Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3): Tales by Musæus, Tieck, RichterCarlyle, Thomas
General
Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3): Tales by Musæus, Tieck, Richter
Carlyle, Thomas
German fiction -- Translations into English
[Note 4: The Hypocrite does not imitate the old practice, of
cutting fruit by a knife poisoned only on the one side, and giving the
poisoned side to the victim, the cutter eating the sound side himself;
on the contrary, he so disinterestedly inverts this practice, that to
others he shows and gives the sound moral half, or side, and retains for
himself the poisoned one. Heavens! compared with such a man, how wicked
does the Devil seem!]
After dinner (in our room), we issued from the Purgatory of the
market-tumult,--where Berga, at every booth, had something to order, and
load her attendant maid with,--into Heaven, into the Dog Inn, as the
best Flaetz public and pleasure-house without the gates is named, where,
in market-time, hundreds turn in, and see thousands going by. On the way
thither, my little wife, my elbow-tendril, as it were, had extracted
from me such a measure of courage, that, while going through the Gate
(where I, aware of the military order that you must not pass _near_ the
sentry, threw myself over to the other side), she quietly glided on,
close by the very guns and fixed bayonets of the City Guard. Outside the
wall, I could direct her with my finger, to the bechained, begrated,
gigantic Schabacker-Palace, mounting up even externally on stairs, where
I last night had called and (it may be) stormed: "I had rather take a
peep at the Giant," said she, "and the Dwarf: why else are we under one
roof with them?"
In the pleasure-house itself we found sufficient pleasure; encircled, as
we were, with blooming faces and meadows. In my secret heart, I all
along kept looking down, with success, on Schabacker's refusal; and till
midnight made myself a happy day of it: I had deserved it, Berga still
more. Nevertheless, about one in the morning, I was destined to find a
windmill to tilt with; a windmill, which truly lays about it with
somewhat longer, stronger and more numerous arms than a giant, for which
Don Quixote might readily enough have taken it. On the market-place, for
reasons more easily fancied than specified in words, I let Berga go
along some twenty paces before me; and I myself, for these foresaid
reasons, retire without malice behind a covered booth, the tent most
probably of some rude trader; and linger there a moment according to
circumstances: lo! steering hither with dart and spear, comes the
Booth-watcher, and coins and stamps me, on the spot, into a filcher and
housebreaker of his Booth-street; though the simpleton sees nothing but
that I am standing in the corner, and doing anything but--taking. A
sense of honour without callosity is never blunted for such attacks. But
how in the dead of night was a man of this kind, who had nothing in his
head--at the utmost beer, instead of brains--to be enlightened on the
truth of the matter?
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