In the Year '13: A Tale of Mecklenburg LifeReuter, Fritz
General
In the Year '13: A Tale of Mecklenburg Life
Reuter, Fritz
Mecklenburg (Germany : Region) -- Fiction
The minister was in the room waiting to perform the marriage ceremony,
and close to him stood Heinrich and Fieka. How pretty Fieka was! How
pretty a bride looks! The minister read the service, and his best
address; he knew three, each one better than the other, and the price
was arranged accordingly. The "Crown" address was the finest and the
dearest, it cost one thaler sixteen groschen; then came the "Ivy
Wreath," it cost one thaler; and lastly the "Periwinkle Wreath," which
was for the poor, and cost only eight groschen. To-day he read the
"Crown" address, for the Miller would have it so. "My Fieka," he had
said, "wishes to have a quiet wedding and she shall have her way; but
we must have everything of the best that is proper for a wedding." And
so it was. And when the address was over, the beautiful lady went up to
Fieka, and gave her a kiss, and threw a gold chain round her neck with
a locket hanging from it, and on the locket was engraved the day when
Fieka had begged the Colonel to set her father free.
The Colonel had gone up to Heinrich, and when he pressed the
bridegroom's hand, his father's eyes rested upon him so affectionately
that the Herr Amtshauptmann took his old friend's hand and said: "Eh,
my friend, what say you?" He probably knew more of what had happened
than we did.
The feast now began. Strüwingken helped the soup, and Luth the roasts;
Hanchen and the Miller's two maid-servants waited. Scarcely had the
Miller swallowed his first plate of chicken broth, when he got up, and
made an impressive speech to the company, but looking all the time only
at the Herr Amtshauptmann. "He had, he said, asked the company in a
homely way to a wedding without music; his Fieka had wished it so, and
he hoped the ladies and gentlemen would not take it amiss, but although
they had not got any music----"
Here his speech was suddenly brought to an end for all at once there
burst forth outside "Cousin Michael was here last night, was here last
night, was here last night"--and when the door was opened, there stood
uncle Herse with his band; he had got the Miller's walking stick, and
was beating time with it on a sack of flour, so that they all looked
like a band of angels fiddling and piping and trumpeting behind a
beautiful white summer cloud.
The Colonel jumped up and greeted my uncle, and made him sit by his
side, and the Herr Amtshauptmann whispered in his friend Renatus's ear,
loud enough for the whole table to hear: "That's the Rathsherr, of whom
I told you that story about the lease this morning; he's otherwise a
good pleasant fellow."
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