The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 09: Friedrich Hebbel and Otto Ludwig
General
The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 09: Friedrich Hebbel and Otto Ludwig
German literature -- 19th century -- Translations into English; German literature -- 20th century -- Translations into English
Another fellow neither, I tell you. Over yonder the honest people set
fire to the castle and plundered it; several people lost their lives in
the affair; nobody cares a fig. Lucky he who now has an old grudge. And
Ulrich need not run far. Godfrey is reeling around there in the Dell;
he's lost his hat--
LINDENSCHMIED (_puts his hands with convulsive haste into his pockets_).
And nothing--absolutely nothing--not even a blunt knife about me!
SCENE III
_The same. Enter ANDREW._
ANDREW (_entering_).
Isn't it close in here! [_Takes off his muffler._] Good evening.
[_Wraps the muffler around the lock of the gun, and puts the gun next to
him against the wall._]
I advise every one not to touch this; the gun is loaded.
[_To the host._]
I do not know what is the matter with me. All at once I began to feel so
badly out there. I was going to wait for my brother at the boundary.
HOST.
Make yourself at home, Mr. Andrew.
ANDREW.
I suppose William has not yet come.
[_Throws himself on a bench, puts his arms upon the table and rests his
head upon them._]
FREI (_rattles his glass on the table_).
Let me have another one, host. And it is a favor that I now drink in
your place, when you still charge for it. In a week from now you will
have to provide the stuff, and no honest man need pay you a penny for
it, I tell you.
LINDENSCHMIED (_from this point on incessantly casting furtive glances
sometimes at_ ANDREW, _sometimes at the gun_).
If he would only go to sleep--that fellow!
[_Leaning across the table, secretly to_ FREI.]
There in the Dell, you say?--And are you quite sure, Frei, that nothing
will be punished any longer?
FREI.
Superstition, I tell you! If you do something, and they hang you, you
may call me a rascal for the rest of your life. Look here! What formerly
was called fidelity and honesty, that's a tale with which old grannies
used to humbug us. And a fellow that keeps his word is a scoundrel; such
a one I would not trust as far as the door. The common people are
essentially honest, because they are the common people. You ought to
hear those gentlemen over there talk; there was a professor among them;
he ought to know.
LINDENSCHMIED (_leads him aside_).
But what about conscience? And about the hereafter?
FREI.
All superstition! Nothing else, let me tell you.
LINDENSCHMIED.
That's what I always thought. But formerly a person was not allowed to
say such things.
FREI.
They humbugged people with heaven and hell, so that our noble
and gracious master might keep his hares all to himself. They have
drummed a conscience into poor people in their childhood, so that they
should submit patiently when the rich are living in luxury and
extravagance.
LINDENSCHMIED.
And he is in the Dell?
[HOST _becomes attentive._]
FREI.
Who?
LINDENSCHMIED.
That--
[_Buttons his coat._]
FREI.
Where are you going?
LINDENSCHMIED.
To pay debts before another day comes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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