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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peter Schlemihl etc., by  Chamisso et. al.
+
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+
+Title: Peter Schlemihl etc.
+
+Author:  Chamisso et. al.
+
+Release Date: March, 2004  [EBook #5339]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on July 2, 2002]
+[Most recently updated: July 2, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PETER SCHLEMIHL ETC. ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from he 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+PETER SCHLEMIHL ETC.
+
+
+
+
+Contents:
+   Introduction by Henry Morley
+   Peter Schlemihl by Adelbert Chamisso
+      Peter Schlemihl
+      Appendix
+         Preface by the Editor
+         Brief Sketch of Chamisso's Life
+         From the Baron de la Motte Fouque
+   The Story Without An End by Carode translated by Sarah Austin
+   Hymns To Night by Novalis translated by Henry Morley
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+
+"Peter Schlemihl," one of the pleasantest fancies of the days when
+Germany delighted in romance, was first published in 1814, and was
+especially naturalised in England by association with the genius of
+George Cruikshank, who enriched a translation of it with some of his
+happiest work as an illustrator.  An account of the book and its
+author is here reprinted at the end of the tale, as originally given
+by the translator.  To this account one or two notes may be added.
+Louis Charles Adelaide de Chamisso de Boncourt was born on the 27th
+of January, 1781, at the Chateau of Boncourt, in Champagne, which he
+made the subject of one of his most beautiful lyrics.  He belonged
+to a family faithful to Louis XVI., that fled to Wurzburg from the
+fury of the French Revolution.  Thus he was taken to Germany a child
+of nine, and was left there when the family, with other emigrants,
+returned to France in 1801.  At fifteen he had Teutonised his name
+to Adelbert von Chamisso, and was appointed page to the Queen of
+Prussia.  In the war that came afterwards, for a very short time he
+bore arms against the French, but being one of a garrison taken in
+the captured fort of Hamlin, he and his comrades had to pledge their
+honour that they would not again bear arms against France during
+that war.  After the war he visited France.  His parents then were
+dead, and though he stayed in France some years, he wrote from
+France to a friend, "I am German heart and soul, and cannot feel at
+home here."  He wandered irresolutely, then became Professor of
+Literature in a gymnasium in La Vendee.  Still he was restless.  In
+1812 he set off for a walk in Switzerland, returned to Germany, and
+took to the study of anatomy.  In 1813, Napoleon's expedition to
+Russia and the peril to France from legions marching upon Paris
+caused to Chamisso suffering and confusion of mind.
+
+It is often said that his sense of isolation between interests of
+the land of his forefathers and the land of his adoption makes
+itself felt through all the wild playfulness of "Peter Schlemihl,"
+which was at this time written, when Chamisso's age was about
+thirty-two.  A letter of his to the Councillor Trinius, in
+Petersburg, tells how he came to write it.  He had lost on a
+pedestrian tour his hat, his knapsack, his gloves, and his pocket
+handkerchief--the chief movables about him.  His friend Fouque asked
+him whether he hadn't also lost his shadow?  The friends pleased
+their fancies in imagining what would have happened to him if he
+had.  Not long afterwards he was reading in La Fontaine of a polite
+man who drew out of his pocket whatever was asked for.  Chamisso
+thought, He will be bringing out next a coach and horses.  Out of
+these hints came the fancy of "Peter Schlemihl, the Shadowless Man."
+In all thought that goes with invention of a poet, there are depths
+as well as shallows, and the reader may get now and then a peep into
+the depths.  He may find, if he will, in a man's shadow that outward
+expression of himself which shows that he has been touched, like
+others, by the light of heaven.  But essentially the story is a
+poet's whim.  Later writings of Chamisso proved him to be one of the
+best lyric poets of the romance school of his time, entirely German
+in his tone of thought.  His best poem, "Salas y Gomez," describes
+the feeling of a solitary on a sea-girt rock, living on eggs of the
+numberless sea-birds until old age, when a ship is in sight, and
+passes him, and his last agony of despair is followed by a triumph
+in the strength of God.
+
+
+"Alone and world-forsaken let me die;
+   Thy Grace is all my wealth, for all my loss:
+On my bleached bones out of the southern sky
+   Thy Love will look down from the starry cross."
+
+
+The "Story Without an End"--a story of the endless beauty of
+Creation--is from a writer who has no name on the rolls of fame.
+The little piece has been made famous among us by the good will of
+Sarah Austin.  The child who enjoyed it, and for whom she made the
+delicate translation which here follows next after Chamisso's "Peter
+Schlemihl," was that only daughter who became Lady Duff-Gordon, and
+with whom we have made acquaintance in this Library as the
+translator of "The Amber Witch."
+
+To make up the tale of pages in this little book without breaking
+its uniformity, I have added a translation of the "Hymns to Night"
+of Novalis.  It is a translation made by myself seven-and-forty
+years ago, and printed in a student's magazine that I then edited.
+"Novalis" was the name assumed by a poet, Friedrich von Hardenberg,
+who died on the 25th March, 1801, aged twenty-nine.  He was bred
+among the Moravian brethren, and then sent to the University of
+Jena.  Two years after his marriage to a young wife, Sophie von
+Kuhn, she died.  That was in 1797.  At the same time he lost a
+brother who was very dear to him.  It was then--four years before
+his own death--that he wrote his "Hymns to Night."
+
+H. M.
+
+
+
+
+PETER SCHLEMIHL, THE SHADOWLESS MAN.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE FROM
+A. VON CHAMISSO TO JULIUS EDWARD HITZIG.
+
+
+
+You, who forget nobody, must surely remember one Peter Schlemihl,
+whom you used to meet occasionally at my house--a long-legged youth,
+who was considered stupid and lazy, on account of his awkward and
+careless air.  I was sincerely attached to him.  You cannot have
+forgotten him, Edward.  He was on one occasion the hero of our
+rhymes, in the hey-day of our youthful spirits; and I recollect
+taking him one evening to a poetical tea-party, where he fell asleep
+while I was writing, without even waiting to hear my effusion:  and
+this reminds me of a witticism of yours respecting him.  You had
+already seen him, I know not where or when, in an old black frock-
+coat, which, indeed, he constantly wore; and you said, "He would be
+a lucky fellow if his soul were half as immortal as his coat," so
+little opinion had you of him.  _I_ loved him, however:  and to this
+very Schlemihl, of whom for many years I had wholly lost sight, I am
+indebted for the little volume which I communicate to you, Edward,
+my most intimate friend, my second self, from whom I have no
+secrets;--to you, and of course our Fouque, I commit them, who like
+you is intimately entwined about my dearest affections,--to him I
+communicate them only as a friend, but not as a poet; for you can
+easily imagine how unpleasant it would be if a secret confided to me
+by an honest man, relying implicitly on my friendship and honour,
+were to be exposed to the public in a poem.
+
+One word more as to the manner in which I obtained these sheets:
+yesterday morning early, as soon as I was up, they were brought to
+me.  An extraordinary-looking man, with a long grey beard, and
+wearing an old black frock-coat with a botanical case hanging at his
+side, and slippers over his boots, in the damp, rainy weather, had
+just been inquiring for me, and left me these papers, saying he came
+from Berlin.
+
+ADELBERT VON CHAMISSO.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+
+After a prosperous, but to me very wearisome, voyage, we came at
+last into port.  Immediately on landing I got together my few
+effects; and, squeezing myself through the crowd, went into the
+nearest and humblest inn which first met my gaze.  On asking for a
+room the waiter looked at me from head to foot, and conducted me to
+one.  I asked for some cold water, and for the correct address of
+Mr. Thomas John, which was described as being "by the north gate,
+the first country-house to the right, a large new house of red and
+white marble, with many pillars."  This was enough.  As the day was
+not yet far advanced, I untied my bundle, took out my newly-turned
+black coat, dressed myself in my best clothes, and, with my letter
+of recommendation, set out for the man who was to assist me in the
+attainment of my moderate wishes.
+
+After proceeding up the north street, I reached the gate, and saw
+the marble columns glittering through the trees.  Having wiped the
+dust from my shoes with my pocket-handkerchief and readjusted my
+cravat, I rang the bell--offering up at the same time a silent
+prayer.  The door flew open, and the porter sent in my name.  I had
+soon the honour to be invited into the park, where Mr. John was
+walking with a few friends.  I recognised him at once by his
+corpulency and self-complacent air.  He received me very well--just
+as a rich man receives a poor devil; and turning to me, took my
+letter.  "Oh, from my brother! it is a long time since I heard from
+him:  is he well?--Yonder," he went on,--turning to the company, and
+pointing to a distant hill--"Yonder is the site of the new
+building."  He broke the seal without discontinuing the
+conversation, which turned upon riches.  "The man," he said, "who
+does not possess at least a million is a poor wretch."  "Oh, how
+true!" I exclaimed, in the fulness of my heart.  He seemed pleased
+at this, and replied with a smile, "Stop here, my dear friend;
+afterwards I shall, perhaps, have time to tell you what I think of
+this," pointing to the letter, which he then put into his pocket,
+and turned round to the company, offering his arm to a young lady:
+his example was followed by the other gentlemen, each politely
+escorting a lady; and the whole party proceeded towards a little
+hill thickly planted with blooming roses.
+
+I followed without troubling any one, for none took the least
+further notice of me.  The party was in high spirits--lounging about
+and jesting--speaking sometimes of trifling matters very seriously,
+and of serious matters as triflingly--and exercising their wit in
+particular to great advantage on their absent friends and their
+affairs.  I was too ignorant of what they were talking about to
+understand much of it, and too anxious and absorbed in my own
+reflections to occupy myself with the solution of such enigmas as
+their conversation presented.
+
+By this time we had reached the thicket of roses.  The lovely Fanny,
+who seemed to be the queen of the day, was obstinately bent on
+plucking a rose-branch for herself, and in the attempt pricked her
+finger with a thorn.  The crimson stream, as if flowing from the
+dark-tinted rose, tinged her fair hand with the purple current.
+This circumstance set the whole company in commotion; and court-
+plaster was called for.  A quiet, elderly man, tall, and meagre-
+looking, who was one of the company, but whom I had not before
+observed, immediately put his hand into the tight breast-pocket of
+his old-fashioned coat of grey sarsnet, pulled out a small letter-
+case, opened it, and, with a most respectful bow, presented the lady
+with the wished-for article.  She received it without noticing the
+giver, or thanking him.  The wound was bound up, and the party
+proceeded along the hill towards the back part, from which they
+enjoyed an extensive view across the green labyrinth of the park to
+the wide-spreading ocean.  The view was truly a magnificent one.  A
+slight speck was observed on the horizon, between the dark flood and
+the azure sky.  "A telescope!" called out Mr. John; but before any
+of the servants could answer the summons the grey man, with a modest
+bow, drew his hand from his pocket, and presented a beautiful
+Dollond's telescope to Mr. John, who, on looking through it,
+informed the company that the speck in the distance was the ship
+which had sailed yesterday, and which was detained within sight of
+the haven by contrary winds.  The telescope passed from hand to
+hand, but was not returned to the owner, whom I gazed at with
+astonishment, and could not conceive how so large an instrument
+could have proceeded from so small a pocket.  This, however, seemed
+to excite surprise in no one; and the grey man appeared to create as
+little interest as myself.
+
+Refreshments were now brought forward, consisting of the rarest
+fruits from all parts of the world, served up in the most costly
+dishes.  Mr. John did the honours with unaffected grace, and
+addressed me for the second time, saying, "You had better eat; you
+did not get such things at sea."  I acknowledged his politeness with
+a bow, which, however, he did not perceive, having turned round to
+speak with some one else.
+
+The party would willingly have stopped some time here on the
+declivity of the hill, to enjoy the extensive prospect before them,
+had they not been apprehensive of the dampness of the grass.  "How
+delightful it would be," exclaimed some one, "if we had a Turkey
+carpet to lay down here!"  The wish was scarcely expressed when the
+man in the grey coat put his hand in his pocket, and, with a modest
+and even humble air, pulled out a rich Turkey carpet, embroidered in
+gold.  The servant received it as a matter of course, and spread it
+out on the desired spot; and, without any ceremony, the company
+seated themselves on it.  Confounded by what I saw, I gazed again at
+the man, his pocket, and the carpet, which was more than twenty feet
+in length and ten in breadth; and rubbed my eyes, not knowing what
+to think, particularly as no one saw anything extraordinary in the
+matter.
+
+I would gladly have made some inquiries respecting the man, and
+asked who he was, but knew not to whom I should address myself, for
+I felt almost more afraid of the servants than of their master.  At
+length I took courage, and stepping up to a young man who seemed of
+less consequence than the others, and who was more frequently
+standing by himself, I begged of him, in a low tone, to tell me who
+the obliging gentleman was in the grey cloak.  "That man who looks
+like a piece of thread just escaped from a tailor's needle?"  "Yes;
+he who is standing alone yonder."  "I do not know," was the reply;
+and to avoid, as it seemed, any further conversation with me, he
+turned away, and spoke of some common-place matters with a
+neighbour.
+
+The sun's rays now being stronger, the ladies complained of feeling
+oppressed by the heat; and the lovely Fanny, turning carelessly to
+the grey man, to whom I had not yet observed that any one had
+addressed the most trifling question, asked him if, perhaps, he had
+not a tent about him.  He replied, with a low bow, as if some
+unmerited honour had been conferred upon him; and, putting his hand
+in his pocket, drew from it canvas, poles, cord, iron--in short,
+everything belonging to the most splendid tent for a party of
+pleasure.  The young gentlemen assisted in pitching it:  and it
+covered the whole carpet:  but no one seemed to think that there was
+anything extraordinary in it.
+
+I had long secretly felt uneasy--indeed, almost horrified; but how
+was this feeling increased when, at the next wish expressed, I saw
+him take from his pocket three horses!  Yes, Adelbert, three large
+beautiful steeds, with saddles and bridles, out of the very pocket
+whence had already issued a letter-case, a telescope, a carpet
+twenty feet broad and ten in length, and a pavilion of the same
+extent, with all its appurtenances!  Did I not assure thee that my
+own eyes had seen all this, thou wouldst certainly disbelieve it.
+
+This man, although he appeared so humble and embarrassed in his air
+and manners, and passed so unheeded, had inspired me with such a
+feeling of horror by the unearthly paleness of his countenance, from
+which I could not avert my eyes, that I was unable longer to endure
+it.
+
+I determined, therefore, to steal away from the company, which
+appeared no difficult matter, from the undistinguished part I acted
+in it.  I resolved to return to the town, and pay another visit to
+Mr. John the following morning, and, at the same time, make some
+inquiries of him relative to the extraordinary man in grey, provided
+I could command sufficient courage.  Would to Heaven that such good
+fortune had awaited me!
+
+I had stolen safely down the hill, through the thicket of roses, and
+now found myself on an open plain; but fearing lest I should be met
+out of the proper path, crossing the grass, I cast an inquisitive
+glance around, and started as I beheld the man in the grey cloak
+advancing towards me.  He took off his hat, and made me a lower bow
+than mortal had ever yet favoured me with.  It was evident that he
+wished to address me; and I could not avoid encountering him without
+seeming rude.  I returned his salutation, therefore, and stood
+bareheaded in the sunshine as if rooted to the ground.  I gazed at
+him with the utmost horror, and felt like a bird fascinated by a
+serpent.
+
+He affected himself to have an air of embarrassment.  With his eyes
+on the ground, he bowed several times, drew nearer, and at last,
+without looking up, addressed me in a low and hesitating voice,
+almost in the tone of a suppliant:  "Will you, sir, excuse my
+importunity in venturing to intrude upon you in so unusual a manner?
+I have a request to make--would you most graciously be pleased to
+allow me--!"  "Hold! for Heaven's sake!" I exclaimed; "what can I do
+for a man who"--I stopped in some confusion, which he seemed to
+share.  After a moment's pause, he resumed:  "During the short time
+I have had the pleasure to be in your company, I have--permit me,
+sir, to say--beheld with unspeakable admiration your most beautiful
+shadow, and remarked the air of noble indifference with which you,
+at the same time, turn from the glorious picture at your feet, as if
+disdaining to vouchsafe a glance at it.  Excuse the boldness of my
+proposal; but perhaps you would have no objection to sell me your
+shadow?"  He stopped, while my head turned round like a mill-wheel.
+What was I to think of so extraordinary a proposal?  To sell my
+shadow!  "He must be mad," thought I; and assuming a tone more in
+character with the submissiveness of his own, I replied, "My good
+friend, are you not content with your own shadow?  This would be a
+bargain of a strange nature indeed!"
+
+"I have in my pocket," he said, "many things which may possess some
+value in your eyes:  for that inestimable shadow I should deem the
+highest price too little."
+
+A cold shuddering came over me as I recollected the pocket; and I
+could not conceive what had induced me to style him "GOOD FRIEND,"
+which I took care not to repeat, endeavouring to make up for it by a
+studied politeness.
+
+I now resumed the conversation: --"But, Sir--excuse your humble
+servant--I am at a loss to comprehend your meaning,--my shadow?--how
+can I?"
+
+"Permit me," he exclaimed, interrupting me, "to gather up the noble
+image as it lies on the ground, and to take it into my possession.
+As to the manner of accomplishing it, leave that to me.  In return,
+and as an evidence of my gratitude, I shall leave you to choose
+among all the treasures I have in my pocket, among which are a
+variety of enchanting articles, not exactly adapted for you, who, I
+am sure, would like better to have the wishing-cap of Fortunatus,
+all made new and sound again, and a lucky purse which also belonged
+to him."
+
+"Fortunatus's purse!" cried I; and, great as was my mental anguish,
+with that one word he had penetrated the deepest recesses of my
+soul.  A feeling of giddiness came over me, and double ducats
+glittered before my eyes.
+
+"Be pleased, gracious sir, to examine this purse, and make a trial
+of its contents."  He put his hand in his pocket, and drew forth a
+large strongly stitched bag of stout Cordovan leather, with a couple
+of strings to match, and presented it to me.  I seized it--took out
+ten gold pieces, then ten more, and this I repeated again and again.
+Instantly I held out my hand to him.  "Done," said I; "the bargain
+is made:  my shadow for the purse."  "Agreed," he answered; and,
+immediately kneeling down, I beheld him, with extraordinary
+dexterity, gently loosen my shadow from the grass, lift it up, fold
+it together, and, at last put it in his pocket.  He then rose, bowed
+once more to me, and directed his steps towards the rose bushes.  I
+fancied I heard him quietly laughing to himself.  However, I held
+the purse fast by the two strings.  The earth was basking beneath
+the brightness of the sun; but I presently lost all consciousness.
+
+On recovering my senses, I hastened to quit a place where I hoped
+there was nothing further to detain me.  I first filled my pockets
+with gold, then fastened the strings of the purse round my neck, and
+concealed it in my bosom.  I passed unnoticed out of the park,
+gained the high road, and took the way to the town.  As I was
+thoughtfully approaching the gate, I heard some one behind me
+exclaiming, "Young man! young man! you have lost your shadow!"  I
+turned, and perceived an old woman calling after me.  "Thank you, my
+good woman," said I; and throwing her a piece of gold for her well-
+intended information, I stepped under the trees.  At the gate,
+again, it was my fate to hear the sentry inquiring where the
+gentleman had left his shadow; and immediately I heard a couple of
+women exclaiming, "Jesu Maria! the poor man has no shadow."  All
+this began to depress me, and I carefully avoided walking in the
+sun; but this could not everywhere be the case:  for in the next
+broad street I had to cross, and, unfortunately for me, at the very
+hour in which the boys were coming out of school, a humpbacked lout
+of a fellow--I see him yet--soon made the discovery that I was
+without a shadow, and communicated the news, with loud outcries, to
+a knot of young urchins.  The whole swarm proceeded immediately to
+reconnoitre me, and to pelt me with mud.  "People," cried they, "are
+generally accustomed to take their shadows with them when they walk
+in the sunshine."
+
+In order to drive them away I threw gold by handfuls among them, and
+sprang into a hackney-coach which some compassionate spectators sent
+to my rescue.
+
+As soon as I found myself alone in the rolling vehicle I began to
+weep bitterly.  I had by this time a misgiving that, in the same
+degree in which gold in this world prevails over merit and virtue,
+by so much one's shadow excels gold; and now that I had sacrificed
+my conscience for riches, and given my shadow in exchange for mere
+gold, what on earth would become of me?
+
+As the coach stopped at the door of my late inn, I felt much
+perplexed, and not at all disposed to enter so wretched an abode.  I
+called for my things, and received them with an air of contempt,
+threw down a few gold pieces, and desired to be conducted to a
+first-rate hotel.  This house had a northern aspect, so that I had
+nothing to fear from the sun.  I dismissed the coachman with gold;
+asked to be conducted to the best apartment, and locked myself up in
+it as soon as possible.
+
+Imagine, my friend, what I then set about?  O my dear Chamisso! even
+to thee I blush to mention what follows.
+
+I drew the ill-fated purse from my bosom; and, in a sort of frenzy
+that raged like a self-fed fire within me, I took out gold--gold--
+gold--more and more, till I strewed it on the floor, trampled upon
+it, and feasting on its very sound and brilliancy, added coins to
+coins, rolling and revelling on the gorgeous bed, until I sank
+exhausted.
+
+Thus passed away that day and evening; and as my door remained
+locked, night found me still lying on the gold, where, at last,
+sleep overpowered me.
+
+Then I dreamed of thee, and fancied I stood behind the glass door of
+thy little room, and saw thee seated at thy table between a skeleton
+and a bunch of dried plants; before thee lay open the works of
+Haller, Humboldt, and Linnaeus; on thy sofa a volume of Goethe, and
+the Enchanted Ring.  I stood a long time contemplating thee, and
+everything in thy apartment; and again turning my gaze upon thee, I
+perceived that thou wast motionless--thou didst not breathe--thou
+wast dead.
+
+I awoke--it seemed yet early--my watch had stopped.  I felt thirsty,
+faint, and worn out; for since the preceding morning I had not
+tasted food.  I now cast from me, with loathing and disgust, the
+very gold with which but a short time before I had satiated my
+foolish heart.  Now I knew not where to put it--I dared not leave it
+lying there.  I examined my purse to see if it would hold it,--
+impossible!  Neither of my windows opened on the sea.  I had no
+other resource but, with toil and great fatigue, to drag it to a
+huge chest which stood in a closet in my room; where I placed it
+all, with the exception of a handful or two.  Then I threw myself,
+exhausted, into an arm-chair, till the people of the house should be
+up and stirring.  As soon as possible I sent for some refreshment,
+and desired to see the landlord.
+
+I entered into some conversation with this man respecting the
+arrangement of my future establishment.  He recommended for my
+personal attendant one Bendel, whose honest and intelligent
+countenance immediately prepossessed me in his favour.  It is this
+individual whose persevering attachment has consoled me in all the
+miseries of my life, and enabled me to bear up under my wretched
+lot.  I was occupied the whole day in my room with servants in want
+of a situation, and tradesmen of every description.  I decided on my
+future plans, and purchased various articles of vertu and splendid
+jewels, in order to get rid of some of my gold; but nothing seemed
+to diminish the inexhaustible heap.
+
+I now reflected on my situation with the utmost uneasiness.  I dared
+not take a single step beyond my own door; and in the evening I had
+forty wax tapers lighted before I ventured to leave the shade.  I
+reflected with horror on the frightful encounter with the school-
+boys; yet I resolved, if I could command sufficient courage, to put
+the public opinion to a second trial.  The nights were now
+moonlight.  Late in the evening I wrapped myself in a large cloak,
+pulled my hat over my eyes, and, trembling like a criminal, stole
+out of the house.
+
+I did not venture to leave the friendly shadow of the houses until I
+had reached a distant part of the town; and then I emerged into the
+broad moonlight, fully prepared to hear my fate from the lips of the
+passers-by.
+
+Spare me, my beloved friend, the painful recital of all that I was
+doomed to endure.  The women often expressed the deepest sympathy
+for me--a sympathy not less piercing to my soul than the scoffs of
+the young people, and the proud contempt of the men, particularly of
+the more corpulent, who threw an ample shadow before them.  A fair
+and beauteous maiden, apparently accompanied by her parents, who
+gravely kept looking straight before them, chanced to cast a beaming
+glance on me; but was evidently startled at perceiving that I was
+without a shadow, and hiding her lovely face in her veil, and
+holding down her head, passed silently on.
+
+This was past all endurance.  Tears streamed from my eyes; and with
+a heart pierced through and through, I once more took refuge in the
+shade.  I leant on the houses for support, and reached home at a
+late hour, worn out with fatigue.
+
+I passed a sleepless night.  My first care the following morning
+was, to devise some means of discovering the man in the grey cloak.
+Perhaps I may succeed in finding him; and how fortunate it were if
+he should be as ill satisfied with his bargain as I am with mine!
+
+I desired Bendel to be sent for, who seemed to possess some tact and
+ability.  I minutely described to him the individual who possessed a
+treasure without which life itself was rendered a burden to me.  I
+mentioned the time and place at which I had seen him, named all the
+persons who were present, and concluded with the following
+directions: --He was to inquire for a Dollond's telescope, a Turkey
+carpet interwoven with gold, a marquee, and, finally, for some black
+steeds--the history, without entering into particulars, of all these
+being singularly connected with the mysterious character who seemed
+to pass unnoticed by every one, but whose appearance had destroyed
+the peace and happiness of my life.
+
+As I spoke I produced as much gold as I could hold in my two hands,
+and added jewels and precious stones of still greater value.
+"Bendel," said I, "this smooths many a path, and renders that easy
+which seems almost impossible.  Be not sparing of it, for I am not
+so; but go, and rejoice thy master with intelligence on which depend
+all his hopes."
+
+He departed, and returned late and melancholy.
+
+None of Mr. John's servants, none of his guests (and Bendel had
+spoken to them all) had the slightest recollection of the man in the
+grey cloak.
+
+The new telescope was still there, but no one knew how it had come;
+and the tent and Turkey carpet were still stretched out on the hill.
+The servants boasted of their master's wealth; but no one seemed to
+know by what means he had become possessed of these newly acquired
+luxuries.  He was gratified; and it gave him no concern to be
+ignorant how they had come to him.  The black coursers which had
+been mounted on that day were in the stables of the young gentlemen
+of the party, who admired them as the munificent present of Mr.
+John.
+
+Such was the information I gained from Bendel's detailed account;
+but, in spite of this unsatisfactory result, his zeal and prudence
+deserved and received my commendation.  In a gloomy mood, I made him
+a sign to withdraw.
+
+"I have, sir," he continued, "laid before you all the information in
+my power relative to the subject of the most importance to you.  I
+have now a message to deliver which I received early this morning
+from a person at the gate, as I was proceeding to execute the
+commission in which I have so unfortunately failed.  The man's words
+were precisely these:  'Tell your master, Peter Schlemihl, he will
+not see me here again.  I am going to cross the sea; a favourable
+wind now calls all the passengers on board; but, in a year and a day
+I shall have the honour of paying him a visit; when, in all
+probability, I shall have a proposal to make to him of a very
+agreeable nature.  Commend me to him most respectfully, with many
+thanks.'  I inquired his name; but he said you would remember him."
+
+"What sort of person was he?" cried I, in great emotion; and Bendel
+described the man in the grey coat feature by feature, word for
+word; in short, the very individual in search of whom he had been
+sent.  "How unfortunate!" cried I bitterly; "it was himself."
+Scales, as it were, fell from Bendel's eyes.  "Yes, it was he,"
+cried he, "undoubtedly it was he; and fool, madman, that I was, I
+did not recognise him--I did not, and have betrayed my master!"  He
+then broke out into a torrent of self-reproach; and his distress
+really excited my compassion.  I endeavoured to console him,
+repeatedly assuring him that I entertained no doubt of his fidelity;
+and despatched him immediately to the wharf, to discover, if
+possible, some trace of the extraordinary being.  But on that very
+morning many vessels which had been detained in port by contrary
+winds had set sail, all bound to different parts of the globe; and
+the grey man had disappeared like a shadow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+
+Of what use were wings to a man fast bound in chains of iron?  They
+would but increase the horror of his despair.  Like the dragon
+guarding his treasure, I remained cut off from all human
+intercourse, and starving amidst my very gold, for it gave me no
+pleasure:  I anathematised it as the source of all my wretchedness.
+
+Sole depository of my fearful secret, I trembled before the meanest
+of my attendants, whom, at the same time, I envied; for he possessed
+a shadow, and could venture to go out in the daytime; while I shut
+myself up in my room day and night, and indulged in all the
+bitterness of grief.
+
+One individual, however, was daily pining away before my eyes--my
+faithful Bendel, who was the victim of silent self-reproach,
+tormenting himself with the idea that he had betrayed the confidence
+reposed in him by a good master, in failing to recognise the
+individual in quest of whom he had been sent, and with whom he had
+been led to believe that my melancholy fate was closely connected.
+Still, I had nothing to accuse him with, as I recognised in the
+occurrence the mysterious character of the unknown.
+
+In order to leave no means untried, I one day despatched Bendel with
+a costly ring to the most celebrated artist in the town, desiring
+him to wait upon me.  He came; and, dismissing the attendants, I
+secured the door, placing myself opposite to him, and, after
+extolling his art, with a heavy heart came to the point, first
+enjoining the strictest secrecy.
+
+"For a person," said I, "who most unfortunately has lost his shadow,
+could you paint a false one?"
+
+"Do you speak of the natural shadow?"
+
+"Precisely so."
+
+"But," he asked, "by what awkward negligence can a man have lost his
+shadow?"
+
+"How it occurred," I answered, "is of no consequence; but it was in
+this manner"--(and here I uttered an unblushing falsehood)--"he was
+travelling in Russia last winter, and one bitterly cold day it froze
+so intensely, that his shadow remained so fixed to the ground, that
+it was found impossible to remove it."
+
+"The false shadow that I might paint," said the artist, "would be
+liable to be lost on the slightest movement, particularly in a
+person who, from your account, cares so little about his shadow.  A
+person without a shadow should keep out of the sun, that is the only
+safe and rational plan."
+
+He rose and took his leave, casting so penetrating a look at me that
+I shrunk from it.  I sank back in my chair, and hid my face in my
+hands.
+
+In this attitude Bendel found me, and was about to withdraw silently
+and respectfully on seeing me in such a state of grief:  looking up,
+overwhelmed with my sorrows, I felt that I must communicate them to
+him.  "Bendel," I exclaimed, "Bendel, thou the only being who seest
+and respectest my grief too much to inquire into its cause--thou who
+seemest silently and sincerely to sympathise with me--come and share
+my confidence.  The extent of my wealth I have not withheld from
+thee, neither will I conceal from thee the extent of my grief.
+Bendel! forsake me not.  Bendel, you see me rich, free, beneficent;
+you fancy all the world in my power; yet you must have observed that
+I shun it, and avoid all human intercourse.  You think, Bendel, that
+the world and I are at variance; and you yourself, perhaps, will
+abandon me, when I acquaint you with this fearful secret.  Bendel, I
+am rich, free, generous; but, O God, I have NO SHADOW!"
+
+"No shadow!" exclaimed the faithful young man, tears starting from
+his eyes.  "Alas! that I am born to serve a master without a
+shadow!"  He was silent, and again I hid my face in my hands.
+
+"Bendel," at last I tremblingly resumed, "you have now my
+confidence; you may betray me--go--bear witness against me!"
+
+He seemed to be agitated with conflicting feelings; at last he threw
+himself at my feet and seized my hand, which he bathed with his
+tears.  "No," he exclaimed; "whatever the world may say, I neither
+can nor will forsake my excellent master because he has lost his
+shadow.  I will rather do what is right than what may seem prudent.
+I will remain with you--I will shade you with my own shadow--I will
+assist you when I can--and when I cannot, I will weep with you."
+
+I fell upon his neck, astonished at sentiments so unusual; for it
+was very evident that he was not prompted by the love of money.
+
+My mode of life and my fate now became somewhat different.  It is
+incredible with what provident foresight Bendel contrived to conceal
+my deficiency.  Everywhere he was before me and with me, providing
+against every contingency, and in cases of unlooked-for danger,
+flying to shield me with his own shadow, for he was taller and
+stouter than myself.  Thus I once more ventured among mankind, and
+began to take a part in worldly affairs.  I was compelled, indeed,
+to affect certain peculiarities and whims; but in a rich man they
+seem only appropriate; and so long as the truth was kept concealed I
+enjoyed all the honour and respect which gold could procure.
+
+I now looked forward with more composure to the promised visit of
+the mysterious unknown at the expiration of the year and a day.
+
+I was very sensible that I could not venture to remain long in a
+place where I had once been seen without a shadow, and where I might
+easily be betrayed; and perhaps, too, I recollected my first
+introduction to Mr. John, and this was by no means a pleasing
+reminiscence.  However, I wished just to make a trial here, that I
+might with greater ease and security visit some other place.  But my
+vanity for some time withheld me, for it is in this quality of our
+race that the anchor takes the firmest hold.
+
+Even the lovely Fanny, whom I again met in several places, without
+her seeming to recollect that she had ever seen me before, bestowed
+some notice on me; for wit and understanding were mine in abundance
+now.  When I spoke, I was listened to; and I was at a loss to know
+how I had so easily acquired the art of commanding attention, and
+giving the tone to the conversation.
+
+The impression which I perceived I had made upon this fair one
+completely turned my brain; and this was just what she wished.
+After that, I pursued her with infinite pains through every
+obstacle.  My vanity was only intent on exciting hers to make a
+conquest of me; but although the intoxication disturbed my head, it
+failed to make the least impression on my heart.
+
+But why detail to you the oft-repeated story which I have so often
+heard from yourself?
+
+However, in the old and well-known drama in which I played so worn-
+out a part a catastrophe occurred of quite a peculiar nature, in a
+manner equally unexpected to her, to me, and to everybody.
+
+One beautiful evening I had, according to my usual custom, assembled
+a party in a garden, and was walking arm-in-arm with Fanny at a
+little distance from the rest of the company, and pouring into her
+ear the usual well-turned phrases, while she was demurely gazing on
+vacancy, and now and then gently returning the pressure of my hand.
+The moon suddenly emerged from behind a cloud at our back.  Fanny
+perceived only her own shadow before us.  She started, looked at me
+with terror, and then again on the ground, in search of my shadow.
+All that was passing in her mind was so strangely depicted in her
+countenance, that I should have burst into a loud fit of laughter
+had I not suddenly felt my blood run cold within me.  I suffered her
+to fall from my arm in a fainting-fit; shot with the rapidity of an
+arrow through the astonished guests, reached the gate, threw myself
+into the first conveyance I met with, and returned to the town,
+where this time, unfortunately, I had left the wary Bendel.  He was
+alarmed on seeing me:  one word explained all.  Post-horses were
+immediately procured.  I took with me none of my servants, one
+cunning knave only excepted, called Rascal, who had by his
+adroitness become very serviceable to me, and who at present knew
+nothing of what had occurred--I travelled thirty leagues that night;
+having left Bendel behind to discharge my servants, pay my debts,
+and bring me all that was necessary.
+
+When he came up with me next day, I threw myself into his arms,
+vowing to avoid such follies and to be more careful for the future.
+
+We pursued our journey uninterruptedly over the frontiers and
+mountains; and it was not until I had placed this lofty barrier
+between myself and the before-mentioned unlucky town that I was
+persuaded to recruit myself after my fatigues in a neighbouring and
+little-frequented watering-place.
+
+
+I must now pass rapidly over one period of my history, on which how
+gladly would I dwell, could I conjure up your lively powers of
+delineation!  But the vivid hues which are at your command, and
+which alone can give life and animation to the picture, have left no
+trace within me; and were I now to endeavour to recall the joys, the
+griefs, the pure and enchanting emotions, which once held such
+powerful dominion in my breast, it would be like striking a rock
+which yields no longer the living spring, and whose spirit has fled
+for ever.  With what an altered aspect do those bygone days now
+present themselves to my gaze!
+
+In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied;
+and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair
+of lovely blue eyes.
+
+All possible means were used by the infatuated parents to conclude
+the bargain; and deception put an end to these usual artifices.  And
+that is all--all.
+
+The powerful emotions which once swelled my bosom seem now in the
+retrospect to be poor and insipid, nay, even terrible to me.
+
+Alas, Minna! as I wept for thee the day I lost thee, so do I now
+weep that I can no longer retrace thine image in my soul.
+
+Am I, then, so far advanced into the vale of years?  O fatal effects
+of maturity! would that I could feel one throb, one emotion of
+former days of enchantment--alas, not one! a solitary being, tossed
+on the wild ocean of life--it is long since I drained thine
+enchanted cup to the dregs!
+
+But to return to my narrative.  I had sent Bendel to the little town
+with plenty of money to procure me a suitable habitation.  He spent
+my gold profusely; and as he expressed himself rather reservedly
+concerning his distinguished master (for I did not wish to be
+named), the good people began to form rather extraordinary
+conjectures.
+
+As soon as my house was ready for my reception, Bendel returned to
+conduct me to it.  We set out on our journey.  About a league from
+the town, on a sunny plain, we were stopped by a crowd of people,
+arrayed in holiday attire for some festival.  The carriage stopped.
+Music, bells, cannons, were heard; and loud acclamations rang
+through the air.
+
+Before the carriage now appeared in white dresses a chorus of
+maidens, all of extraordinary beauty; but one of them shone in
+resplendent loveliness, and eclipsed the rest as the sun eclipses
+the stars of night.  She advanced from the midst of her companions,
+and, with a lofty yet winning air, blushingly knelt before me,
+presenting on a silken cushion a wreath, composed of laurel
+branches, the olive, and the rose, saying something respecting
+majesty, love, honour, &c., which I could not comprehend; but the
+sweet and silvery magic of her tones intoxicated my senses and my
+whole soul:  it seemed as if some heavenly apparition were hovering
+over me.  The chorus now began to sing the praises of a good
+sovereign, and the happiness of his subjects.  All this, dear
+Chamisso, took place in the sun:  she was kneeling two steps from
+me, and I, without a shadow, could not dart through the air, nor
+fall on my knees before the angelic being.  Oh, what would I not now
+have given for a shadow!  To conceal my shame, agony, and despair, I
+buried myself in the recesses of the carriage.  Bendel at last
+thought of an expedient; he jumped out of the carriage.  I called
+him back, and gave him out of the casket I had by me a rich diamond
+coronet, which had been intended for the lovely Fanny.
+
+He stepped forward, and spoke in the name of his master, who, he
+said, was overwhelmed by so many demonstrations of respect, which he
+really could not accept as an honour--there must be some error;
+nevertheless he begged to express his thanks for the goodwill of the
+worthy townspeople.  In the meantime Bendel had taken the wreath
+from the cushion, and laid the brilliant crown in its place.  He
+then respectfully raised the lovely girl from the ground; and, at
+one sign, the clergy, magistrates, and all the deputations withdrew.
+The crowd separated to allow the horses to pass, and we pursued our
+way to the town at full gallop, through arches ornamented with
+flowers and branches of laurel.  Salvos of artillery again were
+heard.  The carriage stopped at my gate; I hastened through the
+crowd which curiosity had attracted to witness my arrival.
+Enthusiastic shouts resounded under my windows, from whence I
+showered gold amidst the people; and in the evening the whole town
+was illuminated.  Still all remained a mystery to me, and I could
+not imagine for whom I had been taken.  I sent Rascal out to make
+inquiry; and he soon obtained intelligence that the good King of
+Prussia was travelling through the country under the name of some
+count; that my aide-de-camp had been recognised, and that he had
+divulged the secret; that on acquiring the certainty that I would
+enter their town, their joy had known no bounds:  however, as they
+perceived I was determined on preserving the strictest incognito,
+they felt how wrong they had been in too importunately seeking to
+withdraw the veil; but I had received them so condescendingly and so
+graciously, that they were sure I would forgive them.  The whole
+affair was such capital amusement to the unprincipled Rascal, that
+he did his best to confirm the good people in their belief, while
+affecting to reprove them.  He gave me a very comical account of the
+matter; and, seeing that I was amused by it, actually endeavoured to
+make a merit of his impudence.
+
+Shall I own the truth?  My vanity was flattered by having been
+mistaken for our revered sovereign.  I ordered a banquet to be got
+ready for the following evening, under the trees before my house,
+and invited the whole town.  The mysterious power of my purse,
+Bendel's exertions, and Rascal's ready invention, made the shortness
+of the time seem as nothing.
+
+It was really astonishing how magnificently and beautifully
+everything was arranged in these few hours.  Splendour and abundance
+vied with each other, and the lights were so carefully arranged that
+I felt quite safe:  the zeal of my servants met every exigency and
+merited all praise.
+
+Evening drew on, the guests arrived, and were presented to me.  The
+word MAJESTY was now dropped; but, with the deepest respect and
+humility, I was addressed as the COUNT.  What could I do?  I
+accepted the title, and from that moment I was known as Count Peter.
+In the midst of all this festivity my soul pined for one individual.
+She came late--she who was the empress of the scene, and wore the
+emblem of sovereignty on her brow.
+
+She modestly accompanied her parents, and seemed unconscious of her
+transcendent beauty.
+
+The Ranger of the Forests, his wife, and daughter, were presented to
+me.  I was at no loss to make myself agreeable to the parents; but
+before the daughter I stood like a well-scolded schoolboy, incapable
+of speaking a single word.
+
+At length I hesitatingly entreated her to honour my banquet by
+presiding at it--an office for which her rare endowments pointed her
+out as admirably fitted.  With a blush and an expressive glance she
+entreated to be excused; but, in still greater confusion than
+herself, I respectfully begged her to accept the homage of the first
+and most devoted of her subjects, and one glance of the count was
+the same as a command to the guests, who all vied with each other in
+acting up to the spirit of the noble host.
+
+In her person majesty, innocence, and grace, in union with beauty,
+presided over this joyous banquet.  Minna's happy parents were
+elated by the honours conferred upon their child.  As for me, I
+abandoned myself to all the intoxication of delight:  I sent for all
+the jewels, pearls, and precious stones still left to me--the
+produce of my fatal wealth--and, filling two vases, I placed them on
+the table, in the name of the Queen of the banquet, to be divided
+among her companions and the remainder of the ladies.
+
+I ordered gold in the meantime to be showered down without ceasing
+among the happy multitude.
+
+Next morning Bendel told me in confidence that the suspicions he had
+long entertained of Rascal's honesty were now reduced to a
+certainty; he had yesterday embezzled many bags of gold.
+
+"Never mind," said I; "let him enjoy his paltry booty.  I like to
+spend it; why should not he?  Yesterday he, and all the newly-
+engaged servants whom you had hired, served me honourably, and
+cheerfully assisted me to enjoy the banquet."
+
+No more was said on the subject.  Rascal remained at the head of my
+domestics.  Bendel was my friend and confidant; he had by this time
+become accustomed to look upon my wealth as inexhaustible, without
+seeking to inquire into its source.  He entered into all my schemes,
+and effectually assisted me in devising methods of spending my
+money.
+
+Of the pale, sneaking scoundrel--the unknown--Bendel only knew thus
+much, that he alone had power to release me from the curse which
+weighed so heavily on me, and yet that I stood in awe of him on whom
+all my hopes rested.  Besides, I felt convinced that he had the
+means of discovering ME under any circumstances, while he himself
+remained concealed.  I therefore abandoned my fruitless inquiries,
+and patiently awaited the appointed day.
+
+The magnificence of my banquet, and my deportment on the occasion,
+had but strengthened the credulous townspeople in their previous
+belief.
+
+It appeared soon after, from accounts in the newspapers, that the
+whole history of the King of Prussia's fictitious journey originated
+in mere idle report.  But a king I was, and a king I must remain by
+all means; and one of the richest and most royal, although people
+were at a loss to know where my territories lay.
+
+The world has never had reason to lament the scarcity of monarchs,
+particularly in these days; and the good people, who had never yet
+seen a king, now fancied me to be first one, and then another, with
+equal success; and in the meanwhile I remained as before, Count
+Peter.
+
+Among the visitors at this watering-place a merchant made his
+appearance, one who had become a bankrupt in order to enrich
+himself.  He enjoyed the general good opinion; for he projected a
+shadow of respectable size, though of somewhat faint hue.
+
+This man wished to show off in this place by means of his wealth,
+and sought to rival me.  My purse soon enabled me to leave the poor
+devil far behind.  To save his credit he became bankrupt again, and
+fled beyond the mountains; and thus I was rid of him.  Many a one in
+this place was reduced to beggary and ruin through my means.
+
+In the midst of the really princely magnificence and profusion,
+which carried all before me, my own style of living was very simple
+and retired.  I had made it a point to observe the strictest
+precaution; and, with the exception of Bendel, no one was permitted,
+on any pretence whatever, to enter my private apartment.  As long as
+the sun shone I remained shut up with him; and the Count was then
+said to be deeply occupied in his closet.  The numerous couriers,
+whom I kept in constant attendance about matters of no importance,
+were supposed to be the bearers of my despatches.  I only received
+company in the evening under the trees of my garden, or in my
+saloons, after Bendel's assurance of their being carefully and
+brilliantly lit up.
+
+My walks, in which the Argus-eyed Bendel was constantly on the watch
+for me, extended only to the garden of the forest-ranger, to enjoy
+the society of one who was dear to me as my own existence.
+
+Oh, my Chamisso!  I trust thou hast not forgotten what love is!  I
+must here leave much to thine imagination.  Minna was in truth an
+amiable and excellent maiden:  her whole soul was wrapped up in me,
+and in her lowly thoughts of herself she could not imagine how she
+had deserved a single thought from me.  She returned love for love
+with all the full and youthful fervour of an innocent heart; her
+love was a true woman's love, with all the devotion and total
+absence of selfishness which is found only in woman; she lived but
+in me, her whole soul being bound up in mine, regardless what her
+own fate might be.
+
+Yet I, alas, during those hours of wretchedness--hours I would even
+now gladly recall--how often have I wept on Bendel's bosom, when
+after the first mad whirlwind of passion I reflected, with the
+keenest self-upbraidings, that I, a shadowless man, had, with cruel
+selfishness, practised a wicked deception, and stolen away the pure
+and angelic heart of the innocent Minna!
+
+At one moment I resolved to confess all to her; then that I would
+fly for ever; then I broke out into a flood of bitter tears, and
+consulted Bendel as to the means of meeting her again in the
+forester's garden.
+
+At times I flattered myself with great hopes from the near
+approaching visit of the unknown; then wept again, because I saw
+clearly on reflection that they would end in disappointment.  I had
+made a calculation of the day fixed on by the fearful being for our
+interview; for he had said in a year and a day, and I depended on
+his word.
+
+The parents were worthy old people, devoted to their only child; and
+our mutual affection was a circumstance so overwhelming that they
+knew not how to act.  They had never dreamed for a moment that the
+Count could bestow a thought on their daughter; but such was the
+case--he loved and was beloved.  The pride of the mother might not
+have led her to consider such an alliance quite impossible, but so
+extravagant an idea had never entered the contemplation of the
+sounder judgment of the old man.  Both were satisfied of the
+sincerity of my love, and could but put up prayers to Heaven for the
+happiness of their child.
+
+A letter which I received from Minna about that time has just fallen
+into my hands.  Yes, these are the characters traced by her own
+hand.  I will transcribe the letter:-
+
+"I am indeed a weak, foolish girl to fancy that the friend I so
+tenderly love could give an instant's pain to his poor Minna!  Oh
+no! thou art so good, so inexpressibly good!  But do not
+misunderstand me.  I will accept no sacrifice at thy hands--none
+whatever.  Oh heavens!  I should hate myself!  No; thou hast made me
+happy, thou hast taught me to love thee.
+
+"Go, then--let me not forget my destiny--Count Peter belongs not to
+me, but to the whole world; and oh! what pride for thy Minna to hear
+thy deeds proclaimed, and blessings invoked on thy idolised head!
+Ah! when I think of this, I could chide thee that thou shouldst for
+one instant forget thy high destiny for the sake of a simple maiden!
+Go, then; otherwise the reflection will pierce me.  How blest I have
+been rendered by thy love!  Perhaps, also, I have planted some
+flowers in the path of thy life, as I twined them in the wreath
+which I presented to thee.
+
+"Go, then--fear not to leave me--you are too deeply seated in my
+heart--I shall die inexpressibly happy in thy love."
+
+Conceive how these words pierced my soul, Chamisso!
+
+I declared to her that I was not what I seemed--that, although a
+rich, I was an unspeakably miserable man--that a curse was on me,
+which must remain a secret, although the only one between us--yet
+that I was not without a hope of its being removed--that this
+poisoned every hour of my life--that I should plunge her with me
+into the abyss--she, the light and joy, the very soul of my
+existence.  Then she wept because I was unhappy.  Oh!  Minna was all
+love and tenderness.  To save me one tear she would gladly have
+sacrificed her life.
+
+Yet she was far from comprehending the full meaning of my words.
+She still looked upon me as some proscribed prince or illustrious
+exile; and her vivid imagination had invested her lover with every
+lofty attribute.
+
+One day I said to her, "Minna, the last day in next month will
+decide my fate, and perhaps change it for the better; if not, I
+would sooner die than render you miserable."
+
+She laid her head on my shoulder to conceal her tears.  "Should thy
+fate be changed," she said, "I only wish to know that thou art
+happy; if thy condition is an unhappy one, I will share it with
+thee, and assist thee to support it."
+
+"Minna, Minna!" I exclaimed, "recall those rash words--those mad
+words which have escaped thy lips!  Didst thou know the misery and
+curse--didst thou know who--what--thy lover--Seest thou not, my
+Minna, this convulsive shuddering which thrills my whole frame, and
+that there is a secret in my breast which you cannot penetrate?"
+She sank sobbing at my feet, and renewed her vows and entreaties.
+
+Her father now entered, and I declared to him my intention to
+solicit the hand of his daughter on the first day of the month after
+the ensuing one.  I fixed that time, I told him, because
+circumstances might probably occur in the interval materially to
+influence my future destiny; but my love for his daughter was
+unchangeable.
+
+The good old man started at hearing such words from the mouth of
+Count Peter.  He fell upon my neck, and rose again in the utmost
+confusion for having forgotten himself.  Then he began to doubt, to
+ponder, and to scrutinise; and spoke of dowry, security, and future
+provision for his beloved child.  I thanked him for having reminded
+me of all this, and told him it was my wish to remain in a country
+where I seemed to be beloved, and to lead a life free from anxiety.
+I then commissioned him to purchase the finest estate in the
+neighbourhood in the name of his daughter--for a father was the best
+person to act for his daughter in such a case--and to refer for
+payment to me.  This occasioned him a good deal of trouble, as a
+stranger had everywhere anticipated him; but at last he made a
+purchase for about 150,000 pounds.
+
+I confess this was but an innocent artifice to get rid of him, as I
+had frequently done before; for it must be confessed that he was
+somewhat tedious.  The good mother was rather deaf, and not jealous,
+like her husband, of the honour of conversing with the Count.
+
+The happy party pressed me to remain with them longer this evening.
+I dared not--I had not a moment to lose.  I saw the rising moon
+streaking the horizon--my hour was come.
+
+Next evening I went again to the forester's garden.  I had wrapped
+myself closely up in my cloak, slouched my hat over my eyes, and
+advanced towards Minna.  As she raised her head and looked at me,
+she started involuntarily.  The apparition of that dreadful night in
+which I had been seen without a shadow was now standing distinctly
+before me--it was she herself.  Had she recognised me?  She was
+silent and thoughtful.  I felt an oppressive load at my heart.  I
+rose from my seat.  She laid her head on my shoulder, still silent
+and in tears.  I went away.
+
+I now found her frequently weeping.  I became more and more
+melancholy.  Her parents were beyond expression happy.  The eventful
+day approached, threatening and heavy, like a thundercloud.  The
+evening preceding arrived.  I could scarcely breathe.  I had
+carefully filled a large chest with gold, and sat down to await the
+appointed time--the twelfth hour--it struck.
+
+Now I remained with my eyes fixed on the hand of the clock, counting
+the seconds--the minutes--which struck me to the heart like daggers.
+I started at every sound--at last daylight appeared.  The leaden
+hours passed on--morning--evening--night came.  Hope was fast fading
+away as the hand advanced.  It struck eleven--no one appeared--the
+last minutes--the first and last stroke of the twelfth hour died
+away.  I sank back in my bed in an agony of weeping.  In the morning
+I should, shadowless as I was, claim the hand of my beloved Minna.
+A heavy sleep towards daylight closed my eyes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+
+It was yet early, when I was suddenly awoke by voices in hot dispute
+in my antechamber.  I listened.  Bendel was forbidding Rascal to
+enter my room, who swore he would receive no orders from his equals,
+and insisted on forcing his way.  The faithful Bendel reminded him
+that if such words reached his master's ears, he would turn him out
+of an excellent place.  Rascal threatened to strike him if he
+persisted in refusing his entrance.
+
+By this time, having half dressed myself, I angrily threw open the
+door, and addressing myself to Rascal, inquired what he meant by
+such disgraceful conduct.  He drew back a couple of steps, and
+coolly answered, "Count Peter, may I beg most respectfully that you
+will favour me with a sight of your shadow?  The sun is now shining
+brightly in the court below."
+
+I stood as if struck by a thunderbolt, and for some time was unable
+to speak.  At last, I asked him how a servant could dare to behave
+so towards his master.  He interrupted me by saying, quite coolly,
+"A servant may be a very honourable man, and unwilling to serve a
+shadowless master--I request my dismissal."
+
+I felt that I must adopt a softer tone, and replied, "But, Rascal,
+my good fellow, who can have put such strange ideas into your head?
+How can you imagine--"
+
+He again interrupted me in the same tone--"People say you have no
+shadow.  In short, let me see your shadow, or give me my dismissal."
+
+Bendel, pale and trembling, but more collected than myself, made a
+sign to me.  I had recourse to the all-powerful influence of gold.
+But even gold had lost its power--Rascal threw it at my feet:  "From
+a shadowless man," he said, "I will take nothing."
+
+Turning his back upon me, and putting on his hat, he then slowly
+left the room, whistling a tune.  I stood, with Bendel, as if
+petrified, gazing after him.
+
+With a deep sigh and a heavy heart I now prepared to keep my
+engagement, and to appear in the forester's garden like a criminal
+before his judge.  I entered by the shady arbour, which had received
+the name of Count Peter's arbour, where we had appointed to meet.
+The mother advanced with a cheerful air; Minna sat fair and
+beautiful as the early snow of autumn reposing on the departing
+flowers, soon to be dissolved and lost in the cold stream.
+
+The ranger, with a written paper in his hand, was walking up and
+down in an agitated manner, and struggling to suppress his feelings-
+-his usually unmoved countenance being one moment flushed, and the
+next perfectly pale.  He came forward as I entered, and, in a
+faltering voice, requested a private conversation with me.  The path
+by which he requested me to follow him led to an open spot in the
+garden, where the sun was shining.  I sat down.  A long silence
+ensued, which even the good woman herself did not venture to break.
+The ranger, in an agitated manner, paced up and down with unequal
+steps.  At last he stood still; and glancing over the paper he held
+in his hand, he said, addressing me with a penetrating look,
+
+"Count Peter, do you know one Peter Schlemihl?" I was silent.
+
+"A man," he continued, "of excellent character and extraordinary
+endowments."
+
+He paused for an answer.--"And supposing I myself were that very
+man?"
+
+"You!" he exclaimed, passionately; "he has lost his shadow!"
+
+"Oh, my suspicion is true!" cried Minna; "I have long known it--he
+has no shadow!"  And she threw herself into her mother's arms, who,
+convulsively clasping her to her bosom, reproached her for having so
+long, to her hurt, kept such a secret.  But, like the fabled
+Arethusa, her tears, as from a fountain, flowed more abundantly, and
+her sobs increased at my approach.
+
+"And so," said the ranger fiercely, "you have not scrupled, with
+unparalleled shamelessness, to deceive both her and me; and you
+pretended to love her, forsooth--her whom you have reduced to the
+state in which you now see her.  See how she weeps!--Oh, shocking,
+shocking!"
+
+By this time I had lost all presence of mind; and I answered,
+confusedly, "After all, it is but a shadow, a mere shadow, which a
+man can do very well without; and really it is not worth the while
+to make all this noise about such a trifle."  Feeling the
+groundlessness of what I was saying, I ceased, and no one
+condescended to reply.  At last I added, "What is lost to-day may be
+found to-morrow."
+
+"Be pleased, sir," continued the ranger, in great wrath--"be pleased
+to explain how you have lost your shadow."
+
+Here again an excuse was ready:  "A boor of a fellow," said I, "one
+day trod so rudely on my shadow that he tore a large hole in it.  I
+sent it to be repaired--for gold can do wonders--and yesterday I
+expected it home again."
+
+"Very well," answered the ranger.  "You are a suitor for my
+daughter's hand, and so are others.  As a father, I am bound to
+provide for her.  I will give you three days to seek your shadow.
+Return to me in the course of that time with a well-fitted shadow,
+and you shall receive a hearty welcome; otherwise, on the fourth
+day--remember, on the fourth day--my daughter becomes the wife of
+another."
+
+I now attempted to say one word to Minna; but, sobbing more
+violently, she clung still closer to her mother, who made a sign for
+me to withdraw.  I obeyed; and now the world seemed shut out from me
+for ever.
+
+Having escaped from the affectionate care of Bendel, I now wandered
+wildly through the neighbouring woods and meadows.  Drops of anguish
+fell from my brow, deep groans burst from my bosom--frenzied despair
+raged within me.
+
+I knew not how long this had lasted, when I felt myself seized by
+the sleeve on a sunny heath.  I stopped, and looking up, beheld the
+grey-coated man, who appeared to have run himself out of breath in
+pursuing me.  He immediately began:
+
+"I had," said he, "appointed this day; but your impatience
+anticipated it.  All, however, may yet be right.  Take my advice--
+redeem your shadow, which is at your command, and return immediately
+to the ranger's garden, where you will be well received, and all the
+past will seem a mere joke.  As for Rascal--who has betrayed you in
+order to pay his addresses to Minna--leave him to me; he is just a
+fit subject for me."
+
+I stood like one in a dream.  "This day?" I considered again.  He
+was right--I had made a mistake of a day.  I felt in my bosom for
+the purse.  He perceived my intention, and drew back.
+
+"No, Count Peter; the purse is in good hands--pray keep it."  I
+gazed at him with looks of astonishment and inquiry.  "I only beg a
+trifle as a token of remembrance.  Be so good as to sign this
+memorandum."  On the parchment, which he held out to me, were these
+words: --"By virtue of this present, to which I have appended my
+signature, I hereby bequeath my soul to the holder, after its
+natural separation from my body."
+
+I gazed in mute astonishment alternately at the paper and the grey
+unknown.  In the meantime he had dipped a new pen in a drop of blood
+which was issuing from a scratch in my hand just made by a thorn.
+He presented it to me.  "Who are you?" at last I exclaimed.  "What
+can it signify?" he answered; "do you not perceive who I am?  A poor
+devil--a sort of scholar and philosopher, who obtains but poor
+thanks from his friends for his admirable arts, and whose only
+amusement on earth consists in his small experiments.  But just sign
+this; to the right, exactly underneath--Peter Schlemihl."
+
+I shook my head, and replied, "Excuse me, sir; I cannot sign that."
+
+"Cannot!" he exclaimed; "and why not?"
+
+"Because it appears to me a hazardous thing to exchange my soul for
+my shadow."
+
+"Hazardous!" he exclaimed, bursting into a loud laugh.  "And, pray,
+may I be allowed to inquire what sort of a thing your soul is?--have
+you ever seen it?--and what do you mean to do with it after your
+death?  You ought to think yourself fortunate in meeting with a
+customer who, during your life, in exchange for this infinitely-
+minute quantity, this galvanic principle, this polarised agency, or
+whatever other foolish name you may give it, is willing to bestow on
+you something substantial--in a word, your own identical shadow, by
+virtue of which you will obtain your beloved Minna, and arrive at
+the accomplishment of all your wishes; or do you prefer giving up
+the poor young girl to the power of that contemptible scoundrel
+Rascal ?  Nay, you shall behold her with your own eyes.  Come here;
+I will lend you an invisible cap (he drew something out of his
+pocket), and we will enter the ranger's garden unseen."
+
+I must confess that I felt excessively ashamed to be thus laughed at
+by the grey stranger.  I detested him from the very bottom of my
+soul; and I really believe this personal antipathy, more than
+principle or previously-formed opinion, restrained me from
+purchasing my shadow, much as I stood in need of it, at such an
+expense.  Besides, the thought was insupportable, of making this
+proposed visit in his society.  To behold this hateful sneak, this
+mocking fiend, place himself between me and my beloved, between our
+torn and bleeding hearts, was too revolting an idea to be
+entertained for a moment.  I considered the past as irrevocable, my
+own misery as inevitable; and turning to the grey man, I said, "I
+have exchanged my shadow for this very extraordinary purse, and I
+have sufficiently repented it.  For Heaven's sake, let the
+transaction be declared null and void!"  He shook his head; and his
+countenance assumed an expression of the most sinister cast.  I
+continued, "I will make no exchange whatever, even for the sake of
+my shadow, nor will I sign the paper.  It follows, also, that the
+incognito visit you propose to me would afford you far more
+entertainment than it could possibly give me.  Accept my excuses,
+therefore; and, since it must be so, let us part."
+
+"I am sorry, Mr. Schlemihl, that you thus obstinately persist in
+rejecting my friendly offer.  Perhaps, another time, I may be more
+fortunate.  Farewell!  May we shortly meet again!  But, a propos,
+allow me to show you that I do not undervalue my purchase, but
+preserve it carefully."
+
+So saying, he drew my shadow out of his pocket; and shaking it
+cleverly out of its folds, he stretched it out at his feet in the
+sun--so that he stood between two obedient shadows, his own and
+mine, which was compelled to follow and comply with his every
+movement.
+
+On again beholding my poor shadow after so long a separation, and
+seeing it degraded to so vile a bondage at the very time that I was
+so unspeakably in want of it, my heart was ready to burst, and I
+wept bitterly.  The detested wretch stood exulting over his prey,
+and unblushingly renewed his proposal.  "One stroke of your pen, and
+the unhappy Minna is rescued from the clutches of the villain
+Rascal, and transferred to the arms of the high-born Count Peter--
+merely a stroke of your pen!"
+
+My tears broke out with renewed violence; but I turned away from
+him, and made a sign for him to be gone.
+
+Bendel, whose deep solicitude had induced him to come in search of
+me, arrived at this very moment.  The good and faithful creature, on
+seeing me weeping, and that a shadow (evidently mine) was in the
+power of the mysterious unknown, determined to rescue it by force,
+should that be necessary; and disdaining to use any finesse, he
+desired him directly, and without any disputing, to restore my
+property.  Instead of a reply, the grey man turned his back on the
+worthy fellow, and was making off.  But Bendel raised his buck-thorn
+stick; and following close upon him, after repeated commands, but in
+vain, to restore the shadow, he made him feel the whole force of his
+powerful arm.  The grey man, as if accustomed to such treatment,
+held down his head, slouched his shoulders, and, with soft and
+noiseless steps, pursued his way over the heath, carrying with him
+my shadow, and also my faithful servant.  For a long time I heard
+hollow sounds ringing through the waste, until at last they died
+away in the distance, and I was again left to solitude and misery.
+
+
+Alone on the wild heath, I disburdened my heart of an insupportable
+load by giving free vent to my tears.  But I saw no bounds, no
+relief, to my surpassing wretchedness; and I drank in the fresh
+poison which the mysterious stranger had poured into my wounds with
+a furious avidity.  As I retraced in my mind the loved image of my
+Minna, and depicted her sweet countenance all pale and in tears,
+such as I had beheld her in my late disgrace, the bold and sarcastic
+visage of Rascal would ever and anon thrust itself between us.  I
+hid my face, and fled rapidly over the plains; but the horrible
+vision unrelentingly pursued me, till at last I sank breathless on
+the ground, and bedewed it with a fresh torrent of tears--and all
+this for a shadow!--a shadow which one stroke of the pen would
+repurchase.  I pondered on the singular proposal, and on my
+hesitation to comply with it.  My mind was confused--I had lost the
+power of judging or comprehending.  The day was waning apace.  I
+satisfied the cravings of hunger with a few wild fruits, and
+quenched my thirst at a neighbouring stream.  Night came on; I threw
+myself down under a tree, and was awoke by the damp morning air from
+an uneasy sleep, in which I had fancied myself struggling in the
+agonies of death.  Bendel had certainly lost all trace of me, and I
+was glad of it.  I did not wish to return among my fellow-creatures-
+-I shunned them as the hunted deer flies before its pursuers.  Thus
+I passed three melancholy days.
+
+I found myself on the morning of the fourth on a sandy plain,
+basking in the rays of the sun, and sitting on a fragment of rock;
+for it was sweet to enjoy the genial warmth of which I had so long
+been deprived.  Despair still preyed on my heart.  Suddenly a slight
+sound startled me; I looked round, prepared to fly, but saw no one.
+On the sunlit sand before me flitted the shadow of a man not unlike
+my own; and wandering about alone, it seemed to have lost its
+master.  This sight powerfully excited me.  "Shadow!" thought I,
+"art thou in search of thy master? in me thou shalt find him."  And
+I sprang forward to seize it, fancying that could I succeed in
+treading so exactly in its traces as to step in its footmarks, it
+would attach itself to me, and in time become accustomed to me, and
+follow all my movements.
+
+The shadow, as I moved, took to flight, and I commenced a hot chase
+after the airy fugitive, solely excited by the hope of being
+delivered from my present dreadful situation; the bare idea inspired
+me with fresh strength and vigour.
+
+The shadow now fled towards a distant wood, among whose shades I
+must necessarily have lost it.  Seeing this, my heart beat wild with
+fright, my ardour increased and lent wings to my speed.  I was
+evidently gaining on the shadow--I came nearer and nearer--I was
+within reach of it, when it suddenly stopped and turned towards me.
+Like a lion darting on its prey, I made a powerful spring and fell
+unexpectedly upon a hard substance.  Then followed, from an
+invisible hand, the most terrible blows in the ribs that anyone ever
+received.  The effect of my terror made me endeavour convulsively to
+strike and grasp at the unseen object before me.  The rapidity of my
+motions brought me to the ground, where I lay stretched out with a
+man under me, whom I held tight, and who now became visible.
+
+The whole affair was now explained.  The man had undoubtedly
+possessed the bird's nest which communicates its charm of
+invisibility to its possessor, though not equally so to his shadow;
+and this nest he had now thrown away.  I looked all round, and soon
+discovered the shadow of this invisible nest.  I sprang towards it,
+and was fortunate enough to seize the precious booty, and
+immediately became invisible and shadowless.
+
+The moment the man regained his feet he looked all round over the
+wide sunny plain to discover his fortunate vanquisher, but could see
+neither him nor his shadow, the latter seeming particularly to be
+the object of his search:  for previous to our encounter he had not
+had leisure to observe that I was shadowless, and he could not be
+aware of it.  Becoming convinced that all traces of me were lost, he
+began to tear his hair, and give himself up to all the frenzy of
+despair.  In the meantime, this newly acquired treasure communicated
+to me both the ability and the desire to mix again among mankind.
+
+I was at a loss for a pretext to vindicate this unjust robbery--or,
+rather, so deadened had I become, I felt no need of a pretext; and
+in order to dissipate every idea of the kind, I hastened on,
+regardless of the unhappy man, whose fearful lamentations long
+resounded in my ears.  Such, at the time, were my impressions of all
+the circumstances of this affair.
+
+I now ardently desired to return to the ranger's garden, in order to
+ascertain in person the truth of the information communicated by the
+odious unknown; but I knew not where I was, until, ascending an
+eminence to take a survey of the surrounding country, I perceived,
+from its summit, the little town and the gardens almost at my feet.
+My heart beat violently, and tears of a nature very different from
+those I had lately shed filled my eyes.  I should, then, once more
+behold her!
+
+Anxiety now hastened my steps.  Unseen I met some peasants coming
+from the town; they were talking of me, of Rascal, and of the
+ranger.  I would not stay to listen to their conversation, but
+proceeded on.  My bosom thrilled with expectation as I entered the
+garden.  At this moment I heard something like a hollow laugh which
+caused me involuntarily to shudder.  I cast a rapid glance around,
+but could see no one.  I passed on; presently I fancied I heard the
+sound of footsteps close to me, but no one was within sight.  My
+ears must have deceived me.
+
+It was early; no one was in Count Peter's bower--the gardens were
+deserted.  I traversed all the well-known paths, and penetrated even
+to the dwelling-house itself.  The same rustling sound became now
+more and more audible.  With anguished feelings I sat down on a seat
+placed in the sunny space before the door, and actually felt some
+invisible fiend take a place by me, and heard him utter a sarcastic
+laugh.  The key was turned in the door, which was opened.  The
+forest-master appeared with a paper in his hand.  Suddenly my head
+was, as it were, enveloped in a mist.  I looked up, and, oh horror!
+the grey-coated man was at my side, peering in my face with a
+satanic grin.  He had extended the mist-cap he wore over my head.
+His shadow and my own were lying together at his feet in perfect
+amity.  He kept twirling in his hand the well-known parchment with
+an air of indifference; and while the ranger, absorbed in thought,
+and intent upon his paper, paced up and down the arbour, my
+tormentor confidentially leaned towards me, and whispered, "So, Mr.
+Schlemihl, you have at length accepted my invitation; and here we
+sit, two heads under one hood, as the saying is.  Well, well, all in
+good time.  But now you can return me my bird's nest--you have no
+further occasion for it; and I am sure you are too honourable a man
+to withhold it from me.  No need of thanks, I assure you; I had
+infinite pleasure in lending it to you."  He took it out of my
+unresisting hand, put it into his pocket, and then broke into so
+loud a laugh at my expense, that the forest-master turned round,
+startled at the sound.  I was petrified.  "You must acknowledge," he
+continued, "that in our position a hood is much more convenient.  It
+serves to conceal not only a man, but his shadow, or as many shadows
+as he chooses to carry.  I, for instance, to-day bring two, you
+perceive."  He laughed again.  "Take notice, Schlemihl, that what a
+man refuses to do with a good grace in the first instance, he is
+always in the end compelled to do.  I am still of opinion that you
+ought to redeem your shadow and claim your bride (for it is yet
+time); and as to Rascal, he shall dangle at a rope's end--no
+difficult matter, so long as we can find a bit.  As a mark of
+friendship I will give you my cap into the bargain."
+
+The mother now came out, and the following conversation took place:
+"What is Minna doing?"  "She is weeping."  "Silly child! what good
+can that do?"  "None, certainly; but it is so soon to bestow her
+hand on another.  O husband, you are too harsh to your poor child."
+"No, wife; you view things in a wrong light.  When she finds herself
+the wife of a wealthy and honourable man, her tears will soon cease;
+she will waken out of a dream, as it were, happy and grateful to
+Heaven and to her parents, as you will see."  "Heaven grant it may
+be so!" replied the wife.  "She has, indeed, now considerable
+property; but after the noise occasioned by her unlucky affair with
+that adventurer, do you imagine that she is likely soon to meet with
+so advantageous a match as Mr. Rascal?  Do you know the extent of
+Mr. Rascal's influence and wealth?  Why, he has purchased with ready
+money, in this country, six millions of landed property, free from
+all encumbrances.  I have had all the documents in my hands.  It was
+he who outbid me everywhere when I was about to make a desirable
+purchase; and, besides, he has bills on Mr. Thomas John's house to
+the amount of three millions and a half."  "He must have been a
+prodigious thief!"  "How foolishly you talk! he wisely saved where
+others squandered their property."  "A mere livery-servant!"
+"Nonsense! he has at all events an unexceptionable shadow."  "True,
+but . . . "
+
+While this conversation was passing, the grey-coated man looked at
+me with a satirical smile.
+
+The door opened, and Minna entered, leaning on the arm of her female
+attendant, silent tears flowing down her fair but pallid face.  She
+seated herself in the chair which had been placed for her under the
+lime-trees, and her father took a stool by her side.  He gently
+raised her hand; and as her tears flowed afresh, he addressed her in
+the most affectionate manner
+
+"My own dear, good child--my Minna--will act reasonably, and not
+afflict her poor old father, who only wishes to make her happy.  My
+dearest child, this blow has shaken you--dreadfully, I know it; but
+you have been saved, as by a miracle, from a miserable fate, my
+Minna.  You loved the unworthy villain most tenderly before his
+treachery was discovered:  I feel all this, Minna; and far be it
+from me to reproach you for it--in fact, I myself loved him so long
+as I considered him to be a person of rank:  you now see yourself
+how differently it has turned out.  Every dog has a shadow; and the
+idea of my child having been on the eve of uniting herself to a man
+who . . . but I am sure you will think no more of him.  A suitor has
+just appeared for you in the person of a man who does not fear the
+sun--an honourable man--no prince indeed, but a man worth ten
+millions of golden ducats sterling--a sum nearly ten times larger
+than your fortune consists of--a man, too, who will make my dear
+child happy--nay, do not oppose me--be my own good, dutiful child--
+allow your loving father to provide for you, and to dry up these
+tears.  Promise to bestow your hand on Mr. Rascal.  Speak my child:
+will you not?"
+
+Minna could scarcely summon strength to reply that she had now no
+longer any hopes or desires on earth, and that she was entirely at
+her father's disposal.  Rascal was therefore immediately sent for,
+and entered the room with his usual forwardness; but Minima in the
+meantime had swooned away.
+
+My detested companion looked at me indignantly, and whispered, "Can
+you endure this?  Have you no blood in your veins?"  He instantly
+pricked my finger, which bled.  "Yes, positively," he exclaimed,
+"you have some blood left!--come, sign."  The parchment and pen were
+in my hand!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+
+I submit myself to thy judgment, my dear Chamisso; I do not seek to
+bias it.  I have long been a rigid censor of myself, and nourished
+at my heart the worm of remorse.  This critical moment of my life is
+ever present to my soul, and I dare only cast a hesitating glance at
+it, with a deep sense of humiliation and grief.  Ah, my dear friend,
+he who once permits himself thoughtlessly to deviate but one step
+from the right road, will imperceptibly find himself involved in
+various intricate paths, all leading him farther and farther astray.
+In vain he beholds the guiding-stars of Heaven shining before him.
+No choice is left him--he must descend the precipice, and offer
+himself up a sacrifice to his fate.  After the false step which I
+had rashly made, and which entailed a curse upon me, I had, in the
+wantonness of passion, entangled one in my fate who had staked all
+her happiness upon me.  What was left for me to do in a case where I
+had brought another into misery, but to make a desperate leap in the
+dark to save her ?--the last, the only means of rescue presented
+itself.  Think not so meanly of me, Chamisso, as to imagine that I
+would have shrunk from any sacrifice on my part.  In such a case it
+would have been but a poor ransom.  No, Chamisso; but my whole soul
+was filled with unconquerable hatred to the cringing knave and his
+crooked ways.  I might be doing him injustice; but I shuddered at
+the bare idea of entering into any fresh compact with him.  But here
+a circumstance took place which entirely changed the face of things
+. . .
+
+I know not whether to ascribe it to excitement of mind, exhaustion
+of physical strength (for during the last few days I had scarcely
+tasted anything), or the antipathy I felt to the society of my
+fiendish companion; but just as I was about to sign the fatal paper,
+I fell into a deep swoon, and remained for a long time as if dead.
+The first sounds which greeted my ear on recovering my consciousness
+were those of cursing and imprecation; I opened my eyes--it was
+dusk; my hateful companion was overwhelming me with reproaches.  "Is
+not this behaving like an old woman?  Come, rise up, and finish
+quickly what you were going to do; or perhaps you have changed your
+determination, and prefer to lie groaning there?"
+
+I raised myself with difficulty from the ground and gazed around me
+without speaking a word.  It was late in the evening, and I heard
+strains of festive music proceeding from the ranger's brilliantly
+illuminated house; groups of company were lounging about the
+gardens; two persons approached, and seating themselves on the bench
+I had lately occupied, began to converse on the subject of the
+marriage which had taken place that morning between the wealthy Mr.
+Rascal and Minima.  All was then over.
+
+I tore off the cap which rendered me invisible; and my companion
+having disappeared, I plunged in silence into the thickest gloom of
+the grove, rapidly passed Count Peter's bower towards the entrance-
+gate; but my tormentor still haunted me, and loaded me with
+reproaches.  "And is this all the gratitude I am to expect from you,
+Mr. Schlemihl--you, whom I have been watching all the weary day,
+until you should recover from your nervous attack?  What a fool's
+part I have been enacting!  It is of no use flying from me, Mr.
+Perverse--we are inseparable--you have my gold, I have your shadow;
+this exchange deprives us both of peace.  Did you ever hear of a
+man's shadow leaving him?--yours follows me until you receive it
+again into favour, and thus free me from it.  Disgust and weariness
+sooner or later will compel you to do what you should have done
+gladly at first.  In vain you strive with fate!"
+
+He continued unceasingly in the same tone, uttering constant
+sarcasms about the gold and the shadow, till I was completely
+bewildered.  To fly from him was impossible.  I had pursued my way
+through the empty streets towards my own house, which I could
+scarcely recognise--the windows were broken to pieces, no light was
+visible, the doors were shut, and the bustle of domestics had
+ceased.  My companion burst into a loud laugh.  "Yes, yes," said he,
+"you see the state of things:  however, you will find your friend
+Bendel at home; he was sent back the other day so fatigued, that I
+assure you he has never left the house since.  He will have a fine
+story to tell!  So I wish you a very good night--may we shortly meet
+again!"
+
+I had repeatedly rung the bell:  at last a light appeared; and
+Bendel inquired from within who was there.  The poor fellow could
+scarcely contain himself at the sound of my voice.  The door flew
+open, and we were locked in each other's arms.  I found him sadly
+changed; he was looking ill and feeble.  I, too, was altered; my
+hair had become quite grey.  He conducted me through the desolate
+apartments to an inner room, which had escaped the general wreck.
+After partaking of some refreshment, we seated ourselves; and, with
+fresh lamentations, he began to tell me that the grey withered old
+man whom he had met with my shadow had insensibly led him such a
+zig-zag race, that he had lost all traces of me, and at last sank
+down exhausted with fatigue; that, unable to find me, he had
+returned home, when, shortly after the mob, at Rascal's instigation,
+assembled violently before the house, broke the windows, and by all
+sorts of excesses completely satiated their fury.  Thus had they
+treated their benefactor.  My servants had fled in all directions.
+The police had banished me from the town as a suspicious character,
+and granted me an interval of twenty-four hours to leave the
+territory.  Bendel added many particulars as to the information I
+had already obtained respecting Rascal's wealth and marriage.  This
+villain, it seems--who was the author of all the measures taken
+against me--became possessed of my secret nearly from the beginning,
+and, tempted by the love of money, had supplied himself with a key
+to my chest, and from that time had been laying the foundation of
+his present wealth.  Bendel related all this with many tears, and
+wept for joy that I was once more safely restored to him, after all
+his fears and anxieties for me.  In me, however, such a state of
+things only awoke despair.
+
+My dreadful fate now stared me in the face in all its gigantic and
+unchangeable horror.  The source of tears was exhausted within me;
+no groans escaped my breast; but with cool indifference I bared my
+unprotected head to the blast.  "Bendel," said I, "you know my fate;
+this heavy visitation is a punishment for my early sins:  but as for
+thee, my innocent friend, I can no longer permit thee to share my
+destiny.  I will depart this very night--saddle me a horse--I will
+set out alone.  Remain here, Bendel--I insist upon it:  there must
+be some chests of gold still left in the house--take them, they are
+thine.  I shall be a restless and solitary wanderer on the face of
+the earth; but should better days arise, and fortune once more smile
+propitiously on me, then I will not forget thy steady fidelity; for
+in hours of deep distress thy faithful bosom has been the depository
+of my sorrows."  With a bursting heart, the worthy Bendel prepared
+to obey this last command of his master; for I was deaf to all his
+arguments and blind to his tears.  My horse was brought--I pressed
+my weeping friend to my bosom--threw myself into the saddle, and,
+under the friendly shades of night, quitted this sepulchre of my
+existence, indifferent which road my horse should take; for now on
+this side the grave I had neither wishes, hopes, nor fears.
+
+After a short time I was joined by a traveller on foot, who, after
+walking for a while by the side of my horse, observed that as we
+both seemed to be travelling the same road, he should beg my
+permission to lay his cloak on the horse's back behind me, to which
+I silently assented.  He thanked me with easy politeness for this
+trifling favour, praised my horse, and then took occasion to extol
+the happiness and the power of the rich, and fell, I scarcely know
+how, into a sort of conversation with himself, in which I merely
+acted the part of listener.  He unfolded his views of human life and
+of the world, and, touching on metaphysics, demanded an answer from
+that cloudy science to the question of questions--the answer that
+should solve all mysteries.  He deduced one problem from another in
+a very lucid manner, and then proceeded to their solution.
+
+You may remember, my dear friend, that after having run through the
+school-philosophy, I became sensible of my unfitness for
+metaphysical speculations, and therefore totally abstained from
+engaging in them.  Since then I have acquiesced in some things, and
+abandoned all hope of comprehending others; trusting, as you advised
+me, to my own plain sense and the voice of conscience to direct and,
+if possible, maintain me in the right path.
+
+Now this skilful rhetorician seemed to me to expend great skill in
+rearing a firmly-constructed edifice, towering aloft on its own
+self-supported basis, but resting on, and upheld by, some internal
+principle of necessity.  I regretted in it the total absence of what
+I desired to find; and thus it seemed a mere work of art, serving
+only by its elegance and exquisite finish to captivate the eye.
+Nevertheless, I listened with pleasure to this eloquently gifted
+man, who diverted my attention from my own sorrows to the speaker;
+and he would have secured my entire acquiescence if he had appealed
+to my heart as well as to my judgment.
+
+In the meantime the hours had passed away, and morning had already
+dawned imperceptibly in the horizon; looking up, I shuddered as I
+beheld in the east all those splendid hues that announce the rising
+sun.  At this hour, when all natural shadows are seen in their full
+proportions, not a fence or a shelter of any kind could I descry in
+this open country, and I was not alone!  I cast a glance at my
+companion, and shuddered again--it was the man in the grey coat
+himself!  He laughed at my surprise, and said, without giving me
+time to speak:  "You see, according to the fashion of this world,
+mutual convenience binds us together for a time:  there is plenty of
+time to think of parting.  The road here along the mountain, which
+perhaps has escaped your notice, is the only one that you can
+prudently take; into the valley you dare not descend--the path over
+the mountain would but reconduct you to the town which you have
+left--my road, too, lies this way.  I perceive you change colour at
+the rising sun--I have no objections to let you have the loan of
+your shadow during our journey, and in return you may not be
+indisposed to tolerate my society.  You have now no Bendel; but I
+will act for him.  I regret that you are not over-fond of me; but
+that need not prevent you from accepting my poor services.  The
+devil is not so black as he is painted.  Yesterday you provoked me,
+I own; but now that is all forgotten, and you must confess I have
+this day succeeded in beguiling the wearisomeness of your journey.
+Come, take your shadow, and make trial of it."
+
+The sun had risen, and we were meeting with passengers; so I
+reluctantly consented.  With a smile, he immediately let my shadow
+glide down to the ground; and I beheld it take its place by that of
+my horse, and gaily trot along with me.  My feelings were anything
+but pleasant.  I rode through groups of country people, who
+respectfully made way for the well-mounted stranger.  Thus I
+proceeded, occasionally stealing a sidelong glance with a beating
+heart from my horse at the shadow once my own, but now, alas,
+accepted as a loan from a stranger, or rather a fiend.  He moved on
+carelessly at my side, whistling a song.  He being on foot, and I on
+horseback, the temptation to hazard a silly project occurred to me;
+so, suddenly turning my bridle, I set spurs to my horse, and at full
+gallop struck into a by-path; but my shadow, on the sudden movement
+of my horse, glided away, and stood on the road quietly awaiting the
+approach of its legal owner.  I was obliged to return abashed
+towards the grey man; but he very coolly finished his song, and with
+a laugh set my shadow to rights again, reminding me that it was at
+my option to have it irrevocably fixed to me, by purchasing it on
+just and equitable terms.  "I hold you," said he, "by the shadow;
+and you seek in vain to get rid of me.  A rich man like you requires
+a shadow, unquestionably; and you are to blame for not having seen
+this sooner."
+
+I now continued my journey on the same road; every convenience and
+even luxury of life was mine; I moved about in peace and freedom,
+for I possessed a shadow, though a borrowed one; and all the respect
+due to wealth was paid to me.  But a deadly disease preyed on my
+heart.  My extraordinary companion, who gave himself out to be the
+humble attendant of the richest individual in the world, was
+remarkable for his dexterity; in short, his singular address and
+promptitude admirably fitted him to be the very beau ideal of a rich
+man's lacquey.  But he never stirred from my side, and tormented me
+with constant assurances that a day would most certainly come when,
+if it were only to get rid of him, I should gladly comply with his
+terms, and redeem my shadow.  Thus he became as irksome as he was
+hateful to me.  I really stood in awe of him--I had placed myself in
+his power.  Since he had effected my return to the pleasures of the
+world, which I had resolved to shun, he had the perfect mastery of
+me.  His eloquence was irresistible, and at times I almost thought
+he was in the right.  A shadow is indeed necessary to a man of
+fortune; and if I chose to maintain the position in which he had
+placed me, there was only one means of doing so.  But on one point I
+was immovable:  since I had sacrificed my love for Minna, and
+thereby blighted the happiness of my whole life, I would not now,
+for all the shadows in the universe be induced to sign away my soul
+to this being--I knew not how it might end.
+
+One day we were sitting by the entrance of a cavern, much visited by
+strangers, who ascended the mountain:  the rushing noise of a
+subterranean torrent resounded from the fathomless abyss, the depths
+of which exceeded all calculation.  He was, according to his
+favourite custom, employing all the powers of his lavish fancy, and
+all the charm of the most brilliant colouring, to depict to me what
+I might effect in the world by virtue of my purse, when once I had
+recovered my shadow.  With my elbows resting on my knees, I kept my
+face concealed in my hands, and listened to the false fiend, my
+heart torn between the temptation and my determined opposition to
+it.  Such indecision I could no longer endure, and resolved on one
+decisive effort.
+
+"You seem to forget," said I, "that I tolerate your presence only on
+certain conditions, and that I am to retain perfect freedom of
+action."
+
+"You have but to command, I depart," was all his reply.
+
+The threat was familiar to me; I was silent.  He then began to fold
+up my shadow.  I turned pale, but allowed him to continue.  A long
+silence ensued, which he was the first to break.
+
+"You cannot endure me, Mr Schlemihl--you hate me--I am aware of it--
+but why?--is it, perhaps, because you attacked me on the open plain,
+in order to rob me of my invisible bird's nest? or is it because you
+thievishly endeavoured to seduce away the shadow with which I had
+entrusted you--my own property--confiding implicitly in your honour!
+I, for my part, have no dislike to you.  It is perfectly natural
+that you should avail yourself of every means, presented either by
+cunning or force, to promote your own interests.  That your
+principles also should be of the strictest sort, and your intentions
+of the most honourable description,--these are fancies with which I
+have nothing to do; I do not pretend to such strictness myself.
+Each of us is free, I to act, and you to think, as seems best.  Did
+I ever seize you by the throat, to tear out of your body that
+valuable soul I so ardently wish to possess?  Did I ever set my
+servant to attack you, to get back my purse, or attempt to run off
+with it from you?"
+
+I had not a word to reply.
+
+"Well, well," he exclaimed, "you detest me, and I know it; but I
+bear you no malice on that account.  We must part--that is clear;
+also I must say that you begin to be very tiresome to me.  Once more
+let me advise you to free yourself entirely from my troublesome
+presence by the purchase of your shadow."
+
+I held out the purse to him.
+
+"No, Mr. Schlemihl; not at that price."
+
+With a deep sigh, I said, "Be it so, then; let us part, I entreat;
+cross my path no more.  There is surely room enough in the world for
+us both."
+
+Laughing, he replied, "I go; but just allow me to inform you how you
+may at any time recall me whenever you have a mind to see your most
+humble servant:  you have only to shake your purse, the sound of the
+gold will bring me to you in an instant.  In this world every one
+consults his own advantage; but you see I have thought of yours, and
+clearly confer upon you a new power.  Oh this purse! it would still
+prove a powerful bond between us, had the moth begun to devour your
+shadow.--But enough:  you hold me by my gold, and may command your
+servant at any distance.  You know that I can be very serviceable to
+my friends; and that the rich are my peculiar care--this you have
+observed.  As to your shadow, allow me to say, you can only redeem
+it on one condition."
+
+Recollections of former days came over me; and I hastily asked him
+if he had obtained Mr. Thomas John's signature.
+
+He smiled, and said, "It was by no means necessary from so excellent
+a friend."
+
+"Where is he? for God's sake tell me:  I insist upon knowing."
+
+With some hesitation, he put his hand into his pocket; and drew out
+the altered and pallid form of Mr. John by the hair of his head,
+whose livid lips uttered the awful words, "Justo judicio Dei
+judicatus sum; justo judicio Dei condemnatus sum"--"I am judged and
+condemned by the just judgment of God."  I was horror-struck; and
+instantly throwing the jingling purse into the abyss, I exclaimed,
+"Wretch! in the name of Heaven, I conjure you to be gone!--away from
+my sight!--never appear before me again!"  With a dark expression on
+his countenance, he arose, and immediately vanished behind the huge
+rocks which surrounded the place.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+
+I was now left equally without gold and without shadow; but a heavy
+load was taken from my breast, and I felt cheerful.  Had not my
+Minna been irrecoverably lost to me, or even had I been perfectly
+free from self-reproach on her account, I felt that happiness might
+yet have been mine.  At present I was lost in doubt as to my future
+course.  I examined my pockets, and found I had a few gold pieces
+still left, which I counted with feelings of great satisfaction.  I
+had left my horse at the inn, and was ashamed to return, or at all
+events I must wait till the sun had set, which at present was high
+in the heavens.  I laid myself down under a shady tree and fell into
+a peaceful sleep.
+
+Lovely forms floated in airy measures before me, and filled up my
+delightful dreams.  Minna, with a garland of flowers entwined in her
+hair, was bending over me with a smile of goodwill; also the worthy
+Bendel was crowned with flowers, and hastened to meet me with
+friendly greetings.  Many other forms seemed to rise up confusedly
+in the distance:  thyself among the number, Chamisso.  Perfect
+radiance beamed around them, but none had a shadow; and what was
+more surprising, there was no appearance of unhappiness on this
+account.  Nothing was to be seen or heard but flowers and music; and
+love and joy, and groves of never-fading palms, seemed the natives
+of that happy clime.
+
+In vain I tried to detain and comprehend the lovely but fleeting
+forms.  I was conscious, also, of being in a dream, and was anxious
+that nothing should rouse me from it; and when I did awake, I kept
+my eyes closed, in order if possible to continue the illusion.  At
+last I opened my eyes.  The sun was now visible in the east; I must
+have slept the whole night:  I looked upon this as a warning not to
+return to the inn.  What I had left there I was content to lose,
+without much regret; and resigning myself to Providence, I decided
+on taking a by-road that led through the wooded declivity of the
+mountain.  I never once cast a glance behind me; nor did it ever
+occur to me to return, as I might have done, to Bendel, whom I had
+left in affluence.  I reflected on the new character I was now going
+to assume in the world.  My present garb was very humble--consisting
+of an old black coat I formerly had worn at Berlin, and which by
+some chance was the first I put my hand on before setting out on
+this journey, a travelling-cap, and an old pair of boots.  I cut
+down a knotted stick in memory of the spot, and commenced my
+pilgrimage.
+
+In the forest I met an aged peasant, who gave me a friendly
+greeting, and with whom I entered into conversation, requesting, as
+a traveller desirous of information, some particulars relative to
+the road, the country, and its inhabitants, the productions of the
+mountain, &c.  He replied to my various inquiries with readiness and
+intelligence.  At last we reached the bed of a mountain-torrent,
+which had laid waste a considerable tract of the forest; I inwardly
+shuddered at the idea of the open sunshine.  I suffered the peasant
+to go before me.  In the middle of the very place which I dreaded so
+much, he suddenly stopped, and turned back to give me an account of
+this inundation; but instantly perceiving that I had no shadow, he
+broke off abruptly, and exclaimed, "How is this?--you have no
+shadow!"
+
+"Alas, alas!" said I, "in a long and serious illness I had the
+misfortune to lose my hair, my nails, and my shadow.  Look, good
+father; although my hair has grown again, it is quite white; and at
+my age, my nails are still very short; and my poor shadow seems to
+have left me, never to return."
+
+"Ah!" said the old man, shaking his head; "no shadow! that was
+indeed a terrible illness, sir."
+
+But he did not resume his narrative; and at the very first cross-
+road we came to, left me without uttering a syllable.  Fresh tears
+flowed from my eyes, and my cheerfulness had fled.  With a heavy
+heart I travelled on, avoiding all society.  I plunged into the
+deepest shades of the forest; and often, to avoid a sunny tract of
+country, I waited for hours till every human being had left it, and
+I could pass it unobserved.  In the evenings I took shelter in the
+villages.  I bent my steps to a mine in the mountains, where I hoped
+to meet with work underground; for besides that my present situation
+compelled me to provide for my own support, I felt that incessant
+and laborious occupation alone could divert my mind from dwelling on
+painful subjects.  A few rainy days assisted me materially on my
+journey; but it was to the no small detriment of my boots, the soles
+of which were better suited to Count Peter than to the poor foot-
+traveller.  I was soon barefoot, and a new purchase must be made.
+The following morning I commenced an earnest search in a
+marketplace, where a fair was being held; and I saw in one of the
+booths new and second-hand boots set out for sale.  I was a long
+time selecting and bargaining; I wished much to have a new pair, but
+was frightened at the extravagant price; and so was obliged to
+content myself with a second-hand pair, still pretty good and
+strong, which the beautiful fair-haired youth who kept the booth
+handed over to me with a cheerful smile, wishing me a prosperous
+journey.  I went on, and left the place immediately by the northern
+gate.
+
+I was so lost in my own thoughts, that I walked along scarcely
+knowing how or where.  I was calculating the chances of my reaching
+the mine by the evening, and considering how I should introduce
+myself.  I had not gone two hundred steps, when I perceived I was
+not in the right road.  I looked round, and found myself in a wild-
+looking forest of ancient firs, where apparently the stroke of the
+axe had never been heard.  A few steps more brought me amid huge
+rocks covered with moss and saxifragous plants, between which whole
+fields of snow and ice were extended.  The air was intensely cold.
+I looked round, and the forest had disappeared behind me; a few
+steps more, and there was the stillness of death itself.  The icy
+plain on which I stood stretched to an immeasurable distance, and a
+thick cloud rested upon it; the sun was of a red blood-colour at the
+verge of the horizon; the cold was insupportable.  I could not
+imagine what had happened to me.  The benumbing frost made me
+quicken my pace.  I heard a distant sound of waters; and, at one
+step more, I stood on the icy shore of some ocean.  Innumerable
+droves of sea-dogs rushed past me and plunged into the waves.  I
+continued my way along this coast, and again met with rocks, plains,
+birch and fir forests, and yet only a few minutes had elapsed.  It
+was now intensely hot.  I looked around, and suddenly found myself
+between some fertile rice-fields and mulberry-trees; I sat down
+under their shade, and found by my watch that it was just one
+quarter of an hour since I had left the village market.  I fancied
+it was a dream; but no, I was indeed awake, as I felt by the
+experiment I made of biting my tongue.  I closed my eyes in order to
+collect my scattered thoughts.  Presently I heard unintelligible
+words uttered in a nasal tone; and I beheld two Chinese, whose
+Asiatic physiognomies were not to be mistaken, even had their
+costume not betrayed their origin.  They were addressing me in the
+language and with the salutations of their country.  I rose, and
+drew back a couple of steps.  They had disappeared; the landscape
+was entirely changed; the rice-fields had given place to trees and
+woods.  I examined some of the trees and plants around me, and
+ascertained such of them as I was acquainted with to be productions
+of the southern part of Asia.  I made one step towards a particular
+tree, and again all was changed.  I now moved on like a recruit at
+drill, taking slow and measured steps, gazing with astonished eyes
+at the wonderful variety of regions, plains, meadows, mountains,
+steppes, and sandy deserts, which passed in succession before me.  I
+had now no doubt that I had seven-leagued boots on my feet.
+
+I fell on my knees in silent gratitude, shedding tears of
+thankfulness; for I now saw clearly what was to be my future
+condition.  Shut out by early sins from all human society, I was
+offered amends for the privation by Nature herself, which I had ever
+loved.  The earth was granted me as a rich garden; and the knowledge
+of her operations was to be the study and object of my life.  This
+was not a mere resolution.  I have since endeavoured, with anxious
+and unabated industry, faithfully to imitate the finished and
+brilliant model then presented to me; and my vanity has received a
+check when led to compare the picture with the original.  I rose
+immediately, and took a hasty survey of this new field, where I
+hoped afterwards to reap a rich harvest.
+
+I stood on the heights of Thibet; and the sun I had lately beheld in
+the east was now sinking in the west.  I traversed Asia from east to
+west, and thence passed into Africa, which I curiously examined at
+repeated visits in all directions.  As I gazed on the ancient
+pyramids and temples of Egypt, I descried, in the sandy deserts near
+Thebes of the hundred gates, the caves where Christian hermits dwelt
+of old.
+
+My determination was instantly taken, that here should be my future
+dwelling.  I chose one of the most secluded, but roomy, comfortable,
+and inaccessible to the jackals.
+
+I stepped over from the pillars of Hercules to Europe; and having
+taken a survey of its northern and southern countries, I passed by
+the north of Asia, on the polar glaciers, to Greenland and America,
+visiting both parts of this continent; and the winter, which was
+already at its height in the south, drove me quickly back from Cape
+Horn to the north.  I waited till daylight had risen in the east of
+Asia, and then, after a short rest, continued my pilgrimage.  I
+followed in both the Americas the vast chain of the Andes, once
+considered the loftiest on our globe.  I stepped carefully and
+slowly from one summit to another, sometimes over snowy heights,
+sometimes over flaming volcanoes, often breathless from fatigue.  At
+last I reached Elias's mountain, and sprang over Behring's Straits
+into Asia; I followed the western coast in its various windings,
+carefully observing which of the neighbouring isles was accessible
+to me.  From the peninsula of Malacca, my boots carried me to
+Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Lombok.  I made many attempts--often with
+danger, and always unsuccessfully--to force my way over the numerous
+little islands and rocks with which this sea is studded, wishing to
+find a north-west passage to Borneo and other islands of the
+Archipelago.
+
+At last I sat down at the extreme point of Lombok, my eyes turned
+towards the south-east, lamenting that I had so soon reached the
+limits allotted to me, and bewailing my fate as a captive in his
+grated cell.  Thus was I shut out from that remarkable country, New
+Holland, and the islands of the southern ocean, so essentially
+necessary to a knowledge of the earth, and which would have best
+assisted me in the study of the animal and vegetable kingdoms.  And
+thus, at the very outset, I beheld all my labours condemned to be
+limited to mere fragments.
+
+Ah! Chamisso, what is the activity of man?
+
+Frequently in the most rigorous winters of the southern hemisphere I
+have rashly thrown myself on a fragment of drifting ice between Cape
+Horn and Van Dieman's Land, in the hope of effecting a passage to
+New Holland, reckless of the cold and the vast ocean, reckless of my
+fate, even should this savage land prove my grave.
+
+But all in vain--I never reached New Holland.  Each time, when
+defeated in my attempt, I returned to Lombok; and seated at its
+extreme point, my eyes directed to the south-east, I gave way afresh
+to lamentations that my range of investigation was so limited.  At
+last I tore myself from the spot, and, heartily grieved at my
+disappointment, returned to the interior of Asia.  Setting out at
+morning dawn, I traversed it from east to west, and at night reached
+the cave in Thebes which I had previously selected for my dwelling-
+place, and had visited yesterday afternoon.
+
+After a short repose, as soon as daylight had visited Europe, it was
+my first care to provide myself with the articles of which I stood
+most in need.  First of all a drag, to act on my boots; for I had
+experienced the inconvenience of these whenever I wished to shorten
+my steps and examine surrounding objects more fully.  A pair of
+slippers to go over the boots served the purpose effectually; and
+from that time I carried two pairs about me, because I frequently
+cast them off from my feet in my botanical investigations, without
+having time to pick them up, when threatened by the approach of
+lions, men, or hyenas.  My excellent watch, owing to the short
+duration of my movements, was also on these occasions an admirable
+chronometer.  I wanted, besides, a sextant, a few philosophical
+instruments, and some books.  To purchase these things, I made
+several unwilling journeys to London and Paris, choosing a time when
+I could be hid by the favouring clouds.  As all my ill-gotten gold
+was exhausted, I carried over from Africa some ivory, which is there
+so plentiful, in payment of my purchases--taking care, however, to
+pick out the smallest teeth, in order not to over-burden myself.  I
+had thus soon provided myself with all that I wanted, and now
+entered on a new mode of life as a student--wandering over the
+globe--measuring the height of the mountains, and the temperature of
+the air and of the springs--observing the manners and habits of
+animals--investigating plants and flowers.  From the equator to the
+pole, and from the new world to the old, I was constantly engaged in
+repeating and comparing my experiments.
+
+My usual food consisted of the eggs of the African ostrich or
+northern sea-birds, with a few fruits, especially those of the palm
+and the banana of the tropics.  The tobacco-plant consoled me when I
+was depressed; and the affection of my spaniel was a compensation
+for the loss of human sympathy and society.  When I returned from my
+excursions, loaded with fresh treasures, to my cave in Thebes, which
+he guarded during my absence, he ever sprang joyfully forward to
+greet me, and made me feel that I was indeed not alone on the earth.
+An adventure soon occurred which brought me once more among my
+fellow-creatures.
+
+
+One day, as I was gathering lichens and algae on the northern coast,
+with the drag on my boots, a bear suddenly made his appearance, and
+was stealing towards me round the corner of a rock.  After throwing
+away my slippers, I attempted to step across to an island, by means
+of a rock, projecting from the waves in the intermediate space, that
+served as a stepping-stone.  I reached the rock safely with one
+foot, but instantly fell into the sea with the other, one of my
+slippers having inadvertently remained on.  The cold was intense;
+and I escaped this imminent peril at the risk of my life.  On coming
+ashore, I hastened to the Libyan sands to dry myself in the sun; but
+the heat affected my head so much, that, in a fit of illness, I
+staggered back to the north.  In vain I sought relief by change of
+place--hurrying from east to west, and from west to east--now in
+climes of the south, now in those of the north; sometimes I rushed
+into daylight, sometimes into the shades of night.  I know not how
+long this lasted.  A burning fever raged in my veins; with extreme
+anguish I felt my senses leaving me.  Suddenly, by an unlucky
+accident, I trod upon some one's foot, whom I had hurt, and received
+a blow in return which laid me senseless.
+
+On recovering, I found myself lying comfortably in a good bed,
+which, with many other beds, stood in a spacious and handsome
+apartment.  Some one was watching by me; people seemed to be walking
+from one bed to another; they came beside me, and spoke of me as
+NUMBER TWELVE.   On the wall, at the foot of my bed--it was no
+dream, for I distinctly read it--on a black-marble tablet was
+inscribed my name, in large letters of gold
+
+
+PETER SCHLEMIHL
+
+
+Underneath were two rows of letters in smaller characters, which I
+was too feeble to connect together, and closed my eyes again.
+
+I now heard something read aloud, in which I distinctly noted the
+words, "Peter Schlemihl," but could not collect the full meaning.  I
+saw a man of benevolent aspect, and a very beautiful female dressed
+in black, standing near my bed; their countenances were not unknown
+to me, but in my weak state I could not remember who they were.
+Some time elapsed, and I began to regain my strength.  I was called
+Number Twelve, and, from my long beard, was supposed to be a Jew,
+but was not the less carefully nursed on that account.  No one
+seemed to perceive that I was destitute of a shadow.  My boots, I
+was assured, together with everything found on me when I was brought
+here, were in safe keeping, and would be given up to me on my
+restoration to health.  This place was called the SCHLMEIHLIUM:  the
+daily recitation I had heard, was an exhortation to pray for Peter
+Schlemihl as the founder and benefactor of this institution.  The
+benevolent-looking man whom I had seen by my bedside was Bendel; the
+beautiful lady in black was Minna.
+
+I had been enjoying the advantages of the Schlemihlium without being
+recognised; and I learned, further, that I was in Bendel's native
+town, where he had employed a part of my once unhallowed gold in
+founding an hospital in my name, under his superintendence, and that
+its unfortunate inmates daily pronounced blessings on me.  Minna had
+become a widow:  an unhappy lawsuit had deprived Rascal of his life,
+and Minna of the greater part of her property.  Her parents were no
+more; and here she dwelt in widowed piety, wholly devoting herself
+to works of mercy.
+
+One day, as she stood by the side of Number Twelve's bed with
+Bendel, he said to her, "Noble lady, why expose yourself so
+frequently to this unhealthy atmosphere?  Has fate dealt so harshly
+with you as to render you desirous of death?"
+
+"By no means, Mr. Bendel," she replied; "since I have awoke from my
+long dream, all has gone well with me.  I now neither wish for death
+nor fear it, and think on the future and on the past with equal
+serenity.  Do you not also feel an inward satisfaction in thus
+paying a pious tribute of gratitude and love to your old master and
+friend?"
+
+"Thanks be to God, I do, noble lady," said he.  "Ah, how wonderfully
+has everything fallen out!  How thoughtlessly have we sipped joys
+and sorrows from the full cup now drained to the last drop; and we
+might fancy the past a mere prelude to the real scene for which we
+now wait armed by experience.  How different has been the reality!
+Yet let us not regret the past, but rather rejoice that we have not
+lived in vain.  As respects our old friend also, I have a firm hope
+that it is now better with him than formerly."
+
+"I trust so, too," answered Minna; and so saying she passed by me,
+and they departed.
+
+This conversation made a deep impression on me; and I hesitated
+whether I should discover myself or depart unknown.  At last I
+decided; and, asking for pen and paper, wrote as follows:-
+
+"Matters are indeed better with your old friend than formerly.  He
+has repented; and his repentance has led to forgiveness."
+
+I now attempted to rise, for I felt myself stronger.  The keys of a
+little chest near my bed were given me; and in it I found all my
+effects.  I put on my clothes; fastened my botanical case round me--
+wherein, with delight, I found my northern lichens all safe--put on
+my boots, and leaving my note on the table, left the gates, and was
+speedily far advanced on the road to Thebes.
+
+Passing along the Syrian coast, which was the same road I had taken
+on last leaving home, I beheld my poor Figaro running to meet me.
+The faithful animal, after vainly waiting at home for his master's
+return, had probably followed his traces.  I stood still, and called
+him.  He sprang towards me with leaps and barks, and a thousand
+demonstrations of unaffected delight.  I took him in my arms--for he
+was unable to follow me--and carried him home.
+
+There I found everything exactly in the order in which I had left
+it; and returned by degrees, as my increasing strength allowed me,
+to my old occupations and usual mode of life, from which I was kept
+back a whole year by my fall into the Polar Ocean.  And this, dear
+Chamisso, is the life I am still leading.  My boots are not yet worn
+out, as I had been led to fear would be the case from that very
+learned work of Tieckius--De rebus gestis Pollicilli.  Their
+energies remain unimpaired; and although mine are gradually failing
+me, I enjoy the consolation of having spent them in pursuing
+incessantly one object, and that not fruitlessly.
+
+So far as my boots would carry me, I have observed and studied our
+globe and its conformation, its mountains and temperature, the
+atmosphere in its various changes, the influences of the magnetic
+power; in fact, I have studied all living creation--and more
+especially the kingdom of plants--more profoundly than any one of
+our race.  I have arranged all the facts in proper order, to the
+best of my ability, in different works.  The consequences deducible
+from these facts, and my views respecting them, I have hastily
+recorded in some essays and dissertations.  I have settled the
+geography of the interior of Africa and the Arctic regions, of the
+interior of Asia and of its eastern coast.  My Historia stirpium
+plantarum utriusque orbis is an extensive fragment of a Flora
+universalis terrae and a part of my Systema naturae.  Besides
+increasing the number of our known species by more than a third, I
+have also contributed somewhat to the natural system of plants and
+to a knowledge of their geography.  I am now deeply engaged on my
+Fauna, and shall take care to have my manuscripts sent to the
+University of Berlin before my decease.
+
+I have selected thee, my dear Chamisso, to be the guardian of my
+wonderful history, thinking that, when I have left this world, it
+may afford valuable instruction to the living.  As for thee,
+Chamisso, if thou wouldst live amongst thy fellow-creatures, learn
+to value thy shadow more than gold; if thou wouldst only live to
+thyself and thy nobler part--in this thou needest no counsel.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+
+[From the prefatory matter prefixed to time Berlin edition, 1839,
+from which the present translation is made.]
+
+
+
+PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
+
+
+
+The origin of "Peter Schlemihl" is to be ascribed in a great degree
+to circumstances that occurred in the life of the writer.  During
+the eventful year of 1813, when the movement broke out which
+ultimately freed Germany from the yoke of her oppressor, and
+precipitated his downfall, Chamisso was in Berlin.  Everyone who
+could wield a sword hastened then to employ it on behalf of Germany
+and of the good cause.  Chamisso had not only a powerful arm, but a
+heart also of truly German mould; and yet he was placed in a
+situation so peculiar as to isolate him among millions.  As he was
+of French parentage, the question was, not merely whether he should
+fight on behalf of Germany, but, also, whether he should fight
+against the people with whom he was connected by the ties of blood
+and family relationship.  Hence arose a struggle in his breast.  "I,
+and I alone, am forbidden at this juncture to wield a sword!"  Such
+was frequently his exclamation; and instead of meeting with sympathy
+on account of his peculiar situation, he was frequently doomed to
+hear, in the capital of Prussia, the head-quarters of the
+confederation against France and Napoleon, expressions of hatred and
+scorn directed against his countrymen.  He was himself too equitable
+to mistake the cause of such expressions, which were perfectly
+natural under the circumstances, but they nevertheless deeply
+afflicted him when they reached his ears.  In this state of things
+his friends resolved to remove him from such a scene of excitement,
+and to place him amid the quiet scenery of the country.  An asylum
+was offered him in the family of Count Itzenplitsch, where he was
+sufficiently near to become acquainted with the gradual development
+of the all-important crisis, and yet free from any unpleasant
+personal contact with it.  Here, at the family-seat of Cunersdorf,
+scarcely a day's journey from Berlin, wholly devoted to botany and
+other favourite pursuits, Chamisso conceived the idea of "Peter
+Schlemihl," and with rapid pen finished off the story.  Chamisso's
+letters of this date (in the first volume of his Life, by the writer
+of this notice) afford evidence of this.
+
+The first edition of the incomparable story appeared in 1814, with a
+dedication dated May 27, 1813; and it was just beginning to be known
+in the world at the commencement of 1815, when the author left
+Germany on a voyage round the world, of which the story contains a
+remarkable anticipation.  "Peter Schlemihl" was his parting
+salutation to his second fatherland, and the first foundation-stone
+of his future fame.
+
+Chamisso was often pestered with questions respecting what he really
+meant by the story of Schlemihl.  These questions amused as well as
+annoyed him.  The truth is, that his intention in writing it was
+perhaps scarcely of so precise a nature as to admit of his giving a
+formal account of it.  The story sprang into being of itself, like
+every work of genius, prompted by a self-creating power.  In a
+letter to the writer of this notice, after he had just commenced the
+story, he says, "A book was the last thing you would have expected
+from me!  Place it before your wife this evening, if you have time;
+should she be desirous to know Schlemihl's further adventures, and
+particularly who the man in the grey cloak is--send me back the MS.
+immediately, that I may continue the story; but if you do not return
+it, I shall know the meaning of the signal perfectly."  Is it
+possible for any writer to submit himself to the scrutiny of the
+public more good-naturedly?
+
+In the preface to the new French translation (which appeared in
+1838) of this story, Chamisso amuses himself in his own peculiar
+way, over the prying curiosity of those who want to know what his
+real object was in writing this tale: --"The present story," he
+says, "has fallen into the hands of thoughtful people, who, being
+accustomed to read only for instruction's sake, have been at a loss
+to know what the shadow signifies.  On this point several have
+formed curious hypotheses; others, who do me the honour to believe
+that I am more learned than I really am, have addressed themselves
+to me for the solution of their doubts.  The questions with which
+they have besieged me have made me blush on account of my ignorance.
+I have therefore been induced to devote myself to the investigation
+of a matter not hitherto the subject of my studies; and I now beg to
+submit to the world the result of my learned researches.
+
+"'Concerning Shadows.--A dark body can only be partially illuminated
+by a bright one.  The dark space which lies in the direction of the
+unilluminated part is what we call a SHADOW.  Properly speaking,
+shadow signifies a bodily space, the form of which depends upon the
+form of the illuminating body, and upon their opposite position with
+regard to each other.  The shadow thrown on a surface, situated
+before the shadow-projecting body, is, therefore, nothing else than
+the intersection of this surface by the bodily space (in French, le
+solide, on which word SOLID the whole force of the humour turns),
+which we before designated by the word shadow.'
+
+"The question in this wonderful history of Peter Schlemihl relates
+entirely to the last-mentioned quality, SOLIDITY.  The science of
+finance instructs us sufficiently as to the value of money:  the
+value of a shadow is less generally acknowledged.  My thoughtless
+friend was covetous of money, of which he knew the value, and forgot
+to think on solid substance.  It was his wish that the lesson which
+he had paid for so dearly should be turned to our profit; and his
+bitter experience calls to us with a loud voice, Think on the solid-
+-the substantial!"  So far Chamisso.
+
+"Peter Schlemihl" has been translated into almost all the languages
+of Europe.  Of the Dutch, Spanish, and Russian translations we do
+not possess any copies.  The French and Italian are as follows:-
+
+Pierre Schlemihl.  Paris, chez Ladvocat, 1822.--This was revised by
+Chamisso in manuscript, who added a preface to it; but the
+translation was afterwards capriciously altered by the same
+publisher.
+
+Un Roman du Poete Allemand contemporain, Adelbert de Chamisso;
+traduit par N. Martin.  Histoire merveilleuse de Pierre Schlemihl.
+Dunquerque, 1837.--At the end the translator has added a letter to a
+friend, with the Greek motto, "Life is the dream of a shadow."  The
+translator, while laughing in this letter at the Germans, who, he
+says, ought to write three folio volumes of explanatory notes on the
+little volume, falls into the error of being very diffuse himself in
+the attempt to elucidate his author.  His long letter concludes not
+inappropriately with these words:  "I have just observed, although
+certainly rather late, that I have written a letter full of shadows,
+and instead of lighting a torch to illuminate the darkness, have, I
+fear, only deepened the gloom.  Should this be the case, the reader
+at any rate will not withhold from me the praise of having preserved
+the colours of the original."
+
+Merveilleuse Histoire de Pierre Schlemihl.  Enrichie d'une savente
+preface, ou les curieux pourront apprendre ce que c'est que l'ombre.
+Paris et Nurnberg, 1838.  With illustrations.--This translation was
+revised by Chamisso.
+
+L'Uomo senz' Ombra.  Dono di simpatia al gentil sesso.  Milano,
+1838.  Published as an Annual, with a Calendar, and Engravings.--The
+editor is pleased not only to withhold the author's name, but
+manages so to word his own preface as to lead his readers to
+conclude that he himself is the author of the book.
+
+"Schlemihl" was also brought on the stage, but without giving the
+honours of authorship to the true source.  This took place at
+Vienna, in February, 1819.  The announcement ran thus:-
+"Pulzlivizli, or the Man without a Shadow:  a comic, enchanted
+drama, in three acts, adapted from De la Motte Fouque, by Ferdinand
+Rosenau."  Among the characters were the grey man, and a certain
+Albert, probably intended for Schlemihl.  Of the contents of the
+piece we know nothing.
+
+In England two editions have appeared [previous to the present,--
+Tr.]; one of which was reprinted at Boston in 1825.  Of the
+popularity of "Peter Schlemihl" in Great Britain we have a striking
+proof, from a caricature that appeared shortly after the coronation
+of William IV.  On the celebration of this solemnity, a brother of
+the King--the Duke of Cumberland--arrived from the Continent to be
+present on the occasion; and as he was well known to be an ardent
+Tory, his reception on the part of the people was not of the most
+flattering description.  As a consequence of this, and owing,
+perhaps, to an expression that fell from the Duke, that "popularity
+is only a shadow," the caricature made its appearance.  In the
+foreground of the print is seen a striking likeness of the royal
+Duke in the costume of the Order of the Garter.  On his right stands
+the King, with the crown on his head, and reflecting a goodly shadow
+on the wall.  Between the King and his brother are some courtiers,
+who exclaim, in a tone of commiseration, "Lost, or stolen, a
+gentleman's shadow."  At the bottom of the print is the following
+inscription:-
+
+"PETER SCHLEMIHL AT THE CORONATION.
+
+Granted that popularity is nothing but a shadow, it is still far
+from pleasant to be without that shadow."
+
+
+
+BRIEF SKETCH OF CHAMISSO'S LIFE.
+
+
+
+Louis Adelbert de Chamisso was born January 27, 1781, at Beaucourt,
+in Champagne.  At the Revolution, he left France with his parents,
+and came to Berlin, where, in 1796, he was appointed page to the
+King, and soon after had a commission given him in the army.  He
+applied himself with much ardour to acquire the German language, and
+felt great interest in the study of its literature, particularly its
+poetry and philosophy, and was most attracted by those writers whose
+character presented the greatest contrast to that of his own
+countrymen.  By intercourse with the learned, and by the friendships
+which he formed, he soon became thoroughly German, which he proved
+by his poems, which were distinguished above the crowd of such
+compositions by the originality of their style, and peculiar vigour.
+From 1804 to 1806 he published the "Almanack of the Muses," in
+conjunction with Varnhagen von Ense.  At the peace of Tilsit he left
+the army, and visited France, when his family obtained back part of
+their possessions.  At this time he held, for a short period, a
+situation as Professor at the school of Napoleonville, but soon
+returned to Germany, devoting himself wholly to a literary life, and
+in particular to the study of natural history.  During his visit to
+France, he spent some time with Madame de Stael, whom he also
+visited in Switzerland.  In 1811 he returned to Berlin; and in 1813
+he wrote his "Peter Schlemihl," which marked him out as a man of
+distinguished and original genius.  It was published in 1814 by his
+friend Fouque.  When Count Runnjanzow resolved on undertaking a
+voyage round the world, he invited Chamisso to accompany him as
+naturalist to the expedition--an invitation which he gladly
+embraced.  The ships left Cronstadt in 1815, and returned in 1818;
+and although the discovery of a North-West passage--the great object
+of the expedition--was not attained, yet extensive acquisitions were
+made in every department of scientific research.  Chamisso's share
+in the voyage is recorded in the third volume of the account of it
+published at Weimar in 1821, and does honour to his spirit of
+careful observation and his accuracy.  He now again fixed his
+residence at Berlin, from whose university he received the degree of
+doctor in philosophy.  An appointment at the Botanic Garden allowed
+him full liberty to follow up his favourite pursuit of natural
+history, and bound him by still stronger ties to his second
+fatherland.  He now wrote an account of the principal plants of the
+North of Germany, with views respecting the vegetable kingdom and
+the science of botany:  this work appeared at Berlin in 1827.
+Poetry, however, had still some share of his attention; and he
+continued, during the latter years of his life, to maintain his
+claims to an honourable place among the poets of Germany.  Several
+of his ballads and romances rank with the most distinguished of
+modern times in this branch of composition.  Surrounded by a circle
+of attached and admiring friends, Chamisso continued thus entirely
+engaged till his death, in 1839, leaving behind him a name and works
+which posterity "will not willingly let perish."
+
+
+
+FROM THE BARON DE LA MOTTE FOUQUE TO JULIUS EDWARD HITZIG.
+[From the first edition.]
+
+
+
+We should take care, my dear Edward, not to expose the history of
+poor Schlemihl to eyes unfit to look upon it.  That would be a bad
+experiment.  Of such eyes there are plenty; and who is able to
+predict what may befal a MANUSCRIPT, which is almost more difficult
+to guard than spoken language?  Like a person seized with vertigo,
+therefore, who, in the paroxysm of his feelings, leaps into the
+abyss, I commit the story to the press.
+
+And yet there are better and more serious reasons for the step I
+have taken.  If I am not wholly deceived, there are in our dear
+Germany many hearts both capable and worthy of comprehending poor
+Schlemihl, although a smile will arise on the countenance of many
+among our honest countrymen at the bitter sport which was death to
+him and to the innocent being whom he drew along with him.  And you,
+Edward, when you have seen the estimable work, and reflected on the
+number of unknown and sympathising bosoms who, with ourselves, will
+learn to love it,--you will, then, perhaps, feel that some drops of
+consolation have been instilled into those wounds inflicted on you,
+and on all who love you, by death.
+
+To conclude:  I have become convinced, by repeated experience, that
+a guardian angel watches over books, places them in proper hands,
+and if not always, yet often, prevents them from falling into
+improper.  In any case, he exercises an invisible guardianship over
+every work of true genius and genuine feeling, and with unfailing
+tact and skill opens or shuts its pages as he sees fit.
+
+To this guardian angel I commit our "Schlemihl."  And so, adieu!
+FOUQUE.
+
+Neunhausen, May, 1814.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY WITHOUT AN END
+
+
+
+
+TO MY DAUGHTER
+
+
+
+My Dear Child,
+
+The story you love so much in German I dedicate to you in English.
+It was in compliance with your earnest wish that other children
+might share the delight it has so often afforded you, that I
+translated it; so that it is, in some sort, yours of right.  Let us
+hope that your confident expectations of sympathy in your pleasure
+may not be disappointed; or that, if others think the story less
+beautiful than you do, they may find compensation in the graceful
+designs it has inspired.
+
+You have often regretted that it left off so soon, and would, I
+believe, "have been glad to hear more and more, and for ever."  The
+continuation you have longed for lies in a wide and magnificent
+book, which contains more wonderful and glorious things than all our
+favourite fairy tales put together.  But to read in that book, so as
+to discover all its beautiful meanings, you must have pure, clear
+eyes, and an humble, loving heart; otherwise you will complain, as
+some do, that it is dim and puzzling; or, as others that it is dull
+and monotonous.
+
+May you continue to read in it with new curiosity, new delight, and
+new profit; and to find it, as long as you live, the untiring "Story
+without an End."
+
+Your affectionate mother,
+S. A.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+
+There was once a Child who lived in a little hut, and in the hut
+there was nothing but a little bed and a looking-glass which hung in
+a dark corner.  Now the Child cared nothing at all about the
+looking-glass; but as soon as the first sunbeam glided softly
+through the casement, and kissed his sweet eyelids, and the finch
+and the linnet waked him merrily with their morning songs, he arose,
+and went out into the green meadow.  And he begged flour of the
+primrose, and sugar of the violet, and butter of the buttercup; he
+shook dewdrops from the cowslip into the cup of a harebell; spread
+out a large lime-leaf, set his little breakfast upon it, and feasted
+daintily.  Sometimes he invited a humming-bee, oftener a gay
+butterfly, to partake his feast; but his favourite guest was the
+blue dragon-fly.  The bee murmured a good deal, in a solemn tone,
+about his riches; but the Child thought that if he were a bee, heaps
+of treasure would not make him gay and happy; and that it must be
+much more delightful and glorious to float about in the free and
+fresh breezes of spring, and to hum joyously in the web of the
+sunbeams, than, with heavy feet and heavy heart, to stow the silver
+wax and the golden honey into cells.
+
+To this the Butterfly assented; and he told how once on a time, he
+too had been greedy and sordid; how he had thought of nothing but
+eating, and had never once turned his eyes upwards to the blue
+heavens.  At length, however, a complete change had come over him;
+and instead of crawling spiritless about the dirty earth, half
+dreaming, he all at once awaked as out of a deep sleep.  And now he
+would rise into the air;--and it was his greatest joy sometimes to
+play with the light, and to reflect the heavens in the bright eyes
+of his wings; sometimes to listen to the soft language of the
+flowers, and catch their secrets.  Such talk delighted the Child,
+and his breakfast was the sweeter to him, and the sunshine on leaf
+and flower seemed to him more bright and cheering.
+
+But when the Bee had flown off to beg from flower to flower, and the
+Butterfly had fluttered away to his playfellows, the Dragon-fly
+still remained, poised on a blade of grass.  Her slender and
+burnished body, more brightly and deeply blue than the deep blue
+sky, glistened in the sun beam; and her net-like wings laughed at
+the flowers because THEY could not fly, but must stand still and
+abide the wind and the rain.  The Dragon-fly sipped a little of the
+Child's clear dew-drops and blue violet-honey, and then whispered
+her winged words.  And the Child made an end of his repast, closed
+his dark blue eyes, bent down his beautiful head, and listened to
+the sweet prattle.
+
+
+Then the Dragon-fly told much of the merry life in the green wood;
+how sometimes she played hide-and-seek with her playfellows under
+the broad leaves of the oak and the beech trees; or hunt-the-hare
+along the surface of the still waters; sometimes quietly watched the
+sunbeams, as they flew busily from moss to flower and from flower to
+bush, and shed life and warmth over all.  But at night, she said,
+the moonbeams glided softly around the wood, and dropped dew into
+the mouths of all the thirsty plants; and when the dawn pelted the
+slumberers with the soft roses of heaven, some of the half-drunken
+flowers looked up and smiled; but most of them could not so much as
+raise their heads for a long, long time.
+
+Such stories did the Dragon-fly tell; and as the Child sat
+motionless with his eyes shut, and his head rested on his little
+hand, she thought he had fallen asleep; so she poised her double
+wings and flew into the rustling wood.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+
+But the Child was only sunk into a dream of delight, and was wishing
+HE were a sunbeam or a moonbeam; and he would have been glad to hear
+more and more, and for ever.  But at last, as all was still, he
+opened his eyes and looked around for his dear guest; but she was
+flown far away; so he could not bear to sit there any longer alone,
+and he rose and went to the gurgling brook.  It gushed and rolled so
+merrily, and tumbled so wildly along as it hurried to throw itself
+head over heels into the river, just as if the great massy rock out
+of which it sprang were close behind it, and could only be escaped
+by a break-neck leap.
+
+Then the Child began to talk to the little waves, and asked them
+whence they came.  They would not stay to give him an answer, but
+danced away, one over another; till at last, that the sweet Child
+might not be grieved, a drop of water stopped behind a piece of
+rock.  From her the Child heard strange histories, but he could not
+understand them all, for she told him about her former life, and
+about the depths of the mountain.
+
+"A long while ago," said the Drop of Water, "I lived with my
+countless sisters in the great ocean, in peace and unity.  We had
+all sorts of pastimes; sometimes we mounted up high into the air,
+and peeped at the stars; then we sank plump down deep below, and
+looked how the coral builders work till they are tired, that they
+may reach the light of day at last.  But I was conceited, and
+thought myself much better than my sisters.  And so one day, when
+the sun rose out of the sea, I clung fast to one of his hot beams,
+and thought that now I should reach the stars, and become one of
+them.  But I had not ascended far, when the sunbeam shook me off,
+and in spite of all I could say or do, let me fall into a dark
+cloud.  And soon a flash of fire darted through the cloud, and now I
+thought I must surely die; but the whole cloud laid itself down
+softly upon the top of a mountain, and so I escaped with my fright,
+and a black eye.  Now I thought I should remain hidden, when all on
+a sudden I slipped over a round pebble, fell from one stone to
+another, down into the depths of the mountain, till at last it was
+pitch dark, and I could neither see nor hear anything.  Then I
+found, indeed, that 'pride goeth before a fall,' resigned myself to
+my fate, and, as I had already laid aside all my unhappy pride in
+the cloud, my portion was now the salt of humility; and after
+undergoing many purifications from the hidden virtues of metals and
+minerals, I was at length permitted to come up once more into the
+free cheerful air; and now will I run back to my sisters, and there
+wait patiently till I am called to something better."
+
+But hardly had she done when the root of a forget-me-not caught the
+drop of water by her hair and sucked her in, that she might become a
+floweret, and twinkle brightly as a blue star on the green firmament
+of earth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+
+The Child did not very well know what to think of all this:  he went
+thoughtfully home and laid himself on his little bed; and all night
+long he was wandering about on the ocean, and among the stars, and
+over the dark mountain.  But the moon loved to look on the
+slumbering Child as he lay with his little head softly pillowed on
+his right arm.  She lingered a long time before his little window,
+and went slowly away to lighten the dark chamber of some sick
+person.
+
+As the moon's soft light lay on the Child's eyelids, he fancied he
+sat in a golden boat, on a great, great water; countless stars swam
+glittering on the dark mirror.  He stretched out his hand to catch
+the nearest star, but it had vanished, and the water sprayed up
+against him.  Then he saw clearly that these were not the real
+stars; he looked up to heaven, and wished he could fly thither.
+
+But in the meantime the moon had wandered on her way; and now the
+Child was led in his dream into the clouds, and he thought he was
+sitting on a white sheep, and he saw many lambs grazing around him.
+He tried to catch a little lamb to play with, but it was all mist
+and vapour; and the Child was sorrowful, and wished himself down
+again in his own meadow, where his own lamb was sporting gaily
+about.
+
+Meanwhile the moon was gone to sleep behind the mountains, and all
+around was dark.  Then the Child dreamt that he fell down into the
+dark, gloomy caverns of the mountain, and at that he was so
+frightened, that he suddenly awoke, just as morning opened her clear
+eye over the nearest hill.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+
+The Child started up, and, to recover himself from his fright, went
+into the little flower-garden behind his cottage, where the beds
+were surrounded by ancient palm-trees, and where he knew that all
+the flowers would nod kindly at him.  But, behold, the Tulip turned
+up her nose, and the Ranunculus held her head as stiffly as
+possible, that she might not bow good-morrow to him.  The Rose, with
+her fair round cheeks, smiled and greeted the Child lovingly; so he
+went up to her and kissed her fragrant mouth.  And then the Rose
+tenderly complained that he so seldom came into the garden, and that
+she gave out her bloom and her fragrance the live-long day in vain;
+for the other flowers could not see her, because they were too low,
+or did not care to look at her, because they themselves were so rich
+in bloom and fragrance.  But she was most delighted when she glowed
+in the blooming head of a child, and could pour out all her heart's
+secrets to him in sweet odours.  Among other things, the Rose
+whispered in his ear that she was the fulness of beauty.
+
+And in truth the Child, while looking at her beauty, seemed to have
+quite forgotten to go on; till the Blue Larkspur called to him, and
+asked whether he cared nothing more about his faithful friend; she
+said that she was unchanged, and that even in death she should look
+upon him with eyes of unfading blue.
+
+The Child thanked her for her true-heartedness, and passed on to the
+Hyacinth, who stood near the puffy, full-cheeked, gaudy Tulips.
+Even from a distance the Hyacinth sent forth kisses to him, for she
+knew not how to express her love.  Although she was not remarkable
+for her beauty, yet the Child felt himself wondrously attracted by
+her, for he thought no flower loved him so well.  But the Hyacinth
+poured out her full heart and wept bitterly, because she stood so
+lonely; the Tulips indeed were her countrymen, but they were so cold
+and unfeeling that she was ashamed of them.  The Child encouraged
+her, and told her he did not think things were so bad as she
+fancied.  The Tulips spoke their love in bright looks, while she
+uttered hers in fragrant words; that these, indeed, were lovelier
+and more intelligible, but that the others were not to be despised.
+
+Then the Hyacinth was comforted, and said she would be content; and
+the Child went on to the powdered Auricula, who, in her bashfulness,
+looked kindly up to him, and would gladly have given him more than
+kind looks, had she had more to give.  But the Child was satisfied
+with her modest greeting; he felt that he was poor too, and he saw
+the deep, thoughtful colours that lay beneath her golden dust.  But
+the humble flower, of her own accord, sent him to her neighbour, the
+Lily, whom she willingly acknowledged as her queen.  And when the
+Child came to the Lily, the slender flower waved to and fro and
+bowed her pale head with gentle pride and stately modesty, and sent
+forth a fragrant greeting to him.  The Child knew not what had come
+to him:  it reached his inmost heart, so that his eyes filled with
+soft tears.  Then he marked how the lily gazed with a clear and
+steadfast eye upon the sun, and how the sun looked down again into
+her pure chalice, and how, amid this interchange of looks, the three
+golden threads united in the centre.  And the Child heard how one
+scarlet Lady-bird at the bottom of the cup said to another, "Knowest
+thou not that we dwell in the flower of heaven?" and the other
+replied, "Yes; and now will the mystery be fulfilled."  And as the
+Child saw and heard all this, the dim image of his unknown parents,
+as it were veiled in a holy light, floated before his eyes:  he
+strove to grasp it, but the light was gone, and the Child slipped,
+and would have fallen, had not the branch of a currant bush caught
+and held him; and he took some of the bright berries for his
+morning's meal, and went back to his hut and stripped the little
+branches.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+
+But in the hut he stayed not long, all was so gloomy, close, and
+silent within, and abroad everything seemed to smile, and to exult
+in the clear and unbounded space.  Therefore the Child went out into
+the green wood, of which the Dragon-fly had told him such pleasant
+stories.  But he found everything far more beautiful and lovely even
+than she had described it; for all about, wherever he went, the
+tender moss pressed his little feet, and the delicate grass embraced
+his knees, and the flowers kissed his hands, and even the branches
+stroked his cheeks with a kind and refreshing touch, and the high
+trees threw their fragrant shade around him.
+
+There was no end to his delight.  The little birds warbled and sang,
+and fluttered and hopped about, and the delicate wood-flowers gave
+out their beauty and their odours; and every sweet sound took a
+sweet odour by the hand, and thus walked through the open door of
+the Child's heart, and held a joyous nuptial dance therein.  But the
+Nightingale and the Lily of the Valley led the dance; for the
+Nightingale sang of nought but love, and the Lily breathed of nought
+but innocence, and he was the bridegroom and she was the bride.  And
+the Nightingale was never weary of repeating the same thing a
+hundred times over, for the spring of love which gushed from his
+heart was ever new--and the Lily bowed her head bashfully, that no
+one might see her glowing heart.  And yet the one lived so solely
+and entirely in the other, that no one could see whether the notes
+of the Nightingale were floating lilies, or the lilies visible
+notes, falling like dewdrops from the Nightingale's throat.
+
+The Child's heart was full of joy even to the brim.  He set himself
+down, and he almost thought he should like to take root there, and
+live for ever among the sweet plants and flowers, and so become a
+true sharer in all their gentle pleasures.  For he felt a deep
+delight in the still, secluded, twilight existence of the mosses and
+small herbs, which felt not the storm, nor the frost, nor the
+scorching sunbeam; but dwelt quietly among their many friends and
+neighbours, feasting in peace and good fellowship on the dew and
+cool shadows which the mighty trees shed upon them.  To them it was
+a high festival when a sunbeam chanced to visit their lowly home;
+whilst the tops of the lofty trees could find joy and beauty only in
+the purple rays of morning or evening.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+
+And as the Child sat there, a little Mouse rustled from among the
+dry leaves of the former year, and a Lizard half glided from a
+crevice in the rock, and both of them fixed their bright eyes upon
+the little stranger; and when they saw that he designed them no
+evil, they took courage and came nearer to him.
+
+"I should like to live with you," said the Child to the two little
+creatures, in a soft, subdued voice, that he might not frighten
+them.  "Your chambers are so snug, so warm, and yet so shaded, and
+the flowers grow in at your windows, and the birds sing you their
+morning song, and call you to table and to bed with their clear
+warblings."
+
+"Yes," said the Mouse, "it would be all very well if all the plants
+bore nuts and mast, instead of those silly flowers; and if I were
+not obliged to grub under ground in the spring, and gnaw the bitter
+roots, whilst they are dressing themselves in their fine flowers and
+flaunting it to the world, as if they had endless stores of honey in
+their cellars."
+
+"Hold your tongue," interrupted the Lizard, pertly; "do you think,
+because you are grey, that other people must throw away their
+handsome clothes, or let them lie in the dark wardrobe under ground,
+and wear nothing but grey too?  I am not so envious.  The flowers
+may dress themselves as they like for me; they pay for it out of
+their own pockets, and they feed bees and beetles from their cups;
+but what I want to know is, of what use are birds in the world?
+Such a fluttering and chattering, truly, from morning early to
+evening late, that one is worried and stunned to death, and there is
+never a day's peace for them.  And they do nothing; only snap up the
+flies and the spiders out of the mouths of such as I.  For my part,
+I should be perfectly satisfied, provided all the birds in the world
+were flies and beetles."
+
+The Child changed colour, and his heart was sick and saddened when
+he heard their evil tongues.  He could not imagine how anybody could
+speak ill of the beautiful flowers, or scoff at his beloved birds.
+He was waked out of a sweet dream, and the wood seemed to him lonely
+and desert, and he was ill at ease.  He started up hastily, so that
+the Mouse and the Lizard shrank back alarmed, and did not look
+around them till they thought themselves safe out of the reach of
+the stranger with the large, severe eyes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+
+But the Child went away from the place; and as he hung down his head
+thoughtfully, he did not observe that he took the wrong path, nor
+see how the flowers on either side bowed their heads to welcome him,
+nor hear how the old birds from the boughs, and the young from the
+nests, cried aloud to him, "God bless thee, our dear little prince!"
+And he went on and on, farther and farther, into the deep wood; and
+he thought over the foolish and heartless talk of the two selfish
+chatterers, and could not understand it.  He would fain have
+forgotten it, but he could not.  And the more he pondered, the more
+it seemed to him as if a malicious spider had spun her web around
+him, and as if his eyes were weary with trying to look through it.
+
+And suddenly he came to a still water, above which young beeches
+lovingly entwined their arms.  He looked in the water, and his eyes
+were riveted to it as if by enchantment.  He could not move, but
+stood and gazed in the soft, placid mirror, from the bosom of which
+the tender green foliage, with the deep blue heavens between,
+gleamed so wondrously upon him.  His sorrow was all forgotten, and
+even the echo of the discord in his little heart was hushed.  That
+heart was once more in his eyes; and fain would he have drunk in the
+soft beauty of the colours that lay beneath him, or have plunged
+into the lovely deep.
+
+Then the breeze began to sigh among the treetops.  The Child raised
+his eyes and saw overhead the quivering green, and the deep blue
+behind it, and he knew not whether he were waking or dreaming:
+which were the real leaves and the real heaven--those in the depths
+above or in the depths beneath?  Long did the Child waver, and his
+thoughts floated in a delicious dreaminess from one to the other,
+till the Dragon-fly flew to him in affectionate haste, and with
+rustling wings greeted her kind host.  The Child returned her
+greeting, and was glad to meet an acquaintance with whom he could
+share the rich feast of his joy.  But first he asked the Dragon-fly
+if she could decide for him between the Upper and the Nether--the
+height and the depth?  The Dragon-fly flew above, and beneath, and
+around; but the Water spake:- "The foliage and the sky above are not
+the true ones:  the leaves wither and fall; the sky is often
+overcast, and sometimes quite dark."  Then the Leaves and the Sky
+said, "The water only apes us; it must change its pictures at our
+pleasure, and can retain none."  Then the Dragon-fly remarked that
+the height and the depth existed only in the eyes of the Child, and
+that the Leaves and the Sky were true and real only in his thoughts;
+because in the mind alone the picture was permanent and enduring,
+and could be carried with him whithersoever he went.
+
+This she said to the Child; but she immediately warned him to
+return, for the leaves were already beating the tattoo in the
+evening breeze, and the lights were disappearing one by one in every
+corner.  Then the Child confessed to her with alarm that he knew not
+how he should find the way back, and that he feared the dark night
+would overtake him if he attempted to go home alone; so the Dragon-
+fly flew on before him, and showed him a cave in the rock where he
+might pass the night.
+
+And the Child was well content; for he had often wished to try if he
+could sleep out of his accustomed bed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+
+But the Dragon-fly was fleet, and gratitude strengthened her wings
+to pay her host the honour she owed him.  And truly, in the dim
+twilight good counsel and guidance were scarce.  She flitted hither
+and thither without knowing rightly what was to be done; when, by
+the last vanishing sunbeam, she saw hanging on the edge of the cave
+some strawberries who had drunk so deep of the evening-red, that
+their heads were quite heavy.  Then she flew up to a Harebell who
+stood near, and whispered in her ear that the lord and king of all
+the flowers was in the wood, and ought to be received and welcomed
+as beseemed his dignity.  Aglaia did not need that this should be
+repeated.  She began to ring her sweet bells with all her might; and
+when her neighbour heard the sound, she rang hers also; and soon all
+the Harebells, great and small, were in motion, and rang as if it
+had been for the nuptials of their Mother Earth herself with the
+Prince of the Sun.  The tone of the Bluebells was deep and rich, and
+that of the white, high and clear, and all blended together in a
+delicious harmony.
+
+But the birds were fast asleep in their high nests, and the ears of
+the other animals were not delicate enough, or were too much
+overgrown with hair, to hear them.  The Fire-flies alone heard the
+joyous peal, for they were akin to the flowers, through their common
+ancestor, Light.  They inquired of their nearest relation, the Lily
+of the Valley, and from her they heard that a large flower had just
+passed along the footpath more blooming than the loveliest rose, and
+with two stars more brilliant than those of the brightest fire-fly,
+and that it must needs be their King.  Then all the Fire-flies flew
+up and down the footpath, and sought everywhere, till at length they
+came, as the Dragon-fly had hoped they would, to the cave.
+
+And now, as they looked at the Child, and every one of them saw
+itself reflected in his clear eyes, they rejoiced exceedingly, and
+called all their fellows together, and alighted on the bushes all
+around; and soon it was so light in the cave, that herb and grass
+began to grow as if it had been broad day.  Now, indeed, was the joy
+and triumph of the Dragon-fly complete.  The Child was delighted
+with the merry and silvery tones of the bells, and with the many
+little bright-eyed companions around him, and with the deep red
+strawberries which bowed down their heads to his touch.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+
+And when he had eaten his fill, he sat down on the soft moss,
+crossed one little leg over the other, and began to gossip with the
+Fire-flies.  And as he so often thought on his unknown parents, he
+asked them who were their parents.  Then the one nearest to him gave
+him answer; and he told how that they were formerly flowers, but
+none of those who thrust their rooty hands greedily into the ground
+and draw nourishment from the dingy earth, only to make themselves
+fat and large withal; but that the light was dearer to them than
+anything, even at night; and while the other flowers slept, they
+gazed unwearied on the light, and drank it in with eager adoration--
+sun, and moon, and star light.  And the light had so thoroughly
+purified them, that they had not sucked in poisonous juices like the
+yellow flowers of the earth, but sweet odours for sick and fainting
+hearts, and oil of potent ethereal virtue for the weak and the
+wounded; and at length, when their autumn came, they did not, like
+the others, wither and sink down, leaf and flower, to be swallowed
+up by the darksome earth, but shook off their earthly garment and
+mounted aloft, into the clear air.  But there it was so wondrously
+bright, that sight failed them; and when they came to themselves
+again, they were fire-flies, each sitting on a withered flower-
+stalk.
+
+And now the Child liked the bright-eyed flies better than ever; and
+he talked a little longer with them, and inquired why they showed
+themselves so much more in spring.  They did it, they said, in the
+hope that their gold-green radiance might allure their cousins, the
+flowers, to the pure love of light.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+
+During this conversation the dragon-fly had been preparing a bed for
+her host.  The moss upon which the Child sat had grown a foot high
+behind his back, out of pure joy; but the dragon-fly and her sisters
+had so revelled upon it, that it was now laid at its length along
+the cave.  The dragon-fly had awakened every spider in the
+neighbourhood out of her sleep, and when they saw the brilliant
+light, they had set to work spinning so industriously that their web
+hung down like a curtain before the mouth of the cave.  But as the
+Child saw the ant peeping up at him, he entreated the fire-flies not
+to deprive themselves any longer of their merry games in the wood on
+his account.  And the dragon-fly and her sisters raised the curtain
+till the Child had laid him down to rest, and then let it fall
+again, that the mischievous gnats might not get in to disturb his
+slumbers.
+
+The Child laid himself down to sleep, for he was very tired; but he
+could not sleep, for his couch of moss was quite another thing than
+his little bed, and the cave was all strange to him.
+
+He turned himself on one side and then on the other, and, as nothing
+would do, he raised himself and sat upright to wait till sleep might
+choose to come.  But sleep would not come at all; and the only
+wakeful eyes in the whole wood were the Child's.  For the harebells
+had rung themselves weary, and the fire-flies had flown about till
+they were tired, and even the dragon-fly, who would fain have kept
+watch in front of the cave, had dropped sound asleep.
+
+The wood grew stiller and stiller; here and there fell a dry leaf
+which had been driven from its old dwelling place by a fresh one;
+here and there a young bird gave a soft chirp when its mother
+squeezed it in the nest; and from time to time a gnat hummed for a
+minute or two in the curtain, till a spider crept on tip-toe along
+its web, and gave him such a gripe in the wind-pipe as soon spoiled
+his trumpeting.
+
+And the deeper the silence became, the more intently did the Child
+listen, and at last the slightest sound thrilled him from head to
+foot.  At length, all was still as death in the wood; and the world
+seemed as if it never would wake again.  The Child bent forward to
+see whether it were as dark abroad as in the cave, but he saw
+nothing save the pitch-dark night, who had wrapped everything in her
+thick veil.  Yet as he looked upwards his eyes met the friendly
+glance of two or three stars, and this was a most joyful surprise to
+him, for he felt himself no longer so entirely alone.  The stars
+were, indeed, far, far away, but yet he knew them, and they knew
+him; for they looked into his eyes.
+
+The Child's whole soul was fixed in his gaze; and it seemed to him
+as if he must needs fly out of the darksome cave, thither where the
+stars were beaming with such pure and serene light; and he felt how
+poor and lowly he was, when he thought of their brilliancy; and how
+cramped and fettered, when he thought of their free unbounded course
+along the heavens.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+
+But the stars went on their course, and left their glittering
+picture only a little while before the Child's eyes.  Even this
+faded, and then vanished quite away.  And he was beginning to feel
+tired, and to wish to lay himself down again, when a flickering
+Will-o'-the-wisp appeared from behind a bush--so that the Child
+thought, at first, one of the stars had wandered out of its way, and
+had come to visit him, and to take him with it.  And the Child
+breathed quick with joy and surprise, and then the Will-o'-the-wisp
+came nearer, and sat himself down on a damp mossy stone in front of
+the cave, and another fluttered quickly after him, and sat down over
+against him and sighed deeply, "Thank God, then, that I can rest at
+last!"
+
+"Yes," said the other, "for that you may thank the innocent Child
+who sleeps there within; it was his pure breath that freed us."
+
+"Are you, then," said the Child, hesitatingly, "not of yon stars
+which wander so brightly there above?"
+
+"Oh, if we were stars," replied the first, "we should pursue our
+tranquil path through the pure element, and should leave this wood
+and the whole darksome earth to itself."
+
+"And not," said the other, "sit brooding on the face of the shallow
+pool."
+
+The Child was curious to know who these could be who shone so
+beautifully, and yet seemed so discontented.  Then the first began
+to relate how he had been a child too, and how, as he grew up, it
+had always been his greatest delight to deceive people and play them
+tricks, to show his wit and cleverness.  He had always, he said,
+poured such a stream of smooth words over people, and encompassed
+himself with such a shining mist, that men had been attracted by it
+to their own hurt.  But once on a time there appeared a plain man,
+who only spoke two or three simple words, and suddenly the bright
+mist vanished, and left him naked and deformed, to the scorn and
+mockery of the whole world.  But the man had turned away his face
+from him in pity, while he was almost dead with shame and anger.
+And when he came to himself again, he knew not what had befallen
+him, till, at length, he found that it was his fate to hover,
+without rest or change, over the surface of the bog as a Will-o'-
+the-wisp.
+
+"With me it fell out quite otherwise," said the first:  "instead of
+giving light without warmth, as I now do, I burned without shining.
+When I was only a child, people gave way to me in everything, so
+that I was intoxicated with self-love.  If I saw any one shine, I
+longed to put out his light; and the more intensely I wished this,
+the more did my own small glimmering turn back upon myself, and
+inwardly burn fiercely while all without was darker than ever.  But
+if any one who shone more brightly would have kindly given me of his
+light, then did my inward flame burst forth to destroy him.  But the
+flame passed through the light and harmed it not; it shone only the
+more brightly, while I was withered and exhausted.  And once upon a
+time I met a little smiling child, who played with a cross of palm
+branches, and wore a beamy coronet around his golden locks.  He took
+me kindly by the hand and said, 'My friend, you are now very gloomy
+and sad, but if you will become a child again, even as I am, you
+will have a bright circlet such as I have.'  When I heard that, I
+was so angry with myself and with the child, that I was scorched by
+my inward fire.  Now would I fain fly up to the sun to fetch rays
+from him, but the rays drove me back with these words:
+
+'Return thither whence thou camest, thou dark fire of envy, for the
+sun lightens only in love; the greedy earth, indeed, sometimes turns
+his mild light into scorching fire.  Fly back, then, for with thy
+like alone must thou dwell.'  I fell, and when I recovered myself I
+was glimmering coldly above the stagnant waters."
+
+While they were talking the Child had fallen asleep, for he knew
+nothing of the world nor of men, and he could make nothing of their
+stories.  Weariness had spoken a more intelligible language to him--
+THAT he understood, and he had fallen asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+
+Softly and soundly he slept till the rosy morning clouds stood upon
+the mountain, and announced the coming of their lord, the sun.  But
+as soon as the tidings spread over field and wood, the thousand-
+voiced echo awoke, and sleep was no more to be thought of.
+
+And soon did the royal sun himself arise; at first his dazzling
+diadem alone appeared above the mountains; at length he stood upon
+their summit in the full majesty of his beauty, in all the charms of
+eternal youth, bright and glorious, his kindly glance embracing
+every creature of earth, from the stately oak to the blade of grass
+bending under the foot of the wayfaring man.  Then arose from every
+breast, from every throat, the joyous song of praise; and it was as
+if the whole plain and wood were become a temple, whose roof was the
+heaven, whose altar the mountain, whose congregation all creatures,
+whose priest the sun.
+
+But the Child walked forth and was glad, for the birds sang sweetly,
+and it seemed to him as if everything sported and danced out of mere
+joy to be alive.  Here flew two finches through the thicket, and,
+twittering, pursued each other; there, the young buds burst asunder,
+and the tender leaves peeped out and expanded themselves in the warm
+sun, as if they would abide in his glance for ever; here, a dewdrop
+trembled, sparkling and twinkling on a blade of grass, and knew not
+that beneath him stood a little moss who was thirsting after him;
+there, troops of flies flew aloft, as if they would soar far, far
+over the wood:  and so all was life and motion, and the Child's
+heart joyed to see it.
+
+He sat down on a little smooth plot of turf, shaded by the branches
+of a nut-bush, and thought he should now sip the cup of his delight,
+drop by drop.  And first he plucked down some brambles which
+threatened him with their prickles; then he bent aside some branches
+which concealed the view; then he removed the stones, so that he
+might stretch out his feet at full length on the soft turf; and when
+he had done all this, he bethought himself what was yet to do; and
+as he found nothing, he stood up to look for his acquaintance the
+dragon-fly, and to beg her to guide him once more out of the wood
+into the open fields.  About midway he met her, and she began to
+excuse herself for having fallen asleep in the night.  The Child
+thought not of the past, were it even but a minute ago, so earnestly
+did he now wish to get out from among the thick and close trees; for
+his heart beat high, and he felt as if he should breathe freer in
+the open ground.  The dragon-fly flew on before and showed him the
+way as far as the outermost verge of the wood, whence the Child
+could espy his own little hut, and then flew away to her
+playfellows.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+
+The Child walked forth alone upon the fresh dewy cornfield.  A
+thousand little suns glittered in his eyes, and a lark soared
+warbling above his head.  And the lark proclaimed the joys of the
+coming year, and awakened endless hopes, while she soared circling
+higher and higher, till, at length, her song was like the soft
+whisper of an angel holding converse with the spring, under the blue
+arch of heaven.  The Child had seen the earth-coloured little bird
+rise up before him, and it seemed to him as if the earth had sent
+her forth from her bosom as a messenger to carry her joy and her
+thanks up to the sun, because he had turned his beaming countenance
+again upon her in love and bounty.  And the lark hung poised above
+the hope-giving field, and warbled her clear and joyous song.
+
+She sang of the loveliness of the rosy dawn, and the fresh
+brilliancy of the earliest sunbeams; of the gladsome springing of
+the young flowers, and the vigorous shooting of the corn; and her
+song pleased the Child beyond measure.
+
+But the lark wheeled in higher and higher circles, and her song
+sounded softer and sweeter.
+
+And now she sang of the first delights of early love; of wanderings
+together on the sunny fresh hilltops, and of the sweet pictures and
+visions that arise out of the blue and misty distance.  The Child
+understood not rightly what he heard, and fain would he have
+understood, for he thought that even in such visions must be
+wondrous delight.  He gazed aloft after the unwearied bird, but she
+had disappeared in the morning mist.
+
+Then the Child leaned his head on one shoulder to listen if he could
+no longer hear the little messenger of spring; and he could just
+catch the distant and quivering notes in which she sang of the
+fervent longing after the clear element of freedom, after the pure
+all-present light, and of the blessed foretaste of this desired
+enfranchisement, of this blending in the sea of celestial happiness.
+
+Yet longer did he listen, for the tones of her song carried him
+there, where, as yet, his thoughts had never reached, and he felt
+himself happier in this short and imperfect flight than ever he had
+felt before.  But the lark now dropped suddenly to the earth, for
+her little body was too heavy for the ambient ether, and her wings
+were not large nor strong enough for the pure element.
+
+Then the red corn-poppies laughed at the homely looking bird, and
+cried to one another and to the surrounding blades of corn in a
+shrill voice, "Now, indeed, you may see what comes of flying so
+high, and striving and straining after mere air; people only lose
+their time, and bring back nothing but weary wings and an empty
+stomach.  That vulgar-looking ill-dressed little creature would fain
+raise herself above us all, and has kept up a mighty noise.  And now
+there she lies on the ground and can hardly breathe, while we have
+stood still where we are sure of a good meal, and have stayed, like
+people of sense, where there is something substantial to be had; and
+in the time she has been fluttering and singing, we have grown a
+good deal taller and fatter."
+
+The other little redcaps chattered and screamed their assent so loud
+that the Child's ears tingled, and he wished he could chastise them
+for their spiteful jeers; when a cyane said, in a soft voice, to her
+younger playmates, "Dear friends, be not led astray by outward show,
+nor by discourse which regards only outward show.  The lark is,
+indeed, weary, and the space into which she has soared is void; but
+the void is not what the lark sought, nor is the seeker returned
+empty home.  She strove after light and freedom, and light and
+freedom has she proclaimed.  She left the earth and its enjoyments,
+but she has drunk of the pure air of heaven, and has seen that it is
+not the earth, but the sun that is steadfast.  And if earth has
+called her back, it can keep nothing of her but what is its own.
+Her sweet voice and her soaring wings belong to the sun, and will
+enter into light and freedom long after the foolish prater shall
+have sunk and been buried in the dark prison of the earth."
+
+And the lark heard her wise and friendly discourse, and with renewed
+strength she sprang once more into the clear and beautiful blue.
+
+Then the Child clapped his little hands for joy, that the sweet bird
+had flown up again, and that the redcaps must hold their tongues for
+shame.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+
+And the Child was become happy and joyful, and breathed freely
+again, and thought no more of returning to his hut, for he saw that
+nothing returned inwards, but rather that all strove outwards into
+the free air; the rosy apple blossoms from their narrow buds, and
+the gurgling notes from the narrow breast of the lark.  The germs
+burst open the folding doors of the seeds, and broke through the
+heavy pressure of the earth in order to get at the light; the
+grasses tore asunder their bands, and their slender blades sprung
+upward.  Even the rocks were become gentle, and allowed little
+mosses to peep out from their sides, as a sign that they would not
+remain impenetrably closed for ever.  And the flowers sent out
+colour and fragrance into the whole world, for they kept not their
+best for themselves, but would imitate the sun and the stars, which
+poured their warmth and radiance over the spring.  And many a little
+gnat and beetle burst the narrow cell in which it was enclosed and
+crept out slowly, and, half asleep, unfolded and shook its tender
+wings, and soon gained strength, and flew off to untried delights.
+And as the butterflies came forth from their chrysalids in all their
+gaiety and splendour, so did every humbled and suppressed aspiration
+and hope free itself, and boldly launch into the open and flowing
+sea of spring.
+
+
+
+
+HYMNS TO NIGHT.
+(Translated from the German of Novalis.)
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+
+
+Who that has life and intelligence, loves not, before all the
+surrounding miracles of space, ever-joyous light with its tints, its
+beams, and its waves, its mild omnipresence, when it comes as the
+waking day.  Like the inmost soul of life, it is inhaled by the
+giant universe of gleaming stars, that dance as they swim in its
+blue flood; it is inhaled by the glittering, eternally motionless
+stone, by the living plant that drinks it in, by the wild and
+impetuous beast in its many forms; but above all, by the glorious
+stranger, with eyes of intellect, majestic step, with lips
+melodious, and gently closed.  As a king over earthly nature, it
+calls forth to countless changes every power, binds and loosens
+bonds unnumbered, and hangs around every earthly being its heavenly
+picture.  Alone its presence declares the wondrous glory of the
+kingdoms the world.
+
+I turn aside to the holy, the inexpressible, the mysterious Night.
+Afar off lies the world, buried in some deep chasm:  desolate and
+lonely is the spot it filled.  Through the chords of the breast
+sighs deepest sorrow.  I will sink down into the dewdrops, and with
+ashes will I be commingled.  The distant lines of memory, desires of
+youth, the dreams of childhood, a whole life's short joys and hopes
+vain, unfulfilled, come clothed in grey, like evening mists, when
+the sun's glory has departed.  Elsewhere has the light broken upon
+habitations of gladness.  What, should it never return again to its
+children, who with the faith of innocence await its coming?
+
+What fount is thus suddenly opened within the heart, so full of
+forethought, that destroys the soft breath of sorrow?  Thou also--
+dost thou love us, gloomy Night?  What holdest thou concealed
+beneath thy mantle that draws my soul towards thee with such
+mysterious power?  Costly balsam raineth from thy hand; from thy
+horn pourest thou out manna; the heavy wings of the spirit liftest
+thou.  Darkly and inexpressibly do we feel ourselves moved:  a
+solemn countenance I behold with glad alarm, that bends towards me
+in gentle contemplation, displaying, among endless allurements of
+the mother, lovely youth!  How poor and childish does the light now
+seem!  How joyous and how hallowed is the day's departure!--
+Therefore then only, because Night dismissed thy vassals, hast thou
+sown in the infinity of space those shining balls to declare thine
+almighty power, and thy return in the season of absence?  More
+heavenly than those glittering stars seem the unnumbered eyes that
+Night has opened within us.  Farther can they see than beyond the
+palest of that countless host; without need of light can they pierce
+the depths of a spirit of love, that fills a yet more glorious space
+with joy beyond expression.  Glory to the world's Queen, the high
+declarer of spheres of holiness, the nurse of hallowed love!  Thee,
+thou tenderly beloved one, doth she send to me--thee, lovely sun of
+the Night.  Now I awaken, for I am thine and mine:  the Night hast
+thou given as a sign of life, and made me man.  Devour with glowing
+spiritual fire this earthly body, that I ethereal may abide with
+thee in union yet more perfect, and then may the bridal Night endure
+for ever.
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+
+Must ever the morn return?  Is there no end to the sovereignty of
+earth?  Unhallowed occupation breaks the heavenly pinion of the
+Night.  Shall the secret offering of love at no time burn for ever?
+To the Light is its period allotted; but beyond time and space is
+the empire of the Night.  Eternal is the duration of sleep.  Thou
+holy sleep! bless not too rarely the Night's dedicated son in this
+earth's daily work!  Fools alone recognise thee not, and know of no
+sleep beyond the shadow which in that twilight of the actual Night
+thou throwest in compassion over us.  They feel thee not in the
+vine's golden flood, in the almond-tree's marvel oil, and in the
+brown juice of the manna; they know not that it is thou that
+enhaloest the tender maiden's breast, and makest a heaven of her
+bosom; conceive not that out of histories of old thou steppest forth
+an opener of heaven, and bearest the key to the abodes of the
+blessed, the silent messenger of unending mysteries.
+
+
+
+III.
+
+
+
+Once, when I was shedding bitter tears, when my hope streamed away
+dissolved in sorrow, and I stood alone beside the barren hill, that
+concealed in narrow gloomy space the form of my existence--alone, as
+never solitary yet hath been, urged by an agony beyond expression,
+powerless, no more than a mere thought of sorrow; as I looked around
+me there for aid, could not advance, could not retire, and hung with
+incessant longing upon fleeting, failing life;--then came there from
+the blue distance, from the heights of my former happiness, a thin
+veil of the twilight gloom, and in a moment burst the bondage of the
+fetters of the birth of light.  Then fled the glories of the earth,
+and all my sorrow with them; sadness melted away in a new, an
+unfathomable world; thou, inspiration of the Night, slumber of
+heaven, camest over me; the spot whereon I stood rose insensibly on
+high; above the spot soared forth my released and new-born spirit.
+The hill became a cloud of dust; through the cloud I beheld the
+revealed features of my beloved one.  In her eyes eternity reposed;
+I grasped her hands, and my tears formed a glittering, inseparable
+bond.  Ages were swept by like storms into the distance; on her neck
+I wept tears of ecstasy for life renewed.  It was my first, my only
+dream; and from that time I feel an eternal and unchanging faith in
+the heaven of the Night, and in its light, the Loved One.
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+
+
+Now do I know when the last morn will be; when the light shall no
+more give alarm to the night and to love; when the slumber shall be
+without end, and there shall be but one exhaustless dream.  Heavenly
+weariness do I feel within me.  Long and wearisome had become the
+pilgrimage to the holy grave--the cross a burthen.  He who hath
+tasted of the crystal wave that gushes forth, unknown to common eye,
+in the dark bosom of that hill, against whose foot the flood of
+earthly waves is dashed and broken; he who hath stood upon the
+summit of the world's mountain bounds, and hath looked beyond them
+down into that new land, into the abode of Night; he, well I ween,
+turns not back into the turmoil of the world--into the land where
+the light, and eternal unrest, dwells.
+
+There, above, does he erect his huts--his huts of peace; there longs
+and loves, until comes the most welcome of all hours to draw him
+down into that fountain's source.  Upon the surface floats all that
+is earthly--it is hurried back by storms; but that which was
+hallowed by the breath of love, freely streams it forth, through
+hidden paths, into that realm beyond the mountain chain, and there,
+exhaled as incense, becomes mixed with loves that have slept.
+Still, cheerful light, dost thou waken the weary to his toil, still
+pourest thou glad life into my breast; but from the mossy monument
+that memory has raised, thence canst thou not allure me.  Willingly
+will I employ my hands in industry and toil; I will look around me
+at thy bidding; I will celebrate the full glory of thy splendour;
+trace out, untired, the beauteous consistency of thy wondrous work;
+willingly will I mark the marvellous course of thy mighty, glowing
+timepiece; observe the balance of gigantic powers, and the laws of
+the wondrous play of countless spaces and their periods.  But true
+to the Night remains my heart of hearts, and to creative Love, her
+daughter.  Canst thou show me a heart for ever faithful?  Hath thy
+sun fond eyes that know me?  Do thy stars clasp my proffered hand?
+Do they return the tender pressure, the caressing word?  Hast thou
+clothed her with fair hues and pleasing outline?  Or was it she who
+gave thine ornament a higher, dearer meaning?  What pleasure, what
+enjoyment, can thy life afford, that shall overweigh the ecstasies
+of death?  Bears not everything that inspires us the colours of the
+Night?  Thee she cherishes with a mother's care; to her thou owest
+all thy majesty.  Thou hadst melted in thyself, hadst been dissolved
+in endless space, had she not restrained and encircled thee, so that
+thou wert warm, and gavest life to the world.  Verily I was, before
+thou wert:  the mother sent me with my sisters to inhabit thy world,
+to hallow it with love, so that it might be gazed on as a memorial
+for ever, to plant it with unfading flowers.  As yet they have borne
+no fruit, these godlike thoughts; but few as yet are the traces of
+our revelation.  The day shall come when thy timepiece pointeth to
+the end of time, when thou shalt be even as one of us; and, filled
+with longing and ardent love, be blotted out and die.  Within my
+soul I feel the end of thy distracted power, heavenly freedom,
+hailed return.  In wild sorrow I recognise thy distance from our
+home, thy hostility towards the ancient glorious heaven.  In vain
+are thy tumult and thy rage.  Indestructible remains the cross--a
+victorious banner of our race.
+
+
+"I wander over,
+   And every tear
+To gem our pleasure
+   Will then appear.
+A few more hours,
+   And I find my rest
+In maddening bliss,
+   On the loved one's breast.
+Life, never ending,
+   Swells mighty in me;
+I look from above down -
+   Look back upon thee.
+By yonder hillock
+   Expires thy beam;
+And comes with a shadow,
+   The cooling gleam.
+Oh, call me, thou loved one,
+   With strength from above;
+That I may slumber,
+   And wake to love.
+I welcome death's
+   Reviving flood;
+To balm and to ether
+   It changes my blood.
+I live through each day,
+   Filled with faith and desire;
+And die when the Night comes
+   In heaven-born fire."
+
+
+
+V.
+
+
+
+Over the widely-spreading races of mankind, ruled aforetime an iron
+Destiny with silent power.  A dark and heavy band was around man's
+anxious soul; without end was the earth; the home of the gods and
+their abode.  Throughout eternities had her mysterious structure
+stood.  Beyond the red mountains of the morning, in the holy bosom
+of the sea, there dwelt the Sun, the all-inflaming, living light.  A
+hoary giant bare the sacred world.  Securely prisoned, beneath
+mountains, lay the first sons of the mother Earth, powerless in
+their destructive fury against the new and glorious race of the
+gods, and their kindred, joyous men.  The dark, green ocean's depth
+was the bosom of a goddess.  In the crystal grottoes rioted a
+voluptuous tribe.  Rivers, trees, flowers, and brute beasts had
+human understanding.  Sweeter was the wine poured forth by youth's
+soft bloom; a god in the vine's clusters; a loving, a maternal
+goddess, shooting forth among the full, golden sheaves; love's holy
+flame, a delicious service to the most beauteous of the goddesses.
+An ever gay and joyous festival of heaven's children and the
+dwellers upon earth, life rustled on as a spring, through centuries.
+All races venerated, like children, the tender, thousand-fold flame,
+as the highest of the world; one thought only was there, one hideous
+vision of a dream:-
+
+
+"That fearful to the joyous tables came,
+   And the gay soul in wild distraction shrouded.
+Here could the gods themselves no counsel frame,
+   That might console the breast with sorrow clouded.
+This monster's path mysterious, still the same,
+   Unstilled his rage, though prayers on gifts were crowded.
+His name was Death, who with distress of soul,
+Anguish and tears, on the hour of pleasure stole.
+
+For ever now from everything departed
+   That here can swell the heart with sweet delight,
+Torn now from the beloved one, who, sad-hearted,
+   On earth could but desire and grief excite,
+A feeble dream seemed to the dead imparted,
+   Powerless striving made man's only right;
+And broken was enjoyment's heaving billow,
+Upon the rock of endless care, its pillow.
+
+With daring mind, as heavenly fancy glows,
+   Man masks the fearful shape with fair resembling:
+His torch put out, a mild youth doth repose;
+   Soft is the end as the lyre's mournful trembling.
+Remembrance fades i' the gloom a shadow throws:
+   So sang the song, a dreadful doom dissembling.
+Yet undefined remained eternal Night,
+The stern reminder of some distant might."
+
+
+At length the old world bowed its head.  The gay gardens of the
+young race were withered; beyond into the freer, desert space
+aspired less childish and maturing man.  The gods then vanished with
+their train.  Lonely and lifeless, Nature stood.  The scanty number
+and the rigid measure bound her with fetters of iron.  As into dust
+and air melted the inconceivable blossoms of life into mysterious
+words.  Fled was the magic faith, and phantasy the all-changing,
+all-uniting friend from heaven.  Over the rigid earth, unfriendly,
+blew a cold north wind, and the wonder-home, now without life, was
+lost in ether; the recesses of the heavens were filled with beaming
+worlds.  Into a holier sphere, into the mind's far higher space, did
+the world draw the soul with its powers, there to wander until the
+break of the world's dawning glory.  No longer was the light the
+gods' abode, their token in the heavens:  the veil of the night did
+they cast over them.  The night was the mighty bosom of revelations;
+in it the gods returned, and slumbered there, to go forth in new and
+in more glorious forms over the altered world.
+
+Among the people above all despised, too soon matured, and wilful
+strangers to the blessed innocence of youth; among them, with
+features hitherto unseen, the new world came, in the poet's hut of
+poverty, a son of the first virgin mother, endless fruit of a
+mysterious embrace.  The boding, budding wisdom of the East first
+recognised another Time's beginning; to the humble cradle of the
+monarch their star declared the way.  In the name of the distant
+future, with splendour and with incense, did they make offering to
+him, the highest wonder of the world.  In solitude did the heavenly
+heart unfold to a flowery chalice of almighty love, bent towards the
+holy countenance of the father, and resting on the happily-expectant
+bosom of the lovely pensive mother.  With divine ardour did the
+prophetic eye of the blooming child look forth into the days of the
+future, towards his beloved, the offspring of the race of God,
+careless for his day's earthly destiny.  The most child-like
+spirits, wondrously seized with a deep, heart-felt love, collected
+soon around him; as flowers, a new and unknown life budded forth
+upon his path.  Words inexhaustible, the gladdest tidings fell, as
+sparks from a heavenly spirit, from his friendly lips.  From a
+distant coast, born under Hellas' cheerful sky, a minstrel came to
+Palestine, and yielded his whole heart to the wondrous child:-
+
+
+"The youth art thou, who for uncounted time,
+   Upon our graves hast stood with hidden meaning;
+In hours of darkness a consoling sign,
+   Of higher manhood's joyous, hailed beginning;
+That which hath made our soul so long to pine,
+   Now draws us hence, sweet aspirations winning.
+In Death, eternal Life hath been revealed:
+And thou art Death, by thee we first are healed."
+
+
+The minstrel wandered, full of joy, towards Hindostan, the heart
+elated with the sweetest love, which, beneath yonder heavens, he
+poured forth in fiery songs, so that a thousand hearts inclined
+towards him, and with a thousand branches grew towards heaven the
+joyous tidings.  Soon after the minstrel's departure, the precious
+life became a sacrifice to the deep guilt of man:  he died in
+youthful years, torn from the world he loved, from the weeping
+mother and lamenting friends.  His mouth of love emptied the dark
+cup of inexpressible affliction.  In fearful anguish approached the
+hour of the new world's birth.  Deeply was he touched with the old
+world's fearful death--the weight of the old world fell heavily upon
+him.  Once more he gazed placidly upon the mother, then came the
+loosening hand of eternal love, and he slumbered.  Few days only
+hung a deep veil over the swelling sea, over the quaking land; the
+beloved ones wept countless tears; the mystery was unsealed:  the
+ancient stone heavenly spirits raised from the dark grave.  Angels
+sat beside the slumberer, tenderly formed out of his dreams.
+Awakened in the new glory of a god, he ascended the height of the
+new-born world; and with his own hand buried within the deserted
+sepulchre the old one's corpse, and with almighty hand placed over
+it the stone no power can raise.
+
+Yet do thy dear ones weep rich tears of joy, tears of emotion, and
+of eternal gratitude beside thy grave; even yet, with glad alarm, do
+they behold thee rise, themselves with thee; behold thee weeping,
+with sweet feeling, on the happy bosom of thy mother, solemnly
+walking with thy friends, speaking words as if broken from the tree
+of life; see thee hasten, full of longing, to thy Father's arms,
+bringing the young race of man, and the cup of a golden future,
+which shall never be exhausted.  The mother soon followed thee in
+heavenly triumph; she was the first to join thee in the new home.
+Long ages have flown by since then, and ever in yet higher glory
+hath thy new creation grown, and thousands from out of pain and
+misery have, full of faith and longing, followed thee; roam with
+thee and the heavenly virgin in the realm of love, serve in the
+temple of heavenly Death, and are in eternity thine.
+
+
+"Lifted is the stone,
+   Manhood hath arisen:
+Still are we thine own,
+   Unharmed by bond or prison.
+When earth--life--fade away
+   In the last meal's solemn gladness,
+Around thy cup dare stray
+   No trace of grief or sadness.
+
+To the marriage, Death doth call,
+   The brilliant lamps are lighted;
+The virgins come, invited,
+   And oil is with them all.
+Space now to space is telling
+   How forth thy train hath gone,
+The voice of stars is swelling
+   With human tongue and tone!
+
+To thee, Maria, hallowed,
+   A thousand hearts are sent;
+In this dark life and shadowed,
+   On thee their thoughts are bent:
+The soul's releasement seeing
+   They, longing, seek its rest;
+By thee pressed, holy being,
+   Upon thy faithful breast.
+
+How many who, once glowing,
+   Earth's bitterness have learned,
+Their souls with grief o'erflowing,
+   To thee have sadly turned;
+Thou pitying hast appeared,
+   In many an hour of pain;
+We come to thee now, wearied,
+   There ever to remain.
+
+By no cold grave now weepeth
+   A faithful love, forlorn;
+Each still love's sweet rights keepeth,
+   From none will they be torn.
+To soften his sad longing
+   Her fires doth Night impart;
+From heaven cherubs thronging,
+   Hold watch upon his heart.
+
+Content, our life advancing
+   To a life that shall abide,
+Each flame its worth enhancing,
+   The soul is glorified.
+The starry host shall sink then
+   To bright and living wine,
+The golden draught we drink then,
+   And stars ourselves shall shine.
+
+Love released, lives woundless,
+   No separation more;
+While life swells free and boundless
+   As a sea without a shore.
+One night of glad elation,
+   One joy that cannot die,
+And the sun of all creation
+   Is the face of the Most High."
+
+
+
+VI--LONGING FOR DEATH.
+
+
+
+Below, within the earth's dark breast,
+   From realms of light departing,
+There sorrow's pang and sigh oppressed
+   Is signal of our starting.
+In narrow boat we ferry o'er
+Speedily to heaven's shore.
+
+To us be hallowed endless Night,
+   Hallowed eternal slumber!
+The day hath withered us with light,
+   And troubles beyond number.
+No more 'mong strangers would we roam;
+We seek our Father, and our home.
+
+Upon this world, what do we here,
+   As faithful, fond, and true men?
+The Old but meets with scorn and sneer:-
+   What care we for the New, then?
+Oh, lone is he, and sadly pines,
+Who loves with zeal the olden times!
+
+Those old times when the spirits light
+   To heaven as flame ascended;
+The Father's hand and features bright
+   When men yet comprehended;
+When many a mortal, lofty-souled,
+Yet bore the mark of heavenly mould.
+
+Those olden times when budded still
+   The stems of ancient story,
+And children, to do Heaven's will,
+   In pain and death sought glory;
+Those times when life and pleasure spoke,
+Yet many a heart with fond love broke.
+
+Those old times when in fires of youth
+   Was God himself revealed,
+And early death, in love and truth,
+   His sweet existence sealed,
+Who put not from him care and pain,
+That dear to us he might remain.
+
+With trembling longing these we see,
+   By darkness now belated,
+In Time's dominions ne'er will be
+   Our ardent thirsting sated.
+First to our home 'tis need we go,
+Seek we these holy times to know.
+
+And our return what still can stay?
+   Long have the best-loved slumbered;
+Their grave bounds for us life's drear way,
+   Our souls with grief are cumbered.
+All that we have to seek is gone,
+The heart is full--the world is lone.
+
+Unending, with mysterious flame,
+   O'er us sweet awe is creeping;
+Methought from viewless distance came
+   An echo to our weeping;
+The loved ones long for us on high,
+And sent us back their pining sigh.
+
+Below, to seek the tender bride,
+   To Jesus, whom we cherish!
+Good cheer! lo, greys the even-tide, -
+   Love's agonies shall perish. -
+A dream--our fetters melt, at rest
+We sink upon the Father's breast.
+
+
+
+
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