The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 05: Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English
Philosophy
The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 05: Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English
German literature -- 19th century -- Translations into English; German literature -- 20th century -- Translations into English
Beneath an elder-tree, which had grown out through the wall, he found
a kind green resting-place; here he sat down, and filled a pipe from
the _Sanitätsknaster_ or Health-tobacco, of which his friend the
Conrector Paulmann had lately made him a present. Close before him
rolled and chafed the gold-dyed waves of the fair Elbe-stream; behind
him rose lordly Dresden, stretching, bold and proud, its light towers
into the airy sky; which again, farther off, bent itself down toward
flowery meads and fresh springing woods; and in the dim distance, a
range of azure peaks gave notice of remote Bohemia. But, heedless of
this, the student Anselmus, looking gloomily before him, blew forth
his smoky clouds into the air. His chagrin at length became audible,
and he said: "Of a truth, I am born to losses and crosses for my life
long! That in boyhood I never could become the King on Twelfthnight,
that at Odds or Evens I could never once guess the right way, that
my bread and butter always fell on the buttered side--of all these
sorrows I will not speak; but is it not a frightful destiny, that now,
when, in spite of Satan, I have become a student, I must still be a
jolthead as before? Do I ever put a new coat on, without the first day
smearing it with tallow, or on some ill-fastened nail or other tearing
a cursed hole in it? Do I ever bow to any Councilor or any lady,
without pitching the hat out of my hands, or even slipping on the
pavement, and shamefully going heels-over-head? Had I not, every
market-day, while in Halle, a regular sum of from three to four
groschen to pay for broken pottery, the Devil putting it into my head
to walk straight forward, like a leming-rat? Have I ever once got to
my college, or any place I was appointed to, at the right time? What
availed it that I set out half an hour before, and planted myself at
the door, with the knocker in my hand? Just as the clock is going to
strike, souse! some Devil pours a wash-basin down on me, or I bolt
against some fellow coming out, and get myself engaged in endless
quarrels till the time is clean gone.
"Ah! well-a-day! whither are ye fled, ye blissful dreams of coming
fortune, when I proudly thought that here I might even reach the
height of Privy Secretary? And has not my evil star estranged from me
my best patrons? I learn, for instance, that the Councilor, to whom I
have a letter, cannot suffer cropped hair; with immensity of trouble,
the barber fastens me a little cue to my hindhead; but at the first
bow his unblessed knot gives way, and a little shock-dog, running
snuffling about me, frisks off to the Privy Councilor with the cue in
his mouth. I spring after it in terror, and stumble against the
table, where he has been working while at breakfast; and cups, plates,
ink-glass, sand-box, rush jingling to the floor, and a flood of
chocolate and ink overflows the "Relation" he has just been writing.
'Is the Devil in the man?' bellows the furious Privy Councilor, and
shoves me out of the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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