The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I.Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)
General
The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I.
Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)
Fiction
"After a few paces more they were in the great marketplace, which
presented the most magnificent appearance. All the houses which were
round it were of filagreed sugar-work, with galleries towering above
galleries; and in the centre stood a lofty cake covered with sugar, by
way of obelisk, with fountains round it spouting orgeade, lemonade, and
other delicious beverages into the air. The runnels at the sides of the
footways were full of creams, which you might have ladled up with a
spoon if you had chosen. But prettier than all this were the delightful
little people who were crowding about everywhere by the thousand,
shouting, laughing, playing, and singing, in short, producing all that
jubilant uproar which Marie had heard from the distance. There were
beautifully dressed ladies and gentlemen, Greeks and Armenians,
Tyrolese and Jews, officers and soldiers, clergymen, shepherds,
jack-puddings, in short, people of every conceivable kind to be found
in the world.
"The tumult grew greater towards one of the corners; the people
streamed asunder. For the Great Mogul happened to be passing along
there in his palanquin, attended by three-and-ninety grandees of the
realm, and seven hundred slaves. But it chanced that the Fishermen's
Guild, about five hundred strong, were keeping a festival at the
opposite corner of the place; and it was rather an unfortunate
coincidence that the Grand Turk took it in his head just at this
particular moment to go out for a ride, and crossed the square with
three thousand Janissaries. And, as if this were not enough, the grand
procession of the Interrupted Sacrifice came along at the same time,
marching up towards the obelisk with a full orchestra playing, and the
chorus singing:
"'Hail! all hail to the glorious sun!'
"So there was a thronging and a shoving, a driving and a squeaking; and
soon lamentations arose, and cries of pain, for one of the fishermen
had knocked a Brahmin's head off in the throng, and the Great Mogul had
been very nearly run down by a jack-pudding. The din grew wilder and
wilder. People were beginning to shove one another, and even to come to
fisticuffs; when the man in the brocade dressing-gown who had welcomed
Nutcracker as prince at the gate, clambered up to the top of the
obelisk, and, after a very clear-tinkling bell had rung thrice,
shouted, very loudly, three several times:
"Pastrycook! pastrycook! pastrycook!'
"Instantly the tumult subsided. Everybody tried to save his bacon as
quickly as he could; and, after the entangled processions had been got
disentangled, the dirt properly brushed off the Great Mogul, and the
Brahmin's head stuck 011 again all right, the merry noise went on just
the same as before.
"'Tell me why that gentleman called out "Pastrycook," Mr. Drosselmeier,
please,' said Marie.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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