, she would hear everybody +out, meanwhile smilingly and sensibly straightening out the case in her +wise little head. And then, having now perceived whither all these +plaints or fears tended, she would solve the more or less knotty +problem at a stroke. Sometimes she would speak so unctuously and +elaborately on matters that irreverent criticasters had compared her to +learned blind persons who have never had sight of the world and whose +sole solace it is to hear themselves talk.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the time she went to the town school and from her lessons of +instruction before she was confirmed by the pastor, she had retained +the habit of composing, from time to time, essays and exercises, and +thus it was that she would, on quiet Sundays, laboriously write out the +most marvelous compositions. One of her favorite methods in doing this +was to seize upon some melodious title that she had heard of or read in +the course of the week, and taking this, so to speak, as her text, +would proceed to pile up from it the most wonderful conclusions and +deductions, not infrequently culminating in very odd or nonsensical +dicta. Page on page of this balderdash she would perpetrate, just as it +issued from the convolutions of her silly brain. Such themes, for +example, as "The Various Beneficent Uses of a Sickbed," "About Death," +"About the Wholesomeness of Resignation," "About the Giant Size +of the World," "About the Secrets of Life Eternal," "About Residence +in the Country," "About Nature," "About Dreams," "About Love," +"About Redemption and Christ," "Three Points in the Theory of +Self-Justification," "Thoughts about Immortality," she often solved in +her own easy way. Then she would read aloud to her friends and admirers +these productions, and it was a supreme proof of her special regard and +affection for her to present one or the other of them to a close +friend. Such gifts, she insisted on, had to be placed within the pages +of a Bible, that is, if the recipient happened to have one.</p> + +<p class="normal">This leaning of Zues' nature towards religious ecstasy and +contemplation had once gained her the profound and respectful affection +of a young bookbinder, a man who read every book he bound and who was, +besides, both ambitious and enthusiastic. Whenever he brought his +bundle of soiled linen to Zues' mother, he deemed himself to be in +paradise, for he swallowed greedily all of the maiden's thoughts, and +her boldest figures of speech now and then, he shyly said, would remind +him of things he had dared to think himself, but which he had never had +the skill and the courage to frame into words. Bashfully and humbly he +approached this talented virgin, who was by turns severe and eloquent, +and she deigned to suffer this modest intercourse and held him in +leading-strings for a whole year, not, however, without making the +hopelessness of his suit plain to him, gently but determinedly. For +inasmuch as he was nine years her junior, poor as a church mouse and +awkward in gaining a living, men of his calling not being in clover in +Seldwyla anyhow, since people there do not read much and, consequently, +have few books to bind, she never for a moment hid from herself the +impossibility of a union. She merely found it pleasant to develop his +mind and character and to furnish her own as a model to strive after. +Her own powers of resignation were all the time for him to take pattern +by, and so she embalmed his aspirations in an iridescent cloud of +phrases. And he on his part would listen modestly, and once or twice +find heart to risk a beautiful sentence himself. This she invariably +answered by instantly killing his observation with a finer one. That +year, when she calmly received the adoration of this youth, was +reckoned by her the most ethereal and noblest of her existence, since +it was not disturbed by a single breath from the lower and material +spheres, and the young man during it bound anew all her books, and with +infinite pains wrought night after night toward the ultimate completion +of an artful and precious monument of his adoration for her. This was, +to be plain, a huge Chinese temple of pasteboard, containing +innumerable tiny compartments and secret receptacles, and which might +be entirely taken apart and reconstructed on following carefully +previous instructions. This miracle was pasted all over with the finest +samples of varicolored and glazed paper, and everywhere ornamented with +gilt borders. Minute mirrors inside colonnaded halls of state reflected +the gay colors, and by removing one section of the structure or opening +another one there were more mirrors and hidden pictures, nosegays of +paper or loving couples. The curving or shelving roofs were everywhere +hung with little bells. Even a small stand for a lady's watch was +there, with hooks to hang it up on and with other hooks to trail a +slender meandering chain through. Only up to now no watchmaker had yet +offered a pretty watch or a chain to decorate this altar with. An +enormous deal of trouble and skill had been wasted on this pasteboard +temple, and its ground plan was just as correct as the work itself. And +when this monument of a year passed jointly so pleasantly had been duly +accepted, Zues Buenzlin encouraged the good bookbinder, doing violence +to her own well-regulated heart, to tear himself away from the town and +to set once more his staff for a wandering life. She pointed out with +perfect justice that the whole world stood open to him, and she assured +him that now, having schooled and ennobled his heart by improving his +acquaintance with herself, happiness elsewhere would certainly be in +store for him. She would never forget him and retire into solitude. And +indeed, the young fellow was so much affected by these moral +exhortations that he shed a few melancholy tears in passing the town +gate on his way. His masterpiece, however, since stood on top of Zues' +old-fashioned clothes press, daintily covered by a veil of green gauze, +thus defying dust and profane gaze. She considered it so much of a +sacred relic that she kept it intact and without even placing anything +whatever into those many tiny recesses of the temple. In her memory he +continued to live as "Emmanuel," although his real name had been Veit. +And she told everyone with whom she discussed the case that Emmanuel +alone had completely understood her inner self. This she said now that +he was gone, but while he had been with her in the flesh she had been +of different opinion, for she had rarely admitted to him that he was +right, deeming it wiser to thus urge him on to higher and ever higher +endeavor in his search of a perfect agreement of mind with his idol. +Indeed, she had more than once intimated to him, at times when he hoped +he had at last fully entered the arcana of her soul, that he was +farther and farther from it.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he, too, Veit-Emmanuel, played her a little trick. He had placed in +a false bottom, in one of the diminutive apartments of his pasteboard +fairy palace, the most touching of all love letters, bedewed with his +tears, wherein he confessed his bitter grief at parting from her, his +love, his worship and his sublime steadfastness, and in such passionate +and sincere terms had he done this as only genuine feeling can find, +even if it has lost itself in a cul-de-sac. Such touching, such moving +things he had never said to her, simply because she never would give +him the chance, having always interrupted him when he was on the point +of doing so. But as she had not the slightest suspicion that any such +document had been put away within the temple, she never found the +missive and thus fate for once dealt justly and did not let a false +beauty see that which she was not worthy of. And it was also a symbol +that she it was who had not fathomed the somewhat silly, but devoted +and sincere heart of the youth.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">For a long while she had been praising the doings of the three +combmakers, and had called them three decent and sensible men; for she +had closely observed them. When, therefore, Dietrich, the Suabian, +began to linger longer and longer in her dwelling when bringing or +fetching his shirt, and to pay court to her, she treated him in a +friendly manner and kept him near her for hours by means of her lofty +conversation. And Dietrich talked back, of course, to please her, just +as much as he could; and she was one of the kind that could stand more +than a fair measure of laudation. Indeed, one might truthfully say that +she liked it all the more the more spiced and peppered it was. When +praising her wisdom and kindness, she kept still as a mouse, until +there was no more of it, whereupon she would with heightened color pick +up the thread where it had been dropped, and would touch up the +painting in those spots where it seemed to require a trifle of +additional color. And Dietrich had not been going back and forth in +her house for any great length of time when she showed him that +mortgage of hers, and he thereupon began to exude a quiet, sedate +species of self-satisfaction, and began to behave toward his rivals +with such stealth as though he had invented the perpetuum mobile. Jobst +and Fridolin, however, soon unearthed his secret, and they were amazed +at the depth of his dissimulation and at his cleverness. Jobst above +all clutched his hair and tore out a good handful of it; for had he +himself not been going to the same house for a long while, and had it +ever occurred to him to look for anything there but his clean linen? +Rather, he had hitherto almost hated the washerwomen because he had +been forced to dig up a few stuyvers every week to pay them. Never had +he thought of marriage, because he was unable to conceive of a wife +under any other aspect than that of a being that wanted something out +of him which he did not deem her due, and to expect something from such +a feminine creature that might be of advantage to him had never entered +his thoughts, since he had confidence only in himself, and his +calculations had so far never gone beyond the narrowest horizon, that +of his secret. But now reflecting deep and serious he reached the +determination to outdo this sly little Suabian, for if the latter +should really succeed in getting hold of Dame Zues' seven hundred +florins, he might become a keen competitor. The seven hundred florins, +too, suddenly shone and glittered very differently, in the eyes both of +the Saxon and of the Bavarian. Thus it was that Dietrich, the man of +invention, had discovered a land which soon became the joint property +of the three, and thus shared the hard lot of all discoverers, for the +two others at once got on the same track and likewise became steady +callers on Zues Buenzlin. She therefore saw herself surrounded by a +whole court of decent and respectable combmakers. That she relished +greatly; never before had she had a number of admirers at one time. It +became a novel entertainment for her shrewd mind to handle these three +with the greatest impartiality and skill, to keep them at all times +within bounds and cool reason, and to thus influence them by frequent +speeches in favor of the beauties of resignation and unselfishness +until Heaven itself should by some act of intervention decide matters +irrevocably.</p> + +<p class="normal">As each of the three had confided to her his secret and his plans, she +immediately made up her mind to render happy that one who really would +attain his goal and become owner of the business. And in thus deciding +in her own heart how she should proceed, she from that hour on +deliberately excluded the Suabian, since he could not succeed except +through and by her money. But while thus actually discarding the +Suabian as a possible candidate for her hand, she reflected that, after +all, he was the youngest, handsomest and most amiable of the trio, and +thus she would spare for him many a token of regard and confidence, and +lull him into the belief that his chances were the best. But while so +doing, she knew how to arouse the jealousy of the other two, and thus +spur them on to greater zeal. And so it came to pass that Dietrich, +this poor Columbus who had first sighted and nearly taken possession of +the pretty land, became nothing but a mere pawn in her game, nothing +but the poor fool who unconsciously assisted in the angling for the +real fish. Meanwhile all three of them assiduously wooed and courted +the coy maiden, running a close race in the difficult art of showing +all the time devotion, modesty and sense, while being kept by the +bridle. She on her part was in her element, for she forever told them +to be unselfish and to practice resignation. When the whole four now +and then happened to be together, they made the impression of a +singular conventicle where the queerest remarks were being expressed. +And despite of all their timidity and humility it would happen once in +a while that one of the three, suddenly dropping his hosannahs in +praise of the rare gifts and virtues of the maiden, would plunge into a +measure of self-laudation. At such moments it was edifying and truly +touching to see Zues gently interrupt the rash one and chide him for +his breach of good manners. She would then shame him by forcing him to +listen to a homily on his rivals.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, this was really a hard sort of life for the poor combmakers to +lead. No matter how much ordinarily they had themselves under control, +now that a woman had entered as a factor into their game, there would +occur wholly novel spurts of jealousy, of fear, of misgiving, and of +hope. What with a fury of work and increased economy, they almost +killed themselves and certainly lost flesh. They became melancholy, and +while before people--and especially before Zues--they endeavored hard +to maintain the appearance of the utmost harmony, they scarcely spoke a +word to each other when alone together at work or in their common +sleeping chamber, lay down sighing in their joint bed, and dreamed of +murder, albeit still resting quietly and immovably one next the other +as so many sticks. One and the same dream hovered nightly over the +trio, until really once it came to one of the sleepers, so that Jobst +in his place by the wall turned over violently and kicked Dietrich. +Dietrich avoided the kick and gave Jobst a hard push, and now there was +among the three sleepy combmakers an outbreak of elemental wrath. The +most tremendous row ensued in the bed, and for fully three minutes they +treated each other to fearful lunges, kicks and pushes, so that all the +six legs formed an inextricable tangle, until with a thundering crash +they rolled out of bed and began to howl like savage beasts. Becoming +fully awake they at first thought the devil were after them or else +thieves had entered their room. Screaming they rose quickly. Jobst took +his stand upon his tile; Fridolin planted himself firmly upon his own, +and Dietrich did the like upon that tile beneath which his still rather +slender savings reposed. And thus standing in a triangle, they worked +their arms like flails and shouted their loudest: "Get out; get out!" +until the master came rushing up from below and after a while quieted +the three frenzied fellows. Trembling then with fear, shame and anger, +they crept back into bed, and then, wide-awake, lay there mute until +dawn came and forced them to rise.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, the nocturnal spook had only been the prelude to something +worse. For at breakfast the master let them know that for the time +being he had no longer need of three journeymen, and that two of them +would have to pack up their bundle. It appeared that they had defeated +their own object by hurrying and hastening work, so that now there were +more wares than the boss was able to dispose of, while on the other +hand, he, the master, himself had taken advantage of the extreme mood +for work his men had shown for months to lead on his part an opulent +and disorderly life, spending nearly all his extra gains in riotous +quips. Indeed, when the details of his doings became public it turned +out that he had run into such an amount of debt that the load of it +came well-nigh smothering him. Thus it came about that he, looking over +his own situation, was unable to employ or support his three workmen, +no matter how abstemious they were and how intent on his further +profit. For consolation he told them that he was equally fond of all +three of them and loath to tell either to go, wherefore he had made up +his mind to leave it wholly to them which of the three should leave and +which should stay. All they had to do, he remarked smilingly, was to +agree among themselves upon that point.</p> + +<p class="normal">But they were unable to come to a decision as to this. Rather they +stood there pale as ghosts, and simpered timidly at each other. Then +they became tremendously excited, since they clearly perceived that the +most momentous hour of their existence was approaching. For they judged +from the words of the master that he would not be able to continue the +business much longer, and that, therefore, it would soon become an +object of sale. The goal, then, each of them had striven for with such +infinite patience and cunning seemed in sight, and to their heated +fancy was already glittering and shining like a new Jerusalem. And now +came this awful decree, and two of them would have to turn their backs +upon the heavenly prospect. It was almost more than they could bear. +After a very brief consultation and reflection all three of them went +to see the master, and declared with tearful voices that rather than +leave him they would stay on, even though they would have to work +gratis. But then the master declared jovially that even in that case he +had no further use for all the three. Two of them, he again assured +them, would have to quit the house. They fell at his feet; they wrung +their hands; they asked and implored him to let them stay on: only for +another three months, for one month, for a fortnight. The master, +however, after at first enjoying the humor of the situation, at last +lost all patience. Besides, he was perfectly aware what their motive in +all this pretended loyalty for him was, and that soured his temper. +Suddenly an idea occurred to him, and he did not hesitate to make them +a proposition.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why," he smiled, "if you cannot agree among yourselves at all as to +who is to remain and who to go, I will tell you how we will decide this +matter. But that is absolutely the last proposal I shall make to you. +To-morrow being Sunday, I shall pay your wages; you pack up your +belongings, get ready to go forth and take your staffs. Then you will +in all good faith and perfect harmony leave jointly, going out by +whichever gate you may agree upon, and march on the highroad for +another half-hour, no more, no less, and then stop. Then you will rest +yourselves a trifle, and if you care to do so, you may even drink a +shoppen or two. Having done so, you will all three of you turn once +more and walk back to town, and whoever will then first ask me for +work, him I will keep, but the other two must wander forth for good and +all, wherever they might choose to go."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hearing this cruel decision, they three fell once more at his feet and +begged him most pitifully to have mercy on them and to desist from his +plan. But the master, who by this time began to anticipate some rare +fun in his wicked soul, was obstinate and would not listen to them, +hardening himself. Suddenly the Suabian sprang up and ran out of the +house like a man demented, across the street to Zues Buenzlin. Scarcely +had Jobst and the Bavarian observed that, when they ceased to lament +themselves and followed the youngest. Within a very brief space the +three of them were seated in the dwelling of the frightened maiden.</p> + +<p class="normal">Zues felt rather abashed and undecided by reason of the adventure +taking such an unexpected turn. But she calmed herself, and viewing the +matter from her own particular angle, she resolved to make her plans +subservient to the master's odd conceit. In fact, she regarded this new +aspect of affairs as a special dispensation of Providence. Touched and +devout she fetched out one of her volumes, then with her needle at +random pricked among the leaves, and when she opened the book at the +spot, she found a passage that spoke of the persistent following of the +righteous path. Next she made the three guests turn up passages +blindfolded, and all that was found treated of walking along the narrow +way, of advancing without looking backwards, in short, of nothing but +running and racing. Thus, then, she decided, Heaven itself had +prescribed the projected race for to-morrow. But since she was afraid +that Dietrich, as being the youngest and the ablest in jumping, +walking, and running, and thus most likely to win the palm if left +without supervision, she made up her mind to go herself along with the +three lovers, and to watch for an opportunity for bending or +influencing possibly the outcome of this undertaking in accordance with +her own secret desires. For she wished, as we must recall, one of the +older men to be the victor, she did not care which of the two.</p> + +<p class="normal">In furtherance of this plan she insisted that the three be quiet for a +spell and cease slandering and berating each other, but rather summon +themselves to acquiescence in God's will. She put on her judicial air +and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Know, my friends, that nothing happens here below without the +direction and sometimes direct interference of Providence, and no +matter if the plan of your master be unusual and singular, we must look +upon it as ordered by higher powers than he, although it may be that he +has not even an inkling of this. He is the dumb and unconscious +instrument in the hands of the Ruler. Our peaceable and harmonious +intercourse here has been too beautiful altogether to have been +prolonged much farther. For, behold, all the good things in life are +but transitory and pass away, and nothing is lasting but evil things, +the loneliness of the soul and the persistence of sin, whereupon we +feel impelled to consider all this and to try and grasp their meaning +in this life and in the life to come. Hence, too, let us rather +separate before the wicked demon of discord raises its head amongst us, +and let us bid each other farewell, just as do the soft zephyrs of +springtime when they swiftly move along high in the sky, and let us do +this before the rough storms of autumn overtake us. I myself will +accompany you on the first stage of your hard road, and will be the +eyewitness of your trial race, so that you will start on it with a good +courage and so that you know behind you a gentle propelling power, +while victory winks from afar. But just as the victor will forbear to +show a spirit of undue pride, those who have been defeated will not +permit themselves to become despondent nor to load their souls with +grief or wrath because of their lack of success in the venture. They +will depart feeling affection for him who bears the palm, and will +enshrine him and us in their inmost heart. They will fare forth into +the wide world with joyous disposition. They must reflect on the fact +that men have built cities galore that outshine in their splendors and +beauties Seldwyla by far. There is, for instance, a huge and memorable +city wherein dwells the Father of all Christendom. And Paris, too, is +quite a mighty town, where may be found innumerable souls and many fine +palaces. And in Constantinople there rules the Sultan, of Turkish faith +is he, and there is Lisbon, once destroyed by an earthquake, but since +reconstructed finer than ever. Again we have Vienna, the capital of +Austria and called the gay imperial city, and London is the wealthiest +town of all, situated in Engelland, along a river the name of which is +the Thames. Two millions of human beings, they say, have their +habitation there. St. Petersburg, on the other hand, is the capital and +imperial city of Russia, whereas Naples is the capital of the kingdom +of the same name, near which is the Vesuvius, a high mountain forever +breathing fire and smoke. On that mountain, according to the version of +a credible witness, a lost soul once upon a time appeared to a ship's +captain, as I have read in a curious book of travel, which soul +belonged to John Smidt, who one hundred and fifty years ago was a +godless man, and who now commissioned the said captain to visit his +descendants in Engelland, so he might be redeemed. For look you, the +entire mountain is the abode of the damned, as may also be read in the +tract of the learned Peter Hasler where he discusses the probable +entrance to hell. Many other cities there are indeed, whereof I will +still mention Milan, and Venice, built wholly upon water, and Lyons, +and Marseilles, and Strasbourg, and Cologne, and Amsterdam. Of Paris I +have already spoken, but there is also Nuremberg, and Augsburg, and +Frankfort, and Basle, and Berne, and Geneva, all of them handsome +towns, and pretty Zurich, and besides all these still many more which I +have neither leisure nor inclination to enumerate here. For everything +has its limits, excepting the inventive genius of man, who goes +everywhere and undertakes anything which seems to him useful. And if +men are just everything prospereth with them; but if they are unjust +they will perish like the grass of the fields and vanish like smoke. +Many are called, but few are chosen. For all these reasons and because +of others to which our duty and the virtue of a clear conscience oblige +us, we will now submit ourselves to the voice of fate. Go forth, +therefore, and prepare for the time of trial, and for the period of +wandering, but do so as just and gentle beings, who bear their worth +within themselves, no matter whither they may go, and whose staff will +everywhere take root, who, no matter what their calling may be and no +matter what business they may seize upon, are always in the right in +saying to themselves; 'I have chosen the better part.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Of all this the combmakers really did not want to hear just then, but +on the contrary insisted that Zues should select one of them and tell +him to remain in Seldwyla, and each one of them in saying so only +thought of himself. She, however, was careful to avoid a premature +choice. On the contrary, she told them bluntly that they must obey her +on pain of forfeiting her friendship forever. At once Jobst, the oldest +of the three, skipped off, right into the house of their ex-master, and +to perceive that and follow him in haste, was the work of an instant, +since they were afraid that he might be planning something against them +on the sly, and thus the trio acted all day long, whisking about like +falling stars, hither and thither. They hated each other like three +spiders in one web. Half the town witnessed this queer spectacle, +observing the three strangely excited combmakers, they who until that +day had always been so orderly and quiet. The ancient people of the +town could not but feel that something evil, something tragic was +underway, and they would nod and whisper to one another of their fears. +Towards nightfall, however, the combmakers became tired and spent, +without having reached any definite conclusion, and in that mood they +retired and stretched out their limbs in the old bed, with chattering +teeth and half-sick with impotent rage. One by one they crept beneath +the covering, and there they lay, as though felled by the hand of death +itself, with thoughts in turmoil and confusion, until at last sleep +came like balm for their uproarious minds.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jobst was first to waken, at early dawn, and he saw that spring was +weaving its garlands and that the great orb was rising in the east, in +a mass of cloudlets of dainty hue. The first rays of the sun were +already penetrating the dusky chamber wherein he had been sleeping for +the past six years. And while the room assuredly looked bare and +unattractive enough, it seemed nevertheless a paradise to him, a +paradise from which he was about to be driven thus unjustly and +unfairly, it appeared to him. He let his eyes wander all over the +walls, and counted on them the traces left by all the preceding +journeymen that had been harbored under that roof. Here there was a +dark stain from the one who was in the habit of rubbing against the +wall his greasy pate; there another one had driven in a nail, on which +he used to hang his long pipe, and, sure enough, a bit of scarlet tape +still clung to the nail. How good and harmless had they all been, all +those that had come and gone, while these fellows now, spread out their +whole length next to him in bed, would not go. Next he fastened his +glance upon the objects nearer his field of vision, those objects which +he had noticed thousands of times before, on all those occasions when +he had lain in bed in a contemplative mood, mornings, nights, or +daytime, and when he had enjoyed in his own peculiar way the bliss of +existence, free of cost and with a serene mind. There was, for example, +a spot in the ceiling where the wet had damaged it. This spot had often +set his imagination at work. It looked like the map of a whole country, +with lakes and rivers and cities, and a group of grains of sand +represented an isle of the blessed. Farther down a long bristle from +the painter's brush attracted Jobst's wandering attention; for this +bristle had been held back by the blue paint and was embedded in it. +This phenomenon interested Jobst greatly, for it was his own handiwork. +Last autumn he had accidentally discovered a small remnant of the azure +paint, and to utilize it had proceeded to spread it over that portion +of the ceiling nearest to him. But just beyond the bristle there was a +very slight protuberance, almost like a chain of mountains, and this +threw its shadow across the bristle over against the isle of the +blessed. About this rise in the scenery he had been brooding and +speculating the whole of the past winter, because it seemed to him that +it had not been there formerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">And as he now cast searching glances for this protuberance and could +not find it despite all his pains, he thought he must suddenly have +gone daft when instead of it he discovered a tiny bare spot on the +wall. On the other hand he noticed that the small bluish mountain +itself was moving. Amazed beyond measure at this miracle, Jobst quickly +sat up and watched the cerulean wonder march steadily on: the +conviction dawned on him that the prodigy was nothing but a bedbug; his +logical deduction then was that he must have unawares applied a coat of +paint to this insect, at a time in its life when it was already in a +state of coma. But now the little creature had been reawakened under +the warming influence of the spring sun, had started on a tour of +adventure, and was actually and bravely ascending the steep pathway on +the wall, ready for business, without in the least minding its blue +back and Jobst's astonishment. Jobst watched the meanderings of the +dear little thing with concentrated interest. So long as it cut across +the blue paint it was barely visible; but now it issued forth into the +region beyond, traversing first a few remaining splotches of paint, and +next wandering diligently among the darker districts. With softened +feelings Jobst sank back into his pillows. Generally rather indifferent +to quips of mere fancy, this time sentiment struggled uppermost. He +took the enterprising bedbug as an omen for himself. He, too, must be +wandering forth again, seeking new pastures. And thankfully and +resignedly he thought of this insect as a model for himself to strive +after. In this frame of mind he resolved to put a good face on the +matter and to bow to the unavoidable. He meant to start at once. +Indulging these wise reflections his natural wisdom and forethought +slowly came back to him, however, and resuming his train of +deliberations he at last concluded that there might not be any +necessity for clearing out at all. By reassuming his habitual modesty +and resignation and submitting in that spirit to the trial at hand, it +might come to pass, after all, that he would overcome his rivals. +Softly and slowly, therefore, he now rose, and began to arrange his +belongings; but above all he dug up his hidden treasure and started to +pack it away, lowest in his knapsack. While thus engaged the others +also awoke. And when they observed Jobst packing up his things in that +matter-of-fact, unobtrusive manner, they grew more and more astonished, +and this feeling increased when Jobst spoke to them in a conciliatory +tone and wished them a good morning. More than that, though, he did not +say, but continued peaceably in his task. Instantly, however, not being +able to explain to themselves his behavior, they began to suspect a +ruse, a deep-laid scheme, and to imitate him. At the same time they +closely watched him, curious to find out what he would do next.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was ludicrous as well to observe the other two now exhuming their +hoards quite openly from underneath their own tiles, and to put them +away, without first counting them over, in their knapsacks. For they +had known for long that each was aware of the secret of the others, and +according to the old-fashioned honorable traditions of their guild not +one of them suspected the others of theft. Each of them, in fact, was +fully convinced that they would not be robbed. For it is an iron-clad +custom among traveling journeymen, soldiers, and similar folk that +nothing must be locked up and that there must be no suspicion of foul +play.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this way they at last were ready to start. The master paid each his +wages, and handed them back their service booklets, wherein on the part +of the town authorities and of the master himself there were inscribed +the most satisfactory certificates as to good behavior and steadiness +of conduct. A minute later they stood, in a state of soft melancholy, +before the house door of Zues Buenzlin, each dressed in a long brown +coat, with a duster above that, and their hats, albeit by no means new +or fashionable, covered with a tight casing of oil cloth. Each carried +a tiny van strapped to his knapsack to enable him, as soon as +long-distance walking should start, to pull his heavy baggage with +greater ease. The small wheels belonging to this contraption stood up +high above their shoulders. Jobst was assisted in walking by a decent +bamboo cane, Fridolin by a staff of ash painted all over with red and +black stripes, and Dietrich by a fantastic baton around which were +curling carved branches. But he was almost ashamed of this absurd and +bragging thing, since it dated from the first days of his pilgrimage, a +time when he had not yet attained to the sober view of life as since. +Many neighbors and their children lined the way and wished these three +serious-minded men godspeed.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now Zues showed at the door, her mien even more solemn than usual, +and at the head of the little procession she went on with the three +courageously to beyond the town gate. In their honor she had donned +some of her choicest finery. She wore a huge hat draped with broad +yellow ribbons, a pink calico dress trimmed in a style of ten years +ago, a black velvet scarf and shoes of red morocco with fringes. With +this costume she also carried a reticule of green silk filled with +dried pears and prunes, and had a small parasol in her other hand on +top of which there could be seen an ivory ornament carved in the shape +of a lyre. She had also hung around her fair neck the locket with the +monument of hair, and in front of her chaste bosom had pinned on the +gold forget-me-not, and wore white knit gloves. Dainty and pleasant she +looked in this guise; her countenance was slightly flushed and her +bosom heaved higher than its wont, and the departing combmakers +scarcely were able to conceal their feelings of utter woe and sorrow at +the prospect of losing her. For even their extreme situation, the +lovely spring weather, and Zues' exquisite finery, or all of it +together mingled with their sentiments of expectation and anxiety +something of what habitually is denominated Love. Arrived beyond the +town gate, though, the winsome maiden encouraged her three admirers to +place their heavy knapsacks upon those tiny wheels and to pull their +loads, so as not to tire themselves needlessly. This they did, and as +they steadily began to climb the steep heights that rose just outside +the town, it looked for all the world almost like a train of light +mountain guns moving slowly upwards, in order to form a battery for +attack. And when they had thus proceeded for half an hour they reached +a pleasant hilltop, where they halted. A crossroad was there, and they +sat down beneath a linden tree, in a semicircle, whence a far view was +obtainable across forests and lakes and villages. Zues brought out her +reticule and handed to each one a handful of pears and prunes, in order +to restore themselves. Thus they sat for quite a while, solemn and +silent, merely causing a slight noise by the slow degustation of the +sweet fruit.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Zues, throwing away a prune pit and drying her hands on the grass, +drew breath and began to speak: "Dear friends," she said, "only see how +beautiful and how big the world is, all around full of fine things and +of human habitations! And yet I should wager that in this fateful hour +there are nowhere else seated together four such decent and just souls +as are seated here under this tree, four who are so sensible and so +gentle in all their doings, so inclined to all useful and laborious +exercises, so given to virtues like economy, peaceableness, and dutiful +friendship. How many flowers are surrounding us here, of every kind, +such as early spring produces, especially yellow cowslips, from which a +wholesome and well-tasting tea may be prepared. But are these flowers, +I ask you, as decent and as diligent, as economical and cautious, as +apt to think correct and useful thoughts? No, indeed, they are ignorant +and soulless things, and without benefiting themselves they waste time +and opportunity, and no matter how nice they may look in a short time +they turn into dead and useless hay, while we with our virtues are far +superior to them and also do not yield to them in beauty of outward +shape. For it was God who created us after His image and blew His +divine breath into us. Ah, would it were possible to keep seated here +in this spot for all eternity, in this paradise and in our present +state of innocency. Indeed, my friends, it seems to me that we all of +us at this hour are in a state of innocency, although ennobled by +sinless consciousness and intelligence, for all four of us are able, +God be praised, to read and write, and we have, each of us, likewise +acquired a craft, a useful calling. For many things, I am aware, I have +talent and skill, and would engage to do many things which even the +most learned young lady would be unable to do, that is, if I were +inclined to go outside of and beyond my proper station. But modesty and +humility are the dearest virtues of a decent maiden, and it is enough +for me to know that my intellectual gifts are not worthless nor +despised by the judicious and those of a keener discernment. Many have +before this wooed me, men who were not worthy of me, and now I see +three just and decent bachelors assembled around me, each of whom is as +worthy to win me as are the others. From this, my friends, you may +measure and imagine how my own heart must long for a solution in view +of this unheard-of abundance, and may each of you take pattern by me +and think for the moment that he, too, were surrounded by three +virgins, each equally lovely and worthy to be loved, and all three +desirous to wed and possess him, and that on that account it might +happen that he would be unable to make up his mind to incline to this +or that one, and therefore at last unable to wed any. Only place +yourselves in your thoughts in my stead: fancy that each of you were +courted simultaneously by three Miss Buenzlins at once, and were thus +seated around you the way we are seated here, dressed as I am, and of +similarly alluring exterior, so that I in a manner of speaking would +exist ninefold, and that they all were regarding you with love-lorn +eyes, and were desiring to possess you with great strength of feeling. +Can you do that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The three lovers ceased for a moment to chew their dried prunes, and +made an attempt to follow the maiden's flight of fancy, their faces +meanwhile assuming a peculiarly sheep-like cast. But after a while the +Suabian, as the greatest thinker and inventor amongst them, seemed to +grasp the idea, and said with a voluptuous grin: "Well, most beloved +Miss Zues, if you have no objection, I should indeed like to see you +hover around here not only threefold but a hundredfold, and to have you +look at me with lovelorn eyes and to offer me a thousand kisses!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay," Zues replied, rather put out by this, "do not talk in this +unbecoming and extravagant style! What is entering your head, you +overbold Dietrich? Not a hundredfold and not offering kisses, but only +threefold and in a virtuous and honorable manner, so that no wrong may +be done me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," now cried Jobst, brandishing a pear stalk and gesturing with it, +"only threefold and behaving with the greatest chastity do I see the +beloved Miss Buenzlin walking about me and greeting me while placing +her hand on her heart. Your most devoted servant, thank you, thank +you!" he said, smiling with great urbanity and bowing thrice in +different directions as though he really perceived these hallucinations +in the air around him. "Thus you should speak," rejoined Zues, with a +seductive smirk. "If there really exists any difference between you +three, it is you, after all, dear Jobst, who are the most gifted, or at +least the most sensible."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fridolin, the Bavarian, had not yet succeeded in conjuring up in his +slower brain all these figments of imagination. But now seeing Jobst +evidently scoring a hit, he was afraid that he was losing in favor, and +so shouted in haste: "I also notice the lovely virgin, Miss Zues +Buenzlin, perambulating right here in my vicinity and throwing +voluptuous glances in my direction, while putting her hand on--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fie, you Bavarian," shrieked Zues wrathfully, turning her face aside +out of very shame. "Not another word! Where do you get the courage from +to talk to me in such a tone of impure grossness, and to allow your +fancy to indulge in such smuttiness? Fie, fie!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor Bavarian felt abashed, reddened under this reproof, and looked +about foolishly, not knowing what he had done amiss. For really his +imagination had not been at work at all, and he had merely meant to +repeat about what he had heard Jobst say a moment before and what the +latter had been praised for. But now Zues once more turned and +remarked: "And you, dear Dietrich, have you not yet been able to +reshape that last observation of yours in a more modest guise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed I have," the young man made answer, glad to be forgiven, "I now +perceive you only in three different shapes, regarding me pleasantly +but in a quite respectable manner, and offering me three white hands, +on which I imprint three just as respectable kisses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, that is proper," remarked Zues, "and you, Fridolin, have +you recovered from your fit of libertinism? Have you not yet calmed +your rampageous blood, and are you now in condition to conceive of an +image not so obscene?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Begging pardon," murmured Fridolin greatly crestfallen, "I also can +now clearly recognize three maidens, each of whom has dried pears in +her hand and offers them to me, not being quite at variance with me any +longer. One of these is as handsome as the others, and to make a choice +among them appears to me a hard matter indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well said," remarked Zues, "and since you in your fancy are surrounded +by no less than nine equally desirable persons, and nevertheless in +spite of such delectable superabundance are suffering in your hearts +from a lack of love, you may easily conceive of my own condition. And +as you also saw how with modest and pure heart I know to tame my +desires, I trust you will take me as a model and will vow here and now +to further live in amity and to separate when the hour comes just as +pleasantly and without a grudge, no matter how fate may deal with each +one of you. Rise and come hither. Let each one of you place his hand in +mine, and pledge himself to act just as I have indicated!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With perfect good faith," said Jobst in reply, "I at least will do +precisely as you suggest!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the other two, not to be behindhand, likewise shouted: "And so will +I!" and they all three pledged themselves as she had requested, +secretly, of course, each with the proviso to run as hard towards the +goal as he was able.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed," Jobst once more interjected, "I at least will live up to +my promise, for from my youth upwards I have unfailingly shown a +conciliatory and equable disposition. Never in my life have I had a +quarrel with anyone, and would never suffer to see an animal tortured. +Wherever I have been I was on good terms with my fellows, and thus +earned much praise because of my peaceful ways. And while I may say +that I, too, understand many things passably well, and am usually held +a sensible young man, at no time have I interfered with things that did +not concern me, and have always done my duty with consideration for +others. I can work just as hard as I choose without losing my health, +since I am sound and strong and abstemious in my ways, and have still +the best years before me. All the wives of my masters have said that I +was a man in a thousand, a real treasure, and that it was easy to get +along with me. Oh, indeed, Miss Buenzlin, I believe I could live with +you as though in Heaven, in uninterrupted bliss."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would not be hard," broke in the Bavarian at this, "to live in +concord and happiness with Miss Zues. I also would undertake to do the +same. I am not a fool, either. My craft I understand as well as the +best, and I know how to keep things in order without ever having to get +excited about it. And although I also have dwelt in the largest cities +and have earned good wages there, I have never got into trouble, and +neither have I ever killed as much as a spider or thrown a brick at a +mewling cat. I am temperate and easily pleased with my food, and am +able to get along with very little indeed. With that I am in full +health and of good temper and cheerful. I can stand much hardship +without losing my bland mind, and my good conscience is an elixir that +keeps me in excellent spirit. All animals love me and follow me, +because they scent my kind heart, for with an unjust man they would not +stay. A poodle dog once followed me for three entire days, on leaving +the town of Ulm, and at last I was forced to leave it in charge of a +peasant, since I as an humble journeyman combmaker could not afford to +feed such a creature. When I was traveling through the Bohemian Forest +stags and deer used to come within twenty paces of me, and would then +stand and watch me. It is wonderful indeed how even such wild beasts +know by instinct what kind of human beings they have to deal with."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," here sang out the Suabian. "Don't you see how this chaffinch +has been fluttering around me this whole while, and how it is anxious +to approach me? And that squirrel over there by the pine tree is +constantly glancing towards me, and here again a small beetle is +creeping up my leg and will not go away. Surely, it must be feeling +comfortable with me, the tiny thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">But now Zues grew jealous. Rather nettled, she spoke: "Animals all love +me and like to stay with me. One of my birds remained with me for eight +years, until unfortunately it died. Our cat is so fond of me that it +forever purrs about me, and our neighbor's pigeons crowd about me every +day when I scatter some crumbs for them on my window sill. Wonderful +qualities animals have, anyway, each after its kind. The lion loves to +follow in the footprints of kings and heroes, and the elephant +accompanies the prince and the doughty warrior. The camel bears the +merchant through the desert and keeps a store of fresh water in its +belly for him. The dog again shares all the dangers with his owner and +pitches himself headlong into the sea just to prove his devotion. The +dolphin has a strong love for music and swims in the wake of vessels, +while the eagle accompanies armies. The ape bears a strong resemblance +to the human species and imitates everything he sees us do. The parrot +understands our speech and converses with us just like any person of +sense. Even the snakes may be tamed and then dance on the tip of their +tails. The crocodile sheds human tears and is consequently in those +parts esteemed and spared. The ostrich may be saddled and ridden like a +horse. The savage buffalo pulls the carriage of his human master, as +the reindeer does the sledge of his. The unicorn furnishes man with +snow-white ivory and the tortoise with its transparent bones--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beg pardon," interrupted all the three combmakers together, "herein +you are slightly in error, for ivory comes from the teeth of the +elephant, and tortoise-shell combs are made out of the shell of that +animal and not of the bones of the tortoise."</p> + +<p class="normal">Zues colored deeply and rejoined: "That, I believe, remains to be +proved. For you certainly have not seen of your own knowledge whence it +is obtained, but only work up its pieces. I as a rule make no mistakes +in matters of that kind. However, be that as it may, just let me +finish. Not the animals alone have their peculiarities implanted by the +hand of God, but even dead minerals that are dug out of the sides of +mountains. The crystal is clear as glass, marble hard and full of +veins, sometimes white and sometimes black. Amber possesses electric +properties and attracts lightning; but in that case it burns and smells +like incense. The magnet attracts iron; on slates one can write, but +not upon diamonds, for these are hard as steel; the glazier, too, uses +the diamond for cutting glass, because it is small and pointed. You +see, dear friends, that I can also tell you a few things about minerals +and animals. But as regards my relations with them I may say this: that +the cat is a sly and cunning beast, and that is why it will attach +itself only to persons possessing the same characteristics. The pigeon, +however, is the symbol of innocence and simplicity of mind, and may +only be the companion of those similarly constituted. And since it is +certain that both cats and pigeons are attracted by me, the conclusion +must be that I am at the same time sly and cunning, simple-minded and +innocent. As Holy Writ says, Be wise like the serpent and simple like +the dove! In this way we are able to understand both animals and our +relations to them, and to learn a deal, if we only look at things in +the right manner."</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor combmakers had not dared to interrupt her more. Zues had got +the better of them, and she went on for some time longer at the same +rate, talking about all sorts of intellectual things, until their +senses were in a whirl. But they admired Zues' spirit and her +eloquence, although with all their admiration none of them deemed +himself too humble to possess this jewel of a woman, especially as this +ornament of a house came cheap and consisted merely in an eager and +tireless tongue. Whether they themselves, after all, were worthy of +this that they valued so highly, and whether they would be able to +utilize this gift of hers, that class of idiot seldom inquires. They +are more like children who reach out for anything that glitters, who +lick off the vivid paint on a multicolored toy, and who put a mouth +harmonica into their little jaw instead of being content with listening +to its music. But while drinking in the high-flown phrases that dropped +so mellifluously from her lips, the three of them goaded on their +imagination more and more, sharpened their greed to own such a +distinguished person, and the more heartless, idle and parrot-like +Zues' chatter became, the more melancholy and depressed became her +swains. At the same time they felt a terrific thirst in consequence of +having swallowed so much of this dried fruit. Jobst and the Bavarian +looked for and found in the near-by woods a spring, and filled their +stomachs with cold water. But the Suabian had slyly taken along a flask +of cherry brandy and water, and with this he now refreshed himself. His +plan had been to thus gain an advantage over the others when making the +race, for well he knew that the other two were too parsimonious to +bring along a stimulant like that or to turn in at a tavern on the way.</p> + +<p class="normal">This flask he now pulled out of his pocket, and while the others drank +their water he offered it to Zues. She accepted it, emptied the flask +half, and regarded Dietrich while she thanked him for the refreshment +with such an affectionate glance that Dietrich felt more than +recompensed and tremendously encouraged in his suit. He could not +withstand the temptation to seize her hand courteously and to kiss the +tips of her fingers. She on her part lightly touched his lips with her +hand, and he made belief of snapping at it, whereupon she smirked +falsely and pleasantly at him. Dietrich answered similarly. Then the +two sat down on the ground close to each other, and once in a while +would touch the soles of the other's shoe with his own, almost as +though they were shaking hands with their feet. Zues was bending over +slightly, and laid her hand on his shoulder, while Dietrich was on the +very point of imitating this little sport when the Bavarian and the +Saxon returned jointly, observed this philandering, and groaned and +lost color both at the same time.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the water they had drunk on top of all this dried fruit they had +become uneasy, both of them, and now that they saw the playful pair +indulging in their little game, everything seemed to turn around them. +Cold sweat began to break out on their foreheads, and they nearly gave +themselves up for lost. Zues, however, did not for an instant lose her +self-possession, but turned to the two and said: "Come, friends, sit +down a little while longer here with me, so that we may enjoy, perhaps +for the last time, our harmony and our undisturbed friendship."</p> + +<p class="normal">Jobst and Fridolin pressed up quickly, and sat down, stretching out +their thin legs. Zues left her one hand in the Suabian's own, gave +Jobst her other one, and touched with the soles of her shoes those of +Fridolin, while she turned her face to one after the other, smiling +most enchantingly. Thus there are skilled virtuosi who know how to play +a number of instruments at once, who shake bells with their heads, blow +the Pan's pipe with their mouths, touch the guitar with their hands, +strike the cymbal with their knees, with the foot a triangle, and with +the elbow a drum suspended from their backs.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now she rose, smoothed out her dress very carefully, and said: "The +hour has now come, I think, my friends, when you must get ready for +your great race, the race which your master in his folly has imposed on +you, but which we ourselves have agreed to regard as the disposition of +a higher power. Run this race with all the energy you can muster, but +without enmity or rancor, and leave the crown of the victor willingly +to him who has earned it."</p> + +<p class="normal">And as if stung by a vicious wasp the three sprang up and stood up +ready and eager on their legs. Thus they stood, and they were now to +try and vanquish each other with the same legs with which until now +they had made only slow and thoughtful steps. Not one of the three +could even recall ever having used these legs jumping or running. The +Suabian, perhaps, was most inclined for the venture. He even seemed to +be impatient for the struggle, and an eager look was in his eyes. At +that moment of severe crisis they three scanned each other's features +closely; the sweat had gathered on their pale brows, and they breathed +hard and spasmodically, as though they were already running at full +tilt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shake hands once more, in token of good feeling," said Zues. And they +did so, but in so lifeless a manner that the three hands dropped to +their sides as if made of lead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And are we really to start on this fool's errand?" asked Jobst in a +voice thick with suppressed emotion, while wiping the perspiration from +his forehead. Some single tears were slowly crawling down his hollow +cheeks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed," chimed in the Bavarian, "are we actually to run and jump +like apes on a rope?" and began to weep in good earnest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you, most charming Miss Buenzlin," added Jobst, "how are you going +to behave in the circumstances?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It behoves me," answered she and held her handkerchief to her eyes, +"to keep silent, to suffer and to look on."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But afterwards," put in the Suabian, with a sly smile, "afterwards. +Miss Zues, when all is over?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Dietrich," she responded softly, "do you not know what the poet +says: 'As Fate decides, so turns the heart of maid'?" And in +introducing this quotation from Schiller she regarded him so temptingly +aside that he again lifted up his long legs and shuffled them, feeling +like starting off at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">While the two rivals arranged their little vehicles on their wheels, +and Dietrich did the same, she repeatedly touched him with her elbow, +or else stepped on his foot. She also wiped the dust from his hat, but +at the same time threw inviting glances towards the others, pretending +to be highly amused at the Suabian's eagerness. But she did this +without being observed by Dietrich.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now all three of them drew deep breaths and sighed like so many +furnaces. They looked all about them, took off their hats, fanned +themselves and then once more put on their hats. For the last time they +sniffed the air in all the directions of the compass, and tried to +recover their breath. Zues herself felt deeply for them, and for very +compassion shed sundry tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here," she then said, "are the last three prunes. Take each of you one +in the mouth, that will refresh you. And now depart, and turn the folly +of the wicked into the wisdom of the just! That which the wicked have +invented for your confusion, now change into a work of self-denial and +of serious enterprise, into the well-considered final act of good +conduct maintained for years, and into a competitive race for virtue +itself."</p> + +<p class="normal">And she herself with her own fair hands shoved a dried prune between +the cramped lips of each, and each of them at once began to gently chew +the prune.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jobst pressed his hand upon his stomach, exclaiming: "What must be, +must be. Let us start, in the name of Heaven!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And saying which and raising his staff, he began to stride ahead, knees +strongly bent and nostrils high in air, dragging his little load after +him. Scarcely had Fridolin seen that, when he, too, did the same, +taking long steps, and without once looking behind him. Both of them +could now be seen descending the hill and entering the dusty highway.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Suabian was the last one to get away, and he was walking, without +showing any great hurry, with Zues at his side, grinning in a +self-satisfied way, as though he felt sure of victory, and as though he +were willing, out of mere generosity, to grant a little start to his +rivals, while Zues praised him for this supposed noble action and for +his equanimity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," she now sighed, "after all, it is a blessing to be sure of a firm +support in life! Even where one is sufficiently gifted oneself with +insight and cleverness and follows, besides, the path of rectitude, all +the same it makes it much easier to walk through life on the arm of a +tried friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite right," the Suabian hastened to reply, and nudged her +energetically with the elbow, while at the same time he watched his +rivals so as not to let their start become too great. "Do you at last +notice that, my dear Miss Zues? Are you becoming convinced? Have your +eyes opened to the truth?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Dietrich, my dear Dietrich," and she sighed more strongly, "I +often feel so very lonesome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hop-hop," he now laughed light-heartedly, "that is where the shoe +pinches? I thought so all along," and his heart began to leap like a +hare in a cabbage patch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Dietrich," she again breathed low, and she pressed herself much +tighter against the young man's side. He felt awkward, and the heart in +his bosom grew big with pleasure, and joy began to fill it altogether. +But at the same instant he made the discovery that his precursors had +already vanished from his sight, they having turned a corner. At once +he wanted to tear himself loose from Zues' arm and hasten after them. +But Zues kept such a tight hold of him that he was unable to do so, and +she grasped him so firmly that he thought she was going to faint.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dietrich," she whispered, and she made sheep's eyes at him, "don't +leave me alone at this moment. I rely on you, you are my sole help! +Please support me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The devil. Miss Zues," he murmured anxiously, "let me go, let me go, +or else I shall miss this race, and then good-by to everything!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, you must not leave me just now. I feel that I am becoming very +ill!" Thus she lamented.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't care, ill or not ill," he cried, and tore himself loose from +her. He quickly climbed a rock whence he was able to overlook the whole +highroad below. There they were, he saw the two runners far away, deep +below towards the town. And then he made up his mind to a great spurt, +but at the same moment once more looked back for Zues. Then he saw her, +seated at the entrance to a shady wood path, and motioning to him with +her lily hand. This was too much for him. Instead of hurrying down the +hill, he hastened back to her. And when she saw him coming, she turned +and went in deeper into the cool wood, all the time casting inviting +glances at him, for her object was, of course, to draw him away from +the race and cheat him out of his victory, make him lose and thus +render his further stay in Seldwyla impossible.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Dietrich, the Suabian, was, as pointed out before, of an inventive +and resourceful turn. Thus it was that he, too, quickly made up his +mind to alter his tactics, and to score victory not down there but up +here. And thus things came to pass very much differently from what had +been calculated on. For as soon as he had come up with her in a +sheltered spot in the depth of the forest, he fell at her feet and +overwhelmed her with the most ardent declarations of his love for her +to which any combmaker ever gave expression. At first she made a great +attempt to withstand his wooing, bade him be quiet and desist from his +violent protestations, and to befool him a little while longer until +all danger of his winning should be past. She let loose the torrent of +her wisdom and learning, and tried to awe him. But the young Suabian +was not to be caught with this chaff. Paying not the slightest regard +to all these rhetorical fireworks, he let loose Heaven and Hell in his +stormy suit, lavishing caresses and blandishments on the surprised +maiden by which he finally stifled the voice of her severely attuned +conscience, and his excited and ready wit furnished him with enough of +love's ammunition to overcome all her scruples. His eloquence and his +bold and ever persistent wheedling and dandling gave her not a second's +respite nor leisure to reflect and deliberate. He first took possession +of her hands and feet, to kiss and fondle them, despite her strenuous +protests, and next he flattered her to the top of her bent, lauding +both her bodily and mental charms to the very skies, until Zues was in +a very paradise of self-glorification and satisfied vanity. Added to +this was the solitude and the sense of security from curious and +peering eyes in the leafy shade of the forest. Until at last Zues +really lost the compass to which hitherto she had clung as her safe +though rather selfish guide through life. She succumbed to all these +allurements, not so much by reason of exalted sensualism, as because +for the moment she was overcome and helpless against the stronger and +more primitive passion of this young man. Her heart fluttered timidly +up and down, and vainly attempted to find its former balance. Her +thoughts were in a perfect storm of contradictions, and she was +altogether like a poor impotent beetle turned over on its back and +struggling to recover the use of its limbs. And thus it was that +Dietrich vanquished her in every sense. She had tempted him into this +impenetrable thicket in order to betray him like another Delilah, but +had been quickly conquered by this despised Suabian. And this was not +because she was so utterly love-sick as to lose her bearings but rather +because she was in spite of all her fancied wisdom so short of vision +as not to see beyond the tip of her own nose. Thus they remained +together an hour or more in this delectable solitude, embraced ever +anew, kissed one another a thousand times, thus realizing the vision of +the Suabian not long before, and swore eternal faith and unending +affection, and agreed most solemnly, no matter how the affair of the +race should terminate, to marry and become man and wife.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In the meanwhile news of the curious undertaking of the three +combmakers had spread throughout the town, and the master himself had +not a little aided in this, for the whole matter appealed strongly to +his sense of humor. And hence all the people of Seldwyla rejoiced in +advance at the prospect of a spectacle so novel and unconventional. +They were eager to see the three journeymen arrive out of breath and in +complete disarray, and laughed heartily in anticipation of the fun they +counted on. Gradually a vast throng had assembled outside the town +gate, impatient to see the arrival. On both sides of the highroad the +curious people were seated at the edge of the trenches, just as if +professional runners were expected. The small boys climbed into the +tops of trees, while their elders sat on the grass and smoked their +pipe, quite content that such an amusement had been provided for them. +Even the dignitaries of Seldwyla had not scorned to put in their +appearance, sat in the taverns by the wayside and discoursed of the +chances of each of the three, and making a number of not inconsiderable +wagers as to the final result. In those streets which the runners had +to pass on their way to the goal all the windows had been thrown open, +the wives had placed in their parlors on the window ledges pretty +vari-colored cushions, to rest their arms upon, and had received +numerous visits from the ladies of their acquaintance, so that coffee +and cake was hospitably provided for them all, and even the maid +servants were in a holiday mood, being sent to bakers and confectioners +for goodies of every description with which to entertain the guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">All of a sudden the little fellows keenly watching from out of their +leafy domes dimly saw in the distance tiny dust clouds approaching, and +they set up the cry: "Here they're coming! They're coming!" And indeed, +not long thereafter were seen Jobst and Fridolin rushing past, each +wrapped in his own hazy column of dust, in the middle of the road. With +the one hand they were pulling their valises on wheels each by himself, +these rattling over the cobblestones with a noise like drumbeats, and +with the other they held on tight to their heavy hats, these having +slid down their necks, and their long dusters and coats were flying in +the breeze. Both of the rivals were covered thickly with dust, almost +unrecognizable; they had their mouths wide open and were yapping for +breath; they saw and heard nothing that transpired around them, and +thick tears were slowly rolling down their faces, there being no time +to wipe them away, and these tears had dug paths in criss-cross fashion +in the grime on their countenances.</p> + +<p class="normal">They came close upon each other, but the Bavarian was just about half a +horse's length ahead. A terrific shouting and laughter was set up by +the audience, and this droned in the ears of the racers as they sped on +in insane haste. Everybody got up and crowded along the sidewalk, and +there were cries raised: "That's it, that's it! Run, Saxon, defend +yourself: don't let the Bavarian have it all his own way! One of the +three has already given in--there are but two of them left."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentlemen who were standing on the tables and chairs in the gardens +and roadhouses laughed fit to split their sides. Their roars sounded +across the highway and streets, and woke the echoes, and the affair was +turned into a popular festival. Small boys and the entire rabble of the +town followed densely in the wake of the two, and this mob stirred up +thick volumes of biting dust, so that the racers were almost stifled +before they arrived at the near goal. The whole immense cloud rolled +towards the town gate, and even women and girls ran along, and mingled +their high, squeaking voices with those of the male ruffians. Now they +had almost reached the old town gate, the two towers of which were +lined with the curious who were waving their caps and hats. The two +were still running, foaming at the mouth, eyes starting out of sockets, +running like two run-away horses, without sense or mind, their hearts +full of fear and torture. Suddenly one of the little street boys knelt +down on Jobst's small vehicle, and had Jost pull him along, the crowd +howling with appreciation of the joke. Jobst turned and pleaded with +the youngster to get off, even struck at him with his staff. But the +blows did not reach the urchin, who merely grinned at him. With that +Fridolin gained on Jobst, and as Jobst noticed this, he threw his staff +between the other's feet, so that Fridolin stumbled and fell. But as +Jobst attempted to pass him, the Bavarian pulled him by the tail of his +coat, and by the aid of that got again on his feet. Jobst struck him +upon his hands like a maniac, and shouted: "Let go! Let go!" But +Fridolin did not let go, and so Jobst seized him also by the coat tail, +and thus both had hold of each other, and were slowly making their way +into the gateway, once in a while attempting to get rid of the other by +venturing on a bound. They wept, sobbed and howled like babies, shouted +in the agony of their grief and fear: "My God, let go!" "For the love +of Heaven, let go!" "Let go, you devil; you must let go!" Between +whiles each struck hard blows at the other's hands, but with all that +they advanced a little all the time. Their hats and staffs had been +lost in the scuffle, and ahead of them and behind them the hooting mob +was accompanying them, their escort growing more turbulent and violent +each minute. All the windows were occupied by the ladies of Seldwyla, +and they threw, so to speak, their silvery laughter into this avalanche +of noise, and all were agreed that for years past there had not been +such a ludicrous scene as this.</p> + +<p class="normal">As a matter of fact, this crazy free show was so much to the taste of +the whole town that nobody took the trouble to point out to the two +rivals their ultimate goal, the house of their old master. They +themselves, these two, did not see it. Indeed, they did not see +anything more. They reached their goal and did not perceive it, but +went past and hurried crazily on, on and on, always escorted by the +shouts and yells of the mob, fighting each other, their faces drawn and +pinched as though in death, on and on, until they reached the other end +of the little town and so through the second gate out into the open +once more. The master himself had stood at the window of his house, +laughing and greatly amused, and after patiently waiting for another +hour for the victor in the strange tournament, he had been on the point +of leaving the house and joining some of his cronies at the tavern, +when Zues and Dietrich quietly and unobtrusively entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">For Zues had meanwhile been busy with her thoughts, combining, after +her wont, this and that. And thus she had reached the conclusion that +in all likelihood the master combmaker would be willing to sell his +business outright on a cash basis, since he could not continue it +himself much longer. For that purpose Zues herself was ready to give up +her interest-bearing mortgage, which together with the slender savings +of Dietrich would doubtless suffice and thus they two would remain +victors and could laugh at the other two. This plan, together with +their intention to marry, they told the astonished master about, and +he, readily seeing that thus he could cheat his creditors and by +concluding the bargain quickly would also get possession of a +considerable sum of money to do with as he pleased, was glad of the +opportunity thus afforded him. Quickly, therefore, the two parties were +in agreement as to the terms, and before the sun went down Zues became +the lawful owner of the business and her promised husband the tenant of +the house in which the business was being conducted. Thus it was Zues, +without indeed having intended or suspected it in the morning, who was +tied down and conquered by the quickwitted Suabian.</p> + +<p class="normal">Half dead with shame, exhaustion and anger, Jobst and Fridolin +meanwhile lay in the inn to which they had been taken when picked up +limp and spent in the open field. To separate the two rivals, thirsting +for each other's blood and maddened from the whole crazy adventure, had +been no light task. The whole of Seldwyla now, having in their peculiar +reckless way already forgotten the immediate cause of the whole +turmoil, was now celebrating and making a night of it. In many houses +there was dancing, and in the taverns there was much drinking and +singing and noise, just as on the greatest Seldwyla holidays. For the +people of Seldwyla never required much urging to enjoy themselves to +the top of their bent. When the two poor devils saw how their own +superior cunning with which they had counted on making a good haul had, +on the contrary, only served these careless people in all their folly +to make a feast of it, how they themselves had been the immediate cause +of their own downfall, and had made a laughingstock of themselves for +all the world, they thought their hearts would break. For they had +managed not only to defeat the wise and patient plans of so many years, +but had also lost forever the reputation of being shrewd men +themselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jobst as the oldest of the three and having spent in Seldwyla full +seven years, was wholly overwhelmed and dazed by the collapse of all +his secret hopes, and quite unable to reconstruct a new world after +having lost the one of his dreams. Utterly dejected he left his +sleepless pillow before daybreak, wandered away from town and crept to +the very spot where the day before they and Zues had sat under the +linden tree, and there he hanged himself to one of the lowest branches. +When the Bavarian, but an hour later, passed there on his way into +strange parts, such a fit of fright seized him that he ran off like a +lunatic, altered completely his whole ways, and later on was heard to +have become a dissolute spendthrift, who never saved a penny, and who +was in the habit of cursing God and men, being no one's friend any +more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietrich the Suabian alone remained one of the Decent and Just, and +stayed on in the little town. But he had little good of it, for Zues +left him nothing to say, and ruled him strictly, never allowing him to +have his way in anything. On the contrary, she continued to consider +herself the sole source of all wisdom and success.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>DIETEGEN</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_dietegen" href="#div1Ref_dietegen">DIETEGEN</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="continue">To the north of those hills and woods where Seldwyla nestles, there +flourished as late as the end of the fifteenth century the town of +Ruechenstein, lying in the cool shade, whereas her rival Seldwyla +basked in the full glare of the midday sun. Gray and forbidding looked +the massed body of its towers and strong walls, and upstanding and just +were its councilmen and citizens, but severe and morose also, and their +chief employment consisted in the execution of their prerogatives as an +independent city, in the exercise of law and justice, the issuing of +mandates and decrees, of impeachments and committals. The greatest +source of their pride was the fact that there had been conferred on +them the exercise and enforcement of the power over life and death of +all subject to their sway, and so eager and willing they were to +sacrifice for this power their all, their privileges and their +substance, as entrusted to them by Empire and supreme ruler, as other +commonwealths were to achieve their liberty of conscience and the +freedom of worship according to their faith.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the rocky promontories all around their town wore conspicuous the +emblems of their dread sovereignty. Such as tall gallows and scaffolds, +sundry places of execution, showing the wheel where miscreants had +their limbs broken, the stake where heretics or other evildoers were +made to suffer, and their grim-faced town hall was hung full of iron +chains with neck rings; steel cages were exhibited on the towers of the +walls, and wooden drills wherein loose-tongued or wicked women were +being stretched and turned, could be seen at almost every corner. Even +by the shore of the dark-blue river which washed the walls of the town, +sundry stations had been erected where malefactors could be drowned or +ducked, with tied feet or in sacks, according to the finer +discriminations of the decree of judgment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now it need not be supposed that because of all this the +Ruechensteiners were iron men, robust and inspiring terror by their +looks, such as one would be inclined to think from their favorite +pastimes. That was indeed not the case. Rather were they people of +ordinary, philistine appearance, with thin shanks and pot-bellies, +their only distinctive mark being their yellow noses, the same noses +with which the year around they used to besniff and watch each other. +And nobody indeed would have guessed from the more than commonplace and +scanty semblance of their whole physical being that their nerves were +like ropes, such as were absolutely required not only to view all along +the grewsome sights offered to them by their authorities in the putting +to a shameful and lingering death of scores and scores of felons and +other poor wretches condemned by their councilmen, but actually to +enjoy the sight. These cruel instincts of theirs were not apparent on +their faces; they were hidden away in their hearts.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus they kept spread like a dense net their judiciary powers over the +dominion subject to their fierce rule, always eager for a chance to +apply it. And indeed nowhere were there such singular crimes to punish +as in this same Ruechenstein. Their inventive gift was fairly +inexhaustible. It seemed almost as though their talent for discovering +ever new and hitherto unheard-of crimes acted as a spur on sinners to +commit the latest delinquencies threatened with penalties of the +severest type. However, if despite all this at any time there was a +lack of evildoers, the people of the town knew how to help themselves. +For then they simply caught and punished the rascals of other towns. +And it was only a man with a clear conscience who had the hardihood to +cross at any time the territory of Ruechenstein. For when they heard of +a crime committed, even if done far away from their own area, they +would seize and hold the first landloper that came along, put him to +the torture and make him confess his guilt. Not infrequently it would +happen that such enforced confession related to a crime that, as later +turned out, had only been based on hearsay, and had really never been +done. But then it was too late. The supposed malefactor had been hung +in chains on the gallows or otherwise disposed of, and could not be +brought to life again. Of course, it was unavoidable that because of +this inclination of the people of Ruechenstein they would often get +into a more or less acrimonious controversy with other towns whose +citizens they had thus overzealously dispatched, and they even had +constantly pending a number of such cases before the Swiss federal +council, and had to be sharply reprimanded, but that did not cure them.</p> + +<p class="normal">By preference the people of Ruechenstein liked calm, sunny, pleasant +weather when indulging in their favorite amusement of holding penal +executions, burnings at the stake, and forcible drownings, and that is +why on fine summer days there was always something of the kind going on +there. The wanderer in a far-off field might then, keeping his eyes +fastened on the greyish rock buttress high up on the horizon, notice +not infrequently the flashing of the headsman's sword, the smoke pillar +of the stake, or in the bed of the river something like the glittering +leaping of a fish, which would usually mean the bobbing up and down of +a witch undergoing the solemn test. And the word of God on a Sunday +they would not have relished at all without at least one erring lovers' +couple with straw wreaths before the altar and without the reading out +of some sharpened moral mandates.</p> + +<p class="normal">Other festivals, processions and public pleasures there were none; all +such were prohibited by numerous mandates or ordinances.</p> + +<p class="normal">It may easily be supposed that a town of that stripe could have no more +distasteful neighbors than Seldwyla, and behind their woods, too, they +would forever think up new methods of interfering with and annoying +them. Any Seldwylian whom they caught on their own soil was seized and +tortured to get at the facts regarding the latest breach of the peace +or any other misdemeanor charged upon their neighbor's score. And on +their account, to get even, the Seldwyla people made fast every man of +Ruechenstein and, on their public market square, administered to him +six choice blows with the rod, on the spot which they deemed specially +adapted for that purpose. This, though, was as far as they ever went, +for they had a prejudice against bloody spectacles, and amongst +themselves never indulged in corporal punishments. But in addition to +this mild chastisement they would also blacken the long nose of the +culprit, and then they would let him run home. That was why there +always were in Ruechenstein several specially disgruntled persons with +noses dyed black that but slowly were recovering their pristine hue, +and these naturally were particularly zealous in trying to unearth +miscreants that could be dealt with severely and subjected to +castigation or torture.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Seldwylians on their part kept this black paint constantly ready in +a huge iron pot, and upon this was limned the Ruechenstein town +escutcheon, and they denominated this pot the "friendly neighbor." This +and the huge paint brush belonging to it was always suspended under the +arch of the gate fronting towards Ruechenstein. When this tincture had +dried up or been used up it was renewed and the occasion utilized to +get up a frolicsome procession ending with a gay banquet, all with a +view to rendering the neighbor ridiculous. And because of this at one +time the latter became so wrathful that their whole town turned out, +banners flying, to inflict punishment on the Seldwylians.</p> + +<p class="normal">But these, informed of this intention, quickly issued forth and waylaid +the Ruechenstein hosts, attacking them unawares. However, the +Ruechensteiners had marching at the head of their column a dozen of +graybearded and fierce-looking civic soldiers, with new ropes tied to +the handles of their long swords, and these wore such an unholy mien as +to scare the merry Seldwylian blades. The latter, in fact, began to +back out, and they were on the point of losing the fight if a clever +conceit had not saved them. For just for fun they had been carrying +along the punitive pot of paint, etc., "the friendly neighbor," and +instead of a banner the long paint brush. With quick intuition the +bearer of the latter dipped his brush deeply into the dark liquid, +bounded ahead of his comrades like a flash, and bedaubed the faces of +the leading rank of foes a sable hue before these knew what he was +about. So that all those in front, threatened immediately with this +indelible paint, turned and fled, and that nobody of them all further +felt like marching in the van of the host. With that the whole outfit +began to sway, and a strange terror fell on them all, whereas the +Seldwylians now, their courage restored, manfully went up against the +men of Ruechenstein, pressing them back towards the rear, in the +direction of their own town. With savage laughter the Seldwyla people +took advantage of the occasion, and wherever their foes dared to defend +themselves the dreaded paint brush came into instant action, handled +with supreme skill by means of its long shaft, and in the męlée there +was indeed no lack of real heroism. For twice already the daring +painters had been pierced by arrows and fallen to rise no more. But +each time some other equally courageous fellow had sprung into the gap, +and had treated the foe in the same ignominious manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the end the Ruechensteiners were totally defeated, and they fled +with their banner towards the clump of woods which led to their town, +with the Seldwyla people on their heels. Barely were they able to find +refuge in their town, and to close the gate thereof, and the latter, +too, was painted all over by the pursuing foe with the black paint, +together with its drawbridge, until the Ruechensteiners, somewhat +recovered and collected again, threw potfuls of whitewash upon the +heads of the uproarious painters.</p> + +<p class="normal">But because a few Seldwylians of note who in the heat of combat had +penetrated into the town and there been taken prisoner, and also about +a dozen of the Ruechensteiners had likewise been seized and held by the +victors, there was effected an armistice after the lapse of a few days. +The prisoners were exchanged on both sides, and a regular peace was +concluded, in which both sides gave way a bit. There had been fighting +enough to suit them for a spell, and there was a desire for a mutual +adjustment. So it came to pass that both sides made fair promises of +future good behavior. The Seldwyla people bound themselves to give up +the iron paint pot, and to abolish it forever, and the people of +Ruechenstein solemnly relinquished all rights of seizure against +Seldwylians out walking or strolling in the Ruechenstein territory, and +all other privileges and prerogatives on either side were carefully +weighed and mostly abolished.</p> + +<p class="normal">To confirm this agreement a day was appointed, and as place of meeting +was chosen the mountain clearing where the chief fight had occurred. +From Ruechenstein came a few of the younger councilmen; for their +elders had not succeeded in overcoming their strong feelings of +reluctance to consort with their ancient foes on terms of quasi +friendship. The Seldwyla people on their part showed up in goodly +numbers, brought the "friendly neighbor," the heraldic paint pot, as +well as a small cask of their choicest and oldest wine, grown on the +municipal vineyards, with them, and also a number of their finest +silver or gilt tankards and trenchers which belonged to their municipal +treasure. In this way they nicely befooled the delegates from +Ruechenstein, glad to escape for even a short spell the rigid regimen +of their own town, and they were so charmed at this reception that +they, instead of immediately returning after the consummation of their +errand, allowed themselves to be inveigled in following the tempters to +Seldwyla itself. There they were escorted to the town hall, where a +grand feast was awaiting them. Beautiful ladies and maidens attended +the occasion, and more and more tankards, beakers, and flagons were set +up on the banqueting board, so that with the glitter and sheen of all +this precious metal and the gleaming of all these bewitching eyes the +poor Ruechensteiners clean forgot their original mission and became as +gay as larks. They sang, since they knew no other tunes, one Latin +psalm after another, while the Seldwylians on their part hummed wicked +drinking songs, and finally they wound up in the midst of the noise by +inviting their new Seldwyla friends to make a return visit to their own +town, being most particular to include the Seldwyla ladies in the +invitation, and promising them the most hospitable reception.</p> + +<p class="normal">This invitation was accepted unanimously, amidst great enthusiasm on +both sides, and when the delegates from Ruechenstein at last departed, +they did so under the happiest auspices, smiling blissfully from all +the choice wine under their belts, and deeming themselves conquerors of +the handsome Seldwyla ladies besides, since a number of these, laughing +and in rosy humor, gave them safe conduct as far as the gates of the +city.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course, things took on a somewhat different hue when these jolly +young councilmen of Ruechenstein on the following day awoke in their +stern city and had to give an account of their stewardship and of the +whole proceedings on the day previous. Little was wanting indeed, and +they would have been incarcerated and subjected to ardent tests on the +charge of having been bewitched. However, they themselves had also a +right to speak with authority, and notwithstanding that the whole +matter already seemed to them a mistake on their part, they +nevertheless stuck to their bargain, and strongly represented to their +elder colleagues that the very honor of the city demanded a resplendent +reception of the Seldwylian folks. Their views gained acceptance among +a section of the citizens, especially when they described the +magnificent table silver that had been brought out to honor them, and +when they spoke of the handsome Seldwyla ladies and their gracefulness +and beautiful attire. The men were of opinion that such ostentatious +hospitality must not go unrebuked and unrivaled, and that it was +necessary to reciprocate at the coming return visit of their ancient +foes by a display of their own wealth, jeweled and precious tableware +glittering in their own iron safes aplenty. The women again were +itching to circumvent on such a favorable occasion the strict decrees +against too profuse finery from which they had been suffering so long, +and under the guise of civic patriotism to make a gaudy display of all +their hidden trinkets and gorgeous silks. For in their coffers and +lockers there was slumbering enough of costly stuffs to outshine the +Seldwyla ladies tenfold, they thought. If that had not been the case +they would surely long ago have rebelled against the severe sumptuary +decrees in vogue and brought the regiment in power to its fall. +Therefore, everything considered, the promise made by the Ruechenstein +emissaries was formally approved, to the great grief of the elder and +sterner members of the council.</p> + +<p class="normal">To offset this piece of laxity they were unable to hinder these latter, +the graybeards of the city, resolved, however, to enjoy another kind of +spectacle on their own account, and thus they began to make their +arrangements to have an execution performed on the very day when the +Seldwyla people were to dwell within their walls, and thus to dampen at +least, so far as they could, the unseemly spirit of merriment which +otherwise would go unchecked. And so while the younger members of the +council were busy with their preparations for the feast, the others +quietly made arrangements for another show after their own heart, and +for that purpose they selected a young, fatherless boy who was just +then caught in the net of their barbarous laws. It was a very handsome +boy of eleven, whose parents had both been engulfed in the recent wars, +and who was being educated and taken care of by the town. That is to +say, he had been put to board with the parish beadle, a conscienceless +and pitiless scoundrel, and there the little fellow--a slender, +vigorous and well-formed child enough--had been treated just like a +domestic animal, the wife aiding her husband in the task. The boy had +been named Dietegen, and this his baptismal name was all he really +owned in the world. It was his sole piece of property, his past and his +future. He was dressed in rags, and had never even had a holiday +garment, so that if it had not been for his good looks he would have +presented a miserable appearance. He had to sweep and dust, and to do +all the tasks that usually fall to a maid servant, and whenever the +beadle's wife did not happen to have anything to do for him in her own +house she lent him out to women neighbors for a trifle, there to do +anything that might be asked of him. They all thought him, in spite of +his strength and skill to do any work demanded of him, a stupid fellow, +and this because he obeyed silently all the orders he received and +because he never remonstrated. Yet it was the truth that none of the +women was able to look him in his fiery eyes for long, and these eyes +would often wander about as keen as an eagle's.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now several days before Dietegen had been sent on an errand to the +cooper in order to fetch some vinegar for a lettuce salad that his +foster parents wanted to prepare. Their vinegar the couple had been +keeping for a long time customarily in a small jug, and this was almost +black with age and had always been deemed cheap tin, having been bought +many years ago by the mother of the beadle's wife for a couple of +pennies from a peddler. But in reality the little jug was of silver. +The cooper of whom the vinegar was to be purchased dwelt rather far, in +a lonesome place near the city wall. As now the boy came walking along +with his small vessel, an ancient Hebrew came past him with his bag, +and threw a rapid glance at the curiously fashioned little jug, and +stopped the boy with the request to be allowed to examine this vessel +more closely. Dietegen handed it to him, and the Jew quickly and +secretly scratched the surface of the vessel with his thumb nail, +offering then to the astonished boy a pretty crossbow in exchange, and +this he produced at once out of a bag made of moth-eaten otterskin, +with a few bolts to boot. Boy-like, Dietegen at once seized the weapon +and relinquished his small jug to the Jew, who then at once +disappeared. Rejoicing in his good fortune the boy now began to aim and +shoot at the small gate of the near-by door of a tower, and without +being at all disturbed he continued this enticing sport, forgetting +everything else, until dusk came and then moonlight, improving his aim +steadily, and shooting by the bright light of the orb.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the beadle had also made a last inspection tour around the +inside of the town walls, and had met with and held the Jew with his +bag. Examining the latter he had with amazement recognized his own +vinegar jug, and questioning the Jew the latter, in fear of his own +neck, owned at once that it was of silver, and pretended that a young +boy had forced it on him in lieu of a fine crossbow. Now the beadle ran +and consulted a goldsmith, who on testing the vessel likewise +pronounced it fine pure silver and of rarest workmanship. Thereupon the +beadle and his wife, the latter now having joined him, became +exceedingly angry, not only because they had had, without knowing it, +for so many years such a valuable piece of property, but also because +they had almost lost it.</p> + +<p class="normal">The world to them seemed to be full of the grossest wrong; the child +now appeared to them as their archenemy who had almost cheated them out +of their eternal reward, the reward for their infinite merits and +frugality. They suddenly pretended to have known for a long time that +the small jug was of silver, and that it had always been so considered +in their house. Cursing him bitterly they clamorously charged the +little fellow with larceny, and while he, entirely unconscious of all +this, was still engaged with his crossbow practice, and was hitting his +goal more and more often, two groups of searchers were already out +looking for him. At the head of the one party was the beadle, while the +woman, his wife, was heading the other. Thus they soon found him, still +busily engaged with his bow and bolts, and unpleasantly wakened from +his occupation when surrounded by the thief-takers. And now only he +remembered his errand and at the same time the loss of the small +vessel. But he believed he had made a good bargain, and handed the +beadle smilingly his crossbow, in order to pacify him. Notwithstanding +this he was instantly bound and gagged, carried off to jail, and then +examined. He admitted at once having exchanged the little pitcher for +the Jew's crossbow, and did not even attempt to defend himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor little child was condemned to the gallows, and the time of his +death set for the very day when the Seldwylians were to visit the +people of Ruechenstein.</p> + +<p class="normal">And indeed they did appear on the appointed day, making a gorgeous +procession, in luminous colors and rich finery, with their town +trumpeter to lead them. They were, however, all armed with swords and +daggers, although that did not hinder them from bringing along a dozen +of their most fearless ladies. These rode in the centre of the +cavalcade, charming and richly attired, and even a number of pretty +children were with them, costumed in the colors of Seldwyla and bearing +gifts.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young councilmen of Ruechenstein, their new-won friends, rode out +some little distance without the city gates to welcome them, and led +them a bit crestfallen within. The strong entrance gate had had that +ominous black paint scratched off as much as had been found feasible, +had then been plentifully whitewashed and decorated with wreaths. But +just within this gate the guests found the whole contingent of +Ruechenstein's town mercenaries in rank and file, clad in full armor +and looking like brawny warriors indeed. These escorted the guests, +rattling and clanging in their iron harness, through the shady and +rather dark streets, with fierce mien. The people of the town peered +mute but curious out of their windows, as though their guests had been +beings from another world. When one of the gay Seldwylians gazed +upwards at the ladies leaning out of their windows, these would at once +duck and disappear. Their menfolk, though, flattened the tips of their +long noses against the greenish window panes, in order to observe as +closely as possible the spectacle of bare female necks, such as the +Seldwyla ladies offered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, then, the whole cavalcade finally reached the huge hall inside +the town house, and that looked ornate but forbiddingly austere. Walls +and ceiling were decorated entirely with black-tinted oak, here and +there gilt. A long, long banqueting board was covered with beautiful +linen, and woven into it were foliage, stags, huntsmen and dogs of +green silk picked out with thin gold wire. Above this were further +spread dainty napkins of snowy white damask, and these again on nearer +sight exhibited patterns woven into them representing rather broadly +joyous scenes from Roman and Greek mythology, such as would have been +least expected in this grave concourse. Thickly grouped there stood on +this festal table everything which at that time belonged to a gala +meal, and what particularly claimed the attention of the Seldwyla +observers was a number of truly magnificent pieces of tableware--some +of them being in repoussé work, some round and some in relief, a +glittering world of nymphs, fauns, nude demigods and heroes, with +lovely feminine forms intermingled. Even the chief table ornament, a +warship in solid silver, with sails spread and bellying in the breeze, +otherwise very respectable and officially stiff, showed as its emblem a +Galathea of the most opulent forms.</p> + +<p class="normal">Along this table of enormous dimensions a number of the wives of +councilors were slowly pacing to and fro, all of them dressed either in +black or scarlet silks and satins, heavy lace covering bosom and neck +up to the very chin. They did wear many gold chains, girdles and caps, +encrusted with jewels in many cases, and on their fingers they had, +over their gloves, priceless rings. And these ladies were not ugly to +look at, but rather in most instances handsome and of regular features; +many of them, too, showed a delicate complexion and their pretty oval +cheeks were rosy. But nearly all had an unpleasant glance, severe and +sour, so that it seemed doubtful whether they had ever smiled in their +lives, save perhaps at nighttime after fooling their gullible husbands.</p> + +<p class="normal">The mutual introductions were therefore not very cordial, and everybody +seemed indeed glad when this ceremony was over and guests and hosts +both sat down at table and the feelings of embarrassment could be +concealed by the engrossing charms of eating and drinking. The +Seldwylians were the first to recover their natural equanimity, and +then there could be heard among them frequent outbursts of hilarity as +they admired the dazzling table trappings. That indeed was to the +liking of their hosts, and they were just on the point of starting a +formal conversation on that topic, when the matter took a turn wholly +unexpected by them. For the Seldwyla people, accustomed always to use +their eyes, had quickly discovered the amorous and graceful topics +which the weaver's art had embodied in the woof of this linen and the +goldsmith's in the silver and goldware so liberally displayed before +their eyes. After allowing, therefore, their ribald glances to dwell +with a close scrutiny on the lustful scenes depicted here, many +Seldwylians called the attention of their neighbors to it all, all +smiles and good humor, and interpreted the true meaning of the scene in +each instance, often naming Ovid or some other heathen author as the +original source. Even the Seldwyla ladies did not refrain, but shared +in this amusement of their husbands. The hosts at first were slow to +understand this and were inclined to think it one of the childish +tricks for which they were forever blaming their merry neighbors of +Seldwyla, but as they finally likewise bent their glances on the things +occasioning the outbursts of their guests, they were as though smitten +with palsy. For it had never entered their minds before to look with +attention at these table appointments, and had merely accepted, when +ordered by them, the exquisite products of the loom or of the +goldsmith's skill as finished ware without ever bothering their heads +further about it, and nothing had been further from them than to cast +critical glances at the subjects represented by these artisans, and it +was thus reserved for their gay guests from Seldwyla to sharpen their +vision so to speak. Now when looking closer and closer, they perceived +what pagan horrors they had chosen to ornament their own board with, +and they were struck dumb with painful amazement. But what irked them +still more was what they deemed the lack of tact and decorum on the +part of their guests who, instead of purposely overlooking such an +involuntary blunder of their hosts actually magnified it and drew it +into the full glare of publicity. According to their way of thinking +what the Seldwylians ought to have done under these peculiar +circumstances was to praise and pay attention to the costliness of the +stuff out of which these implements had been fashioned, and not to go +beyond that. The Ruechensteiner grandees now were obliged to smile with +faces as sour as vinegar when a Seldwylian neighbor would call their +attention to an exquisitely wrought silver Leda and the Swan, or to a +Europa on the back of her bull. Their wives, however, showed their +displeasure more openly, blushed and paled by turns with wrath, and +were just on the point of demonstratively leaving the banquet when the +mournful sound of a bell quickly reassured them. For it was the poor +sinners' bell of Ruechenstein. A dull and confused din in the streets +gave notice that young Dietegen was now being led to his shameful +death. All the company rose from the table, and hastened to the +windows, the Ruechensteiners purposely making room for their guests to +enable these to view the sad spectacle plainly, while they themselves +stood in the rear, an insidious grin on their sallow features.</p> + +<p class="normal">A priest, a hangman with his helper, some court officials, and a few +armed attendants of the council went slowly past, and at their head +walked Dietegen, barefooted and clad only in a white, black-edged +delinquent shift, his hands tied in the back, and led by the hangman at +a rope. His golden hair fell in a shower down his white neck, and +confused and appealingly he looked aloft at the houses which he passed. +Under the portal of the town hall stood the boys and girls from +Seldwyla, who had, after the manner of children, left the table and the +weary banquet, and had hastened into the open air. When the pitiful +delinquent saw these pretty and happy children, the like he had never +yet perceived before, he wanted to stop a moment and talk to them, +while tears were streaming down his pale cheeks. But the executioner +roughly pushed him on, so that the train passed on and had soon +disappeared from view. The Seldwyla ladies lost color when they watched +this scene, and their men were seized with a deep dismay, since they at +no time loved to see sights of this kind. They felt out of spirits and +not at home with their hosts after such an exhibition, and thus they +soon yielded to the urging of their womenfolk, and as politely as they +could took leave of their grim hosts. The people of Ruechenstein, on +the other hand, were satisfied with the triumph they had scored against +their volatile guests, and thereby rendered almost complaisant towards +them, so that both sides parted amicably. The hosts even escorted their +honored guests, as they put it, to the town gate, and were talkative, +gallant towards the ladies, and courteous.</p> + +<p class="normal">Outside the gate the Seldwyla cavalcade met the small group of hangmen +and their assistants, who passed them morosely. Behind them there came +a single helper pushing a small cart whereon lay, in a plain pine +coffin, the young delinquent's body. Shy and bitten with curiosity to +watch this number of brilliantly attired persons, this fellow stopped +for a moment, and turned aside, in order to let the procession file +past him. He was placing the loose lid of the bier in its proper place, +it having almost slid off and exposed the sight of the hanged.</p> + +<p class="normal">Among the children of Seldwyla there was a seven-year-old maid, bold, +pretty and curly, who had never ceased to weep since seeing the poor +boy being led to the gallows, and refused to be consoled. And as the +train of Seldwylians now slowly swept on, the child at the moment she +came up with the cart and coffin, quickly sprang towards it, stood on +its large wheel, and threw off the lid, so that the lifeless Dietegen +lay exposed to view. At that moment he opened his eyes and drew a +breath. For in the confusion of that day he had not been hanged +according to traditional rules, and had been taken off the gallows too +early, because his executioners were in a great hurry in the hope of +returning to town in time to get some of the remnants of the feast. The +bold little girl loudly exclaimed, "He is still alive! He is still +alive!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At once the women of Seldwyla surrounded the bier, and when they saw +indeed the handsome pale boy move about and give signs of life, they +took possession of him, removed him from the cart, and fully recalled +him to this world by rubbing his stiffened joints, sprinkling him with +water, making him swallow some wine, and using all their endeavors in +other ways. The men indeed also gave their assistance, while the +gentlemen of Ruechenstein stood by dazedly, and did not know what to +say or do. When at last the boy again stood on his own feet, and gazed +about him as though he had waked in paradise, he suddenly caught a +glimpse of the hangman's assistant, and quite astounded that he, too, +as he thought, had gone to heaven, he fled and squeezed in among the +crowd of women. Touched and moved to tears, they begged with great +earnestness of their stern neighbors to pardon the boy and to make them +a gift of him, as a token of their new friendship. Their husbands +joined in this petition, and finally, after a brief consultation +amongst themselves, the Ruechensteiners yielded assent, saying that +henceforth the youthful sinner was to be theirs. On this the pretty +Seldwyla ladies and their young children rejoiced abundantly, and +Dietegen went along with them just as he was, in his poor delinquent's +shift.</p> + +<p class="normal">It happened to be a fine mild summer evening, wherefore the Seldwyla +folks, as soon as they had reached the crest of the mountain and +therewith also their own territory, resolved to amuse themselves here +in this delightful grove, on their own account, and to recover from the +frightful experience on their neighbors' ground. And this all the more +because there now approached a numerous reënforcement from Seldwyla +itself, full of curiosity to learn what their luck had been in +Ruechenstein. Thus it came to pass that the musicians had to intone a +merry tune and next a dance, and the goblets and tankards were filled +with the wine they had brought along, and then circulated quite +rapidly.</p> + +<p class="normal">During all these scenes Dietegen let his eyes roam all around, and all +who saw him perceived clearly that he was indeed nothing worse than an +innocent and harmless child, a notion which his tale, when asked to +state the facts, amply confirmed. The Seldwyla women could hardly get +their fill of the sight, wove a wreath of wildflowers for him, and +placed it on his young head, so that in his long and ample shift he +looked almost like a little saint. He won their hearts, and at last +they kissed him to their full content, and when he had thus passed +through the concourse of rivaling femininity they began anew with their +kissing.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the little girl who really had saved Dietegen from a horrible and +premature death did not at all approve of this proceeding. Quite wroth +she suddenly placed herself between the boy and the woman who just that +moment was on the point of kissing him, and took him by the hand, +leading him to a group of other children. Then the whole company burst +out laughing, saying: "That is quite right. Little Kuengolt clings to +her property! And she has taste likewise. Only see how well she and the +boy look alongside of each other!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Kuengolt's father, however, the chief forester of the town, remarked: +"I like the looks of that boy. He has eyes that speak truth and good +sense. If you gentlemen have no objection, I will take him along for +the time being, since I have but one child, and I will try and make an +honest huntsman out of him."</p> + +<p class="normal">This proposal met the unanimous approval of the Seldwylians, and thus +Kuengolt, well contented, did not let the boy's hand slip out of her +fingers more, but kept tight hold of it. And indeed, these two did make +a very comely pair. The little girl also wore a wreath on her head and +was clad in green and red, the town's colors. Hence they went at the +head of the whole merry procession like a picture from fairyland, in +the midst of the gay townspeople. And thus they all in the glow of +sunset poured down the mountain side on their way homewards. Soon, +however, the chief forester separated from the procession and went on +with the children on side paths to his cosy residence, which lay not +far from the city itself in the forest. A double row of tall trees led +to the main entrance, and there the demure wife of the forester sat +now, and saw with amazement the approach of the two children.</p> + +<p class="normal">The household servants also gathered, and while the wife gave the two +hungry children an abundant supper her husband related in detail the +adventures of the boy. The latter was now completely exhausted, and +with that he felt cold in his flimsy costume, and hence the question +was put who would share overnight his bed with him. But the servant +maids as well as the men anxiously avoided to answer. They dreaded as +unlucky and impious close touch with any one who had just been hanging +from the gallows. But Kuengolt cried: "Let him share my bed. It is +large enough for both of us."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when everybody was laughing at this, her mother said pleasantly: +"You are quite right, my little daughter." And looking closely at the +boy she added: "From the very first moment I saw the poor little chap +enter the door a strange foreboding crept over me, as though a good +angel were coming who will yet bring us a blessing. That much is +certain, according to my idea: he will not be of evil to us all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With that she took the two children into the adjoining bedchamber, next +to the large one, and put them to bed. Dietegen, who was so sleepy that +he scarcely noticed what was going on around him, instinctively went +through the motions for disrobing. But since he was already, in a +manner of speaking, in his shirt, his drowsy motions made such a +ludicrous impression, especially upon the little girl, that she, +already under her blanket, could not help screaming with mirth: "Oh, +just watch the comical shirtmannikin! He is always trying to take off +his spenser and boots, and yet he hasn't any!" Her mother, too, had to +smile and said to the boy: "In God's name, go to bed in your poor +sinner's shift! My poor boy, that shift is quite new and really of good +linen. Truly, these wicked people of Ruechenstein at least do their +atrocities with a certain amount of decency."</p> + +<p class="normal">In saying which she wrapped the two little ones up well in their +blankets, and could not forbear to kiss both of them, so that Dietegen +was really better off than he had ever been in his whole life. But his +eyes were already tightly closed and his soul in deep sleep. "But now +he has not said his prayers at all," whispered Kuengolt in sorrow. Her +mother replied: "Then you will do it for both of you, my little +daughter!" and left the two. And indeed, the girl now said the Lord's +prayer twice, once for herself, once for her new bedfellow. And then +quiet reigned in the little chamber.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some time after midnight Dietegen woke up, because only now his neck +had begun to pain him from the unfriendly rope of the hangman. The +chamber was flooded with moonlight, but he was perfectly unable to +recall where he was and how he had come there. Merely this he was +conscious of, that he aside from his sore throat, was far better of! +than ever before in his young life. The window stood open, a spring +outside murmured softly, and the silver night blew whisperingly through +the tree tops; over them all the moon shone in gentle radiance. All +this to him was wondrous, since he had never before seen the solitude +of the forest, neither by day nor by night. He gazed sleepily, he +listened, and finally he assumed a sitting posture. Then he perceived +next to him on the couch little Kuengolt, the moon's beams playing +right over her small face. She lay still, but was broad awake, since +excitement and joy would not let her sleep. Because of that her eyes +were opened to their full extent, and her mouth was smiling when +Dietegen peered into her face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you sleep? You ought to sleep," said the girl. But he then +complained of the pain at his throat. At once little Kuengolt weaved +her tender arms around his neck and full of pity put her own cheeks +against his. And really it soon seemed to him that his pain subsided +under such sympathetic treatment. And then they began to chat in a low +voice. Dietegen was asked to tell about himself. But he was reticent +because there was not much to tell that was pleasant, and about the +misery of his childhood he also was not able to say a great deal, since +no contrasts were within his ken, with the single exception of that +evening. Suddenly, however, he recalled his pleasant sport with the +crossbow, which had slipped his mind before, and so he told the little +girl all about the Jew, and how that one had been the cause of his +imprisonment and unjust sentence, but also about how he had taken great +delight in shooting with the crossbow, for over an hour, and how he now +longed for just such a weapon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father has crossbows and weapons of every type in plenty," +commented Kuengolt breathlessly. "And you may start in to-morrow and +shoot all you wish."</p> + +<p class="normal">And then she set out to tell him about all the nice things in the +house, and she included in these her own pretty knicknacks, locked up +in a casket, especially two golden "rainbow" keys, a necklace of amber, +a volume full of holy legends, illustrated with pictures showing saints +in their beautiful vestments, and also a multicolored medallion in +which sat a Mother of God clad in gold brocade and vermilion silk, and +covered with a tiny round glass. Also, she enumerated further, she +owned a silver-gilt spoon, with a quaintly turned handle, but with that +she would be permitted to eat only when she was grown up and had a +husband of her own. And when it came to her wedding she would get the +bridal jewelry of her mother, together with her blue brocade dress, +which was so thick and heavy that it stood up without any one being +inside of it. Then she kept still a short while, but pressing her +bedfellow more closely against her heart, she said in a very low voice: +"Listen, Dietegen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what is it?" he answered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must be my husband when we are big. For you belong to me. Will +you, of your own free will?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes," he replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must shake hands on it," she remarked, in a peremptory voice. +He did so, and after this binding promise the two children finally fell +asleep and did not wake till the sun stood high in the heavens. For the +kind mother had purposely refrained from rousing them, so that the poor +boy should have a thorough rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now at last she cautiously crept into the little chamber, bearing +on her arm a complete boy's suit of clothing. Two years before her own +son had been killed by the fall of an oak tree, and the clothes of this +boy of hers, although he had been Dietegen's senior by a whole year, +were likely to fit him, since he was just his size. And it was her lost +boy's holiday attire, which in a saddened spirit she had preserved. +Therefore she had risen with the sun, in order to remove from the +doublet some gay ribbons ornamenting it, and to sew up the slits in the +sleeves which let the silk lining peep forth. Her tears had flown anew +in doing this labor, when she saw the scarlet silken lining that +glinted from below the black jerkin gradually disappear from view, as +jocund spring vanished in sorrow, and become of a piece with the black +trunks. The tears were shed because of the death of her own dear boy, +but a sweet consolation tinctured her soul since Fate now had sent her +such a handsome, lovable little fellow, one who had been snatched, so +to speak, out of Death's hard grasp, and whom she now could clothe in +the habiliments of her own son. And it was not from haste or fear of +the task that she left the gay silken lining under the sable outer +covering, but on purpose, as the hidden fire of affection in her bosom +moved her. For she was of those who mean better by their familiars than +they dare show openly. If the new boy proved worthy of it, she vowed to +herself, she would open the seams of the slits again, for his joy and +pride. Anyway, on workadays Dietegen was to wear this suit but for a +few days, until one of stronger and more suitable material should have +been made for him to measure by the tailor, one that he could expose to +rough usage during his ordinary occupations. But while she instructed +the boy how to put on this fine suit of a kind to which he was quite +unused, little Kuengolt had slipped out of bed, and in a spirit of +childish mischief had got hold of the gallows shift, which she now put +on and was stalking gravely in about the room, trailing its tail behind +her on the floor. With that she kept her little hands folded behind +her, as though they were tied by the hangman. Then she sang aloud: "I +am a miserable sinner now, and even lack my hose, I trow." At this the +kindly woman fell into a great affright, grew deadly pale, and said in +a low, soft voice: "For our Savior's sake, who is teaching you such +wicked jokes, my child?" And she seized the ominous shift from the +little girl's hands, who smiled at this, but Dietegen took it, being +wroth at the scene, and tore it into a score of pieces.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now that the two children were dressed they were taken along for +breakfast in the adjoining room. Early in the morning bread had been +baked, and with the milk soup the little ones received each a fresh +loaf of cummin seed bread, and in place of the one sweet roll which on +ordinary days was specially baked for Kuengolt, there were two that +day, and the little girl would have it that the boy received the larger +of them. Dietegen ate without urging all that was offered him, just as +though he had returned to his father's house after an enforced stay +with evil strangers. But he was very still throughout, and he keenly +observed everything around him: the pleasant mild woman who treated him +like her own son, the sunny, light room, and the comfortable furniture +with which it was fitted up. And after having eaten his breakfast with +a good appetite, he continued these observations, noticing that the +walls were wainscoted with smooth pine, and higher up decorated with +painted wreaths and flowers, and that the leaded window panes showed +the arms both of husband and wife. When he also carefully inspected the +handsome closets and the sideboard with its load of shining vessels and +tableware, he suddenly remembered the dingy silver jug that had almost +brought him to his death, and the cheerless house of the beadle in +Ruechenstein, and then, afraid that he should have to return there +again, he asked with a tremor in his voice: "Must I now return home? +But I don't know the way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no need of your knowing it," said the housewife, moved by his +evident dread, and she stroked his smooth chin. "Have you not yet +noticed that you are to remain with us? Go along with him now, my +little Kuengolt, and show him the house and the woods, and everything +else. But do not go too far away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Kuengolt took the boy by the hand, and first led him into the +forester's armory where he kept his weapons. And there hung seven +magnificent crossbows and arquebuses, and spears and javelins for the +chase, hangers and dirks, and also the long sword of the master of the +house which stood in the corner by itself. Dietegen examined all this, +silently but with gleaming eyes, and Kuengolt mounted a chair to take +down several of the finest crossbows from the wall, which she handed +him so that he could look them over more at leisure, and he was +delighted with these, for they showed ornaments inlaid in ivory or +mother-of-pearl, daintily done by some expert artisan. The boy admired +it all, in a silent sort of ecstasy, about as would a rather talented +prentice in the studio of a great master painter while the latter might +be absent from home. But Kuengolt's quick proposal to have him try his +marksmanship outside in a meadow could not be realized at the time, +because the bolts and arrows were locked away in a separate receptacle. +But to make up for that she gave him a fine hunting spear to hold so +that he should have a weapon of some kind to take along into the +greenwoods. Near the house she showed him a hedged-in space full of +deer and game, in which the town constantly kept its reserve of stock, +so that at no time there should be lack of venison and other fine +roasts for public or private banquets. The girl coaxed several roes and +stags to come to her at the hedge, and this was astonishing to +Dietegen, for so far he had seen such animals only when dead. With his +spear, therefore, he stood attentive, his eyes fixed on these pretty +denizens of the woods, and could not get his fill of watching them. +Eagerly he held out his hand to fondle a finely antlered stag, and when +the latter shyly bounded aside and leisurely trotted off, the boy +scurried after him with a joyous halloo, and ran and jumped with the +animal around in a wide circle. It was perhaps the first time in his +life that he could use his young limbs in this way, and when he felt +how his tendons stretched with the violent exercise and how he was able +to race with the swift stag, the latter apparently taking as much +pleasure in the sport as Dietegen himself, a feeling of untried +strength and agility first woke within him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But as they later on stepped into the domain of the deep forest, high +up on the hill, the boy resumed once more his usual air of thoughtful +quiet and deliberation. Up there mighty trees grew closer together, +leaving hardly a fragment of sky to discover from below--tall pine and +gnarled oak, spreading lindens, beeches, maple and spruce, all growing +in a semidarkness where the sunlight seldom pierced. Red squirrels +glided spectrelike from trunk to trunk, woodpeckers hammered +incessantly for their fare, high up birds of prey shrilly pursued their +quarry in the open, and a thousand forest mysteries were dimly at work. +Below, in the dense underbrush, hares and foxes, deer and smaller game +were waging war, and song birds twittered or warbled in a chorus of +multiform sound. Kuengolt laughed and laughed because the boy knew +nothing of all these secret doings in the forest, although he had grown +up in a mountain fastness surrounded by the very life of the woods, but +she at once began to explain to him these things of which he was so +profoundly ignorant. She showed him the hawk and his nest, the cuckoo +in his retreat, and the gay-clad woodpecker as he was just clambering +up a thick trunk with bark promising him rich harvest. And about all +these things he was highly amazed, and wondered that trees and bushes +should bear so many names, and that each should differ from the next. +For he had not even known the hazelnut bush or the whortleberry in +their haunts. They came to a rushing brook, and disturbed by their +steps, a snake made off into the water, and the girl seized the spear +in the boy's hand and wanted to stick it into the rocky nook. But when +Dietegen saw that she was going to blunt or break the edge of the +finely tempered weapon, he at once took it out of her fingers, saying +that she might damage the spear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is well done," suddenly came the voice of the chief forester, his +patron; "you will prove a help to me." With a gamekeeper he stood +behind the two children. For the noise of the rushing water had drowned +in their ears all other noise. The gamekeeper bore in his hand a +woodcock, just shot, for the two had gone forth early in the morning. +Dietegen was permitted to hang the stately bird to the tip of his +spear, flinging it over his shoulder, so that the spread wings of the +bird enveloped him, and the forester gazed with approval upon the +handsome youngster, and made up his mind to make an all-around woodsman +of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just now, though, he was to learn somewhat the difficult arts of +reading and writing, and for that purpose was obliged to walk every day +to town with the little girl; there in a convent and in a monastery the +two were taught as much of these mysteries as seemed good for them. But +his chief lessons Dietegen had from the little girl herself when coming +and going from town, Kuengolt delighting in informing him as to all +that was going on in the world, so far at least as she herself knew, +and more particularly as to the ordinary things of life, as to which +Dietegen had been left in deplorable ignorance by his former +taskmaster, the beadle.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the little instructress was in her way a ruthless practical joker, +and followed a unique method of her own in teaching the boy. She +exaggerated, distorted or plainly misstated the facts as to most things +in talking to her pupil, and abused grossly the credulity and +trustfulness of the boy, merely for her amusement, and she did this as +to most things. In this she showed a wonderful gift of invention, an +exuberant fancy of the rarest. When Dietegen then had accepted her +fictions, and would perhaps express his wonder at them, she would shame +him with the cool statement that not a single word had been true. She +would scornfully blame him for believing such palpable untruths, and +then, with a show of infinite wisdom, she would tell him the real +facts. Then he would redden under her sarcastic remarks, and would +endeavor to avoid her pitfalls, but only until she saw fit to make +sport of him once more. However, in the course of time Dietegen's +powers of judging facts began to widen, and he ceased to be so +gullible, and this another boy who attempted to emulate Kuengolt's +example found out to his sorrow. For Dietegen simply slapped his face +when he came out with a particularly outrageous whopper.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kuengolt, rather taken aback at witnessing this castigation, was +curious to ascertain whether this wrath under given circumstances would +also turn against herself. She made a test on the spot, feeding him +with some of her choicest fairy tales. But from her he accepted +everything without a murmur, and so she continued her peculiar method +of instruction. At last, though, she discovered that he had acquired +enough independence of thought and a large enough stock of knowledge to +enable him to play with her himself. He would answer her inventions +with counterinventions, and would argue from her nonsensical statements +in such shrewd fashion as to turn her first doctrines into ridicule, +and he would do this in perfect good-nature, proving the untenableness +of her own theories. Then she came to the conclusion that it was time +to give up her nonsense. But in place of that amusement she now +indulged in another. Namely, she began to tyrannize over him most +unmercifully. It grew so that it was almost worse than things had been +with the beadle's wife. His servitude was deplorable. She made him +fetch and carry during all his spare time. He had to haul and hoist and +labor for her in a truly ridiculous manner. She constantly required his +presence about her; he had to bring her water, shake the trees, dig in +the garden, crack open nuts after getting them for her, hold her little +basket, and even to brush and comb her hair she wanted to train +him--only that is where he drew a line. But then he was scolded by her +for refusing this, and when her mother took sides against her she +became quite obstreperous with the latter as well.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Dietegen did not pay her back in her own coin, never lost his +patience with her, and was always equally submissive and indulgent with +her. Her mother saw that with vast pleasure, and to reward him for his +fine conduct she treated the boy like her own son, and gave him all +those finer hints and that almost imperceptible guidance and advice +which else are only saved for children of one's own, and by means of +which children finally acquire without knowing it those habits and +better manners which are commonly comprised under the name of a careful +education. Of course, she herself gained in a way from this; for her +own daughter thus acquired unconsciously many of her lessons, Dietegen +being there as a sort of mirror of what was expected of her. Truly, it +was almost comical how little Kuengolt in her restless temperament +veered and shifted constantly between imitating her better model or +else becoming jealous and wroth and scorning it for the time. On one +occasion she became so excited as to stab at him with all her might +with a sharp pair of scissors. But Dietegen caught her wrist quickly, +and without hurting her or showing any anger he made her drop them. +This little scene which her mother had espied from a hiding-place, +moved the latter so strongly that she came forth, took the boy in her +arms, and kissed him. Pale and excited the girl herself left the room +with out a word. "Go, follow her, my son," whispered the mother, "and +reconcile her. You are her good angel."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen did as bidden. He found her behind the house and under a lilac +bush. She was weeping wildly and tearing her amber necklace, trying, in +fact, to throttle herself by means of it, and stamping on the scattered +beads on the ground. When Dietegen approached her and wanted to seize +her hands, she cried with a great sob: "Nobody but I may kiss you. For +you belong to me alone. You are mine, my property. I alone have freed +you from that horrid coffin, in which without me you would have +remained forever."</p> + +<p class="normal">As the boy grew up marvelously, becoming handsomer and more manly with +every day, the forester declared at breakfast one morning that the time +was now ripe to take him along into the woods and let him learn the +difficult craft of the huntsman. Thus he was taken from the side of +Kuengolt, and spent now all his time, from dawn until nightfall, with +the men, in forest, moor and heath. And now indeed his limbs began to +stretch that it was a pleasure to watch him. Swift and limber like a +stag, he obeyed each word or hint, and ran whither he was sent. Silent +and docile, he was forever where wanted; carried weapons and tackle, +gear and utensils, helped spread the nets, leaped across trenches and +morass, and spied out the whereabouts of the game. Soon he knew the +tracks of all the animals, knew how to imitate the call of the birds, +and before any one expected it, he had a young wildboar run into his +spear. Now, too, the forester gave him a crossbow. With it he was every +day, every hour almost, exercising his skill, aiming at the target, +shooting at living objects as well. In a word, when Dietegen was but +sixteen, he was already an expert woodsman who might be placed +anywhere, and it would happen now and then that his patron sent him out +with a number of his men to guard the municipal woods and head the +chase.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen, therefore, might be seen not alone with the crossbow on his +back, but also with pen and ink-horn in his girdle upon the mountain +side, and with his keen watchful eyes and his unfailing memory he was a +great help to his fosterfather. And since with every day he became more +reliable and useful, the master forester learned to love him better +all along, and used to say that the boy must in the end become a +full-fledged, an honorable and martial citizen.</p> + +<p class="normal">It could under these circumstances not be otherwise than that Dietegen +on his part was devoted soul and body to the forester. For there is no +attachment like that of the youth for the mature man of whom he knows +that he is doing his best to teach him all the secrets of his craft, +and whom he holds to be his unapproached model.</p> + +<p class="normal">The chief forester was a man of about forty; tall and well-built, with +broad shoulders and of handsome appearance and noble carriage. His hair +of golden sheen was already lightly sprinkled with silver, but his +complexion was ruddy, and his blue eyes shone frank, open and full of +fire. In his younger days, too, he had been among the wildest and +merriest of Seldwyla's choice spirits, and many were the quaint and +original quips he had perpetrated at that time of his life. But when he +had won his young wife, he altered instantly, and since then he had +been the soberest and the most sensible man in the world. For his dear +wife was of a most delicate habit, and of a kindness of heart that +could not defend itself, and although by no means without a spirit and +a wit of her own, she would have been unable to meet unkindness with a +sharp tongue. A wife of ready wit and pugnacity would probably have +spurred this naturally sprightly man on to further doings, but in +contest with the graceful feebleness of this delicate wife of his he +behaved like the truly strong. He watched over her as over the apple of +his eye, did only those things which gave her pleasure, and after his +busy day's work remained gladly at his own hearth.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the most important festivities of the town only, three or four times +a year, he went among the councilmen and other citizens, led them with +his fresh vigor in deliberation and at the festive board, and after +drinking one after the other of the great guzzlers under the table, he +would, as the last of the doughty champions, rise upright from his +seat, stride quietly out of the council chamber, and then with a jolly +smile walk uphill to his forest home.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the chief comedy would always come the next day. For then he would +waken, after all, with a head that hummed like a beehive, and then he +would rouse himself fully, half morosely, half with a leonine jovial +humor that indeed had the dimensions of a lion when compared with the +proverbial distemper of the average toper. Early he would then show up +at breakfast, the sun shining with strength upon his naked scalp, and +ignoring his symptoms, he would jest and make fun of himself and his +achievements of the previous night. His wife, then, always hungering +after her husband's humor, he being usually rather reticent, would then +answer his sallies with a merry laughter, so bell-like and wholesouled +as one would never have suspected in a being so demure as she. His +children would laugh, also his gamekeepers and huntsmen, and lastly his +servants. And in that way the whole day would pass. Everything that day +would be done with a bright smile and a salvo of hearty laughter. And +always the chief forester leading them all, handling his axe, lifting +heavy weights, doing the work of three ordinary men. On such a day it +was once that fire broke out in the town. High above burning roofs a +poor old woman, in her frail wooden balcony, forgotten and disregarded, +was shrilly crying and moaning for help from a fiery death, and above +her shoulder her tame starling went through the drollest of antics, +likewise claiming attention. Nobody could think of a way to save +mistress and bird. The flames came nearer and ever nearer. But our +chief forester climbed up to a protruding coping on a high wall facing +the old woman's nook, a spot where he stood like a rock. Then with +herculean strength he pulled up a long ladder to him, turned it over +and balanced it neatly until it touched the window where the old hag +was struggling for breath. He placed it securely within the opening, on +the sill, and then he strode across it, firm and unafraid, back and +forth, carrying the ancient woman safely across his shoulder, and the +stuttering starling on his head, the greedily licking flames and the +swirling clouds of smoke beneath his feet. And all this he did, not by +any means in a heroic pose, as something dangerous or praiseworthy, but +as though it were a harmless joke, smiling and laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a solid piece of work of that kind he would feast with his family +in jolly style, dishing up the best the house afforded. And at such +times he always was particularly tender to his wife, taking her on his +knee, to the great amusement of the children, and dubbing her his +"little whitebird," and his "swallow," and she, her arms clasped in +pleasurable self-forgetfulness, would laughingly watch his antics.</p> + +<p class="normal">On a day like that, too, he once arranged for a dance, it being the +first of May. He had a musician fetched from town, and got likewise +some merry young folks to increase the sport. And there was dancing +aplenty on the smooth greensward in front of the house, right under the +blooming trees, and dainty dancing it was. The chief forester opened +the merriment with his smiling young wife, she in her modest finery and +with her girlish shape. As they made the first steps, she looked over +her shoulder at the youngsters, happy as could be, and tipping her foot +on the green sod, impatient to be off. Just then Dietegen, who for much +of the time past had kept to the men entirely, threw a glance at +Kuengolt, and lo! he saw that she also was growing up to be a handsome +woman, as pretty a picture as her mother. Her features indeed strongly +resembled those of her mother, small, regular and charming. But in her +figure she took more after her father, for she was trimly built like a +straight young pine, and although but fourteen her bosom was already +rounded like that of a grown-up damsel. Golden curls fell in a shower +down her back and hid the somewhat angular shoulderblades. She was clad +all in green, wore around her neck her amber beads, and on her head, +according to the fashion of those days, a wreath of rosebuds. Her eyes +shone pleasantly and frankly from a guileless face, but once in a while +they would flash wilfully and glide casually over the row of youths +whose eyes hung on her youthful beauty, with a slightly critical bent, +and at last rest for an instant on Dietegen, then turn away again. +Dietegen looked as though hungering for recognition, but she only once +more glanced back at him. But that glance seemed to have somewhat +embarrassed her, for she stopped to arrange her hair, while he flushed +deeply.</p> + +<p class="normal">That indeed was the first time when they two felt they were no longer +mere children. But a few minutes later they met and found themselves +partners in a country dance, hand in hand. A new and sweet sensation +pulsed through his veins, and this remained even after the ring of +dancers had again been broken.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kuengolt, however, had still the same feeling regarding him; she looked +upon the youth as upon something all her own, as something belonging to +her, and of which, therefore, one may be sure and need not guard +closely. Only once in a while she would send a spying glance in his +direction, and when accident would bring him into the close +neighborhood of another maiden, there would also be Kuengolt watching +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus innocent pleasure reigned until an advanced hour of the evening. +The young people became as sprightly as new-fledged wood pigeons, and +soon even excelled in their merry humor their bounteous host, and the +latter on his part delighted to pleasure his amiable young wife, while +soberly encouraging his youthful guests in amusing themselves. She, the +wife, was serene and happy as sunlight in springtime. And she even +became playful enough to call her brawny husband by intimate nicknames.</p> + +<p class="normal">But harmless and decorous as all this was, it may be that the citizens +of other towns where merriment was not the natural birthright, as in +the case of the Seldwylians, would have deemed it a trifle beyond the +proper limits. The spiced May wine which was served the guests had been +mingled in its elements according to ancient usage, but just as in +their joy itself there was a bit too much license, so also there was a +trifle too much honey in the drink. The hands of the young girls lay +perhaps somewhat too frequently upon the shoulders of the youths, and +now and then, without meaning any harm, a couple would quickly kiss and +part, and this without playing at blind man's buff, as do the +philistines of our days under similar conditions. In short, what these +young people of Seldwyla lacked in their diversion was the gift of +attracting without seeming to; but with this gift, on the other hand, +Dietegen, as a regulation Ruechensteiner, was plentifully endowed. For +although he was already in love, he fled like fire from the fondling +and caressing which with these Seldwyla couples was by now rather +freely indulged in, and preferred to keep himself out of the danger +line. All the bolder and provoking was Kuengolt who, in her childish +ignorance and after the manner of half-grown girls, did not know how to +control her affections, and who went to look up the frigid youth. She +discovered him seated in the shadow of a group of darksome trees, and +sat down beside him, seizing his hand and playfully twining his +fingers. When he submitted to that and even, gently and almost in a +fatherly way, spun her ringlets in his palm, the girl at once put her +arms around his neck and caressed him with the innocence but also with +the abandon of a child, whereas in truth it was already the maiden that +spoke out of her. Dietegen, however, no longer a child, essayed to use +his maturer judgment for both of them, and thus was strenuously trying +to loosen her hold on him, when his fostermother, the chief forester's +wife, came joyously running up to the bench, and noticed with +particular pleasure how matters stood apparently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is right," she cried, "that you, too, are of accord," and she +embraced them both tightly. "I hope and trust, my dearest daughter, +that you will love and cherish Dietegen with all your might. He is +deserving indeed, my child, that he not only has found a new home in +our house, but that you, too, will give him a home in your little +heart. And you, dear Dietegen, will, I know, at all times be a true and +faithful protector and guardian to my little Kuengolt. Never leave her +out of your sight, for your eyes are keen and observant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is nobody's but mine, and has been for long," said Kuengolt to +this, and she kissed him boldly and lightly upon the cheek, half like a +bride and half as a child caresses a kitten which belongs to it. But +now the situation for the poor bashful youth, thus hemmed in between +mother and daughter, became unbearable, and he flushed and awkwardly +loosened their combined hold of him, stepping back a few paces to +escape their blandishments. But Kuengolt, in her wilful mood, pursued +him laughing, and when in his retreat from her he came into close +proximity to the pretty mother, the latter jestingly caught him by the +arm, saying: "Here he is, my little daughter, now come and hold him +fast."</p> + +<p class="normal">When thus entrapped anew by them, his heart beat excitedly, and while +finding himself thus wooed, so to speak, by both feminine tempters, he +at the same time felt intensely his lonesome condition in the world. +The odd conceit overcame him that he was a lost soul shaken from the +tree of life, which while cherished by soft hands, was nevertheless to +be forever deprived of its own existence and individuality, a state of +mind which with callow youths thus beset may be more frequent than +commonly supposed. Therefore, a prey to two conflicting emotions +equally powerful, of which one necessarily excluded the other, his +strong sense of personal freedom struggling within his breast with the +new-born sentiment of tender regard, he stood mute and trembling, half +in rebellion against the sudden intimate aggression of the two women, +and half strongly inclined to draw the young girl into his arms and to +overwhelm her with caresses. His Ruechenstein blood was against him. +While he loved the mother with a wholesouled and most grateful +devotion, her thoughtless encouragement of him to play a lover's part +towards her daughter seemed to him strange and unbecoming. He looked +upon himself as really Kuengolt's property, as truly belonging to her +by reason of her having saved his forfeited life. But at the same time +he felt himself seriously responsible for her moral conduct, for her +maiden chastity and her correct manners, and when now Kuengolt strove +to kiss him on the mouth, he said to her, in perfect good humor but +withal in the tone of a crabbed schoolmaster: "You are really still too +young for things of that kind. This is not suitable for your age."</p> + +<p class="normal">At these words the girl paled with shame and annoyance. Without another +syllable she turned away and joined once more the throng of +merrymakers, where she danced and sprang about recklessly a few times, +and then sat down a little distance away by herself, with a face that +betrayed clearly how hurt she was at the rebuff.</p> + +<p class="normal">The chief forester's wife smilingly stroked the strict young moralist's +cheek, saying: "Well, well, you are certainly very strict. But the more +faithfully you will one day take care of my child. Give me your promise +never to desert her! Only don't forget, we Seldwyla folk are all of us +rather gay and debonair, and it is possible that in being so we +sometimes do not think enough of the future."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen's eyes grew wet, and he gave her his hand in solemn vow. Then +she conducted him back to the others. But Kuengolt turned her back on +him, and instead in real grief gazed into the mild May night.</p> + +<p class="normal">He on his part now marveled at himself. Strange, now of a sudden this +girl whom but a minute before he had misnomed a mere child, was old and +grown-up enough to cause him, the moralizing youth, love pangs. For sad +and confused he too stood now aside and felt still more ashamed than +the girl herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What ails you? Why do you look so sorrowful?" asked the forester, when +he in the best humor in the world now approached the group. But +Kuengolt at the question broke into passionate tears, and exclaimed +before everybody: "He was a gift to me by the judges when he was really +nothing but a poor lifeless corpse, and I have reawakened him to life. +And therefore he has no right to sit in judgment on me, but rather I +alone am his judge. And he must do everything I want, and when I love +to kiss him it is his business to simply keep still and let me do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">They all laughed at this odd statement, but the mother took Dietegen's +hand and led him to the child, saying: "Come, make up with her and let +her kiss you once more. Later on you, also, shall be her master, and +shall do as you see fit in such matters."</p> + +<p class="normal">Blushing deeply because of the many onlookers, Dietegen offered his +mouth to the girl, and she seized him by his curls, quite in a frenzy, +and kissed him hard, more in wrath than in love, and then, having once +more thrown him a look that betrayed anger, she quickly turned on her +heels and dashed away in such haste that her golden ringlets fluttered +in the night air and in passing brushed his face.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now the reluctant fire of love had also been kindled in his own +young soul, and soon after he left the throng and went in search of +rash Kuengolt, striding rapidly and gazing all about for her. At last +he discovered her on the other side of the house where she sat dreamily +at the well, and was playing with the amber beads of her necklace. +Advancing quickly he seized both her hands, compressed them in his +vigorous right, and then laid his left on her shoulder so that she +shuddered, and said: "Listen, child, I shall not permit you to trifle +with me. From to-day on you are just as much my own property as I am +yours, and no other man shall have you living. Keep that in mind when +some day you will be grown up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you big old man," she murmured slowly and smiled at him, but +pallor had overspread her features. "You indeed are mine, but not I +yours. However, you need not mind that, because I don't think I'll ever +let you go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying she rose and went, without first looking at her old +playfellow once more, over to the other side of the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this was not all. The forester's wife caught a cold in the suddenly +chilled air of this very May night, and an insidious disease grew out +of it which carried her off within a few months. On her deathbed she +grieved much about her husband and her child, and expressed great +anxiety on their behalf. She also denied till her last breath the real +cause of her illness and death, deeming it scarcely a fit thing for a +housewife and a mother to thus go out of life merely because of a +surfeit of riotous pleasure.</p> + +<p class="normal">But while she thus lay lifeless in the house, all that had loved her +mourned for her; indeed the whole town did so, for she had not had a +single enemy in the world. Her widowed husband wept at night in his +bed, and at daytime he spoke never a word, but only from time to time +stepped up to the coffin in which she lay so still and peaceful, +looking and looking at his sweet partner, and then, shaking his head, +slowly walking off again.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had a heavy wreath of young pine twigs fashioned for her and placed +it on the bier. Kuengolt heaped a perfect mountain of wildflowers on +top of that, and thus the graceful form of the dead was borne down from +the hillside to the church below, followed by the bereaved family and a +crowd of relatives, friends and members of the household.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">After the burial the chief forester took all the mourners to the +tavern, where he had caused a bounteous meal in honor of the dead to be +prepared, according to ancient custom. The roast venison for it, a +capital roebuck, and two fine grouse, he had shot himself, grieving all +the while at the loss he had sustained. And when the gorgeously +feathered birds now appeared on the long board he minded him again of +the dense grove of mighty oak and maple, high up on the mountain side, +in which she had sat awaiting his return from the chase, and in which +he, his heart full of love of her who now rested in the cool ground, +had many a time been stalking the deer. The image of her stood before +his thoughts like life itself. But yet he was not to be left long to +brooding, for strict laws of custom called for his active services as +host on this occasion. When the claret from France and the golden +malmsey had been uncorked and poured into capacious goblets, and the +heavy table been loaded with sweets and cakes that scented the precious +spices from the Indies, the guests grew lively and clamorous, and he +had to propose and answer many a toast, despite his sincere mourning, +and the noise soon drowned the still voice within him. Life and death +were twin brothers in those days of our forbears.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forester was seated at table between Kuengolt and Dietegen, and +these two because of his tall and broad-backed person were unable to +catch a look of one another save by bending over or behind him, and +this neither of them wished to do for decency's sake, for they were the +only ones who among this crowd of buzzing guests remained sad and +serious. Across the board from him sat a cousin, a lady of about thirty +named Violande.</p> + +<p class="normal">This lady indeed could not well be overlooked, for she wore a singular +costume, one which did not seem fit for a person satisfied with her +lot, a person living in happy circumstances, but rather one who is +restless and hollow of heart. Yet she was handsome, and knew well how +to impress people with her charms, but ever and anon something selfish +and mendacious would flash out of her handsome eyes that destroyed all +these efforts at enforced amiability.</p> + +<p class="normal">When but fourteen she had already been in love with the forester, her +cousin, merely because amongst those young men that came before her +vision he was the best-looking and the tallest and strongest. He, +however, had never noticed the preference shown for him. Indeed he had +not given a thought to this overyoung cousin of his, since his serious +choice lay altogether among the more adult persons of the other sex, +and wavered among several of these. Full of envy and jealousy, this +unmature cousin, though, was already so skilled in feminine intrigue as +to be able to destroy the chances of two or three young women that the +forester had looked upon with favor, using for that purpose that +poisonous weapon, gossip and backbiting. Always when he was on the +point of proposing to a beauty that had won his regard, this sly +half-woman skillfully understood how to spread rumors calculated to +entangle the two, fictitious words uttered by one or the other seeming +to show mutual dislike, or something equally efficacious in bringing +about a rupture. If her designs miscarried with him, why then she spun +her threads so as to make the other believe that the swain was false or +fickle, full of guile or not dependable. Thus it came to pass +repeatedly that without his ever discovering the author the lady of his +suit would suddenly swerve and leave him out in the cold, while +another, of whom he had never thought in that connection, would as +quickly show him her favor--all owing to the arts of this Macchiavell +in petticoats. And then impatiently and disgustedly he would turn his +back on both the willing and the unwilling and plunge once more for a +spell into his easy bachelordom. In this way it was that, one after the +other, all his wooings came to nought, until he at last happened to +meet the mild and amiable lady that subsequently became his spouse. +This one, though, kept hold of him, since she was just as guileless as +he himself, and all the artifices and stratagems of the little witch +were in vain. Yea, she never even noticed the other's cleverest +schemes, simply because she kept her eyes all the time fixed upon him +she loved. And indeed he too had been grateful to her for her +singlemindedness, and held her all the years of their happy union as a +jewel of rare price.</p> + +<p class="normal">Violande, however, when she saw the man whose love she had aspired to +married, after all, to another had not given up the frequent use of her +talent for mischiefmaking, for fear she might get out of practice. The +older she grew the more artistic became her endeavors in that line, but +without success for herself, since she remained a spinster, and since +even the men themselves whom by her wiles she had alienated from other +women turned away from her as from a dangerous person, feeling in their +hearts only contempt and hatred for her. Then it was she turned her +face heavenwards, giving it out that she was on the point of entering a +convent and becoming a nun. But she changed her mind in the last hour, +and instead of a convent entered a house devoted to some holy order, +but such a one as would permit her, in case the chance of becoming a +wife should unexpectedly present itself to her, to leave it. Thus she +disappeared for years from view, since she was in the habit of going +from one town to another at short intervals, and nowhere feeling rested +or contented. Suddenly, when the forester's wife was lying sick to +death, she reappeared again, in Seldwyla, and in worldly dress, and so +it had come about that here she was as one of the guests at this +funeral celebration, seated opposite the widower.</p> + +<p class="normal">She put restraint on her restlessness, and now and then looked modest +and almost childlike, and when the women rose and walked about in +couples, the while the men remained seated at table drinking and +talking, she went up to Kuengolt, kissed her on both cheeks, and made +friends with her. The half-grown girl felt honored by these advances of +a semi-clerical woman, one who had apparently great knowledge of the +world and had been about a good deal, and so these two were at once +involved in a long and intimate conversation, as though they had known +each other all their lives. When the company broke up Kuengolt asked +her father to invite Violande to his house, in order to manage the big +household, a task for which she herself felt not equal and entirely too +young and inexperienced. The forester whose mood at that moment was a +curious compound of mourning and vinous elation, and whose thoughts +still belonged altogether to his departed wife, raised no objection to +this request, although he did not care much for his cousin and thought +her a queer sort of person.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus in a day or two Violande made her formal entrance into the +widower's house, and had sense enough to take the place of the dead +wife at the hearth with judicious modesty and not without a spice of +sentimentality, the reflection no doubt occurring to her that here she +was at last, after long wanderings, where the desires of her first +youth seemed at last on the point of being realized. Without undue +elation she opened the closets and presses of her predecessor, +examining in detail their contents: linen and homespun cloth piled up +in orderly rows, and provisions of every kind arranged for instant or +occasional use, such as preserved fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, stored +away in carefully tied-up pots; many flitches of bacon and salted beef +and pork, smoked hams and potted venison, and hundreds of bunches of +flax hung up to dry under the ceilings of the roof. Her heart beat at a +more lively gait when inspecting all these domestic riches speaking so +eloquently of the forester's easy circumstances, and almost tenderly +she handled these hundreds of vessels and receptacles, dreaming of a +near housewifely future. And in this peaceable frame of mind she +remained for a number of weeks. But then her old restlessness seized +her again. It had to find a vent. And so she began to turn everything +topsy-turvy, starting with the pots and kettles, each of which she +assigned to a new place, mingling the big and little, shoving about the +bolts of linen and cloth, entangling the flax carded and uncarded, and +when she finally had done all this she had also managed to seriously +interfere with human affairs in the house, upsetting them as much as +she dared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since it was her design to become, after all, the forester's wife, so +as to acquire a more dignified and assured position in life, it became +clear to her that what above all would be necessary was to part +permanently Kuengolt and Dietegen, as to whose inclination for each +other she had soon satisfied herself. For she argued quite correctly +that Dietegen, once he married Kuengolt, would doubtless become the +forester's successor, and thus not only remain permanently in the +house, but that in that case the forester himself, in view of his +strong affection for the memory of his departed wife, would never wed +again. But, she reasoned, if both the children in some way could be +made to shun the house, it would be much more likely that the forester +would marry again, feeling lonesome all by himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">And as now, as she discovered, Kuengolt every day grew handsomer and +more womanly, she took care to make the girl constantly conscious both +of her own beauty and of the gifts of her mind, as well as to further +develop in her an inborn leaning towards coquetry. To do the latter she +skillfully manipulated Kuengolt's natural vanity, insinuating to her +that every young man with whom she came in contact was smitten with her +charms and a ready suitor for her hand and love, and this with such +success that Kuengolt actually learned to look upon all the youths of +her acquaintance solely from the point of view whether they readily +acknowledged her preëminence in beauty and intellectual gifts or not, +while by her shrewd maneuvers Violande on the other hand made every one +of all these young men think that the girl's affections were centered +wholly upon himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Another trick used by Violande with the same end in view was to +cultivate social intercourse with a number of other young girls of +marriageable age, who were frequently invited to the house for parties +to which young men were encouraged to come, and under her guidance and +leadership there was much courting and gallivanting going on at these +meetings. Thus it came about that Kuengolt, when less than sixteen, had +already assembled around her a circle of unquiet young people, each +more or less an expert in playing the love game as a species of +delightful sport.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the pursuance of her one aim Violande, too, arranged all sorts of +festivities, great and small, at the house, and there was mongering in +scandal, stories more or less compromising this or that couple or +individual, many quarrels and much noise and singing and music or +dancing, and it was usually the most objectionable of the customary +guests on these occasions that were also the boldest and most foolish, +and at the same time the most difficult to get rid of.</p> + +<p class="normal">All these things were not to Dietegen's taste. At first he was a mere +onlooker, indifferent and still in the grasp of his sincere and deep +mourning for the death of his fostermother, making a melancholy face +which to a growing youth is not the most becoming. But when all these +pleasure-mad young people were rather amused by a seriousness which +seemed unsuitable to his age, and as Kuengolt herself took the same +attitude towards him, the youth tried to revenge himself by awkward +attempts at dignified silence. But these tactics were even less +successful, and ended one day with Dietegen's clearly perceiving that +he among them all was out of tune. In fact, on one occasion he observed +Kuengolt seated in the midst of a group of scornful youths all of whom +were deriding him and she, instead of disapproving, evidently siding +with them against him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Dietegen had experienced this, he turned silently away, and from +that day on avoided the whole company. Anyway, he had now attained the +age when vigorous youths begin to think of making strong men of +themselves. Upon the holding upon which stood the forester's house +there was, from time immemorial laid the duty of maintaining three or +four fully equipped fighting men, and this obligation the forester +himself had always carried out most scrupulously. With great pleasure +he found that Dietegen, shot up straight and nimble, would soon fill +the same fine armor in which he had once hoped to see his own son.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus Dietegen with other young gamekeepers and helpers on lengthy +winter evenings went to fencing school, where he learned to make proper +use of the shorter weapons, according to the methods of his home, and +during the spring and summer seasons he spent many a Sunday or holiday +upon spacious fields or forest clearings where the youths of the +district learned to march in closed formations for hours at a stretch, +and to attack, leaping broad trenches by the aid of their long spears, +and in every other way to render their bodies supple, active and +strong, or else, perhaps, to practice the new art of the musketeer +whose weapon is loaded with powder and shot.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since by all these changes mentioned above life in the forester's house +altered greatly, and since particularly the feminine doings there +disturbed him sadly, although he paid scant attention to the latter, it +happened that he little by little acquired the habit of frequenting the +taverns where his townsfellows met much oftener than had been the case +during his married life. And while absenting himself from the childish +folly practiced at his own house, he succumbed to the maturer folly of +men, and it would happen now and then that he would carry his head like +a heavy burden, but always upright, to his forest home as late as +midnight or more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Things went on in this way until, on a sunny St. John's Day, a network +of events began to close in.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forester himself went to town to the headquarters of his guild, +where on that festive day all were summoned to attend the settlement of +important affairs concerning the craft, to conclude with a great annual +feast, and he intended to remain and join there in the carousal until +the advance of night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen on his part went to the sharpshooter's meeting place, +intending to spend the whole long midsummer's day in perfecting himself +as a marksman. The other assistants of the forester and his servants of +the household also went their own way, the one to visit his relatives +some distance across the country, another to the dance with his +sweetheart, and the third to the holiday fair to buy himself cloth for +a new coat and a pair of shoes.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the women were sitting all by themselves in the house, not at all +delighted with the rude manner in which the men had left them to their +own devices, but yet eyeing every passer-by and peering out at the +sunny landscape in the hope that some guests would show up and with +their help a festivity of their own might be arranged.</p> + +<p class="normal">As a suitable preparation for that or any contingency they began to +bake spice cakes and prepare all sorts of sweets, and they brewed a +huge bowlful of heady May wine flavored with honey and herbs, so as to +be ready for either chance comers or to offer a night cup to the men +returning home. Next they decked themselves in holiday finery, and +ornamented head and bosom with flowers, while other young maidens, +bidden to join them in a feminine festival time, one after the other +also came from town, and even the very last and least of the serving +maids belonging to the household was freshly attired to look her best.</p> + +<p class="normal">Under broadspreading linden trees, right in front of the house, the +table was set for a dainty meal, the westering sun sending his last +golden rays like a benediction abroad over town and valley.</p> + +<p class="normal">There the women now were seated about the table, relishing all the good +things prepared for them, and soon the chorus of them were intoning +folk-songs with melodious voices, songs telling in many stanzas of the +delights and despair of love, songs like that of the two royal +children, or "There dallied a knight with his maiden dear," and similar +ones. All the tunes sounded the longing of love-lorn hearts, the faith +kept or broken, the eternal drama of passion. Far out into the evening +the sweet voices were carrying, alluring, inviting. The birds nesting +up in the dense foliage of the linden trees, after being silenced for a +spell, now joined in, rivaling their human competitors, and from over +in the forest other feathered songsters assisted. But suddenly another +band of choristers could be heard above the din. That new volume of +sound came floating down the mountain side, a mingling of male voices +with the more strident notes of fiddle and tabor pipes. A troop of +youths had come from Ruechenstein, and this instant issued from the +edge of the woods. Thus they came, striding along the path that led +past the forester's home down to the valley, a number of musicians at +their head. There was the son of the burgomaster of Ruechenstein, +rather a madcap and therefore a great exception to the overwhelming +majority of his townsfolk, who clearly dominated the noisy throng. +Having left the university abroad, he had brought with him a few +fellow-students after his own heart, among them being a couple of +divinity students and a young and jolly monk, as well as Hans +Schafuerli, the council scribe, or secretary, of Ruechenstein, who was +a scrawny, bent figure of a man, with a mighty hunchback and a long +rapier. He was the last of the train, all walking singly because of the +narrow path.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when they set eyes on the row of singing ladies, their own music +ceased, and they stood all there, listening attentively to the charming +tune. However, the ladies likewise became mute, being surprised and +wishful to see what now was going to happen. Violande alone retained +her presence of mind, and stepped to the burgomaster's son, who in turn +saluted her with elaborate courtesy, and telling her that he with his +friends purposed to pay a flying and amusing visit to the merry +neighboring town, in order to spend St. John's Day in a manner +agreeable to them all. But, he continued, having had the good fortune +to meet with these ladies in this unhoped-for way, they counted on the +pleasure of a dance with them, if they might make so bold as to offer +themselves as partners, in all honor and decency.</p> + +<p class="normal">Within the space of a few minutes these formalities had been complied +with, and the dance was in full swing on the floor of the big +banqueting hall of the forester's house. Kuengolt led with the +burgomaster's son, Violande with the jolly monk, and the other ladies +with the young scholars. But the most expert and ardent dancer proved +to be the hunchback scribe. And despite his crooked back this valiant +devotee of the terpsichorean art understood marvelously well how to +advance and retreat with his long shanks in the maze, these legs of his +seeming to begin right below his chin.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Kuengolt's humor was no joyous one, and when Violande whispered to +her to aim at the conquest of the burgomaster's son, in order to become +herself one day the mistress of Ruechenstein, she remained frigid and +indifferent. But suddenly she perceived the herculean efforts of the +artful hunchback, and this extraordinary sight restored her spirits, so +that she laughed with all her heart. And she instantly demanded to +dance with the crooked monster. Indeed it looked like a scene in a +curious fairy tale, to see her graceful figure, clad in green and the +head set off by a wreath of ruby roses, flitting to and fro in the arms +of the ghastly scribe, his hump covered with vivid scarlet.</p> + +<p class="normal">But swiftly her mind altered. From the scribe she flew into the arms of +the monk, and from those into the keeping of the young students, so +that within less than half an hour she had taken a turn or two with +each one of the young strangers. All of these now centered their gaze +upon the beautiful damsel, while the other young women present +attempted in vain to recapture their partners.</p> + +<p class="normal">Violande seeing the state of the case, quickly summoned all the couples +to the table beneath the lindens, to rest there for a while and to be +hospitably entertained. She placed the whole company most judiciously, +each young man next a damsel, and Kuengolt beside the burgomaster's +son.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Kuengolt was tormented by a craving to see all these young men +subject to her will and under the complete influence of her charms. She +exclaimed that she herself wished to wait upon her guests, and hastened +into the house to get more wine. There she quickly and surreptitiously +found her way into Violande's chamber, where she rummaged in her +clothes press. In an hour of mutual confidences Violande had shown her +a small phial and told her that this contained a philtre, or love +potion, called "Follow Me." Whoever should drink its contents when +served by the hand of a woman, would inevitably become her slave and +victim, being bound to follow her even to death's door. True, Violande +had added, there was not contained in that potion any of the strong and +dangerous poison denominated Hippomanes, brewed from the liquor +obtained from the frontal excrescence of a first-born foal, but rather +it came from the small bones of a green frog that had been placed upon +an ants' nest and cleanly scraped and gnawed off by these insects, +until ready for occult use. But all the same, Violande had stated, this +preparation was potent enough to turn the heads of a half dozen of +obstreperous men. She herself, Violande said, had obtained the philtre +from a nun whose whilom lover had succumbed to the pest before the +philtre had had time to work, so that she, the nun, had resigned +herself to a convent life, and now Violande had possession of this +sovereign remedy without knowing exactly what to do with it. For she +did not dare to throw it away for fear of the unknown consequences.</p> + +<p class="normal">This phial Kuengolt now found after some search, and poured its +contents into the jug of wine she carried, and with a beating heart she +hastened outside to her guests. She bade the youths all quaff their +drink inasmuch as she would offer to them a new and sweet spice wine, +and when serving out the contents of the jug she knew how to contrive +matters in such wise that not a drop of the fluid remained. To +accomplish this she had first evenly distributed wine into all the +goblets, and afterwards poured something more into each man's, in every +instance sending an alluring glance into the soul of every swain, so +that the sorcery should have its full effect, as she thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">But indeed the magical workings of the philtre really consisted in +these impartially and enticingly subdivided glances of her roguish eye, +so that the youths all vied, blind and selfish with passion, to gain +her sole favor, as will always happen when a goal striven for by all in +common lies temptingly there for the boldest and luckiest to achieve.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the young men without exception participated in this love game, +leaving their partners rudely to themselves, and the latter, feeling +deeply the disgrace and humiliation of being outstripped by Kuengolt, +paled with anger and disappointment, casting their eyes down and vainly +trying to cover their defeat by a whispered conversation amongst +themselves. Even the monk suddenly abandoned a dusky serving maid whom +but a moment before he had embraced tenderly, while the haughty scribe, +the hunchback, with energetic steps crowded out the burgomaster's son +who at that instant held Kuengolt's lovely hand in his own, caressing +it subtly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Kuengolt showed no favors to any one in particular. Cold as an +icicle she remained towards each and every one of her young guests, and +like a smooth snake she glided about among them, with head and senses +cool. And when she saw that thus she held them all in the hollow of her +hand, she even attempted to reconcile anew the other women, speaking +pleasantly to them and urging them to return to the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">Darkness had fallen. The stars glinted high in the heavens, and the +sickle of the new moon stood above the forest, but this gentle light +now was wiped out by the gleaming and wavering flames of a huge St. +John's bonfire that had been lighted up on the summit of a lone hill by +the peasant population, visible from afar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us all go and look at this bonfire," cried Kuengolt. "The way to +it is short and pleasant through the woods! But we must have it done as +beseems us all--the women and girls first, and the young men in the +rear."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so it was done. Pitch torches lighted up the path for them, and +song cheered the company.</p> + +<p class="normal">Violande alone had remained behind as custodian of the house, but more +especially to await the coming of the chief forester. For she, too, +meant to make her catch that day. And she had not long to wait. He came +in the roused mood of a toper, and with his senses only partly under +control. When he saw the tables under the lindens before the house, he +sat down and called for a sleeping draught at Violande's hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Without loss of time she went to do his bidding. But she also first +disappeared into her own room to get the small vial containing the love +potion which she meant to serve the man who had scorned her so far. +However, her hasty search for it was fruitless. Neither did she +discover it in Kuengolt's chamber, whither instant suspicion had driven +her. For the truth was that that serving maid who had been carelessly +pushed aside by the monk when Kuengolt had triumphed over her rivals, +had picked it up on the stairs where it had been cast by the haughty +girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Violande lost no time in searching further. Instead she made his +cup all the stronger and sweeter, and then she bent over the man of her +choice while he slowly and rapturously emptied the tankard. Violande +was dressed for the occasion. She wore over her skirt a tunic of pale +gold, the edges and seams picked out in red, and allowing her delicate +white skin to peep forth here and there. Her bosom heaved stormily and +she showed a tenderly caressing humor. Thus she leaned on the table in +close proximity to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah indeed, cousin," said the forester, when accidentally he cast a +glance in her direction, "how handsome you look to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">At these words she smiled happily and looked full at him with eyes that +spoke eloquently, saying: "Do you indeed like my looks? Well, it has +taken you a long time to find that out. If you only knew for how many +years, in fact, ever since I was a child, I have cherished you in my +heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">That had a greater effect on the good man than any love potion made of +frog's bones, and he seemed to see before his eyes dim recollections. +Of a pretty girl child he dreamed, and now he saw her before him at his +side, a matured beauty in the full development of her womanly charms, +and it was as if she had come to him from a far distance, bringing to +him unsolicited the splendid gift of her fine person. His generous +heart became entangled with his excited senses, and reshaped and +formulated all sorts of enticing images. Through his hazy brain in its +vinous exaltation there floated a Violande who suddenly had been +metamorphosed into a winsome being that, after all manner of +sufferings, had been offered to his arms as something that to embrace +and call his would not only make herself happy but would likewise +entrust to his care a chaste and loving woman that would render himself +happy once more. The memory of his dead wife paled for the nonce before +this glittering picture.</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized her hand, fondled her cheeks, and said: "We are not yet old, +dear Cousin Violande! Will you become my wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And since she left her hand in his grasp, and bent nearer to him, this +time, seeing at last the realization of her ambition, actually glowing +with her new-found bliss, he loosened the bridal ring of his wife from +the handle of his dagger where since her death he had worn it, and +placed the trinket on Violande's finger. She thereupon pressed her own +face against the leonine and ruddy countenance of her middle-aged +lover, and the two embraced tenderly and kissed under the whispering +linden trees which were stirred by the night breeze. The shrewd man, +ordinarily of such sound judgment, thought he had discovered the +sovereign blessing of life itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment Dietegen returned home, bearing his weapons in his +hand. Since he went towards the house across the greensward, the fond +couple did not hear his approach, and he saw with confusion and +amazement the whole scene. Shamed and reddening, he retired as quietly +as he could, so that they did not notice him, and he went around the +whole house, in order to make his entrance by the back door. But while +still on his way he heard suddenly loud calling and noise as though +someone were in peril and hot dispute. Without a moment's hesitation +Dietegen hurried off in the direction of the hubbub. And soon he found +the same company that had ere now left the house in the happiest humor +in a terrible uproar.</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed that the young men, half-crazed by the strong wine and by +jealousy of each other, on their way back from the St. John's bonfire, +being now mingled with the young women, had begun to quarrel among +themselves. From words they had come to daggers drawn, and more than +one was bleeding from serious wounds. But just the very moment of his +arrival he had seen the Ruechenstein scribe furiously attacking the +burgomaster's son, and running him through with his long rapier. The +victim, also with sword in hand, lay prone on the grass and was just +giving up the ghost. The others, unaware of this, had seized each other +by the throats, and the women were shrieking and calling loudly for +help. Only Kuengolt stood there pale as death but watching the horrible +scene with open mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kuengolt, what is up here?" asked Dietegen, when he had made her out. +She shuddered at his address, but looked as though relieved. However, +he now vigorously began to interfere, and by dint of rough handling of +some of the worst fire-eaters he soon succeeded in separating the +struggling and cursing mass. Then he pointed to the dead youth on the +ground, and that sobered them even more quickly than his remonstrances. +Then they all stared like mutes upon the dead man and upon the grim +hunchback, who seemed to have lost his wits completely.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the meanwhile some peasants from the neighborhood as well as the +homecoming gamekeepers from the forestry had appeared on the scene, and +these bound securely the raging Schafuerli, the murderous scribe, and +arrested the remainder of the Ruechensteiners.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">And that was a bad morning that now followed. The forester was engaged +to the wicked Violande, and his head buzzed unmercifully. One dead +Ruechensteiner lay in the house, and the rest of them were kept in the +dungeon. Before the noon hour had tolled a delegation from +Ruechenstein, with the burgomaster himself, the father of the slain, at +its head, had arrived in order to inquire carefully into the whole +matter and to demand strict justice and punishment of the guilty.</p> + +<p class="normal">But already the imprisoned secretary of the Ruechenstein council, the +grim Schafuerli, knowing that his neck was in peril, had made a +deposition in his tower in which he charged responsibility for the +whole bad business upon the women of Seldwyla whom they had met on the +previous day, and more especially upon Kuengolt, whom he accused of +sorcery and black art.</p> + +<p class="normal">That maid servant who had become disgruntled for a cause mentioned +before had passed on the empty vial that had contained Violande's +philtre, to the monk, and the latter had hastened to put it into the +hands of the scribe, who now used it as a powerful weapon.</p> + +<p class="normal">To the grave dismay of the Seldwylians the whole matter in the course +of that first day even turned against the forester's daughter and +against his household. Everybody in those days, and not alone in +Seldwyla, firmly believed in sorcery and love potions, and the members +of the Ruechenstein delegation behaved so menacingly and hinted at such +terrible reprisals that the popularity and the respect in which the +forester was held could not prevent the imprisonment of Kuengolt, +especially as he was still severely suffering from his excesses of the +previous day, and felt like one paralyzed.</p> + +<p class="normal">She instantly made a full confession, being more dead than alive from +terror, and Schafuerli and his boon companions were liberated. And then +the Ruechensteiners made the formal demand to have the girl delivered +up to them for adequate atonement, since she had injured a number of +their townsfolk and caused the death of one of them. This, however, was +not conceded to them, and then the Ruechensteiners departed in an angry +mood, threatening dire reprisals. The body of the burgomaster's son +they took along. But when later on they heard that the Seldwyla +authorities had sentenced the girl but to a twelvemonth's mild +incarceration, the ancient enmity which had slept for a number of years +now reawakened, and it became a perilous adventure for any Seldwylian +to be caught on Ruechenstein soil.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now the town of Seldwyla counted as a fit penalty for misdeeds which +according to their notions were reckoned among the lighter ones and +which consequently required no severe treatment, not imprisonment +proper but rather the awarding of the culprits to persons that became +responsible for their further conduct. In the custody of such persons +the culprits remained during the length of the sentence, and these +custodians were held to employ them suitably and to feed and shelter +them adequately. This mode of punishment was used most often with women +or youthful persons. Thus, then, Kuengolt, too, was taken to one of the +chambers of the town hall, and there she was to be auctioned off, at +least her services and keep. And before that ceremony she had to submit +to being publicly exhibited there.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forester, whose sunny humor had altogether disappeared with these +trials, said sighing to Dietegen that it was a hard thing for him to go +to the town hall and watch there in behalf of his daughter, but +somebody surely must be there of her family during these bitter hours.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Dietegen said: "I will go in your stead; that is, if I am good +enough for it in your opinion."</p> + +<p class="normal">His patron shook hands with him. "Yes, do it!" he said, "and I will +thank you for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Dietegen went where some of the councilmen were seated and a few +persons willing to take charge of the prisoner. He had girded his sword +around his loins, and had a manly and rugged air about him.</p> + +<p class="normal">And when Kuengolt was led inside, white as chalk and deeply chagrined, +and was to stand in front of the table, he swiftly pulled up a chair +and made her sit down in it, he placing himself behind and putting his +hand on the back of it. She had looked up at him surprised, and now +sent him a glance fraught with a painful smile. But he apparently paid +no heed looking straight on over her head, severe of mien.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first who made a bid for her custody was the town piper, a +drunkard, who had been sent by his poor wife in order to help increase +their receipts a bit. This, she calculated, was all the more to be +expected because Kuengolt would probably receive from her home all +sorts of good things to eat, and these, she considered, they would +secure wholly or in part.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you want to go to the town piper's house?" Dietegen curtly asked +the girl. After attentively regarding the red-nosed and half-drunken +fellow, she said: "No." And the piper, with a blissful smile, remarked +laughing: "Good, that suits me too," and toddled off on shaking legs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next an old furrier and capmaker made a bid, since he thought he could +utilize Kuengolt very handily in sewing and making a goodly profit out +of her services. But this man had a large sore on his thigh, and this +he was greasing and plastering with salve all day long, and also a +growth the size of a chicken's egg on the top of his pate, so that +Kuengolt had already been afraid of him when she passed his shop as a +child going to school. When, therefore, Dietegen put the query to her +whether she was willing to go to his house, and the girl decidedly +negatived that, the man went off loudly venting his spleen. He grumbled +and growled like a bear whose honeycomb has been snatched away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now a money changer stepped up, one who was notorious both for his +greed and usurious avarice and for his lewdness. But scarcely had that +one leveled his red eyes upon her, and opened his wry mouth for a bid, +when Dietegen motioned him off with a threatening gesture, even without +asking the terrified girl herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now there were left but a few more, decent and respectable +citizens, people against whom nothing could be urged reasonably, and it +was these between whom the final choice and decision lay. The smallest +bid was made by the gravedigger of the cemetery next the town +cathedral, a quiet and good man, who also possessed an excellent wife +and, so he thought, a suitable place where to keep such a prisoner in +safe custody, and who certainly had already had charge of several other +prisoners before.</p> + +<p class="normal">To this man, then, Kuengolt was given in charge, and was taken at once +to his house which was situated between the cemetery and a side street. +Dietegen went along in order to see how she would be housed. It turned +out that her quarters would be an open, small antechamber of the house +itself, immediately adjoining the graveyard and only separated from it +by an iron fence. There, as it seemed, the sexton was in the habit of +keeping his prisoners during the warm season of the year, while for the +winter he simply admitted them into his own dwelling room, a slender +chain fastening them to the tile stove.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when Kuengolt found herself in her prison and was separated merely +by a fence from the graves of the dead, moreover saw near by the old +deadhouse filled with skulls and bones, she began to tremble and begged +they would not leave her there all through the night. But the sexton's +wife who was just dragging in a straw mattress and a blanket, and also +hid the sight of the graves by suspending a curtain, answered that this +request could not be listened to, and that her new abode would be +wholesome for her moral welfare and as a means of repenting her sins. +And she could not be shaken in this resolve.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Dietegen replied: "Be quiet, Kuengolt, for I am not afraid of the +dead or of any spook, and I will come here every night and keep watch +in front of the iron fence until you, too, will no longer fear."</p> + +<p class="normal">He said this, however, in an aside to her, so that the woman could not +overhear it, and then he left for home. There he found the saddened +forester who had just reached an understanding with Violande that they +would not celebrate their wedding until after Kuengolt's release from +prison and after the scandal created by the occurrence should have had +time to blow over. During all their discussion of the matter Violande +kept still as a mouse, glad that she as the prime author of the whole +mischief should have escaped all the consequences, for the magical +philtre had been hers, as we know.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the early hours of evening were over and midnight approaching, +Dietegen began to make good his promise. He started unobserved, took +his sword and a flask of choice wine along, and climbed from the high +slope down into the valley and so to town, and there he swung himself +fearlessly over the graveyard wall, strode across the graves +themselves, and at last stood in front of Kuengolt's new abode. She sat +breathlessly and shaking with fright upon her straw mattress, behind +the curtain, and listened with freezing blood to every noise, even the +slightest, that struck her ear. For even before this ghostly hour of +twelve she had undergone several convulsions of dread and unreasoning +fear. In the deadhouse, for instance, a cat had slyly climbed over the +bones, and these had clattered somewhat. Then also the night wind had +moved the bushes growing over the tombs, so that they made a weird +noise, and the iron rooster that served as a weather vane on top of the +church roof had creaked mysteriously, making an awful sound never heard +in daytime. So that the girl was in a frenzy of terror.</p> + +<p class="normal">When she therefore heard the steps nearing more and more, Kuengolt had +a new fit of fright, and shook like a leaf. But when he stretched his +hands through the iron bars of the fence and pushed back the curtain, +so that the full moon lit up the whole dark space around her, and in a +low voice called her name, she rose quickly, ran in his direction and +stretched out both hands to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dietegen!" she exclaimed, and burst into tears, the first she had been +able to shed since that ominous day; for until that hour she had lived +as though smitten with paralysis, dazed and benumbed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen, however, did not take her hand, but instead handed her the +flask of wine, saying: "Here, take a mouthful! It will do you good."</p> + +<p class="normal">So she drank, and also ate of the dainty wheaten bread of her father's +house that he had brought along. And by and by her courage was +restored, and when she clearly perceived that he had no mind to +converse any more with her, she retired silently to her couch and cried +without a stop, till at last she sank into a quiet sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he, the young man, in his narrow youthful ideas and in his +inexperience of real life had made up his mind that she was a being +turned completely to wickedness and evil, and one that was unable to do +right. And he served as her sentinel during this and other nights, +seating himself upon an ancient gravestone leaning against the wall +solely out of regard for her departed mother and because she had saved +his own life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kuengolt slept until sunrise, and when she awoke and looked about she +observed that Dietegen had softly stolen away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus one night after another passed, and he faithfully watched and +guarded her, for he indeed held the belief that the place was not +without danger for anyone without a good conscience and shaken with +fear. But each time he brought her something of a relish along, and +often he would ask her what she desired for herself, and he would carry +out her wishes if at all justifiable.</p> + +<p class="normal">He also came when it rained or stormed, missing not a single night, and +on those nights when, according to the popular superstitions then +universally held, the dead walked and which were considered +particularly perilous to the living, he came all the more promptly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kuengolt on her part by and by managed to arrange things so that during +the daytime she had her curtain drawn, in order, as she said, to +conceal herself from the curious who went to the cemetery to spy on +her, but in reality to sleep, for she preferred to remain awake at +night, to keep her faithful sentinel in view all the time, and to +ponder the things that had brought her there, and how he had conducted +himself towards her these last few years. But Dietegen knew nothing of +all this, believing her to be sound asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">She felt herself engrossed with a new and unexpected happiness, and +while he diligently kept watch over her during the hours of darkness, +she enjoyed his mere presence, and all her thinking was of him. She had +no slightest suspicion that he judged her so harshly, and was living in +hopes that she could reestablish her claim on him, seeing that he +proved so faithful to her. Her father, however, did not share her +dreams. He visited her at least once every week, and when she on these +occasions nearly always shyly mentioned Dietegen's name, and he marked +that she indeed had again turned to him in her thoughts, he would sigh +and groan in spirit, because while also wishing for a union of those +two, and feeling convinced that his fine foster son alone was able to +again rehabilitate his daughter, it appeared highly improbable to him +that Dietegen would wish to woo a witch that had been punished for her +uncanny doings by his fellow citizens, and as it seemed to him, justly.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the meantime another caller had put in an appearance with Kuengolt, +no less a person than the secretary of the council of Ruechenstein +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">This highly enterprising and venturesome hunchback was unable to forget +the beautiful being on whose account he had committed murder. The blood +coursed through his veins more rapidly than in those of a normally +shaped fellow, and waking or sleeping her image did not lose its hold +on him. His belief was that the image of this witch dwelt in his heart +by virtue of her black art, and that it was shooting along within his +blood vessels as does a frail boat in a powerful storm, all in a +magical way.</p> + +<p class="normal">The more he reflected the more convinced he became of this, and since +he had daring enough and to spare, he finally made up his mind to seek +alleviation of his tortures from the primal source, the witch herself. +At the Capuchin monastery, where he had first gone for a ghostly cure, +he had failed, and thus one moonless, dark night he started out, across +the mountain and as far as the cemetery where he knew her to be kept a +captive.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kuengolt heard his approaching steps. Since it was not yet the hour +when Dietegen used to come, and also because these steps did not seem +to be his, she took fright and hid behind the curtain. But Schafuerli +now lighted a candle he had brought along, and thrust his hand with it +through the aperture, searching the dark space with his eager eyes +until he had finally discovered her crouched in a corner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come here, witch maid," he muttered excitedly, "and give me both thine +hands and that scarlet mouth of thine. For thou must quench the fire +thou hast caused."</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl was frightened beyond words. By his crooked shape she had +recognized him in the dusky half-light, and the recollection of the +sufferings this misshapen recreant had occasioned her, together with +the repugnant presence of the man himself, drove her almost to madness. +Powerless to utter a sound, she sank down trembling in every limb.</p> + +<p class="normal">Seeing this, the bold knave began to shake the iron bars of her grate, +and since it was by no means very strong but rather intended only for +the keeping of less vigorous prisoners, it began to yield, and he was +about to tear it out of its staples. But just that instant Dietegen +arrived on the scene. To notice the whole proceeding and to seize the +madman firmly by the shoulder was the work of a flash. The enraged +scribe yelled like one possessed, and was for drawing his poniard. But +Dietegen kept an iron hold on him, grasping his hands and wrestling +with him until the humpback owned himself beaten. Then Dietegen was +uncertain whether to hand the maddened creature over to the authorities +or to let him go. Not knowing the circumstances of the case and +unwilling to cause new complications for Kuengolt, he finally allowed +the scribe to escape, warning him, however, on pain of death, not to +return again to the place. Next Dietegen woke the sexton and induced +him, since autumn with its cool nights was approaching, to afford +shelter to his prisoner henceforth within his own dwelling, in order to +avert repetition of a scene like the one of that night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Therefore Kuengolt that very night was taken inside, and secured by a +light chain to the foot of the stove. The latter was a trim structure +built of green tiling and showing in raised outlines the biblical story +of the creation of man and his fall from grace. At the four corners of +this stove there stood the four greater prophets upon twisted pillars, +and the whole of it formed a somewhat attractive monument. Against it +and tied to it by her gyves Kuengolt now lay stretched out on a bench +for her couch.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was glad of having obtained a more sheltered spot, and more still +of having been rescued out of the hands of this evil hunchback, and she +ascribed the whole of Dietegen's efforts to his devoted feelings for +her, and this despite the fact that he had not spoken a syllable to her +through it all and had gone away immediately after the new arrangements +had been effected.</p> + +<p class="normal">When, however, Kuengolt had thus been installed in a more convenient +place, a new admirer of her charms turned up in the person of a +chaplain whose duties obliged him to attend to a number of small +matters in the church building close by, and to whose obligations it +also belonged to offer ghostly counsel and consolation to the sick or +imprisoned. This young priest came, once Kuengolt was an inmate of the +gravedigger's household, more and more frequently, not only to exorcise +her and to expel from her soul all inclination towards magic, sorcery +and witchcraft, but also to enjoy incidentally her rare feminine charms +and beauty. He strenuously endeavored to dissuade her from using any +more love philtres and similar means forbidden by the canons of the +Church, but in doing so became thoroughly imbued with her physical +attractions.</p> + +<p class="normal">For of late, that is, since these trials had overtaken her, the maiden +had wonderfully grown in beauty. She had become a more mature, slender +and spiritualized being, albeit pallor had succeeded her former healthy +complexion, and her eyes now shone with a gentle and lovely fire, +encircled with a shadow of sadness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Save for her being tied to the foot of the warm stove, she was being +treated in every respect like a member of the sexton's family, among +the members of which there were several children, and when the chaplain +came to visit her, he was usually regaled with a tankard of ale or a +flask of drinkable wine, these being supplied by the forester, +Kuengolt's father. But whenever the reverend divine had sufficiently +indulged in his admonishments, had partaken of the refreshment provided +for him, and still remained behind, evidently to enjoy the society of +the charming penitent, there would be some queer goings-on. For the +chaplain would squeeze and caress the pretty hand of his spiritual +daughter, would sigh and groan audibly, and then Kuengolt, comparing +this sniffling priest in her thoughts with the stately and handsome +Dietegen whom she considered in truth her lover, was prone to scoff at +the inconspicuous Levite, but in a good-natured and gentle manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this way it came about that Kuengolt, after displaying all day long +her cheerful and somewhat sportive disposition, would be the declared +favorite of the sexton's household in the evening, the big family table +invariably being pushed over towards her where she perforce sat tied to +the stove. So also it was on New Year's Eve, and the young priest was +one of the company, so that the sexton, his wife and children, together +with the chaplain, were seated near the prisoned girl, all of them +munching walnuts and sweet honey cakes, and Kuengolt having just +laughed at something the priest had said, the latter meanwhile holding +her hand, when Dietegen entered the room. He brought for his patron's +daughter and his own whilom playmate some dainties from home. In coming +he had yielded to the instinctive promptings of his heart, a mingling +of pity, sympathy and affection, an unconscious longing for her +company, and the desire had been strong within him to spend at least an +hour that evening with her, this being the first time in her young life +she had to pass away from home on a night like that.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when he saw the merry scene and caught sight of the chaplain's +caressing hand, his blood seemed to freeze within him, and he left her +after just a couple of words in explanation of his mission, without any +more ado. In going, perhaps unconsciously, Dietegen muttered as though +to himself: "Forgotten is forgotten!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Only now Kuengolt suddenly felt the full force and meaning of these +words and of his previous devotion, and her heart seemed to stand +still. Pale and faint she sank down on her bench at the stove, and the +jolly gathering broke up. Even before the midnight bells tolled out the +new year the light in the sexton's window was gone, and the girl was +weeping bitter tears of sorrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">From that night on she remained almost forgotten by the forester and +his household. Great days were on the way. The Swiss federation was +humming like a beehive with war's alarum. Those events were in the +making which in history are known as the Burgundian War.</p> + +<p class="normal">When spring had come and the great day of Grandison approached, the +town of Seldwyla, too, like Ruechenstein and many others, sent her +embattled citizens into the field, and it was for the forester as well +as for Dietegen a happy release to be able to leave the disturbed +harmony and comfort of the house and to step into the clear, rugged +atmosphere of war.</p> + +<p class="normal">With firm tread they both went along with their banner, though perhaps +more silent than most, and joined with the other hurrying detachments +the mighty battle array of the federated Swiss allies, coming most +opportunely to the armed aid of the latter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Like unto an iron garden stood the long square of the fighting men, and +in its midst waved the standards and pennons of the cantons and towns +there represented. In serried ranks they stood, many thousands of them, +each in his independence and reliability again a world in himself; in +fearlessness and will each could depend on his neighbor, and yet all of +them together, after all, but a throng of fallible human beings.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was the spendthrift and the light-hearted side by side with the +curmudgeon and the cautious, each awaiting the hour of supreme +sacrifice. The quarrelsome and the peaceable had to stay on with equal +patience. He whose heart was heavy within his bosom was no more +taciturn than the talkative and the braggart. The poor and indigent +stood in equal pride next to the wealthy and domineering. Whole squares +made up of neighbors ordinarily disagreeing were here one single unit. +And envy or jealousy held spear or halberd as manfully and firmly as +did generosity or reconciliation, and unjust as just aimed for the +nonce both of them to fulfil the duty immediately urgent. Whoever had +done with life and meant to sacrifice without regrets the mean remnant +of it, was no more or less than the reckless red-cheeked youth upon +whom his mother had built all her hope and in whom rested the future. +The morose submitted without protest to the silly sallies of the jester +or buffoon, and the latter on his part saw without ridicule the prosaic +conceits of the small-souled philistine.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next to the banner of Seldwyla was visible that of Ruechenstein, so +that the serried ranks of the inimicable neighbors closely touched each +other, and the forester who was leader of a section of his fellow +citizens and formed the cornerstone of their whole formation, was the +very neighbor of the council scribe of Ruechenstein, who on his part +stood at the tail end of one of the ranks of his townsmen. But at this +hour not one of them all seemed to recall reasons for differences or to +remember the past. Dietegen was among the sharpshooters and "lost +fellows," somewhat outside these regimental formations, and was already +in the very heat of combat when the main body of the Swiss suddenly +began to move and to plunge right into the midst of battle, in order +to administer a stupendous defeat upon one of the most brilliant +warrior-princes and his luxurious and splendid army, and to drive him +to ignominous flight like a fabled king.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the pressure of the hard-fought battle the forester with some of his +gamekeepers had been separated by Burgundian cavalry from his banner +and now fought his way through the latter, but only to encounter on the +other side enemy foot soldiery. In meeting his new foe the doughty +warrior set to work hewing and carving out for himself a roomy corner +of his own, and he had already achieved this task when through this new +opening a belated and spent cannon ball from the hosts of Charles the +Bold came smashing and crushed the broad manly chest of the man, so +that within another moment or two he had found in peace his eternal +rest, and nothing more troubled him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Dietegen, sound and hearty, returned from the fight and from +following the fleeing Burgundians, inquiring for his friend and father, +he found his body after but a short search, and he buried him together +with his trusty sword within the mighty roots of a far-spreading oak, +not far from the battlefield on the edge of a grove.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he returned home with the remainder of the Swiss hosts, and +because of his intrepidity and the ability shown by him during the +campaign he was by the town authorities made provisional chief +forester, and was given the house that had been his home for so long as +his new abode and to supervise the assistants. With the death of his +dear old patron his household had been dissolved. His savings and +accumulated wealth had vanished during the last few years preceding his +death, owing to careless management, and now Kuengolt had nothing left +in the world save her own self and the care of Dietegen, provided he +was able to give it, for he himself was but poor. She sat day after day +at her stove, leaning her cheeks against its tiles representing, in +four or five groups that recurred around the whole surface, the loss of +Paradise, the creation of Adam and of Eve, the Tree of Knowledge, and +the expulsion at last from their blessed abode. When the girl's face +ached from the rough imprint of these raised images, she shifted it by +turning to the next series, always and always contemplating them, and +between the intervals shedding tears over her lot. But even then she +could sometimes not help laughing outright when her glance traveled to +that scene showing the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. For by reason +of the potter's inadvertence this picture had been so modelled as to +give to Adam instead of a real navel on his abdomen, a round little +button and this protuberance repeating itself twentyfold on the surface +of the stove excited unfailingly her playful humor, though it also +heightened her discomfort when leaning against it.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the midst of her fit of laughter, however, at this harmless blunder +poor Kuengolt was invariably overcome by the weight of her misery, +which would constrict heart and throat alike, and this conflict of +thought and impressions produced a keen physical pain, so that her eyes +grew wet and her face would look like that of a person wanting to +sneeze yet unable to. So that at last she avoided looking at all at +this particular group.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the great battle of Murten had also been fought, and at the +same time Kuengolt's term of imprisonment was ended. Dietegen had given +instructions for herself and Violande to keep house provisionally at +the forestry lodge. Violande of late had become rather modest, contrite +and well-behaved, for to her feminine sense of pride it had been a +great gratification that the late forester, although he had postponed +the wedding indefinitely and perhaps unduly, yet had wooed her and +proposed marriage. But Dietegen himself did not remain at home. On the +contrary, he drifted back and forth at the various scenes of the great +war that had not yet ended.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it must be owned that he, too, during all these troublous times, +was not without faults. The rude customs of war, combined with the ever +gnawing grief of what he had lost of his one-time hopes, had molded him +afresh, so that a certain savagery and relentlessness had crept into +the very fibre of his being. He joined that throng of adventurous young +lads who under the name of "The Giddy Life" had started out on their +own behalf to force the town of Geneva to pay out that amount of ransom +which in the peace treaty was specified as its share. Out of Burgundian +booty that had fallen to him he had had luxurious garments fashioned +for himself. Trailing behind the banner of the Wild Boar (token of the +aforementioned wild brotherhood) he wore a magnificent surcoat of +roseate Burgundian damask, and the cross of the Swiss Federation on +chest and back was made of heavy argent stuff and trimmed with seed +pearls. His broad velvet hat was all about covered by a load of waving +ostrich plumes, taken from knightly plunder in camps stormed during the +campaign. Poniard and sword were suspended from costly girdles +ornamented with blood-red rubies or emeralds. And beside a ponderous +musket he carried a long spear which he used to balance himself with +when striding along. His broad shoulders and straight, sinewy body +looked formidable when his hawk eyes peered forth under his beplumed +hat at a cowardly braggart or in order to strike terror in controversy. +He was fond those days of seizing perhaps a shrieking maid by her +braids, glancing a moment at her startled face, and then letting her go +again at a venture.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dressed up in this gorgeous style he had also, before joining the +companions of The Giddy Life, paid a short call at the forestry lodge +of Seldwyla. He was the very image of a nobly descended, pure-blooded +warrior, so bold and strong, elastic and sure of himself he seemed.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Kuengolt saw him thus, receiving from him just one short cold +smile in passing, such as stern war had fixed on his features, her eyes +were dazzled. And while subsequently he was in foreign parts she loved +nothing better than to ponder the past and to live over in her thoughts +the happy days of her childhood. And almost at all times her +recollection dwelt upon that hour up on the steep slope where the +Seldwyla ladies had caressed and fondled little Dietegen, clad in +nothing but his poor sinner's shift and just escaped from an +ignominious death; how they had crowned him with wildflowers, and made +him their darling. Then she would hasten up to the summit of that hill, +and would scan the far horizon towards the Southwest where, as people +said, that unconquerable throng of youths, with him amongst them, was +doing deeds of valor.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in that same mountainous landscape, bifurcated as it was by the +Ruechenstein territorial limits, that ominous scribe, Schafuerli, was +frequently roaming about. This man was still thirsting for revenge +because of the injury done his soul and his reputation alike, as he +deemed; for though he had escaped that time any penalty he was yet +looked upon with disfavor by most of the Ruechenstein citizens on +account of the homicide committed by him. He still lived in hopes, +therefore, of making amends by capturing the "witch" and turning her +over for expiation to the authorities of his home town. When then one +day poor Kuengolt was seated carelessly upon the very boundary line +stone, deep in her meditations, with her feet resting on Ruechenstein +soil, the vengeful hunchback quickly stepped out from some bushes, and +assisted by a municipal guard, took her prisoner and brought her +securely bound to Ruechenstein itself. And there she had to submit a +second time to a penal trial for having with her witchery caused the +death, wholly unatoned according to their notions, of the burgomaster's +son.</p> + +<p class="normal">In Seldwyla there was, notably in those stirring war times, nobody who +felt at all any obligation to interfere in her behalf, even if there +had been much of a hope for her. Hence the rumor soon spread that +Kuengolt's life would soon pay the forfeit.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was Violande, once false and wicked, who now alone began to +bestir herself for the rescue of her young relative. Pity and +repentance moved her to the resolve to go in search of the only human +being from whom prompt aid might be expected. Thus she went off, being +on her errand night and day, ever going in a southwesterly direction, +in order to find that band of overbold adventurers yclept "The Giddy +Life," with Dietegen in their midst, as she knew. And since rumor was +at all times quite busy with that mettlesome brotherhood she soon found +herself in the right neighborhood, and at last came across Dietegen +himself, just as he was throwing dice for money and booty with some of +his hardy companions in a tavern.</p> + +<p class="normal">Violande at once let him know about the ill-starred excursion of +Kuengolt and about the danger now threatening her on the part of the +Ruechensteiners, and against her own expectation he listened +attentively. But his reply was discouraging.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am powerless to do anything in this case," he remarked, rather +coldly. "For this is a matter of law, and since the Seldwyla people +themselves do not choose to intervene, I should not be able to find +even ten trusty comrades-in-arms to follow me and help free the child."</p> + +<p class="normal">Violande, though, with that special knowledge which she had acquired +from her former experiences, interrupted him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no need of force in this case," quoth she. "The Ruechenstein +people have from old a law which says that any woman sentenced to death +may be saved by a man and delivered over to him if he is willing and +able to wed her on the spot."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen gazed at Violande long and in amazement wearing the while his +sneering soldier's smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am then to marry a sort of courtesan," he growled darkly, twirling +his small moustache daintily and putting on an incredulous mien, while +yet at the same time a look of tenderness beamed forth from his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not say so," put in Violande, "for it is not so."</p> + +<p class="normal">And bursting into tears she seized Dietegen's hand, and continued: "In +so far as she is to blame it is my own fault. Let me here confess it, +that I wished to separate you and her, for I wanted you two out of the +house in order to marry the father. And that is why I led the child +into all sorts of folly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But she ought not to have let you do so," exclaimed Dietegen. "Her +parents indeed came of good stock and deserved respect, but she has +gone astray."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I swear to you on my hope of salvation," cried Violande, "it is as +if a cleansing fire had passed over her, and all that once disfigured +her has been removed. She is good and true, and she is so much in love +with you that she long ago would have died if you also had left this +world like her father. Besides, have you quite forgotten what you owe +her? Would you now stand here in front of me, strong and handsome, if +she had not rescued you out of the hangman's coffin? And mind you too +of Kuengolt's kind mother and of her excellent father, who have +educated and loved you like their own son. And are you entitled to be +judge over the failings of a frail woman? Have you yourself never done +wrong? Have you never slain a man in battle when there was no need of +it? Have you never laid in ashes the hut of a defenceless and poor +person during these wars? And even though you have not done any of +these things, have you always shown mercy where you might?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this earnest plea Dietegen reddened, and then said: "I will not owe +anything I can pay off, and will leave no debts behind me. If it be as +you say regarding this Ruechenstein legal custom, I will go and help +the child and take her to my heart. May God then help me and her if she +is no longer able to conduct herself properly!"</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Then Dietegen gave a sum of money to Violande, who was quite exhausted +from the fatigues of her journey, and who needed rest and nourishment +to strengthen herself for her return home. But he himself, only seizing +his weapons, started off instantly right across the country, and had no +rest or sleep until he discerned the dark towers and walls of +Ruechenstein rising before his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">There they had not delayed matters. They had, after the lapse of a few +days consumed with legal formalities, condemned Kuengolt, who had +meanwhile been confined in an old tower, to death. But inasmuch as her +father had been of blameless life and reputation and had, moreover, +fallen as a hero battling for his country, the sentence was that she +would, as a sign of unusual mercy, be merely beheaded, instead of being +brought from life to death by fire or the wheel, or by some other of +their customary procedures.</p> + +<p class="normal">Accordingly she was taken to the place of execution, just outside the +great gate of the town, barefooted and clothed in nought but a +delinquent's shift. All adown her back and neck floated her heavy +golden strands of hair. Step for step she went her death path, in the +midst of her tormentors, several times stumbling, but of good heart and +steady courage, since she had quite submitted to her sad fate and had +abandoned all hope of life or happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thus luck may turn!" she was saying to herself, with a slight smile, +but just then she was thinking again of Dietegen, and sweet tears +rained down her cheeks. Memory came back to her of how he owed his +vigorous life to her, and, so good and unselfish she had grown in +adversity, she felt glad of it and kindly towards him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Already she had been placed in the fatal chair and was, in a sense, +thankful of the chance to renew her drooping strength before receiving +the death stroke. For the last time she gazed ahead at the glories of +the land, at the hazy chain of mountains and the darksome woods. Then +the headsman tied up her eyes, and was on the point of cutting off the +wealth of her hair, or as much of it as protruded from under the cloth. +But he held his hand, for Dietegen was there, only a short distance +away, shouting with all his strength and waving his spear and hat to +draw attention. At the same time, though, to insure delay, he tore his +musket from the shoulder and sent a shot over the executioner's head. +Astonished and affrighted both judges and headsman stopped in their +doings, and all around the spectators took firm hold of their weapons. +But Dietegen did not hesitate. In a few bounds he had arrived at the +place, and had climbed to the bloody scaffold, so that under his weight +it nearly broke. Seizing Kuengolt in her chair by the hair and +shoulder, since her hands were already fastened behind, he for a moment +had to recover his breath before being able to speak.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Ruechensteiners, as soon as assured that there was but a single man +and that no murderous attack was intended, grew attentive and waited +for further developments. When at last he had stated his business, the +judges retired to take counsel.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not only their own habit of always strictly conforming with customs +firmly rooted in the past, but also the reputation enjoyed by Dietegen +himself in those warlike days and his whole appearance and demeanor, +were in favor of adjusting this matter according to his wishes, once +the first annoyance at the unceremonious interruption of so solemn a +spectacle as an execution had been overcome. Even the rancorous scribe, +Hans Schafuerli, who had put in an appearance to make sure of the death +of the witch, hid from the grim man of war, whose heavy hand he feared +despite his ordinarily daring temper.</p> + +<p class="normal">The same priest who a short while back had been praying for the poor +delinquent, now was told to perform the wedding ceremony on the very +scaffold itself. Kuengolt was untied, placed upon her swaying feet, and +then asked whether she was willing to marry this man who sought her as +his lawful wife, and to follow him through life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mute she looked up to him who, after the cloth had been removed from +her eyes was the first object she saw again of this world that she had +taken leave from a few moments before, and it seemed to her that it +must all be a delicious dream. But in order to miss nothing even if it +should only turn out a dream, she nodded, being still unable to speak, +with great presence of mind, three or four times in rapid succession, +in a ghost-like manner, so that the severe councilmen of Ruechenstein +were touched, and to make quite sure she repeated her nodding another +few times. And tremblingly Kuengolt was supported during the wedding +ceremony by the same sinister men who had come to witness her shameful +death. But she became his wife according to all the established forms +of the Church.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now, this done, she was handed over to Dietegen "with life and +limb," as the phrase went, just as she was, without any later claim of +dowry or recompense, damages, or excuse, against his payment of fees +for the priest and of money for ten gallons of wine for headsman and +assistants, as a wedding gift, and of three pounds of pennies for a new +jerkin for the headsman.</p> + +<p class="normal">After paying all this, Dietegen took his wife by the hand and left with +her the place of execution.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since he had to take her, however, just as she was, and she was not +only barefooted but merely clad in her death shift, the season also +being early and the weather chilly, she was suffering from this and +unable to keep step with her husband. He lifted her, therefore, from +the ground to his arms, pushed his hat back from his forehead, and then +she put her arms around his neck, leaned her head against his, and +immediately fell asleep, while he used his long spear as a staff in his +other hand. Thus he walked swiftly along on the mountain path, all +alone by himself, and he felt how in her sleep she was weeping softly, +and how her breath grew less agitated. At last her tears ran along his +own face, and then a strange illusion as though blessed bliss were +baptising him anew came over him. And this rough, war-hardened man, for +all his self-command, felt his own tears staining his ruddy bearded +chin. His was the life he bore in his arms, and he held it as if God's +whole world were in his keeping.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they arrived on the spot where he himself, a small child, had sat +among the women in his scanty garb and where more recently poor +Kuengolt had been taken prisoner, the March sun shone clear and warm, +and he concluded to take a short rest. Dietegen sat down on the +boundary stone, and let his burden slowly glide down on his knees. The +first glance which she gave him, and the first poor words which she +stammered, were proof to him that he not only had truly fulfilled a +sacred duty towards her by what he had done, but that in addition he +had undertaken another, an even more sacred one, namely, to conduct +himself through life in such a manner as to be worthy of the happy lot +that had fallen to him in becoming the husband of the charming creature +at his side. And this he silently vowed to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">The soil around the boundary stone was already thickly speckled with +primroses and wild violets, the sky was cloudless, and not a sound +broke the still air but the cheery song of the finches in the wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">So they spoke no more for some time, but both breathed the soft air +that filled their lungs with new hope and life, but at last they rose, +and because from now on there was but the velvety moss-covered ground +to traverse which led through the beeches down to the forestry lodge, +Kuengolt was able to walk by his side. Suddenly she touched her golden +hair, being afraid that it had been shorn by the headsman. But as she +still found it unharmed, she halted for a moment, saying: "May I not +have a little bridal wreath?" And she looked at her husband with a +half-roguish smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">He let his eyes roam all about him, and discovered a bunch of snowdrops +in full bloom. Quickly he went and cut off enough of the flowers to +weave into a coronet for his bride, and then he carefully placed it on +her head, saying: "It is not much. It is out of fashion. But let this +wreath be a token to us and all the world that our domestic honor will +remain as spotless as these. Whoever by word or deed will harm it, let +him pay the penalty!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he kissed her once, firmly and with a look that boded ill to any +disturber of his peace, right under the wreath, and she looked up at +him, satisfied and with confidence, and then they two resumed again +their walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forestry lodge they found empty and deserted. The house servants +had left it unguarded, partly from mourning Kuengolt whose death on the +scaffold they had assumed as certain, partly from neglect of their +duty. None of them returned under its roof that day. But Kuengolt and +Dietegen did not miss them. She now with every minute recovered more +and more from the numbing effects of her recent miseries, and to feel +herself at last in truth the mistress of this house and clothed with +wifely dignity poured balm into her soul. Like a squirrel she busied +herself, hurried from chamber to chamber, from closet to closet, +counting her treasures, investigating all. Soon she returned dressed in +the splendid bridal costume of her mother, the one she had told +Dietegen about that night when they, both small children, had shared +the same cot on the night of his first arrival, and she shone like a +queen in it. But next she set the table, using the linen which her +mother had always reserved for festive occasions, and placed in +platters and dishes on the snowy surface what she had been able to find +in the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">All by themselves, with no noise from the outside world to disturb +them, they then sat down, she in her wreath, and he with weapons laid +aside, and ate the simple meal prepared by her. And then they went to +bed just as peacefully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thus luck may turn!" she said, the second time that day, as she lay +content by the side of her beloved. For after all there was a bit of +roguishness left in her heart, despite all she had gone through.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Dietegen rose to be a man of great and generally acknowledged +reputation as a warrior and military leader in those troubled days. He +was not much better than others of his ilk in those times, but rather +subject to similar failings. He became a doughty captain in the field, +taking service with or against various countries and belligerents, +according to what seemed to him good and where his own advantage lay. +He hired mercenaries, earned gold and rich booty, and so he drifted +from one war to another, conducted one campaign after the other, always +fighting and seeing the horrors of warfare closely. And in so doing he +did precisely what the first men of his country did in those warlike +days, and he grew steadily in power and influence, and his word and his +mailed fist were held in awe in all those parts.</p> + +<p class="normal">But with his wife he lived in uninterrupted concord and affection, and +the honor of his hearth was never questioned. And she bore him a number +of strong and militant children, all endowed with the vigorous spirit +alive in father and mother. And of their descendants there are +flourishing even at this day a number in sundry countries, rich in +substance and potency, in countries whither the warlike gifts of their +forbears had blown them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Violande on her part soon after Dietegen's and Kuengolt's union, which +latter had been in such large part brought about by herself, retired to +a veritable convent, and became a nun for good and all. To the children +of the couple she sent quite often all sorts of goodies and tidbits. +She also rather retained her habit of being interested in the great +events of the day, and in influencing them by dint of feminine +intrigues more or less. She liked to sit along with other guests of +distinction, respected as a woman of shrewd and subtle mind and with a +huge golden cross on her bosom, on banquet days at Dietegen's house, +and she would demurely advise Dietegen, now adorned not only with a +long and majestic beard, but also with the heavy golden chain denoting +knighthood, in matters of state. Her counsel would still flow as +mellifluously as ever, and her politeness remained proverbial.</p> + +<p class="normal">How Kuengolt looked at the beginning of the sixteenth century, after +many years of happy married life, may still be studied from the +painting of a great artist which hangs among others in a well-known +collection and which is expressly designated as her portrait. One sees +there a slim elegant patrician woman, the beautiful lineaments of the +face bespeaking plainly deep seriousness and uncommon understanding, +but tempered by a gentle and somewhat roguish humor.</p> + +<p class="normal">She also died before old age had claimed her, like her mother in +consequence of a chill. That was when her husband, in one of the +campaigns for the possession of Milan, had perished and was buried in +the cemetery next a small chapel in Lombardy. Kuengolt hastened there, +intending to have a monument in his honor erected; but indeed she spent +two long nights at his tomb, with a ceaseless rainstorm raging, thus +contracting a fever that carried her off within a couple of days, and +she thus lies next to her husband in Italian soil.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_romeo" href="#div1Ref_romeo">ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="continue">Near the fine river which flows along half an hour's distance from +Seldwyla, rises in a long stretch a headland which finally, itself +carefully cultivated, is lost in the fertile plain. Some distance away +at the foot of this rise there lies a village, to which belong many +large farms, and across the hillock itself there were, years ago, three +splendid holdings, like unto as many giant ribbons, side by side.</p> + +<p class="normal">One sunny September morning two peasants were plowing on two of these +vast fields, the two which stretched along the middle one. The middle +one itself seemed to have lain fallow and waste for a long, long time, +for it was thickly covered with stones, bowlders and tall weeds, and a +multitude of winged insects were humming around and over it. The two +peasants who on both sides of this huge wilderness were following their +plows, were big, bony men of near forty, and at the first glance one +could tell them as men of substance and well-regulated circumstances. +They wore short breeches made of strong canvas, and every fold in these +garments seemed to be carved out of rock. When they hit against some +obstacle with their plow their coarse shirt sleeves would tremble +slightly, while the closely shaved faces continued to look steadfastly +into the sunlight ahead. Tranquilly they would go on accurately +measuring the width of the furrow, and now and then looking around them +if some unusual noise reached their ears. They would then peer +attentively in the direction indicated, while all about them the +country spread out measureless and peaceful. Sedately and with a +certain unconscious grace they would set one foot before the other, +slowly advancing, and neither of them ever spoke a word unless it was +to briefly instruct the hired man who was leading the horses. Thus they +resembled each other strongly from a distance; for they fitly +represented the peculiar type of people of the district, and at first +sight one might have distinguished them from each other only by this +one fact that he on the one side wore the peaked fold of his white cap +in front and the other had it hanging down his neck. But even this kept +changing, since they were plowing in opposite directions; for when they +arrived at the end of the new furrow up on high, and thus passed each +other, the one who now strode against the strong east wind had his cap +tip turned over until it sat in the back of the bull neck, while the +second one, who had now the wind behind him, got the tip of his cap +reversed. There was also a middling moment, so to speak, when both caps +of shining white seemed to flare skywards like shimmering flames. Thus +they plowed and plowed in restful diligence, and it was a fine sight in +this still golden September weather to see them every short while +passing each other on the summit of the hill, then easily and slowly +drifting farther and farther apart, until both disappeared like sinking +stars beyond the curve of the rise, only to reappear a bit later in +precisely the same fashion.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they found a stone in their furrows they threw it on the fallow +field between them, doing so leisurely and accurately, like men who +have learnt by habit to gauge the correct distance. But this occurred +rarely, for this waste field was apparently already loaded with about +all the pebbles, bowlders and rocks to be discovered in the +neighborhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this quiet way the long forenoon was nearly spent when there +approached from the village a tiny vehicle. So small it looked at first +when it began to climb up the height that it seemed a toy. And indeed, +it was just that in a sense, for it was a baby carriage, painted in +vivid green, in which the children of the two plowers, a sturdy little +youngster and a slip of a small girl, jointly brought the lunch for +their parent's delectation. For each of the two fathers there lay a +fine appetizing loaf in the cart, wrapped neatly in a clean napkin, a +flask of cool wine, with glasses, and some smaller tidbits as well, all +of which the tender farmer's wife had sent along for the hard-working +husband. But there were other things as well in the little vehicle: +apples and pears which the two children had picked up on the way and +out of which they had taken a bite or so, and a wholly naked doll with +only one leg and a face entirely soiled and besmeared, and which sat +self-satisfied in this carriage like a dainty young lady and allowed +herself to be transported in this way. This small vehicle after sundry +difficulties and delays at last arrived in the shade of a high growth +of underbrush which luxuriated there at the edge of the big field, and +now it was time to take a look at the two drivers. One was a boy of +seven, the other a little girl of five, both of them sound and healthy, +and else there was nothing remarkable about them except that they had +very fine eyes and the girl, besides, a rather tawny complexion and +curly dark hair, and the expression of her little face was ardent and +trustful.</p> + +<p class="normal">The plowers meanwhile had also reached once more the top, given their +horses a provender of clover, and left their plows in the half-done +furrow; then as good neighbors they went to partake jointly of the +tempting collation, and meeting there they gave greeting, for until +that moment they had not yet spoken to each other on that day.</p> + +<p class="normal">While they ate, slowly but with a keen appetite, and of their food also +shared with the children, the latter not budging as long as there were +eatables in sight, they allowed their glances to roam near and far, and +their eyes rested on the town lying there spread out in its wreath of +mountains, with its haze of shiny smoke. For the plentiful noonday meal +which the Seldwylians prepared each and every day used to conjure up a +silvery cloud of smoke surrounding the roofs and visible from afar, and +this would float right along the sides of their mountains.</p> + +<p class="normal">"These loafers at Seldwyla are again living on the fat of the land," +said Manz, one of the two peasants, and Marti, the other, replied: +"Yesterday a man called on me on account of these fallow fields."</p> + +<p class="normal">"From the district council? Yes, he saw me too," rejoined Manz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm, and probably also said you might use the land and pay the rental +to the council?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, until it should have been decided whom the land belongs to and +what is to be done with it. But I wouldn't think of it, with the land +in the condition it's in, and told him they might sell the land and +keep the money till the owner had been found, which probably will never +be done. For, as we know, whatever is once in the hands of the +custodian at Seldwyla, does not easily leave it again. Besides, the +whole matter is rather involved, I've heard. But these Seldwyla folks +would like nothing better than to receive every little while some money +that they could spend in their foolish way. Of course, that they could +also do with the sum received from a sale. However, we here would not +be so stupid as to bid very high for it, and then at least we should +know whom the land belongs to."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just what I think myself, and I said the same thing to the fellow."</p> + +<p class="normal">They kept silent for a moment, and then Manz added: "A pity it is, all +the same, that this fine soil is thus going to waste every year. I can +scarce bear to see it. This has now been going on for a score of years, +and nobody cares a rap about it, it seems, for here in the village +there is really nobody who has any claim to it, nor does anybody know +what has become of the children of that hornblower, the one who went to +the dogs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm," muttered Marti, "that is as may be. When I have a look at the +black fiddler, the one who is a vagrant for a spell, and then at other +times plays the fiddle at dances, I could almost swear that he is a +grandson of that hornblower, and who, of course, does not know that he +is entitled to these fields. And what in the world could he do with +them? To go on a month's spree, and then to be as badly off as before. +Besides, what can one say for sure? After all, there is nothing to +prove it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed, yes, one might do harm by interfering," rejoined Manz. "As it +is we have to do with our own affairs, and it takes trouble enough now +to keep this hobo from acquiring home rights in our commune. All the +time they want to burden us with that expense. But if his folks once +have joined the stray sheep, let him keep to them and play his fiddle +for a living. How can we really know whether he is the hornblower's +grandson or no? As far as I'm concerned, although I believe I can +recognize the old fellow in his dark face, I say to myself: It is human +to err, and the slightest scrap of a legal document, a bit of a +baptismal record or something, would be to my mind better proof than +ten sinful human faces."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My opinion exactly," opined Marti, "although he says it is not his +fault that he never was baptized. But are we to lug our baptismal fount +around in the woods? No indeed. That stands immovable in the church, +and on the other hand, to carry around the dead we have the stretcher +which is always hanging from the wall. As it is, we are too many now in +our village and shall soon need another schoolmaster."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that the colloquy and the midday meal of the two peasants came to +an end, and they now rose and prepared to finish the rest of their +day's task. The two children, on the other hand, having vainly planned +to drive home with their fathers, now pulled their little vehicle into +the shade of the linden saplings close by, and next undertook a +campaign of adventure and discovery into the vast wilderness of the +waste fields. To them this wilderness was interminable, with its +immense weeds, its overgrown flower stalks, and its huge piles of stone +and rock. After wandering, hand in hand, for some time in the very +center of this waste, and after having amused themselves in swinging +their joined hands over the top of the giant thistles, they at last sat +down in the shade of a perfect forest of weeds, and the little girl +began to clothe her doll with the long leaves of some of these plants, +so that the doll soon wore a beautiful habit of green, with fringed +borders, while a solitary poppy blossom she had found was drawn over +dolly's head as a brilliant bonnet, and this she tied fast with a grass +blade for ribbon. Now the little doll looked exactly like a good fairy, +especially after being further ornamented with a necklace and a girdle +of small scarlet berries. Then she sat it down high in the cup on the +stalk of the thistle, and for a minute or so the two jointly admired +the strangely beautified dolly. The boy tired first of this and brought +dolly down with a well-aimed pebble. But in that way dolly's finery got +disordered, and the little girl undressed it quickly and set to anew to +decorate her pet. But just when the doll had been disrobed and only +wore the poppy flower on her head, the boy grasped the doll, and threw +it high into the air. The girl, though, with loud plaints jumped to +catch it, and the boy again caught it first and tossed it again and +again, the little girl all the while vainly attempting to recover it. +Quite a while this wild game lasted, but in the violent hands of the +boy the flying doll now came to grief, and sustained a small fracture +near the knee of her sole remaining limb. And from a small aperture +some sawdust and bran began to escape. Hardly had he perceived that +when he became quiet as a mouse, with open lips endeavoring eagerly to +enlarge the little hole with his nails, in order to investigate the +inside and find out whence the scattered bran came. The poor little +girl, rendered suspicious by the boy's sudden silence, now squeezed up +and noticed with terror his efforts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just look!" shouted the boy and swung the doll's leg right before his +playmate's nose, so that the bran spurted into her face. When she tried +to recover her doll, and pleaded and shrieked, he sprang away with his +prey, and did not desist before the whole leg had been emptied of its +filling and hung, a mere hollow shell, from his hand. Then, to crown +his misdeeds, he actually threw the remains of the doll away, and +behaved in a rude and grossly indifferent manner when the little girl +gathered up her treasure and put it weeping in her apron.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she took it out after a while and gazed with tears at what was +left. When she fathomed the full extent of the damage, she resumed +weeping, and it was particularly the ruined leg that grieved her; +indeed it hung just as limp and thin as the tail of a salamander. When +she wept aloud for sorrow the sinner evinced evidently some qualms of +conscience, and he stood stock-still, his features suffused with +anxiety and repentance. When she became aware of this state of the +case, she stopped crying and struck him several times with her doll, +and he pretended that she hurt him and exclaimed in a natural manner: +"Outch!" So naturally indeed did he do so that she was satisfied and +now engaged with him in the great sport of further and complete +destruction. Together they bored hole upon hole into the martyred body, +and let the bran out everywhere. This bran they collected with great +pains, deposited it on a big flat stone, and stirred it over and over +to ascertain its mysterious properties.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sole part of the doll still in its former state was the head, and +thus of course it attracted the special attention of the two children. +With great care they separated it from the trunk, and peered in +amazement at its hollow interior. Seeing this great hollow the thought +occurred to them to fill it up with the loose bran. With their tiny +baby fingers they stuffed and stuffed by turns the bran into the empty +space, and for the first time in its existence this head was filled +with something. The boy, however, evidently deemed the task incomplete; +probably it required some life, something moving, to satisfy him. So he +caught a huge blue fly, and while he held it tight he instructed the +little girl to let out the bran once more. Then he placed the fly into +the hollow head, and stopped up the exit with a small bunch of grass. +The two children held the head to their ears, and then put it solemnly +upon a great rock. Since the head was still covered with the scarlet +poppy, this receptacle of sound now closely resembled a soothsaying +oracle, and the two listened with great respect to queer noises it +emitted, in deep silence as if fairy tales were being told, holding +each other close meanwhile. But every prophet awakens not only respect +but also terror and ingratitude. The odd noises inside the hollow head +aroused the human cruelty of the children, and jointly they resolved to +bury it. They dug a shallow grave, and placed the head in it, without +first obtaining the views of the imprisoned fly on it. Then they +erected over the grave a monument of stone. But awe seized them at this +instance, since they had buried something living and conscious, and +they went away from the scene of this pagan sacrifice. In a spot wholly +overgrown with green herbs the little girl lay down on her back, being +tired, and began singing, over and over again, a few simple words in a +monotonous voice, and the little boy sat near and joined singing, and +he, too, was so tired as almost to fall asleep. The sun shone right +into the open mouth of the singing girl, illuminating her white little +teeth, and rendered her scarlet lips semi-transparent. The boy saw +these white teeth, and he held her head and curiously investigating +them he said: "Guess how many teeth you have." The little girl +reflected for a moment, and then she said at random: "A hundred!" "No," +said the boy, "two and thirty." But he added: "Wait, I will count +them!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he started to count them, and counted over and over, and it was at +no time thirty-two, and so he resumed his count. The girl kept patient +for a long time, but at last she got up and said: "Now I will count +yours." And the boy lay down amongst the herbs, the little one above +him, and she embraced his head, he opened wide his mouth, and she began +to count: One, two, seven, five, two, one; for the little thing knew +not yet how to count. The boy corrected her and instructed her how to +go about it, and thus she also started again and again, and curiously +enough it was precisely this little game that pleased them best of all +that day. But at last the little girl sank down on the soft couch of +herbs, and the two children fell asleep in the full glare of the noon +sun.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the fathers had finished their job of plowing and had changed +the stubble field into a brown plain, strongly scenting the earth. When +at the end of the last furrow the helper of one of the two wanted to +stop, his master shouted: "Why do you stop? Turn up another furrow!" +"But we're done," said the helper. "Shut your mouth, and do what I tell +you," replied the other. And they did turn once more and tore a big +furrow right into the middle, the ownerless, field, so that weeds and +stones flew about. But the peasant took no time to remove these. +Probably he considered that there was ample time for that some other +day. He was satisfied to do the thing for the nonce only in its main +feature. Thus he went up the height softly, and when up on top and the +delicious play of the wind now turned once more the tip of his white +cap backwards, on the other side of the fallow field the second peasant +was just plowing a similar furrow, the wind having also reversed the +tip of his cap, and cut also a goodly furrow off from the same fallow +field. Each of them saw, of course, what the other did, but neither +seemed to do so, and thus they once more strode away one from the +other, each falling star finally disappearing below the curve of the +ground. Thus the woof of Fate spins its net around us, "and what he +weaves no weaver knows."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">One harvest after another went by and the two children grew steadily +taller and handsomer, and the ownerless fields as steadily smaller +between the two neighbors. With every new plowing the section between +lost hither and thither one furrow, without there being a word said +about it, and without a human eye apparently noting the misdeed. The +stones and rocks became more and more compact and formed already a +perfect and continuous ridge the whole length of the field, and the +shrubs and weeds on it had already attained such an altitude that the +two children, although they, too, had grown, could no longer see each +other across them.</p> + +<p class="normal">They no longer went to the field together, since ten-year-old Salomon, +or Sali, as he was mostly called, now kept with the bigger boys or the +men, and dusky Vreni,<a name="div2Ref_01" href="#div2_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +though a fiery little thing, had already to +place herself under the supervision of those of her sex, for fear of +being laughed at as a tomboy. In spite of all that they improved the +occasion of the harvest, when everybody was out in the fields, to climb +once on top of the huge stony ridge, or breastworks, which ordinarily +divided them, and to wage a toy war, pushing each other down from it, +as the culmination of the battle. Even though they had no longer +anything more to do with each other, this annual ceremony was +maintained by them all the more carefully since the land of their +fathers did not meet anywhere else.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, now the fallow field was to be sold, after all, and the sum +realized provisionally kept by the authorities. The day came at last, +and the public sale took place on the spot itself. But beside Manz and +Marti there were present only a few curious ones, since nobody but they +felt like buying the odd piece of ground and cultivating it between the +property of the two peasants. For although these two belonged among the +best farmers of the village, and had done nothing but what two-thirds +of the others would also have done under like circumstances, still now +they were looked at askance because of it, and nobody wanted to be +squeezed in between them in the diminished and orphaned field. For most +men are so made as to be quite ready to commit a wrong which is more or +less in vogue, especially if the circumstances of the case facilitate +the wrong. But as soon as the wrong has been perpetrated by some one +else, they are glad that it was not they who had been exposed to the +temptation, and then they regard the guilty one almost as a warning +example in regard to their own failings, and treat him with a delicate +aversion as a sort of lightning rod of evil itself, as one marked by +the gods themselves, while all the while their mouths are watering for +the advantages thus accrued to him by means of his sin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manz and Marti were, therefore, the only ones who seriously bid on the +ownerless land, and after a rather spirited contest, during which the +price was driven up higher than had been supposed, it was Manz to whom +it was awarded. The officials and the lookers-on soon drifted away, and +the two neighbors who had been busy on their fields after the sale, met +again, and Marti said: "I suppose you will now put your land, the old +and the new, together, halve it, and work it in that way? That, at +least, is what I should have done if I had got the land."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That indeed is what I mean to do," answered Manz, "for as one single +field it would not be easy to manage. But there is another thing I want +to say. I noticed the other day that you drove into the lower end of +this field that has now become mine, and that you cut off quite a +good-sized triangle. It may be you thought at the time that you +yourself would soon own the whole of it and that then it would make no +difference anyway. But since now it belongs to me, you will admit that +I cannot and will not permit such a curtailment of my property rights, +and you will not take it amiss if I again straighten out the right +lines. Of course you will not. There need be no hard feelings on that +score."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marti, however, replied just as coolly: "Neither do I look for any +trouble. For my opinion is you have purchased the field just as it is. +We both examined it before the sale, and of course it has not changed +within an hour or so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense," said Manz, "what was done formerly, under different +conditions, we will not go into. But too much is too much, and +everything has its limit, and must be adjusted according to reason in +the end. These three fields have from of old been lying one next to the +other just as though marked with the measuring tape. You may think it +funny to put in such an unjustifiable objection or claim. We both of us +would get a new nickname if I let you keep that crooked end of it +without rhyme or reason. It must come back where it by right belongs."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Marti only laughed and said: "All at once so afraid of what people +may think? But then, it's easily arranged. I have no objection at all +to such a crooked-shaped bit of land. If you don't like it, all right, +we can straighten it out. But not on my side, I swear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't talk so strange," replied Manz with some heat. "Of course it +will be straightened out, and that on your side. You can bet your +bottom dollar on that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we'll see about that," was Marti's parting remark, and the two +men separated without even looking at each other. On the contrary, they +gazed steadfastly in different directions, as if something of enormous +interest were floating in the air which it was absolutely necessary to +keep an eye on.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the next day already Manz sent his hired boy, also a wench working +for daily wage, and his own boy Sali out to the new field, to begin +removing the weeds and wild growths, and to pile them up at certain +places, so as to make the loading up and carting away of the crop of +stones all the easier. This noted a change in his character, this +sending the little boy, scarcely eleven, whom he had never before +driven to hard work such as weeding, out to field labor, and this +against the will of the mother. It seemed indeed, since he defended his +order with solemn and high-sounding words, as if he wanted to daze his +own better conscience. At any rate, the slight wrong thus done to his +own flesh and blood in insisting on onerous and unfit labor, was but +one of the consequences growing out of the original wrong done by him +for years in regard to the field itself. One by one more wrong, more +evil unfolded itself. The three meanwhile weeded away industriously on +the long strip of ground, and hacked away at the queer plants that had +been flourishing on the soil for so many years. And to the young people +doing this hard work, albeit it taxed and tried their strength greatly, +it really was something of an amusement, since it was no carefully +graduated and scaled task, but rather a wild job of destruction. After +piling all this vegetable refuse up in heaps and letting the sun dry +it, it was set afire with great jubilation and noise, and when the +murky flames shot up and broad swaths of smoke waved irregularly, the +young people jumped and danced about like a band of wild Indians.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this was the last festival on the ominous new field, and little +Vreni, Marti's young daughter, also crept out and joined the revels. +The unusual occasion and the spirit of rampant gaiety easily brought it +about that the two playmates of yore once more came in contact and were +happy and jolly at their bonfire. Other children, too, gathered, until +there was quite a crowd of youthful, excited merrymakers assembled. But +always it happened that, as soon as the two became separated in the +throng, Vreni would rejoin Sali, or Sali Vreni. When it was she it was +a treat to watch her face when she slipped her little hand in that of +the boy, her animated features and her glowing eyes fairly brimming +with pleasure. To both of them it seemed as though this glorious day +could never end. Old Manz, though, came out toward evening, to see what +had been accomplished, and despite the fact that their labor had been +done well and as directed, he scolded at the childish jollification and +drove the young people off his ground. Almost at the same time Marti +visited his own section adjoining, and noticing his little daughter +from afar, he whistled to her shrill and peremptory, and when she +obeyed the summons in frightened haste he struck her harshly in the +face without giving any reason. So that both little ones went home +weeping and sad; yet they were both still so much children that they +scarcely knew at this time why they were so sad or knew before why they +felt so happy. As for the rudeness of their fathers they did not +understand the underlying motive of it, and it did not touch their +hearts.</p> + +<p class="normal">During the next days the labor became harder and more strenuous, and +some men had to be hired for it. For the task was this time to load and +clean off the huge crop of stones along the entire length of the field.</p> + +<p class="normal">There seemed to be no end to this work, and one would have said that +all the stones in the world had been collected there. But Manz did not +have the stones carted off entirely from the field, but every load was +taken to the triangular piece of ground in dispute, where it was +dumped. It was dumped on the neatly plowed soil that Marti had toiled +over. Manz had previously drawn a straight line as boundary, and now he +loaded this spot down with all these thousands upon thousands of +pebbles, rocks and bowlders which he and Marti had for whole decades +thrown upon ownerless soil. The heap grew, and grew for days and weeks, +until there was a mighty pyramid of stone which, as Manz felt +convinced, his adversary would surely be loath to trouble with. Marti, +in fact, had expected nothing of the kind. He had rather thought that +Manz would go to work with his plow, as he used to do, and had +therefore waited to see him appear in that part. And Marti did not hear +of the rocky monument until almost completed. When he ran out in the +full blast of his anger, and saw it all, he hastened home and fetched +the village magistrate in order to protest against the accumulation of +stones on "his" ground, and to have the small bit of ground officially +declared as in litigation.</p> + +<p class="normal">From that sinister day on the two peasants sued and countersued each +other in court, and neither desisted until both were completely ruined.</p> + +<p class="normal">The thinking of these two ordinarily shrewd and fair men became +fundamentally wrong and fallacious. They were unable to view anything +henceforth as unrelated with their quarrel. Their arguments fell short +of the mark in everything. The most narrow sense of legality, of what +was permitted and what not, filled the head of each of them, and +neither was able to understand how the other could seize so entirely +without reason or right this bit of soil, in itself so insignificant. +In the case of Manz there was added a wonderful sense for symmetry and +parallel lines, and he felt really and truly shortened in his rights by +Martins insistence on retaining hold of a fragment of property laid out +on different geometrical lines. But both tallied in their conceptions +in this that the other must think him a veritable fool to try and get +the better of him in this particular manner, in this impudent and +unparalleled manner, since to make such an attempt at all was perhaps +thinkable in the case of a mere nobody, of a man without reputation and +substance, but surely not in the case of an upstanding, energetic and +able man, of one who was both willing and able to take care of his +interests. And it was this consideration above all that rankled and +festered in the heart of each of the two once so friendly neighbors. +Each felt himself hurt in his quaint sense of honor, and let himself go +headlong in the rush of passion and of combativeness, without even +attempting at any time to stop the resultant moral and material decay +and ruin. Their two lives henceforth resembled the torture of two lost +souls who, upon a narrow board, carried along a dark and fearsome +river, yet deal tremendous blows at the air, seize upon each other and +destroy each other finally, all in the false belief of having seized +and trying to destroy their evil fate itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">As their whole matter in dispute was in itself and on both sides not +clean or lucid, they soon got into the hands of all sorts of swindlers +and cutthroats, of pettifoggers and evil counselors, men who filled +their imagination with glittering bubbles, containing no substance +whatever. And especially it was the speculators and dishonest agents of +Seldwyla who found this case one after their own heart, and soon each +of the two litigants had a whole train of advisers, go-betweens and +spies around him, fellows who in all sorts of crooked ways knew how to +draw cash money out of them. For the quarrel for that tiny fragment of +soil with the stone pyramid on top on which already a perfect forest of +weeds, thistles and nettles had grown anew, was only the first stage in +a labyrinth of errors that little by little changed the whole character +and method of living for the two. It was singular, too, how in the case +of two men of about fifty there could shoot up and become fixed an +entire crop of new habits and morals, principles and hopes, all of a +kind which were foreign to their former natures, how men who all +their lives had been noted for their hard common-sense could become +day-dreamers and gullible oafs.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the more money they lost by all this the more they longed to +acquire more, and the less they possessed the more persistently they +endeavored to become rich and to shine before their fellows. Thus they +easily allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the clumsiest tricks, and +year after year they would play in all the foreign lotteries of which +Seldwyla agents were praising to them the splendid chances. But never +so much as a dollar came their way in prizes. On the other hand, they +forever heard of the big winnings in these lotteries made by others; +they also were told that it had hung just by a hair that they would +have done as well, and thus they were constantly bled by these leeches +of their scantier and scantier means.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now and then the rascally Seldwylians played a trick on the two deadly +enemies which for its peculiar raciness was specially relished by them, +the people of Seldwyla, that is. They would sell the two peasants +sections of the same lottery tickets, so that Manz as well as Marti +would build their hopes of a rich strike on precisely the same +fallacious foundation, and also in the end would feel the same +despondency from the same source. Half their time the two now spent in +town, and there each had his headquarters in a miserable tavern. There +they would indulge in foolish bragging and bluster, would drink too +much and play the Lord Bountiful to loafers that would flatter the +simpletons to the top of their bent, and all the while the dark doubt +would assail them that they who in order not to be reckoned dunces had +gone to law about a trifling object, had now really become just that +and furthermore, were so reckoned by general consent.</p> + +<p class="normal">The other half of the time they spent at home, morose and incapable of +steady work or sober reflection. Habitually neglecting their farm +labor, at times they tried to make up for that by undue haste, +overworking their help and thus soon unable to retain any respectable +men in their employ.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus things went from bad to worse little by little, and within less +than ten years both of them were overburdened with debts, and stood +like storks with one leg upon their farms, so that the slightest change +might blow them over. But no matter how else they fared, the hatred +between them grew more intense every day, since each looked upon the +other as the cause of his misfortune, as his archenemy, as his foe +without rhyme or reason, as the one being in the world whom the devil +purposely had invented to ruin him. They spat out before each other +when they saw the adversary approaching from afar. Nobody belonging to +them was permitted to speak to wife, child or servants of the other, on +pain of instant brutal punishment. Their wives behaved differently +under these circumstances. Marti's wife, who came of good family and +was of a fine disposition, did not long survive the rapid downfall of +her house and family, sorrowed silently and died before her little +daughter was fourteen. The wife of Manz, on the other hand, altered her +whole character. Only for the worse, of course. And to do that all she +needed to do was to aggravate some of her natural defects, let them go +on, so to speak, without bridling them at all. Her passion for tidbits +and sweets became boundless; her love of gossip deteriorated into a +veritable craze, and she soon became unable to tell the truth about +anything or anybody. She habitually spoke the very contrary of what was +in her thoughts, cheated and deceived her own husband, and found keen +pleasure in getting everybody by the ears. Her original frankness and +her harmless delight in satisfying her feminine curiosity turned into +evil intrigue and the inclination to make mischief between neighbors +and friends. Instead of suffering patiently under the rudeness and +changed habits of her husband, she fooled him and laughed behind his +back in doing so. No matter if he now and then behaved with cruelty to +her and his household, she did not care. She denied herself nothing, +became more luxurious in her tastes as his money affairs grew steadily +more involved, and fattened on the very misfortunes that were rapidly +leading to complete ruin.</p> + +<p class="normal">That with all that the two children fared any better was scarcely to be +expected. While still mere human buds and incapable of meeting the +harsh fate slowly preparing for them, they were done out of their youth +and out of the hopes and advantages incident to their tender years. +Vreni indeed was worse off in this respect than Sali, the boy, since +her mother was dead and she was exposed in a wasted home to the tyranny +of a father whose violent instincts found no check whatever. When +sixteen Vreni had developed into a slender and charming young girl. Her +hair of dark-brown naturally curled down to her flashing eyes; her +swiftly coursing blood seemed to shimmer through the delicate oval of +her dusky cheeks, and the scarlet of her dainty lips made a strikingly +vivid contrast, so that everybody looked twice when she passed. And +despite her sad bringing-up, an ardent love of life and an +inextinguishable cheerfulness were trembling in every fibre of Vreni's +being. Laughing and smiling at the least encouragement she forgot her +troubles easily, and was always ready for a frolic and a romp if +domestic weather permitted at all, that is, if her father did not +hinder and torture her too cruelly. However, with all her +lightheartedness and her buoyant temperament, the deepening shadows +over the house inevitably enshrouded her all too often. She had to bear +the brunt of her father's soured disposition, and she had hardly any +help in trying to keep house for him after a fashion. On her young +shoulders mainly rested the embarrassments of a home constantly +threatened by importunate creditors and wild boon companions of her +dissolute father. And not alone that. With the natural taste of her sex +for a neat and clean appearance her father refused her nearly every +means to gratify it. Thus she had great trouble to ornament her pretty +person the way it deserved. But somehow she managed to do it, to +possess always a becoming holiday attire, including even a couple of +vividly colored kerchiefs that set off marvelously her darksome beauty. +Full of youthful animation and gaiety she found it hard to mostly have +to renounce all the social pleasures of her years; but at least this +prevented her from falling into the opposite extreme. Besides, young as +she was, she had witnessed the declining days and the death of her +mother, and had been deeply impressed by it, so that this had acted as +another restraint on her joyous disposition. It was almost a pathetic +sight to observe how notwithstanding all these serious obstacles pretty +Vreni instantly would respond to the calls of joy if the occasion was +at all favorable, as a flower after drooping in a heavy rainstorm will +raise its head at the first rays of the reappearing sun.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali was not faring quite so ill. He was a good-looking and vigorous +young fellow who knew how to take care of himself and whose size and +physical strength alone would have forbidden harsh bodily mistreatment. +He saw, of course, how his parents were sliding down-hill more and +more, and he seemed to remember a time when things had been otherwise. +He even carried in his memory the picture of his father as that of an +upstanding, determined, serious and energetic peasant, while now he saw +before him all the while a man who was a gray-headed dolt, a +quarrelsome fool, who with all his fits of impotent rage and all his +brag and bluster was every hour more and more crawling backwards like a +crawfish. But when these things displeased him and filled him with +shame and sorrow, although he could not very well understand how it all +had come about, the influence of his mother came to deaden this feeling +and to fill him with an unjustified hope of improvement. She would +flatter her son in the same extravagant and wholly unreasonable manner +which had become her second nature in dealing with the new troubles +that were gradually overcoming the whole family. For in order to lead +her life of self-indulgence the more easily and to have one critical +observer the less, and to make her son her partisan, but also as a vent +for her love of display, she contrived to let her son have everything +he had a desire for. She saw to it that he was always dressed with +care, and entirely too expensively for the means of the family, and +indulged him in his pleasures. He on his part accepted all that without +much thought or gratitude, since he noticed at the same time how his +mother was juggling with and tricking his father, and how she was +continually telling untruths and vainly boasting. And while thus +allowing his mother to spoil him without paying much attention to the +process itself, no great harm was yet done in his case, since he had so +far not been much tainted by the vices and sins of mother or father. +Indeed, in his youthful pride he had the strong wish to become, if +possible, a man such as he recalled his own father once to have been, a +man of substance and of rational and successful conduct of his life. +Sali was really very much as his father knew himself to have been at +his own age, and a queer remnant of respectability urged the father to +treat his son well. In honoring him he seemed to honor his old self. +Confused reminiscences at such times drifted through his beclouded +soul, and they afforded him a species of subconscious delight. But +although in this manner Sali escaped some of the natural consequences +of the process of domestic decay which was going on around him, he was +not able to genuinely enjoy his life and to make rational plans for an +assured future. He felt well enough that he was resting on quicksand, +that he was neither doing anything much to bring himself into a +position of independence nor to look for any secured future; nor was he +learning much towards that end in the broken-down household and on the +neglected farm of his father. The work done there was done haphazard +style, and no systematic and orderly effort was made to get things done +in season. His best consolation, therefore, was to preserve his good +reputation, to work with a will on the farm when he could, and to turn +his eyes away from a threatening future.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sole orders laid upon him by his father were to avoid any sort of +intercourse with all that bore the name of Marti. All he knew about the +matter personally was that Marti had done wrong to his father, and that +in Marti's house precisely the same bitter enmity was felt towards the +Manz family. Of the details involved in this state of affairs, of the +manner in which the old-time good-neighborliness and friendship +existing for so many years between the two families had been turned +into hatred and scorn Sali knew nothing, these things having shaped +themselves at a period of his life when his boyish brain had been +unable to grasp their true meaning. He had perforce been content with +the verdict of his father, obeying the latter's prohibition to further +consort with the Marti people without attempting to ascertain the +underlying causes of the quarrel. So far he had not found it difficult +to do as his father told him, and he did not meddle in the least with +the whole business. He made no effort to either see or avoid Marti and +his daughter Vreni, and while he assumed that his father must be in the +right of it, he was no active enemy of the Martis. Vreni, on her part, +was differently constituted from the lad. Having to suffer much more +than Sali at home and feeling more deeply than he, woman-fashion, her +almost total isolation, she was not so ready to let a sentiment of +declared enmity enter her young and untried heart. In fact, she rather +believed herself scorned and despised by the much better clad and +apparently also much more fortunate former playmate. It was, therefore, +only from a feeling of embarrassment that she hid from him, and +whenever he came near enough to perceive her, she fled from him. He +indeed never troubled to glance at her. So it happened that Sali had +not seen the girl near enough for a couple of years to know what she +was like. He had no notion that she was now almost grown-up, and that +she was distinctly beautiful. And yet, once in a while he would +remember her as his little playmate, as the merry companion of his +carefree boyhood, and when at his home the Martis were mentioned he +instinctively wondered what had become of her and how she would look +now. He certainly did not hate her. In his memory she lived in a +shadowy sort of way as a rather attractive girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was his father, Manz, now who first had to go under. He was no +longer able to stave off his creditors and had to leave farm and house +behind. That he, though somewhat of better means originally than his +neighbor and foe, was first to collapse was owing to his wife, who had +lived in quite an extravagant style, and then he, too, had a son who, +after all, cost him something. Marti, as we know, had but a little +daughter who was scarcely any expense to him. Manz did not know what +else to do but to follow the advice of some Seldwyla patrons and move +to town, there to turn mine host of an inn or low tavern. It is always +a sad sight to see a former peasant of some substance, a man who has +been leading for many years a life of unremitting toil, it is true, but +also one of independence and usefulness, after growing old among his +acres, seek refuge from ill-fortune in town, taking the small remnants +of his belongings with him and open a poor, shabby resort, in order to +play, as the last safety anchor, the amiable and seductive host, all +the while feeling by no means in a holiday mood himself. When the Manz +family then left their farm to take this desperate step, it was first +apparent how poor they had already grown. For all the household goods +that were loaded on a cart were in a deplorable state, defective and +not repaired for many years. Nevertheless the wife put on her best +finery, when seating herself on top of the crazy old vehicle, and made +a face of such pride as though she already looked down upon her +neighbors as would a city lady of taste and refinement, while all the +while the villagers peeped from behind their hedges full of pity at the +sorry show made by the exodus. For Mother Manz had settled it in her +foolish noddle to turn the heads of all Seldwyla by her fine manners +and her wheedling tongue, thinking that if her boorish husband did not +understand how to handle and cajole the town folks, it was vastly +different with herself who would soon show these Seldwyla people what +an alluring hostess she would make at the head of a tavern or inn doing +a rushing business.</p> + +<p class="normal">Great was her disenchantment, however, when she actually set eyes on +this inn vaunted so much in advance by her addled spirits. For it was +located in a small side-street of a rather disreputable quarter of +Seldwyla, and the inn itself was one in which the predecessor, one of +several that had gone the same way, had just been forcibly ousted +because of being unable to pay his debts. His Seldwyla patrons had, in +fact, rented this mean public house for a few hundred dollars a year to +Manz in consideration of the fact that the latter still had some small +sums outstanding in town, and because they could find nobody else to +take the place at a venture. They also sold him a few barrels of +inferior wine as well as the fixtures which consisted in the main of a +couple of dozen glasses and bottles, and of some rude and hacked pine +tables and benches that had once been painted a hue of deadly scarlet +and were now reduced to a dingy brownish tint. Before the entrance door +an iron hoop was clattering in the wind, and inside the hoop a tin hand +was pouring out forever claret into a small shoppen vessel. Besides all +these luxuries there was a sun-dried bunch of datura fastened above the +door, all of which Manz had noted down in his lease. Knowing all this +Manz was by no means so full of hopes and smiling humor as his spouse, +but on the contrary whipped up his bony old horses, lent him by the new +owner of his farm, with considerable foreboding. The last shabby helper +he had had on his farm had left him several weeks before, and when he +left the village on this his present errand he had not failed to note +Marti who, full of grim joy and scorn, had busied himself with some +trifling task along the road where his fallen foe had to pass. Manz saw +it, cursed Marti, and held him to be the sole cause of his downfall. +But Sali, as soon as the cart was fairly on the way, got down, speeded +up his steps and reached the town along by-paths.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, here we are," said Manz, when the cart had reached its +destination. His wife was crestfallen when she noticed the dreary and +unpropitious aspect of the place. The people of the neighborhood +stepped in front of their housedoors to have a look at the new +innkeeper, and when they saw the rustic appearance of the outfit and +the miserable trappings, they put on their Seldwyla smile of +superiority. Wrathfully Mother Manz climbed down from her high seat, +and tears of anger were in her eyes as she quickly fled into the house, +her limber tongue for once forsaking her. On that day at least she was +no more seen below. For she herself was well aware of the sorry show +made by her, and all the more as the tattered condition of her +furniture could not be concealed from prying eyes when the various +articles were now being unloaded. Her musty and torn beds, +particularly, she felt ashamed of. Sali, too, shared her feelings, but +he was obliged to help his father in unloading, and the two made quite +a stir in the neighborhood with their rustic manners and speech, +furnishing the curious children with food for laughter. These little +folks, indeed, amused themselves abundantly that day at the expense of +the "ragged peasant bankrupts." Inside the house, though, things looked +still more desolate; the place, in fact, had more the looks of a +robbers' roost than of an inn. The walls were of badly calsomined +brick, damp with moisture, and beside the dark and poorly furnished +guest room downstairs there were but a couple of bare and uninviting +bedrooms, and everywhere their predecessor had left behind nothing but +spider's webs, filth and dust.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was the beginning of it, and thus it continued to the end. During +the first few weeks indeed there came, especially in the evenings, a +number of people anxious to see, out of sheer curiosity, "the peasant +landlord," hoping there would be "some fun." But out of the landlord +himself they could not get much of that, for Manz was stiff, +unfriendly, and melancholy, and did not in the least know how to treat +his guests, nor did he want to know. Slowly and awkwardly he would pour +out the wine demanded, put it before the customer with a morose air, +and then make an unsuccessful attempt to enter into some sort of +conversation, but brought forth only some stammered commonplaces, +whereupon he gave it up. All the more desperately did his wife endeavor +to entertain her guests, and by her ludicrous and absurd behavior +really managed, for a few days at least, to amuse people. But she did +this in quite a different way from that intended by her. Mother Manz +was rather corpulent, and she had from her own inventive brain composed +a costume in which to wait on her guests and in which she believed +herself to be simply irresistible. With a stout linen skirt she wore an +old waist of green silk, a long cotton apron and a ridiculous broad +collar around the neck. Out of her hair, no longer abundant, she had +twisted corkscrew curls ornamenting her forehead, and in the back she +had stuck a tall comb into her thin braids. Thus made up she mincingly +danced on the tips of her toes before the particular guest to be +entranced, pointed her mouth in a laughable manner, which she thought +was "sweet," hopped about the table with forced elasticity, and serving +the wine or the salted cheese she would exclaim smilingly: "Well, well, +so alone? Lively, lively, you gentlemen!" And some more of such +nonsense she would whisper in a stilted way, for the trouble was that +although usually she could talk glibly about almost anything with her +cronies from the village, she felt somewhat embarrassed with these city +people, not being acquainted with the subjects of conversation they +liked to touch on. The Seldwyla people of the roughest type who had +dropped in for something to laugh at, put their hands before their +mouths to prevent bursting out in her face, nearly suffocated with +suppressed merriment, trod upon each other's feet under the table, and +afterwards, in relating the matter, would say: "Zounds, that is a woman +among a thousand, a paragon!" Another one said: "A heavenly creature, +by the gods. It is worth while coming here just to watch her antics. +Such a funny one we haven't had here for a long while."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her husband noticed these goings on, with a mien of thunder, and he +would perhaps punch her in the ribs and say: "You old cow, what is the +matter with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But then she gave him a superior glance, and would murmur: "Don't +disturb me! You stupid old fool, don't you see how hard I am trying to +please people? Those over there, of course, are only low fellows from +among your own acquaintance, but if you don't interfere with me I shall +soon have much more fashionable guests here, as you'll see."</p> + +<p class="normal">These illusions of hers were illuminated in a room with but two tallow +dips, but Sali, her son, went out into the dark kitchen, sat down at +the hearth and wept about father and mother.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, these first guests had soon their fill of this kind of sport, +and began to stay away, and then went back to their old haunts where +they got better drink and more rational conversation, and there they +would laughingly comment on the queer peasant innkeepers. Only once in +a while now a single guest of this type would drop in, usually to +verify previous reports heard by him, and such a one found as a rule +nothing more exciting to do than to yawn and gaze at the wall. Or +perhaps a band of roystering blades, having heard the place spoken of +by others, would wind up a jolly evening by a brief visit, and then +there would be noise enough, but not much else, and the old couple +could often not even thus be roused from their melancholy. For by that +time both wife and husband had grown heartily sick of their bargain. +The new style of living felt to him almost as lonesome and cold as the +grave. For he who as a lifelong farmer had been used to see the sun +rise, to hear and feel the wind blow, to breathe the pure air of the +country from morning till night, and to have the sunshine come and go, +was now cooped up within these dingy, hopeless walls, had to draw in +his lungs with every breath the contaminated atmosphere of this +miserable neighborhood, and when he thus dreamed day-dreams of the wide +expanse of the fields he once owned and tilled, a dull sort of despair +settled down on him like a pall. For hours and hours every day he would +stare in a dark humor at the smoke-begrimed ceiling of his inn, having +mostly little else to do, and dull visions of a future unrelieved by a +single ray of hope would float across his saturnine mind. Insupportable +his present life seemed to him then. Then a purposeless restlessness +would come over him, when he would get up from his seat a dozen times +an hour, run to the housedoor and peer out, then run back and resume +his watch. The neighbors had already given him a nickname. The "wicked +landlord," they dubbed him, because his glance was troubled and fierce.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not long and they were totally impoverished, had not even enough ready +money left to put in the little in drink and provisions needed for +chance customers, so that the sausages and bread, the wine and liquor +that were ordered by guests had to be got on trust. Often they even +lacked the wherewithal to make a meal of, and had to go hungry for a +while. It was a curious tavern they were keeping. When somebody +strolled in by accident and demanded refreshment they were forced to +send to the nearest competitor, around the corner, and obtain a measure +of wine and some food, paying for it an hour or so later when they +themselves had been paid. And with all that, they were expected to play +the cheerful host and to talk pleasantly when their own stomachs were +empty. They were almost glad when nobody came; then each of them would +cower in a dark corner by the chimney, too lethargic to stir.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Mother Manz underwent these sad experiences she once more took off +her green silk waist, and another metamorphosis was noticed. As +formerly she had shown a number of feminine vices, so now she exhibited +some feminine virtues, and these grew with the evil times. She began to +practice patience and sought to cheer up her morose husband and to +encourage her young son in trying for remunerative work. She sacrificed +her own comfort and convenience even, went about like a happy busybody, +and chattered incessantly merrily, all in an attempt to put some heart +into the two men. In short, she exerted in her own queer way an +undoubted beneficial influence on them, and while this did not lead to +anything tangible it helped at least to make things bearable for the +time being and was far better than the reverse would have been. She +would rack her poor brains, and give this advice or that how to mend +things, and if it miscarried she would have something fresh to propose. +Mostly she proved in the wrong with her counsel, but now and then, in +one of the many trivial ways that her petty mind was dwelling on she +was successful. When the contrary resulted, she gaily took the blame, +remained cheerful under discouragement, and, in short, did everything +which, if she had only done it before things were past repair, might +have really cured the desperate situation.</p> + +<p class="normal">In order to have at least some food in the house and to pass the dull +time, father and son now began to devote their leisure time to the +sport of fishing, that is, with the angle, as far as it is permissible +to everybody in Switzerland. This, be it said, was also one of the +favorite pastimes of those decrepit Seldwylians who had come to grief +in the world, most of them having failed in business. When the weather +was favorable, namely, and when the fish took the bait most readily, +one might see dozens of these gentry wander off provided with rod and +pail, and on a walk along the shores of the river you might see one of +them, every little distance, angling, the one in a long brown coat once +of fashionable make, but with his bare feet in the water, the next +attired in a tattered blue frock, astride an old willow tree, his +ragged felt hat shoved over his left ear. Farther down even you might +perceive a third whose meagre limbs were wrapped in a shabby old +dressing gown, since that was the only article of clothing he had left, +his long tobacco pipe in one hand, and an equally long fishing rod in +the other. And in turning a bend of the river one was apt to encounter +another queer customer who stood, quite nude, with his bald head and +his fat paunch, on top of a flat rock in the river. This one had, +though almost living in the water during the warm season, feet black as +coal, so that it looked from a distance as if he had kept his boots on. +Each of these worthies had a pot or a small box at his side, in which +were swarming angle worms, and to obtain these they were industriously +digging at all hours of the day not actually employed in fishing. +Whenever the sky began to cloud up and the air became close and sultry, +threatening rain, these quaint figures could be seen most numerously +along the softly rolling stream, immovable like a congregation of +ancient saints on their pillars. Without ever deigning to cast a glance +in their direction, rustics from farm and forest used to pass them by, +and the boatmen on the river did not even look their way, whereas these +lone fishermen themselves used to curse in a forlorn way at these +disturbers of their prey.</p> + +<p class="normal">If Manz had been told twelve years before when he was still plowing +with a fine team of horses across the hillock above the shore, that he, +too, one day would join this strange brotherhood of the rod, he would +probably have treated such a prophet rather roughly. But even to-day +Manz hastened past those fishermen that were rather crowding one +another, until he stood, upstream and alone, like a wrathful shadow of +Hades, by himself, just as if he preferred even in the abode of the +damned a spot of his own choosing. But to stand thus with a rod, for +hours and hours, neither he nor his son Sali had the patience, and they +remembered the manner in which peasants in their own neighborhood used +to catch fish, especially to grasp them with their hands in the purling +brooks. Therefore, they had their rods with them only as a ruse, and +they walked upstream further and further, following the tortuous +windings of the water, where they knew from of old that trout, dainty +and expensive trout, were to be had.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Marti, though he had still nominal possession of his farm, +had likewise been drifting from bad to worse, without any gleam of +hope.</p> + +<p class="normal">And since all toil on his land could no more avert the final +catastrophe, and time hung heavy on his hands, he also had taken to +this sport of fishing. Instead of laboring in his neglected fields he +often would fish for days and days at a time. Vreni at such times was +not permitted to leave him, but had to follow him with pail and nets, +through wet meadows and along brooks and waterholes, whether there was +rain or shine, while neglecting her household labors at home. For at +home not a soul had remained, neither was there any need, since Marti +little by little had already lost nearly all his land, and now owned +but a few more acres of it, and these he tilled either not at all or +else, together with his daughter, in the slovenliest way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus it came to pass that he, too, one early evening was walking along +the borders of a rapid and deep brook, one in which trout were leaping +plentifully, since the sky was overhung with dark and threatening +clouds, when without any warning he encountered his enemy, Manz, who +was coming along on the other side of it. As soon as he made him out a +fearful anger began to gnaw at his very vitals. They had not been so +near each other for years, except when in court facing the judge, and +then they had not been permitted to vent their hatred and spite, and +now Marti shouted full of venom: "What are you doing here, you dog? +Can't you stay in your den in town? Oh, you Seldwylian loafer!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't talk as if you were something better, you scoundrel," growled +Manz, "for I see you also catching fish, and thus it proves you have +nothing better to do yourself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shut your evil mouth, you fiend," shrieked Marti, since to make +himself heard above the rush of waters he had to strain his voice. "You +it is who have driven me into misery and poverty."</p> + +<p class="normal">And since the willows lining the brook now also were shaken by the +gathering storm, Manz was forced to shout even louder: "If that is +true, then I should feel glad, you woodenhead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And thus, a duel of the most cruel taunts went on from both borders of +the brook, and finally, driven beyond endurance, each of the two +half-crazed men ran along the steep path, trying to find a way across +the deep water. Of the two Marti was the most envenomed because he +believed that his foe, being a landlord and managing an inn, must at +least have food enough to eat and liquor to drink, besides leading a +jolly sort of life, while he was barely able to eke out a meal or two +on the coarsest fare. Besides, the memory of his wasted farm stung him +to violence. But Manz, too, now stepped along lively enough on his side +of the water, and behind him his son, who, instead of sharing his +father's grim interest in the quarrel, peeped curiously and amazedly at +Vreni. She, the girl, followed closely behind her father, deeply +ashamed at what she heard and looking at the ground, so that her curly +brown hair fell over her flushed face. She carried in her hand a wooden +fishpail, and in the other her shoes and stockings, and had shortened +her skirt to avoid its dragging in the wet. But since Sali was walking +on the other side and seemed to watch her, she had allowed her skirt to +drop, out of modesty, and was now thrice embarrassed and annoyed, since +she had not alone to carry all, pail, nets, shoes and stockings, but +also to hold up her skirt and to feel humiliated because of this bitter +and vulgar quarrel. If she had lifted her eyes and read Sali's face, +she would have seen that he no longer looked either proud or elegant as +hitherto his image had dwelt in her mind, but that, on the contrary, +the young man also wore a distressed and humbled mien.</p> + +<p class="normal">But while Vreni so entirely ashamed and disconcerted kept her eyes on +the ground, and Sali stared in amazement at this dainty and graceful +being that had so suddenly crossed his path, and who seemed so weighed +down by the whole occurrence, they did not properly observe that their +fathers by now had become silent but were both of them striving in +increased rage to reach the small wooden bridge a short distance off +and which led across to the other shore.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then the first forks of lightning were weirdly illuminating the +scene. The thunder was rolling in the dun clouds, and heavy drops of +rain were already falling singly, when these two men, almost driven out +of their senses, simultaneously reached the tiny bridge with their +hurried and determined tread, and as soon as near enough seized each +other with the iron grip of the rustic, striking with all the power +they could summon with clenched fists into the hateful face of the +adversary. Blows rained fast and furious, and each of the combatants +gnashed his teeth with rage.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is not a becoming nor a handsome sight to see elderly men usually +soberminded and slow to act in a personal encounter, no matter whether +occasioned by anger, provocation or self-defense, but such a spectacle +is harmless in comparison with that of two aged men who attack each +other with uncontrolled fury because while knowing the other deeply and +well, now out of the depths of that very knowledge and out of a fixed +belief that the other has destroyed his very life, seize each other +with their naked fists and try to commit murder from unrequited +revenge. But thus these two men now did, both with hair gray to the +roots. More than fifty years ago they had last fought with each other +as lads, merely out of a youthful spirit of rivalry, but during the +half century succeeding they had never laid hands on each other, except +when, as good neighbors and fellow-peasants, they had grasped each +other's hand in peace and concord, but even that, with their rather dry +and undemonstrative ways, but rarely. After the first two or three +frenzied blows, they both became silent, and now they struggled and +wrestled in all the agony of senile impotence, their stiffened muscles +and tendons stretched with the tension, murder in their glaring eyes, +each groaning with the supreme effort to master the other. They now +attempted, both of them, to end the fearsome fight by pushing the other +over into the rushing flood below, the slender supports of the rails +creaking under the pressure. But now at last their children had reached +the spot, and Sali, with a bound, came to his father's help, to enable +the latter to make an end of the hated foe, Marti being just about +spent and exhausted. But Vreni also sprang, dropping all her burdens, +to the rescue, and after the manner of women in such cases, embracing +her father tightly and really thus rendering him unable to move and +defend himself. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she looked with +silent appeal at Sali, just at the moment when he was about also to +grasp old Marti by the throat. Involuntarily he laid his hand upon the +arm of his father, thus restraining him, and next attempted to wrest +his father loose. The combat thus grew into a mutual swaying back and +forth, and the whole group was impotently straining and pushing, +without either party coming to a rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">But during this confused jumbling the two young people had, interfering +between their elders, more and more approached each other, and just at +this juncture a break in the dark bank of clouds overhead let the +piercing rays of the setting sun reach the scene and illuminate it with +a blinding flash, and then it was that Sali looked full into the +countenance of the girl, rosy and embellished by the excitement. It was +to Sali like a glimpse of another, a brighter and more heavenly world. +And Vreni at the same instant, too, quickly observed the impression she +had made on her onetime playmate, and she smiled for the fraction of a +second at him, right in the midst of her tears and her fright. Sali, +however, recovered himself instantly, warned by the energetic struggles +of his father to shake off the restraining arm of his son. By holding +him firmly and by speaking with authority to his father, he managed to +calm him down at last and to push him out of the reach of the other. +Both old fellows breathed hard at this outcome of their desperate +fight, and began again to heap insults on one another, finally turning +away, however. Their children, though, were now silent in the midst of +their relief. But in turning away and separating they for a moment +glanced once more at each other, and their two hands, cool and moist +from the water and the rain, met and each noticed a slight pressure.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the two old men turned from the scene, the clouds once more +closed, darkness fell, and the rain now poured down in torrents. Manz +preceded his son upon the obscured wet paths, bent to the cold rain, +and the terrific excitement still trembled in his features. His teeth +were chattering, and unseen tears of defeated hatred ran into his +stubbly beard. He let them run, and did not even wipe them away, +because he was ashamed of them, and had no wish for his son to see +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">But his son had seen nothing. He went through rain and storm in an +ecstasy of happiness. He had forgotten all, his misery and the awful +scene just witnessed, his poverty and the darkness around him. In his +heart there was a happy song. Light and warm and full of joy everything +within him was. He felt as rich and powerful as a king's son. He saw +nothing but the smile of a second. He saw the beautiful face lit up by +the miracle of love. And he returned that smile only now, a half hour +later, and he laughed at the beautiful face and returned its gaze, +looking into the night and storm as into a paradise, the face shining +through the murk of rain like a guiding star. Indeed, he believed Vreni +could not help noticing his answering smile miles away, and was smiling +back at him.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Next day his father was stiff and sore and would not leave the house, +and to him the whole wretched meeting with his foe and the whole +development of the enmity between them, and the long years of misery +that had grown out of it suddenly seemed to take on a new form and to +become much plainer, while its influence spread around even in his +dusky tavern. So much so that both Manz and his wife were moving about +like ghosts, out of one room into another, into the cheerless kitchen +and the bedchambers, and thence back again into the equally bare and +dark guest room, where not a person was to be seen all day. At last +they both began to grumble, one blaming the other for things that had +gone wrong, dropping into an uneasy slumber from time to time from +which a nightmare would waken them with a start, and in which their +unquiet consciences upbraided them for past misdeeds. Only Sali heard +and saw nothing of all this, for his mind was entirely engrossed with +Vreni. Still the illusion was strong with him of being immeasurably +wealthy, but beside that he had a hallucination that he was powerful +and had learned how to conduct the most complicated and important +affairs in the world. He felt as if he knew all the wisdom on earth, +everything great and beautiful. And forever there stood before his +dreamy soul, clear and distinct, that great happening of the night +before, that wonderful creature with her enticing smile, that smile +which had shed a blinding flash of happiness on his path. The +consciousness of this great adventure dwelt with him like an +unspeakable secret, of which he was the sole possessor and which had +fallen to his share direct from heaven. It afforded him constant food +for thought and wonderment. And yet with all that it seemed also to him +that he had always known this would happen to him, and as if what now +filled him with such marvelous sweetness had always dwelt in his heart. +For nothing is just like this happiness of love, this sharing of a +mystery between two persons, which approaches human beings in the form +of unspeakable bliss, yet in a form so clear and precise, sanctioned +and sanctified by the priest, and endowed with a name so mellifluously +fine that no other word sounds half so sweet as Love.</p> + +<p class="normal">On that day Sali felt neither lonesome nor unhappy; where he went and +stood Vreni's image followed him and glowed in his inner self; and this +without a moment's respite, one hour after another. But while his whole +being was engrossed with the lovely image of the girl at the same time +its outlines constantly became blurred, so that, after all, he lost the +faculty of reproducing it clearly. If he had been asked to describe her +in detail he would have been unable to do it. Always he saw her +standing near him, with that wizard smile; he felt her warm breath and +the whole indefinable charm of her presence, but it was for all that +like something which is seen but once and then vanishes forever. Like +something the potency of which one cannot escape and yet which one +never can know. In dreaming thus he was able to recall fully the +features of her when still a tiny maiden, and to experience a most +pronounced pleasure in doing so, but the one Vreni of yesterday he +could not recall as plainly. If indeed he had never seen Vreni again it +might be that his memory would have pieced her personality together, +little by little, until not the slightest bit had been wanting. But now +all the strength of his mind did not suffice to render him this +service, and this was because his senses, his eyes, imperatively +demanded their rights and their solace, and when in the afternoon the +sun was shining brilliantly and warm, gilding the roofs of all these +blackened housetops, Sali almost unconsciously found himself on the way +towards his old home in the country, which now seemed to him a heavenly +Jerusalem with twelve shining portals, and which set his heart to +beating feverishly as he approached it.</p> + +<p class="normal">While on his way, though, he met Vreni's father, who with hurried and +disordered steps was going in the direction of the town. Marti looked +wild and unkempt, his gray beard had not been shorn for many weeks, and +altogether he presented indeed the picture of what he was: a wicked and +lost peasant who had got rid of his land and who now was intent on +doing evil to others. Nevertheless, Sali under these radically +different circumstances did not regard the crazed old man with hatred +but rather with fear and awe, as though his own life was in the hands +of this man and as though it were better to obtain it by favor than by +force. Marti, however, measured the young man with a black look, +glancing at him from his feet upwards, and then he went his way +silently. But this encounter came most opportunely to Sali. For seeing +the old man leaving the village on an errand it for the first time +became quite clear to him what his own object had been in coming. Thus +he proceeded stealthily on by-paths towards the village, and when +reaching it cautiously felt his way through the small lanes until he +had Marti's house and outbuildings right in front of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">For several years past he had not seen this spot so closely. For even +while he still dwelt in the village itself he had been forbidden to +approach the Marti farm, avoiding meeting the family with whom his +father lived on terms of enmity. Therefore he was now full of wonder at +what, just the same, he had had ample opportunity to observe in the +case of his own father's property. Amazedly he stared at this once +prosperous and well-cultivated farm now turned into a waste. For Marti +had had one section after another of his property sequestrated by +orders of the court, and now all that was left was the dwelling house +itself and the space around it, with a bit of vegetable garden and a +small field up above the river, which latter Marti had for some time +been defending in a last desperate struggle with the judicial power.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was, it is true, no longer any question of a rational cultivation +of the soil which once had borne so plentifully and where the wheat had +waved like a golden sea toward harvest time. Instead of that now there +was a mixed crop sprouting: rye, turnips, wheat and potatoes, with some +other "garden truck" intermingling, all from seed that had come from +paper packages left over or purchased in small quantities at random, so +that the whole cultivated space looked like a negligently tended +vegetable bed, in which cabbage, parsley and turnips predominated. It +was plainly to be seen that the owner of it, too lazy or indifferent to +do his farmer's work properly, had mainly had in mind to raise such +things as would enable him to live from day to day. Here a handful of +carrots had been torn out, there a mess of cabbage or potatoes, and the +rest had fared on for good or ill, and much of it lay rotting on the +ground. Everybody, too, had been in the habit of treading around and in +it all, just as he listed, and the one broad field now presented nearly +the desolate appearance of the once ownerless field whence had grown +all the mischief that had wrought havoc and brought the two neighbors +of old down so low. About the house itself there was no visible sign at +all of farm work. The stable stood vacant, its door hung loosely from +the broken staples, and innumerable spider's webs, grown thick and +large during the summer, were shimmering in the sunshine. Against the +broad door of a barn, where once were housed the fruits of the field, +hung untidy fishermen's nets and other sporting apparatus, in grim +token of abandoned farming. In the farmyard was to be seen not a single +chicken, pigeon or turkey, no dog or cat. The well only was the sole +live thing. But even its clear water no longer flowed in a regular gush +through the spout, but trickled through the broken tube, wasting itself +on the ground and forming dark pools on the soggy earth, a perfect +symbol of neglect. For while it would not have taken much time or +trouble to mend the broken tube, now Vreni was forced to use the water +she needed for her domestic tasks, for cooking and laundry work, from +the tricklings that escaped. The house itself, too, was a sad thing to +see. The window panes were all broken and pasted over with paper. Yet +the windows, after all, were the most cheerful-looking objects, for +Vreni kept them clean and shiny with soap and water, as shiny, in fact, +as her own eyes, and the latter, too, had to make up for all lack of +finery. And as the curly hair and the bright kerchiefs made amends for +much in her, so the wild growths stretching up toward windows and along +the jamb of the doorsills, and almost covering the very broken panes on +the windows, gave a charm to this tumbledown homestead. A wilderness of +scarlet bean blossoms, of portulac and sweet-scented flowers ran riot +along the house front, and these in their vivid colors clambered along +anything that would give them a hold, such as the handle of a rake, a +stake or broken rod. Vreni's grandfather had left behind a rusty +halberd or spontoon, such as were weapons much in vogue in his days, +for he had fought as a mercenary abroad. Now this rusty implement had +been stuck into the ground, and the willowy tendrils of the beanstalk +embraced it tightly. More bean plants groped their way up a shattered +ladder which had leaned against the house for ages, and thence their +blossoms hung into the windows as Vreni's curls hung into her pretty +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">This farmyard, so much more picturesque than prosperous, lay somewhat +apart from its neighbors, and therefore was not exposed so much to +their inspection. But for the moment as Sali stared and watched nothing +human at all was visible. Sali thus was undisturbed in his reflections +as he leaned with his back against the barndoor, about thirty paces +away, and studied with attentive mien the deserted yard. He had been +doing this for some time when Vreni at last appeared under the +housedoor and gazed calmly and thoughtfully before her as if thinking +deeply of only one matter. Sali himself did not stir but contemplated +her as he would have done a fine painting. But after a brief while her +eyes traveled towards him, and she perceived him. Then she and he stood +without motion and looked, looked just as if they did not see living +beings but aerial phenomena. But at last Sali slowly stood upright, and +just as slowly went across the farmyard and towards Vreni. When he was +but a step or so from her, she stretched out her hands toward him and +pronounced only the one word: "Sali!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized her hands speechlessly, and then continued gazing into her +face which had suddenly grown pale. Tears filled her eyes, and +gradually under his gaze she flushed painfully, and at last she said in +a very low voice: "What do you want here, Sali?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only to see you," he replied. "Will we not become good friends again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And our fathers, Sali?" asked Vreni, turning her weeping face aside, +since her hands had been imprisoned by him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must we bear the burden of what they have done and have become?" +answered Sali. "It may be that we ourselves can redeem the evil they +have wrought, if we only love each other well enough and stand together +against the future."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Sali, no good will ever come of it all," replied Vreni sobbingly; +"therefore better go your ways, Sali, in God's name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you alone, Vreni?" he asked. "May I come in a minute?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father has gone to town for a spell, as he told me before leaving," +remarked Vreni, "to do your father a bad turn. But I cannot let you in +here, because it may be that later on you would not be able to leave +again without attracting notice. As yet everything around here is still +and nobody about. Therefore, I beg of you, go before it is too late."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I could not leave you without speaking," was his answer, and his +voice shook with emotion. "Since yesterday I have had to think of you +constantly, and I cannot go. We must speak to each other, at least for +half an hour or an hour; that will be a relief to both of us."</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni reflected a minute. Then she said thoughtfully: "Toward sundown I +shall walk out toward our field. You know the one I mean--we have but +the one left. I must pick some vegetables. I feel sure that nobody else +will be there, because they are mowing all of them in a different +direction. If you insist on coming, you may come there, but for the +present go and take care nobody else sees you. Even if nobody at all +bothers any longer about us, they would nevertheless gossip so much +about it that father could not fail to hear it."</p> + +<p class="normal">They now dropped their hands, but once more seized them, and both also +asked: "How do you do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But instead of answering each other they repeated the same phrase over +and over again, since they, after the manner of lovers, no longer were +able to guide or control their words. Thus the only answer each +received was given with the eyes, and without saying anything more to +each other they finally separated, half sad, half joyful.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go there at once," she called after him; "I shall be there almost as +soon as yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali followed this advice, and went at once up the steep path that led +to the hill where the busy world seemed so far away and where the soul +expanded, to the undulating fields that stretched out far on both +sides, where the brooding July sun shone and the drifting white clouds +sailed overhead, where the ripe corn in the gentle breeze bobbed up and +down, where the river below glinted blue, and all these scenes of past +happiness filled his soul after a long dearth with peace and gentle +joy, and his griefs and fears were left below. At full length he threw +himself down amid the half-shade of the upstanding wheat, there where +it marked the boundary of Marti's waste acres, and peered with +unblinking eyes into the gold-rimmed clouds.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although scarcely a quarter hour elapsed until Vreni followed him, and +although he had thought of nothing but his bliss and his love, dreaming +of it and building castles in the air, he was yet surprised when Vreni +suddenly stood at his side, smiling down at him, and with a start he +rose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vreni," he exclaimed in a voice that trembled with love, and she, +still and smiling, tendered both her hands to him. Hand in hand they +then paced along the whispering corn, slowly down towards the river, +and then as slowly back again, with scarcely any words. This short walk +they repeated twice or thrice, back and forth, still, blissful, and +quiet, so that this young pair now resembled likewise a pair of stars, +coming and going across the gentle curve of the hillock and adown the +declivity beyond, just as had once, years and years ago, the accurately +measuring plows of the two rustic neighbors. But as they once on this +pilgrimage lifted their eyes from the blue cornflowers along the edge +of the field where they had rested, they suddenly saw a swarthy fellow, +like a darksome star, precede them on their path, a fellow of whom they +could not tell whence he had appeared so entirely without warning. +Probably he had been lying in the corn, and Vreni shuddered, while Sali +murmured with affright: "It's the black fiddler!" And indeed, the +fellow ambling along before them carried under his arm a violin, and +truly, too, he looked swarthy enough. A black crushed felt hat, a black +blouse and hair and beard pitchdark, even his unwashed hands of that +hue, he made the impression of a man carrying along an evil omen. This +man led a wandering life. He did all sorts of jobs: mended kettles and +pans, helped charcoal burners, aided in pitching in the woods, and only +used his fiddle and earned money that way when the peasants somewhere +were celebrating a festival or holiday, a wedding or big dance, and +such like. Sali and Vreni meant to leave the fiddler by himself. Quiet +as mice they slowly walked behind him, thinking that he would probably +turn off the road soon. He seemed to pay no attention to the two, never +turning around and keeping perfect silence. With that they felt a weird +influence coming from the fellow, so that they had not the courage to +openly avoid him and turning aside unconsciously they followed in his +tracks to the very end of the field, the spot where that unjust heap of +stone and rock lay, the one that had started the two families on their +downward road. Innumerable poppies and wild roses had grown there and +were now in full bloom, wherefore this stony desert lay like an +enormous splotch of blood along the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once the black fiddler sprang with one jump on top one of the +irregular ramparts of stone, the rim of which was also scarlet with +wild blossoms, then turned himself around, and threw a glance in every +direction. The young couple stopped and looked up at him shamefaced. +For turn they would not in face of him, and to proceed along on the +same path would have taken them into the village, which they also +wished to avoid.</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked at them keenly, and then he shouted: "I know you two. You are +the children of those who have stolen from me this soil. I am glad to +see you here, and to notice how the theft has benefited you. Surely, I +shall also live to see you two go before me the way of all flesh. Yes, +look at me, you little fools. Do you like my nose, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And indeed, he had a terrible nose, one which broke forth from his +emaciated swarthy face like a beak, or rather more like a good-sized +club. As if it had been pasted on to his bony face it looked and below +that the tiny mouth, in the shape of a small round hole, singularly +contracted and expanded, and out of this hole his words constantly +tumbled, whistling or buzzing or hissing. His small twisted felt hat, +shapeless and shabby, pushed over his left ear, heightened the uncanny +effect. This piece of his apparel seemed to change its form with every +motion of the queer-looking head, although in reality it sat immovable +on his pate. And of the eyes of this strange fellow nothing was to be +noticed but their whites, since the pupils were flashing around all the +time, just as though they were two hares jumping about to escape being +seized.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at me well," he then continued. "Your two fathers know all about +me, and everybody in the village can identify me by my nose. Years ago +they were spreading the rumor that a good piece of money was awaiting +the heir to these fields here. I have called at court twenty times. But +since I had no baptismal certificate and since my friends, the +vagrants, who witnessed my birth, have no voice that the law will +recognize, the time set has elapsed, and they have cheated me out of +the little sum, large enough all the same to permit my emigrating to a +better country. I have implored your fathers at that time, again and +again, to testify for me to the effect that they at least believed me, +according to their conscience, to be the rightful heir. But they drove +me from their farms, and now, ha! ha! ha! they themselves have gone to +the devil. Well and good, that is the way things turn out in this +world, and I don't care a rap. And now I will just the same fiddle if +you want to dance."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that he was down again on the ground beside them, at a mighty +bound, and seeing they did not want to dance he quickly disappeared in +the direction of the village; there the crop was to be brought in +towards nightfall, and there would be gay doings.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he was gone the young couple sat down, discouraged and out of +spirits, among the wilderness of stone. They let their hands drop and +hung their poor heads too. For the sudden appearance of the vagrant +fiddler had wiped out the happy memories of their childhood, and their +joyous mood in which they, like they used in their younger days, had +wandered about in the green and among the corn, had gone with him. They +sat once more on the hard soil of their misery, and the happy gleam of +childhood had vanished, and their minds were oppressed and darkened.</p> + +<p class="normal">But all at once Vreni remembered the fiddler's nose, and his whole odd +figure, and she burst out laughing loud and merry. She exclaimed: "The +poor fellow surely looks too queer. What a nose he had!" And with that +a charmingly careless merriment flashed out of her brown eyes, just as +though she had only been waiting for the fiddler's nose to chase away +all the sad clouds from her mind. Sali, too, regarded the girl, and +noticed this sunny gaiety. But by that time Vreni had already forgotten +the immediate cause of her gleefulness, and now she laughed on her own +account into Sali's face. Sali, dazed and astonished, involuntarily +gazed at the girl with laughing mouth, like a hungry man who suddenly +is offered sweetened wheat bread, and he said: "Heavens, Vreni, how +pretty you are!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Vreni, for sole answer, laughed but the more, and out of the mere +enjoyment of her sweet temper she gurgled a few melodious notes that +sounded to the boy like the warblings of a nightingale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you little witch," he exclaimed enraptured, "where have you +learned such tricks? What sorcery are you applying to me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sorcery?" she murmured astonished, in a voice of sweet enchantment, +and she seized Sali's hand anew. "There's no sorcery about this. How +gladly I should have laughed now and then, with reason or without. Now +and then, indeed, all by myself, I have laughed a bit, because I +couldn't help it, but my heart was not in it. But now it's different. +Now I should like to laugh all the time, holding your hand and feeling +happy. I should like to hold your hand forever, and look into your +eyes. Do you too love me a little bit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Vreni," he answered, and looked full and affectionately into her +eyes, "I never cared for any girl before. And I have never until now +taken a good look at another girl. It always seemed to me as though +some time or other I should have to love you, and without knowing it, I +think, you have always been in my thoughts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And so it was in my case," said Vreni, "only more so. For you never +would look at me and did not know what had become of me and what I had +grown into. But as for me, I have from time to time, secretly, of +course, and from afar, cast a glance at you, and knew well enough what +you were like. Do you still remember how often as children we used to +come here? You know in the little baby cart? What small folk we were +those days, and how long, long ago that all is! One would think we were +old, real old now. Eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali became thoughtful.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How old are you, Vreni?" he asked. "I should think you must be about +seventeen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am seventeen and a half," answered she. "And you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Guess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I know, you are going on twenty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you know?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't tell you," she laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't tell me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," and she giggled merrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I want to know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you compel me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We'll see about that."</p> + +<p class="normal">These silly remarks Sali made because he wanted to keep his hands busy +and to have a pretext for the awkward caresses he attempted and which +his love for the beautiful girl hungered for. But she continued the +childish dialogue willingly enough for some time longer, showing plenty +of patience the while, feeling instinctively her lover's mood. And the +simple sallies on both sides seemed to them the height of wisdom, so +soft and sweet and full of their mutual feelings they were. At last, +however, Sali waxed bold and aggressive, and seized Vreni and pressed +her down into the scarlet bed of poppies by main strength. There she +lay panting, blinking at the sun with eyes half-closed. Her softly +rounded cheeks glowed like ripe apples and her mouth was breathing hard +so that the snow-white rows of teeth became visible. Daintily as if +penciled her eyebrows were defined above those flashing eyes, and her +young bosom rose and fell under the working four hands which mutually +caressed and fought each other. Sali was beyond himself with delight, +seeing this wonderful young creature before him, knowing her to be his +own, and he deemed himself wealthier than a monarch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see you still have all your teeth," he said. "Do you recall how +often we tried to count them? Do you now know how to count?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you silly," smilingly rejoined Vreni, "these are not the same. +Those I lost long ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Sali in the simplicity of his soul wanted to renew the game, and +prepared to count them over once more. But Vreni abruptly rose and +closed her mouth. Then she began to form a wreath of poppies and to +place it on her head. The wreath was broad and long, and on the brow of +the nut-brown maid it was an ornament so bewitching as to lend her an +enchanting air. Sali held in his arms what rich people would have +dearly paid for if merely they had had it painted on their walls.</p> + +<p class="normal">But at last she sprang up. "Goodness, how hot it is here! Here we +remain like ninnies and allow ourselves to be roasted alive. Come, +dear, and let us sit among the corn!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And they got up and looked for a suitable hiding-place among the tall +wheat. When they had found it, they slipped into the furrows of the +field so that nobody would have discovered them without regular search, +leaving no trace behind, and they built for themselves a narrow nest +among the golden ears that topped their heads when they were seated, so +that they only saw the deep azure of the sky above and nothing else in +the world. They clung to each other tightly, and showered kisses on +cheeks and hair and mouth, until at last they desisted from sheer +exhaustion, or whatever one wishes to call it when the caresses of two +lovers for one or two minutes cease and thus, right in the ecstasy of +the blossom tide of life, there is the hint of the perishableness of +everything mundane. They heard the larks singing high overhead, and +sought them with their sharp young eyes, and when they thought they saw +one flashing along in the sunlight like shooting stars along the +firmament, they kissed again, in token of reward, and tried to cheat +and to overreach each other at this game just as much as they could.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you see, there is one flitting now," whispered Sali, and Vreni +replied just as low: "I can hear it, but I do not see it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, but watch now," breathed Sali, "right there, where the small white +cloud is floating, a hand's breadth to the right."</p> + +<p class="normal">And then both stared with all their might, and meanwhile opened their +lips, thirsty and hungry for more nourishment, like young birds in +their nest, in order to fasten these same lips upon the other if +perchance they both felt convinced of the existence of that lark.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now Vreni made a stop, in order to say, very seriously and +importantly: "Let us not forget; this, then, is agreed, that each of us +loves the other. Now, I wish to know, what do you have to say about +your sweetheart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This," said Sali, as though in a dream, "that it is a thing of beauty, +with two brown eyes, a scarlet mouth, and with two swift feet. But how +it really is thinking and believing I have no more idea than the Pope +in Rome. And what can you tell me about your lover? What is he like?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he has two blue eyes, a bold mouth and two stout arms which he is +swift to use. But what his thoughts are I know no more than the Turkish +sultan."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," said Sali, "it is singular, but we really do not know what +either is thinking. We are less acquainted than if we had never seen +each other before. So strange towards each other the long time between +has made us. What really has happened during the long interval since we +grew up in your dear little head, Vreni?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not much," whispered Vreni, "a thousand foolish things, but my life +has been so hard that none of them could stay there long."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You poor little dear," said Sali in a very low voice, "but +nevertheless, Vreni, I believe you are a sly little thing, are you +not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you may learn, by and by, if you really are fond of me, as you +say," the young girl murmured.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean when you are my wife," whispered Sali.</p> + +<p class="normal">At these last words Vreni trembled slightly, and pressed herself more +tightly into his arms, kissing him anew long and tenderly. Tears +gathered in her eyes, and both of them all at once became sad, since +their future, so devoid of hope, came into their minds, and the enmity +of their fathers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni now sighed deeply and murmured: "Come, Sali, I must be going +now."</p> + +<p class="normal">And both rose and left the cornfield hand in hand, but at the same +instant they spied Vreni's father. With the idle curiosity of the +person without useful employment he had been speculating, from the +moment he had met Sali hours before, what the young man might be +wanting all alone in the village. Remembering the occurrence of the +previous day, he finally, strolling slowly towards the town, had hit +upon the right cause, merely as the result of venom and suspicion. And +no sooner had his suspicion taken on a definite shape, when he, in the +middle of a Seldwyla street, turned back and reached the village. There +he had vainly searched for Vreni everywhere, at home and in the meadow +and all around in the hedges. With increasing restlessness he had now +sought her right near by in the cornfield, and when picking up there +Vreni's small vegetable basket, he had felt sure of being on the right +track, spying about, when suddenly he perceived the two children +issuing from the corn itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">They stood there as if turned to stone. Marti himself also for a moment +did not move, and stared at them with evil looks, pale as lead. But +then he started to curse them like a fiend, and used the vilest +language toward the young man. He made a vicious grab at him, +attempting to throttle him. Sali instantly wrested himself loose, and +sprang back a few paces, so as to be out of the reach of the old man, +who acted like one demented. But when he perceived that Marti instead +of himself now took hold of the trembling girl, dealing her a violent +blow in the face, then seizing her by the back of her hair, trying to +drag her along and mistreat her further, he stepped up once more. +Without reflecting at all he picked up a rock and struck the old man +with it against the side of the head, half in fear of what the maniac +meant to do to Vreni, and half in self-defense. Marti after the blow +stumbled a step or two, and then fell in a heap on a pile of stones, +pulling his daughter down with him in so doing. Sali freed her hair +from the rough grasp of the unconscious man, and helped the girl to her +feet. But then he stood lifeless, not knowing what to say or do.</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl seeing her father lying prone on the ground like dead, put her +hands to her face, shuddered and whispered: "Have you killed him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali silently nodded his head, and Vreni shrieked: "Oh, God, oh, God! +It is my father! The poor man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And quite out of her senses she knelt down alongside of him, lifted up +his head and began to examine his hurt. But there was no flow of blood, +nor any other trace of injury. She let the limp body drop to the ground +again. Sali put himself on the other side of the unconscious old man, +and both of them stared helplessly at the pale and motionless face of +Marti. They were silent and their hands dropped.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last Sali remarked: "Perhaps he is not dead at all. I don't think he +is dead. That blow can never have killed him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni tore a leaf off one of the wild roses near her, and held it +before the mouth of her father. The leaf fluttered a little.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is still alive," she cried, "Run to the village, Sali, and get +assistance."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Sali sprang up and was about to run off, she stretched out her +hand towards him, and cried: "Don't come back with the others and say +nothing as to how he came by his injury. I shall keep silent and betray +nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">In saying which the poor girl showed him a face streaming with tears of +distress, and she looked at her lover as though parting from him +forever.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come and kiss me once more," she murmured. "But no, get along with +you. Everything is over between us. We can never belong to each other." +And she gave him a gentle push, and he ran with a heavy heart down the +path to the village.</p> + +<p class="normal">On his way he met a small boy, one he did not know, and him he bade to +get some people and described in detail where and what assistance was +required. Then he drifted off in despair, wandering at random all night +about the woods near the village.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the early morning he cautiously crept forth, in order to spy out how +things had gone during the night. From several persons early astir he +heard the news. Marti was alive, but out of his senses, and nobody, it +seemed, knew what really had happened to him. And only after learning +this his mind was so far at ease that he found the way back to town and +to his father's tavern, where he buried himself in the family misery.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Vreni had kept her word. Nothing could be learned of her but that she +had found her father in this condition, and as he on the next day +became again quite active, breathed normally and began to move about, +although still without his full senses, and since, besides, there was +no one to frame a complaint, it was assumed that he had met with some +accident while under the influence of drink, probably had had a bad +fall on the stones, and matters were left as they were.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni nursed him very carefully, never left his side, except to get +medicine and remedies from the shop of the village doctor, and also to +pick in the vegetable patch something wherewith to cook him and herself +a simple stew or soup. Those days she lived almost on air, although she +had to be about and busy day and night and nobody came to help her. +Thus nearly six weeks elapsed until the old man recovered sufficiently +to take care of himself, though long before that he had been sitting up +in bed and had babbled about one thing or another. But he had not +recovered his mind, and the things he was now saying and doing seemed +to show plainly that he had become weak-minded, and this in the +strangest manner. He could recall what had happened but darkly, and to +him it seemed something very enjoyable and laughable. Something, too, +which did not touch him in any way, and he laughed and laughed all day +long, and was in the best of humor, very different from what he had +been before his accident. While still abed he had a hundred foolish, +senseless ideas, cut capers and made faces, pulled his black peaked +woollen cap over his ears, down to his nose and his mouth, and then he +would mumble something which seemed to amuse him highly. Vreni, pale +and sorrowful, listened patiently to all his stories, shedding tears +about his idiotic behavior, which grieved her even more than his former +malicious and wicked tricks had. But it would nevertheless happen now +and then, that the old man would perform some particularly ludicrous +antics, and then Vreni, tortured as she was by all these scenes, would +be unable to help bursting into laughter, as her joyous disposition, +suppressed by all these sad events, would sometimes rend the bounds +which confined her, just like a bow too tightly strung that would +break.</p> + +<p class="normal">But as soon as the old man could once more get out of bed, there was +nothing more to be done. All day long he did nothing but silly things, +was grinning, smirking and laughing to himself constantly, turned +everything in the house topsy-turvy, sat down in the sunshine and +blared at the world, put out his tongue at everybody that passed, and +made long monologues while standing in the midst of the bean field.</p> + +<p class="normal">Simultaneous with all this there came also the end of his ownership in +the farm. Everything upon it had, of course, gone to wrack and ruin, +and disorder reigned supreme. Not only his house, but also the last bit +of land left him, pledged in court some time before, were now seized +and the day of forced sale was named. For the peasant who had claims to +these pieces of property, very naturally made use of the opportunities +now afforded him by the illness and the failing powers of Marti to +bring about a quick decision. These last proceedings in court used up +the bit of cash still left to Marti, and all this was done while he in +his weakness of mind had not even a notion what it was all about.</p> + +<p class="normal">The forced sale took place, and at its close, Marti being penniless and +bereft of sense, by the action of the village council, it was decided +to make him an inmate of the community asylum that had been founded +many years before for the precise benefit of just such poor devils as +himself. This asylum was located in the cantonal capital. Before he +started for his destination he was well fed for a day or two, to the +eminent satisfaction of the idiot, who had developed an enormous +appetite of late, and then was put on a cart drawn by a phlegmatic ox +and driven by a poor peasant who besides attending to this community +errand wanted to sell also a sack of potatoes at the town. Vreni sat +down on the same vehicle alongside of her father in order to accompany +him on this day of his being buried alive, so to speak.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a sad and bitter drive, but Vreni watched lovingly over her +father, and let him want for nothing; neither did she grow impatient +when passers-by, attracted by the ridiculous behavior of the old man, +would follow the cart and make all sorts of audible remarks on its +inmates. Finally they did reach the asylum, a complex of buildings +connected by courts and corridors, and where a big garden was seen +alive with similarly unfortunate beings as Marti himself, all dressed +in a sort of uniform consisting of white coarse linen blouses and +vests, with stiff caps of leather on their foolish old heads. Marti, +too, was put into such a uniform, even before Vreni's departure, and +her father evinced a childish joy at his new clothes, dancing about in +them and singing snatches of wicked drinking songs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be with you, my lords and honored fellow-inmates," he harangued a +knot of them, "you surely have a palace-like home here. Go away, Vreni, +and tell mother that I won't come home any more. I like it here +splendidly. Goodness me, what a palace! There runs a spider across the +road, and I have heard him barking! Oh, maiden mine, oh, maiden mine, +don't kiss the old, kiss but the young! All the waters in the world are +running into the Rhine! She with the darkest eye, she is not mine. +Already going, little Vreni? Why, thou lookest as though death were in +thy pot. And yet things are looking up with me. I am doing fine. Am +getting wealthy in my old days. The she-fox cries with him: Halloo! +Halloo! Her heart pains her. Why--oh, why? Halloo! Halloo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">An official of the institution bade him hold his infernal noise, and +then he led him away to do some easy work. Vreni took her leave sadly +and then began to look up her ox cart with the peasant. When she had +found it she climbed in and sat down and ate a slice of bread she had +brought with her. Then she lay down and fell asleep, and a couple of +hours later the peasant came and woke her, and then they drove home to +the village. They arrived there in the middle of the night. Vreni went +to her father's house, the one where she had been born and had spent +all her days. For the first time she was all alone in it. Two days' +grace she had to get out and find some other shelter. She made a fire +and prepared a cup of coffee for herself, using the last remnants she +still had. Then she sat down on the edge of the hearth, and wept +bitterly. She was longing with all her soul to see and talk once more +to Sali, and she was thinking and thinking of him. But mingling with +these desires of hers were her anxieties and her fears of the future. +Thus sat the poor thing, holding her head in her hand, when somebody +entered at the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sali!" cried Vreni, when she looked up and saw the face dearest to her +in the world. And she fell on his neck, but then they both looked at +one another, and they shouted: "How poorly you look!" For Sali was as +pale and sorrowful as the girl herself. Forgetting everything she drew +him to her on the hearth, and questioned him: "Have you been ill, or +have you also fared badly?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not ill," said Sali, "but longing for you. At home things are +going fine. My father now has rare guests, and as I believe, he has +become a receiver of stolen goods. And that is why there are big doings +at our place, both day and night, until, I suppose, there will come a +bad end to it all. Mother is helping along, eager to have guests of any +kind at all, guests that fetch money into the house, and she tries to +bring some order out of all this disorder, and also to make it +profitable. I am not questioned about the matter at all, neither do I +care. For I have only been thinking of you all along. Since all sorts +of vagrants come and go in our place, we have heard of everything +concerning you, and my father is beside himself with joy, and that your +father has been taken to-day to the asylum has delighted him immensely. +Since he has now left you I have come, thinking you might be lonesome, +and maybe in trouble."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Vreni told him all her sorrows in detail, but she did this with +such fluency and described the intimate details in such an almost happy +tone of voice as if what she was saying did not disturb her in the +least. All this because the presence of her lover and his solicitude +about her really rendered her happy and minimized her anxieties. She +had Sali at her side. And what more did she want? Soon she had a vessel +with the steaming coffee which she forced Sali to share with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Day after to-morrow, then, you must leave here?" said Sali. "What is +to become of you now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know," answered Vreni. "I suppose I shall have to seek some +service and go away from here, somewhere in the wide world. But I know +I won't be able to endure that without you, Sali, and yet we cannot +come together. If there were no other reason it would not do because +you hurt my father and made him lose his mind. That would always be a +bad foundation for our wedded state, would it not? And neither of us +would ever be able to forget that, never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali sighed deeply, and rejoined: "I myself wanted a hundred times to +become a soldier or else go far away and hire out on a farm, but I +cannot do it, I cannot leave you here, and after we are separated it +will kill me, I feel sure of it, for longing for you will not let me +rest day or night. I really believe, Vreni, that all this misery makes +my love for you only the stronger and the more painful, so that it +becomes a matter of life or death. Never did I dream that this should +ever be my end."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Vreni, while he was thus pouring out his burdened mind, gazed at +him smilingly and with a face that shone with joy. They were leaning +against the chimney corner, and silently they felt to the full the +intense ecstasy of communion of spirits. Over and above all their +troubles, high above them all, there was hovering the genius of their +love, that each felt loving and beloved. And in this beatitude they +both fell asleep on this cold hearth with its feathery ashes, without +cover or pillow, and slept just as peacefully and softly as two little +children in their cradle.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dawn was breaking in the eastern sky when Sali awoke the first. Gently +he woke Vreni, but she again and again snuggled near to him and would +not rouse herself. At last he kissed her with vehemence on her mouth, +and then Vreni did awaken, opened her eyes wide, and when she saw Sali +she exclaimed: "Zounds, I've just been dreaming of you. I was dreaming +I danced on our wedding-day, many, many hours, and we were both so +happy, both so finely dressed, and nothing was lacking to our joy. And +then we wanted to kiss each other, and we both longed for it, oh, so +much, but always something was dragging us apart, and now it appears +that it was you yourself that was interfering, that it was you who +disturbed and hindered us. But how nice, how nice, that you are at +least close by now."</p> + +<p class="normal">And she fell around his neck and kissed him wildly, kissed him as if +there were to be no end to it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now confess, my dear, what have you been dreaming?" and she +tenderly caressed his cheeks and chin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was dreaming," he said, "that I was walking endlessly along a +lengthy street, and through a forest, and you in the distance always +ahead of me. Off and on you turned around for me, and were beckoning +and smiling at me, and then it seemed to me I were in heaven. And that +is all."</p> + +<p class="normal">They stepped on the threshold of the kitchen door left open the whole +night and which led direct into the open, and they had to laugh as they +now saw each other plainly. For the right cheek of Vreni and the left +one of Sali, which in their sleep had been resting against each other, +were both quite red from the pressure, while the pallor of the opposite +cheeks was engrossed by the coolth of early morning. So then they +rubbed vigorously the pale cheeks to bring them into consonance with +the others, each performing that service for the other. The fresh +morning air, the dewy peace lying over the whole landscape, and the +ruddy tints of coming sunrise, all this together made them forget their +griefs and made them merry and playful, and into Vreni especially a gay +spirit of carelessness seemed to have passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow night then, I must leave this house," she said, "and find +some other shelter. But before that happens I should love to be merry, +real merry, just once, only once. And it is with thee, dear, that I +want to enjoy myself. I should like to dance with you, really and +truly, for a long, long time, till I could no longer move a foot. For +it is that dance in my dream that I have to think of steadily. That +dream was too fine, let us realize it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At all events I must be present when you dance," said Sali, "and see +what becomes of you, and to dance with you as long as you like is just +what I myself would love to do, you charming wild thing. But where?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Sali, to-morrow there will be kermess in a number of places near +by. Of two of these I know. On such occasions we should not be spied +upon and could enjoy ourselves to our heart's content. Below at the +river front I could await you, and then we can go wherever we like, to +laugh and be merry--just once, only once. But stop--we have no money." +And Vreni's face clouded with the sad thought, and she added blankly: +"What a pity! Nothing can come of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let be," smilingly said Sali, "I shall have money enough when I meet +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Vreni flushed and said haltingly: "But how--not from your father, +not stolen money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Vreni. I still have my silver watch, and I will sell that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then that is arranged," said Vreni, and she flushed once more. "In +fact, I think I should die if I could not dance with you to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Probably the best for us," said Sali, "if we both could die."</p> + +<p class="normal">They embraced with tearful smiles, and bade each other good-by, but at +the moment of parting they again laughed at each other, in the sure +hope of meeting again next day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But when shall we meet?" asked Vreni.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At eleven at latest," answered Sali. "Then we can eat a good noon meal +together somewhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fine, fine," Vreni cried after him, "come half an hour earlier then."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the very moment of their parting Vreni summoned him back once more, +and she showed suddenly a wholly changed and despairing face: "Nothing, +after all, can come of our plans," she then said, weeping hard, +"because I had forgotten I had no Sunday shoes any more. Even yesterday +I had to put on these clumsy ones going to town, and I don't know where +to find a pair I could wear."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali stood undecided and amazed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No shoes?" he repeated after her. "In that case you'll have to go in +these."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But no, no," she remonstrated. "In these I should never be able to +dance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, all we can do then is to buy new ones," said Sali in a +matter-of-fact tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where and what with?" asked Vreni.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, in Seldwyla, where they have shoe stores enough. And money I +shall have in less than two hours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Sali, I cannot accompany you to all these shoe stores, and then +there will not be money enough for all the other things as well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It must. And I will buy the shoes for you and bring them along +to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, but, you silly, they would not fit me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then give me an old shoe of yours to take along, or, stop, better +still, I will take your measure. Surely that will not be very +difficult."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take my measure, of course. I never thought of that. Come, come, I +will find you a bit of tape."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she sat down once more on the hearth, turned her skirt somewhat up +and slipped her shoe off, and the little foot showed, from yesterday's +excursion to town, yet covered with a white stocking. Sali knelt down, +and then took, as well as he was able, the measure, using the tape +daintily in encompassing the length and width with great care, and +tying knots where wanted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shoemaker," said Vreni, bending down to him and laughingly +flushing in embarrassment. But Sali also reddened, and he held the +little foot firmly in the palm of his hand, really longer than was +necessary, so that Vreni at last, blushing still a deeper red, withdrew +it, embracing, however, Sali once more stormily and kissing him with +ardor, but then telling him hastily to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Sali arrived in town he took his watch to a jeweler and +received six or seven florins for it. For his silver watch chain he +also got some money, and now he thought himself rich as Croesus, for +since he had grown up he had never had as large a sum at once. If only +the day were over, he was saying to himself, and Sunday come, so that +he could purchase with his riches all the happiness which Vreni and +himself were dreaming of. For though the awful day after seemed to loom +darker and darker in comparison, the heavenly pleasures anticipated for +Sunday shone with all the greater lustre. However, some of his +remaining leisure time was spent agreeably by him in choosing the +desired pair of shoes for Vreni. In fact this job to him was a most +joyous diversion. He went from one shoestore to another, had them show +him all the women's footwear they had in stock, and finally bought the +prettiest pair he could find. They were of a finer quality and more +ornate than any Vreni had ever owned. He hid them under his vest, and +throughout the rest of the day did not leave them out of his sight; he +even put them under his pillow at night when he went to bed. Since he +had seen the girl that day and was to meet her again next day, he slept +soundly and well, but was up early, and then began to pick out his +Sunday finery, dressing with greater care than ever before in his life. +When he was done he looked with satisfaction at his own image in his +little broken mirror. And indeed it presented an enticing picture of +youth and good looks. His mother was astonished when she saw him thus +attired as though for his wedding, and she asked him the meaning of it. +The son replied, with a mien of indifference, that he wanted to take a +long stroll into the country, adding that he felt the effects of his +constant confinement in the close house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Queer doings, all the time," grumbled his father with ill-humor, "and +forever skirmishing about."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him have his way," said the mother. "Perhaps a change of air and +surroundings will do him good. I'm sure to look at him he needs it. He +is as pale as a ghost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you some money to spend for your outing?" now asked his father. +"Where did you get it from?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't need any," said Sali.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is a florin for you," replied the old man, and threw him the +coin. "You can turn in at the village and visit the tavern, so that +they don't think we're so badly off."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't intend to go to the village, and I have no use for the money. +You may keep it," replied Sali, with a show of indignation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you've had it, at any rate, and so I'll keep the money, you +ill-conditioned fellow," muttered the father, and put the coin back in +his pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">But his wife who for some reason unknown to herself felt that day +particularly distressed on account of her son, brought down for him a +large handkerchief of Milan silk, with scarlet edges, which she herself +had worn a few odd times before and of which she knew that he liked it. +He wound it about his neck, and left the long ends of it dangling. And +the flaps of his shirt collar, usually worn by him turned down, he this +time let stand on end, in a fit of rustic coquetry, so that he offered +altogether the appearance of a well-to-do young man. Then at last, +Vreni's little shoes hid below his vest, he left the house at near +seven in the morning. In leaving the room a singularly powerful +sentiment urged him to shake hands once more with his parents, and +having reached the street, he was impelled to turn and take a last +glance at the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I almost believe," said Manz sententiously, "that the young fool is +smitten with some woman. Nothing but that would be lacking in our +present circumstances indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the mother replied: "Would to God it were so. Perhaps the poor +fellow might yet be happy in life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just so," growled the father. "That's it. What a heavenly lot you are +picking for him. To fall in love and to have to take care of some +penniless woman--yes indeed, that would be a great thing for him, would +it not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Mother Manz only smiled slightly, and said never another word.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali at first directed his steps toward the shore of the river, to that +trysting-place where he was to meet Vreni. But on the way he changed +his mind and steered straight for the village itself, hoping to meet +her there awaiting him, since the time till noon otherwise seemed lost +to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do we have to care about gossips now?" he said to himself. "And +they dare not say anything against her anyway, nor am I afraid of +anyone."</p> + +<p class="normal">So he stepped into Vreni's room without any ceremony, and to his +delight found her already completely dressed and bedecked, seated +patiently on a stool, and awaiting her lover's coming. Nothing but the +shoes was lacking.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Sali stopped right in the centre of the room and stood like one +nailed to the spot, so beautiful and alluring Vreni looked in her +holiday attire. Yet it was simple enough. She wore a plain skirt of +blue linen, and above that a snow-white muslin kerchief. The dress +fitted her slender body wonderfully, and the brown hair with its pretty +curls had been well arranged, and the usually obstinate curls lay fine +and dainty about head and neck. Since Vreni had scarcely left the house +for so many weeks, her complexion had grown more delicate and almost +transparent; her griefs also had contributed toward that result. But at +that instant a rush of sudden joy and love poured over that pallor one +scarlet layer after another, and on her bosom she wore a fine nosegay +of roses, asters and rosemary. She was seated at the window, and was +breathing still and quiet the fresh morning air perfumed by the sun. +But when she saw Sali she at once stretched out her pretty arms, bare +from the elbow. And with a voice melodious and tender she exclaimed: +"How nice of you and how right to come already. But have you really +brought me the shoes? Surely? Well, then I won't get up until I have +them on."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali without further ado produced the shoes and handed them to the +eager maiden. Vreni instantly cast her old ones aside, slipped the new +ones on, and indeed, they fitted excellently. Only now she rose quickly +from her seat, dandled herself in the shoes, and walked up and down the +room a few times, to be sure of their fit. She pulled up a bit her blue +dress in order to admire them the better, and with extreme pleasure she +examined the red loops in front, while Sali could not get his fill of +the charming picture the girl presented--the lovely excitement that +beautified her the more, the willowy shape, the gently heaving bosom, +the delicate oval of the face with its pretty features, animated with +feminine enjoyment of the moment, eager with the mere joy of living, +grateful to the giver of this last bit of finery that her childish soul +had longed for.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are looking at my posy," she said. "Have I not managed to pick a +nice one? You must know these are the last ones I have managed to find +in this wasted place. But there was, after all, still left a rosebud, +over at the hedge in a sheltered spot a few of them and some other +flowers, and the way they are now gathered up and arranged one would +never think they came from a house decayed and fallen. But now it is +high time for me to leave here, for not a single flower is there, and +the whole house is bare."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then only Sali noticed that all the few movables still left were gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You poor little Vreni," he deplored, "have they already taken +everything from you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," she said with a ludicrous attempt to be tragic, "yesterday, +after you had left, they came and took everything of mine away that +could be moved at all, and left me nothing but my bed. But that I have +also sold at once, and here is the money for it--see!" And she hauled +forth from the depths of an inside pocket a handful of bright new +silver coins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With this," she continued, "the orphan patron said to me, I was to +find another service in town somewhere, and that I was to start out +to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Really," said Sali, after glancing about in the kitchen and the other +rooms, "there is nothing at all left, no furniture, no sliver of fuel, +no pot or kettle, no knife or fork. And have you had nothing to eat +this morning?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing at all," answered Vreni, with a happy laugh. "I might have +gone out and got myself something for breakfast, but I preferred to +remain hungry, so I could eat a lot with you, for you cannot think how +much I am going to enjoy my first meal with you--how awfully much I am +going to eat with you present. I am almost dying with impatience for +it." And she showed him a row of pearly teeth and a little red tongue +to emphasize what she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali stood like one enchanted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I only might touch you," murmured Sali, "I should soon show you how +much I love you, you pretty, pretty thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, you are right," quickly rejoined Vreni, "you would ruin all my +finery, and if we also handle my flowers with some care my head and +hair will profit from it, because ordinarily you disarrange all my +curls."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then," grumbled Sali, "let us go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not quite yet; we must wait till my bed has been fetched away. For as +soon as that is gone I am going to lock up the house, and I am never to +return to it. My little bundle I am going to give to the woman to keep, +to the one who has bought my bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they sat down together and waited until the woman showed up, a +peasant woman of squat shape and robust habit, one who loved to talk, +who had a stout boy with her that was to carry the bedstead. When this +woman got sight of Vreni's lover and of the girl herself in all her +finery, she opened mouth and eyes to their fullest, squared herself and +put her arms akimbo, shouting: "Why, look only, you're starting well, +Vreni. With a lover and yourself dressed up like a princess."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't I?" laughed Vreni, in a friendly way. "And do you know who that +is?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should think so," said the woman. "That is Sali Manz, or I am much +mistaken. Mountains and valleys, they say, do not meet, but people most +certainly do. But, child, let me warn you. Think how your parents have +fared."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, that is all changed now," smilingly replied Vreni. "Everything has +been adjusted, and now things are smoothed out. See here, Sali is my +promised husband." And the girl told this bit of news in a manner +almost condescending, and bent toward the woman one of her bewitching +glances.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your promised husband, is he? Well, well, who would have thought it?" +chattered the peasant woman, feeling highly honored at being the +recipient of this interesting intelligence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and he is now a wealthy gentleman," went on Vreni, "for he has +just won a hundred thousand dollars in the lottery. Just think!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman gave a jump of surprise, threw up her hands, and shouted: +"Hund--hundred thousand--Hund--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni repeated it with a serious face.</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman grew still more excited.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hundred thousand--well, well. But you are making fun of me, child. +Hund--Is it possible?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right, as you choose," went on Vreni, still smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if it is true, and he gets all that money, what are you two going +to do with it? Are you to become a stylish lady, or what?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, within three weeks our wedding takes place--such a +wedding."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, my goodness, is it possible? But no, you are telling me stories, I +know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he has already bought the finest house in Seldwyla, with a fine +vineyard and the biggest garden attached. And you must come and pay us +a visit, after we're there--I count on it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, what a witch you are," the woman went on between belief and +unbelief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will see how nice it is there," continued Vreni unabashed. "A cup +of coffee you'll get, such as you never drank before, and plenty of +cake with it, of butter and honey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you lucky duck!" shrieked the woman, "depend upon my coming, of +course." And she made an eager face, as though she already saw spread +before her all these dainties.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if you should happen to come at noontime," went on Vreni in her +fanciful tale, "and you would be tired from marketing, you shall have a +bowl of strong broth and a bottle of our extra wine, the one with the +blue seal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will certainly do me good," said the woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And there shall be no lack of some candy and white wheaten rolls, for +your little ones at home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think I can taste it already," answered the woman, and she turned +her eyes heavenwards.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps a pretty kerchief, or the remnant of a bolt of extra fine +silk, or a costly ribbon or two for your skirts, or enough for an apron +I suppose will be found, if we rummage in my drawers and trunks +together sometime when we are talking things over."</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman turned completely on her heels and shook her skirts with a +jubilant yodel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And in case your husband could start in the cattle dealing way, and +needed a bit of capital for it, you would know where to apply, would +you not? My dear Sali will always be glad to invest some of his +superfluous money in such a manner. And I myself might add a few +pennies from my savings to help out a good and intimate gossip, you may +be certain."</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time the last faint doubts had vanished. The woman wrung her +uncouth hands, and said, with a great deal of sentiment: "That's what I +have always been saying, you are a square and honest and beautiful +girl! May the Lord always be good to you and reward you for what you +are going to do for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But on my part, I must insist that you, too, treat me well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Surely you have a right to expect that," said the woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that you at all times offer me first all your produce, be it fruit +or potatoes, or vegetables, and to do this before you take them to the +public market, so that I may always be sure of having a real peasant +woman on hand, one upon whom I may rely. Whatever anybody else is +willing to pay you for your produce, I will also be willing to give. +You know me. Why, there is nothing nicer than a wealthy city lady, one +who sits within town walls and cannot know prices and conditions there, +and yet needs so many things in her household, and an honest and +well-posted woman from the country, experienced in all that concerns +her, who are bound together by durable friendship and a community of +interests. The city lady profits from it at all sorts of occasions, as +for example at weddings and baptisms, at seasons of illness or crop +failure, at holidays and famine time, or inundations, from which the +Lord preserve us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"From which the Lord preserve us!" repeated the woman solemnly, +sobbing and wiping her wet face on her ample apron. "But what a +sensible and well-informed little wife you'll make, to be sure! Without +doubt you will live as happily as a mouse in the cheese, or there is no +justice in this world. Handsome, clean, smart and wise, fit for and +willing to tackle all work at any time. None is as good-looking and as +fine as thou art, no, not in the whole village, and even some distance +further away. And who has got you for wife can congratulate himself; he +is bound to be in paradise, or he is a scoundrel, and he will have me +to deal with. Listen, Sali, do not fail to be nice to Vreni, or you +will hear a word from me, you lucky devil, to break such a rose without +thorns as this one here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For to-day, my dear woman," concluded Vreni, "take this bundle along, +as we agreed yesterday, and keep it till I send for it. But it may be +that I myself come for it, in my own carriage, and get it, if you have +no objection. A drink of milk you will not refuse me in that case, and +a nice cake, such as perhaps an almond tart, I shall probably bring +along myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You blessed child, give it here, your bundle," the peasant woman +quavered, still completely under the influence of Vreni's eloquence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni therefore deposited on top of the bedding which the woman had +already tied up, a huge bag containing all the girl's belongings, so +that the stout-limbed woman was bearing a perfect tower of shaking and +trembling baggage on her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is almost too much for me to carry at once," she complained. "Could +I not come again and divide the load in halves?" she wanted to know.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," answered Vreni, "we must leave here at once, for we have to +visit a whole number of wealthy relatives, and some of these are far +away, the kind, you know, who have now recognized us since we have +become rich ourselves. You know how the world wags."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed," said the woman, "I do know, and so God keep you, and +think of me now and then in your glorious new state."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the peasant woman trundled off with her monstrously high tower of +bundles, preserving its equilibrium by skillfully balancing the weight, +and behind her trudged her boy, who stood up in the center of Vreni's +gaily painted bedstead, his hard head braced against the baldaquin of +it in which the eye beheld stars and suns in a firmament of +multicolored muslin, and like another Samson, grasping with his red +fists the two prettily carved slender pillars in front which supported +the whole. As Vreni, leaning against Sali, watched the procession +meandering down between the gardens of the nearer houses, and the +aforesaid little temple forming part of her whilom bedstead, she +remarked: "That would still make a fine little arbor or garden pavilion +if placed in the midst of a sunny garden, with a small table and a +bench inside, and quickly growing vines planted around. Eh, Sali, +wouldn't you like to sit there with me in the shade?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes, Vreni," said he, smiling, "especially if the vines once had +grown to a size."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But why not go now?" continued she. "Nothing more is holding us here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," he assented. "Come, then, and lock up the house. But to whom +will you deliver up the key?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni looked around. "Here to this halberd let us hang it. For more +than a century it has been in our house, as I've often heard father +say. Now it stands at the door as the last sentinel."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they hung the rusty key of the housedoor to one of the rustier +curves of the stout weapon, which was fairly overgrown with bean vines, +and sallied forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">But after all Vreni grew faint, and Sali had to support her the first +score steps, the parting with the place where her cradle had stood +making her sad. But she did not look back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are we bound for first?" she wanted to know.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us make a regular excursion across the country," said Sali, "and +stop at a spot where we shall be comfortable all day long. And don't +let us hurry. Towards evening we shall easily be able to find a dance +going on."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good," answered Vreni. "Thus we shall be together the whole day, and +go where we like. But above all, I feel quite faint. Let us stop in the +next village and get some coffee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," said the young man. "But let us first get away from here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Soon they were in the open, fields of ripe, waving corn or else of +fresh stubble around them, and went along, quietly and full of deep +contentment, close to each other, breathing the pure air as though +freed from prison walls. It was a delicious Sunday morning in +September. There was not a cloud to be seen in the sky of deep azure, +and in the distance the hills and woods were enwrapped in a delicate +haze, so that the whole landscape looked more solemn and mysterious. +From everywhere the tolling of the church bells was heard, the +harmonious deep tones of a big swinging bell belonging to a wealthy +congregation, or the talkative two small bells of a poor village that +made fast time to create any impression at all. The lovers forgot +completely as to what was to become of them at the end of this rare +day, forgot the disturbing uncertainties of their young lives, and gave +themselves up completely to the intoxicating delights of the moment, +sank their very souls in a calm joy that knew no words and no fears. +Neatly clothed, free to come or go, like two happy ones who before God +and men belong to each other by all rights, they went forth into the +still Sunday country side. Each slight sound or call, reverberating and +finally losing itself in the general silence, shook their hearts as +though the strings of a harp had been touched by divine fingers. For +Love is a musical instrument which makes resound the farthest and the +most indifferent subjects and changes them into a music all its own.</p> + +<p class="normal">Though both were hungry and faint, the half hour's walk to the next +village seemed to them but a step, and they entered slowly the little +inn that stood at the entrance to the place.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali ordered a substantial and appetizing breakfast, and while it was +being prepared they observed, quiet as two mice, the interior of this +homely place of entertainment, everything in it being scrupulously +clean and orderly, from the walls and tables and napkins to the hearth +and floor. The guest room itself was large and airy, and the window +panes glittered in the furtive rays of the sun. The host of the inn was +at the same time a baker, and his last baking, just out of the oven, +spread a delicious odor through the whole house. Stacks of fresh loaves +were carried past them in clean baskets, since after church service the +members of the congregation were in the habit of getting here their +white bread or to drink their noon shoppen. The hostess, a rather +handsome and neat woman, dressed in their Sunday finery all her little +brood of children, leisurely and pleasantly, and as she was done with +one more of the little ones, the latter, proud and glad, would come +running to Vreni, showing her all their finery, and innocently boasting +and bragging of their belongings and of all else they held precious.</p> + +<p class="normal">When at last the fragrant coffee was brought and served for them, +together with other good things, at a convenient table, the two young +people sat down somewhat embarrassed, just as if they had been invited +as honored guests to do so. But they got over this mood, and whispered +to each other modestly but happily, feeling the joy of each other's +presence. And oh, how Vreni enjoyed her breakfast, the strong coffee, +the cream, the fresh rolls still warm from the oven, the rich butter +and the honey, the omelet, and all the other splendid things dished up +for them. Delicious it all tasted, not only because she had been really +hungry, but because she could look all the while at Sali, and she ate +and ate, as if she had been fasting for a whole year.</p> + +<p class="normal">With that she also took pleasure in the pretty service, the fine cups +and saucers and dishes, the dainty silver spoons, and the snowy linen. +For the hostess seemed to have made up her mind about these two, and +she evidently regarded them as young people of good family, who were to +be waited upon in proper style, and several times she came and sat down +by them, chatting most agreeably, and both Sali and Vreni answered her +sensibly, whereat the woman became still more affable. And Vreni felt +the wholesome influence of all this so strongly, and a sense of snug +comfort coursed so pleasantly through her veins that she in her mind +found it hard to choose between the delights of wandering about in the +woods and fields, hand in hand with her lover, or remaining for some +time longer here in this inn, in this haven of rest and creature +comfort, honored and respected and dreaming herself into the illusion +of owning such a nice home as this herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Sali himself rendered the choice easier, for in a perfectly proper +and rather husbandlike manner he urged departure, just as though they +had duties to fulfil elsewhere. Both host and hostess saw the young +couple to the door, and bade them good-by in the most orthodox and +well-meaning way, and Vreni, too, showed her manners and reciprocated +their courtesy like one to the manner born, then following Sali in most +decent and moral style. But even after reaching the open country once +more and entering an oak forest a couple of miles long, both of them +were still under the influence of the spell, and they went along in a +dreamy mood, just as though they both did not come from homes destroyed +and filled with hatred and discord, but from happy and harmonious +homes, expecting from life the near fulfilment of all their rosy hopes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni bent her pretty head down on her flower-bedecked bosom, deep in +thought, and went along the smooth, damp woodpath with hands carefully +held along her sides, while Sali stepped along elastic and upright, +quick and thoughtful, his eyes fastened to the oak trunks ahead of him, +like a well-to-do peasant reflecting on the problem which of these +trees it would best pay to cut down and which to leave. But at last +they awoke from these vain dreams, glanced at each other and discovered +that they were still maintaining the attitude with which they had left +the inn. Then they both blushed and their heads drooped in melancholy +fashion. Youth, however, soon reasserted itself. The woods were green, +the sky overhead faultlessly blue, and they were alone by themselves in +the world, and thus they soon drifted back into that train of thought. +But they did not long remain by themselves, since this attractive +forest road began to be alive with groups and couples out for a bracing +walk in the cool shade, most of them returning from service in church, +and nearly all of these were singing gay worldly tunes, trifling and +joking with each other. For in these parts it so happens that the +rustics have their customary walks and promenades as well as the city +dwellers, to which they resort at leisure, only with this great +difference that their pleasure grounds cost nothing to maintain and +that these are finer in every way, since Nature alone has made them. +Not alone do they stroll about on Sundays through fields and meadows +and woods with a peculiar sense of freedom and recreation, taking stock +of their ripening crops and the prospects of the harvest to come, but +they also choose with unerring taste excursions along the edge of +forest or meadow, hill or dale, sit down for a brief rest on the summit +of a height, whence they enjoy a fine view, or sing in chorus at +another suitable spot, and certainly obtain fully as much, if not more, +pleasure out of all this as town folk do. And since they do all this, +not as labor but diversion, one must conclude that these rustics, +despite of what has often been claimed to the contrary, are lovers of +nature, aside from the strictly utilitarian view of it. And always they +break off something green and living, young and old, even weak and +decrepit women, when they revisit the scenes of long ago, and the same +spirit is seen in the habit that these country people have, including +sedate men of business, of cutting for themselves a slender rod of +hazel, or a snappy cane, whenever they walk through woods or forest, +and these they will peel all but a small bunch of green leaves at the +point. Such rods or twigs they will bear as though it were a sceptre, +and when they enter an office or public place they will put them in a +corner of the room, and never forget to get them again, even after the +most serious and important matters have been discussed, and to take +them along with them home. And it is then only the privilege of the +youngest of their boys to seize it, break it, play with it, in fine, +destroy it.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Sali and Vreni noticed these many couples out for a holiday +stroll, they laughed to themselves, and rejoiced that they, too, were +such a happy pair; they lost themselves on side paths that led away +from every noise, and there they felt protected by the green solitude. +They remained where they liked, went on or rested again for a spell, +and in unison with the sky overhead which was cloudless, no carking +care came to disturb their serenity. This state of perfect, unalloyed +bliss lasted for them for hours, and they for the time forgot wholly +whence they came and whither they were going, and behaved with such a +degree of decorum that Vreni's little posy actually remained as fresh +and intact as it had been early in the morning, and her plain Sunday +dress showed neither crease nor stain. As to Sali, he behaved all this +time not like a youthful rustic of less than twenty, nor like the son +of a broken-down tavern keeper, but rather like a youth a couple of +years younger and quite innocent, withal of the best education. It was +almost comical to observe his conduct towards his merry Vreni, looking +at her with a touching mixture of tenderness, respect and care. For +these two lovers, so unsophisticated and so entirely without guile, +somehow understood how to run in the course of this one day of perfect +joy vouchsafed them through all the gamut of love, and to make up not +alone for the earlier and more poetic stages of it but also to taste +its bitter and ultimate end with its passionate sacrifice of life +itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus they thoroughly tired themselves running about part of the day, +and hunger had come a second time that day when, from the crest of a +shady mountain, they at last perceived, far down at their feet, a +village of some size lying there in the glow of the westering sun. +Rapidly they made the descent, and entered the village just as +decorously as they had done the other earlier in the day. Nobody was +about that knew them even by sight, for Vreni particularly had scarcely +at all mingled with people during the last few years, nor had she been +off on visits to other villages. Therefore they presented entirely the +appearance of a decent young couple out on an errand of importance.</p> + +<p class="normal">They went to the best inn of the place, and there Sali at once ordered +a good and substantial meal. A table was specially reserved for them, +and everything needful was there laid out and they sat down again +demurely in the corner and eyed the trappings and furniture of the +handsome room, with its wainscoted walls of polished walnut, the +well-appointed sideboard of the same wood, and the filmy window +curtains of white lace. The hostess stepped up to them in a sociable +manner, and set a vase full of fresh flowers on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Until the soup is ready," she said pleasantly, "you may like to feast +your eyes on these flowers from our garden. From all appearance, if you +don't mind my curiosity, you are a young couple on their way to town to +get married to-morrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni blushed furiously, and did not dare raise her head. Nor did Sali +say anything in reply, and the hostess continued: "Well, of course, you +are both still very young. But young love, long life, as the saying is, +and at least you are both good-looking enough and need not hide +yourselves from people. If you will but work and strive together like +sensible folk, you may succeed in life before you know it, for youth is +a good thing, and so are diligence and faith in one another. But that, +of course, is necessary, for there will come also days you will not +like, many days, many days. But after all, life is pleasant enough, if +one but understands how to make a proper use of it. And don't mind my +chatter, you young people, but it does me good to look at you two, so +handsome and young."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then the waitress brought in the soup, and since she had overheard +the concluding phrases, and would herself have liked to get married, +she regarded Vreni with envious eyes, for she begrudged her what she +assumed was so soon in store for this young girl. She retired +precipitately into the adjoining room, and there she let her tongue go +clacking. To the hostess who was busy there with some household task, +she said, so loud as to be distinctly heard by the young people: "Yes, +these are indeed the right kind of people to go to town and hurry up +marrying, without a penny, without friends, without dowry, and with +nothing in view but misery and beggary! What in the world is to become +of such people if the girl is still so young that she does not even +know how to put on her frock or jacket, nor how to cook a plate of +soup! Oh, what fools! But I feel sorry for the young fellow, such a +good-looking fellow he is, and then to get a little ignorant doll like +that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sh-sh--will you keep your mouth shut, you evil-mouthed slut," broke in +the indignant hostess. "Don't you dare say anything against them. I am +pretty sure that is a deserving young couple, and I will not hear them +wronged. Probably they are from the mountains where the factories are, +and while they are not dressed richly they look neat and cleanly, and +if only they are fond of each other and not afraid of work, they will +get along better than you with your bitter tongue. And that I will tell +you--you'll have to wait a long while before anybody will take you, +unless you change considerably, you vinegary old thing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus it was that Vreni tasted all the delights of a bride on her +wedding trip: the well-meaning conversation of an experienced and +sensible woman, the jealousy of a wicked and man-crazy person, one who +from anger at the bride praises and sympathizes with the lover, and an +appetizing meal at the side of this same lover. She glowed in the face +like a carnation, her heart beat like a trip hammer, but she ate and +drank nevertheless with a perfectly normal appetite, and was all the +more amiable with the waitress who served them, but could not help on +such occasions looking tenderly at Sali, and whispering to him, so that +he also began to feel rather amorous. However, they sat a long time +over their meal, delaying its end, as though they were both unwilling +to destroy the lovely deception. The hostess came and brought them for +dessert all sorts of sweet cakes and other dainties, and Sali ordered +rarer and more fiery wine, so that the choice liquor ran through +Vreni's veins like a flame, albeit she was cautious and sipped it but +sparingly and kept up the semblance of a chaste and prudent young +bride. Half of this was natural cunning on her part; but as for the +other half, she felt indeed as if the rôle were reality, and what with +anxiety and what with ardent love for Sali she thought her little heart +would burst, so that the walls seemed to her too narrow, and she begged +him to go. And they went off. It was now as if they were afraid to turn +aside from the main road and into side paths, where they would be by +themselves, for they continued on the highway, right through the throng +of pleasure seekers, not looking to right or left. But when they had +left the village behind them and were on their way towards the next, +where kermess was being celebrated, Vreni linked her arm in his and +whispered: "Sali, why not belong altogether one to the other and be +happy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Sali answered, fastening his dreamy eyes upon the sun-flooded +valley below where the meadows showed like a purple carpet of +wildflowers, "Ah, why not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And they instantly stopped in the road, and wanted to kiss each other. +But suddenly a group of passers-by broke out of the near woods, and +then they felt shy and desisted. On they went towards the big village +in which the bustle of kermess was already noticeable from afar. The +lanes were crowded, and before the most considerable tavern of the +place a multitude of noisy, shouting people were assembled. From inside +the tavern the strains of a lively, gay tune were heard. For the young +villagers had begun dancing shortly after the noon hour, and on an open +square in front of the tavern a market had been established where all +sorts of sweets were for sale, and in another couple of booths could be +seen flimsy bits of finery, ornaments, silk kerchiefs and the like, and +around these were to be seen children and some others who for the +moment were content to be mere observers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali and Vreni also stepped up to these booths, and they let their eyes +travel over all these things. For both had instantly put their hands in +their pockets and each wanted to present the other with a little gift, +since that was the first and only time they had been together at a +fair. Sali, therefore, bought a big house of gingerbread, the walls of +which were calsomined with a mixture of butter and melted sugar, and on +the green roof of which were perching snow-white pigeons, while from +the chimney a small cupid was peeping forth clad as a chimney sweep. At +the open windows of this wonderful house plump-cheeked persons with +diminutive red mouths were embracing each other most affectionately, +the kissing process being represented by the gingerbread artist by a +sort of double mouth, or twins, one melting into the other. Black +points meant eyes, and on the pinky-red housedoor there could be read +the following touching stanzas:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">Enter my house, beloved,<br> +Yet do not thou forget<br> +That all the coin accepted<br> +Is kisses sweet, you bet.</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">His sweetheart said: "Oh, dear one,<br> +This threat does not deter!<br> +My love for thee is greater<br> +Than any kind of fare.</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">"And come to think it over,<br> +'Twas kisses I did seek."<br> +Well, then, step in, my lady,<br> +And let thy lips now speak.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">A gentleman in a blue frock coat and a lady with an expansive bosom +thus complimented each other by these rhymes into the house; both were +painted to right and left of the wall. Vreni on her part presented Sali +with a gingerbread heart, on which on either side these verses were +pasted:</p> +<div class="poem" style="margin-left:.25in"> + +<p class="t0">A sweet, sweet almond pierces my heart, as you see,<br> +But sweeter far than almonds is my love for thee.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0">When thou my heart hast eaten,<br> +Oh, let me not disguise<br> +That sooner than my love can break<br> +Will break my nutbrown eyes.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Both of them eagerly read these verses, and never had rhymes, never had +any kind of poetry, been more deeply felt and appreciated than were +these gingerbread stanzas. They could not help fancying that they had +been specially written for them, for they fitted so marvelously their +requirements.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, you give me a house," sighed Vreni. "But I have first made thee a +gift of one myself, and of the real one. For our hearts are now our +sole dwellings, and within them we live, and we carry our houses about +with us wherever we may go, just like the snail. Other abode we have +none left now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But then we are snails really, of which each carries the house of the +other," replied Sali.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we must never leave each other, for fear that we lose the other's +house," answered Vreni.</p> + +<p class="normal">They did not notice that they themselves were perpetrating the same +species of humor as was spread out on the printed pasters of the +gingerbread literature. So they continued to study the latter with deep +interest. The most pathetic sentiments, both agreed, were found on the +heartshaped cakes, whereof there was a great choice, both plain and +ornamental, small and large. All the verses they read seemed to them +wonderfully apt and appropriate to the occasion. When Vreni read on a +gilt heart which like a lyre bore strings:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">My heart is like a fiddlestring,<br> +Touch gently it and it will sing,</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">she could not refrain from remarking: "How true that is! Why, I can +hear my own heart making music!"</p> + +<p class="normal">An image of Napoleon in gingerbread was also there, and even this, +instead of speaking in heroic measure, symbolized a love-smitten swain, +for it declared in wretched rhyme:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">Terrific was Napoleon's might,<br> +His sword of steel, his heart was light;<br> +My love is sweet like any rose,<br> +Yet is she faithful, goodness knows.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">But while both seemed busy sounding all the depths of these appeals to +the muses, they secretly made a purchase. Sali bought for Vreni a small +gift ring, with a stone of green glass, and Vreni a ring fashioned out +of chamois horn, in which a gold forget-me-not was cleverly inlaid. +Probably both were moved with the same idea, that of a farewell gift.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, while they thus were entirely engrossed with these things they +had not remarked that a wide ring was forming gradually around them +made up of people who watched them closely and curiously. For as quite +a number of lads and lasses from their own village had come to the +kermess, they had been recognized, and these all now stood at some +little distance away from them, regarding with astonishment this neatly +dressed couple that in their intense preoccupation had eyes for nothing +else in the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just look," the murmuring went round; "why, that is Vreni Marti and +Sali from town. They surely have met and made up. And what tenderness, +what friendship for one another! Only notice!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The amazement of these onlookers was strangely mingled of pity with the +ill-fortune of the young couple, of disdain for the wickedness and +poverty of their parents, and of envy for the happiness and deep +affection of these two. For it struck these coarse materialistic +rustics that the couple were fond of each other in a manner most +unusual in their own circles, excited to an uncommon degree and so +taken up with one another and indifferent to all else, as to make them +almost appear to belong to a more aristocratic sphere, so that +altogether they seemed singular and strange to these gross villagers.</p> + +<p class="normal">When therefore Sali and Vreni finally awoke from their dreams and threw +a glance around, they saw nothing but staring faces. Nobody greeted +them; and they themselves knew not whether to salute anyone of these +former acquaintances, whose show of unfriendliness was, just the same, +not so much design as astonishment. Vreni became afraid and blushed +from sheer embarrassment, but Sali took her hand and led her away. And +the poor girl followed him willingly, bearing in her hand the huge +gingerbread cottage, although the trumpets and horns from inside the +inn sounded so invitingly, and although she was most anxious and eager +to dance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We cannot dance here," said Sali, when they had been going some little +distance aside, "for there would not be any amusement in it under the +circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right," Vreni said sadly, "and I really think now we had +better drop the whole idea and I will try and find a place for me to +stay overnight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," Sali cried, "you must have a chance to dance for once. For that, +too, I brought you the shoes. Let us go where the poor folks are having +a good time, since we, too, belong to them. They will not look down on +us. At every kermess here there is also dancing at the Paradise Garden, +since it belongs to this parish, and we are going there, and you can, +if it comes to the worst, also find a bed to sleep there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni shuddered at the thought of having to sleep for the first time of +her young life in a place where nobody knew her. But she followed +without a murmur where Sali led her. Was he not everything in the world +to her now? The so-called Paradise Garden was a house of entertainment +situated in a beautiful spot, lying all by itself at the side of a +mountain from which one had a view far over the whole country. But on +holidays like this only the poorer classes, the children of small +farmers and of day laborers, even vagrants, used to resort to it. A +hundred years before a wealthy man of queer habits had built it as a +summer villa for himself, and nobody had succeeded him as tenant, and +since the house could not be used for anything else, the whole place +after a while began to decay, and so finally it got into the hands of +an innkeeper who managed it in his own peculiar way.</p> + +<p class="normal">The name alone and the style of architecture had remained. The house +itself consisted of but one story, and on top of that an open loggia +had been erected, the roof of which was borne on the four corners by +statues of sandstone. These were meant for the four archangels and were +wholly defaced. At the edge of the roof could be seen all about small +angels carved of the same material and all of them playing some musical +instrument, the angels themselves showing monstrous heads and big +paunches, fiddling, touching the triangle, blowing the flute, striking +the cymbal or the tambourine; these instruments had originally been +gilt. The ceiling inside and the low sidewalls, as well as all the rest +of the house were still covered with rather dingy fresco paintings, and +these represented dancing and singing saints. But all of it had +suffered from the weather and the rain, and was now as indistinct and +chaotic as a dream itself. And besides, all over the walls clambered +grapevines, and at this time of year purplish ripening grapes peeped +forth from between the foliage. All about the house itself there stood +chestnut trees, and gnarled big rosebushes, growing wildly after a +fashion of their own, just as lilac bushes would grow elsewhere.</p> + +<p class="normal">The loggia served as dance hall, and as Vreni and Sali came in sight of +the building they could notice the dancing couples turning around and +around under the open roof, and outside, under the trees, drinking, +shouting and noisy men and women were disporting themselves. It was a +merry throng.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni, who was carrying in her hand, demurely and almost piously, her +wonderful gingerbread palace, resembled one of those ancient and +sainted church patronesses sometimes seen in missals, with a model of +the cathedral or other devout foundation displayed which would earn her +the Church's benediction. But as soon as she heard the wild music that +came down in a tumbling stream from the loggia, the poor thing forgot +her grief. Suddenly all alive she demanded rapturously that Sali should +dance with her. They pushed their way through all these people that +were crowding the environs of the house and the lower floor, these +being mostly ragged people from Seldwyla, with some who had been making +a cheap excursion into the country, and all sorts of homeless vagrants. +Then they ascended the stairs and at once after arriving on top they +seized each other and were whirling away in a lively waltz. Not an eye +did they give to their surroundings until the music came to a temporary +halt. Then they stopped and turned around. Vreni had crushed her +gingerbread house, and was just going to shed a few tears on that +account when she noticed the black fiddler, and now felt a veritable +terror.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was seated near them, upon a bench which itself stood upon a big +table, and he looked just as black and tawny as ever. But to-day he +wore a bunch of green holly and pine in his funny little hat, and at +his feet there stood a big bottle of claret and a tumbler, and he did +not in the least touch either of these with his feet, although he was +forever kicking up his legs to keep the tune while fiddling. Next to +him sat a handsome young man with a French horn, but the young man +looked melancholy, and a hunchback there also was, standing next a bass +viol. Sali also had a fright in seeing the black fiddler, but the +latter greeted them both in the friendliest manner and called out to +them: "You see I knew that some day I should play to your dancing, just +as I said when I last met you. And now, you darlings, I trust you'll +have a good time, and take a drink with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He offered the full glass to Sali, who accepted it, emptied it and +thanked the fiddler. And when he saw that Vreni was badly scared at +seeing him, he did his best to reassure her, and jested with her in a +rather nice way, until he had made her laugh. Thereupon Vreni recovered +her courage, and both of them felt rather glad that they had an +acquaintance there and were in a certain sense standing under the +special protection of the black fellow. Then they danced steadily, +forgetting themselves and the whole world in the constant twirling, +singing, shouting and general noise, a noise which rolled down the hill +and over the whole landscape which gradually began to be shrouded in a +silvery autumn haze. They danced until twilight, when most of the merry +guests disappeared, unsteady on their feet and shouting at the top of +their voices. Those still remaining were the vagrants and stragglers, +houseless and strongly inclined to turn night into day. Amongst these +there were some who seemed on very friendly terms with the black +fiddler and who for the most part looked outlandish because of oddities +of costume. There was, for instance, a young man in a green corduroy +jacket and a tattered straw hat, who wore around the crown of the +latter a wreath of wild scarlet berries. He again had with him a savage +sort of female who wore a skirt of cherry-red chintz and had a hoop +made of young grapevine tied around her temples, so that at each side +of her face hung a bunch of grapes. This couple was the jolliest of +all, to be met with everywhere, and was dancing and singing without a +stop. Then there was a slender, graceful girl there, wearing a thin +silk dress and a white cloth on her head, the ends of which fell on her +shoulders. The cloth had evidently once been a napkin or towel. But +below this doubtful cloth there glowed a pair of magnificent eyes of +deep violet hue. Around her neck this extravagant person wore a sixfold +chain of the same autumnal berries, and this ornament suited her +complexion marvelously well. This strange woman was dancing perpetually +with none but herself, whirling almost unintermittently, with great +grace and a very light step, refusing every partner that offered +himself. Every time she passed in her dancing the sad hornblower she +smiled, and the musician turned away his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some other gay women or girls there were, together with their escorts, +all of them poorly or fantastically clad, but with all that they +assuredly enjoyed themselves greatly, and there seemed to be perfect +accord among them all. When it had turned completely dark the host +refused to furnish light for illumination, since the wind would blow +the candles out anyway, and besides the full-moon would be out in a +short spell, and for the present company, he claimed, the moonlight was +ample. This declaration, instead of being opposed, caused general +satisfaction among this mongrel crowd; they all stood up at the open +sides of the dance hall and watched the moon rise in her full splendor, +and when the new golden light flooded the wide hall, dancing was +resumed with great earnestness. And so quiet, good-natured and +well-mannered was it done as if they were turning under the light of a +hundred wax candles. This singular light, too, made them all more +intimately acquainted with each other, as though they had known them +for years, and thus it was that Sali and Vreni could not very well +avoid mingling with the rest and dancing with other partners. But +whenever they had been separated for just a short while they flew and +rejoined the other without delay, and felt delighted thereat. Sali made +a sad face at this, and when dancing with another person would turn +toward Vreni. But she would not notice that, but would glide along like +a fairy, her features transfigured with pleasure, and her whole soul +enraptured with the swaying motions of the dance, no matter who her +partner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you jealous, Sali?" she asked smilingly, when the musicians took a +longer rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not the least," he replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then why are you so angry when I'm dancing with somebody else?" she +wanted to know.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not angry because of that," he said, "but only because I am +forced to dance with another person but you. I cannot feel pleasant +towards another girl. In fact, I feel just as though I had a block of +wood in my arms if it is anybody but you. And you? How do you feel +about that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I feel as though I were in heaven so long as I merely can dance +and know that you are present," replied Vreni. "But I believe I should +at once fall down dead if you went and left me here by myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had gone down from the dance hall and were now standing in the +grounds before the house. Vreni put both her arms around his neck, +pressed her slender trembling body against him, and put her burning +cheek, wet from hot tears, to his, sobbing out: "We cannot marry, and +yet I cannot leave you, not for a moment, not for a minute."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali embraced the girl, pressed her ardently against his heart, and +covered her with kisses. His confused thoughts were struggling for some +way out of the labyrinth that encompassed them both, but he saw none. +Even if the blot of his family misery and his neglected education were +not weighing against him, his extreme youth and his ardent passion +would have prevented a long period of patience and self-denial, and +then there would still have been his misfortune in having injured +Vreni's father for life. The consciousness that happiness for himself +and her was, after all, to be found only in a union honest, blameless +and approved by the whole world, was just as much alive in him as in +Vreni. In her case as in his, two beings ostracized by all, these +reflections were like the last flaring up of their lost family honor, +an honor that had been blazing for centuries in their respectable +houses like a living flame, and which their fathers had involuntarily +extinguished and destroyed by a misdeed which at the time had been +committed more in thoughtlessness than with malice aforethought. For +when they, in the attempt to enlarge their holdings by a piece of +dishonesty that seemed at the time wholly without risk and not likely +to entail serious consequences, had been guilty of a wrong to a person +that had been universally given up as lost, they had done something +which many of their otherwise correct neighbors would, under the same +circumstances, likewise have done.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such wrongs as that are indeed perpetrated every day in the year, on a +large or a small scale. But once in a while Fate furnishes an example +of how two such transgressors against the honor of their houses and +against the property of another may oppose each other, and then these +will unfailingly fight to the death and devour one the other like two +savage beasts. For those who furtively or forcibly increase their +estate may commit such fateful blunders not only when they are seated +on thrones and then apply a high-sounding name to their lust and their +misdeed, but the same in substance is often done as well in the +humblest hut, and both categories of sinners frequently accomplish the +very reverse of what they aimed at, and their shield of honor then +becomes overnight a tablet of shame. But Sali and Vreni had both of +them, when still children, seen and cherished the honor of their +families, and well remembered how well they themselves were taken care +of and how respected and highly considered their fathers had been in +those days.</p> + +<p class="normal">Later they had been separated for long years, and when they met again +they saw in each other also the lost honor and luck of their houses, +and that instinctive feeling had helped to make them cling to each +other all the more tenaciously. They longed indeed, both of them, for +happiness and joy, but only if it might be done legitimately and in the +sight of all; yet at the same time their ardent affection for each +other could not be suppressed and their senses, their bounding blood, +called loudly for the consummation of their desires.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now it is night," said Vreni in a low tone of voice, "and we will have +to part."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, I am to go home now and leave you alone?" retorted Sali. "No, +that can never be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what then?" said Vreni, plaintively. "Tomorrow morning by daylight +things will look no better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me give you a piece of advice," a shrill voice suddenly was heard +behind them. It was the black fiddler, who now came up to them. "You +foolish young things! There you are now, and you know not what to do +with yourselves, although you are fond of each other. Yet nothing +easier than that. I advise you to delay no more. Let one take the +other, just as you are. Come along with me and my good friends here, +right into the mountains, for there you need no priest, no money, no +documents, no honor, no dowry, no bed and no wedding--nothing but your +mutual good will. Don't get frightened. Things are not at all so bad +with us. Pure air and enough to eat, provided one is not afraid to +work. The green woods are our home, and there we love and keep house +just as we wish. During the winter we lie snug in some warm, cosy den +of our own contriving, or else we creep into the warm hay of the +peasants. Therefore, lose no time. Keep your wedding right now and +here, and then come along with us, and you are rid of all your cares, +and may belong to each other forever and aye, or at least as long as +you want to. For have no fear--you'll grow old with us; our style of +life procures good strong health, you may well believe me. And don't +think, you silly young folk, that I am bearing you a grudge because of +what your fathers have done to me. No indeed. Of course, it gives me +pleasure to see you arrived there where you now are. But with that I +rest content, and I promise you to help and aid you in all sorts of +ways if you will only be guided by me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He said all this in a sincere and well-meaning tone. "Well, think it +over, if you wish, for a spell," he encouraged them still further, "but +follow my counsel if you are wise. Let the world go, and belong to each +other and ask nobody's consent. Think of the gay bridal bed in the deep +forest glade, and of the comfortable hay barn in winter." And saying +which he disappeared again in the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Vreni was trembling like aspen in Sali's arms, and he asked her: +"What do you think of all that? To me it seems indeed it would be best +to let the whole world go hang, and to love each other without +hindrance and fear."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Sali said this more jokingly than in earnest. Vreni, on the other +hand, took it all seriously, kissed him and replied: "No, I should not +like that. These people do not act according to my notions. That young +man with the French horn, for instance, and the girl in the silk skirt +also belong together in that way, and are said to have been very much +in love. But last week, it seems, she has been, for the first time, +unfaithful to her lover, and he grieves greatly on that account, and he +is angry at her and at the others, but they merely ridicule him. And +she is imposing a kind of self-inflicted and ludicrous penance on +herself by dancing all alone, without any partner, and without speaking +to anyone, but that, too, is only making a fool of him. However, one +may see that the poor musician is going to make up with her this very +night. But I must say, I should not like to be with a company where +such doings are common, for I never could be unfaithful to you, +although I would not mind undergoing all else for the sake of +possessing you."</p> + +<p class="normal">For all that, poor Vreni, being held in Sali's arms, became more and +more feverish, for ever since noon when that hostess at the inn had +mistaken her for a bride, and she herself had not contradicted, this +alluring prospect had been burning in her veins, and the less hopeful +things seemed to turn for a realization of this idea, the more +relentlessly her pulses were hammering with expectation and desire. And +Sali was experiencing similar hallucinations, since the fiddler's +enticing remarks, while he meant not to listen to them, had also been +fuel to his passion. So he said in embarrassment to Vreni: "Let us go +inside for a spell. At least we must eat and drink something."</p> + +<p class="normal">They were greeted in entering the guest room where nobody had remained +but the fiddler's friends, the vagrants, which latter were seated about +a poor meal at table, by a merry chorus: "There comes our bridal pair!" +"Yes," added the fiddler, "now be friendly and comfortable, and we will +see you married."</p> + +<p class="normal">Urged to join the company the two young lovers did so rather +shamefacedly. But after a moment they began to brighten, and were glad +to be at least rid for the moment of the darker problem that was yet to +be solved. Sali ordered wine and some choicer dishes, and soon general +merriment spread among them all. The heretofore implacable lover had +become reconciled to his unfaithful one, and the couple now fondled and +caressed each other in reestablished ecstasy, while the giddy other +pair ceaselessly yodled, sang and guzzled, but they also did not forget +to give plain evidences of their amatory disposition. The fiddler and +the hunchback accompanied all this with a great deal of cheerful noise. +Sali and Vreni kept very close to each other, tightly holding hands, +and all at once the fiddler bade all the company be quiet, and a +jocular ceremony was performed signifying the union of the two young +people. They had to clasp hands, and the whole audience rose and, one +by one, stepped up to congratulate them and to bid them welcome within +their fraternity. They placidly submitted to it all, but said never a +word, and regarded the whole as a jest, while all the while a shudder +of voluptuous feeling ran through them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The merry company now became louder and more excited, the fiery wine +spurring them on, until at last the black fiddler urged departure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have a long way before us," he cried, "and it is past midnight. Up, +all of you! Let us solemnly escort the young bridal couple, and I +myself will open the procession. You will hear me fiddling as never +before."</p> + +<p class="normal">Since Sali and Vreni felt perfectly dazed, and scarcely knew what they +were doing in this hurly-burly around them, they did not protest when +they were made to head the file, the other two couples following, and +the hunchback, with his huge bass viol on his shoulder, being at its +tail end. The black fiddler, though, strode in advance, playing like a +man possessed, skipping down the steep hill path like a chamois, and +the others laughed, singing in chorus, and jumping from rock to rock. +Thus this nocturnal procession hastened on and on, through the quiet +fields and at last through the home village of Sali and Vreni, now sunk +in deep slumber.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they two came through the still lanes and past their abandoned +homes, a painfully savage mood seized them, and they danced and whirled +along with the others behind the fiddler, kissed, laughed and wept. +They also danced up the hill with the three fields that had tempted +their fathers to their ruin, the fiddler all the time leading, and on +its crest the dusky fiddler fell into a frenzy of fantastic melody, and +his train of followers jumped about like veritable demons. Even the +poor hunchback acted like demented. This quiet hill resounded with the +infernal noise of the whole crew, and it was a perfect witches' Sabbath +for a short while. The hunchback breathed hard and in a muffled voice +squeaked with delight, swinging his heavy instrument like a baton. In +their paroxysm none saw or heard the next.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Sali seized Vreni and thus forced her to halt. He imprinted a kiss +on her mouth, thus stopping her shouts of joy. At last she gathered his +meaning, and ceased struggling. They stood there, right on the spot +where they first had encountered the black fiddler, listening to the +wild music and to the singing and shrieking of the demoniac cortčge, as +the sounds gradually swept onwards down the hill towards the river +below. Nobody evidently had missed them in the midst of the whole +spook. The shrill tones of the fiddle, the laughter of the girls, and +the yodels of the men resounded for another spell through the night, +fainter and fainter, until at last the noise died away down by the +shores of the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have escaped those," now said Sali, "but how are we going to escape +from ourselves? How shall we separate, and how keep apart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni was not able to answer him. Breathing hard she lay on his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Had I not better take you back to the village, and wake some family in +order to make them take you in for the night? To-morrow you can leave +and look for some work. You'll be able to get along anywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But without you? Get along without you?" said the girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must forget me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never," she murmured sadly. "Never in my life." And she added, +glancing sternly at him: "Could you do that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not the point, dear heart," answered Sali, slow and distinct. +He caressed her feverish cheeks, while she kept pressing herself +against his bosom. "Let us only consider your own case. You, Vreni, are +still so very young, and quite likely you will fare well enough after a +short while."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you also--you ancient man," she said, smiling wistfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come!" now said Sali, and dragged her along. But they only went on a +few steps, and then they halted once more, the better to embrace and +kiss. The deep quiet of the world ran like music through their souls, +and the only sound to be heard around them was the gentle rush and +swish of the waves as they slowly went on further down the valley +below.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How beautiful it is around here! Listen! It seems to me there is +somebody far away singing in a low voice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, sweetheart; it is only the water softly flowing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet it seems there is some music--way out there, everywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think it is our own blood coursing that is deceiving our ears."</p> + +<p class="normal">But though they hearkened again and again, the solemn stillness +remained unbroken. The magic effect of the light of a resplendent full +moon was visible in the whole landscape, as the autumnal veil of fog +that rose in semi-transparent layers from the river shore mingled with +the silvery sheen, waving in grayish or bluish bands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly Vreni recalled something, and said: "Here, I have bought you +something to remember me by."</p> + +<p class="normal">And she gave him the plain little ring, and placed it on his finger. +Sali, too, found the little ring he had meant for her, and while he put +it on her hand, he said: "Thus we have had the same thought, you and +I."</p> + +<p class="normal">Vreni held up her hand into the silvery light of the moon and examined +the little token curiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, what a fine ring," she then said, laughing. "Now we are both +betrothed and wedded. You are my husband, and I'm your wife. Let us +imagine so, just long enough until that small cloud has passed the +moon, or else until we have counted twelve. You must kiss me twelve +times."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sali was surely fully as much in love as was Vreni, but the marriage +problem was, after all, not of such intense interest to him, not such a +question of Either--Or, of an immediate To Be or Not To Be, as it was +in the case of the girl. For Vreni could feel just then only that one +problem, saw in it with passionate energy life or death itself. But now +at last he began to see clearly into the very soul of his companion, +and the feminine desire in her became instantly with him a wild and +ardent longing, and his senses reeled under its potency. And while he +had previously caressed and embraced her with the strength and fervor +of a devoted lover, he did so now with an incomparably greater +abandonment to his passion. He held Vreni tightly to his beating heart, +and fairly overwhelmed her with endearments. In spite of her own love +fever, the girl with true feminine instinct at once became aware of +this change, and she began to tremble as with fear of the unknown. But +this feeling passed almost in a moment, and before even the cloud had +flitted over the moon's face her whole being was seized by the +whirlwind of his ardor, and engulfed in its depths. While both +struggled with and at the same time fondled the other, their beringed +hands met and seized the other as though at that supreme moment their +union was consummated without the consent of their will power. Sali's +heart knocked against its prison door like a living being; anon it +stood still, and he breathed with difficulty and said slow and in a +whisper: "There is one thing, only one thing, we can do, Vreni; we keep +our wedding this hour, and then we leave this world forever--there +below is the deep water--there is everlasting peace and fulfilment of +all our hopes--there nobody will divorce us again--and we have had our +dearest wish--have lived and died together--whether for long, whether +for short--we need not care--we are rid of all care--"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Vreni instantly responded. "Yes, Sali--what you say I also have +thought to myself--not once but constantly these days--I have dreamed +of it with my whole soul--we can die together, and then all this +torment is over--Swear to me, Sali, that you will do it with me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, dearest, it is as good as done--nobody shall take you from me now +but Death alone!" Thus the young man in his exaltation. But Vreni's +breath came quick and as if freed from an intolerable burden. Tears of +sweetest joy came to her eyes, and she rose with spontaneous alacrity +and, light as a bird, flew down towards the river side. Sali followed +her, thinking for a moment she wanted to escape him, while she fancied +he would wish to prevent her. Thus they both sprang down the steep +path, and Vreni laughed happily like a child that will not allow her +playmate to catch her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you sorry for it already?" Thus they both apostrophized the other, +as they in a twinkling had reached the river shore and seized hold of +each other. And both answered: "No, indeed, how can you think so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And carefree they now walked briskly along the river bank, and they +outdistanced the hastening waves, for thus keenly they sought a spot +where they could stay for a while. For in the trance of their +enthusiasm they knew of nothing but the bliss awaiting them in the full +possession of each other. The whole worth and meaning of their lives +just then condensed itself into that one supreme desire. What was to +follow it, death, eternal oblivion, was to them a mere nothing, a puff +of air, and they thought less of it than does the spendthrift think of +the morrow when wasting his last substance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My flowers shall precede me," cried Vreni, "only look! They are quite +withered and dusty!" And she plucked them from her bosom, cast them +into the water, and sang aloud: "But sweeter far than almonds is my +love for thee!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" called out Sali. "Here is our bridal chamber!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They had reached a road for vehicles which led from the village to the +river, and here there was a landing, and a big boat, laden high with +hay, was tied to an iron ring in the bank. In a reckless mood Sali +instantly set to freeing the ship from the strong ropes that held it to +the landing. But Vreni grasped his arm, and she shouted laughing: "What +are you about? Are we to wind up by stealing from the peasants their +haycock?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is to be the dowry they give us," replied Sali with humor. "See! +A swimming bedstead and a couch softer than any royal couple ever had. +Besides, they will recover their property unharmed somewhere near the +goal whither it was to travel anyway, and they will hardly trouble +their hard heads with the question how it got there. Do you notice, +dear, how the boat is swaying and rocking? It is impatient to start on +the journey."</p> + +<p class="normal">The ship lay a few paces off the shore in deeper water. Sali lifted +Vreni in his arms high up, and began to wade through the water towards +the boat. But she caressed him so fervently and wriggled like a fish on +the angle, that Sali was losing his footing in the rather strong +current. She strained her hands and arms in order to plunge them in the +water, crying: "I also want to try the cool water. Do you remember how +cold and moist our hands were when we first met? That time we had been +catching fish. Now we ourselves will be fish, and two big and handsome +ones to boot."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep still, you wriggling darling," said Sali, scarcely able to stand +up in the water, with his sweetheart tossing in his arms and the +current pulling at him, "or it will drag me under!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But now he lifted his pretty burden into the boat, and scrambled up its +side himself. Then he hoisted her up to the hay, packed in orderly +fashion in the middle, sweet-scented and downy like a vast pillow, and +next he swung himself up to her. When they both were thus enthroned on +their bridal bed the ship drifted gently into the middle of the stream, +and then, turning slowly, it headed sluggishly in an easterly +direction.</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The river flowed through dark woods, shadowing it; it flowed through +the fruitful plain, past quiet villages and hamlets and single +homesteads; there it broadened out like a still lake and the ship moved +but slightly downwards, and here it turned tall rocks and left the +slumbering landscape quickly behind. And when dawn broke there was in +sight at some distance a town rising with its age-worn towers and +steeples above the silver-gray river. The setting moon, red as gold, +cast a quivering track of light upstream towards the dim outlines of +the ancient city, and into this luminous bed the ship finally turned +its prow. When the houses of the town at last approached closely two +pale shapes, locked in a tight embrace, glided in the autumnal frost of +early morn from off the dark mass of the ship into the silent waters.</p> + +<p class="normal">The ship itself shortly after fetched up near a bridge, unharmed, and +remained there. When sometime later the two bodies, still locked in +each others' arms, were found, and details about the young man and his +sweetheart were learned, one might have read in the newspapers that +these two, the children of two ruined and impoverished families that +had lived in bitter enmity, had sought death in the water together +after dancing with great animation at a kermess. This event probably +was connected with the other fact that a boat laden with hay had landed +in town without anyone on board. It was supposed that the young couple +had cut loose the boat somewhere in order to hold their godforsaken +wedding on it. "Once again a proof of the spread of lawless and impious +passion among the lower classes." That was the concluding paragraph in +the newspaper report.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_01" href="#div2Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: Vreni, +Vreneli, Vreeli; Swiss diminutive forms of +Veronica.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seldwyla Folks, by Gottfried Keller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELDWYLA FOLKS *** + +***** This file should be named 34505-h.htm or 34505-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/0/34505/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Seldwyla Folks + Three Singular Tales + +Author: Gottfried Keller + +Translator: Wolf von Schierbrand + +Release Date: November 29, 2010 [EBook #34505] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELDWYLA FOLKS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + 1.Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/seldwylafolksthr00kellrich + + + + + + + SELDWYLA FOLKS + + THREE SINGULAR TALES + + + + + + + SELDWYLA FOLKS + + THREE SINGULAR TALES + + + + BY + THE SWISS POET + GOTTFRIED KELLER + + + + TRANSLATIONS BY + WOLF VON SCHIERBRAND, Ph.D. + + + + + NEW YORK + BRENTANO'S + PUBLISHERS + + + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BRENTANO'S + + * * * + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + PREFACE + + +Gottfried Keller may fitly be called the greatest narrative writer that +Switzerland has ever produced. Born July 19, 1819, near Zurich, he was +reared in direst poverty. By dint of the hardest labor and by +practicing the utmost frugality, his father was barely able to provide +bread for wife and children. But in the midst of this penury the genius +of his young son Gottfried expanded. As a mere child he gave already +unmistakable evidence of being a dreamer, a thinker, a philosopher, a +"fabulist," an artist. Just able to write, the little boy forever +scribbled poems and fanciful tales, made rapid sketches with pencil and +pen, portraits, caricatures, landscapes. At the village school he +imbibed knowledge like a sponge. Soon the gnarled old schoolmaster, +half peasant, half teacher, looked aghast at his little scholar: he had +no more to teach him. Generous friends sent the youth to Munich, there +to study art. For at that time his desire was to become a great +painter. Desperately and with fiery energy the young fellow devoted +himself to study, and his attainments were considerable. They would +fully have sufficed for a career as a mediocre portrait painter. But +his very excess of zeal led to surfeit, to exhaustion, to a period of +lethargy. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This fit of +listlessness lasted even for some time after Gottfried's return home. +All effort with him slackened. + +Patrons finally intervened. With their aid he went to Heidelberg, and +for two full years, 1848-1850, he there pursued literary and historical +research. The historian, Hettner, took great interest in the young +Swiss. Next he went to Berlin, and during the ensuing five years he +wrote and studied in a desultory manner there. Great attention was paid +him by Goethe's intimate friend, Varnhagen von Ense, and the latter's +wife, the "seeress," Rahel, who drew the shy young man into their wide +literary circle, comprising for two decades the _beaux esprits_ of the +capital. But his bluntness of speech, his sturdy Swiss republicanism, +often gave offense. + +For that was one of the remarkable points about Gottfried Keller: +despite his long residence on German soil and the flattering reception +accorded him by the intellectual _elite_ there, he remained a thorough +democrat, an uncompromising friend of the plain people, a fearless +champion of Swiss free government, a hater of tyranny in any form, a +despiser of monarchs and their favors. Among his poems, later collected +into a bulky tome, there are many that breathe defiance to royalty by +"divine grace." + +Much of this sentiment of anti-monarchism has crept into his first +great work, the "Gruener Heinrich." This, a sort of autobiography in +guise of a big novel, alive with adventure as well as thoughts on men +and things, he first published from 1854 to 1855, but it was afterward +recast in characteristic fashion, 1879-1881. In a manner of speaking, +his "Gruener Heinrich" is also a confession of faith. There are many +didactic passages in it; the whole book, in fact, breathes the +convictions of its author. This is still more the case with the last +great work from Keller's pen, "Martin Salander," where the frequent +political and social precepts interwoven into the text of the story +form, from the purely artistic viewpoint, a serious blemish. + +It is generally conceded that Keller's masterpiece is "Seldwyla Folks" +("Die Leute von Seldwyla"), which appeared in two sections, the first +of these in 1856, the second in 1874. From this group of weird, +fantastic tales the three forming the contents of this book are taken. +About the origin of the title Keller himself has written in his +inimitably oracular and whimsical style. The name and the town itself +are wholly fictitious. They represent a sort of collective traits of a +number of ancient, unprogressive Swiss towns, left head over heels in +medievalism, in outworn customs, with some peculiar features +exclusively their own. Each tale is a jewel cut and polished, a +distinctive literary entity, something that may not be duplicated +elsewhere in the whole realm of letters, with a full flavor of its own. +Where, for instance, in the literature of any tongue, is to be found a +humorous-sarcastic story of the raciness of "The Three Decent +Combmakers"? + +From 1861 to 1878 Keller filled, to the eminent satisfaction of his +countrymen, the important and remunerative office of "Staatsschreiber," +one that combined the duties of secretary of state with those of +custodian of documents and librarian for his native canton, which was +offered him in direct recognition of his literary merits. As such he +utilized for a cycle of semi-historical tales some of the most curious +records in his keeping, which are embalmed in his "Zurich Stories" +(Zuericher Novellen), 1877. In the year after that he retired from +office, and in 1882 appeared "The Epigram" (Das Sinngedicht), in 1883 +his "Seven Legends," based on some of the Lives of the Saints, +singularly humanized and modernized, and in 1886 finally "Martin +Salander," an intensely patriotic and peculiarly Helvetian novel. He +was also a master of the short story, a sadly neglected field in +Teutonic literature. + +Meanwhile, wherever German was understood or spoken the writings of +Gottfried Keller had found intense appreciation, at first slowly, then +more rapidly, and eminent German critics and authors, such as Theodore +Storm, Berthold Auerbach, F. Th. Vischer and others, had pronounced +themselves ardent admirers of his. But in 1890 he died, after a +lingering illness. + +The question may well be asked how it is that the literary lifework +of such a man as Gottfried Keller has for so many years been denied +the most sincere form of homage, that of translation, by the whole +non-German-speaking world. There may be additional reasons for this +seeming neglect, but I believe the chief one lies in the fact of the +unusual difficulty of the task. To cast the thoughts and conceits of an +individualistic writer into another vehicle of speech is in itself no +easy matter. But in the case of Gottfried Keller it is especially so. +For the man, as I took pains to point out, was a Swiss, not by any +manner of means a German. And not only is the subject matter of his +lyrical and epical output strongly tinged with Helvetism, but his very +language as well. The Swiss-German vernacular is more than a mere +dialect; it is almost a tongue of its own. On all but on the few solemn +and formal occasions of life the Swiss expresses himself in what he +terms "Schwyzer-Duetsch," which is indeed scarcely understood by persons +habituated to German proper, and even when the Swiss author perforce +drops into the latter he uses so many peculiarly Helvetian terms and +modes of speech, so many archaic saws, his whole method of handling the +language is so different that to reshape what he says into another +tongue without doing violence to the spirit, the soul, the flavor and +thus marring the translation irretrievably and doing gross injustice to +the original becomes doubly hard. + +I can only say that I have done in this respect what was humanly +possible. What the final result has turned out to be is for the court +of last resort, for the final arbiter, the reader, to say. + + W. V. S. + + + + + CONTENTS + + PREFACE + + THREE DECENT COMBMAKERS + + DIETEGEN + + ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE + + + + + + THE THREE DECENT COMBMAKERS + + + + + THE THREE DECENT + COMBMAKERS + + +The people of Seldwyla have furnished proof that a whole townful of the +unjust or frivolous may, after all, continue for ages to exist despite +changes of time and traffic; the three combmakers, though, demonstrate +as clearly that not even three decent human beings may manage to live +for a long stretch under one roof without getting their backs up. And +with decent, with just, is not by any means meant heavenly justice, nor +even the natural justice of the human conscience, but rather that +vacuous justice which from the Lord's Prayer has struck the plea: And +forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors! And this simply +because they never contract any debts whatever and cannot stand the +idea of debts. Indeed, also because they live to no one's harm, but +also to no one's pleasure; because, true enough, they work and earn +money, but will not spend a stuyver, and find in their laboring task +some small profit but never any joy. Such soberly decent chaps do not +smash window panes for the wicked fun of it, but neither do they ever +light any lanterns of their own, and no enlightenment proceeds from +them. They toil at all sorts of things, and one thing, to their minds, +is as good as another, so long as no risk or danger be involved. But +they prefer to settle in such places where there are many unjust in +their sense. For if left to themselves, without any mingling with the +said unjust, they would soon grind each other sorely, as do millstones +which lack corn between. And if at any time some piece of ill-luck +befalls them, they are greatly amazed and wail and whine as though +their last hour had come, inasmuch as they, so they say, have never +done harm to anyone. For they look upon this world of ours as a huge +and well-organized police department in which nobody need fear any fine +or punishment so long as he unfailingly sweeps his sidewalk, does not +leave flowerpots standing loosely on his window sill and does not pour +any water into the street. + +Now in Seldwyla there was a combmaking establishment the owner of which +habitually changed every fifth or sixth year, and this although it did +fair business when taken proper care of. For the small traders and +stand-keepers who attended the fairs in the neighborhood, obtained +there their horn wares. Beside the horn rasps and files, the implements +of various kinds, the most marvelous ornaments and back-combs of every +description for the use of the village belles and servant maids were +made there out of handsome transparent ox horns, and the rare skill of +the workmen (for, of course, the master never actually toiled himself) +consisted in branding and searing the close counterfeit of the most +artistically designed clouds of reddish brown tortoise shell, each +according to his conceit and fancy, so that, when admiring these combs +as the light played on their fantastic cumulations, it looked almost as +though the most magnificent sunups and sundowns were concealed within +the polished horn surface, rubicund gatherings of cloudlets, +thunderstorms and tornadoes, as well as still other varicolored +manifestations of the forces of Nature. + +In the summertime, when these proud artisans loved to wander over the +surface of the land and when they were scarce, they were treated with +courtesy by the masters, and received good board and wages. But during +the winter, at a time when they were looking for shelter and were +plentiful, they had to be humble, had to turn out combs till their very +pates smoked with the effort, and all for slender pay. During that +inauspicious season the mistress of the house one day after another +would put a big dish of sourkrout on the table, and the master himself +would then say: "These are fish!" And if at such a time any fellow was +rash enough to remark: "With your permission, this is sourkrout!" he +was instantly handed his walking papers and had to issue forth into the +dreary winter landscape. However, as soon as the meadows once more +turned green and the roads became passable, they all said: "All the +same, it's sourkrout!" and made up their bundle. For even in case the +mistress instantly threw a boiled ham on top of the smoking sourkrout, +and the master would murmur: "Goodness, I thought all along it was +fish! But this time, surely, it is a ham!" nevertheless the workmen +were not to be propitiated any longer. They longed for freedom and the +open, as during the long winter all three of them had had to sleep in +one bed and had grown thoroughly tired of each other because of the +continual kicking of ribs and because of frozen and numbed bare sides. +But it so happened that once a decent and gentle soul came that way, +from out of the Saxon lands, and this good fellow complied with +everything, worked as hard as any ant and was absolutely not to be +frozen out, in such fashion that finally he became so to speak a part +of the furnishings of the house and saw the owners changing several +times, those years being somewhat more given to changes than of yore. +Jobst (such was the creature's name) stretched himself in the bed as +stiff as a ramrod and maintained his particular place next the wall, +both winter and summer. He likewise willingly accepted the sourkrout +for fish, and in the spring received with humble thanks a mouthful of +the ham. His lesser wages he put aside as he did his larger ones. For +he never spent anything; rather he saved every penny. He did not live +like the other workmen: he never touched a drop of wine, did not +associate with any of his own countrymen nor with other young fellows, +but stood evenings under the house door and joked with the old women, +lifted the heavy water pails upon their padded heads, at least when he +chanced to be in good humor, and went to bed with the chickens, except +at such times as he could do extra work against extra pay. Sundays he +also toiled until late into the afternoon, no matter if the weather was +fine. But do not assume that he did all this with pleasure and +alacrity, as did John the merry Chandler in the well-known song. On the +contrary, he was always cast-down and of ill-humor because of these +voluntary abstentions from the amenities of life, and he was forever +complaining about his hard lot. Come Sunday afternoon, however, Jobst +went in all the disarray and filth of workaday, and with his clattering +sabots across the lane and fetched from the laundress his clean shirt +and his neatly ironed "dicky," his high linen collar or his better +handkerchief, and proceeded to carry these things in his hands to his +room, stepping the while with that rooster-like majesty which used to +distinguish the prideful artisan of former days. For it belonged to +their privileges, when walking attired in leather apron and heavy +slippers, to observe a very peculiar stride, affected and as though +they were floating in upper spheres. And of them all the highly +instructed bookbinders, the jolly shoemakers and cobblers, and the +rarer and queer-mannered combmakers excelled in these mannerisms. But +arrived in his little chamber Jobst once more took thought to himself, +ruminating and seriously reflecting as to whether it was really worth +while to don the clean shirt and the snowy "dicky." For with all his +gentleness and moral decency he was, after all, somewhat of a swinish +fellow, and thus doubts arose in his penurious little soul as to the +advisability of the whole proceeding, and as to whether the soiled +linen would not do just as well for another week or so, in which latter +case he would simply remain at home and work a little more. Then he +would sit down with a sigh and begin anew, teeth clenched and mien +fierce, cutting into the horn, or else he would transmute the horn into +pseudo-tortoise shell, in doing which, however, he never forgot his +innate sobriety and want of imagination, so that he always put but the +same odious three splotches into the smooth surface. For with him it +was always thus that he would not use even the slightest trouble if he +was not specially bidden to do so. + +On the other hand, if his resolution ripened into the actual taking of +a walk, he spent first one or two hours painfully adorning himself, +next he took his dapper little cane and stalked stiffly towards the +gate of the town, and there he would stand around humbly and tediously +and would carry on stupid gossip with others of the same ilk, some of +those who did not know any more than himself how to kill time +pleasantly, perhaps ancient and decrepit Seldwylians who had neither +money nor gumption to find their way into the gay tavern. With such +godforsaken old fossils he was in the habit of placing himself in front +of a house in process of construction, or near a field in seed, before +an apple tree injured in the last storm, or perhaps next to a new yarn +factory, and then he would discuss with an infinitude of detail these +things, the need of them, their cost, about the hopes entertained as to +the next crop, and about the actual condition of the fields, of all of +which he would know no more than the man in the moon. In fact, he did +not care whether he did or not; the main thing with him was that time +thus slipped away in what to him appeared the cheapest and the +pleasantest manner. And thus it came about that these, the old and +decrepit Seldwylians, only spoke of him as the "well-mannered and +sensible Saxon," for they themselves understood not a whit more than he +himself. When the people of Seldwyla founded a large brewery on shares, +hoping therefrom for huge business in their town, and when the +extensive foundation walls emerged from the ground, Jobst used to make +it his task of boring into the soil thereabouts with his cane, talking +like an expert and showing the keenest interest in the progress of the +work, for all the world as if he were the most assiduous toper himself +and as if the success or non-success of the enterprise were a matter of +life and death with him. "No indeed," he would then exclaim in his +lisping voice, "this is a shplendid undertakking. Only, the devil of it +is it costs so mooch monnee! So mooch monnee! It's a pity! And here, +this here vault ought really to be a leetle, yoost a leetle bit deeper, +and this wall a leetle bit thicker." And the other idiots sided with +him and said he knew all about it. + +However, for all his enthusiasm he never failed to show up in time for +his Sunday supper. For that was indeed the sole chagrin he inflicted on +the mistress at home that he never missed a meal, Sunday or any other +day. The other workmen would go to the tavern with their comrades and +friends, dance, play cards and amuse themselves. But not so Jobst. On +his account alone the master's wife was forced to remain at home +Sundays, or else to provide his lonesome supper. And then, after +chewing as long as he could his portion of bread and sausage or cold +meat, he would spend another considerable while pawing over his slender +possessions, fingering them as though they were the treasures of +Aladdin, with bated breath, and then he would retire to his strictly +virtuous couch. That according to his notions had been an enjoyable, a +roystering Sunday. + +But with all his humble, decent and inconspicuous ways, Jobst was not +lacking in a species of inner, hidden irony, as though in his own +peculiar way he were making fun of the world with its vanity and its +foolishness. Indeed he seemed even to have strong doubts as to the +grandeur and worth of things in general, and to be conscious of +harboring within his own soul plans far more momentous and stirring. On +Sundays, notably when delivering his expert opinions on creation as a +whole, he often showed a face alive with superior, with almost owlish +wisdom. It was plainly to be seen in his pinched features how he +carried within his inmost ken plans of immense importance, plans +compared with which the doings of the others, after all, were but as +child's play. The great, the overwhelmingly great plan he cherished day +and night and which had been all these years his loadstar, ever since +he had first appeared in Seldwyla, amounted indeed to this: To save his +wages until there would be a sum sufficient to present himself some +fine morning, on an occasion when the business would be once more for +sale, with the money in his hand and purchase it, himself at last +becoming owner and master. + +This darling hope lay at the bottom of all his scheming and contriving, +as he had not failed to notice how an industrious and abstemious man +could not fail to flourish in Seldwyla. He, to be sure, was such a man, +one who went his own quiet way and who was bound to profit from the +carelessness of the people thereabouts without falling into the same +errors as these. And once master and owner of the establishment, it +would not be difficult for him to acquire citizenship and then, he +calculated, he would spend the remainder of his life more sensibly and +economically than any previous citizen of Seldwyla had ever done, not +bothering the slightest about anything which was not likely to increase +his wealth, not spending a penny, but accumulating more and more money, +watching all the time his chances among the spendthrifts of the town. +This plan was indeed as simple as it was sensible and well-considered, +especially as he had begun to realize it, in his own slow but sure way, +for a number of years past. For he had already saved up quite a neat +little sum; this he had hidden away securely, and with things going on +as they had hitherto, it was but a question of time when his scheme +would attain full fruition. + +But there was one point about his plan which seemed to brand it as +almost inhuman. That was the fact that Jobst had conceived it at all, +that is, in Seldwyla, for nothing in his heart really inclined him to +Seldwyla, and nothing compelled him to remain there. He cared not a fig +really either for the town or its inhabitants, either for the political +condition of the country or its manners and customs. All this was as +indifferent to him as was his own native land, and which latter he did +not even care to ever see again. In a hundred other places of the world +he might have equally well succeeded with his diligence and his habits. +However, he had discarded all sense of free choice, and with his +grossly grasping senses he had seized upon the first tendril of hope +that offered, in order to keep hold and suck himself through it full of +wealth and vigor. The saying, it is true, is: "Where I fare well, there +is my home," and this may be true enough in the case of those who can +really show some good and sufficient reasons why they love their new +country and who of their free and conscious will went out into the wide +world in order to achieve success and to return as men of weight, or of +those who escape unfortunate conditions at home and, obeying a strong +tendency, join the modern migration across the seas; or of those who +somewhere have found better and truer friends than at home, or who +discovered conditions abroad that suited their ideals and secret hopes +better or who became bound by stronger ties abroad. And this new home +in any case, this second home where they found things more to their +taste and where they succeeded well, they necessarily must care for, so +long as there they are treated humanely and fairly. Jobst, however, +scarcely knew where he was; the institutions and customs of the Swiss +he was unable to understand, and he merely said sometimes: "Why, yes, +the Swiss are strong on politics. Maybe that's good, so long as one +likes it. But I don't, and where I'm from nobody ever bothered about +political things." + +The customs of the Seldwylians he hated, and he felt afraid of their +noisy demonstrations when they organized a political procession or had +mass meetings. At such times he sat in the rear of the workshop and +feared bloody riots and murder growing out of it all. But nevertheless +it remained his sole object and his great secret to stay on in Seldwyla +until the end of his days. Such just and decent persons like him you +will find scattered all over the earth, and where they are for no +better reason than that it just so happened they got hold without +trouble of their own of one of these sucking tubes guaranteeing a +satisfactory income. And this they do steadily, giving no thought the +while to the land of their birth, but without loving their new home, +without a glance to right or left, and thus resembling not so much a +freeman as one of those lower organisms, odd animalculae or vegetable +seeds, which by the whims of wind or water are accidentally carried to +the spot where they flourish. + +Thus Jobst had lived year after year in Seldwyla, slowly but constantly +adding to his secret store which he had buried under the tiles of his +chamber floor. No tailor could boast of having earned anything through +him, for he still possessed the same Sunday coat in which he had +arrived in town, and the garment was still in the same condition. +Neither had any shoemaker done any work for him in Seldwyla, for the +soles of his boots were still intact. The year, after all, has but +fifty-two Sundays, and only the half of these were utilized by him for +a walk. Nobody, in fact, had been the better for his stay in town; as +soon as he received his wages the money went to the hiding-place +mentioned, and even when he went off on his Sunday excursions he never +put a coin in his pocket, so as to foil any temptation for spending. +When hucksters or old women came to the shop with goods or fruit, with +cherries, plums or pears, it was amusing to watch Jobst, who tenderly +felt of the quality of the fruit, entered into discussions with the +vendors, thus leading these to indulge false and extravagant hopes, +only to be disappointed. He would, however, advise his comrades as to +how to make the most of their purchases, how to bake their apples in +the oven, to peel them or to stew them, without ever asking for or +receiving one mouthful himself. But though nobody ever saw the color of +his money, neither did they ever hear him swear, show any anger, demand +anything not strictly within his rights, or give vent to ill-humor. He +was the very essence of pacifism. He carefully avoided quarrels or +argument, and he did not even make a wry face when anyone, as happened +frequently, would play tricks on him. And while indeed eaten up +constantly with curiosity as to the issue of every kind of gossip, +disputes or wrangling he had come to know about, since these furnished +him with one of his chief amusements, and while he would keep a strict +account and inquire in a mild way about them and the right and wrong in +each case, the while the other workmen were indulging in their rude +brawls or tavern orgies, he nevertheless was mighty careful never to +interfere or to take a decided part for or against. In short, he was a +most curious medley of truly heroic wisdom and persistence, coupled +with a gentle but pronounced want of heart and feeling. + +At one time he had been for many weeks the sole workman in the +establishment, and he had flourished under these circumstances like a +green bay tree. Nights especially he rejoiced in the exclusive tenancy +of the big, wide bed. He made full use of his opportunities, and went +through incredible contortions while stretching his lank limbs in the +bed. He in a manner trebled his person, changing his posture +ceaselessly, and indulged in the hallucination that, as usual, there +were three of them and he were urgently requested by the other two not +to stand on ceremony and to take things easy. The third one being +himself, he voluptuously complied with the invitation, wrapped himself +completely in the feather bed, or else straddled his legs, lay across +the full width of the couch, or in the harmless exuberance of delight +would even turn a decent somersault or two. + +But alas! the day came when he, already indulging in some such innocent +capers, after having retired early, suddenly saw a strange workman +sedately enter the chamber, being led thither by the mistress of the +house. Jobst was just lying in measureless comfort with his head at the +foot of the bed, his not quite immaculate feet on the pillows, when +this happened. The stranger unfastened his heavy knapsack from his +back, stood it in a corner, and then, without loss of time, began to +undress, since he felt very tired. Jobst quick as a flash assumed the +proper position in bed and stretched himself along his accustomed spot +next to the wall. While doing this the thought rushed through his head: +"Surely he'll soon clear out again, since it is summertime and fine +weather for roaming about." + +This hope on further consideration took firm root, and with sundry +sighs and grunts lulled him to sleep. He dreamt, though, of a speedy +resumption of the kicking and rowing in bed, and a nightmare woke him +in the middle of the night, an evil omen. He was amazed, however, when +dawn came, and he had felt neither pokes in the ribs, nor had been +feloniously deprived of his share of the covering. Not only that; the +new arrival, although a Bavarian, was inordinately polite, peaceable +and well-behaved, for all the world like a counterpart of his own self. +This unheard-of fact cost Jobst his calmness of mind. He could not +drive the misgivings thus engendered from his head. And while the two +were dressing in the dim light of early morning, he scrutinized his new +fellow-worker closely. It seemed a singular case to him. He observed +that this new man, like himself, was no longer quite young, but cleanly +and decent in speech and manners. The Bavarian on his part with words +well-set and sober inquired of Jobst about the circumstances of life in +Seldwyla, just about in the same way in which he himself would have +done it. As soon as this became apparent to him, Jobst grew secretive +and kept to himself the simplest and most harmless things, opining +that, of course, the Bavarian must have some occult motive in coming to +this town. To ascertain this secret now became the prime object with +him. That there was a deep secret he never had the slightest doubt. +Why else should this man, just like himself, be such a gentle, +smooth-spoken and experienced sort? Only by the theory of his harboring +a deep-laid scheme, of being a designing person, could he explain +matters to himself. And thus began a kind of silent, never-sleeping +warfare between these two. Each did his best to find out the "secret" +of the other; but it was all done with the greatest precaution, in +words of double meaning, by amiable subterfuges and in peaceable ways. +Neither ever gave a clear answer to any question, but yet after the +lapse of but a few hours each of the pair was firmly convinced that the +other was in all essential respects his own double. And when in the +course of the day Fridolin, the Bavarian, several times visited the +chamber and busied himself with something, Jobst seized upon the first +chance to go there likewise at a moment when the other was fully +occupied with his work, and hurriedly made a search of Fridolin's +personal property. However, he discovered nothing but almost precisely +the same articles owned by himself, down to a small wooden needle case, +except that here he found it in the shape of a fish, while his own bore +a sportive resemblance to a baby; and, further, in lieu of a somewhat +dilapidated conversational grammar for popular use in which Jobst +sometimes studied French, the Bavarian could boast of a neatly bound +copy of a book entitled "The cold and the hot Vat, an indispensable +Handbook for Dyers." And in it there was a penciled note on the margin: +"Pledge for three Stuyvers which the Nassau man borrowed of me." From +this Jobst judged that he was dealing with somebody who knew how to +take care of his own, and thinking so instinctively cast searching +glances along the floor. Soon, too, he noticed a tile which seemed to +have recently been removed. And sure enough, when he took this out, he +found the man's treasure, folded and wrapped in the half of an old +handkerchief tightly wound about with tough twine, almost as heavy as +his own, although his was encased in an old sock. Trembling with +excitement he replaced the tile in its yawning hole, trembling at the +thought of such admirable foresight and wise economy in the case of +another, a rival, a competitor. He flew down the stairs, and in the +workshop he set to as if it depended on his exertions to provide the +entire world with combs for generations to come. And the Bavarian did +the same, as if Heaven itself must also be combed. During the ensuing +week each found full confirmation of his first suspicion. For if Jobst +was industrious and frugal, Fridolin was active and abstemious, and +with the same regretful sighs at the difficulty of these virtues. And +when Jobst was serene and sapient, Fridolin was jocular and knowing. If +the one was humble, the other was even more so. When Jobst showed +himself sly or ironical, the other was sarcastic and almost astute. And +if Jobst made a face betraying his peaceful disposition, his double +succeeded in putting on an air of incomparable asininity. + +The whole was not so much a race between the two as it was the simple +exercise of conscious mastery in all these arts. Each was fully +permeated with the conviction that the other would excel him if not +constantly on the watch. Neither disdained imitating the other. Each of +them was forever on the lookout to perfect himself, taking the other as +a model in any traits which he himself might yet lack or be deficient +in. And with all that they looked most of the time as though each was +perfectly incapable of seeing through the other. Thus they resembled +two doughty heroes who behave towards each other with knightly courtesy +and even assist one another until the moment shall arrive when they +begin to hack away at each other. + +However, after the lapse of this week a third came, a Suabian, by name +Dietrich, whereat the two in silence rejoiced, as at a jolly foil +against which their own greatness of soul could best be measured and +compared. And they intended to place the poor little Suabian between +their own selves, to make the contrast between him and their own patent +virtues all the more striking, about as in the case of two stately +lions with a tiny monkey between, with whom they might deign to play. + +But who can describe their astonishment when they observed that the +Suabian behaved precisely in the same manner as themselves, and when +the recognition of a kindred soul took place by the identical processes +as had been the case before. The same adroit system of standing +sentinel over each other was repeated. But with this signal difference, +that now it was a triangular game, whereby not only they themselves +altered somewhat their own attitude, but the third man his also, and +that they all three finally stood towards each other in distinctly +different positions. + +This became first apparent on the night of his arrival when they took +him between themselves in bed. The Suabian demonstrated his entire +parity. Like a match he lay within the slim space, so perfectly poised +and without the flicker of an eyelid that there actually remained a bit +of room, of neutral territory, on either side. And the bed cover +remained spread over the trio as tight and smooth as the wrapping paper +over three herrings. He was evidently their match. The situation now +commenced to be more serious, more complicated, and since all three now +faced each other like the three corners of a triangle, and since no +friendly or confidential relations were under these circumstances +feasible between them, no armistice or courtly tournament, they got +into a state of mind where they with malice aforethought, each in his +own way and with his own weapons, gently and slily began to try ousting +each other out of bed and house. + +When the master of the house saw that these three queer customers would +put up with anything, if only they were allowed to remain in his +service, he first lowered their wages, and next gave them scanter fare. +But this only led to an aggravation of diligence on their part, and +that again enabled him to flood the whole surrounding district with his +goods, and he got orders upon orders, so that he made a pile of money +out of their cheap labor and possessed a veritable gold mine in them. +He let out his leather belt around the loins by several holes and +began to play quite an important part in the town, while all this time +his foolish workmen slaved like beasts of burden in their dark and +ill-ventilated shop at home, striving, each of them, to force the other +two out of the race. Dietrich, the Suabian, although the youngest of +them, proved of the same calibre as the other two. The only difference +was that he as yet had scarcely any savings, inasmuch as he had not yet +traveled around much, having been a prentice until recently. This would +have been an unfortunate obstacle for him in the race, for Jobst and +Fridolin would have had greatly the start of him, if he as a Suabian +had not been inventive in stratagem. For although Dietrich's heart, +like that of the others, was wholly bare of any sinful or earthly +passion, always excepting the one of persisting to remain in Seldwyla +and nowhere else, and to reap all the advantages of that plan, he +nevertheless bethought him of the trick of falling in love and to woo +such a maiden as should possess about such a dowry in size as the +respective treasures which the Saxon or the Bavarian had hidden under +their tiles. + +It was one of the better peculiarities of the Seldwyla folk that they +were averse to wed unattractive or unamiable women just for the sake of +a somewhat larger dowry. There was no very great temptation anyway, for +wealthy heiresses there were none in their town, either pretty or +homely ones, and thus they at least maintained their sturdy and manly +independence even by disdaining the smaller mouthfuls, and preferred to +unite themselves rather with goodlooking and merry girls, and thus lead +for a few years with them at any rate a happy life. Hence it was not +hard for the Suabian, spying about for a suitable partner, to find his +way into the good graces of a virtuous maiden. She dwelt in the same +street, and in conversation with old women he had soon ascertained that +she possessed as her own undoubted property a mortgage of seven hundred +florins. This maiden was Zues Buenzlin, the twenty-eight-year-old +daughter of a washerwoman. She lived with her mother, but could freely +dispose of this legacy from her deceased father. This valuable bit of +paper she kept in a highly varnished trunk. There, too, she had the +accumulated interest money, her baptismal certificate, her testimonial +of confirmation, and a painted and gilt Easter egg; in addition to all +this she preserved there half a dozen silver spoons, the Lord's Prayer +printed in gold letters upon transparent glass, although she believed +the material to be human skin, a cherry stone into which was carved the +Passion of Christ, and a small box of ivory, lined with red satin, and +in which were concealed a tiny mirror and a silver thimble; there was +also in it another cherry stone in which you could hear clattering a +diminutive set of ninepins, a nutshell in which a madonna became +visible behind glass, a silver heart, in a hollow of which was a scent +bottle, and a candy box fashioned out of dried lemon peel, on the cover +of which was painted a strawberry, and in which there might be +discovered a golden pin displayed on a couch of cotton wool +representing a forget-me-not, and a locket showing on the inside a +monument woven out of hair; lastly, a bundle of age-yellowed papers +with recipes, secrets, and so forth; also a small flask of Cologne +water, another holding stomach drops, a box of musk, another with +marten excrements, and a small basket woven out of odoriferous grasses, +another of beads and cloves, and then a small book bound in sky-blue +silk and entitled "Golden Life Rules for the Maiden as Betrothed, Wife +and Mother"; and a dream book, a letter writer, five or six love +letters, and a lancet for use to let blood. This last piece came from a +barber and assistant surgeon to whom she had once been engaged, and +since she was a naturally skillful and very sensible person she had +learned from her fiance how to open a vein, to put on leeches, and +similar things, and had even been able to shave him herself. But alas, +he had proved an unworthy object of her affections, with whom she might +easily have risked her temporal and heavenly welfare, and thus she had +with saddened but wise resolution broken the engagement. Gifts were +returned on both sides, with the exception of the lancet. This she kept +in pawn as pledge for one florin and eight and forty stuyvers, which +sum she on one occasion had lent him in cash. The unworthy one claimed, +however, that she had no right to it since she had given him the money +on the occasion of a ball, in order to defray joint expenses, and he +added that she had eaten twice as much as himself. Thus it happened +that he kept the florin and forty-eight stuyvers, while she kept the +surgical appliance, with which Zues operated extensively among her +female acquaintance and earned many a penny. But every time she used +the instrument she could not help mentioning the low habits of him who +had once stood so close to her and who had almost become her partner +for life. + +All these things were locked up in that trunk, and the trunk again was +kept in a large walnut wardrobe, the key to which Zues had constantly +in her pocket. As to her person, Zues had rather sparse reddish hair as +well as clear pale-blue eyes; these now and then possessed some charm, +and then would throw glances both wise and gentle. She owned an +enormous store of clothes, but of these she only wore the oldest. +However, she was always carefully and cleanly dressed, and just as neat +was the appearance of her room. She was very industrious and helped her +mother in her laundry work, ironing out the finer and more delicate +fabrics and washing the lace caps and the jabots of the wealthier +Seldwyla ladies, thus earning quite a bit. And it may be that it was +due to this sort of activity that Zues always exhibited the peculiar +stern and dignified bent of mind which women show when they are dealing +with laundry work, especially with the work over the tub. For Zues +never unbent at all until the ironing began. Then, it might be, a +species of sedate cheerfulness would seize upon her, in her case, +however, invariably spiced with words of wisdom. This sedate spirit, +too, was recognizable in the chief decorative piece on the premises, +namely, a garland of soap cakes, square, accurately gauged cakes, which +encircled the large living room on shelves. The soap was thus exposed +to the warm air currents in order to harden and become fitter for use. +And it was Zues herself who always cut out the cakes by means of a +brass wire. The wire had fastened to it at either end two small wooden +knobs so one could seize them there for a more commodious cutting of +the soft soap. But a fine pair of compasses used in dividing the soap +in equal sections was also there. This instrument had been made for her +and presented as a valued gift by a journeyman mechanician with whom +she had at one time been as good as engaged. From him, too, came a +gleaming small brass mortar for the pulverization of spices. This +decorated the edge of her cupboard, right between the blue china tea +can and the painted flower vase. For long such a dainty little mortar +had been her special desire, and the attentive mechanician was +therefore extremely welcome when he appeared one afternoon on her +birthday and likewise brought along something to put the mortar to its +legitimate use: a boxful of cinnamon, lump sugar, cloves and pepper. +The mortar itself he hung, before entering at the door, by one of its +handles to his little finger, and with the pestle he started a gay +tinkling, just like a bell, so that out of the adventure grew a jolly +day of festivity. However, shortly afterwards the false scoundrel fled +from the district, and was never heard of more. Besides that, his +master even demanded the return of the mortar, since the fugitive had +taken it from his shop, but had forgotten to pay for it. But Zues did +not deliver up this valuable object. On the contrary, she went to law +for its undisputed possession, and in court she defended her claim +valiantly, basing her rights on the fact that she had washed, starched +and ironed a set of "dickies" for the vanished lover. Those days, the +days when she was forced to defend her rights to the mortar in open +court, were the most conspicuous and painful of her whole life, since +she with her deep feelings felt these things and more particularly her +appearance in court for the sake of such delicate affairs much more +keenly than others of a lighter disposition would have done. All the +same she scored a victory and kept her mortar. + +If, however, this neat soap gallery proclaimed her exact working +tactics and her passion for toil, a row of books, arranged in orderly +fashion on the window ledge, did honor to her religious and disciplined +mind. These books were of a miscellaneous description, and she read and +reread them studiously on Sundays. She still possessed all her school +books, never having lost a single one of them. She also still carried +in her head all her little stock of scholastic learning acquired at +school; she knew the whole catechism by heart, as well as the contents +of the grammar, of the arithmetic, of her geography book, of the +collection of biblical stories, and of the various readers and +spellers. Then she also owned some of the pretty tales by Christoph +Schmid and the latter's short novelettes, with handsome verses at the +end, at least a half dozen of sundry treasuries of poetry and +gatherings of popular fairy tales, a number of almanacs full of +specimens of homely wisdom and practical experience, several precise +and remarkable prophecies of tremendous events to come, a guide for +laying the cards, a book of edification for every day of the year +intended for the use of thoughtful virgins, and an old and slightly +damaged copy of Schiller's "The Robbers," which she slowly perused +again and again, as often as she feared she might begin to forget this +stirring drama. And each time she read it, the play appealed to her +sentimental heart anew, so that she made constant references to it and +commented in a highly praiseworthy manner on the various personages +presented in it. And really all there was in these books she also +retained in her memory, and understood exceedingly well how to speak +about them and about many other things as well. When she felt cheerful +and contented and did not have to hasten her labors too greatly, speech +flowed continuously from her lips, and everything under the sun she +knew how to judge and to put into its proper category. Young and old, +high and low, learned and unlearned, they all were compelled to listen +and to receive instruction from her. First, she would hear everybody +out, meanwhile smilingly and sensibly straightening out the case in her +wise little head. And then, having now perceived whither all these +plaints or fears tended, she would solve the more or less knotty +problem at a stroke. Sometimes she would speak so unctuously and +elaborately on matters that irreverent criticasters had compared her to +learned blind persons who have never had sight of the world and whose +sole solace it is to hear themselves talk. + +From the time she went to the town school and from her lessons of +instruction before she was confirmed by the pastor, she had retained +the habit of composing, from time to time, essays and exercises, and +thus it was that she would, on quiet Sundays, laboriously write out the +most marvelous compositions. One of her favorite methods in doing this +was to seize upon some melodious title that she had heard of or read in +the course of the week, and taking this, so to speak, as her text, +would proceed to pile up from it the most wonderful conclusions and +deductions, not infrequently culminating in very odd or nonsensical +dicta. Page on page of this balderdash she would perpetrate, just as it +issued from the convolutions of her silly brain. Such themes, for +example, as "The Various Beneficent Uses of a Sickbed," "About Death," +"About the Wholesomeness of Resignation," "About the Giant Size +of the World," "About the Secrets of Life Eternal," "About Residence +in the Country," "About Nature," "About Dreams," "About Love," +"About Redemption and Christ," "Three Points in the Theory of +Self-Justification," "Thoughts about Immortality," she often solved in +her own easy way. Then she would read aloud to her friends and admirers +these productions, and it was a supreme proof of her special regard and +affection for her to present one or the other of them to a close +friend. Such gifts, she insisted on, had to be placed within the pages +of a Bible, that is, if the recipient happened to have one. + +This leaning of Zues' nature towards religious ecstasy and +contemplation had once gained her the profound and respectful affection +of a young bookbinder, a man who read every book he bound and who was, +besides, both ambitious and enthusiastic. Whenever he brought his +bundle of soiled linen to Zues' mother, he deemed himself to be in +paradise, for he swallowed greedily all of the maiden's thoughts, and +her boldest figures of speech now and then, he shyly said, would remind +him of things he had dared to think himself, but which he had never had +the skill and the courage to frame into words. Bashfully and humbly he +approached this talented virgin, who was by turns severe and eloquent, +and she deigned to suffer this modest intercourse and held him in +leading-strings for a whole year, not, however, without making the +hopelessness of his suit plain to him, gently but determinedly. For +inasmuch as he was nine years her junior, poor as a church mouse and +awkward in gaining a living, men of his calling not being in clover in +Seldwyla anyhow, since people there do not read much and, consequently, +have few books to bind, she never for a moment hid from herself the +impossibility of a union. She merely found it pleasant to develop his +mind and character and to furnish her own as a model to strive after. +Her own powers of resignation were all the time for him to take pattern +by, and so she embalmed his aspirations in an iridescent cloud of +phrases. And he on his part would listen modestly, and once or twice +find heart to risk a beautiful sentence himself. This she invariably +answered by instantly killing his observation with a finer one. That +year, when she calmly received the adoration of this youth, was +reckoned by her the most ethereal and noblest of her existence, since +it was not disturbed by a single breath from the lower and material +spheres, and the young man during it bound anew all her books, and with +infinite pains wrought night after night toward the ultimate completion +of an artful and precious monument of his adoration for her. This was, +to be plain, a huge Chinese temple of pasteboard, containing +innumerable tiny compartments and secret receptacles, and which might +be entirely taken apart and reconstructed on following carefully +previous instructions. This miracle was pasted all over with the finest +samples of varicolored and glazed paper, and everywhere ornamented with +gilt borders. Minute mirrors inside colonnaded halls of state reflected +the gay colors, and by removing one section of the structure or opening +another one there were more mirrors and hidden pictures, nosegays of +paper or loving couples. The curving or shelving roofs were everywhere +hung with little bells. Even a small stand for a lady's watch was +there, with hooks to hang it up on and with other hooks to trail a +slender meandering chain through. Only up to now no watchmaker had yet +offered a pretty watch or a chain to decorate this altar with. An +enormous deal of trouble and skill had been wasted on this pasteboard +temple, and its ground plan was just as correct as the work itself. And +when this monument of a year passed jointly so pleasantly had been duly +accepted, Zues Buenzlin encouraged the good bookbinder, doing violence +to her own well-regulated heart, to tear himself away from the town and +to set once more his staff for a wandering life. She pointed out with +perfect justice that the whole world stood open to him, and she assured +him that now, having schooled and ennobled his heart by improving his +acquaintance with herself, happiness elsewhere would certainly be in +store for him. She would never forget him and retire into solitude. And +indeed, the young fellow was so much affected by these moral +exhortations that he shed a few melancholy tears in passing the town +gate on his way. His masterpiece, however, since stood on top of Zues' +old-fashioned clothes press, daintily covered by a veil of green gauze, +thus defying dust and profane gaze. She considered it so much of a +sacred relic that she kept it intact and without even placing anything +whatever into those many tiny recesses of the temple. In her memory he +continued to live as "Emmanuel," although his real name had been Veit. +And she told everyone with whom she discussed the case that Emmanuel +alone had completely understood her inner self. This she said now that +he was gone, but while he had been with her in the flesh she had been +of different opinion, for she had rarely admitted to him that he was +right, deeming it wiser to thus urge him on to higher and ever higher +endeavor in his search of a perfect agreement of mind with his idol. +Indeed, she had more than once intimated to him, at times when he hoped +he had at last fully entered the arcana of her soul, that he was +farther and farther from it. + +But he, too, Veit-Emmanuel, played her a little trick. He had placed in +a false bottom, in one of the diminutive apartments of his pasteboard +fairy palace, the most touching of all love letters, bedewed with his +tears, wherein he confessed his bitter grief at parting from her, his +love, his worship and his sublime steadfastness, and in such passionate +and sincere terms had he done this as only genuine feeling can find, +even if it has lost itself in a cul-de-sac. Such touching, such moving +things he had never said to her, simply because she never would give +him the chance, having always interrupted him when he was on the point +of doing so. But as she had not the slightest suspicion that any such +document had been put away within the temple, she never found the +missive and thus fate for once dealt justly and did not let a false +beauty see that which she was not worthy of. And it was also a symbol +that she it was who had not fathomed the somewhat silly, but devoted +and sincere heart of the youth. + + +For a long while she had been praising the doings of the three +combmakers, and had called them three decent and sensible men; for she +had closely observed them. When, therefore, Dietrich, the Suabian, +began to linger longer and longer in her dwelling when bringing or +fetching his shirt, and to pay court to her, she treated him in a +friendly manner and kept him near her for hours by means of her lofty +conversation. And Dietrich talked back, of course, to please her, just +as much as he could; and she was one of the kind that could stand more +than a fair measure of laudation. Indeed, one might truthfully say that +she liked it all the more the more spiced and peppered it was. When +praising her wisdom and kindness, she kept still as a mouse, until +there was no more of it, whereupon she would with heightened color pick +up the thread where it had been dropped, and would touch up the +painting in those spots where it seemed to require a trifle of +additional color. And Dietrich had not been going back and forth in +her house for any great length of time when she showed him that +mortgage of hers, and he thereupon began to exude a quiet, sedate +species of self-satisfaction, and began to behave toward his rivals +with such stealth as though he had invented the perpetuum mobile. Jobst +and Fridolin, however, soon unearthed his secret, and they were amazed +at the depth of his dissimulation and at his cleverness. Jobst above +all clutched his hair and tore out a good handful of it; for had he +himself not been going to the same house for a long while, and had it +ever occurred to him to look for anything there but his clean linen? +Rather, he had hitherto almost hated the washerwomen because he had +been forced to dig up a few stuyvers every week to pay them. Never had +he thought of marriage, because he was unable to conceive of a wife +under any other aspect than that of a being that wanted something out +of him which he did not deem her due, and to expect something from such +a feminine creature that might be of advantage to him had never entered +his thoughts, since he had confidence only in himself, and his +calculations had so far never gone beyond the narrowest horizon, that +of his secret. But now reflecting deep and serious he reached the +determination to outdo this sly little Suabian, for if the latter +should really succeed in getting hold of Dame Zues' seven hundred +florins, he might become a keen competitor. The seven hundred florins, +too, suddenly shone and glittered very differently, in the eyes both of +the Saxon and of the Bavarian. Thus it was that Dietrich, the man of +invention, had discovered a land which soon became the joint property +of the three, and thus shared the hard lot of all discoverers, for the +two others at once got on the same track and likewise became steady +callers on Zues Buenzlin. She therefore saw herself surrounded by a +whole court of decent and respectable combmakers. That she relished +greatly; never before had she had a number of admirers at one time. It +became a novel entertainment for her shrewd mind to handle these three +with the greatest impartiality and skill, to keep them at all times +within bounds and cool reason, and to thus influence them by frequent +speeches in favor of the beauties of resignation and unselfishness +until Heaven itself should by some act of intervention decide matters +irrevocably. + +As each of the three had confided to her his secret and his plans, she +immediately made up her mind to render happy that one who really would +attain his goal and become owner of the business. And in thus deciding +in her own heart how she should proceed, she from that hour on +deliberately excluded the Suabian, since he could not succeed except +through and by her money. But while thus actually discarding the +Suabian as a possible candidate for her hand, she reflected that, after +all, he was the youngest, handsomest and most amiable of the trio, and +thus she would spare for him many a token of regard and confidence, and +lull him into the belief that his chances were the best. But while so +doing, she knew how to arouse the jealousy of the other two, and thus +spur them on to greater zeal. And so it came to pass that Dietrich, +this poor Columbus who had first sighted and nearly taken possession of +the pretty land, became nothing but a mere pawn in her game, nothing +but the poor fool who unconsciously assisted in the angling for the +real fish. Meanwhile all three of them assiduously wooed and courted +the coy maiden, running a close race in the difficult art of showing +all the time devotion, modesty and sense, while being kept by the +bridle. She on her part was in her element, for she forever told them +to be unselfish and to practice resignation. When the whole four now +and then happened to be together, they made the impression of a +singular conventicle where the queerest remarks were being expressed. +And despite of all their timidity and humility it would happen once in +a while that one of the three, suddenly dropping his hosannahs in +praise of the rare gifts and virtues of the maiden, would plunge into a +measure of self-laudation. At such moments it was edifying and truly +touching to see Zues gently interrupt the rash one and chide him for +his breach of good manners. She would then shame him by forcing him to +listen to a homily on his rivals. + +However, this was really a hard sort of life for the poor combmakers to +lead. No matter how much ordinarily they had themselves under control, +now that a woman had entered as a factor into their game, there would +occur wholly novel spurts of jealousy, of fear, of misgiving, and of +hope. What with a fury of work and increased economy, they almost +killed themselves and certainly lost flesh. They became melancholy, and +while before people--and especially before Zues--they endeavored hard +to maintain the appearance of the utmost harmony, they scarcely spoke a +word to each other when alone together at work or in their common +sleeping chamber, lay down sighing in their joint bed, and dreamed of +murder, albeit still resting quietly and immovably one next the other +as so many sticks. One and the same dream hovered nightly over the +trio, until really once it came to one of the sleepers, so that Jobst +in his place by the wall turned over violently and kicked Dietrich. +Dietrich avoided the kick and gave Jobst a hard push, and now there was +among the three sleepy combmakers an outbreak of elemental wrath. The +most tremendous row ensued in the bed, and for fully three minutes they +treated each other to fearful lunges, kicks and pushes, so that all the +six legs formed an inextricable tangle, until with a thundering crash +they rolled out of bed and began to howl like savage beasts. Becoming +fully awake they at first thought the devil were after them or else +thieves had entered their room. Screaming they rose quickly. Jobst took +his stand upon his tile; Fridolin planted himself firmly upon his own, +and Dietrich did the like upon that tile beneath which his still rather +slender savings reposed. And thus standing in a triangle, they worked +their arms like flails and shouted their loudest: "Get out; get out!" +until the master came rushing up from below and after a while quieted +the three frenzied fellows. Trembling then with fear, shame and anger, +they crept back into bed, and then, wide-awake, lay there mute until +dawn came and forced them to rise. + +However, the nocturnal spook had only been the prelude to something +worse. For at breakfast the master let them know that for the time +being he had no longer need of three journeymen, and that two of them +would have to pack up their bundle. It appeared that they had defeated +their own object by hurrying and hastening work, so that now there were +more wares than the boss was able to dispose of, while on the other +hand, he, the master, himself had taken advantage of the extreme mood +for work his men had shown for months to lead on his part an opulent +and disorderly life, spending nearly all his extra gains in riotous +quips. Indeed, when the details of his doings became public it turned +out that he had run into such an amount of debt that the load of it +came well-nigh smothering him. Thus it came about that he, looking over +his own situation, was unable to employ or support his three workmen, +no matter how abstemious they were and how intent on his further +profit. For consolation he told them that he was equally fond of all +three of them and loath to tell either to go, wherefore he had made up +his mind to leave it wholly to them which of the three should leave and +which should stay. All they had to do, he remarked smilingly, was to +agree among themselves upon that point. + +But they were unable to come to a decision as to this. Rather they +stood there pale as ghosts, and simpered timidly at each other. Then +they became tremendously excited, since they clearly perceived that the +most momentous hour of their existence was approaching. For they judged +from the words of the master that he would not be able to continue the +business much longer, and that, therefore, it would soon become an +object of sale. The goal, then, each of them had striven for with such +infinite patience and cunning seemed in sight, and to their heated +fancy was already glittering and shining like a new Jerusalem. And now +came this awful decree, and two of them would have to turn their backs +upon the heavenly prospect. It was almost more than they could bear. +After a very brief consultation and reflection all three of them went +to see the master, and declared with tearful voices that rather than +leave him they would stay on, even though they would have to work +gratis. But then the master declared jovially that even in that case he +had no further use for all the three. Two of them, he again assured +them, would have to quit the house. They fell at his feet; they wrung +their hands; they asked and implored him to let them stay on: only for +another three months, for one month, for a fortnight. The master, +however, after at first enjoying the humor of the situation, at last +lost all patience. Besides, he was perfectly aware what their motive in +all this pretended loyalty for him was, and that soured his temper. +Suddenly an idea occurred to him, and he did not hesitate to make them +a proposition. + +"Why," he smiled, "if you cannot agree among yourselves at all as to +who is to remain and who to go, I will tell you how we will decide this +matter. But that is absolutely the last proposal I shall make to you. +To-morrow being Sunday, I shall pay your wages; you pack up your +belongings, get ready to go forth and take your staffs. Then you will +in all good faith and perfect harmony leave jointly, going out by +whichever gate you may agree upon, and march on the highroad for +another half-hour, no more, no less, and then stop. Then you will rest +yourselves a trifle, and if you care to do so, you may even drink a +shoppen or two. Having done so, you will all three of you turn once +more and walk back to town, and whoever will then first ask me for +work, him I will keep, but the other two must wander forth for good and +all, wherever they might choose to go." + +Hearing this cruel decision, they three fell once more at his feet and +begged him most pitifully to have mercy on them and to desist from his +plan. But the master, who by this time began to anticipate some rare +fun in his wicked soul, was obstinate and would not listen to them, +hardening himself. Suddenly the Suabian sprang up and ran out of the +house like a man demented, across the street to Zues Buenzlin. Scarcely +had Jobst and the Bavarian observed that, when they ceased to lament +themselves and followed the youngest. Within a very brief space the +three of them were seated in the dwelling of the frightened maiden. + +Zues felt rather abashed and undecided by reason of the adventure +taking such an unexpected turn. But she calmed herself, and viewing the +matter from her own particular angle, she resolved to make her plans +subservient to the master's odd conceit. In fact, she regarded this new +aspect of affairs as a special dispensation of Providence. Touched and +devout she fetched out one of her volumes, then with her needle at +random pricked among the leaves, and when she opened the book at the +spot, she found a passage that spoke of the persistent following of the +righteous path. Next she made the three guests turn up passages +blindfolded, and all that was found treated of walking along the narrow +way, of advancing without looking backwards, in short, of nothing but +running and racing. Thus, then, she decided, Heaven itself had +prescribed the projected race for to-morrow. But since she was afraid +that Dietrich, as being the youngest and the ablest in jumping, +walking, and running, and thus most likely to win the palm if left +without supervision, she made up her mind to go herself along with the +three lovers, and to watch for an opportunity for bending or +influencing possibly the outcome of this undertaking in accordance with +her own secret desires. For she wished, as we must recall, one of the +older men to be the victor, she did not care which of the two. + +In furtherance of this plan she insisted that the three be quiet for a +spell and cease slandering and berating each other, but rather summon +themselves to acquiescence in God's will. She put on her judicial air +and said: + +"Know, my friends, that nothing happens here below without the +direction and sometimes direct interference of Providence, and no +matter if the plan of your master be unusual and singular, we must look +upon it as ordered by higher powers than he, although it may be that he +has not even an inkling of this. He is the dumb and unconscious +instrument in the hands of the Ruler. Our peaceable and harmonious +intercourse here has been too beautiful altogether to have been +prolonged much farther. For, behold, all the good things in life are +but transitory and pass away, and nothing is lasting but evil things, +the loneliness of the soul and the persistence of sin, whereupon we +feel impelled to consider all this and to try and grasp their meaning +in this life and in the life to come. Hence, too, let us rather +separate before the wicked demon of discord raises its head amongst us, +and let us bid each other farewell, just as do the soft zephyrs of +springtime when they swiftly move along high in the sky, and let us do +this before the rough storms of autumn overtake us. I myself will +accompany you on the first stage of your hard road, and will be the +eyewitness of your trial race, so that you will start on it with a good +courage and so that you know behind you a gentle propelling power, +while victory winks from afar. But just as the victor will forbear to +show a spirit of undue pride, those who have been defeated will not +permit themselves to become despondent nor to load their souls with +grief or wrath because of their lack of success in the venture. They +will depart feeling affection for him who bears the palm, and will +enshrine him and us in their inmost heart. They will fare forth into +the wide world with joyous disposition. They must reflect on the fact +that men have built cities galore that outshine in their splendors and +beauties Seldwyla by far. There is, for instance, a huge and memorable +city wherein dwells the Father of all Christendom. And Paris, too, is +quite a mighty town, where may be found innumerable souls and many fine +palaces. And in Constantinople there rules the Sultan, of Turkish faith +is he, and there is Lisbon, once destroyed by an earthquake, but since +reconstructed finer than ever. Again we have Vienna, the capital of +Austria and called the gay imperial city, and London is the wealthiest +town of all, situated in Engelland, along a river the name of which is +the Thames. Two millions of human beings, they say, have their +habitation there. St. Petersburg, on the other hand, is the capital and +imperial city of Russia, whereas Naples is the capital of the kingdom +of the same name, near which is the Vesuvius, a high mountain forever +breathing fire and smoke. On that mountain, according to the version of +a credible witness, a lost soul once upon a time appeared to a ship's +captain, as I have read in a curious book of travel, which soul +belonged to John Smidt, who one hundred and fifty years ago was a +godless man, and who now commissioned the said captain to visit his +descendants in Engelland, so he might be redeemed. For look you, the +entire mountain is the abode of the damned, as may also be read in the +tract of the learned Peter Hasler where he discusses the probable +entrance to hell. Many other cities there are indeed, whereof I will +still mention Milan, and Venice, built wholly upon water, and Lyons, +and Marseilles, and Strasbourg, and Cologne, and Amsterdam. Of Paris I +have already spoken, but there is also Nuremberg, and Augsburg, and +Frankfort, and Basle, and Berne, and Geneva, all of them handsome +towns, and pretty Zurich, and besides all these still many more which I +have neither leisure nor inclination to enumerate here. For everything +has its limits, excepting the inventive genius of man, who goes +everywhere and undertakes anything which seems to him useful. And if +men are just everything prospereth with them; but if they are unjust +they will perish like the grass of the fields and vanish like smoke. +Many are called, but few are chosen. For all these reasons and because +of others to which our duty and the virtue of a clear conscience oblige +us, we will now submit ourselves to the voice of fate. Go forth, +therefore, and prepare for the time of trial, and for the period of +wandering, but do so as just and gentle beings, who bear their worth +within themselves, no matter whither they may go, and whose staff will +everywhere take root, who, no matter what their calling may be and no +matter what business they may seize upon, are always in the right in +saying to themselves; 'I have chosen the better part.'" + +Of all this the combmakers really did not want to hear just then, but +on the contrary insisted that Zues should select one of them and tell +him to remain in Seldwyla, and each one of them in saying so only +thought of himself. She, however, was careful to avoid a premature +choice. On the contrary, she told them bluntly that they must obey her +on pain of forfeiting her friendship forever. At once Jobst, the oldest +of the three, skipped off, right into the house of their ex-master, and +to perceive that and follow him in haste, was the work of an instant, +since they were afraid that he might be planning something against them +on the sly, and thus the trio acted all day long, whisking about like +falling stars, hither and thither. They hated each other like three +spiders in one web. Half the town witnessed this queer spectacle, +observing the three strangely excited combmakers, they who until that +day had always been so orderly and quiet. The ancient people of the +town could not but feel that something evil, something tragic was +underway, and they would nod and whisper to one another of their fears. +Towards nightfall, however, the combmakers became tired and spent, +without having reached any definite conclusion, and in that mood they +retired and stretched out their limbs in the old bed, with chattering +teeth and half-sick with impotent rage. One by one they crept beneath +the covering, and there they lay, as though felled by the hand of death +itself, with thoughts in turmoil and confusion, until at last sleep +came like balm for their uproarious minds. + +Jobst was first to waken, at early dawn, and he saw that spring was +weaving its garlands and that the great orb was rising in the east, in +a mass of cloudlets of dainty hue. The first rays of the sun were +already penetrating the dusky chamber wherein he had been sleeping for +the past six years. And while the room assuredly looked bare and +unattractive enough, it seemed nevertheless a paradise to him, a +paradise from which he was about to be driven thus unjustly and +unfairly, it appeared to him. He let his eyes wander all over the +walls, and counted on them the traces left by all the preceding +journeymen that had been harbored under that roof. Here there was a +dark stain from the one who was in the habit of rubbing against the +wall his greasy pate; there another one had driven in a nail, on which +he used to hang his long pipe, and, sure enough, a bit of scarlet tape +still clung to the nail. How good and harmless had they all been, all +those that had come and gone, while these fellows now, spread out their +whole length next to him in bed, would not go. Next he fastened his +glance upon the objects nearer his field of vision, those objects which +he had noticed thousands of times before, on all those occasions when +he had lain in bed in a contemplative mood, mornings, nights, or +daytime, and when he had enjoyed in his own peculiar way the bliss of +existence, free of cost and with a serene mind. There was, for example, +a spot in the ceiling where the wet had damaged it. This spot had often +set his imagination at work. It looked like the map of a whole country, +with lakes and rivers and cities, and a group of grains of sand +represented an isle of the blessed. Farther down a long bristle from +the painter's brush attracted Jobst's wandering attention; for this +bristle had been held back by the blue paint and was embedded in it. +This phenomenon interested Jobst greatly, for it was his own handiwork. +Last autumn he had accidentally discovered a small remnant of the azure +paint, and to utilize it had proceeded to spread it over that portion +of the ceiling nearest to him. But just beyond the bristle there was a +very slight protuberance, almost like a chain of mountains, and this +threw its shadow across the bristle over against the isle of the +blessed. About this rise in the scenery he had been brooding and +speculating the whole of the past winter, because it seemed to him that +it had not been there formerly. + +And as he now cast searching glances for this protuberance and could +not find it despite all his pains, he thought he must suddenly have +gone daft when instead of it he discovered a tiny bare spot on the +wall. On the other hand he noticed that the small bluish mountain +itself was moving. Amazed beyond measure at this miracle, Jobst quickly +sat up and watched the cerulean wonder march steadily on: the +conviction dawned on him that the prodigy was nothing but a bedbug; his +logical deduction then was that he must have unawares applied a coat of +paint to this insect, at a time in its life when it was already in a +state of coma. But now the little creature had been reawakened under +the warming influence of the spring sun, had started on a tour of +adventure, and was actually and bravely ascending the steep pathway on +the wall, ready for business, without in the least minding its blue +back and Jobst's astonishment. Jobst watched the meanderings of the +dear little thing with concentrated interest. So long as it cut across +the blue paint it was barely visible; but now it issued forth into the +region beyond, traversing first a few remaining splotches of paint, and +next wandering diligently among the darker districts. With softened +feelings Jobst sank back into his pillows. Generally rather indifferent +to quips of mere fancy, this time sentiment struggled uppermost. He +took the enterprising bedbug as an omen for himself. He, too, must be +wandering forth again, seeking new pastures. And thankfully and +resignedly he thought of this insect as a model for himself to strive +after. In this frame of mind he resolved to put a good face on the +matter and to bow to the unavoidable. He meant to start at once. +Indulging these wise reflections his natural wisdom and forethought +slowly came back to him, however, and resuming his train of +deliberations he at last concluded that there might not be any +necessity for clearing out at all. By reassuming his habitual modesty +and resignation and submitting in that spirit to the trial at hand, it +might come to pass, after all, that he would overcome his rivals. +Softly and slowly, therefore, he now rose, and began to arrange his +belongings; but above all he dug up his hidden treasure and started to +pack it away, lowest in his knapsack. While thus engaged the others +also awoke. And when they observed Jobst packing up his things in that +matter-of-fact, unobtrusive manner, they grew more and more astonished, +and this feeling increased when Jobst spoke to them in a conciliatory +tone and wished them a good morning. More than that, though, he did not +say, but continued peaceably in his task. Instantly, however, not being +able to explain to themselves his behavior, they began to suspect a +ruse, a deep-laid scheme, and to imitate him. At the same time they +closely watched him, curious to find out what he would do next. + +It was ludicrous as well to observe the other two now exhuming their +hoards quite openly from underneath their own tiles, and to put them +away, without first counting them over, in their knapsacks. For they +had known for long that each was aware of the secret of the others, and +according to the old-fashioned honorable traditions of their guild not +one of them suspected the others of theft. Each of them, in fact, was +fully convinced that they would not be robbed. For it is an iron-clad +custom among traveling journeymen, soldiers, and similar folk that +nothing must be locked up and that there must be no suspicion of foul +play. + +In this way they at last were ready to start. The master paid each his +wages, and handed them back their service booklets, wherein on the part +of the town authorities and of the master himself there were inscribed +the most satisfactory certificates as to good behavior and steadiness +of conduct. A minute later they stood, in a state of soft melancholy, +before the house door of Zues Buenzlin, each dressed in a long brown +coat, with a duster above that, and their hats, albeit by no means new +or fashionable, covered with a tight casing of oil cloth. Each carried +a tiny van strapped to his knapsack to enable him, as soon as +long-distance walking should start, to pull his heavy baggage with +greater ease. The small wheels belonging to this contraption stood up +high above their shoulders. Jobst was assisted in walking by a decent +bamboo cane, Fridolin by a staff of ash painted all over with red and +black stripes, and Dietrich by a fantastic baton around which were +curling carved branches. But he was almost ashamed of this absurd and +bragging thing, since it dated from the first days of his pilgrimage, a +time when he had not yet attained to the sober view of life as since. +Many neighbors and their children lined the way and wished these three +serious-minded men godspeed. + +But now Zues showed at the door, her mien even more solemn than usual, +and at the head of the little procession she went on with the three +courageously to beyond the town gate. In their honor she had donned +some of her choicest finery. She wore a huge hat draped with broad +yellow ribbons, a pink calico dress trimmed in a style of ten years +ago, a black velvet scarf and shoes of red morocco with fringes. With +this costume she also carried a reticule of green silk filled with +dried pears and prunes, and had a small parasol in her other hand on +top of which there could be seen an ivory ornament carved in the shape +of a lyre. She had also hung around her fair neck the locket with the +monument of hair, and in front of her chaste bosom had pinned on the +gold forget-me-not, and wore white knit gloves. Dainty and pleasant she +looked in this guise; her countenance was slightly flushed and her +bosom heaved higher than its wont, and the departing combmakers +scarcely were able to conceal their feelings of utter woe and sorrow at +the prospect of losing her. For even their extreme situation, the +lovely spring weather, and Zues' exquisite finery, or all of it +together mingled with their sentiments of expectation and anxiety +something of what habitually is denominated Love. Arrived beyond the +town gate, though, the winsome maiden encouraged her three admirers to +place their heavy knapsacks upon those tiny wheels and to pull their +loads, so as not to tire themselves needlessly. This they did, and as +they steadily began to climb the steep heights that rose just outside +the town, it looked for all the world almost like a train of light +mountain guns moving slowly upwards, in order to form a battery for +attack. And when they had thus proceeded for half an hour they reached +a pleasant hilltop, where they halted. A crossroad was there, and they +sat down beneath a linden tree, in a semicircle, whence a far view was +obtainable across forests and lakes and villages. Zues brought out her +reticule and handed to each one a handful of pears and prunes, in order +to restore themselves. Thus they sat for quite a while, solemn and +silent, merely causing a slight noise by the slow degustation of the +sweet fruit. + +Then Zues, throwing away a prune pit and drying her hands on the grass, +drew breath and began to speak: "Dear friends," she said, "only see how +beautiful and how big the world is, all around full of fine things and +of human habitations! And yet I should wager that in this fateful hour +there are nowhere else seated together four such decent and just souls +as are seated here under this tree, four who are so sensible and so +gentle in all their doings, so inclined to all useful and laborious +exercises, so given to virtues like economy, peaceableness, and dutiful +friendship. How many flowers are surrounding us here, of every kind, +such as early spring produces, especially yellow cowslips, from which a +wholesome and well-tasting tea may be prepared. But are these flowers, +I ask you, as decent and as diligent, as economical and cautious, as +apt to think correct and useful thoughts? No, indeed, they are ignorant +and soulless things, and without benefiting themselves they waste time +and opportunity, and no matter how nice they may look in a short time +they turn into dead and useless hay, while we with our virtues are far +superior to them and also do not yield to them in beauty of outward +shape. For it was God who created us after His image and blew His +divine breath into us. Ah, would it were possible to keep seated here +in this spot for all eternity, in this paradise and in our present +state of innocency. Indeed, my friends, it seems to me that we all of +us at this hour are in a state of innocency, although ennobled by +sinless consciousness and intelligence, for all four of us are able, +God be praised, to read and write, and we have, each of us, likewise +acquired a craft, a useful calling. For many things, I am aware, I have +talent and skill, and would engage to do many things which even the +most learned young lady would be unable to do, that is, if I were +inclined to go outside of and beyond my proper station. But modesty and +humility are the dearest virtues of a decent maiden, and it is enough +for me to know that my intellectual gifts are not worthless nor +despised by the judicious and those of a keener discernment. Many have +before this wooed me, men who were not worthy of me, and now I see +three just and decent bachelors assembled around me, each of whom is as +worthy to win me as are the others. From this, my friends, you may +measure and imagine how my own heart must long for a solution in view +of this unheard-of abundance, and may each of you take pattern by me +and think for the moment that he, too, were surrounded by three +virgins, each equally lovely and worthy to be loved, and all three +desirous to wed and possess him, and that on that account it might +happen that he would be unable to make up his mind to incline to this +or that one, and therefore at last unable to wed any. Only place +yourselves in your thoughts in my stead: fancy that each of you were +courted simultaneously by three Miss Buenzlins at once, and were thus +seated around you the way we are seated here, dressed as I am, and of +similarly alluring exterior, so that I in a manner of speaking would +exist ninefold, and that they all were regarding you with love-lorn +eyes, and were desiring to possess you with great strength of feeling. +Can you do that?" + +The three lovers ceased for a moment to chew their dried prunes, and +made an attempt to follow the maiden's flight of fancy, their faces +meanwhile assuming a peculiarly sheep-like cast. But after a while the +Suabian, as the greatest thinker and inventor amongst them, seemed to +grasp the idea, and said with a voluptuous grin: "Well, most beloved +Miss Zues, if you have no objection, I should indeed like to see you +hover around here not only threefold but a hundredfold, and to have you +look at me with lovelorn eyes and to offer me a thousand kisses!" + +"Nay, nay," Zues replied, rather put out by this, "do not talk in this +unbecoming and extravagant style! What is entering your head, you +overbold Dietrich? Not a hundredfold and not offering kisses, but only +threefold and in a virtuous and honorable manner, so that no wrong may +be done me!" + +"Yes," now cried Jobst, brandishing a pear stalk and gesturing with it, +"only threefold and behaving with the greatest chastity do I see the +beloved Miss Buenzlin walking about me and greeting me while placing +her hand on her heart. Your most devoted servant, thank you, thank +you!" he said, smiling with great urbanity and bowing thrice in +different directions as though he really perceived these hallucinations +in the air around him. "Thus you should speak," rejoined Zues, with a +seductive smirk. "If there really exists any difference between you +three, it is you, after all, dear Jobst, who are the most gifted, or at +least the most sensible." + +Fridolin, the Bavarian, had not yet succeeded in conjuring up in his +slower brain all these figments of imagination. But now seeing Jobst +evidently scoring a hit, he was afraid that he was losing in favor, and +so shouted in haste: "I also notice the lovely virgin, Miss Zues +Buenzlin, perambulating right here in my vicinity and throwing +voluptuous glances in my direction, while putting her hand on--" + +"Fie, you Bavarian," shrieked Zues wrathfully, turning her face aside +out of very shame. "Not another word! Where do you get the courage from +to talk to me in such a tone of impure grossness, and to allow your +fancy to indulge in such smuttiness? Fie, fie!" + +The poor Bavarian felt abashed, reddened under this reproof, and looked +about foolishly, not knowing what he had done amiss. For really his +imagination had not been at work at all, and he had merely meant to +repeat about what he had heard Jobst say a moment before and what the +latter had been praised for. But now Zues once more turned and +remarked: "And you, dear Dietrich, have you not yet been able to +reshape that last observation of yours in a more modest guise?" + +"Indeed I have," the young man made answer, glad to be forgiven, "I now +perceive you only in three different shapes, regarding me pleasantly +but in a quite respectable manner, and offering me three white hands, +on which I imprint three just as respectable kisses." + +"Well, then, that is proper," remarked Zues, "and you, Fridolin, have +you recovered from your fit of libertinism? Have you not yet calmed +your rampageous blood, and are you now in condition to conceive of an +image not so obscene?" + +"Begging pardon," murmured Fridolin greatly crestfallen, "I also can +now clearly recognize three maidens, each of whom has dried pears in +her hand and offers them to me, not being quite at variance with me any +longer. One of these is as handsome as the others, and to make a choice +among them appears to me a hard matter indeed." + +"Well said," remarked Zues, "and since you in your fancy are surrounded +by no less than nine equally desirable persons, and nevertheless in +spite of such delectable superabundance are suffering in your hearts +from a lack of love, you may easily conceive of my own condition. And +as you also saw how with modest and pure heart I know to tame my +desires, I trust you will take me as a model and will vow here and now +to further live in amity and to separate when the hour comes just as +pleasantly and without a grudge, no matter how fate may deal with each +one of you. Rise and come hither. Let each one of you place his hand in +mine, and pledge himself to act just as I have indicated!" + +"With perfect good faith," said Jobst in reply, "I at least will do +precisely as you suggest!" + +And the other two, not to be behindhand, likewise shouted: "And so will +I!" and they all three pledged themselves as she had requested, +secretly, of course, each with the proviso to run as hard towards the +goal as he was able. + +"Yes, indeed," Jobst once more interjected, "I at least will live up to +my promise, for from my youth upwards I have unfailingly shown a +conciliatory and equable disposition. Never in my life have I had a +quarrel with anyone, and would never suffer to see an animal tortured. +Wherever I have been I was on good terms with my fellows, and thus +earned much praise because of my peaceful ways. And while I may say +that I, too, understand many things passably well, and am usually held +a sensible young man, at no time have I interfered with things that did +not concern me, and have always done my duty with consideration for +others. I can work just as hard as I choose without losing my health, +since I am sound and strong and abstemious in my ways, and have still +the best years before me. All the wives of my masters have said that I +was a man in a thousand, a real treasure, and that it was easy to get +along with me. Oh, indeed, Miss Buenzlin, I believe I could live with +you as though in Heaven, in uninterrupted bliss." + +"That would not be hard," broke in the Bavarian at this, "to live in +concord and happiness with Miss Zues. I also would undertake to do the +same. I am not a fool, either. My craft I understand as well as the +best, and I know how to keep things in order without ever having to get +excited about it. And although I also have dwelt in the largest cities +and have earned good wages there, I have never got into trouble, and +neither have I ever killed as much as a spider or thrown a brick at a +mewling cat. I am temperate and easily pleased with my food, and am +able to get along with very little indeed. With that I am in full +health and of good temper and cheerful. I can stand much hardship +without losing my bland mind, and my good conscience is an elixir that +keeps me in excellent spirit. All animals love me and follow me, +because they scent my kind heart, for with an unjust man they would not +stay. A poodle dog once followed me for three entire days, on leaving +the town of Ulm, and at last I was forced to leave it in charge of a +peasant, since I as an humble journeyman combmaker could not afford to +feed such a creature. When I was traveling through the Bohemian Forest +stags and deer used to come within twenty paces of me, and would then +stand and watch me. It is wonderful indeed how even such wild beasts +know by instinct what kind of human beings they have to deal with." + +"True," here sang out the Suabian. "Don't you see how this chaffinch +has been fluttering around me this whole while, and how it is anxious +to approach me? And that squirrel over there by the pine tree is +constantly glancing towards me, and here again a small beetle is +creeping up my leg and will not go away. Surely, it must be feeling +comfortable with me, the tiny thing." + +But now Zues grew jealous. Rather nettled, she spoke: "Animals all love +me and like to stay with me. One of my birds remained with me for eight +years, until unfortunately it died. Our cat is so fond of me that it +forever purrs about me, and our neighbor's pigeons crowd about me every +day when I scatter some crumbs for them on my window sill. Wonderful +qualities animals have, anyway, each after its kind. The lion loves to +follow in the footprints of kings and heroes, and the elephant +accompanies the prince and the doughty warrior. The camel bears the +merchant through the desert and keeps a store of fresh water in its +belly for him. The dog again shares all the dangers with his owner and +pitches himself headlong into the sea just to prove his devotion. The +dolphin has a strong love for music and swims in the wake of vessels, +while the eagle accompanies armies. The ape bears a strong resemblance +to the human species and imitates everything he sees us do. The parrot +understands our speech and converses with us just like any person of +sense. Even the snakes may be tamed and then dance on the tip of their +tails. The crocodile sheds human tears and is consequently in those +parts esteemed and spared. The ostrich may be saddled and ridden like a +horse. The savage buffalo pulls the carriage of his human master, as +the reindeer does the sledge of his. The unicorn furnishes man with +snow-white ivory and the tortoise with its transparent bones--" + +"Beg pardon," interrupted all the three combmakers together, "herein +you are slightly in error, for ivory comes from the teeth of the +elephant, and tortoise-shell combs are made out of the shell of that +animal and not of the bones of the tortoise." + +Zues colored deeply and rejoined: "That, I believe, remains to be +proved. For you certainly have not seen of your own knowledge whence it +is obtained, but only work up its pieces. I as a rule make no mistakes +in matters of that kind. However, be that as it may, just let me +finish. Not the animals alone have their peculiarities implanted by the +hand of God, but even dead minerals that are dug out of the sides of +mountains. The crystal is clear as glass, marble hard and full of +veins, sometimes white and sometimes black. Amber possesses electric +properties and attracts lightning; but in that case it burns and smells +like incense. The magnet attracts iron; on slates one can write, but +not upon diamonds, for these are hard as steel; the glazier, too, uses +the diamond for cutting glass, because it is small and pointed. You +see, dear friends, that I can also tell you a few things about minerals +and animals. But as regards my relations with them I may say this: that +the cat is a sly and cunning beast, and that is why it will attach +itself only to persons possessing the same characteristics. The pigeon, +however, is the symbol of innocence and simplicity of mind, and may +only be the companion of those similarly constituted. And since it is +certain that both cats and pigeons are attracted by me, the conclusion +must be that I am at the same time sly and cunning, simple-minded and +innocent. As Holy Writ says, Be wise like the serpent and simple like +the dove! In this way we are able to understand both animals and our +relations to them, and to learn a deal, if we only look at things in +the right manner." + +The poor combmakers had not dared to interrupt her more. Zues had got +the better of them, and she went on for some time longer at the same +rate, talking about all sorts of intellectual things, until their +senses were in a whirl. But they admired Zues' spirit and her +eloquence, although with all their admiration none of them deemed +himself too humble to possess this jewel of a woman, especially as this +ornament of a house came cheap and consisted merely in an eager and +tireless tongue. Whether they themselves, after all, were worthy of +this that they valued so highly, and whether they would be able to +utilize this gift of hers, that class of idiot seldom inquires. They +are more like children who reach out for anything that glitters, who +lick off the vivid paint on a multicolored toy, and who put a mouth +harmonica into their little jaw instead of being content with listening +to its music. But while drinking in the high-flown phrases that dropped +so mellifluously from her lips, the three of them goaded on their +imagination more and more, sharpened their greed to own such a +distinguished person, and the more heartless, idle and parrot-like +Zues' chatter became, the more melancholy and depressed became her +swains. At the same time they felt a terrific thirst in consequence of +having swallowed so much of this dried fruit. Jobst and the Bavarian +looked for and found in the near-by woods a spring, and filled their +stomachs with cold water. But the Suabian had slyly taken along a flask +of cherry brandy and water, and with this he now refreshed himself. His +plan had been to thus gain an advantage over the others when making the +race, for well he knew that the other two were too parsimonious to +bring along a stimulant like that or to turn in at a tavern on the way. + +This flask he now pulled out of his pocket, and while the others drank +their water he offered it to Zues. She accepted it, emptied the flask +half, and regarded Dietrich while she thanked him for the refreshment +with such an affectionate glance that Dietrich felt more than +recompensed and tremendously encouraged in his suit. He could not +withstand the temptation to seize her hand courteously and to kiss the +tips of her fingers. She on her part lightly touched his lips with her +hand, and he made belief of snapping at it, whereupon she smirked +falsely and pleasantly at him. Dietrich answered similarly. Then the +two sat down on the ground close to each other, and once in a while +would touch the soles of the other's shoe with his own, almost as +though they were shaking hands with their feet. Zues was bending over +slightly, and laid her hand on his shoulder, while Dietrich was on the +very point of imitating this little sport when the Bavarian and the +Saxon returned jointly, observed this philandering, and groaned and +lost color both at the same time. + +From the water they had drunk on top of all this dried fruit they had +become uneasy, both of them, and now that they saw the playful pair +indulging in their little game, everything seemed to turn around them. +Cold sweat began to break out on their foreheads, and they nearly gave +themselves up for lost. Zues, however, did not for an instant lose her +self-possession, but turned to the two and said: "Come, friends, sit +down a little while longer here with me, so that we may enjoy, perhaps +for the last time, our harmony and our undisturbed friendship." + +Jobst and Fridolin pressed up quickly, and sat down, stretching out +their thin legs. Zues left her one hand in the Suabian's own, gave +Jobst her other one, and touched with the soles of her shoes those of +Fridolin, while she turned her face to one after the other, smiling +most enchantingly. Thus there are skilled virtuosi who know how to play +a number of instruments at once, who shake bells with their heads, blow +the Pan's pipe with their mouths, touch the guitar with their hands, +strike the cymbal with their knees, with the foot a triangle, and with +the elbow a drum suspended from their backs. + +But now she rose, smoothed out her dress very carefully, and said: "The +hour has now come, I think, my friends, when you must get ready for +your great race, the race which your master in his folly has imposed on +you, but which we ourselves have agreed to regard as the disposition of +a higher power. Run this race with all the energy you can muster, but +without enmity or rancor, and leave the crown of the victor willingly +to him who has earned it." + +And as if stung by a vicious wasp the three sprang up and stood up +ready and eager on their legs. Thus they stood, and they were now to +try and vanquish each other with the same legs with which until now +they had made only slow and thoughtful steps. Not one of the three +could even recall ever having used these legs jumping or running. The +Suabian, perhaps, was most inclined for the venture. He even seemed to +be impatient for the struggle, and an eager look was in his eyes. At +that moment of severe crisis they three scanned each other's features +closely; the sweat had gathered on their pale brows, and they breathed +hard and spasmodically, as though they were already running at full +tilt. + +"Shake hands once more, in token of good feeling," said Zues. And they +did so, but in so lifeless a manner that the three hands dropped to +their sides as if made of lead. + +"And are we really to start on this fool's errand?" asked Jobst in a +voice thick with suppressed emotion, while wiping the perspiration from +his forehead. Some single tears were slowly crawling down his hollow +cheeks. + +"Yes, indeed," chimed in the Bavarian, "are we actually to run and jump +like apes on a rope?" and began to weep in good earnest. + +"And you, most charming Miss Buenzlin," added Jobst, "how are you going +to behave in the circumstances?" + +"It behoves me," answered she and held her handkerchief to her eyes, +"to keep silent, to suffer and to look on." + +"But afterwards," put in the Suabian, with a sly smile, "afterwards. +Miss Zues, when all is over?" + +"Oh, Dietrich," she responded softly, "do you not know what the poet +says: 'As Fate decides, so turns the heart of maid'?" And in +introducing this quotation from Schiller she regarded him so temptingly +aside that he again lifted up his long legs and shuffled them, feeling +like starting off at once. + +While the two rivals arranged their little vehicles on their wheels, +and Dietrich did the same, she repeatedly touched him with her elbow, +or else stepped on his foot. She also wiped the dust from his hat, but +at the same time threw inviting glances towards the others, pretending +to be highly amused at the Suabian's eagerness. But she did this +without being observed by Dietrich. + +And now all three of them drew deep breaths and sighed like so many +furnaces. They looked all about them, took off their hats, fanned +themselves and then once more put on their hats. For the last time they +sniffed the air in all the directions of the compass, and tried to +recover their breath. Zues herself felt deeply for them, and for very +compassion shed sundry tears. + +"Here," she then said, "are the last three prunes. Take each of you one +in the mouth, that will refresh you. And now depart, and turn the folly +of the wicked into the wisdom of the just! That which the wicked have +invented for your confusion, now change into a work of self-denial and +of serious enterprise, into the well-considered final act of good +conduct maintained for years, and into a competitive race for virtue +itself." + +And she herself with her own fair hands shoved a dried prune between +the cramped lips of each, and each of them at once began to gently chew +the prune. + +Jobst pressed his hand upon his stomach, exclaiming: "What must be, +must be. Let us start, in the name of Heaven!" + +And saying which and raising his staff, he began to stride ahead, knees +strongly bent and nostrils high in air, dragging his little load after +him. Scarcely had Fridolin seen that, when he, too, did the same, +taking long steps, and without once looking behind him. Both of them +could now be seen descending the hill and entering the dusty highway. + +The Suabian was the last one to get away, and he was walking, without +showing any great hurry, with Zues at his side, grinning in a +self-satisfied way, as though he felt sure of victory, and as though he +were willing, out of mere generosity, to grant a little start to his +rivals, while Zues praised him for this supposed noble action and for +his equanimity. + +"Ah," she now sighed, "after all, it is a blessing to be sure of a firm +support in life! Even where one is sufficiently gifted oneself with +insight and cleverness and follows, besides, the path of rectitude, all +the same it makes it much easier to walk through life on the arm of a +tried friend." + +"Quite right," the Suabian hastened to reply, and nudged her +energetically with the elbow, while at the same time he watched his +rivals so as not to let their start become too great. "Do you at last +notice that, my dear Miss Zues? Are you becoming convinced? Have your +eyes opened to the truth?" + +"Oh, Dietrich, my dear Dietrich," and she sighed more strongly, "I +often feel so very lonesome." + +"Hop-hop," he now laughed light-heartedly, "that is where the shoe +pinches? I thought so all along," and his heart began to leap like a +hare in a cabbage patch. + +"Oh, Dietrich," she again breathed low, and she pressed herself much +tighter against the young man's side. He felt awkward, and the heart in +his bosom grew big with pleasure, and joy began to fill it altogether. +But at the same instant he made the discovery that his precursors had +already vanished from his sight, they having turned a corner. At once +he wanted to tear himself loose from Zues' arm and hasten after them. +But Zues kept such a tight hold of him that he was unable to do so, and +she grasped him so firmly that he thought she was going to faint. + +"Dietrich," she whispered, and she made sheep's eyes at him, "don't +leave me alone at this moment. I rely on you, you are my sole help! +Please support me." + +"The devil. Miss Zues," he murmured anxiously, "let me go, let me go, +or else I shall miss this race, and then good-by to everything!" + +"No, no, you must not leave me just now. I feel that I am becoming very +ill!" Thus she lamented. + +"I don't care, ill or not ill," he cried, and tore himself loose from +her. He quickly climbed a rock whence he was able to overlook the whole +highroad below. There they were, he saw the two runners far away, deep +below towards the town. And then he made up his mind to a great spurt, +but at the same moment once more looked back for Zues. Then he saw her, +seated at the entrance to a shady wood path, and motioning to him with +her lily hand. This was too much for him. Instead of hurrying down the +hill, he hastened back to her. And when she saw him coming, she turned +and went in deeper into the cool wood, all the time casting inviting +glances at him, for her object was, of course, to draw him away from +the race and cheat him out of his victory, make him lose and thus +render his further stay in Seldwyla impossible. + +But Dietrich, the Suabian, was, as pointed out before, of an inventive +and resourceful turn. Thus it was that he, too, quickly made up his +mind to alter his tactics, and to score victory not down there but up +here. And thus things came to pass very much differently from what had +been calculated on. For as soon as he had come up with her in a +sheltered spot in the depth of the forest, he fell at her feet and +overwhelmed her with the most ardent declarations of his love for her +to which any combmaker ever gave expression. At first she made a great +attempt to withstand his wooing, bade him be quiet and desist from his +violent protestations, and to befool him a little while longer until +all danger of his winning should be past. She let loose the torrent of +her wisdom and learning, and tried to awe him. But the young Suabian +was not to be caught with this chaff. Paying not the slightest regard +to all these rhetorical fireworks, he let loose Heaven and Hell in his +stormy suit, lavishing caresses and blandishments on the surprised +maiden by which he finally stifled the voice of her severely attuned +conscience, and his excited and ready wit furnished him with enough of +love's ammunition to overcome all her scruples. His eloquence and his +bold and ever persistent wheedling and dandling gave her not a second's +respite nor leisure to reflect and deliberate. He first took possession +of her hands and feet, to kiss and fondle them, despite her strenuous +protests, and next he flattered her to the top of her bent, lauding +both her bodily and mental charms to the very skies, until Zues was in +a very paradise of self-glorification and satisfied vanity. Added to +this was the solitude and the sense of security from curious and +peering eyes in the leafy shade of the forest. Until at last Zues +really lost the compass to which hitherto she had clung as her safe +though rather selfish guide through life. She succumbed to all these +allurements, not so much by reason of exalted sensualism, as because +for the moment she was overcome and helpless against the stronger and +more primitive passion of this young man. Her heart fluttered timidly +up and down, and vainly attempted to find its former balance. Her +thoughts were in a perfect storm of contradictions, and she was +altogether like a poor impotent beetle turned over on its back and +struggling to recover the use of its limbs. And thus it was that +Dietrich vanquished her in every sense. She had tempted him into this +impenetrable thicket in order to betray him like another Delilah, but +had been quickly conquered by this despised Suabian. And this was not +because she was so utterly love-sick as to lose her bearings but rather +because she was in spite of all her fancied wisdom so short of vision +as not to see beyond the tip of her own nose. Thus they remained +together an hour or more in this delectable solitude, embraced ever +anew, kissed one another a thousand times, thus realizing the vision of +the Suabian not long before, and swore eternal faith and unending +affection, and agreed most solemnly, no matter how the affair of the +race should terminate, to marry and become man and wife. + + +In the meanwhile news of the curious undertaking of the three +combmakers had spread throughout the town, and the master himself had +not a little aided in this, for the whole matter appealed strongly to +his sense of humor. And hence all the people of Seldwyla rejoiced in +advance at the prospect of a spectacle so novel and unconventional. +They were eager to see the three journeymen arrive out of breath and in +complete disarray, and laughed heartily in anticipation of the fun they +counted on. Gradually a vast throng had assembled outside the town +gate, impatient to see the arrival. On both sides of the highroad the +curious people were seated at the edge of the trenches, just as if +professional runners were expected. The small boys climbed into the +tops of trees, while their elders sat on the grass and smoked their +pipe, quite content that such an amusement had been provided for them. +Even the dignitaries of Seldwyla had not scorned to put in their +appearance, sat in the taverns by the wayside and discoursed of the +chances of each of the three, and making a number of not inconsiderable +wagers as to the final result. In those streets which the runners had +to pass on their way to the goal all the windows had been thrown open, +the wives had placed in their parlors on the window ledges pretty +vari-colored cushions, to rest their arms upon, and had received +numerous visits from the ladies of their acquaintance, so that coffee +and cake was hospitably provided for them all, and even the maid +servants were in a holiday mood, being sent to bakers and confectioners +for goodies of every description with which to entertain the guests. + +All of a sudden the little fellows keenly watching from out of their +leafy domes dimly saw in the distance tiny dust clouds approaching, and +they set up the cry: "Here they're coming! They're coming!" And indeed, +not long thereafter were seen Jobst and Fridolin rushing past, each +wrapped in his own hazy column of dust, in the middle of the road. With +the one hand they were pulling their valises on wheels each by himself, +these rattling over the cobblestones with a noise like drumbeats, and +with the other they held on tight to their heavy hats, these having +slid down their necks, and their long dusters and coats were flying in +the breeze. Both of the rivals were covered thickly with dust, almost +unrecognizable; they had their mouths wide open and were yapping for +breath; they saw and heard nothing that transpired around them, and +thick tears were slowly rolling down their faces, there being no time +to wipe them away, and these tears had dug paths in criss-cross fashion +in the grime on their countenances. + +They came close upon each other, but the Bavarian was just about half a +horse's length ahead. A terrific shouting and laughter was set up by +the audience, and this droned in the ears of the racers as they sped on +in insane haste. Everybody got up and crowded along the sidewalk, and +there were cries raised: "That's it, that's it! Run, Saxon, defend +yourself: don't let the Bavarian have it all his own way! One of the +three has already given in--there are but two of them left." + +The gentlemen who were standing on the tables and chairs in the gardens +and roadhouses laughed fit to split their sides. Their roars sounded +across the highway and streets, and woke the echoes, and the affair was +turned into a popular festival. Small boys and the entire rabble of the +town followed densely in the wake of the two, and this mob stirred up +thick volumes of biting dust, so that the racers were almost stifled +before they arrived at the near goal. The whole immense cloud rolled +towards the town gate, and even women and girls ran along, and mingled +their high, squeaking voices with those of the male ruffians. Now they +had almost reached the old town gate, the two towers of which were +lined with the curious who were waving their caps and hats. The two +were still running, foaming at the mouth, eyes starting out of sockets, +running like two run-away horses, without sense or mind, their hearts +full of fear and torture. Suddenly one of the little street boys knelt +down on Jobst's small vehicle, and had Jost pull him along, the crowd +howling with appreciation of the joke. Jobst turned and pleaded with +the youngster to get off, even struck at him with his staff. But the +blows did not reach the urchin, who merely grinned at him. With that +Fridolin gained on Jobst, and as Jobst noticed this, he threw his staff +between the other's feet, so that Fridolin stumbled and fell. But as +Jobst attempted to pass him, the Bavarian pulled him by the tail of his +coat, and by the aid of that got again on his feet. Jobst struck him +upon his hands like a maniac, and shouted: "Let go! Let go!" But +Fridolin did not let go, and so Jobst seized him also by the coat tail, +and thus both had hold of each other, and were slowly making their way +into the gateway, once in a while attempting to get rid of the other by +venturing on a bound. They wept, sobbed and howled like babies, shouted +in the agony of their grief and fear: "My God, let go!" "For the love +of Heaven, let go!" "Let go, you devil; you must let go!" Between +whiles each struck hard blows at the other's hands, but with all that +they advanced a little all the time. Their hats and staffs had been +lost in the scuffle, and ahead of them and behind them the hooting mob +was accompanying them, their escort growing more turbulent and violent +each minute. All the windows were occupied by the ladies of Seldwyla, +and they threw, so to speak, their silvery laughter into this avalanche +of noise, and all were agreed that for years past there had not been +such a ludicrous scene as this. + +As a matter of fact, this crazy free show was so much to the taste of +the whole town that nobody took the trouble to point out to the two +rivals their ultimate goal, the house of their old master. They +themselves, these two, did not see it. Indeed, they did not see +anything more. They reached their goal and did not perceive it, but +went past and hurried crazily on, on and on, always escorted by the +shouts and yells of the mob, fighting each other, their faces drawn and +pinched as though in death, on and on, until they reached the other end +of the little town and so through the second gate out into the open +once more. The master himself had stood at the window of his house, +laughing and greatly amused, and after patiently waiting for another +hour for the victor in the strange tournament, he had been on the point +of leaving the house and joining some of his cronies at the tavern, +when Zues and Dietrich quietly and unobtrusively entered. + +For Zues had meanwhile been busy with her thoughts, combining, after +her wont, this and that. And thus she had reached the conclusion that +in all likelihood the master combmaker would be willing to sell his +business outright on a cash basis, since he could not continue it +himself much longer. For that purpose Zues herself was ready to give up +her interest-bearing mortgage, which together with the slender savings +of Dietrich would doubtless suffice and thus they two would remain +victors and could laugh at the other two. This plan, together with +their intention to marry, they told the astonished master about, and +he, readily seeing that thus he could cheat his creditors and by +concluding the bargain quickly would also get possession of a +considerable sum of money to do with as he pleased, was glad of the +opportunity thus afforded him. Quickly, therefore, the two parties were +in agreement as to the terms, and before the sun went down Zues became +the lawful owner of the business and her promised husband the tenant of +the house in which the business was being conducted. Thus it was Zues, +without indeed having intended or suspected it in the morning, who was +tied down and conquered by the quickwitted Suabian. + +Half dead with shame, exhaustion and anger, Jobst and Fridolin +meanwhile lay in the inn to which they had been taken when picked up +limp and spent in the open field. To separate the two rivals, thirsting +for each other's blood and maddened from the whole crazy adventure, had +been no light task. The whole of Seldwyla now, having in their peculiar +reckless way already forgotten the immediate cause of the whole +turmoil, was now celebrating and making a night of it. In many houses +there was dancing, and in the taverns there was much drinking and +singing and noise, just as on the greatest Seldwyla holidays. For the +people of Seldwyla never required much urging to enjoy themselves to +the top of their bent. When the two poor devils saw how their own +superior cunning with which they had counted on making a good haul had, +on the contrary, only served these careless people in all their folly +to make a feast of it, how they themselves had been the immediate cause +of their own downfall, and had made a laughingstock of themselves for +all the world, they thought their hearts would break. For they had +managed not only to defeat the wise and patient plans of so many years, +but had also lost forever the reputation of being shrewd men +themselves. + +Jobst as the oldest of the three and having spent in Seldwyla full +seven years, was wholly overwhelmed and dazed by the collapse of all +his secret hopes, and quite unable to reconstruct a new world after +having lost the one of his dreams. Utterly dejected he left his +sleepless pillow before daybreak, wandered away from town and crept to +the very spot where the day before they and Zues had sat under the +linden tree, and there he hanged himself to one of the lowest branches. +When the Bavarian, but an hour later, passed there on his way into +strange parts, such a fit of fright seized him that he ran off like a +lunatic, altered completely his whole ways, and later on was heard to +have become a dissolute spendthrift, who never saved a penny, and who +was in the habit of cursing God and men, being no one's friend any +more. + +Dietrich the Suabian alone remained one of the Decent and Just, and +stayed on in the little town. But he had little good of it, for Zues +left him nothing to say, and ruled him strictly, never allowing him to +have his way in anything. On the contrary, she continued to consider +herself the sole source of all wisdom and success. + + + + + + DIETEGEN + + + + + DIETEGEN + + +To the north of those hills and woods where Seldwyla nestles, there +flourished as late as the end of the fifteenth century the town of +Ruechenstein, lying in the cool shade, whereas her rival Seldwyla +basked in the full glare of the midday sun. Gray and forbidding looked +the massed body of its towers and strong walls, and upstanding and just +were its councilmen and citizens, but severe and morose also, and their +chief employment consisted in the execution of their prerogatives as an +independent city, in the exercise of law and justice, the issuing of +mandates and decrees, of impeachments and committals. The greatest +source of their pride was the fact that there had been conferred on +them the exercise and enforcement of the power over life and death of +all subject to their sway, and so eager and willing they were to +sacrifice for this power their all, their privileges and their +substance, as entrusted to them by Empire and supreme ruler, as other +commonwealths were to achieve their liberty of conscience and the +freedom of worship according to their faith. + +On the rocky promontories all around their town wore conspicuous the +emblems of their dread sovereignty. Such as tall gallows and scaffolds, +sundry places of execution, showing the wheel where miscreants had +their limbs broken, the stake where heretics or other evildoers were +made to suffer, and their grim-faced town hall was hung full of iron +chains with neck rings; steel cages were exhibited on the towers of the +walls, and wooden drills wherein loose-tongued or wicked women were +being stretched and turned, could be seen at almost every corner. Even +by the shore of the dark-blue river which washed the walls of the town, +sundry stations had been erected where malefactors could be drowned or +ducked, with tied feet or in sacks, according to the finer +discriminations of the decree of judgment. + +Now it need not be supposed that because of all this the +Ruechensteiners were iron men, robust and inspiring terror by their +looks, such as one would be inclined to think from their favorite +pastimes. That was indeed not the case. Rather were they people of +ordinary, philistine appearance, with thin shanks and pot-bellies, +their only distinctive mark being their yellow noses, the same noses +with which the year around they used to besniff and watch each other. +And nobody indeed would have guessed from the more than commonplace and +scanty semblance of their whole physical being that their nerves were +like ropes, such as were absolutely required not only to view all along +the grewsome sights offered to them by their authorities in the putting +to a shameful and lingering death of scores and scores of felons and +other poor wretches condemned by their councilmen, but actually to +enjoy the sight. These cruel instincts of theirs were not apparent on +their faces; they were hidden away in their hearts. + +Thus they kept spread like a dense net their judiciary powers over the +dominion subject to their fierce rule, always eager for a chance to +apply it. And indeed nowhere were there such singular crimes to punish +as in this same Ruechenstein. Their inventive gift was fairly +inexhaustible. It seemed almost as though their talent for discovering +ever new and hitherto unheard-of crimes acted as a spur on sinners to +commit the latest delinquencies threatened with penalties of the +severest type. However, if despite all this at any time there was a +lack of evildoers, the people of the town knew how to help themselves. +For then they simply caught and punished the rascals of other towns. +And it was only a man with a clear conscience who had the hardihood to +cross at any time the territory of Ruechenstein. For when they heard of +a crime committed, even if done far away from their own area, they +would seize and hold the first landloper that came along, put him to +the torture and make him confess his guilt. Not infrequently it would +happen that such enforced confession related to a crime that, as later +turned out, had only been based on hearsay, and had really never been +done. But then it was too late. The supposed malefactor had been hung +in chains on the gallows or otherwise disposed of, and could not be +brought to life again. Of course, it was unavoidable that because of +this inclination of the people of Ruechenstein they would often get +into a more or less acrimonious controversy with other towns whose +citizens they had thus overzealously dispatched, and they even had +constantly pending a number of such cases before the Swiss federal +council, and had to be sharply reprimanded, but that did not cure them. + +By preference the people of Ruechenstein liked calm, sunny, pleasant +weather when indulging in their favorite amusement of holding penal +executions, burnings at the stake, and forcible drownings, and that is +why on fine summer days there was always something of the kind going on +there. The wanderer in a far-off field might then, keeping his eyes +fastened on the greyish rock buttress high up on the horizon, notice +not infrequently the flashing of the headsman's sword, the smoke pillar +of the stake, or in the bed of the river something like the glittering +leaping of a fish, which would usually mean the bobbing up and down of +a witch undergoing the solemn test. And the word of God on a Sunday +they would not have relished at all without at least one erring lovers' +couple with straw wreaths before the altar and without the reading out +of some sharpened moral mandates. + +Other festivals, processions and public pleasures there were none; all +such were prohibited by numerous mandates or ordinances. + +It may easily be supposed that a town of that stripe could have no more +distasteful neighbors than Seldwyla, and behind their woods, too, they +would forever think up new methods of interfering with and annoying +them. Any Seldwylian whom they caught on their own soil was seized and +tortured to get at the facts regarding the latest breach of the peace +or any other misdemeanor charged upon their neighbor's score. And on +their account, to get even, the Seldwyla people made fast every man of +Ruechenstein and, on their public market square, administered to him +six choice blows with the rod, on the spot which they deemed specially +adapted for that purpose. This, though, was as far as they ever went, +for they had a prejudice against bloody spectacles, and amongst +themselves never indulged in corporal punishments. But in addition to +this mild chastisement they would also blacken the long nose of the +culprit, and then they would let him run home. That was why there +always were in Ruechenstein several specially disgruntled persons with +noses dyed black that but slowly were recovering their pristine hue, +and these naturally were particularly zealous in trying to unearth +miscreants that could be dealt with severely and subjected to +castigation or torture. + +The Seldwylians on their part kept this black paint constantly ready in +a huge iron pot, and upon this was limned the Ruechenstein town +escutcheon, and they denominated this pot the "friendly neighbor." This +and the huge paint brush belonging to it was always suspended under the +arch of the gate fronting towards Ruechenstein. When this tincture had +dried up or been used up it was renewed and the occasion utilized to +get up a frolicsome procession ending with a gay banquet, all with a +view to rendering the neighbor ridiculous. And because of this at one +time the latter became so wrathful that their whole town turned out, +banners flying, to inflict punishment on the Seldwylians. + +But these, informed of this intention, quickly issued forth and waylaid +the Ruechenstein hosts, attacking them unawares. However, the +Ruechensteiners had marching at the head of their column a dozen of +graybearded and fierce-looking civic soldiers, with new ropes tied to +the handles of their long swords, and these wore such an unholy mien as +to scare the merry Seldwylian blades. The latter, in fact, began to +back out, and they were on the point of losing the fight if a clever +conceit had not saved them. For just for fun they had been carrying +along the punitive pot of paint, etc., "the friendly neighbor," and +instead of a banner the long paint brush. With quick intuition the +bearer of the latter dipped his brush deeply into the dark liquid, +bounded ahead of his comrades like a flash, and bedaubed the faces of +the leading rank of foes a sable hue before these knew what he was +about. So that all those in front, threatened immediately with this +indelible paint, turned and fled, and that nobody of them all further +felt like marching in the van of the host. With that the whole outfit +began to sway, and a strange terror fell on them all, whereas the +Seldwylians now, their courage restored, manfully went up against the +men of Ruechenstein, pressing them back towards the rear, in the +direction of their own town. With savage laughter the Seldwyla people +took advantage of the occasion, and wherever their foes dared to defend +themselves the dreaded paint brush came into instant action, handled +with supreme skill by means of its long shaft, and in the melee there +was indeed no lack of real heroism. For twice already the daring +painters had been pierced by arrows and fallen to rise no more. But +each time some other equally courageous fellow had sprung into the gap, +and had treated the foe in the same ignominious manner. + +In the end the Ruechensteiners were totally defeated, and they fled +with their banner towards the clump of woods which led to their town, +with the Seldwyla people on their heels. Barely were they able to find +refuge in their town, and to close the gate thereof, and the latter, +too, was painted all over by the pursuing foe with the black paint, +together with its drawbridge, until the Ruechensteiners, somewhat +recovered and collected again, threw potfuls of whitewash upon the +heads of the uproarious painters. + +But because a few Seldwylians of note who in the heat of combat had +penetrated into the town and there been taken prisoner, and also about +a dozen of the Ruechensteiners had likewise been seized and held by the +victors, there was effected an armistice after the lapse of a few days. +The prisoners were exchanged on both sides, and a regular peace was +concluded, in which both sides gave way a bit. There had been fighting +enough to suit them for a spell, and there was a desire for a mutual +adjustment. So it came to pass that both sides made fair promises of +future good behavior. The Seldwyla people bound themselves to give up +the iron paint pot, and to abolish it forever, and the people of +Ruechenstein solemnly relinquished all rights of seizure against +Seldwylians out walking or strolling in the Ruechenstein territory, and +all other privileges and prerogatives on either side were carefully +weighed and mostly abolished. + +To confirm this agreement a day was appointed, and as place of meeting +was chosen the mountain clearing where the chief fight had occurred. +From Ruechenstein came a few of the younger councilmen; for their +elders had not succeeded in overcoming their strong feelings of +reluctance to consort with their ancient foes on terms of quasi +friendship. The Seldwyla people on their part showed up in goodly +numbers, brought the "friendly neighbor," the heraldic paint pot, as +well as a small cask of their choicest and oldest wine, grown on the +municipal vineyards, with them, and also a number of their finest +silver or gilt tankards and trenchers which belonged to their municipal +treasure. In this way they nicely befooled the delegates from +Ruechenstein, glad to escape for even a short spell the rigid regimen +of their own town, and they were so charmed at this reception that +they, instead of immediately returning after the consummation of their +errand, allowed themselves to be inveigled in following the tempters to +Seldwyla itself. There they were escorted to the town hall, where a +grand feast was awaiting them. Beautiful ladies and maidens attended +the occasion, and more and more tankards, beakers, and flagons were set +up on the banqueting board, so that with the glitter and sheen of all +this precious metal and the gleaming of all these bewitching eyes the +poor Ruechensteiners clean forgot their original mission and became as +gay as larks. They sang, since they knew no other tunes, one Latin +psalm after another, while the Seldwylians on their part hummed wicked +drinking songs, and finally they wound up in the midst of the noise by +inviting their new Seldwyla friends to make a return visit to their own +town, being most particular to include the Seldwyla ladies in the +invitation, and promising them the most hospitable reception. + +This invitation was accepted unanimously, amidst great enthusiasm on +both sides, and when the delegates from Ruechenstein at last departed, +they did so under the happiest auspices, smiling blissfully from all +the choice wine under their belts, and deeming themselves conquerors of +the handsome Seldwyla ladies besides, since a number of these, laughing +and in rosy humor, gave them safe conduct as far as the gates of the +city. + +Of course, things took on a somewhat different hue when these jolly +young councilmen of Ruechenstein on the following day awoke in their +stern city and had to give an account of their stewardship and of the +whole proceedings on the day previous. Little was wanting indeed, and +they would have been incarcerated and subjected to ardent tests on the +charge of having been bewitched. However, they themselves had also a +right to speak with authority, and notwithstanding that the whole +matter already seemed to them a mistake on their part, they +nevertheless stuck to their bargain, and strongly represented to their +elder colleagues that the very honor of the city demanded a resplendent +reception of the Seldwylian folks. Their views gained acceptance among +a section of the citizens, especially when they described the +magnificent table silver that had been brought out to honor them, and +when they spoke of the handsome Seldwyla ladies and their gracefulness +and beautiful attire. The men were of opinion that such ostentatious +hospitality must not go unrebuked and unrivaled, and that it was +necessary to reciprocate at the coming return visit of their ancient +foes by a display of their own wealth, jeweled and precious tableware +glittering in their own iron safes aplenty. The women again were +itching to circumvent on such a favorable occasion the strict decrees +against too profuse finery from which they had been suffering so long, +and under the guise of civic patriotism to make a gaudy display of all +their hidden trinkets and gorgeous silks. For in their coffers and +lockers there was slumbering enough of costly stuffs to outshine the +Seldwyla ladies tenfold, they thought. If that had not been the case +they would surely long ago have rebelled against the severe sumptuary +decrees in vogue and brought the regiment in power to its fall. +Therefore, everything considered, the promise made by the Ruechenstein +emissaries was formally approved, to the great grief of the elder and +sterner members of the council. + +To offset this piece of laxity they were unable to hinder these latter, +the graybeards of the city, resolved, however, to enjoy another kind of +spectacle on their own account, and thus they began to make their +arrangements to have an execution performed on the very day when the +Seldwyla people were to dwell within their walls, and thus to dampen at +least, so far as they could, the unseemly spirit of merriment which +otherwise would go unchecked. And so while the younger members of the +council were busy with their preparations for the feast, the others +quietly made arrangements for another show after their own heart, and +for that purpose they selected a young, fatherless boy who was just +then caught in the net of their barbarous laws. It was a very handsome +boy of eleven, whose parents had both been engulfed in the recent wars, +and who was being educated and taken care of by the town. That is to +say, he had been put to board with the parish beadle, a conscienceless +and pitiless scoundrel, and there the little fellow--a slender, +vigorous and well-formed child enough--had been treated just like a +domestic animal, the wife aiding her husband in the task. The boy had +been named Dietegen, and this his baptismal name was all he really +owned in the world. It was his sole piece of property, his past and his +future. He was dressed in rags, and had never even had a holiday +garment, so that if it had not been for his good looks he would have +presented a miserable appearance. He had to sweep and dust, and to do +all the tasks that usually fall to a maid servant, and whenever the +beadle's wife did not happen to have anything to do for him in her own +house she lent him out to women neighbors for a trifle, there to do +anything that might be asked of him. They all thought him, in spite of +his strength and skill to do any work demanded of him, a stupid fellow, +and this because he obeyed silently all the orders he received and +because he never remonstrated. Yet it was the truth that none of the +women was able to look him in his fiery eyes for long, and these eyes +would often wander about as keen as an eagle's. + +Now several days before Dietegen had been sent on an errand to the +cooper in order to fetch some vinegar for a lettuce salad that his +foster parents wanted to prepare. Their vinegar the couple had been +keeping for a long time customarily in a small jug, and this was almost +black with age and had always been deemed cheap tin, having been bought +many years ago by the mother of the beadle's wife for a couple of +pennies from a peddler. But in reality the little jug was of silver. +The cooper of whom the vinegar was to be purchased dwelt rather far, in +a lonesome place near the city wall. As now the boy came walking along +with his small vessel, an ancient Hebrew came past him with his bag, +and threw a rapid glance at the curiously fashioned little jug, and +stopped the boy with the request to be allowed to examine this vessel +more closely. Dietegen handed it to him, and the Jew quickly and +secretly scratched the surface of the vessel with his thumb nail, +offering then to the astonished boy a pretty crossbow in exchange, and +this he produced at once out of a bag made of moth-eaten otterskin, +with a few bolts to boot. Boy-like, Dietegen at once seized the weapon +and relinquished his small jug to the Jew, who then at once +disappeared. Rejoicing in his good fortune the boy now began to aim and +shoot at the small gate of the near-by door of a tower, and without +being at all disturbed he continued this enticing sport, forgetting +everything else, until dusk came and then moonlight, improving his aim +steadily, and shooting by the bright light of the orb. + +Meanwhile the beadle had also made a last inspection tour around the +inside of the town walls, and had met with and held the Jew with his +bag. Examining the latter he had with amazement recognized his own +vinegar jug, and questioning the Jew the latter, in fear of his own +neck, owned at once that it was of silver, and pretended that a young +boy had forced it on him in lieu of a fine crossbow. Now the beadle ran +and consulted a goldsmith, who on testing the vessel likewise +pronounced it fine pure silver and of rarest workmanship. Thereupon the +beadle and his wife, the latter now having joined him, became +exceedingly angry, not only because they had had, without knowing it, +for so many years such a valuable piece of property, but also because +they had almost lost it. + +The world to them seemed to be full of the grossest wrong; the child +now appeared to them as their archenemy who had almost cheated them out +of their eternal reward, the reward for their infinite merits and +frugality. They suddenly pretended to have known for a long time that +the small jug was of silver, and that it had always been so considered +in their house. Cursing him bitterly they clamorously charged the +little fellow with larceny, and while he, entirely unconscious of all +this, was still engaged with his crossbow practice, and was hitting his +goal more and more often, two groups of searchers were already out +looking for him. At the head of the one party was the beadle, while the +woman, his wife, was heading the other. Thus they soon found him, still +busily engaged with his bow and bolts, and unpleasantly wakened from +his occupation when surrounded by the thief-takers. And now only he +remembered his errand and at the same time the loss of the small +vessel. But he believed he had made a good bargain, and handed the +beadle smilingly his crossbow, in order to pacify him. Notwithstanding +this he was instantly bound and gagged, carried off to jail, and then +examined. He admitted at once having exchanged the little pitcher for +the Jew's crossbow, and did not even attempt to defend himself. + +The poor little child was condemned to the gallows, and the time of his +death set for the very day when the Seldwylians were to visit the +people of Ruechenstein. + +And indeed they did appear on the appointed day, making a gorgeous +procession, in luminous colors and rich finery, with their town +trumpeter to lead them. They were, however, all armed with swords and +daggers, although that did not hinder them from bringing along a dozen +of their most fearless ladies. These rode in the centre of the +cavalcade, charming and richly attired, and even a number of pretty +children were with them, costumed in the colors of Seldwyla and bearing +gifts. + +The young councilmen of Ruechenstein, their new-won friends, rode out +some little distance without the city gates to welcome them, and led +them a bit crestfallen within. The strong entrance gate had had that +ominous black paint scratched off as much as had been found feasible, +had then been plentifully whitewashed and decorated with wreaths. But +just within this gate the guests found the whole contingent of +Ruechenstein's town mercenaries in rank and file, clad in full armor +and looking like brawny warriors indeed. These escorted the guests, +rattling and clanging in their iron harness, through the shady and +rather dark streets, with fierce mien. The people of the town peered +mute but curious out of their windows, as though their guests had been +beings from another world. When one of the gay Seldwylians gazed +upwards at the ladies leaning out of their windows, these would at once +duck and disappear. Their menfolk, though, flattened the tips of their +long noses against the greenish window panes, in order to observe as +closely as possible the spectacle of bare female necks, such as the +Seldwyla ladies offered. + +Thus, then, the whole cavalcade finally reached the huge hall inside +the town house, and that looked ornate but forbiddingly austere. Walls +and ceiling were decorated entirely with black-tinted oak, here and +there gilt. A long, long banqueting board was covered with beautiful +linen, and woven into it were foliage, stags, huntsmen and dogs of +green silk picked out with thin gold wire. Above this were further +spread dainty napkins of snowy white damask, and these again on nearer +sight exhibited patterns woven into them representing rather broadly +joyous scenes from Roman and Greek mythology, such as would have been +least expected in this grave concourse. Thickly grouped there stood on +this festal table everything which at that time belonged to a gala +meal, and what particularly claimed the attention of the Seldwyla +observers was a number of truly magnificent pieces of tableware--some +of them being in repousse work, some round and some in relief, a +glittering world of nymphs, fauns, nude demigods and heroes, with +lovely feminine forms intermingled. Even the chief table ornament, a +warship in solid silver, with sails spread and bellying in the breeze, +otherwise very respectable and officially stiff, showed as its emblem a +Galathea of the most opulent forms. + +Along this table of enormous dimensions a number of the wives of +councilors were slowly pacing to and fro, all of them dressed either in +black or scarlet silks and satins, heavy lace covering bosom and neck +up to the very chin. They did wear many gold chains, girdles and caps, +encrusted with jewels in many cases, and on their fingers they had, +over their gloves, priceless rings. And these ladies were not ugly to +look at, but rather in most instances handsome and of regular features; +many of them, too, showed a delicate complexion and their pretty oval +cheeks were rosy. But nearly all had an unpleasant glance, severe and +sour, so that it seemed doubtful whether they had ever smiled in their +lives, save perhaps at nighttime after fooling their gullible husbands. + +The mutual introductions were therefore not very cordial, and everybody +seemed indeed glad when this ceremony was over and guests and hosts +both sat down at table and the feelings of embarrassment could be +concealed by the engrossing charms of eating and drinking. The +Seldwylians were the first to recover their natural equanimity, and +then there could be heard among them frequent outbursts of hilarity as +they admired the dazzling table trappings. That indeed was to the +liking of their hosts, and they were just on the point of starting a +formal conversation on that topic, when the matter took a turn wholly +unexpected by them. For the Seldwyla people, accustomed always to use +their eyes, had quickly discovered the amorous and graceful topics +which the weaver's art had embodied in the woof of this linen and the +goldsmith's in the silver and goldware so liberally displayed before +their eyes. After allowing, therefore, their ribald glances to dwell +with a close scrutiny on the lustful scenes depicted here, many +Seldwylians called the attention of their neighbors to it all, all +smiles and good humor, and interpreted the true meaning of the scene in +each instance, often naming Ovid or some other heathen author as the +original source. Even the Seldwyla ladies did not refrain, but shared +in this amusement of their husbands. The hosts at first were slow to +understand this and were inclined to think it one of the childish +tricks for which they were forever blaming their merry neighbors of +Seldwyla, but as they finally likewise bent their glances on the things +occasioning the outbursts of their guests, they were as though smitten +with palsy. For it had never entered their minds before to look with +attention at these table appointments, and had merely accepted, when +ordered by them, the exquisite products of the loom or of the +goldsmith's skill as finished ware without ever bothering their heads +further about it, and nothing had been further from them than to cast +critical glances at the subjects represented by these artisans, and it +was thus reserved for their gay guests from Seldwyla to sharpen their +vision so to speak. Now when looking closer and closer, they perceived +what pagan horrors they had chosen to ornament their own board with, +and they were struck dumb with painful amazement. But what irked them +still more was what they deemed the lack of tact and decorum on the +part of their guests who, instead of purposely overlooking such an +involuntary blunder of their hosts actually magnified it and drew it +into the full glare of publicity. According to their way of thinking +what the Seldwylians ought to have done under these peculiar +circumstances was to praise and pay attention to the costliness of the +stuff out of which these implements had been fashioned, and not to go +beyond that. The Ruechensteiner grandees now were obliged to smile with +faces as sour as vinegar when a Seldwylian neighbor would call their +attention to an exquisitely wrought silver Leda and the Swan, or to a +Europa on the back of her bull. Their wives, however, showed their +displeasure more openly, blushed and paled by turns with wrath, and +were just on the point of demonstratively leaving the banquet when the +mournful sound of a bell quickly reassured them. For it was the poor +sinners' bell of Ruechenstein. A dull and confused din in the streets +gave notice that young Dietegen was now being led to his shameful +death. All the company rose from the table, and hastened to the +windows, the Ruechensteiners purposely making room for their guests to +enable these to view the sad spectacle plainly, while they themselves +stood in the rear, an insidious grin on their sallow features. + +A priest, a hangman with his helper, some court officials, and a few +armed attendants of the council went slowly past, and at their head +walked Dietegen, barefooted and clad only in a white, black-edged +delinquent shift, his hands tied in the back, and led by the hangman at +a rope. His golden hair fell in a shower down his white neck, and +confused and appealingly he looked aloft at the houses which he passed. +Under the portal of the town hall stood the boys and girls from +Seldwyla, who had, after the manner of children, left the table and the +weary banquet, and had hastened into the open air. When the pitiful +delinquent saw these pretty and happy children, the like he had never +yet perceived before, he wanted to stop a moment and talk to them, +while tears were streaming down his pale cheeks. But the executioner +roughly pushed him on, so that the train passed on and had soon +disappeared from view. The Seldwyla ladies lost color when they watched +this scene, and their men were seized with a deep dismay, since they at +no time loved to see sights of this kind. They felt out of spirits and +not at home with their hosts after such an exhibition, and thus they +soon yielded to the urging of their womenfolk, and as politely as they +could took leave of their grim hosts. The people of Ruechenstein, on +the other hand, were satisfied with the triumph they had scored against +their volatile guests, and thereby rendered almost complaisant towards +them, so that both sides parted amicably. The hosts even escorted their +honored guests, as they put it, to the town gate, and were talkative, +gallant towards the ladies, and courteous. + +Outside the gate the Seldwyla cavalcade met the small group of hangmen +and their assistants, who passed them morosely. Behind them there came +a single helper pushing a small cart whereon lay, in a plain pine +coffin, the young delinquent's body. Shy and bitten with curiosity to +watch this number of brilliantly attired persons, this fellow stopped +for a moment, and turned aside, in order to let the procession file +past him. He was placing the loose lid of the bier in its proper place, +it having almost slid off and exposed the sight of the hanged. + +Among the children of Seldwyla there was a seven-year-old maid, bold, +pretty and curly, who had never ceased to weep since seeing the poor +boy being led to the gallows, and refused to be consoled. And as the +train of Seldwylians now slowly swept on, the child at the moment she +came up with the cart and coffin, quickly sprang towards it, stood on +its large wheel, and threw off the lid, so that the lifeless Dietegen +lay exposed to view. At that moment he opened his eyes and drew a +breath. For in the confusion of that day he had not been hanged +according to traditional rules, and had been taken off the gallows too +early, because his executioners were in a great hurry in the hope of +returning to town in time to get some of the remnants of the feast. The +bold little girl loudly exclaimed, "He is still alive! He is still +alive!" + +At once the women of Seldwyla surrounded the bier, and when they saw +indeed the handsome pale boy move about and give signs of life, they +took possession of him, removed him from the cart, and fully recalled +him to this world by rubbing his stiffened joints, sprinkling him with +water, making him swallow some wine, and using all their endeavors in +other ways. The men indeed also gave their assistance, while the +gentlemen of Ruechenstein stood by dazedly, and did not know what to +say or do. When at last the boy again stood on his own feet, and gazed +about him as though he had waked in paradise, he suddenly caught a +glimpse of the hangman's assistant, and quite astounded that he, too, +as he thought, had gone to heaven, he fled and squeezed in among the +crowd of women. Touched and moved to tears, they begged with great +earnestness of their stern neighbors to pardon the boy and to make them +a gift of him, as a token of their new friendship. Their husbands +joined in this petition, and finally, after a brief consultation +amongst themselves, the Ruechensteiners yielded assent, saying that +henceforth the youthful sinner was to be theirs. On this the pretty +Seldwyla ladies and their young children rejoiced abundantly, and +Dietegen went along with them just as he was, in his poor delinquent's +shift. + +It happened to be a fine mild summer evening, wherefore the Seldwyla +folks, as soon as they had reached the crest of the mountain and +therewith also their own territory, resolved to amuse themselves here +in this delightful grove, on their own account, and to recover from the +frightful experience on their neighbors' ground. And this all the more +because there now approached a numerous reenforcement from Seldwyla +itself, full of curiosity to learn what their luck had been in +Ruechenstein. Thus it came to pass that the musicians had to intone a +merry tune and next a dance, and the goblets and tankards were filled +with the wine they had brought along, and then circulated quite +rapidly. + +During all these scenes Dietegen let his eyes roam all around, and all +who saw him perceived clearly that he was indeed nothing worse than an +innocent and harmless child, a notion which his tale, when asked to +state the facts, amply confirmed. The Seldwyla women could hardly get +their fill of the sight, wove a wreath of wildflowers for him, and +placed it on his young head, so that in his long and ample shift he +looked almost like a little saint. He won their hearts, and at last +they kissed him to their full content, and when he had thus passed +through the concourse of rivaling femininity they began anew with their +kissing. + +But the little girl who really had saved Dietegen from a horrible and +premature death did not at all approve of this proceeding. Quite wroth +she suddenly placed herself between the boy and the woman who just that +moment was on the point of kissing him, and took him by the hand, +leading him to a group of other children. Then the whole company burst +out laughing, saying: "That is quite right. Little Kuengolt clings to +her property! And she has taste likewise. Only see how well she and the +boy look alongside of each other!" + +Kuengolt's father, however, the chief forester of the town, remarked: +"I like the looks of that boy. He has eyes that speak truth and good +sense. If you gentlemen have no objection, I will take him along for +the time being, since I have but one child, and I will try and make an +honest huntsman out of him." + +This proposal met the unanimous approval of the Seldwylians, and thus +Kuengolt, well contented, did not let the boy's hand slip out of her +fingers more, but kept tight hold of it. And indeed, these two did make +a very comely pair. The little girl also wore a wreath on her head and +was clad in green and red, the town's colors. Hence they went at the +head of the whole merry procession like a picture from fairyland, in +the midst of the gay townspeople. And thus they all in the glow of +sunset poured down the mountain side on their way homewards. Soon, +however, the chief forester separated from the procession and went on +with the children on side paths to his cosy residence, which lay not +far from the city itself in the forest. A double row of tall trees led +to the main entrance, and there the demure wife of the forester sat +now, and saw with amazement the approach of the two children. + +The household servants also gathered, and while the wife gave the two +hungry children an abundant supper her husband related in detail the +adventures of the boy. The latter was now completely exhausted, and +with that he felt cold in his flimsy costume, and hence the question +was put who would share overnight his bed with him. But the servant +maids as well as the men anxiously avoided to answer. They dreaded as +unlucky and impious close touch with any one who had just been hanging +from the gallows. But Kuengolt cried: "Let him share my bed. It is +large enough for both of us." + +And when everybody was laughing at this, her mother said pleasantly: +"You are quite right, my little daughter." And looking closely at the +boy she added: "From the very first moment I saw the poor little chap +enter the door a strange foreboding crept over me, as though a good +angel were coming who will yet bring us a blessing. That much is +certain, according to my idea: he will not be of evil to us all!" + +With that she took the two children into the adjoining bedchamber, next +to the large one, and put them to bed. Dietegen, who was so sleepy that +he scarcely noticed what was going on around him, instinctively went +through the motions for disrobing. But since he was already, in a +manner of speaking, in his shirt, his drowsy motions made such a +ludicrous impression, especially upon the little girl, that she, +already under her blanket, could not help screaming with mirth: "Oh, +just watch the comical shirtmannikin! He is always trying to take off +his spenser and boots, and yet he hasn't any!" Her mother, too, had to +smile and said to the boy: "In God's name, go to bed in your poor +sinner's shift! My poor boy, that shift is quite new and really of good +linen. Truly, these wicked people of Ruechenstein at least do their +atrocities with a certain amount of decency." + +In saying which she wrapped the two little ones up well in their +blankets, and could not forbear to kiss both of them, so that Dietegen +was really better off than he had ever been in his whole life. But his +eyes were already tightly closed and his soul in deep sleep. "But now +he has not said his prayers at all," whispered Kuengolt in sorrow. Her +mother replied: "Then you will do it for both of you, my little +daughter!" and left the two. And indeed, the girl now said the Lord's +prayer twice, once for herself, once for her new bedfellow. And then +quiet reigned in the little chamber. + +Some time after midnight Dietegen woke up, because only now his neck +had begun to pain him from the unfriendly rope of the hangman. The +chamber was flooded with moonlight, but he was perfectly unable to +recall where he was and how he had come there. Merely this he was +conscious of, that he aside from his sore throat, was far better of! +than ever before in his young life. The window stood open, a spring +outside murmured softly, and the silver night blew whisperingly through +the tree tops; over them all the moon shone in gentle radiance. All +this to him was wondrous, since he had never before seen the solitude +of the forest, neither by day nor by night. He gazed sleepily, he +listened, and finally he assumed a sitting posture. Then he perceived +next to him on the couch little Kuengolt, the moon's beams playing +right over her small face. She lay still, but was broad awake, since +excitement and joy would not let her sleep. Because of that her eyes +were opened to their full extent, and her mouth was smiling when +Dietegen peered into her face. + +"Why don't you sleep? You ought to sleep," said the girl. But he then +complained of the pain at his throat. At once little Kuengolt weaved +her tender arms around his neck and full of pity put her own cheeks +against his. And really it soon seemed to him that his pain subsided +under such sympathetic treatment. And then they began to chat in a low +voice. Dietegen was asked to tell about himself. But he was reticent +because there was not much to tell that was pleasant, and about the +misery of his childhood he also was not able to say a great deal, since +no contrasts were within his ken, with the single exception of that +evening. Suddenly, however, he recalled his pleasant sport with the +crossbow, which had slipped his mind before, and so he told the little +girl all about the Jew, and how that one had been the cause of his +imprisonment and unjust sentence, but also about how he had taken great +delight in shooting with the crossbow, for over an hour, and how he now +longed for just such a weapon. + +"My father has crossbows and weapons of every type in plenty," +commented Kuengolt breathlessly. "And you may start in to-morrow and +shoot all you wish." + +And then she set out to tell him about all the nice things in the +house, and she included in these her own pretty knicknacks, locked up +in a casket, especially two golden "rainbow" keys, a necklace of amber, +a volume full of holy legends, illustrated with pictures showing saints +in their beautiful vestments, and also a multicolored medallion in +which sat a Mother of God clad in gold brocade and vermilion silk, and +covered with a tiny round glass. Also, she enumerated further, she +owned a silver-gilt spoon, with a quaintly turned handle, but with that +she would be permitted to eat only when she was grown up and had a +husband of her own. And when it came to her wedding she would get the +bridal jewelry of her mother, together with her blue brocade dress, +which was so thick and heavy that it stood up without any one being +inside of it. Then she kept still a short while, but pressing her +bedfellow more closely against her heart, she said in a very low voice: +"Listen, Dietegen!" + +"Well, what is it?" he answered. + +"You must be my husband when we are big. For you belong to me. Will +you, of your own free will?" + +"Why, yes," he replied. + +"Then you must shake hands on it," she remarked, in a peremptory voice. +He did so, and after this binding promise the two children finally fell +asleep and did not wake till the sun stood high in the heavens. For the +kind mother had purposely refrained from rousing them, so that the poor +boy should have a thorough rest. + +But now at last she cautiously crept into the little chamber, bearing +on her arm a complete boy's suit of clothing. Two years before her own +son had been killed by the fall of an oak tree, and the clothes of this +boy of hers, although he had been Dietegen's senior by a whole year, +were likely to fit him, since he was just his size. And it was her lost +boy's holiday attire, which in a saddened spirit she had preserved. +Therefore she had risen with the sun, in order to remove from the +doublet some gay ribbons ornamenting it, and to sew up the slits in the +sleeves which let the silk lining peep forth. Her tears had flown anew +in doing this labor, when she saw the scarlet silken lining that +glinted from below the black jerkin gradually disappear from view, as +jocund spring vanished in sorrow, and become of a piece with the black +trunks. The tears were shed because of the death of her own dear boy, +but a sweet consolation tinctured her soul since Fate now had sent her +such a handsome, lovable little fellow, one who had been snatched, so +to speak, out of Death's hard grasp, and whom she now could clothe in +the habiliments of her own son. And it was not from haste or fear of +the task that she left the gay silken lining under the sable outer +covering, but on purpose, as the hidden fire of affection in her bosom +moved her. For she was of those who mean better by their familiars than +they dare show openly. If the new boy proved worthy of it, she vowed to +herself, she would open the seams of the slits again, for his joy and +pride. Anyway, on workadays Dietegen was to wear this suit but for a +few days, until one of stronger and more suitable material should have +been made for him to measure by the tailor, one that he could expose to +rough usage during his ordinary occupations. But while she instructed +the boy how to put on this fine suit of a kind to which he was quite +unused, little Kuengolt had slipped out of bed, and in a spirit of +childish mischief had got hold of the gallows shift, which she now put +on and was stalking gravely in about the room, trailing its tail behind +her on the floor. With that she kept her little hands folded behind +her, as though they were tied by the hangman. Then she sang aloud: "I +am a miserable sinner now, and even lack my hose, I trow." At this the +kindly woman fell into a great affright, grew deadly pale, and said in +a low, soft voice: "For our Savior's sake, who is teaching you such +wicked jokes, my child?" And she seized the ominous shift from the +little girl's hands, who smiled at this, but Dietegen took it, being +wroth at the scene, and tore it into a score of pieces. + +Now that the two children were dressed they were taken along for +breakfast in the adjoining room. Early in the morning bread had been +baked, and with the milk soup the little ones received each a fresh +loaf of cummin seed bread, and in place of the one sweet roll which on +ordinary days was specially baked for Kuengolt, there were two that +day, and the little girl would have it that the boy received the larger +of them. Dietegen ate without urging all that was offered him, just as +though he had returned to his father's house after an enforced stay +with evil strangers. But he was very still throughout, and he keenly +observed everything around him: the pleasant mild woman who treated him +like her own son, the sunny, light room, and the comfortable furniture +with which it was fitted up. And after having eaten his breakfast with +a good appetite, he continued these observations, noticing that the +walls were wainscoted with smooth pine, and higher up decorated with +painted wreaths and flowers, and that the leaded window panes showed +the arms both of husband and wife. When he also carefully inspected the +handsome closets and the sideboard with its load of shining vessels and +tableware, he suddenly remembered the dingy silver jug that had almost +brought him to his death, and the cheerless house of the beadle in +Ruechenstein, and then, afraid that he should have to return there +again, he asked with a tremor in his voice: "Must I now return home? +But I don't know the way." + +"There is no need of your knowing it," said the housewife, moved by his +evident dread, and she stroked his smooth chin. "Have you not yet +noticed that you are to remain with us? Go along with him now, my +little Kuengolt, and show him the house and the woods, and everything +else. But do not go too far away!" + +Then Kuengolt took the boy by the hand, and first led him into the +forester's armory where he kept his weapons. And there hung seven +magnificent crossbows and arquebuses, and spears and javelins for the +chase, hangers and dirks, and also the long sword of the master of the +house which stood in the corner by itself. Dietegen examined all this, +silently but with gleaming eyes, and Kuengolt mounted a chair to take +down several of the finest crossbows from the wall, which she handed +him so that he could look them over more at leisure, and he was +delighted with these, for they showed ornaments inlaid in ivory or +mother-of-pearl, daintily done by some expert artisan. The boy admired +it all, in a silent sort of ecstasy, about as would a rather talented +prentice in the studio of a great master painter while the latter might +be absent from home. But Kuengolt's quick proposal to have him try his +marksmanship outside in a meadow could not be realized at the time, +because the bolts and arrows were locked away in a separate receptacle. +But to make up for that she gave him a fine hunting spear to hold so +that he should have a weapon of some kind to take along into the +greenwoods. Near the house she showed him a hedged-in space full of +deer and game, in which the town constantly kept its reserve of stock, +so that at no time there should be lack of venison and other fine +roasts for public or private banquets. The girl coaxed several roes and +stags to come to her at the hedge, and this was astonishing to +Dietegen, for so far he had seen such animals only when dead. With his +spear, therefore, he stood attentive, his eyes fixed on these pretty +denizens of the woods, and could not get his fill of watching them. +Eagerly he held out his hand to fondle a finely antlered stag, and when +the latter shyly bounded aside and leisurely trotted off, the boy +scurried after him with a joyous halloo, and ran and jumped with the +animal around in a wide circle. It was perhaps the first time in his +life that he could use his young limbs in this way, and when he felt +how his tendons stretched with the violent exercise and how he was able +to race with the swift stag, the latter apparently taking as much +pleasure in the sport as Dietegen himself, a feeling of untried +strength and agility first woke within him. + +But as they later on stepped into the domain of the deep forest, high +up on the hill, the boy resumed once more his usual air of thoughtful +quiet and deliberation. Up there mighty trees grew closer together, +leaving hardly a fragment of sky to discover from below--tall pine and +gnarled oak, spreading lindens, beeches, maple and spruce, all growing +in a semidarkness where the sunlight seldom pierced. Red squirrels +glided spectrelike from trunk to trunk, woodpeckers hammered +incessantly for their fare, high up birds of prey shrilly pursued their +quarry in the open, and a thousand forest mysteries were dimly at work. +Below, in the dense underbrush, hares and foxes, deer and smaller game +were waging war, and song birds twittered or warbled in a chorus of +multiform sound. Kuengolt laughed and laughed because the boy knew +nothing of all these secret doings in the forest, although he had grown +up in a mountain fastness surrounded by the very life of the woods, but +she at once began to explain to him these things of which he was so +profoundly ignorant. She showed him the hawk and his nest, the cuckoo +in his retreat, and the gay-clad woodpecker as he was just clambering +up a thick trunk with bark promising him rich harvest. And about all +these things he was highly amazed, and wondered that trees and bushes +should bear so many names, and that each should differ from the next. +For he had not even known the hazelnut bush or the whortleberry in +their haunts. They came to a rushing brook, and disturbed by their +steps, a snake made off into the water, and the girl seized the spear +in the boy's hand and wanted to stick it into the rocky nook. But when +Dietegen saw that she was going to blunt or break the edge of the +finely tempered weapon, he at once took it out of her fingers, saying +that she might damage the spear. + +"That is well done," suddenly came the voice of the chief forester, his +patron; "you will prove a help to me." With a gamekeeper he stood +behind the two children. For the noise of the rushing water had drowned +in their ears all other noise. The gamekeeper bore in his hand a +woodcock, just shot, for the two had gone forth early in the morning. +Dietegen was permitted to hang the stately bird to the tip of his +spear, flinging it over his shoulder, so that the spread wings of the +bird enveloped him, and the forester gazed with approval upon the +handsome youngster, and made up his mind to make an all-around woodsman +of him. + +Just now, though, he was to learn somewhat the difficult arts of +reading and writing, and for that purpose was obliged to walk every day +to town with the little girl; there in a convent and in a monastery the +two were taught as much of these mysteries as seemed good for them. But +his chief lessons Dietegen had from the little girl herself when coming +and going from town, Kuengolt delighting in informing him as to all +that was going on in the world, so far at least as she herself knew, +and more particularly as to the ordinary things of life, as to which +Dietegen had been left in deplorable ignorance by his former +taskmaster, the beadle. + +But the little instructress was in her way a ruthless practical joker, +and followed a unique method of her own in teaching the boy. She +exaggerated, distorted or plainly misstated the facts as to most things +in talking to her pupil, and abused grossly the credulity and +trustfulness of the boy, merely for her amusement, and she did this as +to most things. In this she showed a wonderful gift of invention, an +exuberant fancy of the rarest. When Dietegen then had accepted her +fictions, and would perhaps express his wonder at them, she would shame +him with the cool statement that not a single word had been true. She +would scornfully blame him for believing such palpable untruths, and +then, with a show of infinite wisdom, she would tell him the real +facts. Then he would redden under her sarcastic remarks, and would +endeavor to avoid her pitfalls, but only until she saw fit to make +sport of him once more. However, in the course of time Dietegen's +powers of judging facts began to widen, and he ceased to be so +gullible, and this another boy who attempted to emulate Kuengolt's +example found out to his sorrow. For Dietegen simply slapped his face +when he came out with a particularly outrageous whopper. + +Kuengolt, rather taken aback at witnessing this castigation, was +curious to ascertain whether this wrath under given circumstances would +also turn against herself. She made a test on the spot, feeding him +with some of her choicest fairy tales. But from her he accepted +everything without a murmur, and so she continued her peculiar method +of instruction. At last, though, she discovered that he had acquired +enough independence of thought and a large enough stock of knowledge to +enable him to play with her himself. He would answer her inventions +with counterinventions, and would argue from her nonsensical statements +in such shrewd fashion as to turn her first doctrines into ridicule, +and he would do this in perfect good-nature, proving the untenableness +of her own theories. Then she came to the conclusion that it was time +to give up her nonsense. But in place of that amusement she now +indulged in another. Namely, she began to tyrannize over him most +unmercifully. It grew so that it was almost worse than things had been +with the beadle's wife. His servitude was deplorable. She made him +fetch and carry during all his spare time. He had to haul and hoist and +labor for her in a truly ridiculous manner. She constantly required his +presence about her; he had to bring her water, shake the trees, dig in +the garden, crack open nuts after getting them for her, hold her little +basket, and even to brush and comb her hair she wanted to train +him--only that is where he drew a line. But then he was scolded by her +for refusing this, and when her mother took sides against her she +became quite obstreperous with the latter as well. + +But Dietegen did not pay her back in her own coin, never lost his +patience with her, and was always equally submissive and indulgent with +her. Her mother saw that with vast pleasure, and to reward him for his +fine conduct she treated the boy like her own son, and gave him all +those finer hints and that almost imperceptible guidance and advice +which else are only saved for children of one's own, and by means of +which children finally acquire without knowing it those habits and +better manners which are commonly comprised under the name of a careful +education. Of course, she herself gained in a way from this; for her +own daughter thus acquired unconsciously many of her lessons, Dietegen +being there as a sort of mirror of what was expected of her. Truly, it +was almost comical how little Kuengolt in her restless temperament +veered and shifted constantly between imitating her better model or +else becoming jealous and wroth and scorning it for the time. On one +occasion she became so excited as to stab at him with all her might +with a sharp pair of scissors. But Dietegen caught her wrist quickly, +and without hurting her or showing any anger he made her drop them. +This little scene which her mother had espied from a hiding-place, +moved the latter so strongly that she came forth, took the boy in her +arms, and kissed him. Pale and excited the girl herself left the room +with out a word. "Go, follow her, my son," whispered the mother, "and +reconcile her. You are her good angel." + +Dietegen did as bidden. He found her behind the house and under a lilac +bush. She was weeping wildly and tearing her amber necklace, trying, in +fact, to throttle herself by means of it, and stamping on the scattered +beads on the ground. When Dietegen approached her and wanted to seize +her hands, she cried with a great sob: "Nobody but I may kiss you. For +you belong to me alone. You are mine, my property. I alone have freed +you from that horrid coffin, in which without me you would have +remained forever." + +As the boy grew up marvelously, becoming handsomer and more manly with +every day, the forester declared at breakfast one morning that the time +was now ripe to take him along into the woods and let him learn the +difficult craft of the huntsman. Thus he was taken from the side of +Kuengolt, and spent now all his time, from dawn until nightfall, with +the men, in forest, moor and heath. And now indeed his limbs began to +stretch that it was a pleasure to watch him. Swift and limber like a +stag, he obeyed each word or hint, and ran whither he was sent. Silent +and docile, he was forever where wanted; carried weapons and tackle, +gear and utensils, helped spread the nets, leaped across trenches and +morass, and spied out the whereabouts of the game. Soon he knew the +tracks of all the animals, knew how to imitate the call of the birds, +and before any one expected it, he had a young wildboar run into his +spear. Now, too, the forester gave him a crossbow. With it he was every +day, every hour almost, exercising his skill, aiming at the target, +shooting at living objects as well. In a word, when Dietegen was but +sixteen, he was already an expert woodsman who might be placed +anywhere, and it would happen now and then that his patron sent him out +with a number of his men to guard the municipal woods and head the +chase. + +Dietegen, therefore, might be seen not alone with the crossbow on his +back, but also with pen and ink-horn in his girdle upon the mountain +side, and with his keen watchful eyes and his unfailing memory he was a +great help to his fosterfather. And since with every day he became more +reliable and useful, the master forester learned to love him better +all along, and used to say that the boy must in the end become a +full-fledged, an honorable and martial citizen. + +It could under these circumstances not be otherwise than that Dietegen +on his part was devoted soul and body to the forester. For there is no +attachment like that of the youth for the mature man of whom he knows +that he is doing his best to teach him all the secrets of his craft, +and whom he holds to be his unapproached model. + +The chief forester was a man of about forty; tall and well-built, with +broad shoulders and of handsome appearance and noble carriage. His hair +of golden sheen was already lightly sprinkled with silver, but his +complexion was ruddy, and his blue eyes shone frank, open and full of +fire. In his younger days, too, he had been among the wildest and +merriest of Seldwyla's choice spirits, and many were the quaint and +original quips he had perpetrated at that time of his life. But when he +had won his young wife, he altered instantly, and since then he had +been the soberest and the most sensible man in the world. For his dear +wife was of a most delicate habit, and of a kindness of heart that +could not defend itself, and although by no means without a spirit and +a wit of her own, she would have been unable to meet unkindness with a +sharp tongue. A wife of ready wit and pugnacity would probably have +spurred this naturally sprightly man on to further doings, but in +contest with the graceful feebleness of this delicate wife of his he +behaved like the truly strong. He watched over her as over the apple of +his eye, did only those things which gave her pleasure, and after his +busy day's work remained gladly at his own hearth. + +At the most important festivities of the town only, three or four times +a year, he went among the councilmen and other citizens, led them with +his fresh vigor in deliberation and at the festive board, and after +drinking one after the other of the great guzzlers under the table, he +would, as the last of the doughty champions, rise upright from his +seat, stride quietly out of the council chamber, and then with a jolly +smile walk uphill to his forest home. + +But the chief comedy would always come the next day. For then he would +waken, after all, with a head that hummed like a beehive, and then he +would rouse himself fully, half morosely, half with a leonine jovial +humor that indeed had the dimensions of a lion when compared with the +proverbial distemper of the average toper. Early he would then show up +at breakfast, the sun shining with strength upon his naked scalp, and +ignoring his symptoms, he would jest and make fun of himself and his +achievements of the previous night. His wife, then, always hungering +after her husband's humor, he being usually rather reticent, would then +answer his sallies with a merry laughter, so bell-like and wholesouled +as one would never have suspected in a being so demure as she. His +children would laugh, also his gamekeepers and huntsmen, and lastly his +servants. And in that way the whole day would pass. Everything that day +would be done with a bright smile and a salvo of hearty laughter. And +always the chief forester leading them all, handling his axe, lifting +heavy weights, doing the work of three ordinary men. On such a day it +was once that fire broke out in the town. High above burning roofs a +poor old woman, in her frail wooden balcony, forgotten and disregarded, +was shrilly crying and moaning for help from a fiery death, and above +her shoulder her tame starling went through the drollest of antics, +likewise claiming attention. Nobody could think of a way to save +mistress and bird. The flames came nearer and ever nearer. But our +chief forester climbed up to a protruding coping on a high wall facing +the old woman's nook, a spot where he stood like a rock. Then with +herculean strength he pulled up a long ladder to him, turned it over +and balanced it neatly until it touched the window where the old hag +was struggling for breath. He placed it securely within the opening, on +the sill, and then he strode across it, firm and unafraid, back and +forth, carrying the ancient woman safely across his shoulder, and the +stuttering starling on his head, the greedily licking flames and the +swirling clouds of smoke beneath his feet. And all this he did, not by +any means in a heroic pose, as something dangerous or praiseworthy, but +as though it were a harmless joke, smiling and laughing. + +After a solid piece of work of that kind he would feast with his family +in jolly style, dishing up the best the house afforded. And at such +times he always was particularly tender to his wife, taking her on his +knee, to the great amusement of the children, and dubbing her his +"little whitebird," and his "swallow," and she, her arms clasped in +pleasurable self-forgetfulness, would laughingly watch his antics. + +On a day like that, too, he once arranged for a dance, it being the +first of May. He had a musician fetched from town, and got likewise +some merry young folks to increase the sport. And there was dancing +aplenty on the smooth greensward in front of the house, right under the +blooming trees, and dainty dancing it was. The chief forester opened +the merriment with his smiling young wife, she in her modest finery and +with her girlish shape. As they made the first steps, she looked over +her shoulder at the youngsters, happy as could be, and tipping her foot +on the green sod, impatient to be off. Just then Dietegen, who for much +of the time past had kept to the men entirely, threw a glance at +Kuengolt, and lo! he saw that she also was growing up to be a handsome +woman, as pretty a picture as her mother. Her features indeed strongly +resembled those of her mother, small, regular and charming. But in her +figure she took more after her father, for she was trimly built like a +straight young pine, and although but fourteen her bosom was already +rounded like that of a grown-up damsel. Golden curls fell in a shower +down her back and hid the somewhat angular shoulderblades. She was clad +all in green, wore around her neck her amber beads, and on her head, +according to the fashion of those days, a wreath of rosebuds. Her eyes +shone pleasantly and frankly from a guileless face, but once in a while +they would flash wilfully and glide casually over the row of youths +whose eyes hung on her youthful beauty, with a slightly critical bent, +and at last rest for an instant on Dietegen, then turn away again. +Dietegen looked as though hungering for recognition, but she only once +more glanced back at him. But that glance seemed to have somewhat +embarrassed her, for she stopped to arrange her hair, while he flushed +deeply. + +That indeed was the first time when they two felt they were no longer +mere children. But a few minutes later they met and found themselves +partners in a country dance, hand in hand. A new and sweet sensation +pulsed through his veins, and this remained even after the ring of +dancers had again been broken. + +Kuengolt, however, had still the same feeling regarding him; she looked +upon the youth as upon something all her own, as something belonging to +her, and of which, therefore, one may be sure and need not guard +closely. Only once in a while she would send a spying glance in his +direction, and when accident would bring him into the close +neighborhood of another maiden, there would also be Kuengolt watching +him. + +Thus innocent pleasure reigned until an advanced hour of the evening. +The young people became as sprightly as new-fledged wood pigeons, and +soon even excelled in their merry humor their bounteous host, and the +latter on his part delighted to pleasure his amiable young wife, while +soberly encouraging his youthful guests in amusing themselves. She, the +wife, was serene and happy as sunlight in springtime. And she even +became playful enough to call her brawny husband by intimate nicknames. + +But harmless and decorous as all this was, it may be that the citizens +of other towns where merriment was not the natural birthright, as in +the case of the Seldwylians, would have deemed it a trifle beyond the +proper limits. The spiced May wine which was served the guests had been +mingled in its elements according to ancient usage, but just as in +their joy itself there was a bit too much license, so also there was a +trifle too much honey in the drink. The hands of the young girls lay +perhaps somewhat too frequently upon the shoulders of the youths, and +now and then, without meaning any harm, a couple would quickly kiss and +part, and this without playing at blind man's buff, as do the +philistines of our days under similar conditions. In short, what these +young people of Seldwyla lacked in their diversion was the gift of +attracting without seeming to; but with this gift, on the other hand, +Dietegen, as a regulation Ruechensteiner, was plentifully endowed. For +although he was already in love, he fled like fire from the fondling +and caressing which with these Seldwyla couples was by now rather +freely indulged in, and preferred to keep himself out of the danger +line. All the bolder and provoking was Kuengolt who, in her childish +ignorance and after the manner of half-grown girls, did not know how to +control her affections, and who went to look up the frigid youth. She +discovered him seated in the shadow of a group of darksome trees, and +sat down beside him, seizing his hand and playfully twining his +fingers. When he submitted to that and even, gently and almost in a +fatherly way, spun her ringlets in his palm, the girl at once put her +arms around his neck and caressed him with the innocence but also with +the abandon of a child, whereas in truth it was already the maiden that +spoke out of her. Dietegen, however, no longer a child, essayed to use +his maturer judgment for both of them, and thus was strenuously trying +to loosen her hold on him, when his fostermother, the chief forester's +wife, came joyously running up to the bench, and noticed with +particular pleasure how matters stood apparently. + +"That is right," she cried, "that you, too, are of accord," and she +embraced them both tightly. "I hope and trust, my dearest daughter, +that you will love and cherish Dietegen with all your might. He is +deserving indeed, my child, that he not only has found a new home in +our house, but that you, too, will give him a home in your little +heart. And you, dear Dietegen, will, I know, at all times be a true and +faithful protector and guardian to my little Kuengolt. Never leave her +out of your sight, for your eyes are keen and observant." + +"He is nobody's but mine, and has been for long," said Kuengolt to +this, and she kissed him boldly and lightly upon the cheek, half like a +bride and half as a child caresses a kitten which belongs to it. But +now the situation for the poor bashful youth, thus hemmed in between +mother and daughter, became unbearable, and he flushed and awkwardly +loosened their combined hold of him, stepping back a few paces to +escape their blandishments. But Kuengolt, in her wilful mood, pursued +him laughing, and when in his retreat from her he came into close +proximity to the pretty mother, the latter jestingly caught him by the +arm, saying: "Here he is, my little daughter, now come and hold him +fast." + +When thus entrapped anew by them, his heart beat excitedly, and while +finding himself thus wooed, so to speak, by both feminine tempters, he +at the same time felt intensely his lonesome condition in the world. +The odd conceit overcame him that he was a lost soul shaken from the +tree of life, which while cherished by soft hands, was nevertheless to +be forever deprived of its own existence and individuality, a state of +mind which with callow youths thus beset may be more frequent than +commonly supposed. Therefore, a prey to two conflicting emotions +equally powerful, of which one necessarily excluded the other, his +strong sense of personal freedom struggling within his breast with the +new-born sentiment of tender regard, he stood mute and trembling, half +in rebellion against the sudden intimate aggression of the two women, +and half strongly inclined to draw the young girl into his arms and to +overwhelm her with caresses. His Ruechenstein blood was against him. +While he loved the mother with a wholesouled and most grateful +devotion, her thoughtless encouragement of him to play a lover's part +towards her daughter seemed to him strange and unbecoming. He looked +upon himself as really Kuengolt's property, as truly belonging to her +by reason of her having saved his forfeited life. But at the same time +he felt himself seriously responsible for her moral conduct, for her +maiden chastity and her correct manners, and when now Kuengolt strove +to kiss him on the mouth, he said to her, in perfect good humor but +withal in the tone of a crabbed schoolmaster: "You are really still too +young for things of that kind. This is not suitable for your age." + +At these words the girl paled with shame and annoyance. Without another +syllable she turned away and joined once more the throng of +merrymakers, where she danced and sprang about recklessly a few times, +and then sat down a little distance away by herself, with a face that +betrayed clearly how hurt she was at the rebuff. + +The chief forester's wife smilingly stroked the strict young moralist's +cheek, saying: "Well, well, you are certainly very strict. But the more +faithfully you will one day take care of my child. Give me your promise +never to desert her! Only don't forget, we Seldwyla folk are all of us +rather gay and debonair, and it is possible that in being so we +sometimes do not think enough of the future." + +Dietegen's eyes grew wet, and he gave her his hand in solemn vow. Then +she conducted him back to the others. But Kuengolt turned her back on +him, and instead in real grief gazed into the mild May night. + +He on his part now marveled at himself. Strange, now of a sudden this +girl whom but a minute before he had misnomed a mere child, was old and +grown-up enough to cause him, the moralizing youth, love pangs. For sad +and confused he too stood now aside and felt still more ashamed than +the girl herself. + +"What ails you? Why do you look so sorrowful?" asked the forester, when +he in the best humor in the world now approached the group. But +Kuengolt at the question broke into passionate tears, and exclaimed +before everybody: "He was a gift to me by the judges when he was really +nothing but a poor lifeless corpse, and I have reawakened him to life. +And therefore he has no right to sit in judgment on me, but rather I +alone am his judge. And he must do everything I want, and when I love +to kiss him it is his business to simply keep still and let me do it." + +They all laughed at this odd statement, but the mother took Dietegen's +hand and led him to the child, saying: "Come, make up with her and let +her kiss you once more. Later on you, also, shall be her master, and +shall do as you see fit in such matters." + +Blushing deeply because of the many onlookers, Dietegen offered his +mouth to the girl, and she seized him by his curls, quite in a frenzy, +and kissed him hard, more in wrath than in love, and then, having once +more thrown him a look that betrayed anger, she quickly turned on her +heels and dashed away in such haste that her golden ringlets fluttered +in the night air and in passing brushed his face. + +But now the reluctant fire of love had also been kindled in his own +young soul, and soon after he left the throng and went in search of +rash Kuengolt, striding rapidly and gazing all about for her. At last +he discovered her on the other side of the house where she sat dreamily +at the well, and was playing with the amber beads of her necklace. +Advancing quickly he seized both her hands, compressed them in his +vigorous right, and then laid his left on her shoulder so that she +shuddered, and said: "Listen, child, I shall not permit you to trifle +with me. From to-day on you are just as much my own property as I am +yours, and no other man shall have you living. Keep that in mind when +some day you will be grown up." + +"Oh, you big old man," she murmured slowly and smiled at him, but +pallor had overspread her features. "You indeed are mine, but not I +yours. However, you need not mind that, because I don't think I'll ever +let you go!" + +So saying she rose and went, without first looking at her old +playfellow once more, over to the other side of the house. + +But this was not all. The forester's wife caught a cold in the suddenly +chilled air of this very May night, and an insidious disease grew out +of it which carried her off within a few months. On her deathbed she +grieved much about her husband and her child, and expressed great +anxiety on their behalf. She also denied till her last breath the real +cause of her illness and death, deeming it scarcely a fit thing for a +housewife and a mother to thus go out of life merely because of a +surfeit of riotous pleasure. + +But while she thus lay lifeless in the house, all that had loved her +mourned for her; indeed the whole town did so, for she had not had a +single enemy in the world. Her widowed husband wept at night in his +bed, and at daytime he spoke never a word, but only from time to time +stepped up to the coffin in which she lay so still and peaceful, +looking and looking at his sweet partner, and then, shaking his head, +slowly walking off again. + +He had a heavy wreath of young pine twigs fashioned for her and placed +it on the bier. Kuengolt heaped a perfect mountain of wildflowers on +top of that, and thus the graceful form of the dead was borne down from +the hillside to the church below, followed by the bereaved family and a +crowd of relatives, friends and members of the household. + + +After the burial the chief forester took all the mourners to the +tavern, where he had caused a bounteous meal in honor of the dead to be +prepared, according to ancient custom. The roast venison for it, a +capital roebuck, and two fine grouse, he had shot himself, grieving all +the while at the loss he had sustained. And when the gorgeously +feathered birds now appeared on the long board he minded him again of +the dense grove of mighty oak and maple, high up on the mountain side, +in which she had sat awaiting his return from the chase, and in which +he, his heart full of love of her who now rested in the cool ground, +had many a time been stalking the deer. The image of her stood before +his thoughts like life itself. But yet he was not to be left long to +brooding, for strict laws of custom called for his active services as +host on this occasion. When the claret from France and the golden +malmsey had been uncorked and poured into capacious goblets, and the +heavy table been loaded with sweets and cakes that scented the precious +spices from the Indies, the guests grew lively and clamorous, and he +had to propose and answer many a toast, despite his sincere mourning, +and the noise soon drowned the still voice within him. Life and death +were twin brothers in those days of our forbears. + +The forester was seated at table between Kuengolt and Dietegen, and +these two because of his tall and broad-backed person were unable to +catch a look of one another save by bending over or behind him, and +this neither of them wished to do for decency's sake, for they were the +only ones who among this crowd of buzzing guests remained sad and +serious. Across the board from him sat a cousin, a lady of about thirty +named Violande. + +This lady indeed could not well be overlooked, for she wore a singular +costume, one which did not seem fit for a person satisfied with her +lot, a person living in happy circumstances, but rather one who is +restless and hollow of heart. Yet she was handsome, and knew well how +to impress people with her charms, but ever and anon something selfish +and mendacious would flash out of her handsome eyes that destroyed all +these efforts at enforced amiability. + +When but fourteen she had already been in love with the forester, her +cousin, merely because amongst those young men that came before her +vision he was the best-looking and the tallest and strongest. He, +however, had never noticed the preference shown for him. Indeed he had +not given a thought to this overyoung cousin of his, since his serious +choice lay altogether among the more adult persons of the other sex, +and wavered among several of these. Full of envy and jealousy, this +unmature cousin, though, was already so skilled in feminine intrigue as +to be able to destroy the chances of two or three young women that the +forester had looked upon with favor, using for that purpose that +poisonous weapon, gossip and backbiting. Always when he was on the +point of proposing to a beauty that had won his regard, this sly +half-woman skillfully understood how to spread rumors calculated to +entangle the two, fictitious words uttered by one or the other seeming +to show mutual dislike, or something equally efficacious in bringing +about a rupture. If her designs miscarried with him, why then she spun +her threads so as to make the other believe that the swain was false or +fickle, full of guile or not dependable. Thus it came to pass +repeatedly that without his ever discovering the author the lady of his +suit would suddenly swerve and leave him out in the cold, while +another, of whom he had never thought in that connection, would as +quickly show him her favor--all owing to the arts of this Macchiavell +in petticoats. And then impatiently and disgustedly he would turn his +back on both the willing and the unwilling and plunge once more for a +spell into his easy bachelordom. In this way it was that, one after the +other, all his wooings came to nought, until he at last happened to +meet the mild and amiable lady that subsequently became his spouse. +This one, though, kept hold of him, since she was just as guileless as +he himself, and all the artifices and stratagems of the little witch +were in vain. Yea, she never even noticed the other's cleverest +schemes, simply because she kept her eyes all the time fixed upon him +she loved. And indeed he too had been grateful to her for her +singlemindedness, and held her all the years of their happy union as a +jewel of rare price. + +Violande, however, when she saw the man whose love she had aspired to +married, after all, to another had not given up the frequent use of her +talent for mischiefmaking, for fear she might get out of practice. The +older she grew the more artistic became her endeavors in that line, but +without success for herself, since she remained a spinster, and since +even the men themselves whom by her wiles she had alienated from other +women turned away from her as from a dangerous person, feeling in their +hearts only contempt and hatred for her. Then it was she turned her +face heavenwards, giving it out that she was on the point of entering a +convent and becoming a nun. But she changed her mind in the last hour, +and instead of a convent entered a house devoted to some holy order, +but such a one as would permit her, in case the chance of becoming a +wife should unexpectedly present itself to her, to leave it. Thus she +disappeared for years from view, since she was in the habit of going +from one town to another at short intervals, and nowhere feeling rested +or contented. Suddenly, when the forester's wife was lying sick to +death, she reappeared again, in Seldwyla, and in worldly dress, and so +it had come about that here she was as one of the guests at this +funeral celebration, seated opposite the widower. + +She put restraint on her restlessness, and now and then looked modest +and almost childlike, and when the women rose and walked about in +couples, the while the men remained seated at table drinking and +talking, she went up to Kuengolt, kissed her on both cheeks, and made +friends with her. The half-grown girl felt honored by these advances of +a semi-clerical woman, one who had apparently great knowledge of the +world and had been about a good deal, and so these two were at once +involved in a long and intimate conversation, as though they had known +each other all their lives. When the company broke up Kuengolt asked +her father to invite Violande to his house, in order to manage the big +household, a task for which she herself felt not equal and entirely too +young and inexperienced. The forester whose mood at that moment was a +curious compound of mourning and vinous elation, and whose thoughts +still belonged altogether to his departed wife, raised no objection to +this request, although he did not care much for his cousin and thought +her a queer sort of person. + +Thus in a day or two Violande made her formal entrance into the +widower's house, and had sense enough to take the place of the dead +wife at the hearth with judicious modesty and not without a spice of +sentimentality, the reflection no doubt occurring to her that here she +was at last, after long wanderings, where the desires of her first +youth seemed at last on the point of being realized. Without undue +elation she opened the closets and presses of her predecessor, +examining in detail their contents: linen and homespun cloth piled up +in orderly rows, and provisions of every kind arranged for instant or +occasional use, such as preserved fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, stored +away in carefully tied-up pots; many flitches of bacon and salted beef +and pork, smoked hams and potted venison, and hundreds of bunches of +flax hung up to dry under the ceilings of the roof. Her heart beat at a +more lively gait when inspecting all these domestic riches speaking so +eloquently of the forester's easy circumstances, and almost tenderly +she handled these hundreds of vessels and receptacles, dreaming of a +near housewifely future. And in this peaceable frame of mind she +remained for a number of weeks. But then her old restlessness seized +her again. It had to find a vent. And so she began to turn everything +topsy-turvy, starting with the pots and kettles, each of which she +assigned to a new place, mingling the big and little, shoving about the +bolts of linen and cloth, entangling the flax carded and uncarded, and +when she finally had done all this she had also managed to seriously +interfere with human affairs in the house, upsetting them as much as +she dared. + +Since it was her design to become, after all, the forester's wife, so +as to acquire a more dignified and assured position in life, it became +clear to her that what above all would be necessary was to part +permanently Kuengolt and Dietegen, as to whose inclination for each +other she had soon satisfied herself. For she argued quite correctly +that Dietegen, once he married Kuengolt, would doubtless become the +forester's successor, and thus not only remain permanently in the +house, but that in that case the forester himself, in view of his +strong affection for the memory of his departed wife, would never wed +again. But, she reasoned, if both the children in some way could be +made to shun the house, it would be much more likely that the forester +would marry again, feeling lonesome all by himself. + +And as now, as she discovered, Kuengolt every day grew handsomer and +more womanly, she took care to make the girl constantly conscious both +of her own beauty and of the gifts of her mind, as well as to further +develop in her an inborn leaning towards coquetry. To do the latter she +skillfully manipulated Kuengolt's natural vanity, insinuating to her +that every young man with whom she came in contact was smitten with her +charms and a ready suitor for her hand and love, and this with such +success that Kuengolt actually learned to look upon all the youths of +her acquaintance solely from the point of view whether they readily +acknowledged her preeminence in beauty and intellectual gifts or not, +while by her shrewd maneuvers Violande on the other hand made every one +of all these young men think that the girl's affections were centered +wholly upon himself. + +Another trick used by Violande with the same end in view was to +cultivate social intercourse with a number of other young girls of +marriageable age, who were frequently invited to the house for parties +to which young men were encouraged to come, and under her guidance and +leadership there was much courting and gallivanting going on at these +meetings. Thus it came about that Kuengolt, when less than sixteen, had +already assembled around her a circle of unquiet young people, each +more or less an expert in playing the love game as a species of +delightful sport. + +In the pursuance of her one aim Violande, too, arranged all sorts of +festivities, great and small, at the house, and there was mongering in +scandal, stories more or less compromising this or that couple or +individual, many quarrels and much noise and singing and music or +dancing, and it was usually the most objectionable of the customary +guests on these occasions that were also the boldest and most foolish, +and at the same time the most difficult to get rid of. + +All these things were not to Dietegen's taste. At first he was a mere +onlooker, indifferent and still in the grasp of his sincere and deep +mourning for the death of his fostermother, making a melancholy face +which to a growing youth is not the most becoming. But when all these +pleasure-mad young people were rather amused by a seriousness which +seemed unsuitable to his age, and as Kuengolt herself took the same +attitude towards him, the youth tried to revenge himself by awkward +attempts at dignified silence. But these tactics were even less +successful, and ended one day with Dietegen's clearly perceiving that +he among them all was out of tune. In fact, on one occasion he observed +Kuengolt seated in the midst of a group of scornful youths all of whom +were deriding him and she, instead of disapproving, evidently siding +with them against him. + +When Dietegen had experienced this, he turned silently away, and from +that day on avoided the whole company. Anyway, he had now attained the +age when vigorous youths begin to think of making strong men of +themselves. Upon the holding upon which stood the forester's house +there was, from time immemorial laid the duty of maintaining three or +four fully equipped fighting men, and this obligation the forester +himself had always carried out most scrupulously. With great pleasure +he found that Dietegen, shot up straight and nimble, would soon fill +the same fine armor in which he had once hoped to see his own son. + +Thus Dietegen with other young gamekeepers and helpers on lengthy +winter evenings went to fencing school, where he learned to make proper +use of the shorter weapons, according to the methods of his home, and +during the spring and summer seasons he spent many a Sunday or holiday +upon spacious fields or forest clearings where the youths of the +district learned to march in closed formations for hours at a stretch, +and to attack, leaping broad trenches by the aid of their long spears, +and in every other way to render their bodies supple, active and +strong, or else, perhaps, to practice the new art of the musketeer +whose weapon is loaded with powder and shot. + +Since by all these changes mentioned above life in the forester's house +altered greatly, and since particularly the feminine doings there +disturbed him sadly, although he paid scant attention to the latter, it +happened that he little by little acquired the habit of frequenting the +taverns where his townsfellows met much oftener than had been the case +during his married life. And while absenting himself from the childish +folly practiced at his own house, he succumbed to the maturer folly of +men, and it would happen now and then that he would carry his head like +a heavy burden, but always upright, to his forest home as late as +midnight or more. + +Things went on in this way until, on a sunny St. John's Day, a network +of events began to close in. + +The forester himself went to town to the headquarters of his guild, +where on that festive day all were summoned to attend the settlement of +important affairs concerning the craft, to conclude with a great annual +feast, and he intended to remain and join there in the carousal until +the advance of night. + +Dietegen on his part went to the sharpshooter's meeting place, +intending to spend the whole long midsummer's day in perfecting himself +as a marksman. The other assistants of the forester and his servants of +the household also went their own way, the one to visit his relatives +some distance across the country, another to the dance with his +sweetheart, and the third to the holiday fair to buy himself cloth for +a new coat and a pair of shoes. + +So the women were sitting all by themselves in the house, not at all +delighted with the rude manner in which the men had left them to their +own devices, but yet eyeing every passer-by and peering out at the +sunny landscape in the hope that some guests would show up and with +their help a festivity of their own might be arranged. + +As a suitable preparation for that or any contingency they began to +bake spice cakes and prepare all sorts of sweets, and they brewed a +huge bowlful of heady May wine flavored with honey and herbs, so as to +be ready for either chance comers or to offer a night cup to the men +returning home. Next they decked themselves in holiday finery, and +ornamented head and bosom with flowers, while other young maidens, +bidden to join them in a feminine festival time, one after the other +also came from town, and even the very last and least of the serving +maids belonging to the household was freshly attired to look her best. + +Under broadspreading linden trees, right in front of the house, the +table was set for a dainty meal, the westering sun sending his last +golden rays like a benediction abroad over town and valley. + +There the women now were seated about the table, relishing all the good +things prepared for them, and soon the chorus of them were intoning +folk-songs with melodious voices, songs telling in many stanzas of the +delights and despair of love, songs like that of the two royal +children, or "There dallied a knight with his maiden dear," and similar +ones. All the tunes sounded the longing of love-lorn hearts, the faith +kept or broken, the eternal drama of passion. Far out into the evening +the sweet voices were carrying, alluring, inviting. The birds nesting +up in the dense foliage of the linden trees, after being silenced for a +spell, now joined in, rivaling their human competitors, and from over +in the forest other feathered songsters assisted. But suddenly another +band of choristers could be heard above the din. That new volume of +sound came floating down the mountain side, a mingling of male voices +with the more strident notes of fiddle and tabor pipes. A troop of +youths had come from Ruechenstein, and this instant issued from the +edge of the woods. Thus they came, striding along the path that led +past the forester's home down to the valley, a number of musicians at +their head. There was the son of the burgomaster of Ruechenstein, +rather a madcap and therefore a great exception to the overwhelming +majority of his townsfolk, who clearly dominated the noisy throng. +Having left the university abroad, he had brought with him a few +fellow-students after his own heart, among them being a couple of +divinity students and a young and jolly monk, as well as Hans +Schafuerli, the council scribe, or secretary, of Ruechenstein, who was +a scrawny, bent figure of a man, with a mighty hunchback and a long +rapier. He was the last of the train, all walking singly because of the +narrow path. + +But when they set eyes on the row of singing ladies, their own music +ceased, and they stood all there, listening attentively to the charming +tune. However, the ladies likewise became mute, being surprised and +wishful to see what now was going to happen. Violande alone retained +her presence of mind, and stepped to the burgomaster's son, who in turn +saluted her with elaborate courtesy, and telling her that he with his +friends purposed to pay a flying and amusing visit to the merry +neighboring town, in order to spend St. John's Day in a manner +agreeable to them all. But, he continued, having had the good fortune +to meet with these ladies in this unhoped-for way, they counted on the +pleasure of a dance with them, if they might make so bold as to offer +themselves as partners, in all honor and decency. + +Within the space of a few minutes these formalities had been complied +with, and the dance was in full swing on the floor of the big +banqueting hall of the forester's house. Kuengolt led with the +burgomaster's son, Violande with the jolly monk, and the other ladies +with the young scholars. But the most expert and ardent dancer proved +to be the hunchback scribe. And despite his crooked back this valiant +devotee of the terpsichorean art understood marvelously well how to +advance and retreat with his long shanks in the maze, these legs of his +seeming to begin right below his chin. + +But Kuengolt's humor was no joyous one, and when Violande whispered to +her to aim at the conquest of the burgomaster's son, in order to become +herself one day the mistress of Ruechenstein, she remained frigid and +indifferent. But suddenly she perceived the herculean efforts of the +artful hunchback, and this extraordinary sight restored her spirits, so +that she laughed with all her heart. And she instantly demanded to +dance with the crooked monster. Indeed it looked like a scene in a +curious fairy tale, to see her graceful figure, clad in green and the +head set off by a wreath of ruby roses, flitting to and fro in the arms +of the ghastly scribe, his hump covered with vivid scarlet. + +But swiftly her mind altered. From the scribe she flew into the arms of +the monk, and from those into the keeping of the young students, so +that within less than half an hour she had taken a turn or two with +each one of the young strangers. All of these now centered their gaze +upon the beautiful damsel, while the other young women present +attempted in vain to recapture their partners. + +Violande seeing the state of the case, quickly summoned all the couples +to the table beneath the lindens, to rest there for a while and to be +hospitably entertained. She placed the whole company most judiciously, +each young man next a damsel, and Kuengolt beside the burgomaster's +son. + +But Kuengolt was tormented by a craving to see all these young men +subject to her will and under the complete influence of her charms. She +exclaimed that she herself wished to wait upon her guests, and hastened +into the house to get more wine. There she quickly and surreptitiously +found her way into Violande's chamber, where she rummaged in her +clothes press. In an hour of mutual confidences Violande had shown her +a small phial and told her that this contained a philtre, or love +potion, called "Follow Me." Whoever should drink its contents when +served by the hand of a woman, would inevitably become her slave and +victim, being bound to follow her even to death's door. True, Violande +had added, there was not contained in that potion any of the strong and +dangerous poison denominated Hippomanes, brewed from the liquor +obtained from the frontal excrescence of a first-born foal, but rather +it came from the small bones of a green frog that had been placed upon +an ants' nest and cleanly scraped and gnawed off by these insects, +until ready for occult use. But all the same, Violande had stated, this +preparation was potent enough to turn the heads of a half dozen of +obstreperous men. She herself, Violande said, had obtained the philtre +from a nun whose whilom lover had succumbed to the pest before the +philtre had had time to work, so that she, the nun, had resigned +herself to a convent life, and now Violande had possession of this +sovereign remedy without knowing exactly what to do with it. For she +did not dare to throw it away for fear of the unknown consequences. + +This phial Kuengolt now found after some search, and poured its +contents into the jug of wine she carried, and with a beating heart she +hastened outside to her guests. She bade the youths all quaff their +drink inasmuch as she would offer to them a new and sweet spice wine, +and when serving out the contents of the jug she knew how to contrive +matters in such wise that not a drop of the fluid remained. To +accomplish this she had first evenly distributed wine into all the +goblets, and afterwards poured something more into each man's, in every +instance sending an alluring glance into the soul of every swain, so +that the sorcery should have its full effect, as she thought. + +But indeed the magical workings of the philtre really consisted in +these impartially and enticingly subdivided glances of her roguish eye, +so that the youths all vied, blind and selfish with passion, to gain +her sole favor, as will always happen when a goal striven for by all in +common lies temptingly there for the boldest and luckiest to achieve. + +All the young men without exception participated in this love game, +leaving their partners rudely to themselves, and the latter, feeling +deeply the disgrace and humiliation of being outstripped by Kuengolt, +paled with anger and disappointment, casting their eyes down and vainly +trying to cover their defeat by a whispered conversation amongst +themselves. Even the monk suddenly abandoned a dusky serving maid whom +but a moment before he had embraced tenderly, while the haughty scribe, +the hunchback, with energetic steps crowded out the burgomaster's son +who at that instant held Kuengolt's lovely hand in his own, caressing +it subtly. + +But Kuengolt showed no favors to any one in particular. Cold as an +icicle she remained towards each and every one of her young guests, and +like a smooth snake she glided about among them, with head and senses +cool. And when she saw that thus she held them all in the hollow of her +hand, she even attempted to reconcile anew the other women, speaking +pleasantly to them and urging them to return to the table. + +Darkness had fallen. The stars glinted high in the heavens, and the +sickle of the new moon stood above the forest, but this gentle light +now was wiped out by the gleaming and wavering flames of a huge St. +John's bonfire that had been lighted up on the summit of a lone hill by +the peasant population, visible from afar. + +"Let us all go and look at this bonfire," cried Kuengolt. "The way to +it is short and pleasant through the woods! But we must have it done as +beseems us all--the women and girls first, and the young men in the +rear." + +And so it was done. Pitch torches lighted up the path for them, and +song cheered the company. + +Violande alone had remained behind as custodian of the house, but more +especially to await the coming of the chief forester. For she, too, +meant to make her catch that day. And she had not long to wait. He came +in the roused mood of a toper, and with his senses only partly under +control. When he saw the tables under the lindens before the house, he +sat down and called for a sleeping draught at Violande's hands. + +Without loss of time she went to do his bidding. But she also first +disappeared into her own room to get the small vial containing the love +potion which she meant to serve the man who had scorned her so far. +However, her hasty search for it was fruitless. Neither did she +discover it in Kuengolt's chamber, whither instant suspicion had driven +her. For the truth was that that serving maid who had been carelessly +pushed aside by the monk when Kuengolt had triumphed over her rivals, +had picked it up on the stairs where it had been cast by the haughty +girl. + +But Violande lost no time in searching further. Instead she made his +cup all the stronger and sweeter, and then she bent over the man of her +choice while he slowly and rapturously emptied the tankard. Violande +was dressed for the occasion. She wore over her skirt a tunic of pale +gold, the edges and seams picked out in red, and allowing her delicate +white skin to peep forth here and there. Her bosom heaved stormily and +she showed a tenderly caressing humor. Thus she leaned on the table in +close proximity to him. + +"Ah indeed, cousin," said the forester, when accidentally he cast a +glance in her direction, "how handsome you look to-night." + +At these words she smiled happily and looked full at him with eyes that +spoke eloquently, saying: "Do you indeed like my looks? Well, it has +taken you a long time to find that out. If you only knew for how many +years, in fact, ever since I was a child, I have cherished you in my +heart." + +That had a greater effect on the good man than any love potion made of +frog's bones, and he seemed to see before his eyes dim recollections. +Of a pretty girl child he dreamed, and now he saw her before him at his +side, a matured beauty in the full development of her womanly charms, +and it was as if she had come to him from a far distance, bringing to +him unsolicited the splendid gift of her fine person. His generous +heart became entangled with his excited senses, and reshaped and +formulated all sorts of enticing images. Through his hazy brain in its +vinous exaltation there floated a Violande who suddenly had been +metamorphosed into a winsome being that, after all manner of +sufferings, had been offered to his arms as something that to embrace +and call his would not only make herself happy but would likewise +entrust to his care a chaste and loving woman that would render himself +happy once more. The memory of his dead wife paled for the nonce before +this glittering picture. + +He seized her hand, fondled her cheeks, and said: "We are not yet old, +dear Cousin Violande! Will you become my wife?" + +And since she left her hand in his grasp, and bent nearer to him, this +time, seeing at last the realization of her ambition, actually glowing +with her new-found bliss, he loosened the bridal ring of his wife from +the handle of his dagger where since her death he had worn it, and +placed the trinket on Violande's finger. She thereupon pressed her own +face against the leonine and ruddy countenance of her middle-aged +lover, and the two embraced tenderly and kissed under the whispering +linden trees which were stirred by the night breeze. The shrewd man, +ordinarily of such sound judgment, thought he had discovered the +sovereign blessing of life itself. + +At this moment Dietegen returned home, bearing his weapons in his +hand. Since he went towards the house across the greensward, the fond +couple did not hear his approach, and he saw with confusion and +amazement the whole scene. Shamed and reddening, he retired as quietly +as he could, so that they did not notice him, and he went around the +whole house, in order to make his entrance by the back door. But while +still on his way he heard suddenly loud calling and noise as though +someone were in peril and hot dispute. Without a moment's hesitation +Dietegen hurried off in the direction of the hubbub. And soon he found +the same company that had ere now left the house in the happiest humor +in a terrible uproar. + +It seemed that the young men, half-crazed by the strong wine and by +jealousy of each other, on their way back from the St. John's bonfire, +being now mingled with the young women, had begun to quarrel among +themselves. From words they had come to daggers drawn, and more than +one was bleeding from serious wounds. But just the very moment of his +arrival he had seen the Ruechenstein scribe furiously attacking the +burgomaster's son, and running him through with his long rapier. The +victim, also with sword in hand, lay prone on the grass and was just +giving up the ghost. The others, unaware of this, had seized each other +by the throats, and the women were shrieking and calling loudly for +help. Only Kuengolt stood there pale as death but watching the horrible +scene with open mouth. + +"Kuengolt, what is up here?" asked Dietegen, when he had made her out. +She shuddered at his address, but looked as though relieved. However, +he now vigorously began to interfere, and by dint of rough handling of +some of the worst fire-eaters he soon succeeded in separating the +struggling and cursing mass. Then he pointed to the dead youth on the +ground, and that sobered them even more quickly than his remonstrances. +Then they all stared like mutes upon the dead man and upon the grim +hunchback, who seemed to have lost his wits completely. + +In the meanwhile some peasants from the neighborhood as well as the +homecoming gamekeepers from the forestry had appeared on the scene, and +these bound securely the raging Schafuerli, the murderous scribe, and +arrested the remainder of the Ruechensteiners. + + +And that was a bad morning that now followed. The forester was engaged +to the wicked Violande, and his head buzzed unmercifully. One dead +Ruechensteiner lay in the house, and the rest of them were kept in the +dungeon. Before the noon hour had tolled a delegation from +Ruechenstein, with the burgomaster himself, the father of the slain, at +its head, had arrived in order to inquire carefully into the whole +matter and to demand strict justice and punishment of the guilty. + +But already the imprisoned secretary of the Ruechenstein council, the +grim Schafuerli, knowing that his neck was in peril, had made a +deposition in his tower in which he charged responsibility for the +whole bad business upon the women of Seldwyla whom they had met on the +previous day, and more especially upon Kuengolt, whom he accused of +sorcery and black art. + +That maid servant who had become disgruntled for a cause mentioned +before had passed on the empty vial that had contained Violande's +philtre, to the monk, and the latter had hastened to put it into the +hands of the scribe, who now used it as a powerful weapon. + +To the grave dismay of the Seldwylians the whole matter in the course +of that first day even turned against the forester's daughter and +against his household. Everybody in those days, and not alone in +Seldwyla, firmly believed in sorcery and love potions, and the members +of the Ruechenstein delegation behaved so menacingly and hinted at such +terrible reprisals that the popularity and the respect in which the +forester was held could not prevent the imprisonment of Kuengolt, +especially as he was still severely suffering from his excesses of the +previous day, and felt like one paralyzed. + +She instantly made a full confession, being more dead than alive from +terror, and Schafuerli and his boon companions were liberated. And then +the Ruechensteiners made the formal demand to have the girl delivered +up to them for adequate atonement, since she had injured a number of +their townsfolk and caused the death of one of them. This, however, was +not conceded to them, and then the Ruechensteiners departed in an angry +mood, threatening dire reprisals. The body of the burgomaster's son +they took along. But when later on they heard that the Seldwyla +authorities had sentenced the girl but to a twelvemonth's mild +incarceration, the ancient enmity which had slept for a number of years +now reawakened, and it became a perilous adventure for any Seldwylian +to be caught on Ruechenstein soil. + +Now the town of Seldwyla counted as a fit penalty for misdeeds which +according to their notions were reckoned among the lighter ones and +which consequently required no severe treatment, not imprisonment +proper but rather the awarding of the culprits to persons that became +responsible for their further conduct. In the custody of such persons +the culprits remained during the length of the sentence, and these +custodians were held to employ them suitably and to feed and shelter +them adequately. This mode of punishment was used most often with women +or youthful persons. Thus, then, Kuengolt, too, was taken to one of the +chambers of the town hall, and there she was to be auctioned off, at +least her services and keep. And before that ceremony she had to submit +to being publicly exhibited there. + +The forester, whose sunny humor had altogether disappeared with these +trials, said sighing to Dietegen that it was a hard thing for him to go +to the town hall and watch there in behalf of his daughter, but +somebody surely must be there of her family during these bitter hours. + +Then Dietegen said: "I will go in your stead; that is, if I am good +enough for it in your opinion." + +His patron shook hands with him. "Yes, do it!" he said, "and I will +thank you for it." + +So Dietegen went where some of the councilmen were seated and a few +persons willing to take charge of the prisoner. He had girded his sword +around his loins, and had a manly and rugged air about him. + +And when Kuengolt was led inside, white as chalk and deeply chagrined, +and was to stand in front of the table, he swiftly pulled up a chair +and made her sit down in it, he placing himself behind and putting his +hand on the back of it. She had looked up at him surprised, and now +sent him a glance fraught with a painful smile. But he apparently paid +no heed looking straight on over her head, severe of mien. + +The first who made a bid for her custody was the town piper, a +drunkard, who had been sent by his poor wife in order to help increase +their receipts a bit. This, she calculated, was all the more to be +expected because Kuengolt would probably receive from her home all +sorts of good things to eat, and these, she considered, they would +secure wholly or in part. + +"Do you want to go to the town piper's house?" Dietegen curtly asked +the girl. After attentively regarding the red-nosed and half-drunken +fellow, she said: "No." And the piper, with a blissful smile, remarked +laughing: "Good, that suits me too," and toddled off on shaking legs. + +Next an old furrier and capmaker made a bid, since he thought he could +utilize Kuengolt very handily in sewing and making a goodly profit out +of her services. But this man had a large sore on his thigh, and this +he was greasing and plastering with salve all day long, and also a +growth the size of a chicken's egg on the top of his pate, so that +Kuengolt had already been afraid of him when she passed his shop as a +child going to school. When, therefore, Dietegen put the query to her +whether she was willing to go to his house, and the girl decidedly +negatived that, the man went off loudly venting his spleen. He grumbled +and growled like a bear whose honeycomb has been snatched away. + +Now a money changer stepped up, one who was notorious both for his +greed and usurious avarice and for his lewdness. But scarcely had that +one leveled his red eyes upon her, and opened his wry mouth for a bid, +when Dietegen motioned him off with a threatening gesture, even without +asking the terrified girl herself. + +And now there were left but a few more, decent and respectable +citizens, people against whom nothing could be urged reasonably, and it +was these between whom the final choice and decision lay. The smallest +bid was made by the gravedigger of the cemetery next the town +cathedral, a quiet and good man, who also possessed an excellent wife +and, so he thought, a suitable place where to keep such a prisoner in +safe custody, and who certainly had already had charge of several other +prisoners before. + +To this man, then, Kuengolt was given in charge, and was taken at once +to his house which was situated between the cemetery and a side street. +Dietegen went along in order to see how she would be housed. It turned +out that her quarters would be an open, small antechamber of the house +itself, immediately adjoining the graveyard and only separated from it +by an iron fence. There, as it seemed, the sexton was in the habit of +keeping his prisoners during the warm season of the year, while for the +winter he simply admitted them into his own dwelling room, a slender +chain fastening them to the tile stove. + +But when Kuengolt found herself in her prison and was separated merely +by a fence from the graves of the dead, moreover saw near by the old +deadhouse filled with skulls and bones, she began to tremble and begged +they would not leave her there all through the night. But the sexton's +wife who was just dragging in a straw mattress and a blanket, and also +hid the sight of the graves by suspending a curtain, answered that this +request could not be listened to, and that her new abode would be +wholesome for her moral welfare and as a means of repenting her sins. +And she could not be shaken in this resolve. + +But Dietegen replied: "Be quiet, Kuengolt, for I am not afraid of the +dead or of any spook, and I will come here every night and keep watch +in front of the iron fence until you, too, will no longer fear." + +He said this, however, in an aside to her, so that the woman could not +overhear it, and then he left for home. There he found the saddened +forester who had just reached an understanding with Violande that they +would not celebrate their wedding until after Kuengolt's release from +prison and after the scandal created by the occurrence should have had +time to blow over. During all their discussion of the matter Violande +kept still as a mouse, glad that she as the prime author of the whole +mischief should have escaped all the consequences, for the magical +philtre had been hers, as we know. + +When the early hours of evening were over and midnight approaching, +Dietegen began to make good his promise. He started unobserved, took +his sword and a flask of choice wine along, and climbed from the high +slope down into the valley and so to town, and there he swung himself +fearlessly over the graveyard wall, strode across the graves +themselves, and at last stood in front of Kuengolt's new abode. She sat +breathlessly and shaking with fright upon her straw mattress, behind +the curtain, and listened with freezing blood to every noise, even the +slightest, that struck her ear. For even before this ghostly hour of +twelve she had undergone several convulsions of dread and unreasoning +fear. In the deadhouse, for instance, a cat had slyly climbed over the +bones, and these had clattered somewhat. Then also the night wind had +moved the bushes growing over the tombs, so that they made a weird +noise, and the iron rooster that served as a weather vane on top of the +church roof had creaked mysteriously, making an awful sound never heard +in daytime. So that the girl was in a frenzy of terror. + +When she therefore heard the steps nearing more and more, Kuengolt had +a new fit of fright, and shook like a leaf. But when he stretched his +hands through the iron bars of the fence and pushed back the curtain, +so that the full moon lit up the whole dark space around her, and in a +low voice called her name, she rose quickly, ran in his direction and +stretched out both hands to him. + +"Dietegen!" she exclaimed, and burst into tears, the first she had been +able to shed since that ominous day; for until that hour she had lived +as though smitten with paralysis, dazed and benumbed. + +Dietegen, however, did not take her hand, but instead handed her the +flask of wine, saying: "Here, take a mouthful! It will do you good." + +So she drank, and also ate of the dainty wheaten bread of her father's +house that he had brought along. And by and by her courage was +restored, and when she clearly perceived that he had no mind to +converse any more with her, she retired silently to her couch and cried +without a stop, till at last she sank into a quiet sleep. + +But he, the young man, in his narrow youthful ideas and in his +inexperience of real life had made up his mind that she was a being +turned completely to wickedness and evil, and one that was unable to do +right. And he served as her sentinel during this and other nights, +seating himself upon an ancient gravestone leaning against the wall +solely out of regard for her departed mother and because she had saved +his own life. + +Kuengolt slept until sunrise, and when she awoke and looked about she +observed that Dietegen had softly stolen away. + +Thus one night after another passed, and he faithfully watched and +guarded her, for he indeed held the belief that the place was not +without danger for anyone without a good conscience and shaken with +fear. But each time he brought her something of a relish along, and +often he would ask her what she desired for herself, and he would carry +out her wishes if at all justifiable. + +He also came when it rained or stormed, missing not a single night, and +on those nights when, according to the popular superstitions then +universally held, the dead walked and which were considered +particularly perilous to the living, he came all the more promptly. + +Kuengolt on her part by and by managed to arrange things so that during +the daytime she had her curtain drawn, in order, as she said, to +conceal herself from the curious who went to the cemetery to spy on +her, but in reality to sleep, for she preferred to remain awake at +night, to keep her faithful sentinel in view all the time, and to +ponder the things that had brought her there, and how he had conducted +himself towards her these last few years. But Dietegen knew nothing of +all this, believing her to be sound asleep. + +She felt herself engrossed with a new and unexpected happiness, and +while he diligently kept watch over her during the hours of darkness, +she enjoyed his mere presence, and all her thinking was of him. She had +no slightest suspicion that he judged her so harshly, and was living in +hopes that she could reestablish her claim on him, seeing that he +proved so faithful to her. Her father, however, did not share her +dreams. He visited her at least once every week, and when she on these +occasions nearly always shyly mentioned Dietegen's name, and he marked +that she indeed had again turned to him in her thoughts, he would sigh +and groan in spirit, because while also wishing for a union of those +two, and feeling convinced that his fine foster son alone was able to +again rehabilitate his daughter, it appeared highly improbable to him +that Dietegen would wish to woo a witch that had been punished for her +uncanny doings by his fellow citizens, and as it seemed to him, justly. + +In the meantime another caller had put in an appearance with Kuengolt, +no less a person than the secretary of the council of Ruechenstein +himself. + +This highly enterprising and venturesome hunchback was unable to forget +the beautiful being on whose account he had committed murder. The blood +coursed through his veins more rapidly than in those of a normally +shaped fellow, and waking or sleeping her image did not lose its hold +on him. His belief was that the image of this witch dwelt in his heart +by virtue of her black art, and that it was shooting along within his +blood vessels as does a frail boat in a powerful storm, all in a +magical way. + +The more he reflected the more convinced he became of this, and since +he had daring enough and to spare, he finally made up his mind to seek +alleviation of his tortures from the primal source, the witch herself. +At the Capuchin monastery, where he had first gone for a ghostly cure, +he had failed, and thus one moonless, dark night he started out, across +the mountain and as far as the cemetery where he knew her to be kept a +captive. + +Kuengolt heard his approaching steps. Since it was not yet the hour +when Dietegen used to come, and also because these steps did not seem +to be his, she took fright and hid behind the curtain. But Schafuerli +now lighted a candle he had brought along, and thrust his hand with it +through the aperture, searching the dark space with his eager eyes +until he had finally discovered her crouched in a corner. + +"Come here, witch maid," he muttered excitedly, "and give me both thine +hands and that scarlet mouth of thine. For thou must quench the fire +thou hast caused." + +The girl was frightened beyond words. By his crooked shape she had +recognized him in the dusky half-light, and the recollection of the +sufferings this misshapen recreant had occasioned her, together with +the repugnant presence of the man himself, drove her almost to madness. +Powerless to utter a sound, she sank down trembling in every limb. + +Seeing this, the bold knave began to shake the iron bars of her grate, +and since it was by no means very strong but rather intended only for +the keeping of less vigorous prisoners, it began to yield, and he was +about to tear it out of its staples. But just that instant Dietegen +arrived on the scene. To notice the whole proceeding and to seize the +madman firmly by the shoulder was the work of a flash. The enraged +scribe yelled like one possessed, and was for drawing his poniard. But +Dietegen kept an iron hold on him, grasping his hands and wrestling +with him until the humpback owned himself beaten. Then Dietegen was +uncertain whether to hand the maddened creature over to the authorities +or to let him go. Not knowing the circumstances of the case and +unwilling to cause new complications for Kuengolt, he finally allowed +the scribe to escape, warning him, however, on pain of death, not to +return again to the place. Next Dietegen woke the sexton and induced +him, since autumn with its cool nights was approaching, to afford +shelter to his prisoner henceforth within his own dwelling, in order to +avert repetition of a scene like the one of that night. + +Therefore Kuengolt that very night was taken inside, and secured by a +light chain to the foot of the stove. The latter was a trim structure +built of green tiling and showing in raised outlines the biblical story +of the creation of man and his fall from grace. At the four corners of +this stove there stood the four greater prophets upon twisted pillars, +and the whole of it formed a somewhat attractive monument. Against it +and tied to it by her gyves Kuengolt now lay stretched out on a bench +for her couch. + +She was glad of having obtained a more sheltered spot, and more still +of having been rescued out of the hands of this evil hunchback, and she +ascribed the whole of Dietegen's efforts to his devoted feelings for +her, and this despite the fact that he had not spoken a syllable to her +through it all and had gone away immediately after the new arrangements +had been effected. + +When, however, Kuengolt had thus been installed in a more convenient +place, a new admirer of her charms turned up in the person of a +chaplain whose duties obliged him to attend to a number of small +matters in the church building close by, and to whose obligations it +also belonged to offer ghostly counsel and consolation to the sick or +imprisoned. This young priest came, once Kuengolt was an inmate of the +gravedigger's household, more and more frequently, not only to exorcise +her and to expel from her soul all inclination towards magic, sorcery +and witchcraft, but also to enjoy incidentally her rare feminine charms +and beauty. He strenuously endeavored to dissuade her from using any +more love philtres and similar means forbidden by the canons of the +Church, but in doing so became thoroughly imbued with her physical +attractions. + +For of late, that is, since these trials had overtaken her, the maiden +had wonderfully grown in beauty. She had become a more mature, slender +and spiritualized being, albeit pallor had succeeded her former healthy +complexion, and her eyes now shone with a gentle and lovely fire, +encircled with a shadow of sadness. + +Save for her being tied to the foot of the warm stove, she was being +treated in every respect like a member of the sexton's family, among +the members of which there were several children, and when the chaplain +came to visit her, he was usually regaled with a tankard of ale or a +flask of drinkable wine, these being supplied by the forester, +Kuengolt's father. But whenever the reverend divine had sufficiently +indulged in his admonishments, had partaken of the refreshment provided +for him, and still remained behind, evidently to enjoy the society of +the charming penitent, there would be some queer goings-on. For the +chaplain would squeeze and caress the pretty hand of his spiritual +daughter, would sigh and groan audibly, and then Kuengolt, comparing +this sniffling priest in her thoughts with the stately and handsome +Dietegen whom she considered in truth her lover, was prone to scoff at +the inconspicuous Levite, but in a good-natured and gentle manner. + +In this way it came about that Kuengolt, after displaying all day long +her cheerful and somewhat sportive disposition, would be the declared +favorite of the sexton's household in the evening, the big family table +invariably being pushed over towards her where she perforce sat tied to +the stove. So also it was on New Year's Eve, and the young priest was +one of the company, so that the sexton, his wife and children, together +with the chaplain, were seated near the prisoned girl, all of them +munching walnuts and sweet honey cakes, and Kuengolt having just +laughed at something the priest had said, the latter meanwhile holding +her hand, when Dietegen entered the room. He brought for his patron's +daughter and his own whilom playmate some dainties from home. In coming +he had yielded to the instinctive promptings of his heart, a mingling +of pity, sympathy and affection, an unconscious longing for her +company, and the desire had been strong within him to spend at least an +hour that evening with her, this being the first time in her young life +she had to pass away from home on a night like that. + +But when he saw the merry scene and caught sight of the chaplain's +caressing hand, his blood seemed to freeze within him, and he left her +after just a couple of words in explanation of his mission, without any +more ado. In going, perhaps unconsciously, Dietegen muttered as though +to himself: "Forgotten is forgotten!" + +Only now Kuengolt suddenly felt the full force and meaning of these +words and of his previous devotion, and her heart seemed to stand +still. Pale and faint she sank down on her bench at the stove, and the +jolly gathering broke up. Even before the midnight bells tolled out the +new year the light in the sexton's window was gone, and the girl was +weeping bitter tears of sorrow. + +From that night on she remained almost forgotten by the forester and +his household. Great days were on the way. The Swiss federation was +humming like a beehive with war's alarum. Those events were in the +making which in history are known as the Burgundian War. + +When spring had come and the great day of Grandison approached, the +town of Seldwyla, too, like Ruechenstein and many others, sent her +embattled citizens into the field, and it was for the forester as well +as for Dietegen a happy release to be able to leave the disturbed +harmony and comfort of the house and to step into the clear, rugged +atmosphere of war. + +With firm tread they both went along with their banner, though perhaps +more silent than most, and joined with the other hurrying detachments +the mighty battle array of the federated Swiss allies, coming most +opportunely to the armed aid of the latter. + +Like unto an iron garden stood the long square of the fighting men, and +in its midst waved the standards and pennons of the cantons and towns +there represented. In serried ranks they stood, many thousands of them, +each in his independence and reliability again a world in himself; in +fearlessness and will each could depend on his neighbor, and yet all of +them together, after all, but a throng of fallible human beings. + +There was the spendthrift and the light-hearted side by side with the +curmudgeon and the cautious, each awaiting the hour of supreme +sacrifice. The quarrelsome and the peaceable had to stay on with equal +patience. He whose heart was heavy within his bosom was no more +taciturn than the talkative and the braggart. The poor and indigent +stood in equal pride next to the wealthy and domineering. Whole squares +made up of neighbors ordinarily disagreeing were here one single unit. +And envy or jealousy held spear or halberd as manfully and firmly as +did generosity or reconciliation, and unjust as just aimed for the +nonce both of them to fulfil the duty immediately urgent. Whoever had +done with life and meant to sacrifice without regrets the mean remnant +of it, was no more or less than the reckless red-cheeked youth upon +whom his mother had built all her hope and in whom rested the future. +The morose submitted without protest to the silly sallies of the jester +or buffoon, and the latter on his part saw without ridicule the prosaic +conceits of the small-souled philistine. + +Next to the banner of Seldwyla was visible that of Ruechenstein, so +that the serried ranks of the inimicable neighbors closely touched each +other, and the forester who was leader of a section of his fellow +citizens and formed the cornerstone of their whole formation, was the +very neighbor of the council scribe of Ruechenstein, who on his part +stood at the tail end of one of the ranks of his townsmen. But at this +hour not one of them all seemed to recall reasons for differences or to +remember the past. Dietegen was among the sharpshooters and "lost +fellows," somewhat outside these regimental formations, and was already +in the very heat of combat when the main body of the Swiss suddenly +began to move and to plunge right into the midst of battle, in order +to administer a stupendous defeat upon one of the most brilliant +warrior-princes and his luxurious and splendid army, and to drive him +to ignominous flight like a fabled king. + +In the pressure of the hard-fought battle the forester with some of his +gamekeepers had been separated by Burgundian cavalry from his banner +and now fought his way through the latter, but only to encounter on the +other side enemy foot soldiery. In meeting his new foe the doughty +warrior set to work hewing and carving out for himself a roomy corner +of his own, and he had already achieved this task when through this new +opening a belated and spent cannon ball from the hosts of Charles the +Bold came smashing and crushed the broad manly chest of the man, so +that within another moment or two he had found in peace his eternal +rest, and nothing more troubled him. + +When Dietegen, sound and hearty, returned from the fight and from +following the fleeing Burgundians, inquiring for his friend and father, +he found his body after but a short search, and he buried him together +with his trusty sword within the mighty roots of a far-spreading oak, +not far from the battlefield on the edge of a grove. + +Then he returned home with the remainder of the Swiss hosts, and +because of his intrepidity and the ability shown by him during the +campaign he was by the town authorities made provisional chief +forester, and was given the house that had been his home for so long as +his new abode and to supervise the assistants. With the death of his +dear old patron his household had been dissolved. His savings and +accumulated wealth had vanished during the last few years preceding his +death, owing to careless management, and now Kuengolt had nothing left +in the world save her own self and the care of Dietegen, provided he +was able to give it, for he himself was but poor. She sat day after day +at her stove, leaning her cheeks against its tiles representing, in +four or five groups that recurred around the whole surface, the loss of +Paradise, the creation of Adam and of Eve, the Tree of Knowledge, and +the expulsion at last from their blessed abode. When the girl's face +ached from the rough imprint of these raised images, she shifted it by +turning to the next series, always and always contemplating them, and +between the intervals shedding tears over her lot. But even then she +could sometimes not help laughing outright when her glance traveled to +that scene showing the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. For by reason +of the potter's inadvertence this picture had been so modelled as to +give to Adam instead of a real navel on his abdomen, a round little +button and this protuberance repeating itself twentyfold on the surface +of the stove excited unfailingly her playful humor, though it also +heightened her discomfort when leaning against it. + +In the midst of her fit of laughter, however, at this harmless blunder +poor Kuengolt was invariably overcome by the weight of her misery, +which would constrict heart and throat alike, and this conflict of +thought and impressions produced a keen physical pain, so that her eyes +grew wet and her face would look like that of a person wanting to +sneeze yet unable to. So that at last she avoided looking at all at +this particular group. + +Meanwhile the great battle of Murten had also been fought, and at the +same time Kuengolt's term of imprisonment was ended. Dietegen had given +instructions for herself and Violande to keep house provisionally at +the forestry lodge. Violande of late had become rather modest, contrite +and well-behaved, for to her feminine sense of pride it had been a +great gratification that the late forester, although he had postponed +the wedding indefinitely and perhaps unduly, yet had wooed her and +proposed marriage. But Dietegen himself did not remain at home. On the +contrary, he drifted back and forth at the various scenes of the great +war that had not yet ended. + +And it must be owned that he, too, during all these troublous times, +was not without faults. The rude customs of war, combined with the ever +gnawing grief of what he had lost of his one-time hopes, had molded him +afresh, so that a certain savagery and relentlessness had crept into +the very fibre of his being. He joined that throng of adventurous young +lads who under the name of "The Giddy Life" had started out on their +own behalf to force the town of Geneva to pay out that amount of ransom +which in the peace treaty was specified as its share. Out of Burgundian +booty that had fallen to him he had had luxurious garments fashioned +for himself. Trailing behind the banner of the Wild Boar (token of the +aforementioned wild brotherhood) he wore a magnificent surcoat of +roseate Burgundian damask, and the cross of the Swiss Federation on +chest and back was made of heavy argent stuff and trimmed with seed +pearls. His broad velvet hat was all about covered by a load of waving +ostrich plumes, taken from knightly plunder in camps stormed during the +campaign. Poniard and sword were suspended from costly girdles +ornamented with blood-red rubies or emeralds. And beside a ponderous +musket he carried a long spear which he used to balance himself with +when striding along. His broad shoulders and straight, sinewy body +looked formidable when his hawk eyes peered forth under his beplumed +hat at a cowardly braggart or in order to strike terror in controversy. +He was fond those days of seizing perhaps a shrieking maid by her +braids, glancing a moment at her startled face, and then letting her go +again at a venture. + +Dressed up in this gorgeous style he had also, before joining the +companions of The Giddy Life, paid a short call at the forestry lodge +of Seldwyla. He was the very image of a nobly descended, pure-blooded +warrior, so bold and strong, elastic and sure of himself he seemed. + +When Kuengolt saw him thus, receiving from him just one short cold +smile in passing, such as stern war had fixed on his features, her eyes +were dazzled. And while subsequently he was in foreign parts she loved +nothing better than to ponder the past and to live over in her thoughts +the happy days of her childhood. And almost at all times her +recollection dwelt upon that hour up on the steep slope where the +Seldwyla ladies had caressed and fondled little Dietegen, clad in +nothing but his poor sinner's shift and just escaped from an +ignominious death; how they had crowned him with wildflowers, and made +him their darling. Then she would hasten up to the summit of that hill, +and would scan the far horizon towards the Southwest where, as people +said, that unconquerable throng of youths, with him amongst them, was +doing deeds of valor. + +But in that same mountainous landscape, bifurcated as it was by the +Ruechenstein territorial limits, that ominous scribe, Schafuerli, was +frequently roaming about. This man was still thirsting for revenge +because of the injury done his soul and his reputation alike, as he +deemed; for though he had escaped that time any penalty he was yet +looked upon with disfavor by most of the Ruechenstein citizens on +account of the homicide committed by him. He still lived in hopes, +therefore, of making amends by capturing the "witch" and turning her +over for expiation to the authorities of his home town. When then one +day poor Kuengolt was seated carelessly upon the very boundary line +stone, deep in her meditations, with her feet resting on Ruechenstein +soil, the vengeful hunchback quickly stepped out from some bushes, and +assisted by a municipal guard, took her prisoner and brought her +securely bound to Ruechenstein itself. And there she had to submit a +second time to a penal trial for having with her witchery caused the +death, wholly unatoned according to their notions, of the burgomaster's +son. + +In Seldwyla there was, notably in those stirring war times, nobody who +felt at all any obligation to interfere in her behalf, even if there +had been much of a hope for her. Hence the rumor soon spread that +Kuengolt's life would soon pay the forfeit. + +And it was Violande, once false and wicked, who now alone began to +bestir herself for the rescue of her young relative. Pity and +repentance moved her to the resolve to go in search of the only human +being from whom prompt aid might be expected. Thus she went off, being +on her errand night and day, ever going in a southwesterly direction, +in order to find that band of overbold adventurers yclept "The Giddy +Life," with Dietegen in their midst, as she knew. And since rumor was +at all times quite busy with that mettlesome brotherhood she soon found +herself in the right neighborhood, and at last came across Dietegen +himself, just as he was throwing dice for money and booty with some of +his hardy companions in a tavern. + +Violande at once let him know about the ill-starred excursion of +Kuengolt and about the danger now threatening her on the part of the +Ruechensteiners, and against her own expectation he listened +attentively. But his reply was discouraging. + +"I am powerless to do anything in this case," he remarked, rather +coldly. "For this is a matter of law, and since the Seldwyla people +themselves do not choose to intervene, I should not be able to find +even ten trusty comrades-in-arms to follow me and help free the child." + +Violande, though, with that special knowledge which she had acquired +from her former experiences, interrupted him. + +"There is no need of force in this case," quoth she. "The Ruechenstein +people have from old a law which says that any woman sentenced to death +may be saved by a man and delivered over to him if he is willing and +able to wed her on the spot." + +Dietegen gazed at Violande long and in amazement wearing the while his +sneering soldier's smile. + +At last he spoke. + +"I am then to marry a sort of courtesan," he growled darkly, twirling +his small moustache daintily and putting on an incredulous mien, while +yet at the same time a look of tenderness beamed forth from his eyes. + +"Do not say so," put in Violande, "for it is not so." + +And bursting into tears she seized Dietegen's hand, and continued: "In +so far as she is to blame it is my own fault. Let me here confess it, +that I wished to separate you and her, for I wanted you two out of the +house in order to marry the father. And that is why I led the child +into all sorts of folly." + +"But she ought not to have let you do so," exclaimed Dietegen. "Her +parents indeed came of good stock and deserved respect, but she has +gone astray." + +"But I swear to you on my hope of salvation," cried Violande, "it is as +if a cleansing fire had passed over her, and all that once disfigured +her has been removed. She is good and true, and she is so much in love +with you that she long ago would have died if you also had left this +world like her father. Besides, have you quite forgotten what you owe +her? Would you now stand here in front of me, strong and handsome, if +she had not rescued you out of the hangman's coffin? And mind you too +of Kuengolt's kind mother and of her excellent father, who have +educated and loved you like their own son. And are you entitled to be +judge over the failings of a frail woman? Have you yourself never done +wrong? Have you never slain a man in battle when there was no need of +it? Have you never laid in ashes the hut of a defenceless and poor +person during these wars? And even though you have not done any of +these things, have you always shown mercy where you might?" + +At this earnest plea Dietegen reddened, and then said: "I will not owe +anything I can pay off, and will leave no debts behind me. If it be as +you say regarding this Ruechenstein legal custom, I will go and help +the child and take her to my heart. May God then help me and her if she +is no longer able to conduct herself properly!" + + +Then Dietegen gave a sum of money to Violande, who was quite exhausted +from the fatigues of her journey, and who needed rest and nourishment +to strengthen herself for her return home. But he himself, only seizing +his weapons, started off instantly right across the country, and had no +rest or sleep until he discerned the dark towers and walls of +Ruechenstein rising before his eyes. + +There they had not delayed matters. They had, after the lapse of a few +days consumed with legal formalities, condemned Kuengolt, who had +meanwhile been confined in an old tower, to death. But inasmuch as her +father had been of blameless life and reputation and had, moreover, +fallen as a hero battling for his country, the sentence was that she +would, as a sign of unusual mercy, be merely beheaded, instead of being +brought from life to death by fire or the wheel, or by some other of +their customary procedures. + +Accordingly she was taken to the place of execution, just outside the +great gate of the town, barefooted and clothed in nought but a +delinquent's shift. All adown her back and neck floated her heavy +golden strands of hair. Step for step she went her death path, in the +midst of her tormentors, several times stumbling, but of good heart and +steady courage, since she had quite submitted to her sad fate and had +abandoned all hope of life or happiness. + +"Thus luck may turn!" she was saying to herself, with a slight smile, +but just then she was thinking again of Dietegen, and sweet tears +rained down her cheeks. Memory came back to her of how he owed his +vigorous life to her, and, so good and unselfish she had grown in +adversity, she felt glad of it and kindly towards him. + +Already she had been placed in the fatal chair and was, in a sense, +thankful of the chance to renew her drooping strength before receiving +the death stroke. For the last time she gazed ahead at the glories of +the land, at the hazy chain of mountains and the darksome woods. Then +the headsman tied up her eyes, and was on the point of cutting off the +wealth of her hair, or as much of it as protruded from under the cloth. +But he held his hand, for Dietegen was there, only a short distance +away, shouting with all his strength and waving his spear and hat to +draw attention. At the same time, though, to insure delay, he tore his +musket from the shoulder and sent a shot over the executioner's head. +Astonished and affrighted both judges and headsman stopped in their +doings, and all around the spectators took firm hold of their weapons. +But Dietegen did not hesitate. In a few bounds he had arrived at the +place, and had climbed to the bloody scaffold, so that under his weight +it nearly broke. Seizing Kuengolt in her chair by the hair and +shoulder, since her hands were already fastened behind, he for a moment +had to recover his breath before being able to speak. + +The Ruechensteiners, as soon as assured that there was but a single man +and that no murderous attack was intended, grew attentive and waited +for further developments. When at last he had stated his business, the +judges retired to take counsel. + +Not only their own habit of always strictly conforming with customs +firmly rooted in the past, but also the reputation enjoyed by Dietegen +himself in those warlike days and his whole appearance and demeanor, +were in favor of adjusting this matter according to his wishes, once +the first annoyance at the unceremonious interruption of so solemn a +spectacle as an execution had been overcome. Even the rancorous scribe, +Hans Schafuerli, who had put in an appearance to make sure of the death +of the witch, hid from the grim man of war, whose heavy hand he feared +despite his ordinarily daring temper. + +The same priest who a short while back had been praying for the poor +delinquent, now was told to perform the wedding ceremony on the very +scaffold itself. Kuengolt was untied, placed upon her swaying feet, and +then asked whether she was willing to marry this man who sought her as +his lawful wife, and to follow him through life. + +Mute she looked up to him who, after the cloth had been removed from +her eyes was the first object she saw again of this world that she had +taken leave from a few moments before, and it seemed to her that it +must all be a delicious dream. But in order to miss nothing even if it +should only turn out a dream, she nodded, being still unable to speak, +with great presence of mind, three or four times in rapid succession, +in a ghost-like manner, so that the severe councilmen of Ruechenstein +were touched, and to make quite sure she repeated her nodding another +few times. And tremblingly Kuengolt was supported during the wedding +ceremony by the same sinister men who had come to witness her shameful +death. But she became his wife according to all the established forms +of the Church. + +And now, this done, she was handed over to Dietegen "with life and +limb," as the phrase went, just as she was, without any later claim of +dowry or recompense, damages, or excuse, against his payment of fees +for the priest and of money for ten gallons of wine for headsman and +assistants, as a wedding gift, and of three pounds of pennies for a new +jerkin for the headsman. + +After paying all this, Dietegen took his wife by the hand and left with +her the place of execution. + +Since he had to take her, however, just as she was, and she was not +only barefooted but merely clad in her death shift, the season also +being early and the weather chilly, she was suffering from this and +unable to keep step with her husband. He lifted her, therefore, from +the ground to his arms, pushed his hat back from his forehead, and then +she put her arms around his neck, leaned her head against his, and +immediately fell asleep, while he used his long spear as a staff in his +other hand. Thus he walked swiftly along on the mountain path, all +alone by himself, and he felt how in her sleep she was weeping softly, +and how her breath grew less agitated. At last her tears ran along his +own face, and then a strange illusion as though blessed bliss were +baptising him anew came over him. And this rough, war-hardened man, for +all his self-command, felt his own tears staining his ruddy bearded +chin. His was the life he bore in his arms, and he held it as if God's +whole world were in his keeping. + +When they arrived on the spot where he himself, a small child, had sat +among the women in his scanty garb and where more recently poor +Kuengolt had been taken prisoner, the March sun shone clear and warm, +and he concluded to take a short rest. Dietegen sat down on the +boundary stone, and let his burden slowly glide down on his knees. The +first glance which she gave him, and the first poor words which she +stammered, were proof to him that he not only had truly fulfilled a +sacred duty towards her by what he had done, but that in addition he +had undertaken another, an even more sacred one, namely, to conduct +himself through life in such a manner as to be worthy of the happy lot +that had fallen to him in becoming the husband of the charming creature +at his side. And this he silently vowed to do. + +The soil around the boundary stone was already thickly speckled with +primroses and wild violets, the sky was cloudless, and not a sound +broke the still air but the cheery song of the finches in the wood. + +So they spoke no more for some time, but both breathed the soft air +that filled their lungs with new hope and life, but at last they rose, +and because from now on there was but the velvety moss-covered ground +to traverse which led through the beeches down to the forestry lodge, +Kuengolt was able to walk by his side. Suddenly she touched her golden +hair, being afraid that it had been shorn by the headsman. But as she +still found it unharmed, she halted for a moment, saying: "May I not +have a little bridal wreath?" And she looked at her husband with a +half-roguish smile. + +He let his eyes roam all about him, and discovered a bunch of snowdrops +in full bloom. Quickly he went and cut off enough of the flowers to +weave into a coronet for his bride, and then he carefully placed it on +her head, saying: "It is not much. It is out of fashion. But let this +wreath be a token to us and all the world that our domestic honor will +remain as spotless as these. Whoever by word or deed will harm it, let +him pay the penalty!" + +Then he kissed her once, firmly and with a look that boded ill to any +disturber of his peace, right under the wreath, and she looked up at +him, satisfied and with confidence, and then they two resumed again +their walk. + +The forestry lodge they found empty and deserted. The house servants +had left it unguarded, partly from mourning Kuengolt whose death on the +scaffold they had assumed as certain, partly from neglect of their +duty. None of them returned under its roof that day. But Kuengolt and +Dietegen did not miss them. She now with every minute recovered more +and more from the numbing effects of her recent miseries, and to feel +herself at last in truth the mistress of this house and clothed with +wifely dignity poured balm into her soul. Like a squirrel she busied +herself, hurried from chamber to chamber, from closet to closet, +counting her treasures, investigating all. Soon she returned dressed in +the splendid bridal costume of her mother, the one she had told +Dietegen about that night when they, both small children, had shared +the same cot on the night of his first arrival, and she shone like a +queen in it. But next she set the table, using the linen which her +mother had always reserved for festive occasions, and placed in +platters and dishes on the snowy surface what she had been able to find +in the house. + +All by themselves, with no noise from the outside world to disturb +them, they then sat down, she in her wreath, and he with weapons laid +aside, and ate the simple meal prepared by her. And then they went to +bed just as peacefully. + +"Thus luck may turn!" she said, the second time that day, as she lay +content by the side of her beloved. For after all there was a bit of +roguishness left in her heart, despite all she had gone through. + + +Dietegen rose to be a man of great and generally acknowledged +reputation as a warrior and military leader in those troubled days. He +was not much better than others of his ilk in those times, but rather +subject to similar failings. He became a doughty captain in the field, +taking service with or against various countries and belligerents, +according to what seemed to him good and where his own advantage lay. +He hired mercenaries, earned gold and rich booty, and so he drifted +from one war to another, conducted one campaign after the other, always +fighting and seeing the horrors of warfare closely. And in so doing he +did precisely what the first men of his country did in those warlike +days, and he grew steadily in power and influence, and his word and his +mailed fist were held in awe in all those parts. + +But with his wife he lived in uninterrupted concord and affection, and +the honor of his hearth was never questioned. And she bore him a number +of strong and militant children, all endowed with the vigorous spirit +alive in father and mother. And of their descendants there are +flourishing even at this day a number in sundry countries, rich in +substance and potency, in countries whither the warlike gifts of their +forbears had blown them. + +Violande on her part soon after Dietegen's and Kuengolt's union, which +latter had been in such large part brought about by herself, retired to +a veritable convent, and became a nun for good and all. To the children +of the couple she sent quite often all sorts of goodies and tidbits. +She also rather retained her habit of being interested in the great +events of the day, and in influencing them by dint of feminine +intrigues more or less. She liked to sit along with other guests of +distinction, respected as a woman of shrewd and subtle mind and with a +huge golden cross on her bosom, on banquet days at Dietegen's house, +and she would demurely advise Dietegen, now adorned not only with a +long and majestic beard, but also with the heavy golden chain denoting +knighthood, in matters of state. Her counsel would still flow as +mellifluously as ever, and her politeness remained proverbial. + +How Kuengolt looked at the beginning of the sixteenth century, after +many years of happy married life, may still be studied from the +painting of a great artist which hangs among others in a well-known +collection and which is expressly designated as her portrait. One sees +there a slim elegant patrician woman, the beautiful lineaments of the +face bespeaking plainly deep seriousness and uncommon understanding, +but tempered by a gentle and somewhat roguish humor. + +She also died before old age had claimed her, like her mother in +consequence of a chill. That was when her husband, in one of the +campaigns for the possession of Milan, had perished and was buried in +the cemetery next a small chapel in Lombardy. Kuengolt hastened there, +intending to have a monument in his honor erected; but indeed she spent +two long nights at his tomb, with a ceaseless rainstorm raging, thus +contracting a fever that carried her off within a couple of days, and +she thus lies next to her husband in Italian soil. + + + + + + ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE + + + + + ROMEO AND JULIET OF THE VILLAGE + + +Near the fine river which flows along half an hour's distance from +Seldwyla, rises in a long stretch a headland which finally, itself +carefully cultivated, is lost in the fertile plain. Some distance away +at the foot of this rise there lies a village, to which belong many +large farms, and across the hillock itself there were, years ago, three +splendid holdings, like unto as many giant ribbons, side by side. + +One sunny September morning two peasants were plowing on two of these +vast fields, the two which stretched along the middle one. The middle +one itself seemed to have lain fallow and waste for a long, long time, +for it was thickly covered with stones, bowlders and tall weeds, and a +multitude of winged insects were humming around and over it. The two +peasants who on both sides of this huge wilderness were following their +plows, were big, bony men of near forty, and at the first glance one +could tell them as men of substance and well-regulated circumstances. +They wore short breeches made of strong canvas, and every fold in these +garments seemed to be carved out of rock. When they hit against some +obstacle with their plow their coarse shirt sleeves would tremble +slightly, while the closely shaved faces continued to look steadfastly +into the sunlight ahead. Tranquilly they would go on accurately +measuring the width of the furrow, and now and then looking around them +if some unusual noise reached their ears. They would then peer +attentively in the direction indicated, while all about them the +country spread out measureless and peaceful. Sedately and with a +certain unconscious grace they would set one foot before the other, +slowly advancing, and neither of them ever spoke a word unless it was +to briefly instruct the hired man who was leading the horses. Thus they +resembled each other strongly from a distance; for they fitly +represented the peculiar type of people of the district, and at first +sight one might have distinguished them from each other only by this +one fact that he on the one side wore the peaked fold of his white cap +in front and the other had it hanging down his neck. But even this kept +changing, since they were plowing in opposite directions; for when they +arrived at the end of the new furrow up on high, and thus passed each +other, the one who now strode against the strong east wind had his cap +tip turned over until it sat in the back of the bull neck, while the +second one, who had now the wind behind him, got the tip of his cap +reversed. There was also a middling moment, so to speak, when both caps +of shining white seemed to flare skywards like shimmering flames. Thus +they plowed and plowed in restful diligence, and it was a fine sight in +this still golden September weather to see them every short while +passing each other on the summit of the hill, then easily and slowly +drifting farther and farther apart, until both disappeared like sinking +stars beyond the curve of the rise, only to reappear a bit later in +precisely the same fashion. + +When they found a stone in their furrows they threw it on the fallow +field between them, doing so leisurely and accurately, like men who +have learnt by habit to gauge the correct distance. But this occurred +rarely, for this waste field was apparently already loaded with about +all the pebbles, bowlders and rocks to be discovered in the +neighborhood. + +In this quiet way the long forenoon was nearly spent when there +approached from the village a tiny vehicle. So small it looked at first +when it began to climb up the height that it seemed a toy. And indeed, +it was just that in a sense, for it was a baby carriage, painted in +vivid green, in which the children of the two plowers, a sturdy little +youngster and a slip of a small girl, jointly brought the lunch for +their parent's delectation. For each of the two fathers there lay a +fine appetizing loaf in the cart, wrapped neatly in a clean napkin, a +flask of cool wine, with glasses, and some smaller tidbits as well, all +of which the tender farmer's wife had sent along for the hard-working +husband. But there were other things as well in the little vehicle: +apples and pears which the two children had picked up on the way and +out of which they had taken a bite or so, and a wholly naked doll with +only one leg and a face entirely soiled and besmeared, and which sat +self-satisfied in this carriage like a dainty young lady and allowed +herself to be transported in this way. This small vehicle after sundry +difficulties and delays at last arrived in the shade of a high growth +of underbrush which luxuriated there at the edge of the big field, and +now it was time to take a look at the two drivers. One was a boy of +seven, the other a little girl of five, both of them sound and healthy, +and else there was nothing remarkable about them except that they had +very fine eyes and the girl, besides, a rather tawny complexion and +curly dark hair, and the expression of her little face was ardent and +trustful. + +The plowers meanwhile had also reached once more the top, given their +horses a provender of clover, and left their plows in the half-done +furrow; then as good neighbors they went to partake jointly of the +tempting collation, and meeting there they gave greeting, for until +that moment they had not yet spoken to each other on that day. + +While they ate, slowly but with a keen appetite, and of their food also +shared with the children, the latter not budging as long as there were +eatables in sight, they allowed their glances to roam near and far, and +their eyes rested on the town lying there spread out in its wreath of +mountains, with its haze of shiny smoke. For the plentiful noonday meal +which the Seldwylians prepared each and every day used to conjure up a +silvery cloud of smoke surrounding the roofs and visible from afar, and +this would float right along the sides of their mountains. + +"These loafers at Seldwyla are again living on the fat of the land," +said Manz, one of the two peasants, and Marti, the other, replied: +"Yesterday a man called on me on account of these fallow fields." + +"From the district council? Yes, he saw me too," rejoined Manz. + +"Hm, and probably also said you might use the land and pay the rental +to the council?" + +"Yes, until it should have been decided whom the land belongs to and +what is to be done with it. But I wouldn't think of it, with the land +in the condition it's in, and told him they might sell the land and +keep the money till the owner had been found, which probably will never +be done. For, as we know, whatever is once in the hands of the +custodian at Seldwyla, does not easily leave it again. Besides, the +whole matter is rather involved, I've heard. But these Seldwyla folks +would like nothing better than to receive every little while some money +that they could spend in their foolish way. Of course, that they could +also do with the sum received from a sale. However, we here would not +be so stupid as to bid very high for it, and then at least we should +know whom the land belongs to." + +"Just what I think myself, and I said the same thing to the fellow." + +They kept silent for a moment, and then Manz added: "A pity it is, all +the same, that this fine soil is thus going to waste every year. I can +scarce bear to see it. This has now been going on for a score of years, +and nobody cares a rap about it, it seems, for here in the village +there is really nobody who has any claim to it, nor does anybody know +what has become of the children of that hornblower, the one who went to +the dogs." + +"Hm," muttered Marti, "that is as may be. When I have a look at the +black fiddler, the one who is a vagrant for a spell, and then at other +times plays the fiddle at dances, I could almost swear that he is a +grandson of that hornblower, and who, of course, does not know that he +is entitled to these fields. And what in the world could he do with +them? To go on a month's spree, and then to be as badly off as before. +Besides, what can one say for sure? After all, there is nothing to +prove it." + +"Indeed, yes, one might do harm by interfering," rejoined Manz. "As it +is we have to do with our own affairs, and it takes trouble enough now +to keep this hobo from acquiring home rights in our commune. All the +time they want to burden us with that expense. But if his folks once +have joined the stray sheep, let him keep to them and play his fiddle +for a living. How can we really know whether he is the hornblower's +grandson or no? As far as I'm concerned, although I believe I can +recognize the old fellow in his dark face, I say to myself: It is human +to err, and the slightest scrap of a legal document, a bit of a +baptismal record or something, would be to my mind better proof than +ten sinful human faces." + +"My opinion exactly," opined Marti, "although he says it is not his +fault that he never was baptized. But are we to lug our baptismal fount +around in the woods? No indeed. That stands immovable in the church, +and on the other hand, to carry around the dead we have the stretcher +which is always hanging from the wall. As it is, we are too many now in +our village and shall soon need another schoolmaster." + +With that the colloquy and the midday meal of the two peasants came to +an end, and they now rose and prepared to finish the rest of their +day's task. The two children, on the other hand, having vainly planned +to drive home with their fathers, now pulled their little vehicle into +the shade of the linden saplings close by, and next undertook a +campaign of adventure and discovery into the vast wilderness of the +waste fields. To them this wilderness was interminable, with its +immense weeds, its overgrown flower stalks, and its huge piles of stone +and rock. After wandering, hand in hand, for some time in the very +center of this waste, and after having amused themselves in swinging +their joined hands over the top of the giant thistles, they at last sat +down in the shade of a perfect forest of weeds, and the little girl +began to clothe her doll with the long leaves of some of these plants, +so that the doll soon wore a beautiful habit of green, with fringed +borders, while a solitary poppy blossom she had found was drawn over +dolly's head as a brilliant bonnet, and this she tied fast with a grass +blade for ribbon. Now the little doll looked exactly like a good fairy, +especially after being further ornamented with a necklace and a girdle +of small scarlet berries. Then she sat it down high in the cup on the +stalk of the thistle, and for a minute or so the two jointly admired +the strangely beautified dolly. The boy tired first of this and brought +dolly down with a well-aimed pebble. But in that way dolly's finery got +disordered, and the little girl undressed it quickly and set to anew to +decorate her pet. But just when the doll had been disrobed and only +wore the poppy flower on her head, the boy grasped the doll, and threw +it high into the air. The girl, though, with loud plaints jumped to +catch it, and the boy again caught it first and tossed it again and +again, the little girl all the while vainly attempting to recover it. +Quite a while this wild game lasted, but in the violent hands of the +boy the flying doll now came to grief, and sustained a small fracture +near the knee of her sole remaining limb. And from a small aperture +some sawdust and bran began to escape. Hardly had he perceived that +when he became quiet as a mouse, with open lips endeavoring eagerly to +enlarge the little hole with his nails, in order to investigate the +inside and find out whence the scattered bran came. The poor little +girl, rendered suspicious by the boy's sudden silence, now squeezed up +and noticed with terror his efforts. + +"Just look!" shouted the boy and swung the doll's leg right before his +playmate's nose, so that the bran spurted into her face. When she tried +to recover her doll, and pleaded and shrieked, he sprang away with his +prey, and did not desist before the whole leg had been emptied of its +filling and hung, a mere hollow shell, from his hand. Then, to crown +his misdeeds, he actually threw the remains of the doll away, and +behaved in a rude and grossly indifferent manner when the little girl +gathered up her treasure and put it weeping in her apron. + +But she took it out after a while and gazed with tears at what was +left. When she fathomed the full extent of the damage, she resumed +weeping, and it was particularly the ruined leg that grieved her; +indeed it hung just as limp and thin as the tail of a salamander. When +she wept aloud for sorrow the sinner evinced evidently some qualms of +conscience, and he stood stock-still, his features suffused with +anxiety and repentance. When she became aware of this state of the +case, she stopped crying and struck him several times with her doll, +and he pretended that she hurt him and exclaimed in a natural manner: +"Outch!" So naturally indeed did he do so that she was satisfied and +now engaged with him in the great sport of further and complete +destruction. Together they bored hole upon hole into the martyred body, +and let the bran out everywhere. This bran they collected with great +pains, deposited it on a big flat stone, and stirred it over and over +to ascertain its mysterious properties. + +The sole part of the doll still in its former state was the head, and +thus of course it attracted the special attention of the two children. +With great care they separated it from the trunk, and peered in +amazement at its hollow interior. Seeing this great hollow the thought +occurred to them to fill it up with the loose bran. With their tiny +baby fingers they stuffed and stuffed by turns the bran into the empty +space, and for the first time in its existence this head was filled +with something. The boy, however, evidently deemed the task incomplete; +probably it required some life, something moving, to satisfy him. So he +caught a huge blue fly, and while he held it tight he instructed the +little girl to let out the bran once more. Then he placed the fly into +the hollow head, and stopped up the exit with a small bunch of grass. +The two children held the head to their ears, and then put it solemnly +upon a great rock. Since the head was still covered with the scarlet +poppy, this receptacle of sound now closely resembled a soothsaying +oracle, and the two listened with great respect to queer noises it +emitted, in deep silence as if fairy tales were being told, holding +each other close meanwhile. But every prophet awakens not only respect +but also terror and ingratitude. The odd noises inside the hollow head +aroused the human cruelty of the children, and jointly they resolved to +bury it. They dug a shallow grave, and placed the head in it, without +first obtaining the views of the imprisoned fly on it. Then they +erected over the grave a monument of stone. But awe seized them at this +instance, since they had buried something living and conscious, and +they went away from the scene of this pagan sacrifice. In a spot wholly +overgrown with green herbs the little girl lay down on her back, being +tired, and began singing, over and over again, a few simple words in a +monotonous voice, and the little boy sat near and joined singing, and +he, too, was so tired as almost to fall asleep. The sun shone right +into the open mouth of the singing girl, illuminating her white little +teeth, and rendered her scarlet lips semi-transparent. The boy saw +these white teeth, and he held her head and curiously investigating +them he said: "Guess how many teeth you have." The little girl +reflected for a moment, and then she said at random: "A hundred!" "No," +said the boy, "two and thirty." But he added: "Wait, I will count +them!" + +And he started to count them, and counted over and over, and it was at +no time thirty-two, and so he resumed his count. The girl kept patient +for a long time, but at last she got up and said: "Now I will count +yours." And the boy lay down amongst the herbs, the little one above +him, and she embraced his head, he opened wide his mouth, and she began +to count: One, two, seven, five, two, one; for the little thing knew +not yet how to count. The boy corrected her and instructed her how to +go about it, and thus she also started again and again, and curiously +enough it was precisely this little game that pleased them best of all +that day. But at last the little girl sank down on the soft couch of +herbs, and the two children fell asleep in the full glare of the noon +sun. + +Meanwhile the fathers had finished their job of plowing and had changed +the stubble field into a brown plain, strongly scenting the earth. When +at the end of the last furrow the helper of one of the two wanted to +stop, his master shouted: "Why do you stop? Turn up another furrow!" +"But we're done," said the helper. "Shut your mouth, and do what I tell +you," replied the other. And they did turn once more and tore a big +furrow right into the middle, the ownerless, field, so that weeds and +stones flew about. But the peasant took no time to remove these. +Probably he considered that there was ample time for that some other +day. He was satisfied to do the thing for the nonce only in its main +feature. Thus he went up the height softly, and when up on top and the +delicious play of the wind now turned once more the tip of his white +cap backwards, on the other side of the fallow field the second peasant +was just plowing a similar furrow, the wind having also reversed the +tip of his cap, and cut also a goodly furrow off from the same fallow +field. Each of them saw, of course, what the other did, but neither +seemed to do so, and thus they once more strode away one from the +other, each falling star finally disappearing below the curve of the +ground. Thus the woof of Fate spins its net around us, "and what he +weaves no weaver knows." + + +One harvest after another went by and the two children grew steadily +taller and handsomer, and the ownerless fields as steadily smaller +between the two neighbors. With every new plowing the section between +lost hither and thither one furrow, without there being a word said +about it, and without a human eye apparently noting the misdeed. The +stones and rocks became more and more compact and formed already a +perfect and continuous ridge the whole length of the field, and the +shrubs and weeds on it had already attained such an altitude that the +two children, although they, too, had grown, could no longer see each +other across them. + +They no longer went to the field together, since ten-year-old Salomon, +or Sali, as he was mostly called, now kept with the bigger boys or the +men, and dusky Vreni,[1] though a fiery little thing, had already to +place herself under the supervision of those of her sex, for fear of +being laughed at as a tomboy. In spite of all that they improved the +occasion of the harvest, when everybody was out in the fields, to climb +once on top of the huge stony ridge, or breastworks, which ordinarily +divided them, and to wage a toy war, pushing each other down from it, +as the culmination of the battle. Even though they had no longer +anything more to do with each other, this annual ceremony was +maintained by them all the more carefully since the land of their +fathers did not meet anywhere else. + +However, now the fallow field was to be sold, after all, and the sum +realized provisionally kept by the authorities. The day came at last, +and the public sale took place on the spot itself. But beside Manz and +Marti there were present only a few curious ones, since nobody but they +felt like buying the odd piece of ground and cultivating it between the +property of the two peasants. For although these two belonged among the +best farmers of the village, and had done nothing but what two-thirds +of the others would also have done under like circumstances, still now +they were looked at askance because of it, and nobody wanted to be +squeezed in between them in the diminished and orphaned field. For most +men are so made as to be quite ready to commit a wrong which is more or +less in vogue, especially if the circumstances of the case facilitate +the wrong. But as soon as the wrong has been perpetrated by some one +else, they are glad that it was not they who had been exposed to the +temptation, and then they regard the guilty one almost as a warning +example in regard to their own failings, and treat him with a delicate +aversion as a sort of lightning rod of evil itself, as one marked by +the gods themselves, while all the while their mouths are watering for +the advantages thus accrued to him by means of his sin. + +Manz and Marti were, therefore, the only ones who seriously bid on the +ownerless land, and after a rather spirited contest, during which the +price was driven up higher than had been supposed, it was Manz to whom +it was awarded. The officials and the lookers-on soon drifted away, and +the two neighbors who had been busy on their fields after the sale, met +again, and Marti said: "I suppose you will now put your land, the old +and the new, together, halve it, and work it in that way? That, at +least, is what I should have done if I had got the land." + +"That indeed is what I mean to do," answered Manz, "for as one single +field it would not be easy to manage. But there is another thing I want +to say. I noticed the other day that you drove into the lower end of +this field that has now become mine, and that you cut off quite a +good-sized triangle. It may be you thought at the time that you +yourself would soon own the whole of it and that then it would make no +difference anyway. But since now it belongs to me, you will admit that +I cannot and will not permit such a curtailment of my property rights, +and you will not take it amiss if I again straighten out the right +lines. Of course you will not. There need be no hard feelings on that +score." + +Marti, however, replied just as coolly: "Neither do I look for any +trouble. For my opinion is you have purchased the field just as it is. +We both examined it before the sale, and of course it has not changed +within an hour or so." + +"Nonsense," said Manz, "what was done formerly, under different +conditions, we will not go into. But too much is too much, and +everything has its limit, and must be adjusted according to reason in +the end. These three fields have from of old been lying one next to the +other just as though marked with the measuring tape. You may think it +funny to put in such an unjustifiable objection or claim. We both of us +would get a new nickname if I let you keep that crooked end of it +without rhyme or reason. It must come back where it by right belongs." + +But Marti only laughed and said: "All at once so afraid of what people +may think? But then, it's easily arranged. I have no objection at all +to such a crooked-shaped bit of land. If you don't like it, all right, +we can straighten it out. But not on my side, I swear." + +"Don't talk so strange," replied Manz with some heat. "Of course it +will be straightened out, and that on your side. You can bet your +bottom dollar on that." + +"Well, we'll see about that," was Marti's parting remark, and the two +men separated without even looking at each other. On the contrary, they +gazed steadfastly in different directions, as if something of enormous +interest were floating in the air which it was absolutely necessary to +keep an eye on. + +On the next day already Manz sent his hired boy, also a wench working +for daily wage, and his own boy Sali out to the new field, to begin +removing the weeds and wild growths, and to pile them up at certain +places, so as to make the loading up and carting away of the crop of +stones all the easier. This noted a change in his character, this +sending the little boy, scarcely eleven, whom he had never before +driven to hard work such as weeding, out to field labor, and this +against the will of the mother. It seemed indeed, since he defended his +order with solemn and high-sounding words, as if he wanted to daze his +own better conscience. At any rate, the slight wrong thus done to his +own flesh and blood in insisting on onerous and unfit labor, was but +one of the consequences growing out of the original wrong done by him +for years in regard to the field itself. One by one more wrong, more +evil unfolded itself. The three meanwhile weeded away industriously on +the long strip of ground, and hacked away at the queer plants that had +been flourishing on the soil for so many years. And to the young people +doing this hard work, albeit it taxed and tried their strength greatly, +it really was something of an amusement, since it was no carefully +graduated and scaled task, but rather a wild job of destruction. After +piling all this vegetable refuse up in heaps and letting the sun dry +it, it was set afire with great jubilation and noise, and when the +murky flames shot up and broad swaths of smoke waved irregularly, the +young people jumped and danced about like a band of wild Indians. + +But this was the last festival on the ominous new field, and little +Vreni, Marti's young daughter, also crept out and joined the revels. +The unusual occasion and the spirit of rampant gaiety easily brought it +about that the two playmates of yore once more came in contact and were +happy and jolly at their bonfire. Other children, too, gathered, until +there was quite a crowd of youthful, excited merrymakers assembled. But +always it happened that, as soon as the two became separated in the +throng, Vreni would rejoin Sali, or Sali Vreni. When it was she it was +a treat to watch her face when she slipped her little hand in that of +the boy, her animated features and her glowing eyes fairly brimming +with pleasure. To both of them it seemed as though this glorious day +could never end. Old Manz, though, came out toward evening, to see what +had been accomplished, and despite the fact that their labor had been +done well and as directed, he scolded at the childish jollification and +drove the young people off his ground. Almost at the same time Marti +visited his own section adjoining, and noticing his little daughter +from afar, he whistled to her shrill and peremptory, and when she +obeyed the summons in frightened haste he struck her harshly in the +face without giving any reason. So that both little ones went home +weeping and sad; yet they were both still so much children that they +scarcely knew at this time why they were so sad or knew before why they +felt so happy. As for the rudeness of their fathers they did not +understand the underlying motive of it, and it did not touch their +hearts. + +During the next days the labor became harder and more strenuous, and +some men had to be hired for it. For the task was this time to load and +clean off the huge crop of stones along the entire length of the field. + +There seemed to be no end to this work, and one would have said that +all the stones in the world had been collected there. But Manz did not +have the stones carted off entirely from the field, but every load was +taken to the triangular piece of ground in dispute, where it was +dumped. It was dumped on the neatly plowed soil that Marti had toiled +over. Manz had previously drawn a straight line as boundary, and now he +loaded this spot down with all these thousands upon thousands of +pebbles, rocks and bowlders which he and Marti had for whole decades +thrown upon ownerless soil. The heap grew, and grew for days and weeks, +until there was a mighty pyramid of stone which, as Manz felt +convinced, his adversary would surely be loath to trouble with. Marti, +in fact, had expected nothing of the kind. He had rather thought that +Manz would go to work with his plow, as he used to do, and had +therefore waited to see him appear in that part. And Marti did not hear +of the rocky monument until almost completed. When he ran out in the +full blast of his anger, and saw it all, he hastened home and fetched +the village magistrate in order to protest against the accumulation of +stones on "his" ground, and to have the small bit of ground officially +declared as in litigation. + +From that sinister day on the two peasants sued and countersued each +other in court, and neither desisted until both were completely ruined. + +The thinking of these two ordinarily shrewd and fair men became +fundamentally wrong and fallacious. They were unable to view anything +henceforth as unrelated with their quarrel. Their arguments fell short +of the mark in everything. The most narrow sense of legality, of what +was permitted and what not, filled the head of each of them, and +neither was able to understand how the other could seize so entirely +without reason or right this bit of soil, in itself so insignificant. +In the case of Manz there was added a wonderful sense for symmetry and +parallel lines, and he felt really and truly shortened in his rights by +Martins insistence on retaining hold of a fragment of property laid out +on different geometrical lines. But both tallied in their conceptions +in this that the other must think him a veritable fool to try and get +the better of him in this particular manner, in this impudent and +unparalleled manner, since to make such an attempt at all was perhaps +thinkable in the case of a mere nobody, of a man without reputation and +substance, but surely not in the case of an upstanding, energetic and +able man, of one who was both willing and able to take care of his +interests. And it was this consideration above all that rankled and +festered in the heart of each of the two once so friendly neighbors. +Each felt himself hurt in his quaint sense of honor, and let himself go +headlong in the rush of passion and of combativeness, without even +attempting at any time to stop the resultant moral and material decay +and ruin. Their two lives henceforth resembled the torture of two lost +souls who, upon a narrow board, carried along a dark and fearsome +river, yet deal tremendous blows at the air, seize upon each other and +destroy each other finally, all in the false belief of having seized +and trying to destroy their evil fate itself. + +As their whole matter in dispute was in itself and on both sides not +clean or lucid, they soon got into the hands of all sorts of swindlers +and cutthroats, of pettifoggers and evil counselors, men who filled +their imagination with glittering bubbles, containing no substance +whatever. And especially it was the speculators and dishonest agents of +Seldwyla who found this case one after their own heart, and soon each +of the two litigants had a whole train of advisers, go-betweens and +spies around him, fellows who in all sorts of crooked ways knew how to +draw cash money out of them. For the quarrel for that tiny fragment of +soil with the stone pyramid on top on which already a perfect forest of +weeds, thistles and nettles had grown anew, was only the first stage in +a labyrinth of errors that little by little changed the whole character +and method of living for the two. It was singular, too, how in the case +of two men of about fifty there could shoot up and become fixed an +entire crop of new habits and morals, principles and hopes, all of a +kind which were foreign to their former natures, how men who all +their lives had been noted for their hard common-sense could become +day-dreamers and gullible oafs. + +And the more money they lost by all this the more they longed to +acquire more, and the less they possessed the more persistently they +endeavored to become rich and to shine before their fellows. Thus they +easily allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the clumsiest tricks, and +year after year they would play in all the foreign lotteries of which +Seldwyla agents were praising to them the splendid chances. But never +so much as a dollar came their way in prizes. On the other hand, they +forever heard of the big winnings in these lotteries made by others; +they also were told that it had hung just by a hair that they would +have done as well, and thus they were constantly bled by these leeches +of their scantier and scantier means. + +Now and then the rascally Seldwylians played a trick on the two deadly +enemies which for its peculiar raciness was specially relished by them, +the people of Seldwyla, that is. They would sell the two peasants +sections of the same lottery tickets, so that Manz as well as Marti +would build their hopes of a rich strike on precisely the same +fallacious foundation, and also in the end would feel the same +despondency from the same source. Half their time the two now spent in +town, and there each had his headquarters in a miserable tavern. There +they would indulge in foolish bragging and bluster, would drink too +much and play the Lord Bountiful to loafers that would flatter the +simpletons to the top of their bent, and all the while the dark doubt +would assail them that they who in order not to be reckoned dunces had +gone to law about a trifling object, had now really become just that +and furthermore, were so reckoned by general consent. + +The other half of the time they spent at home, morose and incapable of +steady work or sober reflection. Habitually neglecting their farm +labor, at times they tried to make up for that by undue haste, +overworking their help and thus soon unable to retain any respectable +men in their employ. + +Thus things went from bad to worse little by little, and within less +than ten years both of them were overburdened with debts, and stood +like storks with one leg upon their farms, so that the slightest change +might blow them over. But no matter how else they fared, the hatred +between them grew more intense every day, since each looked upon the +other as the cause of his misfortune, as his archenemy, as his foe +without rhyme or reason, as the one being in the world whom the devil +purposely had invented to ruin him. They spat out before each other +when they saw the adversary approaching from afar. Nobody belonging to +them was permitted to speak to wife, child or servants of the other, on +pain of instant brutal punishment. Their wives behaved differently +under these circumstances. Marti's wife, who came of good family and +was of a fine disposition, did not long survive the rapid downfall of +her house and family, sorrowed silently and died before her little +daughter was fourteen. The wife of Manz, on the other hand, altered her +whole character. Only for the worse, of course. And to do that all she +needed to do was to aggravate some of her natural defects, let them go +on, so to speak, without bridling them at all. Her passion for tidbits +and sweets became boundless; her love of gossip deteriorated into a +veritable craze, and she soon became unable to tell the truth about +anything or anybody. She habitually spoke the very contrary of what was +in her thoughts, cheated and deceived her own husband, and found keen +pleasure in getting everybody by the ears. Her original frankness and +her harmless delight in satisfying her feminine curiosity turned into +evil intrigue and the inclination to make mischief between neighbors +and friends. Instead of suffering patiently under the rudeness and +changed habits of her husband, she fooled him and laughed behind his +back in doing so. No matter if he now and then behaved with cruelty to +her and his household, she did not care. She denied herself nothing, +became more luxurious in her tastes as his money affairs grew steadily +more involved, and fattened on the very misfortunes that were rapidly +leading to complete ruin. + +That with all that the two children fared any better was scarcely to be +expected. While still mere human buds and incapable of meeting the +harsh fate slowly preparing for them, they were done out of their youth +and out of the hopes and advantages incident to their tender years. +Vreni indeed was worse off in this respect than Sali, the boy, since +her mother was dead and she was exposed in a wasted home to the tyranny +of a father whose violent instincts found no check whatever. When +sixteen Vreni had developed into a slender and charming young girl. Her +hair of dark-brown naturally curled down to her flashing eyes; her +swiftly coursing blood seemed to shimmer through the delicate oval of +her dusky cheeks, and the scarlet of her dainty lips made a strikingly +vivid contrast, so that everybody looked twice when she passed. And +despite her sad bringing-up, an ardent love of life and an +inextinguishable cheerfulness were trembling in every fibre of Vreni's +being. Laughing and smiling at the least encouragement she forgot her +troubles easily, and was always ready for a frolic and a romp if +domestic weather permitted at all, that is, if her father did not +hinder and torture her too cruelly. However, with all her +lightheartedness and her buoyant temperament, the deepening shadows +over the house inevitably enshrouded her all too often. She had to bear +the brunt of her father's soured disposition, and she had hardly any +help in trying to keep house for him after a fashion. On her young +shoulders mainly rested the embarrassments of a home constantly +threatened by importunate creditors and wild boon companions of her +dissolute father. And not alone that. With the natural taste of her sex +for a neat and clean appearance her father refused her nearly every +means to gratify it. Thus she had great trouble to ornament her pretty +person the way it deserved. But somehow she managed to do it, to +possess always a becoming holiday attire, including even a couple of +vividly colored kerchiefs that set off marvelously her darksome beauty. +Full of youthful animation and gaiety she found it hard to mostly have +to renounce all the social pleasures of her years; but at least this +prevented her from falling into the opposite extreme. Besides, young as +she was, she had witnessed the declining days and the death of her +mother, and had been deeply impressed by it, so that this had acted as +another restraint on her joyous disposition. It was almost a pathetic +sight to observe how notwithstanding all these serious obstacles pretty +Vreni instantly would respond to the calls of joy if the occasion was +at all favorable, as a flower after drooping in a heavy rainstorm will +raise its head at the first rays of the reappearing sun. + +Sali was not faring quite so ill. He was a good-looking and vigorous +young fellow who knew how to take care of himself and whose size and +physical strength alone would have forbidden harsh bodily mistreatment. +He saw, of course, how his parents were sliding down-hill more and +more, and he seemed to remember a time when things had been otherwise. +He even carried in his memory the picture of his father as that of an +upstanding, determined, serious and energetic peasant, while now he saw +before him all the while a man who was a gray-headed dolt, a +quarrelsome fool, who with all his fits of impotent rage and all his +brag and bluster was every hour more and more crawling backwards like a +crawfish. But when these things displeased him and filled him with +shame and sorrow, although he could not very well understand how it all +had come about, the influence of his mother came to deaden this feeling +and to fill him with an unjustified hope of improvement. She would +flatter her son in the same extravagant and wholly unreasonable manner +which had become her second nature in dealing with the new troubles +that were gradually overcoming the whole family. For in order to lead +her life of self-indulgence the more easily and to have one critical +observer the less, and to make her son her partisan, but also as a vent +for her love of display, she contrived to let her son have everything +he had a desire for. She saw to it that he was always dressed with +care, and entirely too expensively for the means of the family, and +indulged him in his pleasures. He on his part accepted all that without +much thought or gratitude, since he noticed at the same time how his +mother was juggling with and tricking his father, and how she was +continually telling untruths and vainly boasting. And while thus +allowing his mother to spoil him without paying much attention to the +process itself, no great harm was yet done in his case, since he had so +far not been much tainted by the vices and sins of mother or father. +Indeed, in his youthful pride he had the strong wish to become, if +possible, a man such as he recalled his own father once to have been, a +man of substance and of rational and successful conduct of his life. +Sali was really very much as his father knew himself to have been at +his own age, and a queer remnant of respectability urged the father to +treat his son well. In honoring him he seemed to honor his old self. +Confused reminiscences at such times drifted through his beclouded +soul, and they afforded him a species of subconscious delight. But +although in this manner Sali escaped some of the natural consequences +of the process of domestic decay which was going on around him, he was +not able to genuinely enjoy his life and to make rational plans for an +assured future. He felt well enough that he was resting on quicksand, +that he was neither doing anything much to bring himself into a +position of independence nor to look for any secured future; nor was he +learning much towards that end in the broken-down household and on the +neglected farm of his father. The work done there was done haphazard +style, and no systematic and orderly effort was made to get things done +in season. His best consolation, therefore, was to preserve his good +reputation, to work with a will on the farm when he could, and to turn +his eyes away from a threatening future. + +The sole orders laid upon him by his father were to avoid any sort of +intercourse with all that bore the name of Marti. All he knew about the +matter personally was that Marti had done wrong to his father, and that +in Marti's house precisely the same bitter enmity was felt towards the +Manz family. Of the details involved in this state of affairs, of the +manner in which the old-time good-neighborliness and friendship +existing for so many years between the two families had been turned +into hatred and scorn Sali knew nothing, these things having shaped +themselves at a period of his life when his boyish brain had been +unable to grasp their true meaning. He had perforce been content with +the verdict of his father, obeying the latter's prohibition to further +consort with the Marti people without attempting to ascertain the +underlying causes of the quarrel. So far he had not found it difficult +to do as his father told him, and he did not meddle in the least with +the whole business. He made no effort to either see or avoid Marti and +his daughter Vreni, and while he assumed that his father must be in the +right of it, he was no active enemy of the Martis. Vreni, on her part, +was differently constituted from the lad. Having to suffer much more +than Sali at home and feeling more deeply than he, woman-fashion, her +almost total isolation, she was not so ready to let a sentiment of +declared enmity enter her young and untried heart. In fact, she rather +believed herself scorned and despised by the much better clad and +apparently also much more fortunate former playmate. It was, therefore, +only from a feeling of embarrassment that she hid from him, and +whenever he came near enough to perceive her, she fled from him. He +indeed never troubled to glance at her. So it happened that Sali had +not seen the girl near enough for a couple of years to know what she +was like. He had no notion that she was now almost grown-up, and that +she was distinctly beautiful. And yet, once in a while he would +remember her as his little playmate, as the merry companion of his +carefree boyhood, and when at his home the Martis were mentioned he +instinctively wondered what had become of her and how she would look +now. He certainly did not hate her. In his memory she lived in a +shadowy sort of way as a rather attractive girl. + +It was his father, Manz, now who first had to go under. He was no +longer able to stave off his creditors and had to leave farm and house +behind. That he, though somewhat of better means originally than his +neighbor and foe, was first to collapse was owing to his wife, who had +lived in quite an extravagant style, and then he, too, had a son who, +after all, cost him something. Marti, as we know, had but a little +daughter who was scarcely any expense to him. Manz did not know what +else to do but to follow the advice of some Seldwyla patrons and move +to town, there to turn mine host of an inn or low tavern. It is always +a sad sight to see a former peasant of some substance, a man who has +been leading for many years a life of unremitting toil, it is true, but +also one of independence and usefulness, after growing old among his +acres, seek refuge from ill-fortune in town, taking the small remnants +of his belongings with him and open a poor, shabby resort, in order to +play, as the last safety anchor, the amiable and seductive host, all +the while feeling by no means in a holiday mood himself. When the Manz +family then left their farm to take this desperate step, it was first +apparent how poor they had already grown. For all the household goods +that were loaded on a cart were in a deplorable state, defective and +not repaired for many years. Nevertheless the wife put on her best +finery, when seating herself on top of the crazy old vehicle, and made +a face of such pride as though she already looked down upon her +neighbors as would a city lady of taste and refinement, while all the +while the villagers peeped from behind their hedges full of pity at the +sorry show made by the exodus. For Mother Manz had settled it in her +foolish noddle to turn the heads of all Seldwyla by her fine manners +and her wheedling tongue, thinking that if her boorish husband did not +understand how to handle and cajole the town folks, it was vastly +different with herself who would soon show these Seldwyla people what +an alluring hostess she would make at the head of a tavern or inn doing +a rushing business. + +Great was her disenchantment, however, when she actually set eyes on +this inn vaunted so much in advance by her addled spirits. For it was +located in a small side-street of a rather disreputable quarter of +Seldwyla, and the inn itself was one in which the predecessor, one of +several that had gone the same way, had just been forcibly ousted +because of being unable to pay his debts. His Seldwyla patrons had, in +fact, rented this mean public house for a few hundred dollars a year to +Manz in consideration of the fact that the latter still had some small +sums outstanding in town, and because they could find nobody else to +take the place at a venture. They also sold him a few barrels of +inferior wine as well as the fixtures which consisted in the main of a +couple of dozen glasses and bottles, and of some rude and hacked pine +tables and benches that had once been painted a hue of deadly scarlet +and were now reduced to a dingy brownish tint. Before the entrance door +an iron hoop was clattering in the wind, and inside the hoop a tin hand +was pouring out forever claret into a small shoppen vessel. Besides all +these luxuries there was a sun-dried bunch of datura fastened above the +door, all of which Manz had noted down in his lease. Knowing all this +Manz was by no means so full of hopes and smiling humor as his spouse, +but on the contrary whipped up his bony old horses, lent him by the new +owner of his farm, with considerable foreboding. The last shabby helper +he had had on his farm had left him several weeks before, and when he +left the village on this his present errand he had not failed to note +Marti who, full of grim joy and scorn, had busied himself with some +trifling task along the road where his fallen foe had to pass. Manz saw +it, cursed Marti, and held him to be the sole cause of his downfall. +But Sali, as soon as the cart was fairly on the way, got down, speeded +up his steps and reached the town along by-paths. + +"Well, here we are," said Manz, when the cart had reached its +destination. His wife was crestfallen when she noticed the dreary and +unpropitious aspect of the place. The people of the neighborhood +stepped in front of their housedoors to have a look at the new +innkeeper, and when they saw the rustic appearance of the outfit and +the miserable trappings, they put on their Seldwyla smile of +superiority. Wrathfully Mother Manz climbed down from her high seat, +and tears of anger were in her eyes as she quickly fled into the house, +her limber tongue for once forsaking her. On that day at least she was +no more seen below. For she herself was well aware of the sorry show +made by her, and all the more as the tattered condition of her +furniture could not be concealed from prying eyes when the various +articles were now being unloaded. Her musty and torn beds, +particularly, she felt ashamed of. Sali, too, shared her feelings, but +he was obliged to help his father in unloading, and the two made quite +a stir in the neighborhood with their rustic manners and speech, +furnishing the curious children with food for laughter. These little +folks, indeed, amused themselves abundantly that day at the expense of +the "ragged peasant bankrupts." Inside the house, though, things looked +still more desolate; the place, in fact, had more the looks of a +robbers' roost than of an inn. The walls were of badly calsomined +brick, damp with moisture, and beside the dark and poorly furnished +guest room downstairs there were but a couple of bare and uninviting +bedrooms, and everywhere their predecessor had left behind nothing but +spider's webs, filth and dust. + +That was the beginning of it, and thus it continued to the end. During +the first few weeks indeed there came, especially in the evenings, a +number of people anxious to see, out of sheer curiosity, "the peasant +landlord," hoping there would be "some fun." But out of the landlord +himself they could not get much of that, for Manz was stiff, +unfriendly, and melancholy, and did not in the least know how to treat +his guests, nor did he want to know. Slowly and awkwardly he would pour +out the wine demanded, put it before the customer with a morose air, +and then make an unsuccessful attempt to enter into some sort of +conversation, but brought forth only some stammered commonplaces, +whereupon he gave it up. All the more desperately did his wife endeavor +to entertain her guests, and by her ludicrous and absurd behavior +really managed, for a few days at least, to amuse people. But she did +this in quite a different way from that intended by her. Mother Manz +was rather corpulent, and she had from her own inventive brain composed +a costume in which to wait on her guests and in which she believed +herself to be simply irresistible. With a stout linen skirt she wore an +old waist of green silk, a long cotton apron and a ridiculous broad +collar around the neck. Out of her hair, no longer abundant, she had +twisted corkscrew curls ornamenting her forehead, and in the back she +had stuck a tall comb into her thin braids. Thus made up she mincingly +danced on the tips of her toes before the particular guest to be +entranced, pointed her mouth in a laughable manner, which she thought +was "sweet," hopped about the table with forced elasticity, and serving +the wine or the salted cheese she would exclaim smilingly: "Well, well, +so alone? Lively, lively, you gentlemen!" And some more of such +nonsense she would whisper in a stilted way, for the trouble was that +although usually she could talk glibly about almost anything with her +cronies from the village, she felt somewhat embarrassed with these city +people, not being acquainted with the subjects of conversation they +liked to touch on. The Seldwyla people of the roughest type who had +dropped in for something to laugh at, put their hands before their +mouths to prevent bursting out in her face, nearly suffocated with +suppressed merriment, trod upon each other's feet under the table, and +afterwards, in relating the matter, would say: "Zounds, that is a woman +among a thousand, a paragon!" Another one said: "A heavenly creature, +by the gods. It is worth while coming here just to watch her antics. +Such a funny one we haven't had here for a long while." + +Her husband noticed these goings on, with a mien of thunder, and he +would perhaps punch her in the ribs and say: "You old cow, what is the +matter with you?" + +But then she gave him a superior glance, and would murmur: "Don't +disturb me! You stupid old fool, don't you see how hard I am trying to +please people? Those over there, of course, are only low fellows from +among your own acquaintance, but if you don't interfere with me I shall +soon have much more fashionable guests here, as you'll see." + +These illusions of hers were illuminated in a room with but two tallow +dips, but Sali, her son, went out into the dark kitchen, sat down at +the hearth and wept about father and mother. + +However, these first guests had soon their fill of this kind of sport, +and began to stay away, and then went back to their old haunts where +they got better drink and more rational conversation, and there they +would laughingly comment on the queer peasant innkeepers. Only once in +a while now a single guest of this type would drop in, usually to +verify previous reports heard by him, and such a one found as a rule +nothing more exciting to do than to yawn and gaze at the wall. Or +perhaps a band of roystering blades, having heard the place spoken of +by others, would wind up a jolly evening by a brief visit, and then +there would be noise enough, but not much else, and the old couple +could often not even thus be roused from their melancholy. For by that +time both wife and husband had grown heartily sick of their bargain. +The new style of living felt to him almost as lonesome and cold as the +grave. For he who as a lifelong farmer had been used to see the sun +rise, to hear and feel the wind blow, to breathe the pure air of the +country from morning till night, and to have the sunshine come and go, +was now cooped up within these dingy, hopeless walls, had to draw in +his lungs with every breath the contaminated atmosphere of this +miserable neighborhood, and when he thus dreamed day-dreams of the wide +expanse of the fields he once owned and tilled, a dull sort of despair +settled down on him like a pall. For hours and hours every day he would +stare in a dark humor at the smoke-begrimed ceiling of his inn, having +mostly little else to do, and dull visions of a future unrelieved by a +single ray of hope would float across his saturnine mind. Insupportable +his present life seemed to him then. Then a purposeless restlessness +would come over him, when he would get up from his seat a dozen times +an hour, run to the housedoor and peer out, then run back and resume +his watch. The neighbors had already given him a nickname. The "wicked +landlord," they dubbed him, because his glance was troubled and fierce. + +Not long and they were totally impoverished, had not even enough ready +money left to put in the little in drink and provisions needed for +chance customers, so that the sausages and bread, the wine and liquor +that were ordered by guests had to be got on trust. Often they even +lacked the wherewithal to make a meal of, and had to go hungry for a +while. It was a curious tavern they were keeping. When somebody +strolled in by accident and demanded refreshment they were forced to +send to the nearest competitor, around the corner, and obtain a measure +of wine and some food, paying for it an hour or so later when they +themselves had been paid. And with all that, they were expected to play +the cheerful host and to talk pleasantly when their own stomachs were +empty. They were almost glad when nobody came; then each of them would +cower in a dark corner by the chimney, too lethargic to stir. + +When Mother Manz underwent these sad experiences she once more took off +her green silk waist, and another metamorphosis was noticed. As +formerly she had shown a number of feminine vices, so now she exhibited +some feminine virtues, and these grew with the evil times. She began to +practice patience and sought to cheer up her morose husband and to +encourage her young son in trying for remunerative work. She sacrificed +her own comfort and convenience even, went about like a happy busybody, +and chattered incessantly merrily, all in an attempt to put some heart +into the two men. In short, she exerted in her own queer way an +undoubted beneficial influence on them, and while this did not lead to +anything tangible it helped at least to make things bearable for the +time being and was far better than the reverse would have been. She +would rack her poor brains, and give this advice or that how to mend +things, and if it miscarried she would have something fresh to propose. +Mostly she proved in the wrong with her counsel, but now and then, in +one of the many trivial ways that her petty mind was dwelling on she +was successful. When the contrary resulted, she gaily took the blame, +remained cheerful under discouragement, and, in short, did everything +which, if she had only done it before things were past repair, might +have really cured the desperate situation. + +In order to have at least some food in the house and to pass the dull +time, father and son now began to devote their leisure time to the +sport of fishing, that is, with the angle, as far as it is permissible +to everybody in Switzerland. This, be it said, was also one of the +favorite pastimes of those decrepit Seldwylians who had come to grief +in the world, most of them having failed in business. When the weather +was favorable, namely, and when the fish took the bait most readily, +one might see dozens of these gentry wander off provided with rod and +pail, and on a walk along the shores of the river you might see one of +them, every little distance, angling, the one in a long brown coat once +of fashionable make, but with his bare feet in the water, the next +attired in a tattered blue frock, astride an old willow tree, his +ragged felt hat shoved over his left ear. Farther down even you might +perceive a third whose meagre limbs were wrapped in a shabby old +dressing gown, since that was the only article of clothing he had left, +his long tobacco pipe in one hand, and an equally long fishing rod in +the other. And in turning a bend of the river one was apt to encounter +another queer customer who stood, quite nude, with his bald head and +his fat paunch, on top of a flat rock in the river. This one had, +though almost living in the water during the warm season, feet black as +coal, so that it looked from a distance as if he had kept his boots on. +Each of these worthies had a pot or a small box at his side, in which +were swarming angle worms, and to obtain these they were industriously +digging at all hours of the day not actually employed in fishing. +Whenever the sky began to cloud up and the air became close and sultry, +threatening rain, these quaint figures could be seen most numerously +along the softly rolling stream, immovable like a congregation of +ancient saints on their pillars. Without ever deigning to cast a glance +in their direction, rustics from farm and forest used to pass them by, +and the boatmen on the river did not even look their way, whereas these +lone fishermen themselves used to curse in a forlorn way at these +disturbers of their prey. + +If Manz had been told twelve years before when he was still plowing +with a fine team of horses across the hillock above the shore, that he, +too, one day would join this strange brotherhood of the rod, he would +probably have treated such a prophet rather roughly. But even to-day +Manz hastened past those fishermen that were rather crowding one +another, until he stood, upstream and alone, like a wrathful shadow of +Hades, by himself, just as if he preferred even in the abode of the +damned a spot of his own choosing. But to stand thus with a rod, for +hours and hours, neither he nor his son Sali had the patience, and they +remembered the manner in which peasants in their own neighborhood used +to catch fish, especially to grasp them with their hands in the purling +brooks. Therefore, they had their rods with them only as a ruse, and +they walked upstream further and further, following the tortuous +windings of the water, where they knew from of old that trout, dainty +and expensive trout, were to be had. + + +Meanwhile Marti, though he had still nominal possession of his farm, +had likewise been drifting from bad to worse, without any gleam of +hope. + +And since all toil on his land could no more avert the final +catastrophe, and time hung heavy on his hands, he also had taken to +this sport of fishing. Instead of laboring in his neglected fields he +often would fish for days and days at a time. Vreni at such times was +not permitted to leave him, but had to follow him with pail and nets, +through wet meadows and along brooks and waterholes, whether there was +rain or shine, while neglecting her household labors at home. For at +home not a soul had remained, neither was there any need, since Marti +little by little had already lost nearly all his land, and now owned +but a few more acres of it, and these he tilled either not at all or +else, together with his daughter, in the slovenliest way. + +Thus it came to pass that he, too, one early evening was walking along +the borders of a rapid and deep brook, one in which trout were leaping +plentifully, since the sky was overhung with dark and threatening +clouds, when without any warning he encountered his enemy, Manz, who +was coming along on the other side of it. As soon as he made him out a +fearful anger began to gnaw at his very vitals. They had not been so +near each other for years, except when in court facing the judge, and +then they had not been permitted to vent their hatred and spite, and +now Marti shouted full of venom: "What are you doing here, you dog? +Can't you stay in your den in town? Oh, you Seldwylian loafer!" + +"Don't talk as if you were something better, you scoundrel," growled +Manz, "for I see you also catching fish, and thus it proves you have +nothing better to do yourself!" + +"Shut your evil mouth, you fiend," shrieked Marti, since to make +himself heard above the rush of waters he had to strain his voice. "You +it is who have driven me into misery and poverty." + +And since the willows lining the brook now also were shaken by the +gathering storm, Manz was forced to shout even louder: "If that is +true, then I should feel glad, you woodenhead!" + +And thus, a duel of the most cruel taunts went on from both borders of +the brook, and finally, driven beyond endurance, each of the two +half-crazed men ran along the steep path, trying to find a way across +the deep water. Of the two Marti was the most envenomed because he +believed that his foe, being a landlord and managing an inn, must at +least have food enough to eat and liquor to drink, besides leading a +jolly sort of life, while he was barely able to eke out a meal or two +on the coarsest fare. Besides, the memory of his wasted farm stung him +to violence. But Manz, too, now stepped along lively enough on his side +of the water, and behind him his son, who, instead of sharing his +father's grim interest in the quarrel, peeped curiously and amazedly at +Vreni. She, the girl, followed closely behind her father, deeply +ashamed at what she heard and looking at the ground, so that her curly +brown hair fell over her flushed face. She carried in her hand a wooden +fishpail, and in the other her shoes and stockings, and had shortened +her skirt to avoid its dragging in the wet. But since Sali was walking +on the other side and seemed to watch her, she had allowed her skirt to +drop, out of modesty, and was now thrice embarrassed and annoyed, since +she had not alone to carry all, pail, nets, shoes and stockings, but +also to hold up her skirt and to feel humiliated because of this bitter +and vulgar quarrel. If she had lifted her eyes and read Sali's face, +she would have seen that he no longer looked either proud or elegant as +hitherto his image had dwelt in her mind, but that, on the contrary, +the young man also wore a distressed and humbled mien. + +But while Vreni so entirely ashamed and disconcerted kept her eyes on +the ground, and Sali stared in amazement at this dainty and graceful +being that had so suddenly crossed his path, and who seemed so weighed +down by the whole occurrence, they did not properly observe that their +fathers by now had become silent but were both of them striving in +increased rage to reach the small wooden bridge a short distance off +and which led across to the other shore. + +Just then the first forks of lightning were weirdly illuminating the +scene. The thunder was rolling in the dun clouds, and heavy drops of +rain were already falling singly, when these two men, almost driven out +of their senses, simultaneously reached the tiny bridge with their +hurried and determined tread, and as soon as near enough seized each +other with the iron grip of the rustic, striking with all the power +they could summon with clenched fists into the hateful face of the +adversary. Blows rained fast and furious, and each of the combatants +gnashed his teeth with rage. + +It is not a becoming nor a handsome sight to see elderly men usually +soberminded and slow to act in a personal encounter, no matter whether +occasioned by anger, provocation or self-defense, but such a spectacle +is harmless in comparison with that of two aged men who attack each +other with uncontrolled fury because while knowing the other deeply and +well, now out of the depths of that very knowledge and out of a fixed +belief that the other has destroyed his very life, seize each other +with their naked fists and try to commit murder from unrequited +revenge. But thus these two men now did, both with hair gray to the +roots. More than fifty years ago they had last fought with each other +as lads, merely out of a youthful spirit of rivalry, but during the +half century succeeding they had never laid hands on each other, except +when, as good neighbors and fellow-peasants, they had grasped each +other's hand in peace and concord, but even that, with their rather dry +and undemonstrative ways, but rarely. After the first two or three +frenzied blows, they both became silent, and now they struggled and +wrestled in all the agony of senile impotence, their stiffened muscles +and tendons stretched with the tension, murder in their glaring eyes, +each groaning with the supreme effort to master the other. They now +attempted, both of them, to end the fearsome fight by pushing the other +over into the rushing flood below, the slender supports of the rails +creaking under the pressure. But now at last their children had reached +the spot, and Sali, with a bound, came to his father's help, to enable +the latter to make an end of the hated foe, Marti being just about +spent and exhausted. But Vreni also sprang, dropping all her burdens, +to the rescue, and after the manner of women in such cases, embracing +her father tightly and really thus rendering him unable to move and +defend himself. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she looked with +silent appeal at Sali, just at the moment when he was about also to +grasp old Marti by the throat. Involuntarily he laid his hand upon the +arm of his father, thus restraining him, and next attempted to wrest +his father loose. The combat thus grew into a mutual swaying back and +forth, and the whole group was impotently straining and pushing, +without either party coming to a rest. + +But during this confused jumbling the two young people had, interfering +between their elders, more and more approached each other, and just at +this juncture a break in the dark bank of clouds overhead let the +piercing rays of the setting sun reach the scene and illuminate it with +a blinding flash, and then it was that Sali looked full into the +countenance of the girl, rosy and embellished by the excitement. It was +to Sali like a glimpse of another, a brighter and more heavenly world. +And Vreni at the same instant, too, quickly observed the impression she +had made on her onetime playmate, and she smiled for the fraction of a +second at him, right in the midst of her tears and her fright. Sali, +however, recovered himself instantly, warned by the energetic struggles +of his father to shake off the restraining arm of his son. By holding +him firmly and by speaking with authority to his father, he managed to +calm him down at last and to push him out of the reach of the other. +Both old fellows breathed hard at this outcome of their desperate +fight, and began again to heap insults on one another, finally turning +away, however. Their children, though, were now silent in the midst of +their relief. But in turning away and separating they for a moment +glanced once more at each other, and their two hands, cool and moist +from the water and the rain, met and each noticed a slight pressure. + +When the two old men turned from the scene, the clouds once more +closed, darkness fell, and the rain now poured down in torrents. Manz +preceded his son upon the obscured wet paths, bent to the cold rain, +and the terrific excitement still trembled in his features. His teeth +were chattering, and unseen tears of defeated hatred ran into his +stubbly beard. He let them run, and did not even wipe them away, +because he was ashamed of them, and had no wish for his son to see +them. + +But his son had seen nothing. He went through rain and storm in an +ecstasy of happiness. He had forgotten all, his misery and the awful +scene just witnessed, his poverty and the darkness around him. In his +heart there was a happy song. Light and warm and full of joy everything +within him was. He felt as rich and powerful as a king's son. He saw +nothing but the smile of a second. He saw the beautiful face lit up by +the miracle of love. And he returned that smile only now, a half hour +later, and he laughed at the beautiful face and returned its gaze, +looking into the night and storm as into a paradise, the face shining +through the murk of rain like a guiding star. Indeed, he believed Vreni +could not help noticing his answering smile miles away, and was smiling +back at him. + + +Next day his father was stiff and sore and would not leave the house, +and to him the whole wretched meeting with his foe and the whole +development of the enmity between them, and the long years of misery +that had grown out of it suddenly seemed to take on a new form and to +become much plainer, while its influence spread around even in his +dusky tavern. So much so that both Manz and his wife were moving about +like ghosts, out of one room into another, into the cheerless kitchen +and the bedchambers, and thence back again into the equally bare and +dark guest room, where not a person was to be seen all day. At last +they both began to grumble, one blaming the other for things that had +gone wrong, dropping into an uneasy slumber from time to time from +which a nightmare would waken them with a start, and in which their +unquiet consciences upbraided them for past misdeeds. Only Sali heard +and saw nothing of all this, for his mind was entirely engrossed with +Vreni. Still the illusion was strong with him of being immeasurably +wealthy, but beside that he had a hallucination that he was powerful +and had learned how to conduct the most complicated and important +affairs in the world. He felt as if he knew all the wisdom on earth, +everything great and beautiful. And forever there stood before his +dreamy soul, clear and distinct, that great happening of the night +before, that wonderful creature with her enticing smile, that smile +which had shed a blinding flash of happiness on his path. The +consciousness of this great adventure dwelt with him like an +unspeakable secret, of which he was the sole possessor and which had +fallen to his share direct from heaven. It afforded him constant food +for thought and wonderment. And yet with all that it seemed also to him +that he had always known this would happen to him, and as if what now +filled him with such marvelous sweetness had always dwelt in his heart. +For nothing is just like this happiness of love, this sharing of a +mystery between two persons, which approaches human beings in the form +of unspeakable bliss, yet in a form so clear and precise, sanctioned +and sanctified by the priest, and endowed with a name so mellifluously +fine that no other word sounds half so sweet as Love. + +On that day Sali felt neither lonesome nor unhappy; where he went and +stood Vreni's image followed him and glowed in his inner self; and this +without a moment's respite, one hour after another. But while his whole +being was engrossed with the lovely image of the girl at the same time +its outlines constantly became blurred, so that, after all, he lost the +faculty of reproducing it clearly. If he had been asked to describe her +in detail he would have been unable to do it. Always he saw her +standing near him, with that wizard smile; he felt her warm breath and +the whole indefinable charm of her presence, but it was for all that +like something which is seen but once and then vanishes forever. Like +something the potency of which one cannot escape and yet which one +never can know. In dreaming thus he was able to recall fully the +features of her when still a tiny maiden, and to experience a most +pronounced pleasure in doing so, but the one Vreni of yesterday he +could not recall as plainly. If indeed he had never seen Vreni again it +might be that his memory would have pieced her personality together, +little by little, until not the slightest bit had been wanting. But now +all the strength of his mind did not suffice to render him this +service, and this was because his senses, his eyes, imperatively +demanded their rights and their solace, and when in the afternoon the +sun was shining brilliantly and warm, gilding the roofs of all these +blackened housetops, Sali almost unconsciously found himself on the way +towards his old home in the country, which now seemed to him a heavenly +Jerusalem with twelve shining portals, and which set his heart to +beating feverishly as he approached it. + +While on his way, though, he met Vreni's father, who with hurried and +disordered steps was going in the direction of the town. Marti looked +wild and unkempt, his gray beard had not been shorn for many weeks, and +altogether he presented indeed the picture of what he was: a wicked and +lost peasant who had got rid of his land and who now was intent on +doing evil to others. Nevertheless, Sali under these radically +different circumstances did not regard the crazed old man with hatred +but rather with fear and awe, as though his own life was in the hands +of this man and as though it were better to obtain it by favor than by +force. Marti, however, measured the young man with a black look, +glancing at him from his feet upwards, and then he went his way +silently. But this encounter came most opportunely to Sali. For seeing +the old man leaving the village on an errand it for the first time +became quite clear to him what his own object had been in coming. Thus +he proceeded stealthily on by-paths towards the village, and when +reaching it cautiously felt his way through the small lanes until he +had Marti's house and outbuildings right in front of him. + +For several years past he had not seen this spot so closely. For even +while he still dwelt in the village itself he had been forbidden to +approach the Marti farm, avoiding meeting the family with whom his +father lived on terms of enmity. Therefore he was now full of wonder at +what, just the same, he had had ample opportunity to observe in the +case of his own father's property. Amazedly he stared at this once +prosperous and well-cultivated farm now turned into a waste. For Marti +had had one section after another of his property sequestrated by +orders of the court, and now all that was left was the dwelling house +itself and the space around it, with a bit of vegetable garden and a +small field up above the river, which latter Marti had for some time +been defending in a last desperate struggle with the judicial power. + +There was, it is true, no longer any question of a rational cultivation +of the soil which once had borne so plentifully and where the wheat had +waved like a golden sea toward harvest time. Instead of that now there +was a mixed crop sprouting: rye, turnips, wheat and potatoes, with some +other "garden truck" intermingling, all from seed that had come from +paper packages left over or purchased in small quantities at random, so +that the whole cultivated space looked like a negligently tended +vegetable bed, in which cabbage, parsley and turnips predominated. It +was plainly to be seen that the owner of it, too lazy or indifferent to +do his farmer's work properly, had mainly had in mind to raise such +things as would enable him to live from day to day. Here a handful of +carrots had been torn out, there a mess of cabbage or potatoes, and the +rest had fared on for good or ill, and much of it lay rotting on the +ground. Everybody, too, had been in the habit of treading around and in +it all, just as he listed, and the one broad field now presented nearly +the desolate appearance of the once ownerless field whence had grown +all the mischief that had wrought havoc and brought the two neighbors +of old down so low. About the house itself there was no visible sign at +all of farm work. The stable stood vacant, its door hung loosely from +the broken staples, and innumerable spider's webs, grown thick and +large during the summer, were shimmering in the sunshine. Against the +broad door of a barn, where once were housed the fruits of the field, +hung untidy fishermen's nets and other sporting apparatus, in grim +token of abandoned farming. In the farmyard was to be seen not a single +chicken, pigeon or turkey, no dog or cat. The well only was the sole +live thing. But even its clear water no longer flowed in a regular gush +through the spout, but trickled through the broken tube, wasting itself +on the ground and forming dark pools on the soggy earth, a perfect +symbol of neglect. For while it would not have taken much time or +trouble to mend the broken tube, now Vreni was forced to use the water +she needed for her domestic tasks, for cooking and laundry work, from +the tricklings that escaped. The house itself, too, was a sad thing to +see. The window panes were all broken and pasted over with paper. Yet +the windows, after all, were the most cheerful-looking objects, for +Vreni kept them clean and shiny with soap and water, as shiny, in fact, +as her own eyes, and the latter, too, had to make up for all lack of +finery. And as the curly hair and the bright kerchiefs made amends for +much in her, so the wild growths stretching up toward windows and along +the jamb of the doorsills, and almost covering the very broken panes on +the windows, gave a charm to this tumbledown homestead. A wilderness of +scarlet bean blossoms, of portulac and sweet-scented flowers ran riot +along the house front, and these in their vivid colors clambered along +anything that would give them a hold, such as the handle of a rake, a +stake or broken rod. Vreni's grandfather had left behind a rusty +halberd or spontoon, such as were weapons much in vogue in his days, +for he had fought as a mercenary abroad. Now this rusty implement had +been stuck into the ground, and the willowy tendrils of the beanstalk +embraced it tightly. More bean plants groped their way up a shattered +ladder which had leaned against the house for ages, and thence their +blossoms hung into the windows as Vreni's curls hung into her pretty +face. + +This farmyard, so much more picturesque than prosperous, lay somewhat +apart from its neighbors, and therefore was not exposed so much to +their inspection. But for the moment as Sali stared and watched nothing +human at all was visible. Sali thus was undisturbed in his reflections +as he leaned with his back against the barndoor, about thirty paces +away, and studied with attentive mien the deserted yard. He had been +doing this for some time when Vreni at last appeared under the +housedoor and gazed calmly and thoughtfully before her as if thinking +deeply of only one matter. Sali himself did not stir but contemplated +her as he would have done a fine painting. But after a brief while her +eyes traveled towards him, and she perceived him. Then she and he stood +without motion and looked, looked just as if they did not see living +beings but aerial phenomena. But at last Sali slowly stood upright, and +just as slowly went across the farmyard and towards Vreni. When he was +but a step or so from her, she stretched out her hands toward him and +pronounced only the one word: "Sali!" + +He seized her hands speechlessly, and then continued gazing into her +face which had suddenly grown pale. Tears filled her eyes, and +gradually under his gaze she flushed painfully, and at last she said in +a very low voice: "What do you want here, Sali?" + +"Only to see you," he replied. "Will we not become good friends again?" + +"And our fathers, Sali?" asked Vreni, turning her weeping face aside, +since her hands had been imprisoned by him. + +"Must we bear the burden of what they have done and have become?" +answered Sali. "It may be that we ourselves can redeem the evil they +have wrought, if we only love each other well enough and stand together +against the future." + +"No, Sali, no good will ever come of it all," replied Vreni sobbingly; +"therefore better go your ways, Sali, in God's name." + +"Are you alone, Vreni?" he asked. "May I come in a minute?" + +"Father has gone to town for a spell, as he told me before leaving," +remarked Vreni, "to do your father a bad turn. But I cannot let you in +here, because it may be that later on you would not be able to leave +again without attracting notice. As yet everything around here is still +and nobody about. Therefore, I beg of you, go before it is too late." + +"No, I could not leave you without speaking," was his answer, and his +voice shook with emotion. "Since yesterday I have had to think of you +constantly, and I cannot go. We must speak to each other, at least for +half an hour or an hour; that will be a relief to both of us." + +Vreni reflected a minute. Then she said thoughtfully: "Toward sundown I +shall walk out toward our field. You know the one I mean--we have but +the one left. I must pick some vegetables. I feel sure that nobody else +will be there, because they are mowing all of them in a different +direction. If you insist on coming, you may come there, but for the +present go and take care nobody else sees you. Even if nobody at all +bothers any longer about us, they would nevertheless gossip so much +about it that father could not fail to hear it." + +They now dropped their hands, but once more seized them, and both also +asked: "How do you do?" + +But instead of answering each other they repeated the same phrase over +and over again, since they, after the manner of lovers, no longer were +able to guide or control their words. Thus the only answer each +received was given with the eyes, and without saying anything more to +each other they finally separated, half sad, half joyful. + +"Go there at once," she called after him; "I shall be there almost as +soon as yourself." + +Sali followed this advice, and went at once up the steep path that led +to the hill where the busy world seemed so far away and where the soul +expanded, to the undulating fields that stretched out far on both +sides, where the brooding July sun shone and the drifting white clouds +sailed overhead, where the ripe corn in the gentle breeze bobbed up and +down, where the river below glinted blue, and all these scenes of past +happiness filled his soul after a long dearth with peace and gentle +joy, and his griefs and fears were left below. At full length he threw +himself down amid the half-shade of the upstanding wheat, there where +it marked the boundary of Marti's waste acres, and peered with +unblinking eyes into the gold-rimmed clouds. + +Although scarcely a quarter hour elapsed until Vreni followed him, and +although he had thought of nothing but his bliss and his love, dreaming +of it and building castles in the air, he was yet surprised when Vreni +suddenly stood at his side, smiling down at him, and with a start he +rose. + +"Vreni," he exclaimed in a voice that trembled with love, and she, +still and smiling, tendered both her hands to him. Hand in hand they +then paced along the whispering corn, slowly down towards the river, +and then as slowly back again, with scarcely any words. This short walk +they repeated twice or thrice, back and forth, still, blissful, and +quiet, so that this young pair now resembled likewise a pair of stars, +coming and going across the gentle curve of the hillock and adown the +declivity beyond, just as had once, years and years ago, the accurately +measuring plows of the two rustic neighbors. But as they once on this +pilgrimage lifted their eyes from the blue cornflowers along the edge +of the field where they had rested, they suddenly saw a swarthy fellow, +like a darksome star, precede them on their path, a fellow of whom they +could not tell whence he had appeared so entirely without warning. +Probably he had been lying in the corn, and Vreni shuddered, while Sali +murmured with affright: "It's the black fiddler!" And indeed, the +fellow ambling along before them carried under his arm a violin, and +truly, too, he looked swarthy enough. A black crushed felt hat, a black +blouse and hair and beard pitchdark, even his unwashed hands of that +hue, he made the impression of a man carrying along an evil omen. This +man led a wandering life. He did all sorts of jobs: mended kettles and +pans, helped charcoal burners, aided in pitching in the woods, and only +used his fiddle and earned money that way when the peasants somewhere +were celebrating a festival or holiday, a wedding or big dance, and +such like. Sali and Vreni meant to leave the fiddler by himself. Quiet +as mice they slowly walked behind him, thinking that he would probably +turn off the road soon. He seemed to pay no attention to the two, never +turning around and keeping perfect silence. With that they felt a weird +influence coming from the fellow, so that they had not the courage to +openly avoid him and turning aside unconsciously they followed in his +tracks to the very end of the field, the spot where that unjust heap of +stone and rock lay, the one that had started the two families on their +downward road. Innumerable poppies and wild roses had grown there and +were now in full bloom, wherefore this stony desert lay like an +enormous splotch of blood along the road. + +All at once the black fiddler sprang with one jump on top one of the +irregular ramparts of stone, the rim of which was also scarlet with +wild blossoms, then turned himself around, and threw a glance in every +direction. The young couple stopped and looked up at him shamefaced. +For turn they would not in face of him, and to proceed along on the +same path would have taken them into the village, which they also +wished to avoid. + +He looked at them keenly, and then he shouted: "I know you two. You are +the children of those who have stolen from me this soil. I am glad to +see you here, and to notice how the theft has benefited you. Surely, I +shall also live to see you two go before me the way of all flesh. Yes, +look at me, you little fools. Do you like my nose, eh?" + +And indeed, he had a terrible nose, one which broke forth from his +emaciated swarthy face like a beak, or rather more like a good-sized +club. As if it had been pasted on to his bony face it looked and below +that the tiny mouth, in the shape of a small round hole, singularly +contracted and expanded, and out of this hole his words constantly +tumbled, whistling or buzzing or hissing. His small twisted felt hat, +shapeless and shabby, pushed over his left ear, heightened the uncanny +effect. This piece of his apparel seemed to change its form with every +motion of the queer-looking head, although in reality it sat immovable +on his pate. And of the eyes of this strange fellow nothing was to be +noticed but their whites, since the pupils were flashing around all the +time, just as though they were two hares jumping about to escape being +seized. + +"Look at me well," he then continued. "Your two fathers know all about +me, and everybody in the village can identify me by my nose. Years ago +they were spreading the rumor that a good piece of money was awaiting +the heir to these fields here. I have called at court twenty times. But +since I had no baptismal certificate and since my friends, the +vagrants, who witnessed my birth, have no voice that the law will +recognize, the time set has elapsed, and they have cheated me out of +the little sum, large enough all the same to permit my emigrating to a +better country. I have implored your fathers at that time, again and +again, to testify for me to the effect that they at least believed me, +according to their conscience, to be the rightful heir. But they drove +me from their farms, and now, ha! ha! ha! they themselves have gone to +the devil. Well and good, that is the way things turn out in this +world, and I don't care a rap. And now I will just the same fiddle if +you want to dance." + +With that he was down again on the ground beside them, at a mighty +bound, and seeing they did not want to dance he quickly disappeared in +the direction of the village; there the crop was to be brought in +towards nightfall, and there would be gay doings. + +When he was gone the young couple sat down, discouraged and out of +spirits, among the wilderness of stone. They let their hands drop and +hung their poor heads too. For the sudden appearance of the vagrant +fiddler had wiped out the happy memories of their childhood, and their +joyous mood in which they, like they used in their younger days, had +wandered about in the green and among the corn, had gone with him. They +sat once more on the hard soil of their misery, and the happy gleam of +childhood had vanished, and their minds were oppressed and darkened. + +But all at once Vreni remembered the fiddler's nose, and his whole odd +figure, and she burst out laughing loud and merry. She exclaimed: "The +poor fellow surely looks too queer. What a nose he had!" And with that +a charmingly careless merriment flashed out of her brown eyes, just as +though she had only been waiting for the fiddler's nose to chase away +all the sad clouds from her mind. Sali, too, regarded the girl, and +noticed this sunny gaiety. But by that time Vreni had already forgotten +the immediate cause of her gleefulness, and now she laughed on her own +account into Sali's face. Sali, dazed and astonished, involuntarily +gazed at the girl with laughing mouth, like a hungry man who suddenly +is offered sweetened wheat bread, and he said: "Heavens, Vreni, how +pretty you are!" + +And Vreni, for sole answer, laughed but the more, and out of the mere +enjoyment of her sweet temper she gurgled a few melodious notes that +sounded to the boy like the warblings of a nightingale. + +"Oh, you little witch," he exclaimed enraptured, "where have you +learned such tricks? What sorcery are you applying to me?" + +"Sorcery?" she murmured astonished, in a voice of sweet enchantment, +and she seized Sali's hand anew. "There's no sorcery about this. How +gladly I should have laughed now and then, with reason or without. Now +and then, indeed, all by myself, I have laughed a bit, because I +couldn't help it, but my heart was not in it. But now it's different. +Now I should like to laugh all the time, holding your hand and feeling +happy. I should like to hold your hand forever, and look into your +eyes. Do you too love me a little bit?" + +"Ah, Vreni," he answered, and looked full and affectionately into her +eyes, "I never cared for any girl before. And I have never until now +taken a good look at another girl. It always seemed to me as though +some time or other I should have to love you, and without knowing it, I +think, you have always been in my thoughts." + +"And so it was in my case," said Vreni, "only more so. For you never +would look at me and did not know what had become of me and what I had +grown into. But as for me, I have from time to time, secretly, of +course, and from afar, cast a glance at you, and knew well enough what +you were like. Do you still remember how often as children we used to +come here? You know in the little baby cart? What small folk we were +those days, and how long, long ago that all is! One would think we were +old, real old now. Eh?" + +Sali became thoughtful. + +"How old are you, Vreni?" he asked. "I should think you must be about +seventeen?" + +"I am seventeen and a half," answered she. "And you?" + +"Guess!" + +"Oh, I know, you are going on twenty." + +"How do you know?" he asked. + +"I won't tell you," she laughed. + +"Won't tell me?" + +"No, no," and she giggled merrily. + +"But I want to know." + +"Will you compel me?" + +"We'll see about that." + +These silly remarks Sali made because he wanted to keep his hands busy +and to have a pretext for the awkward caresses he attempted and which +his love for the beautiful girl hungered for. But she continued the +childish dialogue willingly enough for some time longer, showing plenty +of patience the while, feeling instinctively her lover's mood. And the +simple sallies on both sides seemed to them the height of wisdom, so +soft and sweet and full of their mutual feelings they were. At last, +however, Sali waxed bold and aggressive, and seized Vreni and pressed +her down into the scarlet bed of poppies by main strength. There she +lay panting, blinking at the sun with eyes half-closed. Her softly +rounded cheeks glowed like ripe apples and her mouth was breathing hard +so that the snow-white rows of teeth became visible. Daintily as if +penciled her eyebrows were defined above those flashing eyes, and her +young bosom rose and fell under the working four hands which mutually +caressed and fought each other. Sali was beyond himself with delight, +seeing this wonderful young creature before him, knowing her to be his +own, and he deemed himself wealthier than a monarch. + +"I see you still have all your teeth," he said. "Do you recall how +often we tried to count them? Do you now know how to count?" + +"Oh, you silly," smilingly rejoined Vreni, "these are not the same. +Those I lost long ago." + +So Sali in the simplicity of his soul wanted to renew the game, and +prepared to count them over once more. But Vreni abruptly rose and +closed her mouth. Then she began to form a wreath of poppies and to +place it on her head. The wreath was broad and long, and on the brow of +the nut-brown maid it was an ornament so bewitching as to lend her an +enchanting air. Sali held in his arms what rich people would have +dearly paid for if merely they had had it painted on their walls. + +But at last she sprang up. "Goodness, how hot it is here! Here we +remain like ninnies and allow ourselves to be roasted alive. Come, +dear, and let us sit among the corn!" + +And they got up and looked for a suitable hiding-place among the tall +wheat. When they had found it, they slipped into the furrows of the +field so that nobody would have discovered them without regular search, +leaving no trace behind, and they built for themselves a narrow nest +among the golden ears that topped their heads when they were seated, so +that they only saw the deep azure of the sky above and nothing else in +the world. They clung to each other tightly, and showered kisses on +cheeks and hair and mouth, until at last they desisted from sheer +exhaustion, or whatever one wishes to call it when the caresses of two +lovers for one or two minutes cease and thus, right in the ecstasy of +the blossom tide of life, there is the hint of the perishableness of +everything mundane. They heard the larks singing high overhead, and +sought them with their sharp young eyes, and when they thought they saw +one flashing along in the sunlight like shooting stars along the +firmament, they kissed again, in token of reward, and tried to cheat +and to overreach each other at this game just as much as they could. + +"Do you see, there is one flitting now," whispered Sali, and Vreni +replied just as low: "I can hear it, but I do not see it." + +"Oh, but watch now," breathed Sali, "right there, where the small white +cloud is floating, a hand's breadth to the right." + +And then both stared with all their might, and meanwhile opened their +lips, thirsty and hungry for more nourishment, like young birds in +their nest, in order to fasten these same lips upon the other if +perchance they both felt convinced of the existence of that lark. + +But now Vreni made a stop, in order to say, very seriously and +importantly: "Let us not forget; this, then, is agreed, that each of us +loves the other. Now, I wish to know, what do you have to say about +your sweetheart?" + +"This," said Sali, as though in a dream, "that it is a thing of beauty, +with two brown eyes, a scarlet mouth, and with two swift feet. But how +it really is thinking and believing I have no more idea than the Pope +in Rome. And what can you tell me about your lover? What is he like?" + +"That he has two blue eyes, a bold mouth and two stout arms which he is +swift to use. But what his thoughts are I know no more than the Turkish +sultan." + +"True," said Sali, "it is singular, but we really do not know what +either is thinking. We are less acquainted than if we had never seen +each other before. So strange towards each other the long time between +has made us. What really has happened during the long interval since we +grew up in your dear little head, Vreni?" + +"Not much," whispered Vreni, "a thousand foolish things, but my life +has been so hard that none of them could stay there long." + +"You poor little dear," said Sali in a very low voice, "but +nevertheless, Vreni, I believe you are a sly little thing, are you +not?" + +"That you may learn, by and by, if you really are fond of me, as you +say," the young girl murmured. + +"You mean when you are my wife," whispered Sali. + +At these last words Vreni trembled slightly, and pressed herself more +tightly into his arms, kissing him anew long and tenderly. Tears +gathered in her eyes, and both of them all at once became sad, since +their future, so devoid of hope, came into their minds, and the enmity +of their fathers. + +Vreni now sighed deeply and murmured: "Come, Sali, I must be going +now." + +And both rose and left the cornfield hand in hand, but at the same +instant they spied Vreni's father. With the idle curiosity of the +person without useful employment he had been speculating, from the +moment he had met Sali hours before, what the young man might be +wanting all alone in the village. Remembering the occurrence of the +previous day, he finally, strolling slowly towards the town, had hit +upon the right cause, merely as the result of venom and suspicion. And +no sooner had his suspicion taken on a definite shape, when he, in the +middle of a Seldwyla street, turned back and reached the village. There +he had vainly searched for Vreni everywhere, at home and in the meadow +and all around in the hedges. With increasing restlessness he had now +sought her right near by in the cornfield, and when picking up there +Vreni's small vegetable basket, he had felt sure of being on the right +track, spying about, when suddenly he perceived the two children +issuing from the corn itself. + +They stood there as if turned to stone. Marti himself also for a moment +did not move, and stared at them with evil looks, pale as lead. But +then he started to curse them like a fiend, and used the vilest +language toward the young man. He made a vicious grab at him, +attempting to throttle him. Sali instantly wrested himself loose, and +sprang back a few paces, so as to be out of the reach of the old man, +who acted like one demented. But when he perceived that Marti instead +of himself now took hold of the trembling girl, dealing her a violent +blow in the face, then seizing her by the back of her hair, trying to +drag her along and mistreat her further, he stepped up once more. +Without reflecting at all he picked up a rock and struck the old man +with it against the side of the head, half in fear of what the maniac +meant to do to Vreni, and half in self-defense. Marti after the blow +stumbled a step or two, and then fell in a heap on a pile of stones, +pulling his daughter down with him in so doing. Sali freed her hair +from the rough grasp of the unconscious man, and helped the girl to her +feet. But then he stood lifeless, not knowing what to say or do. + +The girl seeing her father lying prone on the ground like dead, put her +hands to her face, shuddered and whispered: "Have you killed him?" + +Sali silently nodded his head, and Vreni shrieked: "Oh, God, oh, God! +It is my father! The poor man!" + +And quite out of her senses she knelt down alongside of him, lifted up +his head and began to examine his hurt. But there was no flow of blood, +nor any other trace of injury. She let the limp body drop to the ground +again. Sali put himself on the other side of the unconscious old man, +and both of them stared helplessly at the pale and motionless face of +Marti. They were silent and their hands dropped. + +At last Sali remarked: "Perhaps he is not dead at all. I don't think he +is dead. That blow can never have killed him." + +Vreni tore a leaf off one of the wild roses near her, and held it +before the mouth of her father. The leaf fluttered a little. + +"He is still alive," she cried, "Run to the village, Sali, and get +assistance." + +When Sali sprang up and was about to run off, she stretched out her +hand towards him, and cried: "Don't come back with the others and say +nothing as to how he came by his injury. I shall keep silent and betray +nothing." + +In saying which the poor girl showed him a face streaming with tears of +distress, and she looked at her lover as though parting from him +forever. + +"Come and kiss me once more," she murmured. "But no, get along with +you. Everything is over between us. We can never belong to each other." +And she gave him a gentle push, and he ran with a heavy heart down the +path to the village. + +On his way he met a small boy, one he did not know, and him he bade to +get some people and described in detail where and what assistance was +required. Then he drifted off in despair, wandering at random all night +about the woods near the village. + +In the early morning he cautiously crept forth, in order to spy out how +things had gone during the night. From several persons early astir he +heard the news. Marti was alive, but out of his senses, and nobody, it +seemed, knew what really had happened to him. And only after learning +this his mind was so far at ease that he found the way back to town and +to his father's tavern, where he buried himself in the family misery. + + +Vreni had kept her word. Nothing could be learned of her but that she +had found her father in this condition, and as he on the next day +became again quite active, breathed normally and began to move about, +although still without his full senses, and since, besides, there was +no one to frame a complaint, it was assumed that he had met with some +accident while under the influence of drink, probably had had a bad +fall on the stones, and matters were left as they were. + +Vreni nursed him very carefully, never left his side, except to get +medicine and remedies from the shop of the village doctor, and also to +pick in the vegetable patch something wherewith to cook him and herself +a simple stew or soup. Those days she lived almost on air, although she +had to be about and busy day and night and nobody came to help her. +Thus nearly six weeks elapsed until the old man recovered sufficiently +to take care of himself, though long before that he had been sitting up +in bed and had babbled about one thing or another. But he had not +recovered his mind, and the things he was now saying and doing seemed +to show plainly that he had become weak-minded, and this in the +strangest manner. He could recall what had happened but darkly, and to +him it seemed something very enjoyable and laughable. Something, too, +which did not touch him in any way, and he laughed and laughed all day +long, and was in the best of humor, very different from what he had +been before his accident. While still abed he had a hundred foolish, +senseless ideas, cut capers and made faces, pulled his black peaked +woollen cap over his ears, down to his nose and his mouth, and then he +would mumble something which seemed to amuse him highly. Vreni, pale +and sorrowful, listened patiently to all his stories, shedding tears +about his idiotic behavior, which grieved her even more than his former +malicious and wicked tricks had. But it would nevertheless happen now +and then, that the old man would perform some particularly ludicrous +antics, and then Vreni, tortured as she was by all these scenes, would +be unable to help bursting into laughter, as her joyous disposition, +suppressed by all these sad events, would sometimes rend the bounds +which confined her, just like a bow too tightly strung that would +break. + +But as soon as the old man could once more get out of bed, there was +nothing more to be done. All day long he did nothing but silly things, +was grinning, smirking and laughing to himself constantly, turned +everything in the house topsy-turvy, sat down in the sunshine and +blared at the world, put out his tongue at everybody that passed, and +made long monologues while standing in the midst of the bean field. + +Simultaneous with all this there came also the end of his ownership in +the farm. Everything upon it had, of course, gone to wrack and ruin, +and disorder reigned supreme. Not only his house, but also the last bit +of land left him, pledged in court some time before, were now seized +and the day of forced sale was named. For the peasant who had claims to +these pieces of property, very naturally made use of the opportunities +now afforded him by the illness and the failing powers of Marti to +bring about a quick decision. These last proceedings in court used up +the bit of cash still left to Marti, and all this was done while he in +his weakness of mind had not even a notion what it was all about. + +The forced sale took place, and at its close, Marti being penniless and +bereft of sense, by the action of the village council, it was decided +to make him an inmate of the community asylum that had been founded +many years before for the precise benefit of just such poor devils as +himself. This asylum was located in the cantonal capital. Before he +started for his destination he was well fed for a day or two, to the +eminent satisfaction of the idiot, who had developed an enormous +appetite of late, and then was put on a cart drawn by a phlegmatic ox +and driven by a poor peasant who besides attending to this community +errand wanted to sell also a sack of potatoes at the town. Vreni sat +down on the same vehicle alongside of her father in order to accompany +him on this day of his being buried alive, so to speak. + +It was a sad and bitter drive, but Vreni watched lovingly over her +father, and let him want for nothing; neither did she grow impatient +when passers-by, attracted by the ridiculous behavior of the old man, +would follow the cart and make all sorts of audible remarks on its +inmates. Finally they did reach the asylum, a complex of buildings +connected by courts and corridors, and where a big garden was seen +alive with similarly unfortunate beings as Marti himself, all dressed +in a sort of uniform consisting of white coarse linen blouses and +vests, with stiff caps of leather on their foolish old heads. Marti, +too, was put into such a uniform, even before Vreni's departure, and +her father evinced a childish joy at his new clothes, dancing about in +them and singing snatches of wicked drinking songs. + +"God be with you, my lords and honored fellow-inmates," he harangued a +knot of them, "you surely have a palace-like home here. Go away, Vreni, +and tell mother that I won't come home any more. I like it here +splendidly. Goodness me, what a palace! There runs a spider across the +road, and I have heard him barking! Oh, maiden mine, oh, maiden mine, +don't kiss the old, kiss but the young! All the waters in the world are +running into the Rhine! She with the darkest eye, she is not mine. +Already going, little Vreni? Why, thou lookest as though death were in +thy pot. And yet things are looking up with me. I am doing fine. Am +getting wealthy in my old days. The she-fox cries with him: Halloo! +Halloo! Her heart pains her. Why--oh, why? Halloo! Halloo!" + +An official of the institution bade him hold his infernal noise, and +then he led him away to do some easy work. Vreni took her leave sadly +and then began to look up her ox cart with the peasant. When she had +found it she climbed in and sat down and ate a slice of bread she had +brought with her. Then she lay down and fell asleep, and a couple of +hours later the peasant came and woke her, and then they drove home to +the village. They arrived there in the middle of the night. Vreni went +to her father's house, the one where she had been born and had spent +all her days. For the first time she was all alone in it. Two days' +grace she had to get out and find some other shelter. She made a fire +and prepared a cup of coffee for herself, using the last remnants she +still had. Then she sat down on the edge of the hearth, and wept +bitterly. She was longing with all her soul to see and talk once more +to Sali, and she was thinking and thinking of him. But mingling with +these desires of hers were her anxieties and her fears of the future. +Thus sat the poor thing, holding her head in her hand, when somebody +entered at the door. + +"Sali!" cried Vreni, when she looked up and saw the face dearest to her +in the world. And she fell on his neck, but then they both looked at +one another, and they shouted: "How poorly you look!" For Sali was as +pale and sorrowful as the girl herself. Forgetting everything she drew +him to her on the hearth, and questioned him: "Have you been ill, or +have you also fared badly?" + +"No, not ill," said Sali, "but longing for you. At home things are +going fine. My father now has rare guests, and as I believe, he has +become a receiver of stolen goods. And that is why there are big doings +at our place, both day and night, until, I suppose, there will come a +bad end to it all. Mother is helping along, eager to have guests of any +kind at all, guests that fetch money into the house, and she tries to +bring some order out of all this disorder, and also to make it +profitable. I am not questioned about the matter at all, neither do I +care. For I have only been thinking of you all along. Since all sorts +of vagrants come and go in our place, we have heard of everything +concerning you, and my father is beside himself with joy, and that your +father has been taken to-day to the asylum has delighted him immensely. +Since he has now left you I have come, thinking you might be lonesome, +and maybe in trouble." + +Then Vreni told him all her sorrows in detail, but she did this with +such fluency and described the intimate details in such an almost happy +tone of voice as if what she was saying did not disturb her in the +least. All this because the presence of her lover and his solicitude +about her really rendered her happy and minimized her anxieties. She +had Sali at her side. And what more did she want? Soon she had a vessel +with the steaming coffee which she forced Sali to share with her. + +"Day after to-morrow, then, you must leave here?" said Sali. "What is +to become of you now?" + +"I don't know," answered Vreni. "I suppose I shall have to seek some +service and go away from here, somewhere in the wide world. But I know +I won't be able to endure that without you, Sali, and yet we cannot +come together. If there were no other reason it would not do because +you hurt my father and made him lose his mind. That would always be a +bad foundation for our wedded state, would it not? And neither of us +would ever be able to forget that, never!" + +Sali sighed deeply, and rejoined: "I myself wanted a hundred times to +become a soldier or else go far away and hire out on a farm, but I +cannot do it, I cannot leave you here, and after we are separated it +will kill me, I feel sure of it, for longing for you will not let me +rest day or night. I really believe, Vreni, that all this misery makes +my love for you only the stronger and the more painful, so that it +becomes a matter of life or death. Never did I dream that this should +ever be my end." + +But Vreni, while he was thus pouring out his burdened mind, gazed at +him smilingly and with a face that shone with joy. They were leaning +against the chimney corner, and silently they felt to the full the +intense ecstasy of communion of spirits. Over and above all their +troubles, high above them all, there was hovering the genius of their +love, that each felt loving and beloved. And in this beatitude they +both fell asleep on this cold hearth with its feathery ashes, without +cover or pillow, and slept just as peacefully and softly as two little +children in their cradle. + +Dawn was breaking in the eastern sky when Sali awoke the first. Gently +he woke Vreni, but she again and again snuggled near to him and would +not rouse herself. At last he kissed her with vehemence on her mouth, +and then Vreni did awaken, opened her eyes wide, and when she saw Sali +she exclaimed: "Zounds, I've just been dreaming of you. I was dreaming +I danced on our wedding-day, many, many hours, and we were both so +happy, both so finely dressed, and nothing was lacking to our joy. And +then we wanted to kiss each other, and we both longed for it, oh, so +much, but always something was dragging us apart, and now it appears +that it was you yourself that was interfering, that it was you who +disturbed and hindered us. But how nice, how nice, that you are at +least close by now." + +And she fell around his neck and kissed him wildly, kissed him as if +there were to be no end to it. + +"And now confess, my dear, what have you been dreaming?" and she +tenderly caressed his cheeks and chin. + +"I was dreaming," he said, "that I was walking endlessly along a +lengthy street, and through a forest, and you in the distance always +ahead of me. Off and on you turned around for me, and were beckoning +and smiling at me, and then it seemed to me I were in heaven. And that +is all." + +They stepped on the threshold of the kitchen door left open the whole +night and which led direct into the open, and they had to laugh as they +now saw each other plainly. For the right cheek of Vreni and the left +one of Sali, which in their sleep had been resting against each other, +were both quite red from the pressure, while the pallor of the opposite +cheeks was engrossed by the coolth of early morning. So then they +rubbed vigorously the pale cheeks to bring them into consonance with +the others, each performing that service for the other. The fresh +morning air, the dewy peace lying over the whole landscape, and the +ruddy tints of coming sunrise, all this together made them forget their +griefs and made them merry and playful, and into Vreni especially a gay +spirit of carelessness seemed to have passed. + +"To-morrow night then, I must leave this house," she said, "and find +some other shelter. But before that happens I should love to be merry, +real merry, just once, only once. And it is with thee, dear, that I +want to enjoy myself. I should like to dance with you, really and +truly, for a long, long time, till I could no longer move a foot. For +it is that dance in my dream that I have to think of steadily. That +dream was too fine, let us realize it." + +"At all events I must be present when you dance," said Sali, "and see +what becomes of you, and to dance with you as long as you like is just +what I myself would love to do, you charming wild thing. But where?" + +"Ah, Sali, to-morrow there will be kermess in a number of places near +by. Of two of these I know. On such occasions we should not be spied +upon and could enjoy ourselves to our heart's content. Below at the +river front I could await you, and then we can go wherever we like, to +laugh and be merry--just once, only once. But stop--we have no money." +And Vreni's face clouded with the sad thought, and she added blankly: +"What a pity! Nothing can come of it." + +"Let be," smilingly said Sali, "I shall have money enough when I meet +you." + +But Vreni flushed and said haltingly: "But how--not from your father, +not stolen money?" + +"No, Vreni. I still have my silver watch, and I will sell that." + +"Then that is arranged," said Vreni, and she flushed once more. "In +fact, I think I should die if I could not dance with you to-morrow." + +"Probably the best for us," said Sali, "if we both could die." + +They embraced with tearful smiles, and bade each other good-by, but at +the moment of parting they again laughed at each other, in the sure +hope of meeting again next day. + +"But when shall we meet?" asked Vreni. + +"At eleven at latest," answered Sali. "Then we can eat a good noon meal +together somewhere." + +"Fine, fine," Vreni cried after him, "come half an hour earlier then." + +But the very moment of their parting Vreni summoned him back once more, +and she showed suddenly a wholly changed and despairing face: "Nothing, +after all, can come of our plans," she then said, weeping hard, +"because I had forgotten I had no Sunday shoes any more. Even yesterday +I had to put on these clumsy ones going to town, and I don't know where +to find a pair I could wear." + +Sali stood undecided and amazed. + +"No shoes?" he repeated after her. "In that case you'll have to go in +these." + +"But no, no," she remonstrated. "In these I should never be able to +dance." + +"Well, all we can do then is to buy new ones," said Sali in a +matter-of-fact tone. + +"Where and what with?" asked Vreni. + +"Why, in Seldwyla, where they have shoe stores enough. And money I +shall have in less than two hours." + +"But, Sali, I cannot accompany you to all these shoe stores, and then +there will not be money enough for all the other things as well." + +"It must. And I will buy the shoes for you and bring them along +to-morrow." + +"Oh, but, you silly, they would not fit me." + +"Then give me an old shoe of yours to take along, or, stop, better +still, I will take your measure. Surely that will not be very +difficult." + +"Take my measure, of course. I never thought of that. Come, come, I +will find you a bit of tape." + +Then she sat down once more on the hearth, turned her skirt somewhat up +and slipped her shoe off, and the little foot showed, from yesterday's +excursion to town, yet covered with a white stocking. Sali knelt down, +and then took, as well as he was able, the measure, using the tape +daintily in encompassing the length and width with great care, and +tying knots where wanted. + +"You shoemaker," said Vreni, bending down to him and laughingly +flushing in embarrassment. But Sali also reddened, and he held the +little foot firmly in the palm of his hand, really longer than was +necessary, so that Vreni at last, blushing still a deeper red, withdrew +it, embracing, however, Sali once more stormily and kissing him with +ardor, but then telling him hastily to go. + +As soon as Sali arrived in town he took his watch to a jeweler and +received six or seven florins for it. For his silver watch chain he +also got some money, and now he thought himself rich as Croesus, for +since he had grown up he had never had as large a sum at once. If only +the day were over, he was saying to himself, and Sunday come, so that +he could purchase with his riches all the happiness which Vreni and +himself were dreaming of. For though the awful day after seemed to loom +darker and darker in comparison, the heavenly pleasures anticipated for +Sunday shone with all the greater lustre. However, some of his +remaining leisure time was spent agreeably by him in choosing the +desired pair of shoes for Vreni. In fact this job to him was a most +joyous diversion. He went from one shoestore to another, had them show +him all the women's footwear they had in stock, and finally bought the +prettiest pair he could find. They were of a finer quality and more +ornate than any Vreni had ever owned. He hid them under his vest, and +throughout the rest of the day did not leave them out of his sight; he +even put them under his pillow at night when he went to bed. Since he +had seen the girl that day and was to meet her again next day, he slept +soundly and well, but was up early, and then began to pick out his +Sunday finery, dressing with greater care than ever before in his life. +When he was done he looked with satisfaction at his own image in his +little broken mirror. And indeed it presented an enticing picture of +youth and good looks. His mother was astonished when she saw him thus +attired as though for his wedding, and she asked him the meaning of it. +The son replied, with a mien of indifference, that he wanted to take a +long stroll into the country, adding that he felt the effects of his +constant confinement in the close house. + +"Queer doings, all the time," grumbled his father with ill-humor, "and +forever skirmishing about." + +"Let him have his way," said the mother. "Perhaps a change of air and +surroundings will do him good. I'm sure to look at him he needs it. He +is as pale as a ghost." + +"Have you some money to spend for your outing?" now asked his father. +"Where did you get it from?" + +"I don't need any," said Sali. + +"There is a florin for you," replied the old man, and threw him the +coin. "You can turn in at the village and visit the tavern, so that +they don't think we're so badly off." + +"I don't intend to go to the village, and I have no use for the money. +You may keep it," replied Sali, with a show of indignation. + +"Well, you've had it, at any rate, and so I'll keep the money, you +ill-conditioned fellow," muttered the father, and put the coin back in +his pocket. + +But his wife who for some reason unknown to herself felt that day +particularly distressed on account of her son, brought down for him a +large handkerchief of Milan silk, with scarlet edges, which she herself +had worn a few odd times before and of which she knew that he liked it. +He wound it about his neck, and left the long ends of it dangling. And +the flaps of his shirt collar, usually worn by him turned down, he this +time let stand on end, in a fit of rustic coquetry, so that he offered +altogether the appearance of a well-to-do young man. Then at last, +Vreni's little shoes hid below his vest, he left the house at near +seven in the morning. In leaving the room a singularly powerful +sentiment urged him to shake hands once more with his parents, and +having reached the street, he was impelled to turn and take a last +glance at the house. + +"I almost believe," said Manz sententiously, "that the young fool is +smitten with some woman. Nothing but that would be lacking in our +present circumstances indeed." + +And the mother replied: "Would to God it were so. Perhaps the poor +fellow might yet be happy in life." + +"Just so," growled the father. "That's it. What a heavenly lot you are +picking for him. To fall in love and to have to take care of some +penniless woman--yes indeed, that would be a great thing for him, would +it not?" + +But Mother Manz only smiled slightly, and said never another word. + +Sali at first directed his steps toward the shore of the river, to that +trysting-place where he was to meet Vreni. But on the way he changed +his mind and steered straight for the village itself, hoping to meet +her there awaiting him, since the time till noon otherwise seemed lost +to him. + +"What do we have to care about gossips now?" he said to himself. "And +they dare not say anything against her anyway, nor am I afraid of +anyone." + +So he stepped into Vreni's room without any ceremony, and to his +delight found her already completely dressed and bedecked, seated +patiently on a stool, and awaiting her lover's coming. Nothing but the +shoes was lacking. + +But Sali stopped right in the centre of the room and stood like one +nailed to the spot, so beautiful and alluring Vreni looked in her +holiday attire. Yet it was simple enough. She wore a plain skirt of +blue linen, and above that a snow-white muslin kerchief. The dress +fitted her slender body wonderfully, and the brown hair with its pretty +curls had been well arranged, and the usually obstinate curls lay fine +and dainty about head and neck. Since Vreni had scarcely left the house +for so many weeks, her complexion had grown more delicate and almost +transparent; her griefs also had contributed toward that result. But at +that instant a rush of sudden joy and love poured over that pallor one +scarlet layer after another, and on her bosom she wore a fine nosegay +of roses, asters and rosemary. She was seated at the window, and was +breathing still and quiet the fresh morning air perfumed by the sun. +But when she saw Sali she at once stretched out her pretty arms, bare +from the elbow. And with a voice melodious and tender she exclaimed: +"How nice of you and how right to come already. But have you really +brought me the shoes? Surely? Well, then I won't get up until I have +them on." + +Sali without further ado produced the shoes and handed them to the +eager maiden. Vreni instantly cast her old ones aside, slipped the new +ones on, and indeed, they fitted excellently. Only now she rose quickly +from her seat, dandled herself in the shoes, and walked up and down the +room a few times, to be sure of their fit. She pulled up a bit her blue +dress in order to admire them the better, and with extreme pleasure she +examined the red loops in front, while Sali could not get his fill of +the charming picture the girl presented--the lovely excitement that +beautified her the more, the willowy shape, the gently heaving bosom, +the delicate oval of the face with its pretty features, animated with +feminine enjoyment of the moment, eager with the mere joy of living, +grateful to the giver of this last bit of finery that her childish soul +had longed for. + +"You are looking at my posy," she said. "Have I not managed to pick a +nice one? You must know these are the last ones I have managed to find +in this wasted place. But there was, after all, still left a rosebud, +over at the hedge in a sheltered spot a few of them and some other +flowers, and the way they are now gathered up and arranged one would +never think they came from a house decayed and fallen. But now it is +high time for me to leave here, for not a single flower is there, and +the whole house is bare." + +Then only Sali noticed that all the few movables still left were gone. + +"You poor little Vreni," he deplored, "have they already taken +everything from you?" + +"Yes," she said with a ludicrous attempt to be tragic, "yesterday, +after you had left, they came and took everything of mine away that +could be moved at all, and left me nothing but my bed. But that I have +also sold at once, and here is the money for it--see!" And she hauled +forth from the depths of an inside pocket a handful of bright new +silver coins. + +"With this," she continued, "the orphan patron said to me, I was to +find another service in town somewhere, and that I was to start out +to-day." + +"Really," said Sali, after glancing about in the kitchen and the other +rooms, "there is nothing at all left, no furniture, no sliver of fuel, +no pot or kettle, no knife or fork. And have you had nothing to eat +this morning?" + +"Nothing at all," answered Vreni, with a happy laugh. "I might have +gone out and got myself something for breakfast, but I preferred to +remain hungry, so I could eat a lot with you, for you cannot think how +much I am going to enjoy my first meal with you--how awfully much I am +going to eat with you present. I am almost dying with impatience for +it." And she showed him a row of pearly teeth and a little red tongue +to emphasize what she said. + +Sali stood like one enchanted. + +"If I only might touch you," murmured Sali, "I should soon show you how +much I love you, you pretty, pretty thing." + +"No, no, you are right," quickly rejoined Vreni, "you would ruin all my +finery, and if we also handle my flowers with some care my head and +hair will profit from it, because ordinarily you disarrange all my +curls." + +"Well, then," grumbled Sali, "let us go." + +"Not quite yet; we must wait till my bed has been fetched away. For as +soon as that is gone I am going to lock up the house, and I am never to +return to it. My little bundle I am going to give to the woman to keep, +to the one who has bought my bed." + +So they sat down together and waited until the woman showed up, a +peasant woman of squat shape and robust habit, one who loved to talk, +who had a stout boy with her that was to carry the bedstead. When this +woman got sight of Vreni's lover and of the girl herself in all her +finery, she opened mouth and eyes to their fullest, squared herself and +put her arms akimbo, shouting: "Why, look only, you're starting well, +Vreni. With a lover and yourself dressed up like a princess." + +"Don't I?" laughed Vreni, in a friendly way. "And do you know who that +is?" + +"I should think so," said the woman. "That is Sali Manz, or I am much +mistaken. Mountains and valleys, they say, do not meet, but people most +certainly do. But, child, let me warn you. Think how your parents have +fared." + +"Ah, that is all changed now," smilingly replied Vreni. "Everything has +been adjusted, and now things are smoothed out. See here, Sali is my +promised husband." And the girl told this bit of news in a manner +almost condescending, and bent toward the woman one of her bewitching +glances. + +"Your promised husband, is he? Well, well, who would have thought it?" +chattered the peasant woman, feeling highly honored at being the +recipient of this interesting intelligence. + +"Yes, and he is now a wealthy gentleman," went on Vreni, "for he has +just won a hundred thousand dollars in the lottery. Just think!" + +The woman gave a jump of surprise, threw up her hands, and shouted: +"Hund--hundred thousand--Hund--" + +Vreni repeated it with a serious face. + +The woman grew still more excited. + +"Hundred thousand--well, well. But you are making fun of me, child. +Hund--Is it possible?" + +"All right, as you choose," went on Vreni, still smiling. + +"But if it is true, and he gets all that money, what are you two going +to do with it? Are you to become a stylish lady, or what?" + +"Of course, within three weeks our wedding takes place--such a +wedding." + +"Oh, my goodness, is it possible? But no, you are telling me stories, I +know." + +"Well, he has already bought the finest house in Seldwyla, with a fine +vineyard and the biggest garden attached. And you must come and pay us +a visit, after we're there--I count on it." + +"Why, what a witch you are," the woman went on between belief and +unbelief. + +"You will see how nice it is there," continued Vreni unabashed. "A cup +of coffee you'll get, such as you never drank before, and plenty of +cake with it, of butter and honey." + +"Oh, you lucky duck!" shrieked the woman, "depend upon my coming, of +course." And she made an eager face, as though she already saw spread +before her all these dainties. + +"But if you should happen to come at noontime," went on Vreni in her +fanciful tale, "and you would be tired from marketing, you shall have a +bowl of strong broth and a bottle of our extra wine, the one with the +blue seal." + +"That will certainly do me good," said the woman. + +"And there shall be no lack of some candy and white wheaten rolls, for +your little ones at home." + +"I think I can taste it already," answered the woman, and she turned +her eyes heavenwards. + +"Perhaps a pretty kerchief, or the remnant of a bolt of extra fine +silk, or a costly ribbon or two for your skirts, or enough for an apron +I suppose will be found, if we rummage in my drawers and trunks +together sometime when we are talking things over." + +The woman turned completely on her heels and shook her skirts with a +jubilant yodel. + +"And in case your husband could start in the cattle dealing way, and +needed a bit of capital for it, you would know where to apply, would +you not? My dear Sali will always be glad to invest some of his +superfluous money in such a manner. And I myself might add a few +pennies from my savings to help out a good and intimate gossip, you may +be certain." + +By this time the last faint doubts had vanished. The woman wrung her +uncouth hands, and said, with a great deal of sentiment: "That's what I +have always been saying, you are a square and honest and beautiful +girl! May the Lord always be good to you and reward you for what you +are going to do for me!" + +"But on my part, I must insist that you, too, treat me well." + +"Surely you have a right to expect that," said the woman. + +"And that you at all times offer me first all your produce, be it fruit +or potatoes, or vegetables, and to do this before you take them to the +public market, so that I may always be sure of having a real peasant +woman on hand, one upon whom I may rely. Whatever anybody else is +willing to pay you for your produce, I will also be willing to give. +You know me. Why, there is nothing nicer than a wealthy city lady, one +who sits within town walls and cannot know prices and conditions there, +and yet needs so many things in her household, and an honest and +well-posted woman from the country, experienced in all that concerns +her, who are bound together by durable friendship and a community of +interests. The city lady profits from it at all sorts of occasions, as +for example at weddings and baptisms, at seasons of illness or crop +failure, at holidays and famine time, or inundations, from which the +Lord preserve us!" + +"From which the Lord preserve us!" repeated the woman solemnly, +sobbing and wiping her wet face on her ample apron. "But what a +sensible and well-informed little wife you'll make, to be sure! Without +doubt you will live as happily as a mouse in the cheese, or there is no +justice in this world. Handsome, clean, smart and wise, fit for and +willing to tackle all work at any time. None is as good-looking and as +fine as thou art, no, not in the whole village, and even some distance +further away. And who has got you for wife can congratulate himself; he +is bound to be in paradise, or he is a scoundrel, and he will have me +to deal with. Listen, Sali, do not fail to be nice to Vreni, or you +will hear a word from me, you lucky devil, to break such a rose without +thorns as this one here!" + +"For to-day, my dear woman," concluded Vreni, "take this bundle along, +as we agreed yesterday, and keep it till I send for it. But it may be +that I myself come for it, in my own carriage, and get it, if you have +no objection. A drink of milk you will not refuse me in that case, and +a nice cake, such as perhaps an almond tart, I shall probably bring +along myself." + +"You blessed child, give it here, your bundle," the peasant woman +quavered, still completely under the influence of Vreni's eloquence. + +Vreni therefore deposited on top of the bedding which the woman had +already tied up, a huge bag containing all the girl's belongings, so +that the stout-limbed woman was bearing a perfect tower of shaking and +trembling baggage on her head. + +"It is almost too much for me to carry at once," she complained. "Could +I not come again and divide the load in halves?" she wanted to know. + +"No, no," answered Vreni, "we must leave here at once, for we have to +visit a whole number of wealthy relatives, and some of these are far +away, the kind, you know, who have now recognized us since we have +become rich ourselves. You know how the world wags." + +"Yes, indeed," said the woman, "I do know, and so God keep you, and +think of me now and then in your glorious new state." + +Then the peasant woman trundled off with her monstrously high tower of +bundles, preserving its equilibrium by skillfully balancing the weight, +and behind her trudged her boy, who stood up in the center of Vreni's +gaily painted bedstead, his hard head braced against the baldaquin of +it in which the eye beheld stars and suns in a firmament of +multicolored muslin, and like another Samson, grasping with his red +fists the two prettily carved slender pillars in front which supported +the whole. As Vreni, leaning against Sali, watched the procession +meandering down between the gardens of the nearer houses, and the +aforesaid little temple forming part of her whilom bedstead, she +remarked: "That would still make a fine little arbor or garden pavilion +if placed in the midst of a sunny garden, with a small table and a +bench inside, and quickly growing vines planted around. Eh, Sali, +wouldn't you like to sit there with me in the shade?" + +"Why, yes, Vreni," said he, smiling, "especially if the vines once had +grown to a size." + +"But why not go now?" continued she. "Nothing more is holding us here." + +"True," he assented. "Come, then, and lock up the house. But to whom +will you deliver up the key?" + +Vreni looked around. "Here to this halberd let us hang it. For more +than a century it has been in our house, as I've often heard father +say. Now it stands at the door as the last sentinel." + +So they hung the rusty key of the housedoor to one of the rustier +curves of the stout weapon, which was fairly overgrown with bean vines, +and sallied forth. + +But after all Vreni grew faint, and Sali had to support her the first +score steps, the parting with the place where her cradle had stood +making her sad. But she did not look back. + +"Where are we bound for first?" she wanted to know. + +"Let us make a regular excursion across the country," said Sali, "and +stop at a spot where we shall be comfortable all day long. And don't +let us hurry. Towards evening we shall easily be able to find a dance +going on." + +"Good," answered Vreni. "Thus we shall be together the whole day, and +go where we like. But above all, I feel quite faint. Let us stop in the +next village and get some coffee." + +"Of course," said the young man. "But let us first get away from here." + +Soon they were in the open, fields of ripe, waving corn or else of +fresh stubble around them, and went along, quietly and full of deep +contentment, close to each other, breathing the pure air as though +freed from prison walls. It was a delicious Sunday morning in +September. There was not a cloud to be seen in the sky of deep azure, +and in the distance the hills and woods were enwrapped in a delicate +haze, so that the whole landscape looked more solemn and mysterious. +From everywhere the tolling of the church bells was heard, the +harmonious deep tones of a big swinging bell belonging to a wealthy +congregation, or the talkative two small bells of a poor village that +made fast time to create any impression at all. The lovers forgot +completely as to what was to become of them at the end of this rare +day, forgot the disturbing uncertainties of their young lives, and gave +themselves up completely to the intoxicating delights of the moment, +sank their very souls in a calm joy that knew no words and no fears. +Neatly clothed, free to come or go, like two happy ones who before God +and men belong to each other by all rights, they went forth into the +still Sunday country side. Each slight sound or call, reverberating and +finally losing itself in the general silence, shook their hearts as +though the strings of a harp had been touched by divine fingers. For +Love is a musical instrument which makes resound the farthest and the +most indifferent subjects and changes them into a music all its own. + +Though both were hungry and faint, the half hour's walk to the next +village seemed to them but a step, and they entered slowly the little +inn that stood at the entrance to the place. + +Sali ordered a substantial and appetizing breakfast, and while it was +being prepared they observed, quiet as two mice, the interior of this +homely place of entertainment, everything in it being scrupulously +clean and orderly, from the walls and tables and napkins to the hearth +and floor. The guest room itself was large and airy, and the window +panes glittered in the furtive rays of the sun. The host of the inn was +at the same time a baker, and his last baking, just out of the oven, +spread a delicious odor through the whole house. Stacks of fresh loaves +were carried past them in clean baskets, since after church service the +members of the congregation were in the habit of getting here their +white bread or to drink their noon shoppen. The hostess, a rather +handsome and neat woman, dressed in their Sunday finery all her little +brood of children, leisurely and pleasantly, and as she was done with +one more of the little ones, the latter, proud and glad, would come +running to Vreni, showing her all their finery, and innocently boasting +and bragging of their belongings and of all else they held precious. + +When at last the fragrant coffee was brought and served for them, +together with other good things, at a convenient table, the two young +people sat down somewhat embarrassed, just as if they had been invited +as honored guests to do so. But they got over this mood, and whispered +to each other modestly but happily, feeling the joy of each other's +presence. And oh, how Vreni enjoyed her breakfast, the strong coffee, +the cream, the fresh rolls still warm from the oven, the rich butter +and the honey, the omelet, and all the other splendid things dished up +for them. Delicious it all tasted, not only because she had been really +hungry, but because she could look all the while at Sali, and she ate +and ate, as if she had been fasting for a whole year. + +With that she also took pleasure in the pretty service, the fine cups +and saucers and dishes, the dainty silver spoons, and the snowy linen. +For the hostess seemed to have made up her mind about these two, and +she evidently regarded them as young people of good family, who were to +be waited upon in proper style, and several times she came and sat down +by them, chatting most agreeably, and both Sali and Vreni answered her +sensibly, whereat the woman became still more affable. And Vreni felt +the wholesome influence of all this so strongly, and a sense of snug +comfort coursed so pleasantly through her veins that she in her mind +found it hard to choose between the delights of wandering about in the +woods and fields, hand in hand with her lover, or remaining for some +time longer here in this inn, in this haven of rest and creature +comfort, honored and respected and dreaming herself into the illusion +of owning such a nice home as this herself. + +But Sali himself rendered the choice easier, for in a perfectly proper +and rather husbandlike manner he urged departure, just as though they +had duties to fulfil elsewhere. Both host and hostess saw the young +couple to the door, and bade them good-by in the most orthodox and +well-meaning way, and Vreni, too, showed her manners and reciprocated +their courtesy like one to the manner born, then following Sali in most +decent and moral style. But even after reaching the open country once +more and entering an oak forest a couple of miles long, both of them +were still under the influence of the spell, and they went along in a +dreamy mood, just as though they both did not come from homes destroyed +and filled with hatred and discord, but from happy and harmonious +homes, expecting from life the near fulfilment of all their rosy hopes. + +Vreni bent her pretty head down on her flower-bedecked bosom, deep in +thought, and went along the smooth, damp woodpath with hands carefully +held along her sides, while Sali stepped along elastic and upright, +quick and thoughtful, his eyes fastened to the oak trunks ahead of him, +like a well-to-do peasant reflecting on the problem which of these +trees it would best pay to cut down and which to leave. But at last +they awoke from these vain dreams, glanced at each other and discovered +that they were still maintaining the attitude with which they had left +the inn. Then they both blushed and their heads drooped in melancholy +fashion. Youth, however, soon reasserted itself. The woods were green, +the sky overhead faultlessly blue, and they were alone by themselves in +the world, and thus they soon drifted back into that train of thought. +But they did not long remain by themselves, since this attractive +forest road began to be alive with groups and couples out for a bracing +walk in the cool shade, most of them returning from service in church, +and nearly all of these were singing gay worldly tunes, trifling and +joking with each other. For in these parts it so happens that the +rustics have their customary walks and promenades as well as the city +dwellers, to which they resort at leisure, only with this great +difference that their pleasure grounds cost nothing to maintain and +that these are finer in every way, since Nature alone has made them. +Not alone do they stroll about on Sundays through fields and meadows +and woods with a peculiar sense of freedom and recreation, taking stock +of their ripening crops and the prospects of the harvest to come, but +they also choose with unerring taste excursions along the edge of +forest or meadow, hill or dale, sit down for a brief rest on the summit +of a height, whence they enjoy a fine view, or sing in chorus at +another suitable spot, and certainly obtain fully as much, if not more, +pleasure out of all this as town folk do. And since they do all this, +not as labor but diversion, one must conclude that these rustics, +despite of what has often been claimed to the contrary, are lovers of +nature, aside from the strictly utilitarian view of it. And always they +break off something green and living, young and old, even weak and +decrepit women, when they revisit the scenes of long ago, and the same +spirit is seen in the habit that these country people have, including +sedate men of business, of cutting for themselves a slender rod of +hazel, or a snappy cane, whenever they walk through woods or forest, +and these they will peel all but a small bunch of green leaves at the +point. Such rods or twigs they will bear as though it were a sceptre, +and when they enter an office or public place they will put them in a +corner of the room, and never forget to get them again, even after the +most serious and important matters have been discussed, and to take +them along with them home. And it is then only the privilege of the +youngest of their boys to seize it, break it, play with it, in fine, +destroy it. + +When Sali and Vreni noticed these many couples out for a holiday +stroll, they laughed to themselves, and rejoiced that they, too, were +such a happy pair; they lost themselves on side paths that led away +from every noise, and there they felt protected by the green solitude. +They remained where they liked, went on or rested again for a spell, +and in unison with the sky overhead which was cloudless, no carking +care came to disturb their serenity. This state of perfect, unalloyed +bliss lasted for them for hours, and they for the time forgot wholly +whence they came and whither they were going, and behaved with such a +degree of decorum that Vreni's little posy actually remained as fresh +and intact as it had been early in the morning, and her plain Sunday +dress showed neither crease nor stain. As to Sali, he behaved all this +time not like a youthful rustic of less than twenty, nor like the son +of a broken-down tavern keeper, but rather like a youth a couple of +years younger and quite innocent, withal of the best education. It was +almost comical to observe his conduct towards his merry Vreni, looking +at her with a touching mixture of tenderness, respect and care. For +these two lovers, so unsophisticated and so entirely without guile, +somehow understood how to run in the course of this one day of perfect +joy vouchsafed them through all the gamut of love, and to make up not +alone for the earlier and more poetic stages of it but also to taste +its bitter and ultimate end with its passionate sacrifice of life +itself. + +Thus they thoroughly tired themselves running about part of the day, +and hunger had come a second time that day when, from the crest of a +shady mountain, they at last perceived, far down at their feet, a +village of some size lying there in the glow of the westering sun. +Rapidly they made the descent, and entered the village just as +decorously as they had done the other earlier in the day. Nobody was +about that knew them even by sight, for Vreni particularly had scarcely +at all mingled with people during the last few years, nor had she been +off on visits to other villages. Therefore they presented entirely the +appearance of a decent young couple out on an errand of importance. + +They went to the best inn of the place, and there Sali at once ordered +a good and substantial meal. A table was specially reserved for them, +and everything needful was there laid out and they sat down again +demurely in the corner and eyed the trappings and furniture of the +handsome room, with its wainscoted walls of polished walnut, the +well-appointed sideboard of the same wood, and the filmy window +curtains of white lace. The hostess stepped up to them in a sociable +manner, and set a vase full of fresh flowers on the table. + +"Until the soup is ready," she said pleasantly, "you may like to feast +your eyes on these flowers from our garden. From all appearance, if you +don't mind my curiosity, you are a young couple on their way to town to +get married to-morrow?" + +Vreni blushed furiously, and did not dare raise her head. Nor did Sali +say anything in reply, and the hostess continued: "Well, of course, you +are both still very young. But young love, long life, as the saying is, +and at least you are both good-looking enough and need not hide +yourselves from people. If you will but work and strive together like +sensible folk, you may succeed in life before you know it, for youth is +a good thing, and so are diligence and faith in one another. But that, +of course, is necessary, for there will come also days you will not +like, many days, many days. But after all, life is pleasant enough, if +one but understands how to make a proper use of it. And don't mind my +chatter, you young people, but it does me good to look at you two, so +handsome and young." + +Just then the waitress brought in the soup, and since she had overheard +the concluding phrases, and would herself have liked to get married, +she regarded Vreni with envious eyes, for she begrudged her what she +assumed was so soon in store for this young girl. She retired +precipitately into the adjoining room, and there she let her tongue go +clacking. To the hostess who was busy there with some household task, +she said, so loud as to be distinctly heard by the young people: "Yes, +these are indeed the right kind of people to go to town and hurry up +marrying, without a penny, without friends, without dowry, and with +nothing in view but misery and beggary! What in the world is to become +of such people if the girl is still so young that she does not even +know how to put on her frock or jacket, nor how to cook a plate of +soup! Oh, what fools! But I feel sorry for the young fellow, such a +good-looking fellow he is, and then to get a little ignorant doll like +that!" + +"Sh-sh--will you keep your mouth shut, you evil-mouthed slut," broke in +the indignant hostess. "Don't you dare say anything against them. I am +pretty sure that is a deserving young couple, and I will not hear them +wronged. Probably they are from the mountains where the factories are, +and while they are not dressed richly they look neat and cleanly, and +if only they are fond of each other and not afraid of work, they will +get along better than you with your bitter tongue. And that I will tell +you--you'll have to wait a long while before anybody will take you, +unless you change considerably, you vinegary old thing!" + +Thus it was that Vreni tasted all the delights of a bride on her +wedding trip: the well-meaning conversation of an experienced and +sensible woman, the jealousy of a wicked and man-crazy person, one who +from anger at the bride praises and sympathizes with the lover, and an +appetizing meal at the side of this same lover. She glowed in the face +like a carnation, her heart beat like a trip hammer, but she ate and +drank nevertheless with a perfectly normal appetite, and was all the +more amiable with the waitress who served them, but could not help on +such occasions looking tenderly at Sali, and whispering to him, so that +he also began to feel rather amorous. However, they sat a long time +over their meal, delaying its end, as though they were both unwilling +to destroy the lovely deception. The hostess came and brought them for +dessert all sorts of sweet cakes and other dainties, and Sali ordered +rarer and more fiery wine, so that the choice liquor ran through +Vreni's veins like a flame, albeit she was cautious and sipped it but +sparingly and kept up the semblance of a chaste and prudent young +bride. Half of this was natural cunning on her part; but as for the +other half, she felt indeed as if the role were reality, and what with +anxiety and what with ardent love for Sali she thought her little heart +would burst, so that the walls seemed to her too narrow, and she begged +him to go. And they went off. It was now as if they were afraid to turn +aside from the main road and into side paths, where they would be by +themselves, for they continued on the highway, right through the throng +of pleasure seekers, not looking to right or left. But when they had +left the village behind them and were on their way towards the next, +where kermess was being celebrated, Vreni linked her arm in his and +whispered: "Sali, why not belong altogether one to the other and be +happy!" + +And Sali answered, fastening his dreamy eyes upon the sun-flooded +valley below where the meadows showed like a purple carpet of +wildflowers, "Ah, why not?" + +And they instantly stopped in the road, and wanted to kiss each other. +But suddenly a group of passers-by broke out of the near woods, and +then they felt shy and desisted. On they went towards the big village +in which the bustle of kermess was already noticeable from afar. The +lanes were crowded, and before the most considerable tavern of the +place a multitude of noisy, shouting people were assembled. From inside +the tavern the strains of a lively, gay tune were heard. For the young +villagers had begun dancing shortly after the noon hour, and on an open +square in front of the tavern a market had been established where all +sorts of sweets were for sale, and in another couple of booths could be +seen flimsy bits of finery, ornaments, silk kerchiefs and the like, and +around these were to be seen children and some others who for the +moment were content to be mere observers. + +Sali and Vreni also stepped up to these booths, and they let their eyes +travel over all these things. For both had instantly put their hands in +their pockets and each wanted to present the other with a little gift, +since that was the first and only time they had been together at a +fair. Sali, therefore, bought a big house of gingerbread, the walls of +which were calsomined with a mixture of butter and melted sugar, and on +the green roof of which were perching snow-white pigeons, while from +the chimney a small cupid was peeping forth clad as a chimney sweep. At +the open windows of this wonderful house plump-cheeked persons with +diminutive red mouths were embracing each other most affectionately, +the kissing process being represented by the gingerbread artist by a +sort of double mouth, or twins, one melting into the other. Black +points meant eyes, and on the pinky-red housedoor there could be read +the following touching stanzas: + + + Enter my house, beloved, + Yet do not thou forget + That all the coin accepted + Is kisses sweet, you bet. + + His sweetheart said: "Oh, dear one, + This threat does not deter! + My love for thee is greater + Than any kind of fare. + + "And come to think it over, + 'Twas kisses I did seek." + Well, then, step in, my lady, + And let thy lips now speak. + + +A gentleman in a blue frock coat and a lady with an expansive bosom +thus complimented each other by these rhymes into the house; both were +painted to right and left of the wall. Vreni on her part presented Sali +with a gingerbread heart, on which on either side these verses were +pasted: + + + A sweet, sweet almond pierces my heart, as you see, + But sweeter far than almonds is my love for thee. + + When thou my heart hast eaten, + Oh, let me not disguise + That sooner than my love can break + Will break my nutbrown eyes. + + +Both of them eagerly read these verses, and never had rhymes, never had +any kind of poetry, been more deeply felt and appreciated than were +these gingerbread stanzas. They could not help fancying that they had +been specially written for them, for they fitted so marvelously their +requirements. + +"Ah, you give me a house," sighed Vreni. "But I have first made thee a +gift of one myself, and of the real one. For our hearts are now our +sole dwellings, and within them we live, and we carry our houses about +with us wherever we may go, just like the snail. Other abode we have +none left now." + +"But then we are snails really, of which each carries the house of the +other," replied Sali. + +"Then we must never leave each other, for fear that we lose the other's +house," answered Vreni. + +They did not notice that they themselves were perpetrating the same +species of humor as was spread out on the printed pasters of the +gingerbread literature. So they continued to study the latter with deep +interest. The most pathetic sentiments, both agreed, were found on the +heartshaped cakes, whereof there was a great choice, both plain and +ornamental, small and large. All the verses they read seemed to them +wonderfully apt and appropriate to the occasion. When Vreni read on a +gilt heart which like a lyre bore strings: + + + My heart is like a fiddlestring, + Touch gently it and it will sing, + + +she could not refrain from remarking: "How true that is! Why, I can +hear my own heart making music!" + +An image of Napoleon in gingerbread was also there, and even this, +instead of speaking in heroic measure, symbolized a love-smitten swain, +for it declared in wretched rhyme: + + + Terrific was Napoleon's might, + His sword of steel, his heart was light; + My love is sweet like any rose, + Yet is she faithful, goodness knows. + + +But while both seemed busy sounding all the depths of these appeals to +the muses, they secretly made a purchase. Sali bought for Vreni a small +gift ring, with a stone of green glass, and Vreni a ring fashioned out +of chamois horn, in which a gold forget-me-not was cleverly inlaid. +Probably both were moved with the same idea, that of a farewell gift. + +However, while they thus were entirely engrossed with these things they +had not remarked that a wide ring was forming gradually around them +made up of people who watched them closely and curiously. For as quite +a number of lads and lasses from their own village had come to the +kermess, they had been recognized, and these all now stood at some +little distance away from them, regarding with astonishment this neatly +dressed couple that in their intense preoccupation had eyes for nothing +else in the world. + +"Just look," the murmuring went round; "why, that is Vreni Marti and +Sali from town. They surely have met and made up. And what tenderness, +what friendship for one another! Only notice!" + +The amazement of these onlookers was strangely mingled of pity with the +ill-fortune of the young couple, of disdain for the wickedness and +poverty of their parents, and of envy for the happiness and deep +affection of these two. For it struck these coarse materialistic +rustics that the couple were fond of each other in a manner most +unusual in their own circles, excited to an uncommon degree and so +taken up with one another and indifferent to all else, as to make them +almost appear to belong to a more aristocratic sphere, so that +altogether they seemed singular and strange to these gross villagers. + +When therefore Sali and Vreni finally awoke from their dreams and threw +a glance around, they saw nothing but staring faces. Nobody greeted +them; and they themselves knew not whether to salute anyone of these +former acquaintances, whose show of unfriendliness was, just the same, +not so much design as astonishment. Vreni became afraid and blushed +from sheer embarrassment, but Sali took her hand and led her away. And +the poor girl followed him willingly, bearing in her hand the huge +gingerbread cottage, although the trumpets and horns from inside the +inn sounded so invitingly, and although she was most anxious and eager +to dance. + +"We cannot dance here," said Sali, when they had been going some little +distance aside, "for there would not be any amusement in it under the +circumstances." + +"You are right," Vreni said sadly, "and I really think now we had +better drop the whole idea and I will try and find a place for me to +stay overnight." + +"No," Sali cried, "you must have a chance to dance for once. For that, +too, I brought you the shoes. Let us go where the poor folks are having +a good time, since we, too, belong to them. They will not look down on +us. At every kermess here there is also dancing at the Paradise Garden, +since it belongs to this parish, and we are going there, and you can, +if it comes to the worst, also find a bed to sleep there." + +Vreni shuddered at the thought of having to sleep for the first time of +her young life in a place where nobody knew her. But she followed +without a murmur where Sali led her. Was he not everything in the world +to her now? The so-called Paradise Garden was a house of entertainment +situated in a beautiful spot, lying all by itself at the side of a +mountain from which one had a view far over the whole country. But on +holidays like this only the poorer classes, the children of small +farmers and of day laborers, even vagrants, used to resort to it. A +hundred years before a wealthy man of queer habits had built it as a +summer villa for himself, and nobody had succeeded him as tenant, and +since the house could not be used for anything else, the whole place +after a while began to decay, and so finally it got into the hands of +an innkeeper who managed it in his own peculiar way. + +The name alone and the style of architecture had remained. The house +itself consisted of but one story, and on top of that an open loggia +had been erected, the roof of which was borne on the four corners by +statues of sandstone. These were meant for the four archangels and were +wholly defaced. At the edge of the roof could be seen all about small +angels carved of the same material and all of them playing some musical +instrument, the angels themselves showing monstrous heads and big +paunches, fiddling, touching the triangle, blowing the flute, striking +the cymbal or the tambourine; these instruments had originally been +gilt. The ceiling inside and the low sidewalls, as well as all the rest +of the house were still covered with rather dingy fresco paintings, and +these represented dancing and singing saints. But all of it had +suffered from the weather and the rain, and was now as indistinct and +chaotic as a dream itself. And besides, all over the walls clambered +grapevines, and at this time of year purplish ripening grapes peeped +forth from between the foliage. All about the house itself there stood +chestnut trees, and gnarled big rosebushes, growing wildly after a +fashion of their own, just as lilac bushes would grow elsewhere. + +The loggia served as dance hall, and as Vreni and Sali came in sight of +the building they could notice the dancing couples turning around and +around under the open roof, and outside, under the trees, drinking, +shouting and noisy men and women were disporting themselves. It was a +merry throng. + +Vreni, who was carrying in her hand, demurely and almost piously, her +wonderful gingerbread palace, resembled one of those ancient and +sainted church patronesses sometimes seen in missals, with a model of +the cathedral or other devout foundation displayed which would earn her +the Church's benediction. But as soon as she heard the wild music that +came down in a tumbling stream from the loggia, the poor thing forgot +her grief. Suddenly all alive she demanded rapturously that Sali should +dance with her. They pushed their way through all these people that +were crowding the environs of the house and the lower floor, these +being mostly ragged people from Seldwyla, with some who had been making +a cheap excursion into the country, and all sorts of homeless vagrants. +Then they ascended the stairs and at once after arriving on top they +seized each other and were whirling away in a lively waltz. Not an eye +did they give to their surroundings until the music came to a temporary +halt. Then they stopped and turned around. Vreni had crushed her +gingerbread house, and was just going to shed a few tears on that +account when she noticed the black fiddler, and now felt a veritable +terror. + +He was seated near them, upon a bench which itself stood upon a big +table, and he looked just as black and tawny as ever. But to-day he +wore a bunch of green holly and pine in his funny little hat, and at +his feet there stood a big bottle of claret and a tumbler, and he did +not in the least touch either of these with his feet, although he was +forever kicking up his legs to keep the tune while fiddling. Next to +him sat a handsome young man with a French horn, but the young man +looked melancholy, and a hunchback there also was, standing next a bass +viol. Sali also had a fright in seeing the black fiddler, but the +latter greeted them both in the friendliest manner and called out to +them: "You see I knew that some day I should play to your dancing, just +as I said when I last met you. And now, you darlings, I trust you'll +have a good time, and take a drink with me." + +He offered the full glass to Sali, who accepted it, emptied it and +thanked the fiddler. And when he saw that Vreni was badly scared at +seeing him, he did his best to reassure her, and jested with her in a +rather nice way, until he had made her laugh. Thereupon Vreni recovered +her courage, and both of them felt rather glad that they had an +acquaintance there and were in a certain sense standing under the +special protection of the black fellow. Then they danced steadily, +forgetting themselves and the whole world in the constant twirling, +singing, shouting and general noise, a noise which rolled down the hill +and over the whole landscape which gradually began to be shrouded in a +silvery autumn haze. They danced until twilight, when most of the merry +guests disappeared, unsteady on their feet and shouting at the top of +their voices. Those still remaining were the vagrants and stragglers, +houseless and strongly inclined to turn night into day. Amongst these +there were some who seemed on very friendly terms with the black +fiddler and who for the most part looked outlandish because of oddities +of costume. There was, for instance, a young man in a green corduroy +jacket and a tattered straw hat, who wore around the crown of the +latter a wreath of wild scarlet berries. He again had with him a savage +sort of female who wore a skirt of cherry-red chintz and had a hoop +made of young grapevine tied around her temples, so that at each side +of her face hung a bunch of grapes. This couple was the jolliest of +all, to be met with everywhere, and was dancing and singing without a +stop. Then there was a slender, graceful girl there, wearing a thin +silk dress and a white cloth on her head, the ends of which fell on her +shoulders. The cloth had evidently once been a napkin or towel. But +below this doubtful cloth there glowed a pair of magnificent eyes of +deep violet hue. Around her neck this extravagant person wore a sixfold +chain of the same autumnal berries, and this ornament suited her +complexion marvelously well. This strange woman was dancing perpetually +with none but herself, whirling almost unintermittently, with great +grace and a very light step, refusing every partner that offered +himself. Every time she passed in her dancing the sad hornblower she +smiled, and the musician turned away his head. + +Some other gay women or girls there were, together with their escorts, +all of them poorly or fantastically clad, but with all that they +assuredly enjoyed themselves greatly, and there seemed to be perfect +accord among them all. When it had turned completely dark the host +refused to furnish light for illumination, since the wind would blow +the candles out anyway, and besides the full-moon would be out in a +short spell, and for the present company, he claimed, the moonlight was +ample. This declaration, instead of being opposed, caused general +satisfaction among this mongrel crowd; they all stood up at the open +sides of the dance hall and watched the moon rise in her full splendor, +and when the new golden light flooded the wide hall, dancing was +resumed with great earnestness. And so quiet, good-natured and +well-mannered was it done as if they were turning under the light of a +hundred wax candles. This singular light, too, made them all more +intimately acquainted with each other, as though they had known them +for years, and thus it was that Sali and Vreni could not very well +avoid mingling with the rest and dancing with other partners. But +whenever they had been separated for just a short while they flew and +rejoined the other without delay, and felt delighted thereat. Sali made +a sad face at this, and when dancing with another person would turn +toward Vreni. But she would not notice that, but would glide along like +a fairy, her features transfigured with pleasure, and her whole soul +enraptured with the swaying motions of the dance, no matter who her +partner. + +"Are you jealous, Sali?" she asked smilingly, when the musicians took a +longer rest. + +"Not the least," he replied. + +"Then why are you so angry when I'm dancing with somebody else?" she +wanted to know. + +"I am not angry because of that," he said, "but only because I am +forced to dance with another person but you. I cannot feel pleasant +towards another girl. In fact, I feel just as though I had a block of +wood in my arms if it is anybody but you. And you? How do you feel +about that?" + +"Oh, I feel as though I were in heaven so long as I merely can dance +and know that you are present," replied Vreni. "But I believe I should +at once fall down dead if you went and left me here by myself." + +They had gone down from the dance hall and were now standing in the +grounds before the house. Vreni put both her arms around his neck, +pressed her slender trembling body against him, and put her burning +cheek, wet from hot tears, to his, sobbing out: "We cannot marry, and +yet I cannot leave you, not for a moment, not for a minute." + +Sali embraced the girl, pressed her ardently against his heart, and +covered her with kisses. His confused thoughts were struggling for some +way out of the labyrinth that encompassed them both, but he saw none. +Even if the blot of his family misery and his neglected education were +not weighing against him, his extreme youth and his ardent passion +would have prevented a long period of patience and self-denial, and +then there would still have been his misfortune in having injured +Vreni's father for life. The consciousness that happiness for himself +and her was, after all, to be found only in a union honest, blameless +and approved by the whole world, was just as much alive in him as in +Vreni. In her case as in his, two beings ostracized by all, these +reflections were like the last flaring up of their lost family honor, +an honor that had been blazing for centuries in their respectable +houses like a living flame, and which their fathers had involuntarily +extinguished and destroyed by a misdeed which at the time had been +committed more in thoughtlessness than with malice aforethought. For +when they, in the attempt to enlarge their holdings by a piece of +dishonesty that seemed at the time wholly without risk and not likely +to entail serious consequences, had been guilty of a wrong to a person +that had been universally given up as lost, they had done something +which many of their otherwise correct neighbors would, under the same +circumstances, likewise have done. + +Such wrongs as that are indeed perpetrated every day in the year, on a +large or a small scale. But once in a while Fate furnishes an example +of how two such transgressors against the honor of their houses and +against the property of another may oppose each other, and then these +will unfailingly fight to the death and devour one the other like two +savage beasts. For those who furtively or forcibly increase their +estate may commit such fateful blunders not only when they are seated +on thrones and then apply a high-sounding name to their lust and their +misdeed, but the same in substance is often done as well in the +humblest hut, and both categories of sinners frequently accomplish the +very reverse of what they aimed at, and their shield of honor then +becomes overnight a tablet of shame. But Sali and Vreni had both of +them, when still children, seen and cherished the honor of their +families, and well remembered how well they themselves were taken care +of and how respected and highly considered their fathers had been in +those days. + +Later they had been separated for long years, and when they met again +they saw in each other also the lost honor and luck of their houses, +and that instinctive feeling had helped to make them cling to each +other all the more tenaciously. They longed indeed, both of them, for +happiness and joy, but only if it might be done legitimately and in the +sight of all; yet at the same time their ardent affection for each +other could not be suppressed and their senses, their bounding blood, +called loudly for the consummation of their desires. + +"Now it is night," said Vreni in a low tone of voice, "and we will have +to part." + +"What, I am to go home now and leave you alone?" retorted Sali. "No, +that can never be." + +"But what then?" said Vreni, plaintively. "Tomorrow morning by daylight +things will look no better." + +"Let me give you a piece of advice," a shrill voice suddenly was heard +behind them. It was the black fiddler, who now came up to them. "You +foolish young things! There you are now, and you know not what to do +with yourselves, although you are fond of each other. Yet nothing +easier than that. I advise you to delay no more. Let one take the +other, just as you are. Come along with me and my good friends here, +right into the mountains, for there you need no priest, no money, no +documents, no honor, no dowry, no bed and no wedding--nothing but your +mutual good will. Don't get frightened. Things are not at all so bad +with us. Pure air and enough to eat, provided one is not afraid to +work. The green woods are our home, and there we love and keep house +just as we wish. During the winter we lie snug in some warm, cosy den +of our own contriving, or else we creep into the warm hay of the +peasants. Therefore, lose no time. Keep your wedding right now and +here, and then come along with us, and you are rid of all your cares, +and may belong to each other forever and aye, or at least as long as +you want to. For have no fear--you'll grow old with us; our style of +life procures good strong health, you may well believe me. And don't +think, you silly young folk, that I am bearing you a grudge because of +what your fathers have done to me. No indeed. Of course, it gives me +pleasure to see you arrived there where you now are. But with that I +rest content, and I promise you to help and aid you in all sorts of +ways if you will only be guided by me." + +He said all this in a sincere and well-meaning tone. "Well, think it +over, if you wish, for a spell," he encouraged them still further, "but +follow my counsel if you are wise. Let the world go, and belong to each +other and ask nobody's consent. Think of the gay bridal bed in the deep +forest glade, and of the comfortable hay barn in winter." And saying +which he disappeared again in the house. + +But Vreni was trembling like aspen in Sali's arms, and he asked her: +"What do you think of all that? To me it seems indeed it would be best +to let the whole world go hang, and to love each other without +hindrance and fear." + +But Sali said this more jokingly than in earnest. Vreni, on the other +hand, took it all seriously, kissed him and replied: "No, I should not +like that. These people do not act according to my notions. That young +man with the French horn, for instance, and the girl in the silk skirt +also belong together in that way, and are said to have been very much +in love. But last week, it seems, she has been, for the first time, +unfaithful to her lover, and he grieves greatly on that account, and he +is angry at her and at the others, but they merely ridicule him. And +she is imposing a kind of self-inflicted and ludicrous penance on +herself by dancing all alone, without any partner, and without speaking +to anyone, but that, too, is only making a fool of him. However, one +may see that the poor musician is going to make up with her this very +night. But I must say, I should not like to be with a company where +such doings are common, for I never could be unfaithful to you, +although I would not mind undergoing all else for the sake of +possessing you." + +For all that, poor Vreni, being held in Sali's arms, became more and +more feverish, for ever since noon when that hostess at the inn had +mistaken her for a bride, and she herself had not contradicted, this +alluring prospect had been burning in her veins, and the less hopeful +things seemed to turn for a realization of this idea, the more +relentlessly her pulses were hammering with expectation and desire. And +Sali was experiencing similar hallucinations, since the fiddler's +enticing remarks, while he meant not to listen to them, had also been +fuel to his passion. So he said in embarrassment to Vreni: "Let us go +inside for a spell. At least we must eat and drink something." + +They were greeted in entering the guest room where nobody had remained +but the fiddler's friends, the vagrants, which latter were seated about +a poor meal at table, by a merry chorus: "There comes our bridal pair!" +"Yes," added the fiddler, "now be friendly and comfortable, and we will +see you married." + +Urged to join the company the two young lovers did so rather +shamefacedly. But after a moment they began to brighten, and were glad +to be at least rid for the moment of the darker problem that was yet to +be solved. Sali ordered wine and some choicer dishes, and soon general +merriment spread among them all. The heretofore implacable lover had +become reconciled to his unfaithful one, and the couple now fondled and +caressed each other in reestablished ecstasy, while the giddy other +pair ceaselessly yodled, sang and guzzled, but they also did not forget +to give plain evidences of their amatory disposition. The fiddler and +the hunchback accompanied all this with a great deal of cheerful noise. +Sali and Vreni kept very close to each other, tightly holding hands, +and all at once the fiddler bade all the company be quiet, and a +jocular ceremony was performed signifying the union of the two young +people. They had to clasp hands, and the whole audience rose and, one +by one, stepped up to congratulate them and to bid them welcome within +their fraternity. They placidly submitted to it all, but said never a +word, and regarded the whole as a jest, while all the while a shudder +of voluptuous feeling ran through them. + +The merry company now became louder and more excited, the fiery wine +spurring them on, until at last the black fiddler urged departure. + +"We have a long way before us," he cried, "and it is past midnight. Up, +all of you! Let us solemnly escort the young bridal couple, and I +myself will open the procession. You will hear me fiddling as never +before." + +Since Sali and Vreni felt perfectly dazed, and scarcely knew what they +were doing in this hurly-burly around them, they did not protest when +they were made to head the file, the other two couples following, and +the hunchback, with his huge bass viol on his shoulder, being at its +tail end. The black fiddler, though, strode in advance, playing like a +man possessed, skipping down the steep hill path like a chamois, and +the others laughed, singing in chorus, and jumping from rock to rock. +Thus this nocturnal procession hastened on and on, through the quiet +fields and at last through the home village of Sali and Vreni, now sunk +in deep slumber. + +When they two came through the still lanes and past their abandoned +homes, a painfully savage mood seized them, and they danced and whirled +along with the others behind the fiddler, kissed, laughed and wept. +They also danced up the hill with the three fields that had tempted +their fathers to their ruin, the fiddler all the time leading, and on +its crest the dusky fiddler fell into a frenzy of fantastic melody, and +his train of followers jumped about like veritable demons. Even the +poor hunchback acted like demented. This quiet hill resounded with the +infernal noise of the whole crew, and it was a perfect witches' Sabbath +for a short while. The hunchback breathed hard and in a muffled voice +squeaked with delight, swinging his heavy instrument like a baton. In +their paroxysm none saw or heard the next. + +But Sali seized Vreni and thus forced her to halt. He imprinted a kiss +on her mouth, thus stopping her shouts of joy. At last she gathered his +meaning, and ceased struggling. They stood there, right on the spot +where they first had encountered the black fiddler, listening to the +wild music and to the singing and shrieking of the demoniac cortege, as +the sounds gradually swept onwards down the hill towards the river +below. Nobody evidently had missed them in the midst of the whole +spook. The shrill tones of the fiddle, the laughter of the girls, and +the yodels of the men resounded for another spell through the night, +fainter and fainter, until at last the noise died away down by the +shores of the river. + +"We have escaped those," now said Sali, "but how are we going to escape +from ourselves? How shall we separate, and how keep apart?" + +Vreni was not able to answer him. Breathing hard she lay on his breast. + +"Had I not better take you back to the village, and wake some family in +order to make them take you in for the night? To-morrow you can leave +and look for some work. You'll be able to get along anywhere." + +"But without you? Get along without you?" said the girl. + +"You must forget me." + +"Never," she murmured sadly. "Never in my life." And she added, +glancing sternly at him: "Could you do that?" + +"That is not the point, dear heart," answered Sali, slow and distinct. +He caressed her feverish cheeks, while she kept pressing herself +against his bosom. "Let us only consider your own case. You, Vreni, are +still so very young, and quite likely you will fare well enough after a +short while." + +"And you also--you ancient man," she said, smiling wistfully. + +"Come!" now said Sali, and dragged her along. But they only went on a +few steps, and then they halted once more, the better to embrace and +kiss. The deep quiet of the world ran like music through their souls, +and the only sound to be heard around them was the gentle rush and +swish of the waves as they slowly went on further down the valley +below. + +"How beautiful it is around here! Listen! It seems to me there is +somebody far away singing in a low voice." + +"No, sweetheart; it is only the water softly flowing." + +"And yet it seems there is some music--way out there, everywhere." + +"I think it is our own blood coursing that is deceiving our ears." + +But though they hearkened again and again, the solemn stillness +remained unbroken. The magic effect of the light of a resplendent full +moon was visible in the whole landscape, as the autumnal veil of fog +that rose in semi-transparent layers from the river shore mingled with +the silvery sheen, waving in grayish or bluish bands. + +Suddenly Vreni recalled something, and said: "Here, I have bought you +something to remember me by." + +And she gave him the plain little ring, and placed it on his finger. +Sali, too, found the little ring he had meant for her, and while he put +it on her hand, he said: "Thus we have had the same thought, you and +I." + +Vreni held up her hand into the silvery light of the moon and examined +the little token curiously. + +"Oh, what a fine ring," she then said, laughing. "Now we are both +betrothed and wedded. You are my husband, and I'm your wife. Let us +imagine so, just long enough until that small cloud has passed the +moon, or else until we have counted twelve. You must kiss me twelve +times." + +Sali was surely fully as much in love as was Vreni, but the marriage +problem was, after all, not of such intense interest to him, not such a +question of Either--Or, of an immediate To Be or Not To Be, as it was +in the case of the girl. For Vreni could feel just then only that one +problem, saw in it with passionate energy life or death itself. But now +at last he began to see clearly into the very soul of his companion, +and the feminine desire in her became instantly with him a wild and +ardent longing, and his senses reeled under its potency. And while he +had previously caressed and embraced her with the strength and fervor +of a devoted lover, he did so now with an incomparably greater +abandonment to his passion. He held Vreni tightly to his beating heart, +and fairly overwhelmed her with endearments. In spite of her own love +fever, the girl with true feminine instinct at once became aware of +this change, and she began to tremble as with fear of the unknown. But +this feeling passed almost in a moment, and before even the cloud had +flitted over the moon's face her whole being was seized by the +whirlwind of his ardor, and engulfed in its depths. While both +struggled with and at the same time fondled the other, their beringed +hands met and seized the other as though at that supreme moment their +union was consummated without the consent of their will power. Sali's +heart knocked against its prison door like a living being; anon it +stood still, and he breathed with difficulty and said slow and in a +whisper: "There is one thing, only one thing, we can do, Vreni; we keep +our wedding this hour, and then we leave this world forever--there +below is the deep water--there is everlasting peace and fulfilment of +all our hopes--there nobody will divorce us again--and we have had our +dearest wish--have lived and died together--whether for long, whether +for short--we need not care--we are rid of all care--" + +And Vreni instantly responded. "Yes, Sali--what you say I also have +thought to myself--not once but constantly these days--I have dreamed +of it with my whole soul--we can die together, and then all this +torment is over--Swear to me, Sali, that you will do it with me!" + +"Yes, dearest, it is as good as done--nobody shall take you from me now +but Death alone!" Thus the young man in his exaltation. But Vreni's +breath came quick and as if freed from an intolerable burden. Tears of +sweetest joy came to her eyes, and she rose with spontaneous alacrity +and, light as a bird, flew down towards the river side. Sali followed +her, thinking for a moment she wanted to escape him, while she fancied +he would wish to prevent her. Thus they both sprang down the steep +path, and Vreni laughed happily like a child that will not allow her +playmate to catch her. + +"Are you sorry for it already?" Thus they both apostrophized the other, +as they in a twinkling had reached the river shore and seized hold of +each other. And both answered: "No, indeed, how can you think so?" + +And carefree they now walked briskly along the river bank, and they +outdistanced the hastening waves, for thus keenly they sought a spot +where they could stay for a while. For in the trance of their +enthusiasm they knew of nothing but the bliss awaiting them in the full +possession of each other. The whole worth and meaning of their lives +just then condensed itself into that one supreme desire. What was to +follow it, death, eternal oblivion, was to them a mere nothing, a puff +of air, and they thought less of it than does the spendthrift think of +the morrow when wasting his last substance. + +"My flowers shall precede me," cried Vreni, "only look! They are quite +withered and dusty!" And she plucked them from her bosom, cast them +into the water, and sang aloud: "But sweeter far than almonds is my +love for thee!" + +"Stop!" called out Sali. "Here is our bridal chamber!" + +They had reached a road for vehicles which led from the village to the +river, and here there was a landing, and a big boat, laden high with +hay, was tied to an iron ring in the bank. In a reckless mood Sali +instantly set to freeing the ship from the strong ropes that held it to +the landing. But Vreni grasped his arm, and she shouted laughing: "What +are you about? Are we to wind up by stealing from the peasants their +haycock?" + +"That is to be the dowry they give us," replied Sali with humor. "See! +A swimming bedstead and a couch softer than any royal couple ever had. +Besides, they will recover their property unharmed somewhere near the +goal whither it was to travel anyway, and they will hardly trouble +their hard heads with the question how it got there. Do you notice, +dear, how the boat is swaying and rocking? It is impatient to start on +the journey." + +The ship lay a few paces off the shore in deeper water. Sali lifted +Vreni in his arms high up, and began to wade through the water towards +the boat. But she caressed him so fervently and wriggled like a fish on +the angle, that Sali was losing his footing in the rather strong +current. She strained her hands and arms in order to plunge them in the +water, crying: "I also want to try the cool water. Do you remember how +cold and moist our hands were when we first met? That time we had been +catching fish. Now we ourselves will be fish, and two big and handsome +ones to boot." + +"Keep still, you wriggling darling," said Sali, scarcely able to stand +up in the water, with his sweetheart tossing in his arms and the +current pulling at him, "or it will drag me under!" + +But now he lifted his pretty burden into the boat, and scrambled up its +side himself. Then he hoisted her up to the hay, packed in orderly +fashion in the middle, sweet-scented and downy like a vast pillow, and +next he swung himself up to her. When they both were thus enthroned on +their bridal bed the ship drifted gently into the middle of the stream, +and then, turning slowly, it headed sluggishly in an easterly +direction. + + +The river flowed through dark woods, shadowing it; it flowed through +the fruitful plain, past quiet villages and hamlets and single +homesteads; there it broadened out like a still lake and the ship moved +but slightly downwards, and here it turned tall rocks and left the +slumbering landscape quickly behind. And when dawn broke there was in +sight at some distance a town rising with its age-worn towers and +steeples above the silver-gray river. The setting moon, red as gold, +cast a quivering track of light upstream towards the dim outlines of +the ancient city, and into this luminous bed the ship finally turned +its prow. When the houses of the town at last approached closely two +pale shapes, locked in a tight embrace, glided in the autumnal frost of +early morn from off the dark mass of the ship into the silent waters. + +The ship itself shortly after fetched up near a bridge, unharmed, and +remained there. When sometime later the two bodies, still locked in +each others' arms, were found, and details about the young man and his +sweetheart were learned, one might have read in the newspapers that +these two, the children of two ruined and impoverished families that +had lived in bitter enmity, had sought death in the water together +after dancing with great animation at a kermess. This event probably +was connected with the other fact that a boat laden with hay had landed +in town without anyone on board. It was supposed that the young couple +had cut loose the boat somewhere in order to hold their godforsaken +wedding on it. "Once again a proof of the spread of lawless and impious +passion among the lower classes." That was the concluding paragraph in +the newspaper report. + + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[Footnote 1: Vreni, Vreneli, Vreeli; Swiss diminutive forms of +Veronica.] + + + + THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seldwyla Folks, by Gottfried Keller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELDWYLA FOLKS *** + +***** This file should be named 34505.txt or 34505.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/0/34505/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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