Courts and courtiers -- Fiction; German fiction -- Translations into English; Germany -- Fiction
There were cattle tethered to low crossbars, prize beasts of the best
blood with smooth round particoloured bodies and numbered shields on
their broad foreheads. There were horses stamping and snuffing, heavy
farm-horses with Roman noses and bushes of hair round their pasterns, as
well as slender, restless saddle horses. There were naked short-legged
pigs, and a large selection of both ordinary and prize pigs. With
dangling bellies they grubbed up the ground with their snouts, while
great blocks of woolly sheep filled the air with a confused chorus of
bass and treble. There were ear-splitting exhibits of poultry, cocks and
hens of every kind, from the big Brahmaputra to the copper-coloured
bantam; ducks and pigeons of all sorts, eggs and fodder, both fresh and
artificially preserved. There were exhibits of agricultural produce,
grain of all sorts, beets and clover, potatoes, peas, and flax;
vegetables, too, both fresh and dried; raw and preserved fruit; berries,
marmalade, and syrups.
Lastly there were exhibits of agricultural implements and machines,
displayed by several technical firms, provided with everything of
service to agriculture, from the hand-plough to the great
black-funnelled motors, looking like elephants in their stall, from the
simplest and most intelligible objects to those which consisted of a
maze of wheels, chains, rods, cylinders, arms, and teeth--a world, an
entire overpowering world of ingenious utility.
Klaus Heinrich looked at everything; he walked, with his sword-hilt on
his forearm, down the rows of animals, cages, sacks, tubs, glasses, and
implements. The dignitary at his side pointed with his white-gloved hand
to this and that, venturing on a remark from time to time, and Klaus
Heinrich acted up to his calling. He expressed in words his appreciation
of all he saw, stopped from time to time and engaged the exhibitors of
the animals in conversation, inquired in an affable way into their
circumstances, and put questions to the country people whose answers
entailed a scratching behind their ears. And as he walked he bowed his
thanks on both sides for the homage of the population which lined his
path.
The people had collected most thickly at the exit, where the carriages
were waiting, in order to watch him drive off. A way was kept free for
him, a straight passage to the step of his landau, and he walked quickly
down it, bowing continuously with his hand to his helmet--alone and
formally separated from all those men who, in honouring him, were
cheering their own archetype, their standard, and of whose lives, work,
and ability he was the splendid representative, though not participator.
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