Historic Oddities and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Historic Oddities and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History; Mysticism; Patarines
"Think of the wax moon, man. Exclaim, 'Oh that I might take the fair
Minna, fairer than this rose, to my heart, as I apply this flower to my
buttonhole!'"
"Shall I say nothing about the wax moon?"
"Not a word. Leave me to manage that."
"Go on."
"Then she will look down, confused, at the gravel, and stammer. Press
her for a Yes or No. Promise to destroy yourself if she says No. Take
her hand and squeeze it."
"Must I squeeze it? About how much pressure to the square-foot should I
apply?"
"Then say, 'Come, let us go to your parents, and obtain their blessing.'
The thing is done."
"But suppose she were to say No?"
Rollmann stamped with impatience. "I tell you she will not say No, now
that the theological candidate has dropped through."
"Well," said Professor Maedler, "I must go along with it, now I have
made up my mind to it. But, on my word, as an exact reasoner, I had no
idea of the difficulties men have to go through to get married. Why, the
calculation of the deflections of the planets is nothing to it. And the
Grand Turk, like Jupiter, has more satellites than one!"
A few months after the incident above recorded Professor Maedler
returned to Dorpat, not alone; with him was the Frau
Professorinn--Minna. Everything had gone off in the garden as Rollmann
had planned.
The moon and Minna, or Minna and the moon, put it which way you will,
were secured.
When the Professor arrived at Dorpat with his wife, the students gave
him an ovation after the German style, that is to say, they organized a
Fackel-zug, or torch-light procession.
Three hundred young men, some wearing white caps, some green caps, some
red, and some purple, marched along the street headed by a band, bearing
torches of twisted tow steeped in tar, blazing and smoking, or, to be
more exact, smoking and blazing. Each corps was followed by a hired
droschky, in which sat the captain and stewards of the white, red,
green, or purple corps, with sashes of their respective colours. Behind
the last corps followed the elephants, two and two. By elephants is not
meant the greatest of quadrupeds, but the smallest esteemed of the
students, those who belong to no corps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account