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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18604-8.txt b/18604-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4a1ef5 --- /dev/null +++ b/18604-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3117 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales, by +Hans Christian Andersen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales. + +Author: Hans Christian Andersen + +Translator: Fanny Fuller + +Release Date: June 16, 2006 [EBook #18604] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ICE-MAIDEN: AND OTHER TALES. *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation matches the original document. | + | | + | A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected | + | in this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of | + | this document. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE +ICE-MAIDEN: +AND OTHER TALES. + + +By +HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. + + +TRANSLATED +By +FANNY FULLER + + +PHILADELPHIA: F. LEYPOLDT. +1863. + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by +F. LEYPOLDT, +In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States in +and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. + + +PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + +THE ICE-MAIDEN 7 + +THE BUTTERFLY 139 + +THE PSYCHE 149 + +THE SNAIL AND THE ROSE-TREE 183 + + + + +The Ice-Maiden. + + + + +I. + +LITTLE RUDY. + + +Let us visit Switzerland and look around us in the glorious country of +mountains, where the forest rises out of steep rocky walls; let us +ascend to the dazzling snow-fields, and thence descend to the green +plains, where the rivulets and brooks hasten away, foaming up, as if +they feared not to vanish, as they reached the sea. + +The sun beams upon the deep valley, it burns also upon the heavy +masses of snow; so that after the lapse of years, they melt into +shining ice-blocks, and become rolling avalanches and heaped-up +glaciers. + +Two of these lie in the broad clefts of the rock, under the +Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, near the little town of Grindelwald. They +are so remarkable that many strangers come to gaze at them, in the +summer time, from all parts of the world; they come over the high +snow-covered mountains, they come from the deepest valleys, and they +are obliged to ascend during many hours, and as they ascend, the +valley sinks deeper and deeper, as though seen from an air-balloon. + +Far around the peaks of the mountains, the clouds often hang like +heavy curtains of smoke; whilst down in the valley, where the many +brown wooden houses lie scattered about, a sun-beam shines, and here +and there brings out a tiny spot, in radiant green, as though it were +transparent. The water roars, froths and foams below, the water hums +and tinkles above, and it looks as if silver ribbons were fluttering +over the cliffs. + +On each side of the way, as one ascends, are wooden houses; each house +has a little potato-garden, and that is a necessity, for in the +door-way are many little mouths. There are plenty of children, and +they can consume abundance of food; they rush out of the houses, and +throng about the travellers, come they on foot or in carriage. The +whole horde of children traffic; the little ones offer prettily carved +wooden houses, for sale, similar to those they build on the mountains. +Rain or shine, the children assemble with their wares. + +Some twenty years ago, there stood here, several times, a little boy, +who wished to sell his toys, but he always kept aloof from the other +children; he stood with serious countenance and with both hands +tightly clasped around his wooden box, as if he feared it would slip +away from him; but on account of this gravity, and because the boy was +so small, it caused him to be remarked, and often he made the best +bargain, without knowing why. His grandfather lived still higher in +the mountains, and it was he who carved the pretty wooden houses. +There stood in the room, an old cup-board, full of carvings; there +were nut-crackers, knives, spoons, and boxes with delicate foliage, +and leaping chamois; there was everything, which could rejoice a merry +child's eye, but this little fellow, (he was named Rudy) looked at and +desired only the old gun under the rafters. His grandfather had said, +that he should have it some day, but that he must first grow big and +strong enough to use it. + +Small as the boy was, he was obliged to take care of the goats, and if +he who can climb with them is a good guardian, well then indeed was +Rudy. Why he climbed even higher than they! He loved to take the +bird's nests from the trees, high in the air, for he was bold and +daring; and he only smiled when he stood by the roaring water-fall, or +when he heard a rolling avalanche. + +He never played with the other children; he only met them, when his +grandfather sent him out to sell his carvings, and Rudy took but +little interest in this; he much preferred to wander about the rocks, +or to sit and listen to his grandfather relate about old times and +about the inhabitants of Meiringen, where he came from. He said that +these people had not been there since the beginning of the world; they +had come from the far North, where the race called Swedes, dwelt. To +know this, was indeed great wisdom, and Rudy knew this; but he became +still wiser, through the intercourse which he had with the other +occupants of the house--belonging to the animal race. There was a +large dog, Ajola, an heir-loom from Rudy's father; and a cat, and she +was of great importance to Rudy, for she had taught him to climb. +"Come out on the roof!" said the cat, quite plain and distinctly, for +when one is a child, and can not yet speak, one understands the hens +and ducks, the cats and dogs remarkably well; they speak for us as +intelligibly as father or mother. One needs but to be little, and then +even grandfather's stick can neigh, and become a horse, with head, +legs and tail. With some children, this knowledge slips away later +than with others, and people say of these, that they are very +backward, that they remain children fearfully long.--People say so +many things! + +"Come with me, little Rudy, out on the roof!" was about the first +thing that the cat said, that Rudy understood. "It is all imagination +about falling; one does not fall, when one does not fear to do so. +Come, place your one paw so, and your other so! Take care of your +fore-paws! Look sharp with your eyes, and give suppleness to your +limbs! If there be a hole, jump, hold fast, that's the way I do!" + +And Rudy did so, and that was the reason that he sat out on the roof +with the cat so often; he sat with her in the tree-tops, yes, he sat +on the edge of the rocks, where the cats could not come. "Higher, +higher!" said the trees and bushes. "See, how we climb! how high we +go, how firm we hold on, even on the outermost peaks of the rocks!" + +And Rudy went generally on the mountain before the sun rose, and then +he got his morning drink, the fresh, strengthening mountain air, the +drink, that our Lord only can prepare, and men can read its recipe, +and thus it stands written: "the fresh scent of the herbs of the +mountains and the mint and thyme of the valleys." + +All heaviness is imbibed by the hanging clouds, and the wind sends it +out like grape-shot into the fir-woods; the fragrant breeze becomes +perfume, light and fresh and ever fresher--that was Rudy's morning +drink. + +The blessing bringing daughters of the Sun, the sun-beams, kissed his +cheeks, and Vertigo stood and watched, but dared not approach him; and +the swallows below from grandfather's house, where there were no less +than seven nests, flew up to him and the goats, and they sang: "We and +you! and you and we!" They brought greetings from home, even from the +two hens, the only birds in the room; with whom however Rudy never had +intercourse. + +Little as he was, he had traveled, and not a little, for so small a +boy; he was born in the Canton Valais, and had been carried from there +over the mountains. Lately he had visited the Staubbach, which waves +in the air like a silver gauze, before the snow decked, dazzling white +mountain: "the Jungfrau." And he had been in Grindelwald, near the +great glaciers; but that was a sad story. There, his mother had found +her death, and, "little Rudy," so said his grandfather, "had lost his +childish merriment." "When the boy was not a year old, he laughed more +than he cried," so wrote his mother, "but since he was in the +ice-gap, quite another mind has come over him." His grand-father did +not like to speak on the subject, but every one on the mountain knew +all about it. + +Rudy's father had been a postilion, and the large dog in the room, had +always followed him on his journeys to the lake of Geneva, over the +Simplon. In the valley of the Rhone, in Canton Valais, still lived +Rudy's family, on his father's side, and his father's brother was a +famous chamois hunter and a well-known guide. Rudy was only a year +old, when he lost his father, and his mother longed to return to her +relations in Berner Oberlande. Her father lived a few hours walk from +Grindelwald; he was a carver in wood, and earned enough by it to live. +In the month of June, carrying her little child, she started +homewards, accompanied by two chamois hunters; intending to cross the +Gemmi on their way to Grindelwald. They already had accomplished the +longer part of their journey, had passed the high ridges, had come to +the snow-plains, they already saw the valley of their home, with its +well-known wooden houses, and had now but to reach the summit of one +of the great glaciers. The snow had freshly fallen and concealed a +cleft,--which did not lead to the deepest abyss, where the water +roared--but still deeper than man could reach. The young woman, who +was holding her child, slipped, sank and was gone; one heard no cry, +no sigh, nought but a little child weeping. More than an hour elapsed, +before her companions could bring poles and ropes, from the nearest +house, in order to afford assistance. After great exertion they drew +from the ice-gap, what appeared to be two lifeless bodies; every +means were employed and they succeeded in calling the child back to +life, but not the mother. So the old grandfather received instead of a +daughter, a daughter's son in his house; the little one, who laughed +more than he wept, but, who now, seemed to have lost this custom. A +change in him, had certainly taken place, in the cleft of the glacier, +in the wonderful cold world; where, according to the belief of the +Swiss peasant, the souls of the damned are incarcerated until the day +of judgment. + +Not unlike water, which after long journeying, has been compressed into +blocks of green glass, the glaciers lie here, so that one huge mass of +ice is heaped on the other. The rushing stream roars below and melts +snow and ice; within, hollow caverns and mighty clefts open, this is a +wonderful palace of ice, and in it dwells the Ice-Maiden, the Queen of +the glaciers. She, the murderess, the destroyer, is half a child of air +and half the powerful ruler of the streams; therefore, she had received +the power, to elevate herself with the speed of the chamois to the +highest pinnacle of the snow-topped mountain; where the most daring +mountaineer had to hew his way, in order to take firm foot-hold. She +sails up the rushing river on a slender fir-branch--springs from one +cliff to another, with her long snow-white hair, fluttering around her, +and with her bluish-green mantle, which resembles the water of the deep +Swiss lakes. + +"Crush, hold fast! the power is mine!" cried she. "They have stolen a +lovely boy from me, a boy, whom I had kissed, but not kissed to death. +He is again with men, he tends the goats on the mountains; he climbs +up, up high, beyond the reach of all others, but not beyond mine! He +is mine, I shall have him!"-- + +And she ordered Vertigo to fulfil her duty; it was too warm for the +Ice-Maiden, in summer-time, in the green spots where the mint thrives. +Vertigo arose; one came, three came, (for Vertigo had many sisters, +very many of them) and the Maiden chose the strongest among those that +rule within doors and without. They sit on the balusters and on the +spires of the steep towers, they tread through the air as the swimmer +glides through the water and entice their prey down the abyss. Vertigo +and the Ice-Maiden seize on men as the polypus clutches at all within +its reach. Vertigo was to gain possession of Rudy. "Yes, just catch +him for me" said Vertigo. "I cannot do it! The cat, the dirty thing, +has taught him her arts! The child of the race of man, possesses a +power, that repulses me; I cannot get at the little boy, when he hangs +by the branches over the abyss. I may tickle him on the soles of his +feet or give him a box on the ear whilst he is swinging in the air, it +is of no avail. I can do nothing!" + +"We _can_ do it!" said the Ice-Maiden. "You or I! I! I!"-- + +"No, no!" sounded back the echo of the church-bells through the +mountain, like a sweet melody; it was like speech, an harmonious +chorus of all the spirits of nature, mild, good, full of love, for it +came from the daughters of the sun-beams, who encamped themselves +every evening in a circle around the pinnacles of the mountains, and +spread out their rose-coloured wings, that grow more and more red as +the sun sinks, and glow over the high Alps; men call it, "the Alpine +glow." When the sun is down, they enter the peaks of the rocks and +sleep on the white snow, until the sun rises, and then they sally +forth. Above all, they love flowers, butterflies, and men, and amongst +them they had chosen little Rudy as their favourite. + +"You will not catch him! You shall not have him!" said they. "I have +caught and kept stronger and larger ones!" said the Ice-Maiden. + +Then the daughters of the Sun sang a lay of the wanderer, whose cloak +the whirlwind had torn off and carried away. The wind took the +covering, but not the man. "Ye children of strength can seize, but not +hold him; he is stronger, he is more spirit-like, than we; he ascends +higher than the Sun, our mother! He possesses the magic word, that +restrains wind and water, so that they are obliged to obey and serve +him!" + +So sounded cheerfully the bell-like chorus. + +And every morning the sun-beams shone through the tiny window in the +grandfather's house, on the quiet child. The daughters of the +sun-beams kissed him, they wished to thaw him, to warm him and to +carry away with them the icy kiss, which the queenly maiden of the +glaciers had given him, as he lay on his dead mother's lap, in the +deep icy gap, whence he was saved through a miracle. + + + + +II. + +THE JOURNEY TO THE NEW HOME. + + +Rudy was now eight years old. His father's brother, in Rhonethal, the +other side of the mountain, wished to have the boy, for he thought +that with him he would fare and prosper better; his grandfather +perceived this and gave his consent. + +Rudy must go. There were others to take leave of him, besides his +grandfather; first there was Ajola, the old dog. + +"Your father was post-boy and I was post-dog," said Ajola. "We have +travelled up and down; I know dogs and men on the other side of the +mountain. It is not my custom to speak much, but now, that we shall +not have much time to converse with each other, I must talk a little +more than usual. I will relate a story to you; I shall tell you how I +have earned my bread, and how I have eaten it. I do not understand it +and I suppose that you will not either, but it matters not, for I have +discovered that the good things of this earth are not equally divided +between dogs or men. All are not fitted to lie on the lap and sip +milk, I have not been accustomed to it; but I saw a little dog seated +in the coach with us and it occupied a person's place. The woman who +was its mistress, or who belonged to its mistress, had a bottle filled +with milk, out of which she fed it; it got sweet sugar biscuits too, +but it would not even eat them; only snuffed at them, and so the woman +ate them herself. I ran in the mud, by the side of the coach, as +hungry as a dog could be; I chewed my crude thoughts, that was not +right--but this is often done! If I could but have been carried on +some one's knee and have been seated in a coach! But one cannot have +all one desires. I have not been able to do so, neither with barking +nor with yawning." + +That was Ajola's speech, and Rudy seized him by the neck and kissed +him on his moist mouth, and then he took the cat in his arms, but she +was angry at it. + +"You are getting too strong for me, and I will not use my claws +against you! Just climb over the mountains, I taught you to climb! +Never think that you will fall, then you are secure!" + +Then the cat ran away, without letting Rudy see how her grief shone +out of her eye. + +The hens ran about the floor; one had lost her tail; a traveller, who +wished to be a hunter, had shot it off, because the creature had taken +the hen for a bird of prey! + +"Rudy is going over the mountain!" said one hen. "He is always in a +hurry," said the other, "and I do not care for leave-takings!" and so +they both tripped away. + +And the goats, too, said farewell and cried: "Mit, mit, mah!" and that +was so sad. + +There were two nimble guides in the neighbourhood, and they were about +to cross the mountains; they were to descend to the other side of the +Gemmi, and Rudy followed them on foot. This was a severe march for +such a little chap, but he had strength and courage, and felt not +fatigue. + +The swallows accompanied them a part of the way. They sang: "We and +you! You and us!" The road went over the rapid Lütschine, which +rushes forth from the black clefts of the glacier of Grindelwald, in +many little streams. The fallen timber and the quarry-stones serve as +bridges; they pass the alder-bush and descend the mountain where the +glacier has detached itself from the mountain side; they cross over +the glacier, over the blocks of ice, and go around them. Rudy was +obliged to creep a little, to walk a little, his eyes sparkled with +delight, and he trod as firmly with his iron-shod mountain shoes, as +though he wished to leave his foot-prints where he had stepped. The +black mud which the mountain stream had poured upon the glacier gave +it a calcined appearance, but the bluish-green, glassy ice still shone +through it. They were obliged to go around the little ponds which +were dammed up by blocks of ice; during these wanderings they came too +near a large stone, which lay tottering on the brink of a crevice in +the ice. The stone lost its equilibrium, it fell, rolled and the echo +resounded from the deep hollow paths of the glacier. + +Up, ever up; the glacier stretched itself on high--as a river, of +wildly heaped up masses of ice, compressed among the steep cliffs. For +an instant Rudy thought on what they had told him, about his having +laid with his mother, in one of these cold-breathing chasms. Such +thoughts soon vanished; it seemed to him as though it were some other +story--one of the many which had been related to him. Now and then, +when the men thought that the ascent was too difficult for the little +lad, they would reach him their hand, but he was never weary and +stood on the slippery ice as firm as a chamois. Now they reached the +bottom of the rocks, they were soon among the bare stones, which were +void of moss; soon under the low fir-trees and again out on the green +common--ever changing, ever new. Around them arose the snow mountains, +whose names were as familiar to Rudy as they were to every child in +the neighbourhood: "the Jungfrau," "the Mönch," and "the Eiger." + +Rudy had never been so high before, had never before trodden on the +vast sea of snow, which lay there with its immoveable waves. The wind +blew single flakes about, as it blows the foam upon the waters of the +sea. + +Glacier stood by glacier, if one may say so, hand in hand; each one +was an ice-palace for the Ice-Maiden, whose power and will is: "to +catch and to bury." The sun burned warmly, the snow was dazzling, as +if sown with bluish-white, glittering diamond sparks. Countless +insects (butterflies and bees mostly) lay in masses dead on the snow; +they had ventured too high, or the wind had borne them thither, but to +breathe their last in these cold regions. A threatening cloud hung +over the Wetterhorn, like a fine, black tuft of wool. It lowered +itself slowly, heavily, with that which lay concealed within it, and +this was the "Föhn,"[A] powerful in its strength when it broke loose. +The impression of the entire journey, the night quarters above and +then the road beyond, the deep rocky chasms, where the water forced +its way through the blocks of stone with terrible rapidity, engraved +itself indelibly on Rudy's mind. + +On the other side of the sea of snow, a forsaken stone hut gave them +protection and shelter for the night; a fire was quickly lighted, for +they found within it charcoal and fir branches; they arranged their +couch as well as possible. The men seated themselves around the fire, +smoked their tobacco and drank the warm spicy drink, which they had +prepared for themselves. Rudy had his share too and they told him of +the mysterious beings of the Alpine country; of the singular fighting +snakes in the deep lakes; of the people of night; of the hordes of +spectres, who carry sleepers through the air, towards the wonderful +floating city of Venice; of the wild shepherd, who drives his black +sheep over the meadow; it is true, they had never been seen, but the +sound of the bells and the unhappy bellowing of the flock, had been +heard. + +Rudy listened eagerly, but without any fear, for he did not even know +what that was, and whilst he listened he thought he heard the +ghost-like hollow bellowing! Yes, it became more and more distinct, +the men heard it also, they stopped talking, listened and told Rudy he +must not sleep. + +It was the Föhn which blew, the powerful storm-wind, which rushes down +the mountains into the valley and with its strength bends the trees, +as if they were mere reeds, and lifts the wooden houses from one side +of the river to the other, as if the move had been made on a +chess-board. + +After the lapse of an hour, they told Rudy that the storm had now +blown over and that he might rest; with this license, fatigued by his +march, he at once fell asleep. + +They departed early in the morning; the sun showed Rudy new +mountains, new glaciers and snow-fields; they had now reached Canton +Valais and the other side of the mountain ridge which was visible at +Grindelwald, but they were still far from the new home. Other chasms, +precipices, pasture-grounds; forests and paths through the woods, +unfolded themselves to the view; other houses, other human beings--but +what human beings! Deformed creatures, with unmeaning, fat, +yellowish-white faces; with a large, ugly, fleshy lump on their necks; +these were cretins who dragged themselves miserably along and gazed +with their stupid eyes on the strangers who arrived among them. As for +the women, the greatest number of them were frightful! + +Were these the inhabitants of the new home? + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] A humid south wind on the lakes of Switzerland, a fearful storm. + + + + +III. + +THE FATHER'S BROTHER. + + +The people in the uncle's house, looked, thank heaven, like those whom +Rudy was accustomed to see. But one cretin was there, a poor silly +lad, one of the many miserable creatures, who on account of their +poverty and need, always make their home among the families of Canton +Valais and remain with each but a couple of months. The wretched +Saperli happened to be there when Rudy arrived. + +Rudy's father's brother was still a vigorous hunter and was also a +cooper by trade; his wife, a lively little person, had what is called +a bird's face; her eyes resembled those of an eagle and she had a +long neck entirely covered with down. + +Everything was new to Rudy, the dress, manners and customs, yes, even +the language, but that is soon acquired and understood by a child's +ear. Here, they seemed to be better off, than in his grandfather's +house; the dwelling rooms were larger, the walls looked gay with their +chamois horns and highly polished rifles; over the door-way hung the +picture of the blessed Virgin; alpine roses and a burning lamp stood +before it. + +His uncle, was as we have said before, one of the most famous chamois +hunters in the neighbourhood and also the most experienced and best +guide. + +Rudy was to be the pet of the household, although there already was +one, an old deaf and blind dog, whom they could no longer use; but +they remembered his many past services and he was looked upon as a +member of the family and was to pass his old days in peace. Rudy +patted the dog, but he would have nothing to do with strangers; Rudy +did not long remain one, for he soon took firm hold both in house and +heart. + +"One is not badly off in Canton Valais," said his uncle, "we have the +chamois, they do not die out so soon as the mountain goat! It is a +great deal better here now, than in the old times; they may talk about +their glory as much as they please. The present time is much better, +for a hole has been made in the purse and light and air let into our +quiet valley. When old worn-out customs die away, something new +springs forth!" said he. When uncle became talkative, he told of the +years of his childhood and of his father's active time, when Valais +was still a closed purse, as the people called it, and when it was +filled with sick people and miserable cretins. French soldiers came, +they were the right kind of doctors, they not only shot down the +sickness but the men also. + +"The Frenchmen can beat the stones until they surrender! they cut the +Simplon-road out of the rocks--they have hewn out such a road, that I +now can tell a three year old child to go to Italy! Keep to the +highway, and a child may find his way there!" Then the uncle would +sing a French song and cry hurrah for Napoleon Bonaparte. + +Rudy now heard for the first time of France, of Lyons--the large city +of the Rhone--for his uncle had been there. + +"I wonder if Rudy will become an agile chamois hunter in a few years? +He has every disposition for it!" said his uncle, and instructed him +how to hold a rifle, how to aim and to fire. In the hunting season, he +took him with him in the mountains and made him drink the warm chamois +blood, which prevents the hunter from becoming dizzy. He taught him to +heed the time when the avalanches roll down the different sides of the +mountain--at mid-day or at night-fall--which depended upon the heat of +the rays of the sun. He taught him to notice the chamois, in order to +learn from them how to jump, so as to alight steadily upon the feet. +If there was no resting place in the clefts of the rock for the foot, +he must know how to support himself with the elbow, and be able to +climb by means of the muscles of the thigh and calf, even the neck +must serve when it is necessary. The chamois are cunning, they place +out-guards--but the hunter must be still more cunning and follow the +trail--and he can deceive them by hanging his coat and hat on his +alpine stick, and so make the chamois take the coat for the man. + +One day when Rudy was out with his uncle hunting, he tried this sport. + +The rocky path was not wide; indeed there was scarcely any, only a +narrow ledge, close to the dizzy abyss. The snow was half-thawed, the +stones crumbled when trodden upon, and his uncle stretched himself out +full length and crept along. Each stone as it broke away, fell, +knocked itself, bounded and then rolled down; it made many leaps from +one rocky wall to another until it found repose in the black deep. +Rudy stood about a hundred steps behind his uncle on the outermost +cliff, and saw a huge golden vulture, hovering over his uncle, and +sailing towards him through the air, as though wishing to cast the +creeping worm into the abyss with one blow of his wing, and to make +carrion of him. His uncle had only eyes for the chamois and its young +kid, on the other side of the cleft. Rudy looked at the bird, +understood what it wanted, and laid his hand on his rifle in order to +shoot it. At that moment the chamois leaped--his uncle fired--the ball +hit the animal, but the kid was gone, as though flight and danger had +been its life's experience. The monstrous bird terrified by the report +of the gun, took flight in another direction, and Rudy's uncle knew +nought of his danger, until Rudy told him of it. + +As they now were on their way home in the gayest spirits--his uncle +playing one of his youthful melodies on his flute--they suddenly +heard not far from them a singular sound; they looked sideways, they +gazed aloof and saw high above them the snow covering of the rugged +shelf of the rock, waving like an outspread piece of linen when +agitated by the wind. The icy waves cracked like slabs of marble, they +broke, dissolved in foaming, rushing water and sounded like a muffled +thunder-clap. It was an avalanche rolling down, not over Rudy and his +uncle, but near, only too near to them. + +"Hold fast, Rudy," cried he, "firm, with your whole strength!" + +And Rudy clasped the trunk of a tree; his uncle climbed into its +branches and held fast, whilst the avalanche rolled many fathoms away +from them. But the air-drift of the blustering storm, which +accompanied it, bowed down the trees and bushes around them like dry +reeds and threw them beyond. Rudy lay cast on the earth; the trunk of +the tree on which he had held was as though sawed off, and its crown +was hurled still farther along. His uncle lay amongst the broken +branches, with his head shattered; his hands were yet warm, but his +face was no longer to be recognized. Rudy stood pale and trembling; +this was the first terror of his life, the first hour of fear that he +had ever known. + +Late in the evening, he returned with his message of death to his +home, which was now one of sorrow. + +The wife stood without words, without tears, and not until the corpse +was brought home did her sorrow find an outburst. The poor cretin +crept to his bed and was not seen all day, but towards evening he came +to Rudy, and said: "Write a letter for me. Saperli cannot write! +Saperli can take the letter to the post office." + +"A letter for you," asked Rudy, "and to whom?" + +"To our Lord Christ!" + +"What do you mean?" + +And the half-witted creature gave a touching glance at Rudy, folded +his hands and said piously and solemnly: "Jesus Christ! Saperli wishes +to send him a letter, praying him to let Saperli lie dead and not the +man of this house!" + +And Rudy pressed his hand, "the letter cannot be sent, the letter will +not give him back to us!" + +It was difficult for Rudy to explain the impossibility to him. + +"Now you are the stay of the house!" said his foster-mother, and Rudy +became it. + + + + +IV. + +BABETTE. + + +Who is the best shot in Canton Valais? The chamois knew only too well: +"Beware of Rudy!" they could say. Who is the handsomest hunter?--"It +is Rudy." The young girls said this also, but they did not say: +"Beware of Rudy!" No, not even the grave mothers, for he nodded to +them quite as amicably as to the young girls. He was so bold and gay, +his cheeks were brown, his teeth fresh and white and his coal-black +eyes glittered; he was a handsome young fellow and but twenty years +old. The icy water did not sting him when he swam, he could turn +around in it like a fish; he could climb as did no one, and he was as +firm on the rocky walls as a snail--for he had good sinews and muscles +that served him well in leaping--the cat had first taught him this, +and later the chamois. One could not trust one's self to a better +guide than to Rudy. In this way he could collect quite a fortune, but +he had no taste for the trade of a cooper, which his uncle had taught +him; his delight and pleasure was to shoot chamois, and this was +profitable also. Rudy was a good match if one did not look higher than +one's station, and in dancing he was just the kind of dancer that +young girls dream about, and one or the other were always thinking of +him when they were awake. + +"He kissed me whilst dancing!" said the schoolmaster's Annette to her +most intimate friend, but she should not have said this, not even to +her dearest friend, but it is difficult to keep such things to one's +self--like sand in a purse with a hole in it, it soon runs out--and +although Rudy was so steady and good it was soon known that he kissed +whilst dancing. + +"Watch him," said an old hunter, "he has commenced with A, and he will +kiss the whole alphabet through!" + +A kiss, at a dance, was all they could say in their gossipping, but he +had kissed Annette, and she was by no means the flower of his heart. + +Down near Bex, between the great walnut trees, close by a rapid little +stream, dwelt the rich miller. The dwelling-house was a large +three-storied building, with little towers covered with wood and +coated with sheets of lead, which shone in the sunshine and in the +moonshine; the largest tower had for a weather-cock a bright arrow +which pierced an apple and which was intended to represent the apple +shot by Tell. The mill looked neat and comfortable, so that it was +really worth describing and drawing, but the miller's daughter could +neither be described nor drawn, at least so said Rudy. Yet she was +imprinted in his heart, and her eyes acted as a fire-brand upon it, +and this had happened suddenly and unexpectedly. The most wonderful +part of all was, that the miller's daughter, the pretty Babette, +thought not of him, for she and Rudy had never even spoken two words +with each other. + +The miller was rich, and riches placed her much too high to be +approached; "but no one," said Rudy to himself, "is placed so high as +to be unapproachable; one must climb and one does not fall, when one +does not think of it." _This_ knowledge he had brought from home with +him. + +Now it so happened that Rudy had business at Bex and it was quite a +journey there, for the railroad was not completed. The broad valley of +Valais stretches itself from the glaciers of the Rhone, under the foot +of the Simplon-mountain, between many varying mountain-heights, with +its mighty river, the Rhone, which often swells and destroys +everything, overflooding fields and roads. The valley makes a bend, +between the towns of Sion and St. Maurice, like an elbow and becomes +so narrow at Maurice, that there only remains sufficient room for the +river bed and a cart way. Here an old tower stands like a sentry +before the Canton Valais; it ends at this point and overlooks the +bridge, which has a wall towards the custom-house. Now begins the +Canton called Pays de Vaud and the nearest town is Bex, where +everything becomes luxuriant and fruitful--one is in a garden of +walnut and chestnut trees and here and there, cypress and pomegranate +blossoms peep out--it is as warm as the South; one imagines one's self +transplanted into Italy. + +Rudy reached Bex, accomplished his business and looked about him, but +he did not see a single miller's boy, not to speak of Babette. It +appeared as though they were not to meet. + +It was evening, the air was heavy with the wild thyme and blooming +linden, a glistening veil lay over the forest-clad mountains, there +was a stillness over everything, but not the quiet of sleep. It seemed +as though all nature retained her breath, as if she felt disposed to +allow her image to be imprinted upon the firmament. + +Here and there, there were poles standing on the green fields, between +the trees; they held the telegraph wire, which has been conducted +through this peaceful valley. An object leant against one of these +poles, so immoveable, that one might have taken it for a withered +trunk of a tree; but it was Rudy. He slept not and still less was he +dead; but as the most important events of this earth, as well as +affairs of vital moment for individuals pass over the wires, without +their giving out a tone or a tremulous movement, even so flashed +through Rudy, thoughts--powerful, overwhelming, speaking of the +happiness of his life; his, henceforth, "_constant thought_." His eyes +were fixed upon a point in the trellis-work, and this was a light in +Babette's sitting room. Rudy was so motionless, one might have thought +that he was observing a chamois, in order to shoot it. Now, however, +he was like the chamois--which appears sculptured on the rock, and +suddenly if a stone rolls, springs and flies away--thus stood Rudy, +until a thought struck him. + +"Never despair," said he. "I shall make a visit to the mill, and say: +Good evening miller, good evening Babette! One does not fall when one +does not think of it! Babette must see me, if I am to be her husband!" + +And Rudy laughed, was of good cheer and went to the mill; he knew what +he wanted, he wanted Babette. + +The river, with its yellowish white water rolled on; the willow trees +and the lindens bowed themselves deep in the hastening water; Rudy +went along the path, and as it says in the old child's song: + + ---- ---- ---- Zu des Müllers Haus, + Aber da war Niemand drinnen + Nur die Katze schaute aus![B] + +The house-cat stood on the step, put up her back and said: "Miau!" but +Rudy had no thoughts for her language, he knocked, no one heard, no +one opened. "Miau!" said the cat. If Rudy had been little, he would +have understood the speech of animals and known that the cat told him: +"There is no one at home!" He was obliged to cross over to the mill, +to make inquiries, and here he had news. The master of the house was +away on a journey, far away in the town of Interlaken--_inter lacus_, +"between the lakes"--as the school-master, Annette's father, had +explained, in his wisdom. Far away was the miller and Babette with +him; there was to be a shooting festival, which was to commence on +the following day and to continue for a whole week. The Swiss from all +the German cantons were to meet there. + +Poor Rudy, one could well say that he had not taken the happiest time +to visit Bex; now he could return and that was what he did. He took +the road over Sion and St. Maurice, back to his own valley, back to +his own mountain, but he was not down-cast. On the following morning, +when the sun rose, his good humour had returned, in fact it had never +left him. + +"Babette is in Interlaken, many a day's journey from here!" said he to +himself, "it is a long road thither, if one goes by the highway, but +not so far if one passes over the rocks and that is the road for a +chamois hunter! I went this road formerly, for there is my home, where +I lived with my grandfather when I was a little child, and they have +a shooting festival in Interlaken! I will be the _first_ one there, +and that will I be with Babette also, as soon as I have made her +acquaintance!" + +With his light knapsack containing his Sunday clothes, with his gun +and his huntsman's pouch, Rudy ascended the mountain. The short road, +was a pretty long one, but the shooting-match had but commenced to-day +and was to last more than a week; the miller and Babette were to +remain the whole time, with their relations in Interlaken. Rudy +crossed the Gemmi, for he wished to go to Grindelwald. + +He stepped forwards merry and well, out into the fresh, light mountain +air. The valley sank beneath him, the horizon widened; here and there +a snow-peak, and soon appeared the whole shining white alpine chain. +Rudy knew every snow mountain, onward he strode towards the +Schreckhorn, that elevates its white powdered snow-finger high in the +air. + +At last he crossed the ridge of the mountain and the pasture-grounds +and reached the valley of his home; the air was light and his spirits +gay, mountain and valley stood resplendent with verdure and flowers. +His heart was filled with youthful thoughts;--that one can never grow +old, never die; but live, rule and enjoy;--free as a bird, light as a +bird was he. The swallows flew by and sang as in his childhood: "We +and you, and You and we!" All was happiness. + +Below lay the velvet-green meadow, with its brown wooden houses, the +Lütschine hummed and roared. He saw the glacier with its green glass +edges and its black crevices in the deep snow, and the under and +upper glacier. The sound of the church-bells was carried over to him, +as if they chimed a welcome home; his heart beat loudly and expanded, +so, that for a moment, Babette vanished from it; his heart widened, it +was so full of recollections. He retraced his steps, over the path, +where he used to stand when a little boy, with the other children, on +the edge of the ditch, and where he sold carved wooden houses. Yonder, +under the fir-trees was his grandfather's house,--strangers dwelled +there. Children came running up the path, wishing to sell; one of them +held an alpine rose towards him. Rudy took it for a good omen and +thought of Babette. Quickly he crossed the bridge, where the two +Lütschines meet; the leafy trees had increased and the walnut trees +gave deeper shade. He saw the streaming Swiss and Danish flags--the +white cross on the red cloth--and Interlaken lay before him. + +It was certainly a magnificent town; like no other, it seemed to Rudy. +A Swiss town in its Sunday dress, was not like other trading-places, a +mass of black stone houses, heavy, uninviting and stiff. No! it looked +as though the wooden houses, on the mountain had run down into the +green valley, to the clear, swift river and had ranged themselves in a +row--a little in and out--so as to form a street, the most splendid of +all streets, which had grown up since Rudy was here as a child. It +appeared to him, that here all the pretty wooden houses that his +grandfather had carved, and with which the cup-board at home used to +be filled, had placed themselves there and had grown in strength, as +the old, the oldest chestnut trees had done. Each house had carved +wood-work around the windows and balconies, projecting roofs, pretty +and neat; in front of every house a little flower garden extended into +the stone-covered street. The houses were all placed on one side, as +if they wished to conceal the forest-green meadow, where the cows with +their tinkling bells made one fancy one's self near the high alpine +pasture-grounds. The meadow was enclosed with high mountains, that +leaned to one side so that the Jungfrau, the most stately of the Swiss +mountains, with its glistening snow-clad top, was visible. + +What a quantity of well dressed ladies and gentlemen from foreign +countries! What multitudes of inhabitants from the different cantons! +The shooters, with their numbers placed in a wreath around their +hats, waiting to take their turn. Here was music and song, +hurdy-gurdys and wind instruments, cries and confusion. The houses and +bridges were decked with devices and verses; banners and flags +floated, rifles sounded shot after shot; this was the best music to +Rudy's ear and he entirely forgot Babette, although he had come for +her sake. + +The marksmen thronged towards the spot where the target-shooting was; +Rudy was soon among them and he was the best, the luckiest, for he +always hit the mark. + +"Who can the strange hunter be?" they asked, "He speaks the French +language as though he came from Canton Valais!" "He speaks our German +very distinctly!" said others. "He is said to have lived in the +neighbourhood of Grindelwald, when a child!" said one of them. + +There was life in the youth; his eyes sparkled, his aim was true. Good +luck gives courage, and Rudy had courage at all times; he soon had a +large circle of friends around him, they praised him, they did homage +to him, and Babette had almost entirely left his thoughts. At that +moment a heavy hand struck him on the shoulder, and a gruff voice +addressed him in the French tongue: + +"You are from Canton Valais?" + +Rudy turned around. A stout person, with a red, contented countenance, +stood by him and that was the rich miller of Bex. He covered with his +wide body, the slight pretty Babette, who however, soon peeped out +with her beaming dark eyes. The rich peasant became consequential +because the hunter from his canton had made the best shot and was the +honoured one. Rudy was certainly a favourite of fortune, that, for +which he had journeyed thither and almost forgotten had sought him. + +When one meets a countryman far from one's home, why then one knows +one another, and speaks together. Rudy was the first at the shooting +festival and the miller was the first at Bex, through his money and +mill, and so the two men pressed each other's hands: this they had +never done before. Babette also, gave Rudy her little hand and he +pressed her's in return and looked at her, so--that she became quite +red. + +The miller told of the long journey which they had made here, of the +many large towns which they had seen--that was a real journey; they +had come in the steam-boat and had been driven by post and rail! + +"I came by the short road," said Rudy, "I came over the mountains; +there is no path so high, that one can not reach it!" + +"But one can break one's neck," said the miller, "you look as though +you would do so some day, you are so daring!" + +"One does not fall, when one does not think of it!" said Rudy. + +And the miller's family in Interlaken, with whom the miller and +Babette were staying, begged Rudy to pay them a visit, for he was from +the same canton as their relations. + +These were glad tidings for Rudy, fortune smiled upon him, as it +always does on those that rely upon themselves and think upon the +saying: "Our Lord gives us nuts, but he does not crack them for us!" +Rudy made himself quite at home with the miller's relations; they +drank the health of the best marksman. Babette knocked her glass +against his and Rudy gave thanks for the honour shown him. + +In the evening, they all walked under the walnut trees, in front of +the decorated hôtels; there was such a crowd, such a throng, that Rudy +was obliged to offer his arm to Babette. "He was so rejoiced to have +met people from Pays de Vaud," said he, "Pays de Vaud and Valais were +good neighbourly cantons." His joy was so profound that it struck +Babette, she must press his hand. They walked along almost like old +acquaintances; she was so amusing, the darling little creature, it +became her so prettily Rudy thought, when she described what was +laughable and overdone in the dress of the ladies, and ridiculed their +manners and walk. She did not do this in order to mock them, for no +doubt they were very good people, yes! kind and amiable. Babette knew +what was right, for she had a god-mother that was a distinguished +English lady. She was in Bex, eighteen years ago, when Babette was +baptized; she had given Babette, the expensive breastpin which she +wore. The god-mother had written her two letters; this year she was to +meet her in Interlaken, with her daughters; they were old maids, over +thirty years old, said Babette;--she was just eighteen. + +The sweet little mouth was not still a minute; everything that Babette +said, sounded to Rudy of great importance. Then he related how often +he had been in Bex, how well he knew the mill; how often he had seen +Babette, but she of course had never remarked him; he told how, when +he reached the mill, with many thoughts to which he could give no +utterance, she and her father were far away; still not so far as to +render it impossible for him to ascend the rocky wall which made the +road so long. + +Yes, he said this; and he also said how much he thought of her; that +it was for her sake and not on account of the shooting festival that +he had come. + +Babette remained very still, for what he confided to her was almost +too much joy. + +The sun set behind the rocky wall, whilst they were walking, and there +stood the Jungfrau in all her radiant splendour, surrounded by the +dark green circle of the adjacent mountains. The vast crowd of people +stopped to look at it, Rudy and Babette also gazed upon its grandeur. + +"It is nowhere more beautiful than here!" said Babette. + +"Nowhere!" said Rudy, and looked at Babette. + +"I must leave to-morrow!" said he, a little later. + +"Visit us in Bex," whispered Babette, "it will delight my father!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] + The cat looked out from the miller's house, + No one was in, not even a mouse! + + + + +V. + +HOMEWARDS. + + +Ah! how much Rudy carried with him, as he went home the next morning +over the mountains. Yes, there were three silver goblets, two very +fine rifles and a silver coffee pot, which one could use if one wished +to go to house-keeping; but he carried with him something far, far +more important, far mightier, or rather _that_ carried him over the +high mountains. + +The weather was raw, moist and cold, grey and heavy; the clouds +lowered over the mountain-tops like mourning veils, and enveloped the +shining peaks of the rocks. The sound of the axe resounded from the +depths of the forest, and the trunks of the trees rolled down the +mountain, looking in the distance like slight sticks, but on +approaching them they were heavy trees, suitable for making masts. The +Lütschine rushed on with its monotonous sound, the wind blustered, the +clouds sailed by. + +Suddenly a young girl approached Rudy, whom he had not noticed before; +not until she was beside him; she also was about crossing the +mountain. Her eyes had so peculiar a power that one was forced to look +into them; they were so strangely clear--clear as glass, so deep, so +fathomless-- + +"Have you a beloved one?" asked Rudy; for to have a beloved one was +everything to him. + +"I have none!" said she, and laughed; but it was as though she was not +speaking the truth. "Do not let us take a by-way," continued she, "we +must go more to the left, that way is shorter!" + +"Yes, so as to fall down a precipice!" said Rudy; "Do you know no +better way, and yet wish to be a guide?" + +"I know the road well," said she, "my thoughts are with me; yours are +beneath in the valley; here on high, one must think on the Ice-Maiden, +for they say she is not well disposed to mankind!" + +"I do not fear her," said Rudy, "she was forced to let me go when I +was a child, so I suppose I can slip away from her now that I am +older!" + +The darkness increased, the rain fell, the snow came; it shone and +dazzled. "Give me your hand, I will help you to ascend!" said the +girl, and touched him with icy-cold fingers. + +"You help me," said Rudy, "I do not yet need a woman's help in +climbing!" He strode quickly on, away from her; the snow-shower +formed a curtain around him, the wind whistled by him and he heard the +young girl laugh and sing; it sounded so oddly! Yes, that was +certainly a spirit in the service of the Ice-Maiden. Rudy had heard of +them, when he had passed a night on high; when he had crossed the +mountain, as a little boy. + +The snow fell more scantily and the shadows lay under him; he looked +back, there was no one to be seen, but he heard laughing and _jodling_ +and it did not appear to come from a human being. When Rudy reached +the uppermost portion of the mountain, where the rocky path leads to +the valley of the Rhone, he saw in the direction of Chamouni, two +bright stars, twinkling and shining in the clear streaks of blue; he +thought of Babette, of himself, of his happiness and became warmed by +his thoughts. + + + + +VI. + +THE VISIT TO THE MILL. + + +"You bring princely things into the house!" said the old +foster-mother, her singular eagle-eyes glistened and she made strange +and hasty motions with her lean neck. + +"Fortune is with you, Rudy, I must kiss you, my sweet boy!" + +Rudy allowed himself to be kissed, but one could read in his +countenance, that he but submitted to circumstances and to little +household miseries. "How handsome you are, Rudy!" said the old woman. + +"Do not put notions into my head!" answered Rudy, and laughed, but +still it pleased him. + +"I say it once more," said the old woman, "fortune is with you!" + +"Yes, I agree with you there!" said he; thought of Babette and longed +to be in the deep valley. "They must have returned, two days have +passed since they expected to do so. I must go to Bex!" + +Rudy went to Bex, and the inhabitants of the mill had returned; he was +well received and they brought him greetings from the family at +Interlaken. Babette did not talk much, she had grown silent; but her +eyes spoke and that was quite enough for Rudy. The miller who +generally liked to carry on the conversation--for he was accustomed to +have every one laugh at his witty sayings and puns--was he not the +rich miller?--seemed now to prefer to listen. Rudy recounted to him +his hunting expeditions; described the difficulties, the dangers and +the privations of the chamois hunter when on the lofty mountain peak; +how often he must climb over the insecure snow-ledges, that the wind +had blown on the rocky brink, and how he must pass over slight bridges +that the snow-drifts had thrown across the abyss. Rudy looked +fearless, his eyes sparkled whilst he spoke of the shrewdness of the +chamois, of their daring leaps, of the violence of the Föhn and of the +rolling avalanches. He observed that with every description he won +more and more favour; but what pleased the miller more than all, was +the account of the lamb's vulture and the bold golden eagle. + +In Canton Valais, not far from here, there was an eagle's nest, very +slyly built under the projecting edge of the rock; a young one was in +it, but no one could steal it! An Englishman had offered Rudy a few +days before, a whole handful of gold, if he would bring him the young +one alive, "but everything has a limit," said he, "the young eagle +cannot be taken away, and it would be madness to attempt it!" + +The wine and conversation flowed freely; but the evening appeared all +too short for Rudy; yet it was past midnight, when he went home from +his first visit to the mill. + +The light shone a little while longer through the window and between +the green trees; the parlour-cat came out of an opening in the roof +and the kitchen-cat came along the gutter. + +"Do you know the latest news at the mill?" said the parlour-cat, +"there has been a silent betrothal in the house! Father does not yet +know it, but Rudy and Babette have reached each other their paws under +the table, and he trod three times on my fore-paws, but still I did +not mew, for that would have awakened attention!" + +"I should have done it, nevertheless!" said the kitchen-cat. + +"What is suited to the kitchen is not suited to the parlour," said the +parlour-cat. "I should like to know what the miller will say, when he +hears of the betrothal!" + +Yes, what the miller would say! That was what Rudy would have liked to +know, for Rudy was not at all patient. When the omnibus rumbled over +the bridge of the Rhone, between Valais and Pays de Vaud not many days +after, Rudy sat in it and was of good cheer; filled with pleasing +thoughts of the "Yes," of the same evening. + +When evening came and the omnibus returned, yes, there sat Rudy +within, but the parlour-cat, was running about in the mill with great +news. + +"Listen, you, in the kitchen! The miller knows everything now. This +has had an exquisite ending! Rudy came here towards evening; he and +Babette had much to whisper and to chatter about, as they stood in the +walk, under the miller's chamber. I lay close to their feet but they +had neither eyes nor thoughts for me. 'I am going directly to your +father,' said Rudy, 'this is an honourable affair!' 'Shall I follow +you?' asked Babette, 'it may give you more courage!' 'I have courage +enough,' said Rudy, 'but if you are there, he will be forced to look +at it in a more favourable light!' They went in. Rudy trod heavily on +my tail! Rudy is indescribably awkward; I mewed, but neither he nor +Babette had ears to hear it. They opened the door, they entered and I +preceded them; I leaped upon the back of a chair, for I did not know +but that Rudy would overturn everything! But the miller reversed all, +that was a great step! Out of the door, up the mountains, to the +chamois! Rudy can aim at them now, but not at our little Babette!" + +"But what was said?" asked the kitchen-cat. + +"Said? Everything. 'I care for her and she cares for me! When there is +milk enough in the jug for one, there is milk enough in the jug for +two!' 'But she is placed too high for you,' said the miller, 'she sits +on gold dust, so now you know it; you can not reach her!' 'Nothing is +too high; he who wills can reach anything!' said Rudy. He is too +headstrong on this subject! 'But you cannot reach the eaglet, you said +so yourself lately! Babette is still higher!' 'I will have them both!' +said Rudy. 'Yes, I will bestow her upon you, if you make me a present +of the eaglet alive!' said the miller and laughed until the tears +stood in his eyes. + +"'Thanks for your visit, Rudy! Come again to-morrow, you will find no +one at home. Farewell, Rudy!' Babette said farewell also, as +sorrowfully as a kitten, that cannot see its mother. 'A word is a +word, a man is a man,' said Rudy, 'do not weep Babette, I shall bring +the eaglet!' 'I hope that you will break your neck!' said the miller. +That's what I call an overturning! Now Rudy has gone, and Babette sits +and weeps; but the miller sings in German, he learned to do so whilst +on his journey! I do not intend to trouble myself any longer about it, +it does no good!" + +"There is still a prospect!" said the kitchen-cat. + + + + +VII. + +THE EAGLE'S NEST. + + +Merry and loud sounded the _jodel_ from the mountain-path, it +indicated good humour and joyous courage; it was Rudy; he was going to +his friend Vesinand. + +"You must help me! We will take Ragli with us; I am going after the +eaglet on the brink of the rock!" + +"Do you not wish to go after the black spot in the moon? That is quite +as easy," said Vesinand; "you are in a good humour!" + +"Yes, because I am thinking of my wedding; but seriously, you shall +know how my affairs stand!" + +Vesinand and Ragli soon knew what Rudy wished. + +"You are a bold fellow," said they, "do not do this! You will break +your neck!" + +"One does not fall, when one does not think of it!" said Rudy. + +About mid-day, they set out with poles, ladders and ropes; their path +lay through bushes and brambles, over the rolling stones, up, up in +the dark night. + +The water rushed beneath them; the water flowed above them and the +humid clouds chased each other in the air. The hunters approached the +steep brink of the rock; it became darker and darker, the rocky walls +almost met; high above them in the narrow fissure the air penetrated +and gave light. Under their feet there was a deep abyss with its +roaring waters. + +They all three sat still, awaiting the grey of the morning; then the +eagle would fly out; they must shoot him before they could think of +obtaining the young one. Rudy seemed to be a part of the stone on +which he sat; his rifle placed before him, ready to take aim, his eyes +immoveably fastened on yon high cleft which concealed the eagle's +nest. The three huntsmen waited long. + +A crashing, whizzing noise sounded high above them; a large hovering +object darkened the air. Two rifle barrels were aimed as the black +eagle flew from its nest; a shot was heard, the out-spread wings moved +an instant, then the bird slowly sank as if it wished to fill the +entire cliff with its outstretched wings and bury the huntsmen in its +fall. The eagle sank in the deep; the branches of the trees and bushes +cracked, broken by the fall of the bird. + +They now displayed their activity; three of the longest ladders were +tied together; they stood them on the farthest point where the foot +could place itself with security, close to the brink of the +precipice--but they were not long enough; there was still a great +space from the outermost projecting cliff, which protected the nest; +the rocky wall was perfectly smooth. After some consultation, they +decided to lower into the opening two ladders tied together and to +fasten them to the three already beneath them. With great difficulty +they dragged them up and attached them with cords; the ladders shot +over the projecting cliffs and hung over the chasm; Rudy sat already +on the lowest round. + +It was an ice-cold morning, and the mist mounted from the black +ravine. Rudy sat there like a fly on a rocking blade of grass, which a +nest-building bird has dropped in its hasty flight, on the edge of a +factory chimney; but the fly had the advantage of escaping by its +wings, poor Rudy had none, he was almost sure to break his neck. The +wind whistled around him and the roaring water from the thawed +glaciers, the palace of the Ice-Maiden, poured itself into the abyss. + +He gave the ladders a swinging motion--as the spider swings herself by +her long thread--he seized them with a strong and steady hand, but +they shook as if they had worn-out hasps. + +The five long ladders looked like a tremulous reed, as they reached +the nest and hung perpendicularly over the rocky wall. Now came the +most dangerous part; Rudy had to climb as a cat climbs; but Rudy could +do this, for the cat had taught it to him. He did not feel that +Vertigo trod in the air behind him and stretched her polypus-like arms +towards him. Now he stood on the highest round of the ladder and +perceived that he was not sufficiently high to enable him to see into +the nest; he could reach it with his hands. He tried how firm the +twigs were, which plaited in one another formed the bottom of the +nest; when he had assured himself of a thick and immoveable one, he +swung himself off of the ladder. He had his breast and head over the +nest, out of which streamed towards him a stifling stench of carrion; +torn lambs, chamois and birds lay decomposing around him. Vertigo, who +had no power over him, blew poisonous vapours into his face to stupify +him; below in the black, yawning abyss, sat the Ice-Maiden herself, on +the hastening water, with her long greenish-white hair and stared at +him with death-like eyes, which were pointed at him like two rifle +barrels. + +"Now, I shall catch you!" + +Seated in one corner of the eagle's nest was the eaglet, who could not +fly yet, although so strong and powerful. Rudy fastened his eyes on +it, held himself with his whole strength firmly by one hand, and with +the other threw the noose around it. It was captured alive, its legs +were in the knot; Rudy cast the rope over his shoulder, so that the +animal dangled some distance below him, and sustained himself by +another rope which hung down, until his feet touched the upper round +of the ladder. + +"Hold fast, do not think that you will fall and then you are sure not +to do so!" That was the old lesson, and he followed it; held fast, +climbed, was sure not to fall and he did not. + +There resounded a strong _jodling_, and a joyous one too. Rudy stood +on the firm, rocky ground with the young eaglet. + + + + +VIII. + +THE NEWS WHICH THE PARLOUR-CAT RELATED. + + +"Here is what you demanded!" said Rudy, on entering the house of the +miller at Bex, as he placed a large basket on the floor and took off +the covering. Two yellow eyes, with black circles around them, fiery +and wild, looked out as if they wished to set on fire, or to kill +those around them. The short beak yawned ready to bite and the neck +was red and downy. + +"The eaglet!" cried the miller. Babette screamed, jumped to one side +and could neither turn her eyes from Rudy, nor from the eaglet. + +"You do not allow yourself to be frightened!" said the miller. + +"And you keep your word, at all times," said Rudy, "each has his +characteristic trait!" + +"But why did you not break your neck?" asked the miller. + +"Because I held on firmly," answered Rudy, "and I hold firmly on +Babette!" + +"First see that you have her!" said the miller and laughed; that was a +good sign; Babette knew this. + +"Let us take the eaglet from the basket, it is terrible to see how he +glares! How did you get him?" + +Rudy was obliged to recount his adventure, whilst the miller stared at +him with eyes, which grew larger and larger. + +"With your courage and with your luck you could take care of three +wives!" said the miller. + +"Thanks! Thanks!" cried Rudy. + +"Yes, but you have not yet Babette!" said the miller as he struck the +young chamois hunter, jestingly on the shoulder. + +"Do you know the latest news in the mill?" said the parlour-cat to the +kitchen-cat. "Rudy has brought us the young eagle and taken Babette in +exchange. They have kissed each other and the father looked on. That +is just as good as a betrothal; the old man did not overturn anything, +he drew in his claws, took his nap and left the two seated, caressing +each other. They have so much to relate, they will not get through +till Christmas!" + +They had not finished at Christmas. + +The wind whistled through the brown foliage, the snow swept through +the valley as it did on the high mountains. The Ice-Maiden sat in her +proud castle and arrayed herself in her winter costume; the ice walls +stood in glazed frost; where the mountain streams waved their watery +veil in summer, were now seen thick elephantine icicles, shining +garlands of ice, formed of fantastic ice crystals, encircled the +fir-trees, which were powdered with snow. + +The Ice-Maiden rode on the blustering wind over the deepest valleys. +The snow covering lay over all Bex; Rudy stayed in doors more than was +his wont, and sat with Babette. The wedding was to take place in the +summer; their friends talked so much of it that it often made their +ears burn. All was sunshine with them, and the loveliest alpine rose +was Babette, the sprightly, laughing Babette, who was as charming as +the early spring; the spring that makes the birds sing, that will +bring the summer time and the wedding day. + +"How can they sit there and hang over each other," exclaimed the +parlour-cat, "I am really tired of their eternal mewing!" + + + + +IX. + +THE ICE-MAIDEN. + + +The early spring time had unfolded the green leaves of the walnut and +chestnut trees; they were remarkably luxuriant from the bridge of St. +Maurice to the banks of the lake of Geneva. + +The Rhone, which rushes forth from its source, has under the green +glacier the palace of the Ice-Maiden. She is carried by it and the +sharp wind to the elevated snow-fields, where she extends herself on +her damp cushions in the brilliant sunshine. There she sits and gazes, +with far-seeing sight, upon the valley where mortals busily move about +like so many ants. + +"Beings endowed with mental powers, as the children of the Sun, call +you," said the Ice-Maiden--"ye are worms! _One_ snow-ball rolled and +you and your houses and towns are crushed and swept away!" She raised +her proud head still higher and looked with death-beaming eyes far +around and below her. From the valley resounded a rumbling, a blasting +of rocks, men were making railways and tunnels. "They are playing like +moles," said she, "they excavate passages, and a noise is made like +the firing of a gun. When I transpose _my_ castles, it roars louder +than the rolling of the thunder!" + +A smoke arose from the valley and moved along like a floating veil, +like a waving plume; it was the locomotive which led the train over +the newly built railroad--this crooked snake, whose limbs are formed +of cars upon cars. It shot along with the speed of an arrow. + +"They are playing the masters with their mental powers," said the +Ice-Maiden, "but the powers of nature are the ruling ones!" and she +laughed and her laugh was echoed in the valley. + +"Now an avalanche is rolling!" said the men below. + +Still more loudly sang the children of the Sun; they sang of the +"thoughts" of men which fetter the sea to the yoke, cut down mountains +and fill up valleys; of human thoughts which rule the powers of +nature. At this moment, a company of travellers crossed the snow-field +where the Maiden sat; they had bound themselves firmly together with +ropes, in order to form a large body on the smooth ice-field by the +deep abyss. + +"Worms!" said she, "as if you were lords of creation!" She turned from +them and looked mockingly upon the deep valley, where the cars were +rushing by. + +"There sit those _thoughts_ in their power of strength! I see them +all!--There sits one, proud as a king and alone! They sit in masses! +There, half are asleep! When the steam-dragon stops, they will descend +and go their way! The thoughts go out into the world!" She laughed. + +"There rolls another avalanche!" they said in the valley. + +"It will not catch us!" said two on the back of the steam +dragon;--"two souls and one thought"--these were Rudy and Babette; the +miller was there also. + +"As baggage," said he, "I go along, as the indispensable!" + +"There sit the two," said the Ice-Maiden, "I have crushed many a +chamois; I have bent and broken millions of alpine roses, so that no +roots were left! I shall annihilate _them_! The thoughts! The mental +powers!" She laughed. + +"There rolls another avalanche!" they said in the valley. + + + + +X. + +THE GOD-MOTHER. + + +In Montreux, one of the adjoining towns, which with Clarens, Vernex +and Crin forms a garland around the northeast part of the lake of +Geneva, dwelt Babette's god-mother, a distinguished English lady, with +her daughters and a young relation. Although she had but lately +arrived, the miller had already made her his visit and announced +Babette's engagement; had spoken of Rudy and the eaglet; of the visit +to Interlaken and in short had told the whole story. This had rejoiced +her in the highest degree, both for Rudy and Babette's sake, as well +as for the miller's; they must all visit her--therefore they came. +Babette was to see her god-mother, and the god-mother was to see +Babette. + +At the end of the lake of Geneva, by the little town of Villeneuve, +lay the steam-boat which after half an hour's trip from Vernex, +arrived at Montreux. This is one of the coasts which are sung of by +the poets. Here sat Byron, by the deep bluish green lake, under the +walnut trees and wrote his melodious verses upon the prisoner of the +deep sombre castle of Chillon. Here, where Clarens with its weeping +willows, mirrored itself in the waters, once wandered Rousseau and +dreamt of Heloïse. Yonder, where the Rhone glides along under Savoy's +snow-topped mountains and not far from its mouth, in the lake lies a +little island, indeed it is so small, that from the coast it is taken +for a vessel. It is a valley between the rocks, which a lady caused +to be dammed up a hundred years ago and to be covered with earth and +planted with three acacia-trees, which now shade the whole island. +Babette was quite charmed with this little spot; they must and should +go there, yes, it must be charming beyond description to be on the +island; but the steamer sailed by, and stopped as it should, at +Vernex. + +The little party wandered between the white, sunlighted walls, which +surround the vineyards of the little mountain town of Montreux, +through the fig-trees which flourish before every peasant's house and +in whose gardens, the laurel and cypress trees are green. Half-way up +the hill stood the boarding house where the god-mother resided. + +The reception was very cordial. The god-mother was a large amiable +person and had a round smiling countenance; as a child she must have +had a real Raphael's angel head, but now it was an old angel's head +with silvery white hair, well curled. The daughters were tall, +slender, refined and much dressed. The young cousin who was with them, +was clad in white from head to foot; he had golden hair and immense +whiskers; he immediately showed little Babette the greatest attention. + +Richly bound books, loose music and drawings lay strewn about the +large table; the balcony door stood open and one had a view of the +beautiful out-spread lake, which was so shining, so still, that the +mountains of Savoy with their little villages, their forest and their +snowy peaks mirrored themselves in it. + +Rudy, who usually was so full of life, so merry and so daring, did not +feel in his element; he moved about over the smooth floor as though +he were treading on peas. How wearily the time dragged along, it was +just as if one was in a tread mill! If they did go walking, why, that +was just as slow; Rudy could take two steps forwards and two steps +backwards and still remain in the pace of the others. + +When they came to Chillon, (the old sombre castle on the rocky island) +they entered in order to see the dungeon and the martyr's stake, as +well as the rusty chains on the wall; the stone bed for those +condemned to death and the trap-door where the wretched beings impaled +on iron goads, were hurled into the breakers. It was a place of +execution elevated through Byron's song to the world of poetry. Rudy +was sad, he lent over the broad stone sill of the window, gazed into +the deep blue water and over to the little solitary island with its +three acacias and wished himself there, free from the whole gossiping +society. Babette was remarkably merry, she had been indescribably +amused. The cousin found her perfect. + +"Yes, a perfect jackanapes!" said Rudy; this was the first time, that +he had said something, that did not please her. The Englishman had +presented her with a little book, as a souvenir of Chillon,--Byron's +poem of "The Prisoner of Chillon," in the French language, so that +Babette might read it. + +"The book may be good," said Rudy, "but the finely combed fellow that +gave it to you does not please me!" + +"He looked like a meal-bag, without meal in it!" said the miller and +laughed at his own wit. Rudy laughed and thought that this was very +well said. + + + + +XI. + +THE COUSIN. + + +When Rudy came to the mill, a couple of days afterwards, he found the +young Englishman there. Babette had just cooked some trout for him and +had dressed them with parsley in order to make them appear more +inviting. That was assuredly not necessary. What did the Englishman +want here? Did he come in order to have Babette entertain and wait +upon him? + +Rudy was jealous and that amused Babette; it rejoiced her, to learn +the feelings of his heart, the strong as well as the weak ones. + +Until now love had been a play and she played with Rudy's whole heart; +yet he was her happiness, her life's thought, the noblest one! The +more gloomy he looked, the more her eyes laughed and she would have +liked to kiss the blonde Englishman with his golden whiskers, if she +could have succeeded by so doing, in making Rudy rush away furious. +Then, yes then, she would have known how much he loved her. That was +not right, that was not wise in little Babette; but she was only +nineteen! She did not reflect and still less did she think how her +behaviour towards the young Englishman might be interpreted; for it +was lighter and merrier than was seemly for the honourable and newly +affianced daughter of the miller. + +The mill lay where the highway slopes--under the snow covered rocky +heights--which are called here, in the language of the country +"Diablerets" close to a rapid mountain stream, which was of a greyish +white, like bubbling soap suds. A smaller stream, rushes forth from +the rocks on the other side of the river, passes through an enclosed, +broad rafter-made-gutter and turns the large wheel of the mill. The +gutter was so full of water, that it streamed over and offered a most +slippery way, to one who had the idea of crossing more quickly to the +mill; a young man had this idea--the Englishman. Guided by the light, +which shone from Babette's window, he arrived in the evening, clothed +in white, like a miller's boy; he had not learnt to climb and nearly +tumbled head over heels into the stream, but escaped with wet sleeves +and splashed pantaloons. He reached Babette's window, muddy and wet +through, there he climbed into the old linden tree and imitated the +screech of an owl, for he could not sing like any other bird. Babette +heard it and peeped through the thin curtains, but when she remarked +the white man and recognized him, her little heart fluttered with +alarm, but also with anger. She hastily extinguished the light, +fastened the windows securely and then she let him howl. + +If Rudy was in the mill it would have been dreadful, but Rudy was not +there; no, it was much worse, for he was below. There was loud +conversation, angry words; there might be blows; yes, perhaps murder. + +Babette was terrified; she opened the window, called Rudy's name and +begged him to go; she said she would not suffer him to remain. + +"You will not suffer me to remain," he exclaimed, "then it is a +preconcerted thing! You were expecting other friends, friends better +than myself; shame on you, Babette!" + +"You are detestable," said Babette, "I hate you!" and she wept. "Go! +Go!" + +"I have not deserved this!" said he, and departed. His cheeks burned +like fire, his heart burned like fire. + +Babette threw herself on her bed and wept. + +"So much as I love you, Rudy, how can you believe ill of me!" + +She was angry, very angry, and this was good for her; otherwise she +would have sorrowed deeply; but now she could sleep, and she slept the +strengthening sleep of youth. + + + + +XII. + +THE EVIL POWERS. + + +Rudy forsook Bex and went on his way home, in the fresh, cool air, up +the snow-covered mountain, where the Ice-Maiden ruled. The leafy trees +which lay beneath him, looked like potato vines; fir-trees and bushes +became less frequent; the alpine roses grew in the snow, which lay in +little spots like linen put out to bleach. There stood a blue anemone, +he crushed it with the barrel of his gun. + +Higher up two chamois appeared and Rudy's eyes gained lustre and his +thoughts took a new direction; but he was not near enough to make a +good shot; he ascended still higher, where only stiff grass grows +between the blocks of stone; the chamois were quietly crossing the +snow field; he hurried hastily on; the fog was descending and he +suddenly stood before the steep rocky wall. The rain commenced to +fall. + +He felt a burning thirst; heat in his head, cold in all his limbs; he +grasped his hunting flask, but it was empty; he had not thought of +filling it when he rushed up the hill. He had never been ill, but now +he was so; he was weary and had a desire to throw himself down to +sleep, but everything was streaming with water. He endeavoured to +collect his ideas, but all objects danced before his eyes. Suddenly he +perceived a newly built house leaning against the rocks and in the +doorway stood a young girl. Yes, it appeared to him that it was the +schoolmaster's Annette, whom he had once kissed whilst dancing; but it +was not Annette and yet he had seen her before--perhaps in +Grindelwald, on the evening when he returned from the shooting-festival +at Interlaken. + +"Where do you come from?" asked he. + +"I am at home," said she, "I tend my flock!" + +"Your flock, where do they pasture? Here are only cliffs and snow!" + +"You have a ready answer," said she and laughed; "below there is a +charming meadow! There are my goats! I take good care of them! I lose +none of them, what is mine, remains mine!" + +"You are bold!" said Rudy. + +"So are you!" answered she. + +"Have you any milk? Do give me some, my thirst is intolerable!" + +"I have something better than milk," said she, "and you shall have +it! Travellers came yesterday with their guide, but they forgot a +flask of wine, such as you have never tasted; they will not come for +it, I shall not drink it, so drink you!" + +She brought the wine, poured it in a wooden cup and handed it to Rudy. + +"That is good," said he, "I have never drunk such a warming, such a +fiery wine!" His eyes beamed, a life, a glow came over him; all sorrow +and oppression seemed to die away; gushing, fresh human nature stirred +itself within him. + +"Why this is the schoolmaster's Annette," exclaimed he, "give me a +kiss!" + +"Yes, give me the beautiful ring, which you wear on your finger!" + +"My engagement ring?" + +"Just that one!" said the young girl and pouring wine into the cup, +put it to his lips and he drank. Then the joy of life streamed in his +blood; the whole world seemed to belong to him. "Why torment one's +self? Every thing is made for our enjoyment and happiness! The stream +of life is the stream of joy, and forgetfulness is felicity!" He +looked at the young girl, it was Annette and then again not Annette; +still less, an enchanted phantom, as he had named her, when he met her +near Grindelwald. The girl on the mountain was fresh as the newly +fallen snow, blooming as the alpine rose and light as a kid; and a +human being like Rudy. He wound his arm about her, looked in her +strange clear eyes, yes, only for a second--but was it spiritual life +or was it death which flowed through him? Was he raised on high, or +did he sink into the deep, murderous ice-pit, deeper and ever deeper? +He saw icy walls like bluish green glass, numberless clefts yawned +around, and the water sounded as it dropped, like a chime of bells; +it was pearly, clear and shone in bluish white flames. The Ice-Maiden +gave him a kiss, which made him shiver from head to foot and he gave a +cry of pain. He staggered and fell; it grew dark before his eyes, but +soon all became clear to him again; the evil powers had had their +sport with him. + +The alpine maiden had vanished, the mountain hut had vanished, the +water beat against the bare rocky walls and all around him lay snow. +Rudy wet to the skin, trembled from cold and his ring had disappeared, +his engagement ring, which Babette had given him. He tried to fire off +his rifle which lay near him in the snow but it missed. Humid clouds +lay in the clefts like firm masses of snow and Vertigo watched for her +powerless prey; beneath him in the deep chasm it sounded as if a +block of the rock was rolling down and was endeavouring to crush and +tear up all that met it in its fall. + +In the mill sat Babette and wept; Rudy had not been there for six +days; he who had been so wrong; he who must beg her forgiveness, +because she loved him with her whole heart. + + + + +XIII. + +IN THE MILLER'S HOUSE. + + +"What confusion!" said the parlour-cat to the kitchen-cat. + +"Now all is wrong between Rudy and Babette. She sits and weeps and he +thinks no longer on her, I suppose. + +"I cannot bear it!" said the kitchen-cat. + +"Nor I," said the parlour-cat, "but I shall not worry myself any +longer about it! Babette can take the red-whiskered one for a dear +one, but he has not been here either, since he tried to get on the +roof!" + +Within and without, the evil powers ruled, and Rudy knew this, and +reflected upon what had taken place both around and within him, whilst +upon the mountain. Were those faces, or was all a feverish dream? He +had never known fever or sickness before. Whilst he condemned Babette, +he also condemned himself. He thought of the wild, wicked feelings +which had lately possessed him. Could he confess everything to +Babette? Every thought, which in the hour of temptation might have +become a reality? He had lost her ring and by this loss had she won +him back. Could she confess to him? It seemed as if his heart would +break when he thought of her; so many recollections passed through his +soul. He saw her a lively, laughing, petulant child; many a loving +word, which she had said to him in the fullness of her heart, shot +like a sunbeam through his breast and soon all there was sunshine for +Babette. + +She must be able to confess to him and she should do so. + +He came to the mill, he came to confession; and this commenced with a +kiss, and ended with the fact that Rudy was the sinner; his great +fault was, that he had doubted Babette's fidelity; yes, that was +indeed atrocious in him! Such mistrust, such violence could bring them +both into misfortune! Yes, most surely! Thereupon Babette preached him +a little sermon, which much diverted her and became her charmingly; in +one article Rudy was quite right; the god-mother's relation was a +jackanapes! She should burn the book that he had given her, and not +possess the slightest object which could remind her of him. + +"Now it is all arranged," said the parlour-cat, "Rudy is here again, +they understand each other and that is a great happiness!" + +"Last night," said the kitchen-cat, "I heard the rats say that the +greatest happiness was to eat tallow candles, and to have abundance of +tainted meat. Now who must one believe, the rats or the lovers?" + +"Neither of them," said the parlour-cat, "that is the surest way!" + +The greatest happiness for Rudy and Babette was drawing near; they +were awaiting, so they said, their happiest day, their wedding day. + +But the wedding was not to be in the church of Bex, nor in the +miller's house; the god-mother wished it to be solemnized near her, +and the marriage ceremony was to take place in the beautiful little +church of Montreux. The miller insisted that her desire should be +fulfilled; he alone knew what the god-mother intended for the young +couple; they were to receive a bridal present from her, which was well +worth so slight a concession. The day was appointed. They were to +leave for Villeneuve, in time to arrive at Montreux early in the +morning, and so enable the god-mother's daughters to dress the bride. + +"Then I suppose there will be a wedding here in the house, on the +following day," said the parlour-cat, "otherwise, I would not give a +single mew for the whole thing!" + +"There will be a feast here," said the kitchen-cat, "the ducks are +slain, the pigeons necks wrung, and a whole deer hangs on the wall. My +teeth itch just with looking on! To-morrow the journey commences!" + +Yes, to-morrow! Rudy and Babette sat together for the last time in the +mill. + +Without was the alpine glow; the evening bells pealed; the daughters +of the Sun sang: "What is for the best will take place!" + + + + +XIV. + +THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT. + + +The sun had gone down; the clouds lowered themselves into the Rhone +valley--between the high mountains; the wind blew from the south over +the mountains--an African wind, a Föhn,--which tore the clouds +asunder. When the wind had passed, all was still for an instant; the +parted clouds hung in fantastic forms between the forest-grown +mountains. Over the hastening Rhone, their shapes resembled +sea-monsters of the primeval world, soaring eagles of the air and +leaping frogs of the ditches--they seemed to sink into the rapid +stream and to sail on the river, yet they still floated in the air. +The stream carried away a pine tree, torn up by the roots; and the +water sent whirlpools ahead; this was Vertigo, with her attendants, +and they danced in circles on the foaming stream. The moon shone on +the snow of the mountain-peaks; it lighted up the dark forest and the +singular white clouds; the peasants of the mountain, saw through their +window panes, the nightly apparitions and the spirits of the powers of +nature, as they sailed before the Ice-Maiden. She came from her +glacier castle, she sat in a frail bark, a felled fir-tree; the water +of the glaciers carried her up the stream out to the main sea. + +"The wedding guests are coming!" was whizzed and sung in the air and +in the water. + +Visions without and visions within! + +Babette dreamt a wonderful dream. + +It appeared to her, as though she was married to Rudy, and had been so +for many years. He had gone chamois hunting and as she sat at home, +the young Englishman with the golden whiskers was beside her; his eyes +were fiery, his words seemed endowed with magical power; he reached +her his hand and she was obliged to follow him. + +They flew from home. Steadily downwards. + +A weight lay upon her heart and it grew ever heavier. It was a sin +against Rudy, a sin against God; suddenly she stood forsaken. Her +clothes were torn by the thorns; her hair had grown grey; she looked +up in her sorrow and she saw Rudy on the edge of the rock. She +stretched her arms towards him, but she ventured neither to call, nor +to implore him; but she soon saw that it was not he himself, only his +hunting coat and hat, which were hanging on his alpine staff, as the +hunters are accustomed to place them, in order to deceive the chamois! +Babette moaned in boundless anguish: + +"Ah! would that I had died on my wedding day, my happiest day! Oh! my +heavenly Father! That would have been a mercy, a life's happiness! +Then we would have obtained, the best, that could have happened to us! +No one knows his future!" In her impious sorrow, she threw herself +down the steep precipice. It seemed as if a string broke, and a +sorrowful tone resounded. + +Babette awoke--the dream was at an end and obliterated; but she knew +that she had dreamt of something terrible, and of the young +Englishman, whom she had neither seen, nor thought of, for many +months. Was he perhaps in Montreux? Should she see him at her +wedding? A slight shadow flitted over her delicate mouth, her brow +contracted; but her smile soon returned; her eyes sparkled again; the +sun shone so beautifully without, and to-morrow, yes to-morrow was her +and Rudy's wedding day. + +Rudy had already arrived, when she came down stairs, and they soon +left for Villeneuve. They were so happy, the two, and the miller also; +he laughed and was radiant with joy; he was a good father, an honest +soul. + +"Now we are the masters of the house!" said the parlour-cat. + + + + +XV. + +CONCLUSION. + + +It was not yet night, when the three joyous people reached Villeneuve +and took their dinner. The miller seated himself in an arm-chair with +his pipe and took a little nap. The betrothed went out of the town arm +in arm, out on the carriage way, under the bush-grown rocks, to the +deep bluish-green lake. Sombre Chillon, with its grey walls and heavy +towers, mirrored itself in the clear water; but still nearer lay the +little island, with its three acacias, and it looked like a bouquet on +the lake. + +"How charming it must be there!" said Babette; she felt again the +greatest desire to visit it, and this wish could be immediately +fulfilled; for a boat lay on the shore and the rope which fastened it, +was easy to untie. As no one was visible, from whom they could ask +permission, they took the boat without hesitation, for Rudy could row +well. The oars skimmed like the fins of a fish, over the pliant water, +which is so yielding and still so strong; which is all back to carry, +but all mouth to engulph; which smiles--yes, is gentleness itself, and +still awakens terror--and is so powerful in destroying. The rapid +current soon brought the boat to the island; they stepped on land. +There was just room enough for the two to dance. + +Rudy swung Babette three times around, and then they seated themselves +on the little bench, under the acacias, looked into each other's eyes, +held each other by the hand, and everything around them shone in the +splendour of the setting sun. The forests of fir-trees on the +mountains became of a pinkish lilac aspect, the colour of blooming +heath, and where the bare rocks were apparent, they glowed as if they +were transparent. The clouds in the sky were radiant with a red glow; +the whole lake was like a fresh flaming rose leaf. As the shadows +arose to the snow-covered mountains of Savoy, they became dark blue, +but the uppermost peak seemed like red lava and pointed out for a +moment, the whole range of mountains, whose masses arose glowing from +the bosom of the earth. + +It seemed to Rudy and Babette, that they had never seen such an alpine +glow. The snow-covered Dent-du-Midi, had a lustre like the full moon, +when it rises to the horizon. + +"So much beauty, so much happiness!" they both said. + +"Earth can give me no more," said Rudy, "an evening hour like this is +a whole life! How often have I felt as now, and thought that if +everything should end suddenly, how happily have I lived! How blessed +is this world! The day ended, a new one dawned and I felt that it was +still more beautiful! How bountiful is our Lord, Babette!" + +"I am so happy!" said she. + +"Earth can give me no more!" exclaimed Rudy. + +The evening bells resounded from the Savoy and Swiss mountains; the +bluish-black Jura arose in golden splendour towards the west. + +"God give you that which is most excellent and best, Rudy!" said +Babette. + +"He will do that," answered Rudy, "to-morrow I shall have it! +To-morrow you will be entirely mine! Mine own, little, lovely wife!" + +"The boat!" cried Babette at the same moment. + +The boat, which was to convey them back, had broken loose and was +sailing from the island. + +"I will go for it!" said Rudy. He threw off his coat, drew off his +boots, sprang in the lake and swam towards the boat. + +The clear, bluish-grey water of the ice mountains, was cold and deep. +Rudy gave but a single glance and it seemed as though he saw a gold +ring, rolling, shining and sporting--he thought on his lost engagement +ring--and the ring grew larger, widened into a sparkling circle and +within it shone the clear glacier; all about yawned endless deep +chasms; the water dropped and sounded like a chime of bells, and shone +with bluish-white flames. He saw in a second, what we must say in many +long words. Young hunters and young girls, men and women, who had +once perished in the glacier, stood there living, with open eyes and +smiling mouth; deep below them chimed from buried towns the peal of +church bells; under the arches of the churches knelt the congregation; +pieces of ice formed the organ pipes, and the mountain stream played +the organ. On the clear transparent ground sat the Ice-Maiden; she +raised herself towards Rudy, kissed his feet, and the coldness of +death ran through his limbs and gave him an electric shock--ice and +fire. He could not perceive the difference. + +"Mine, mine!" sounded around him and within him. + +"I kissed you, when you were young, kissed you on your mouth! Now I +kiss your feet, you are entirely mine!" + +He vanished in the clear blue water. + +Everything was still; the church bells stopped ringing; the last tones +died away with the splendour of the red clouds. + +"You are mine!" sounded in the deep. "You are mine!" sounded from on +high, from the infinite. + +How happy to fly from love to love, from earth to heaven! + +A string broke, a cry of grief was heard, the icy kiss of death +conquered; the prelude ended; so that the drama of life might +commence, discord melted into harmony.-- + +Do you call this a sad story? + +Poor Babette! For her it was a period of anguish. + +The boat drifted farther and farther. No one on shore knew that the +lovers were on the island. The evening darkened, the clouds lowered +themselves; night came. She stood there, solitary, despairing, +moaning. A flash of lightning passed over the Jura mountains, over +Switzerland and over Savoy. From all sides flash upon flash of +lightning, clap upon clap of thunder, which rolled continuously many +minutes. At times the lightning was vivid as sunshine, and you could +distinguish the grape vines; then all became black again in the dark +night. The lightning formed knots, ties, zigzags, complicated figures; +it struck in the lake, so that it lit it up on all sides; whilst the +noise of the thunder was made louder by the echo. The boat was drawn +on shore; all living objects sought shelter. Now the rain streamed +down. + +"Where can Rudy and Babette be in this frightful weather!" said the +miller. + +Babette sat with folded hands, with her head in her lap, mute with +sorrow, with screaming and bewailing. + +"In the deep water," said she to herself, "he is as far down as the +glaciers!" + +She remembered what Rudy had related to her of his mother's death, of +his preservation, and how he was withdrawn death-like, from the clefts +of the glacier. "The Ice-Maiden has him again!" + +There was a flash of lightning, as dazzling as the sunlight on the +white snow. Babette started up; at this instant, the sea rose like a +glittering glacier; there stood the Ice-Maiden majestic, pale, blue, +shining, and at her feet lay Rudy's corpse. "Mine!" said she, and then +all around was fog and night and streaming water. + +"Cruel!" moaned Babette, "why must he die, now that the day of our +happiness approached. God! Enlighten my understanding! Enlighten my +heart! I do not understand thy ways! Notwithstanding all thy +omnipotence and wisdom, I still grope in the darkness." + +God enlightened her heart. A thought like a ray of mercy, her last +night's dream in all its vividness flashed through her; she remembered +the words which she had spoken: "the wish for the best for herself and +Rudy." + +"Woe is me! Was that the sinful seed in my heart? Did my dream +foretell my future life? Is all this misery for my salvation? Me, +miserable one!" + +Lamenting, sat she in the dark night. In the solemn stillness, sounded +Rudy's last words; the last ones he had uttered: "Earth has no more +happiness to give me!" She had heard it in the fullness of her joy, +she heard it again in all the depths of her sorrow. + + * * * * * + +A couple of years have passed since then. The lake smiles, the coast +smiles; the vine branches are filled with ripe grapes; the steamboats +glide along with waving flags and the pleasure boats float over the +watery mirror, with their two expanded sails like white butterflies. +The railroad to Chillon is opened; it leads into the Rhone valley; +strangers alight at every station; they arrive with their red covered +guide books and read of remarkable sights which are to be seen. They +visit Chillon, they stand upon the little island, with its three +acacias--out on the lake--and they read in the book about the +betrothed ones, who sailed over one evening in the year 1856;--of the +death of the bridegroom, and: "it was not till the next morning, that +the despairing shrieks of the bride were heard on the coast!" + +The book does not tell, however, of Babette's quiet life with her +father; not in the mill, where strangers now dwell, but in the +beautiful house, near the railway station. There she looks from the +window many an evening and gazes over the chestnut trees, upon the +snow mountains, where Rudy once climbed. She sees in the evening hours +the alpine glow--the children of the Sun encamp themselves above, and +repeat the song of the wanderer, whose mantle the whirlwind tore off, +and carried away: "it took the covering but not the man." + +There is a rosy hue on the snow of the mountains; there is a rosy hue +in every heart, where the thought dwells, that: "God always gives us +that which is best for us!" but it is not always revealed to us, as it +once happened to Babette in her dream. + + + + +The Butterfly. + + +The butterfly wished to procure a bride for himself--of course, one of +the flowers--a pretty little one. He looked about him. Each one sat +quietly and thoughtfully on her stalk, as a young maiden should sit, +when she is not affianced; but there were many of them, and it was a +difficult matter to choose amongst them. The butterfly could not make +up his mind; so he flew to the daisy. The French call her +_Marguerite_; they know that she can tell fortunes, and she does this +when lovers pluck off leaf after leaf and ask her at each one a +question about the beloved one: "How does he love me?--With all his +heart?--With sorrow?--Above all?--Can not refrain from it?--Quite +secretly?--A little bit?--Not at all?"--or questions to the same +import. Each one asks in his own language. The butterfly flew towards +her and questioned her; he did not pluck off the leaves, but kissed +each separate one, thinking that by so doing, he would make himself +more agreeable to the good creature. + +"Sweet Margaret Daisy," said he, "of all the flowers you are the +wisest woman! You can prophesy! Tell me, shall I obtain this one or +that one? Which one? If I but know this, I can fly to the charming one +at once, and pay my court!" + +Margaret did not answer. She could not bear to be called a _woman_, +for she was a young girl, and when one is a young girl, one is not a +woman. + +He asked again, he asked a third time, but as she did not answer a +single word, he questioned her no more and flew away without further +parley, intent on his courtship. + +It was early spring time, and there was an abundance of snow-drops and +crocuses. "They are very neat," said the butterfly, "pretty little +confirmed ones, but a little green!" He, like all young men looked at +older girls. + +From thence he flew to the anemones; but he found them a little too +sentimental; the tulips, too showy; the broom, not of a good family; +the linden blossoms, too small--then they had so many relations; as to +the apple blossoms, why to look at them you would think them as +healthy as roses, but to-day they blossom and to-morrow, if the wind +blows, they drop off; a marriage with them would be too short. The pea +blossom pleased him most, she was pink and white, she was pure and +refined and belonged to the housewifely girls that look well, and +still can make themselves useful in the kitchen. He had almost +concluded to make love to her, when he saw hanging near to her, a +pea-pod with its white blossom. "Who is that?" asked he. "That is my +sister," said the pea blossom. + +"How now, is that the way you look when older?" This terrified the +butterfly and he flew away. + +The honeysuckles were hanging over the fence--young ladies with long +faces and yellow skins--but he did not fancy their style of beauty. +Yes, but which did he like? Ask him! + +The spring passed, the summer passed, and then came the autumn. The +flowers appeared in their most beautiful dresses, but of what avail +was this? The butterfly's fresh youthful feelings had vanished. In +old age, the heart longs for fragrance, and dahlias and gillyflowers +are scentless. So the butterfly flew to the mint. "She has no flower +at all, but she is herself a flower, for she is fragrant from head to +foot and each leaf is filled with perfume. I shall take her!" + +But the mint stood stiff and still, and at last said: "Friendship--but +nothing more! I am old and you are old! We can live very well for one +another, but to marry? No! Do not let us make fools of ourselves in +our old age." + +So the butterfly obtained no one. + +The butterfly remained a bachelor. + +Many violent and transient showers came late in the autumn; the wind +blew so coldly down the back of the old willow trees, that it cracked +within them. It did not do to fly about in summer garments, for even +love itself would then grow cold. The butterfly however preferred not +to fly out at all; he had by chance entered a door-way, and there was +fire in the stove--yes, it was just as warm there, as in +summer-time;--there he could live. "Life is not enough," said he, "one +must have sunshine, liberty and a little flower!" + +He flew against the window-panes, was seen, was run through by a pin +and placed in a curiosity-box; one could not do more for him. + +"Now I also am seated on a stalk like a flower," said the butterfly, +"it is not so comfortable after all! But it is as well as being +married, for then one is tied down!" He consoled himself with this. + +"What a wretched consolation!" said the flower, that grew in the pot +in the room. + +"One can not entirely trust to flowers that grow in pots," thought +the butterfly, "they have too much intercourse with men." + + + + +The Psyche. + + +A large star beams in the dawn of morning in the red sky--the +clearest star of the morning--its rays tremble upon the white wall, as +if they wished to write down and relate, the scenes which they had +witnessed during many centuries. + +Listen to one of these stories! + +A short time ago--(this _not long ago_ is with us men--centuries)--my +rays followed a young artist; it was in the realm of the Pope, in the +city of the world, in Rome. Many changes have been made, but the +imperial palace, was, as it is to-day, a ruin; between the overthrown +marble columns and over the ruined bath-rooms, whose walls were still +decorated with gold, grew fig and laurel trees. The Colosseum was a +ruin; the church bells rang, the incense arose and processions passed +through the streets with tapers and gorgeous canopies. The Church was +holy, and art was lofty and holy also. In Rome dwelt Raphael, the +greatest painter of the world, here also dwelt Michael Angelo, the +greatest sculptor of the age; even the Pope did homage to them both, +and honoured them with his visits. Art was recognized, honoured and +rewarded. All greatness and excellence is not seen and recognized. + +In a little narrow street, stood an old house, which had once been a +temple; here dwelt a young artist; he was poor, he was unknown; it is +true that he had young friends, artists also, young in feelings, in +hopes, and in thoughts. They told him, that he was rich in talents +and excellence but that he needed confidence in himself. He was never +satisfied with his work and either destroyed all that he modeled or +left it unfinished; this is not the proper course to adopt, if one +would be known, appreciated and live. + +"You are a dreamer," said they, "this is your misfortune! You have not +yet lived, you have not inhaled life in large healthy draughts, you +have not yet enjoyed it. One should do this in youth and become a man! +Look at the great master Raphael whom the Pope honours and the world +admires,--he takes wine and bread with him." + +"He dines with the baker's wife, the pretty Fornarina!" said Angelo, +one of the merry young friends. + +Yes, they all appealed to his good sense and to his youth. + +They wished to have the young artist join them in their merry-makings, +in their extravagances and in their mad tricks; he would do so for a +short time, for his blood was warm, his imagination strong; he could +take his part in their merry conversation, and laugh as loudly as the +others; and yet "the merry life of Raphael," as they named it, +vanished from him like the morning mist, when he saw the godlike +lustre which shone forth from the paintings of the great masters, or +when he stood in the Vatican and beheld the forms of beauty, which the +old sculptors had fashioned from blocks of marble, centuries ago. His +breast swelled, he felt something so lofty, so holy, so elevated +within him, yes, something so great and good, that he longed to create +and chisel like forms from marble blocks. He desired to give +expression to the feelings which agitated his heart; but how and in +what shape? The soft clay allowed itself to be modeled into beautiful +figures by his fingers, but on the following day, dissatisfied, he +destroyed all he had created. + +One day he passed by one of the rich palaces, of which Rome has so +many; he stood a moment at the large open entrance, and gazed into a +little garden, full of the most beautiful roses, which was surrounded +by archways, decorated with paintings. Large, white callas, with their +green leaves, sprouted forth from marble shells, into which splashed +clear water; a form glided by, a young girl, the daughter of this +princely house, so elegant, so light, so charming! He had never seen +so lovely a woman. Hold! yes, once, one made by Raphael, a painting of +Psyche, in one of the palaces of Rome. There she was but painted, +here she breathed and moved. + +She lived in his thoughts and in his heart; he went home to his poor +lodgings and formed a Psyche out of clay; it was the rich, young Roman +girl, the princely woman, and he gazed at his work with satisfaction, +for the first time. This had a signification--it was _She_. When his +friends looked upon it, they exclaimed with joy, that this work was a +revelation of his artistic greatness, which they had always +recognized, but which now should be recognized by the whole world. + +Clay is natural, flesh like, but it has not the whiteness, the +durability of marble; the Psyche must obtain life from the block of +marble--and he had the most precious piece of marble. It had been the +property of his parents, and had been lying many years, in the court +yard; bits of broken bottles, remains of artichokes were heaped over +it and it was soiled, but its interior was white as the mountain snow; +the Psyche should rise forth from it. + +One day, it so happened--it is true, that the clear stars do not +relate it, for they did not see it, but we know it--that a +distinguished Roman party, came to view the young artist's work, of +which they had casually heard. Who were the distinguished visitors? +Poor young man! All too happy young man, one may call him also. Here +in his room stood the young girl herself--with what a smile--when her +father said: "You are that, living!" One cannot picture the look, one +cannot render the look, the strange look with which she glanced at the +young artist; it was a look which elevated, ennobled and--destroyed. + +"The Psyche must be executed in marble!" said the rich man. This was a +word of life, for the dead clay and for the heavy block of marble; it +was also a word of life for the young man who was overcome by emotion. +"I will buy it, as soon as the work is completed!" said the princely +man. + +It seemed as though a new era had dawned in the poor work-room; +occupation, life and gayety, lighted it up. The beaming morning star +saw how the work progressed. Even the clay had been endowed with a +soul, since _she_ had been there, and he bent entranced over the well +known features. + +"Now I know what life is," he exclaimed with delight, "it is love! it +is the elevation of the heart to the divine, it is rapture for the +beautiful! What my friends call life and enjoyment, is perishable, +like bubbles in the fermenting lees, not the pure, heavenly wine of +the altar, the consecration of life!" + +The marble block was erected, the chisel hewed away large pieces; the +labourer's part was done, marks and points placed, until little by +little, the stone became a body, a shape of beauty--the Psyche--as +charming as was the woman made by God. The massive stone became a +soaring, dancing, airy, light and graceful Psyche, with a heavenly, +innocent smile, the smile that had been mirrored in the young +sculptor's heart. + +The star, in the rosy-tinted morning saw, and partly understood what +was agitating the mind of the young man; it understood as well, the +varying colour of his checks and the glance of his eye, whilst he +created, as though inspired by God. + +"You are a master like those in the days of the Greeks," said his +enchanted friends, "the world will soon admire your Psyche!" + +"My Psyche," he repeated, "mine, yes, that she must be! I am also an +artist like the great departed ones! God has granted gifts of mercy to +me, and has elevated me to the highly born!" + +He sank, weeping, on his knees and offered up his thanks to God--but +forgot him again for her, for her portrait in marble, for the Psyche +form, that stood before him, as though cut out of snow, blushing, in +the morning sun. + +He should see her, the living, floating one, in reality; she, whose +words sounded like music. He would himself carry the tidings, that the +marble Psyche was completed, to the rich palace. He arrived, passed +through the open court-yard, where the water splashed from dolphin's +mouths into marble shells, where callas bloomed and fresh roses +blossomed. He stepped into the large, lofty hall, whose walls and +ceilings were gorgeous with brilliant colours, with paintings and +armorial bearings. Well dressed and haughty servants, holding up their +heads, (like sleigh horses with their bells,) were pacing up and down; +some of them had even stretched themselves out comfortably and +insolently on the carved wooden benches; they appeared to be the +masters of the house. He named his business, and was conducted up the +marble steps, which were covered with soft carpets. On each side stood +statues. Then he came to richly decorated apartments, hung with +paintings and with mosaic floors. + +This pomp, this splendour made him breathe a little heavily, but he +soon felt reassured; for the old prince, received him kindly, almost +cordially. After they had spoken, as he was taking leave, he begged +him to visit the young Signora, for she also wished to see him. The +servants led him through magnificent chambers and corridors to her +apartments, of which she was the glory and splendour. + +She spoke with him! No Miserere, no church song could have melted the +heart more, or have more elevated the soul, than did the music of her +voice. He seized her hand and pressed it to his lips--no rose is so +soft, but a fire proceeds from this rose--a fire streams through him +and his breast heaves; words streamed from his lips, but he knew not +what he said. Does the crater know that it throws forth burning lava? +He told her his love. She stood there, surprised, insulted, proud, +yes, scornful; with an expression on her face as though a damp, +clammy frog had suddenly touched her. Her cheeks coloured, her lips +grew pale, her eyes were on fire, and still black as the darkness of +night. + +"Frantic creature! Away, away!" said she, as she turned her back upon +him. Her face of beauty seemed turned to stone, like unto the Medusa's +head with its serpent locks. He descended to the street, a weak, +lifeless thing; he entered his room like a night-walker, and in the +rage of his grief, he seized his hammer, brandished it high in the air +and sought to destroy the beautiful marble form. He did not +observe--so excited was he--that Angelo, his friend, stood near him, +and arrested his arm with a firm grasp. + +"Have you become mad? What would you do?" They struggled with each +other. Angelo was the stronger, and with a deep drawn breath, he +threw the young artist on a chair. + +"What has occurred?" asked Angelo, "Collect yourself! Speak!" + +What could he say? What could he tell? As Angelo could not seize the +thread of his discourse, he let it drop. + +"Your blood grows thick with this eternal dreaming! Be human, like +others and live not in the clouds! Drink, until you become slightly +intoxicated, then you will sleep well! The young girl from the +Campagna, is as beautiful as the princess in the marble palace, they +are both daughters of Eve, and can not be distinguished one from the +other in Paradise! Follow your Angelo! I am your good angel, the angel +of your life! A time will come when you are old, when the body will +dwindle and some beautiful sunshiny day, when everything laughs and +rejoices, you will lie like a withered straw! I do not believe what +the priests say, that there is a life beyond the grave! It is a pretty +fancy, a fairy tale for children, delightful to think upon. I do not +live in imagination, but in reality! Come with me! Become a man!" + +He drew him away, he could do this now, for there was a fire in the +young artist's blood, a change in his soul; an ardent desire to tear +himself away from all his wonted ways, from all accustomed thoughts; +to forget his old self--and to-day he followed Angelo. + +In the suburbs, lay an osteria, which was much frequented by artists; +it was built in the ruins of a bathing chamber. Amongst the dark +shining foliage, hung large yellow lemons which covered a portion of +the old reddish-yellow wall. The osteria was a deep vault, almost +like a hollow in the ruins; within, a lamp burned before the image of +the Madonna; a large fire flamed on the hearth, for here they roasted, +cooked and prepared the dishes for the guests. Without, under the +lemon and laurel trees, stood tables ready set. + +They were received merrily and rejoicingly by their friends; they ate +little and drank much and became gay; they sang, and played on the +guitar; the Saltarello sounded and the dance began. Two Roman girls, +models of the young artists, joined in the dance and merriment; two +pretty Bacchante! They had no Psyche forms, they were not delicate +beautiful roses, but fresh, healthy flaming pinks. + +How warm it was on this day, even warm at sundown! Fire in the blood, +fire in the air, fire in every glance. The air swam in gold and +roses, life was gold and roses. + +"Now you have at last joined us! Allow yourself to be carried away by +the current within and without you!" + +"I never felt so well and joyous before!" said the young artist. "You +are right, you are all of you right. I was a fool, a dreamer; man +belongs to reality and not to fancy!" + +The young man left the osteria, in the clear starry evening, with song +and tinkling guitars, and passed through the narrow streets. The +daughters of the Campagna, the two flaming pinks, were in their train. + +In Angelo's room, the voices sounded more suppressed but not less +fiery, amongst the scattered sketches, the outlines, the glowing, +voluptuous paintings; amongst the drawings on the floor there was many +a sketch of vigorous beauty, like unto the daughters of the Campagna, +yet they themselves were much more beautiful. The six-armed lamp +glowed brightly, and the human forms warmed and shone like gods. + +"Apollo! Jupiter! I elevate myself to your heaven, to your glory! +Methinks, that the flower of my life has unfolded within my heart!" +Yes, it did unfold--it withered and fell to pieces; a stunning, +loathsome vapour arose, dazzling the sight, benumbing the thoughts, +extinguishing his sensual, fiery emotions, and all was dark. He went +home, sat down on his bed, and thought. "Fie!" sounded from his lips, +from the bottom of his heart. "Miserable wretch! away! away!"--and he +sighed sorrowfully. + +"Away! Away!" These, her words, the words of the living Psyche, +weighed upon him, and flowed from his lips. He bowed his head upon +the pillows, his thoughts became confused and he slept. + +At the dawn of day he started up.--What was this? Was it a dream? Were +her words, the visit to the osteria, the evening with the purple red +pinks of the Campagna but a dream?--No, all was reality; he had not +known this before. + +The clear star beamed in the purple-tinted air, its rays fell upon +him, and upon the marble Psyche; he trembled whilst he contemplated +the image of immortality, his glance even appeared impure to him. He +threw a covering over it, he touched it once more in order to veil its +form, but he could not view his work. + +Still, sombre, buried in his own meditations, he sat there the whole +day; he took no heed of what passed around him, no one knew what was +agitating this human heart. Days passed by, weeks passed by; the +nights were the longest. One morning, the twinkling star saw him rise +from his couch--pale--trembling with fever; he walked to the marble +statue, lifted the cover, gazed upon his work with a sorrowful, deep, +long look, and then almost sinking under the weight, he drew the +statue into the garden. There was a sunken, dried-up well, within it, +into which he lowered the Psyche, threw earth upon it and covered the +fresh grave with small sticks and nettles. + +"Away! Away," was the short funereal service. + +The star in the rosy red atmosphere saw this, and two heavy tears +trembled on the deathly pale cheeks of the fever sick one--sick unto +death, as they called him. + +The lay brother Ignatius came to him as a friend and as a physician. +He came, and with the consoling words of religion, he spoke of the +peace and happiness of the church, of the sins of man, of the mercy +and peace of God. + +The words fell like warm sun beams on the moist, fermenting ground; +they dispersed and cleared away the misty clouds, from the troubled +thoughts which had held possession of him; he gazed upon his past +life; everything had been a failure, a deception--yes, _had been_. Art +was an enchantress, that but leads us into vanity, into earthly +pleasures. We become false to ourselves, false to our friends, false +to our God. The serpent speaks ever in us: "Taste and thou shalt +become like unto God." + +Now, for the first time, he appeared to understand himself, to have +discovered the road to truth, to peace. + +In the church was God's light and brightness, in the monk's cell was +found that peace, which enables man to obtain eternal bliss. + +Brother Ignatius supported him in these thoughts, and the decision was +firmly made--a worldling became a servant of the church;--the young +artist took leave of the world, and entered the cloister. + +How joyfully, how cordially the brothers greeted him! How festive the +ordination! It seemed to him that God was in the sunshine of the +church, and beamed within it, from the holy pictures and from the +shining cross. He stood in the evening sunset, in his little cell, and +opened his window and gazed in the spring-time over old Rome--with her +broken temples, her massive, but dead Colosseum; her blooming acacias, +her flourishing evergreens, her fragrant roses, her shining lemons +and oranges, her palm trees fanned by the breeze--and felt touched and +satisfied. The quiet, open Campagna extended to the blue snow-topped +mountains, which appeared to be painted on the air. Everything +breathed beauty and peace. The whole--a dream! + +Yes, the world here was a dream, and the dream ruled the hours and +returned to hours again. But the life of a cloister is a life of many, +many long years. + +Man is naturally impure and he felt this! What flames were these, that +at times glowed through him? Was it the power of the Evil One, that +caused these wild thoughts to rage constantly within him? He punished +his body, but without effect. What portion of his mind was that, which +wound itself around him, pliable as a serpent, and which crept about +his conscience under a loving cloak and consoled him! The saints pray +for us, the holy Virgin prays for us, Jesus himself gave his blood for +us! + +Was it a childlike feeling, or the levity of youth, that had induced +him to give himself up to grace, and which made him feel elevated +above so many? For had he not cast away the vanity of the world, was +he not a son of the church? + +One day, after many years, he met Angelo, who recognized him. + +"Man," said he, "yes, it is you! Are you happy now? You have sinned +against God, and cast his gifts of mercy away from you; you have +gambled away your vocation for this world. Read the parable of the +entrusted pledge. The Master who related it, spoke but truth! What +have you won and found after all? Do not make a dream life for +yourself! Make a religion for yourself, as all do. Suppose all is but +a dream, a fancy, a beautiful thought!" + +"Get thee from behind me, Satan!" said the monk, and forsook Angelo. + +"It is a devil, a devil personified! I saw him to-day," murmured the +monk, "I reached him but a finger, and he took my whole hand! No," +sighed he, "the wickedness is in myself; it is also in this man, but +he is not tormented by it; he walks with elevated brow, he has his +enjoyment; I but clutch at the consolation of the church for my +welfare! But if this is only consolation! If all here consists of +beautiful thoughts and but resemble those which beguiled me in the +world? Is it but a deception like unto the beauty of the red evening +clouds and like unto the blue wave-like beauty of the distant +mountains! Seen near, how changed! Eternity, art thou like unto the +great infinite, calm ocean, which beckons to us, calls us, fills us +with presentiments, and if we venture upon it, we sink, we +vanish--die--cease to be?-- + +"Deceit! away! away!" + +He sat tearless on his hard couch, desolate, kneeling--before whom? +Before the stone cross which was placed in the wall? No, habit alone +caused his body to bend. + +The deeper he read within himself, the darker all appeared to him. +"Nothing within, nothing without! Life thrown away!" This thought, +crushed him--expunged him. + +"I dare confide to none the doubts which consume me! My prisoner is my +secret and if it escape I am lost!" + +The power of God, wrestled within him. + +"Lord! Lord!" he exclaimed in his despair, "be merciful, give me +faith! I cast thy gifts of mercy from me and my vocation for this +world! I prayed for strength and thou hast not given it to me. +Immortality! The Psyche in my breast--away! away!--Must it be buried +like yon Psyche, the light of my life? Never to arise from the grave!" + +The star beamed in the rosy red atmosphere, the star which will be +lost and will vanish, whilst the soul lives and emits light. Its +trembling ray fell upon the white wall, but it spoke not of the glory +of God, of the grace, the eternal love which beams in the breast of +every believer. + +"Can the Psyche never die?--Can one live with consciousness?--Can the +impossible take place?--Yes! Yes! My being is inexplicable. +Inconceivable art thou, oh Lord! A wonder of might, glory and love!" + +His eyes beamed, his eyes closed. The peal of the church bells passed +over the dead one. He was laid in holy ground and his ashes mingled +with the dust of strangers. + +Years afterwards, his bones were exhumed and stood in a niche in the +cloisters, as had stood those of the dead monks before him; they were +dressed in the brown cowl, a rosary of beads placed in his hand, the +sun shone without, incense perfumed within, and mass was read.-- + +Years rolled by. + +The bones and legs fell asunder. They stood up the skulls, and with +them, formed the whole outside wall of a church. There he stood in the +burning sunshine; there were so many, many dead, they did not know +their names, much less his. + +See, something living moved in the sunshine in the two eye sockets; +what was that? A brilliant lizard was running about in the hollow +skull, slipping in and out of the large, empty sockets. This was now +the life in the head, where once elevated thoughts, brilliant dreams, +love for art and the magnificent had been rife; from which hot tears +had rolled and where the hope of immortality had lived. The lizard +leaped out and disappeared; the skull crumbled away and became dust to +dust.-- + +Centuries passed. Unchanged, the star, clear and large, beamed on as +it had done for centuries. The atmosphere shone with a red rosy hue, +fresh as roses, flaming as blood. + +Where there had once been a little street with the remains of an old +temple, now stood a convent; a grave was dug in the garden, for a +young nun had died, and she was to be lowered in the earth at this +early hour of the morning. The spade struck against a stone which +appeared of a dazzling whiteness--the white marble came forth--it +rounded into a shoulder;--they used the spade with care, and a female +head became visible--butterfly wings. They raised from the grave, in +which the young nun was to be laid on this rosy morning, a gloriously +beautiful Psyche-form, chiseled from white marble. + +"How magnificent! How perfect a master work!" they said. "Who can the +artist be?" He was unknown. None knew him, save the clear star, which +had been beaming for centuries; it knew the course of his earthly +life, his trials, his failings; it knew that he was: "but a man!" But +he was dead, dispersed as dust must and shall be; but the result of +his best efforts, the glory which pointed out the divine within him, +the Psyche, which never dies, which surpasses in brightness, all +earthly renown, this remained, was seen, acknowledged, admired and +beloved. + +The clear morning star in the rosy tinted sky, cast its most radiant +beams upon the Psyche, and upon the smile of happiness about the mouth +and eyes of the admiring ones, who beheld the soul, chiseled in the +marble block. + +That which is earthly passes away, and is forgotten; only the star in +the infinite knows of it. That which is heavenly surpasses renown; for +renown, fame and earthly glory die away, but--the Psyche lives +forever! + + + + +The Snail and the Rose-Tree. + + +A hedge of hazel-nut bushes encircled the garden; without was field +and meadow, with cows and sheep; but in the centre of the garden stood +a rose-tree, and under it sat a snail--she had much within her, she +had herself. + +"Wait, until my time comes," said she, "I shall accomplish something +more than putting forth roses, bearing nuts, or giving milk, like the +cows and sheep!" + +"I expect something fearfully grand," said the rose-tree, "may I ask +when it will take place?" + +"I shall take my time," said the snail, "you are in too great a hurry, +and when this is the case, how can one's expectations be fulfilled?" + +The next year the snail lay in about the same spot under the +rose-tree, which put forth buds and developed roses, ever fresh, ever +new. The snail half crept forth, stretched out its feelers and drew +itself in again. + +"Everything looks as it did a year ago! No progress has been made; the +rose-tree still bears roses; it does not get along any farther!" + +The summer faded away, the autumn passed, the rose-tree constantly +bore flowers and buds, until the snow fell, and the weather was raw +and damp. The rose-tree bent itself towards the earth, the snail crept +in the earth. + +A new year commenced; the roses came out, and the snail came out. + +"Now you are an old rose bush," said the snail, "you will soon die +away. You have given the world everything that you had in you; whether +that be much or little is a question, upon which I have not time to +reflect. But it is quite evident, that you have not done the slightest +thing towards your inward developement; otherwise I suppose that +something different would have sprung from you. Can you answer this? +You will soon be nothing but a stick! Can you understand what I say?" + +"You startle me," said the rose-tree, "I have never thought upon +that!" + +"No, I suppose that you have never meddled much with thinking! Can you +tell me why you blossom? And how it comes to pass? How? Why?" + +"No," said the rose-tree, "I blossom with pleasure because I could +not do otherwise. The sun was so warm, the air so refreshing, I drank +the clear dew and the fortifying rain; I breathed, I lived! A strength +came to me from the earth, a strength came from above, I felt a +happiness, ever new, ever great and therefore I must blossom ever, +that was my life, I could not do otherwise!" + +"You have led a very easy life!" said the snail. + +"Certainly, everything has been given to me," said the rose-tree, "but +still more has been given to you. You are one of those meditative, +pensive, profound natures, one of the highly gifted, that astound the +whole world!" + +"I have assuredly no such thought in my mind," said the snail, "the +world is nothing to me! What have I to do with the world? I have +enough with myself, and enough in myself!" + +"But should we not all, here on earth, give the best part of us to +others? Offer what we can!--It is true, that I have only given +roses--but you? You who have received so much, what have you given to +the world? What do you give her?" + +"What I have given? What I give? I spit upon her! She is good for +nothing! I have nought to do with her. Put forth roses, you can do no +more! Let the hazel bushes bear nuts! Let the cows and sheep give +milk; they have each their public, I have mine within myself! I retire +within myself, and there I remain. The world is nothing to me!" + +And thereupon the snail withdrew into her house and closed it. + +"That is so sad," said the rose-tree, "with the best will, I cannot +creep in, I must ever spring out, spring forth in roses. The leaves +drop off and are blown away by the wind. Yet, I saw one of the roses +laid in the hymn-book of the mother of the family; one of my roses was +placed upon the breast of a charming young girl, and one was kissed +with joy by a child's mouth. This did me so much good, it was a real +blessing! That is my recollection, my life!" + +And the rose-tree flowered in innocence, and the snail sat +indifferently in her house. The world was nothing to her. + +And years passed away. The snail became earth to earth and the +rose-tree became earth to earth; the remembrances in the hymn-book +were also blown away--but new rose-trees bloomed in the garden, new +snails grew in the garden; they crept in their houses and spat.--The +world is nothing to them. + +Shall we read the story of the past again? It will not be different. + + * * * * * + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 104: succeded replaced with succeeded | + | Page 116: petulent replaced with petulant | + | Page 144: prefered replaced with preferred | + | Page 167: 'were' capitalized to 'Were' (new sentence) | + | Page 170: ordonation replaced with ordination | + | Page 174: beckens replaced with beckons | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales, by +Hans Christian Andersen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ICE-MAIDEN: AND OTHER TALES. *** + +***** This file should be named 18604-8.txt or 18604-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/0/18604/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right; color: silver; background-color: inherit;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales, by +Hans Christian Andersen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales. + +Author: Hans Christian Andersen + +Translator: Fanny Fuller + +Release Date: June 16, 2006 [EBook #18604] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ICE-MAIDEN: AND OTHER TALES. *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation matches the original document.</p> +<p class="noin">A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text.<br /> +For a complete list, please see the <a href="#TN">bottom of this document</a>.</p> +<p class="noin">Chapter links for The Ice-Maiden were added for the convenience of the reader.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE<br /> +ICE-MAIDEN:<br /> +AND OTHER TALES.</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>TRANSLATED<br /> +BY<br /> +FANNY FULLER</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>PHILADELPHIA: F. LEYPOLDT.<br /> +1863.</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by<br /> +F. LEYPOLDT,<br /> +In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States in +and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS.</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#The_Ice_Maiden">The Ice-Maiden</a></td> + <td class="tdr">7</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" style="font-size: smaller;"> + <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="chapters"> + <tr> + <td width="20%" class="tdrp"><a href="#I">I.</a></td> + <td width="20%" class="tdrp"><a href="#II">II.</a></td> + <td width="20%" class="tdrp"><a href="#III">III.</a></td> + <td width="40%"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#V">V.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#VI">VI.</a></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#VII">VII.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#IX">IX.</a></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#X">X.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XI">XI.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XII">XII.</a></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XIII">XIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XIV">XIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XV">XV.</a></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + </table> + <br /> + </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#The_Butterfly">The Butterfly</a></td> + <td class="tdr">139</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#The_Psyche">The Psyche</a></td> + <td class="tdr">149</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#The_Snail">The Snail and The Rose-Tree</a></td> + <td class="tdr">183</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="I" id="I"></a><a name="The_Ice_Maiden" id="The_Ice_Maiden"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>The Ice-Maiden.</h1> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>I.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>LITTLE RUDY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Let us visit Switzerland and look around us in the glorious country of +mountains, where the forest rises out of steep rocky walls; let us +ascend to the dazzling snow-fields, and thence descend to the green +plains, where the rivulets and brooks hasten away, foaming up, as if +they feared not to vanish, as they reached the sea.</p> + +<p>The sun beams upon the deep valley, it burns also upon the heavy +masses of snow; so that after the lapse of years, they melt into +shining ice-blocks, and become rolling avalanches and heaped-up +glaciers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>Two of these lie in the broad clefts of the rock, under the +Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, near the little town of Grindelwald. They +are so remarkable that many strangers come to gaze at them, in the +summer time, from all parts of the world; they come over the high +snow-covered mountains, they come from the deepest valleys, and they +are obliged to ascend during many hours, and as they ascend, the +valley sinks deeper and deeper, as though seen from an air-balloon.</p> + +<p>Far around the peaks of the mountains, the clouds often hang like +heavy curtains of smoke; whilst down in the valley, where the many +brown wooden houses lie scattered about, a sun-beam shines, and here +and there brings out a tiny spot, in radiant green, as though it were +transparent. The water roars, froths and foams below, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>water hums +and tinkles above, and it looks as if silver ribbons were fluttering +over the cliffs.</p> + +<p>On each side of the way, as one ascends, are wooden houses; each house +has a little potato-garden, and that is a necessity, for in the +door-way are many little mouths. There are plenty of children, and +they can consume abundance of food; they rush out of the houses, and +throng about the travellers, come they on foot or in carriage. The +whole horde of children traffic; the little ones offer prettily carved +wooden houses, for sale, similar to those they build on the mountains. +Rain or shine, the children assemble with their wares.</p> + +<p>Some twenty years ago, there stood here, several times, a little boy, +who wished to sell his toys, but he always kept aloof from the other +children; he stood with serious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>countenance and with both hands +tightly clasped around his wooden box, as if he feared it would slip +away from him; but on account of this gravity, and because the boy was +so small, it caused him to be remarked, and often he made the best +bargain, without knowing why. His grandfather lived still higher in +the mountains, and it was he who carved the pretty wooden houses. +There stood in the room, an old cup-board, full of carvings; there +were nut-crackers, knives, spoons, and boxes with delicate foliage, +and leaping chamois; there was everything, which could rejoice a merry +child's eye, but this little fellow, (he was named Rudy) looked at and +desired only the old gun under the rafters. His grandfather had said, +that he should have it some day, but that he must first grow big and +strong enough to use it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>Small as the boy was, he was obliged to take care of the goats, and if +he who can climb with them is a good guardian, well then indeed was +Rudy. Why he climbed even higher than they! He loved to take the +bird's nests from the trees, high in the air, for he was bold and +daring; and he only smiled when he stood by the roaring water-fall, or +when he heard a rolling avalanche.</p> + +<p>He never played with the other children; he only met them, when his +grandfather sent him out to sell his carvings, and Rudy took but +little interest in this; he much preferred to wander about the rocks, +or to sit and listen to his grandfather relate about old times and +about the inhabitants of Meiringen, where he came from. He said that +these people had not been there since the beginning of the world; they +had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>come from the far North, where the race called Swedes, dwelt. To +know this, was indeed great wisdom, and Rudy knew this; but he became +still wiser, through the intercourse which he had with the other +occupants of the house—belonging to the animal race. There was a +large dog, Ajola, an heir-loom from Rudy's father; and a cat, and she +was of great importance to Rudy, for she had taught him to climb. +"Come out on the roof!" said the cat, quite plain and distinctly, for +when one is a child, and can not yet speak, one understands the hens +and ducks, the cats and dogs remarkably well; they speak for us as +intelligibly as father or mother. One needs but to be little, and then +even grandfather's stick can neigh, and become a horse, with head, +legs and tail. With some children, this knowledge slips away later +than with others, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>people say of these, that they are very +backward, that they remain children fearfully long.—People say so +many things!</p> + +<p>"Come with me, little Rudy, out on the roof!" was about the first +thing that the cat said, that Rudy understood. "It is all imagination +about falling; one does not fall, when one does not fear to do so. +Come, place your one paw so, and your other so! Take care of your +fore-paws! Look sharp with your eyes, and give suppleness to your +limbs! If there be a hole, jump, hold fast, that's the way I do!"</p> + +<p>And Rudy did so, and that was the reason that he sat out on the roof +with the cat so often; he sat with her in the tree-tops, yes, he sat +on the edge of the rocks, where the cats could not come. "Higher, +higher!" said the trees and bushes. "See, how we climb! how high we +go, how <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>firm we hold on, even on the outermost peaks of the rocks!"</p> + +<p>And Rudy went generally on the mountain before the sun rose, and then +he got his morning drink, the fresh, strengthening mountain air, the +drink, that our Lord only can prepare, and men can read its recipe, +and thus it stands written: "the fresh scent of the herbs of the +mountains and the mint and thyme of the valleys."</p> + +<p>All heaviness is imbibed by the hanging clouds, and the wind sends it +out like grape-shot into the fir-woods; the fragrant breeze becomes +perfume, light and fresh and ever fresher—that was Rudy's morning +drink.</p> + +<p>The blessing bringing daughters of the Sun, the sun-beams, kissed his +cheeks, and Vertigo stood and watched, but dared not approach him; and +the swallows below from grandfather's house, where there were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>no less +than seven nests, flew up to him and the goats, and they sang: "We and +you! and you and we!" They brought greetings from home, even from the +two hens, the only birds in the room; with whom however Rudy never had +intercourse.</p> + +<p>Little as he was, he had traveled, and not a little, for so small a +boy; he was born in the Canton Valais, and had been carried from there +over the mountains. Lately he had visited the Staubbach, which waves +in the air like a silver gauze, before the snow decked, dazzling white +mountain: "the Jungfrau." And he had been in Grindelwald, near the +great glaciers; but that was a sad story. There, his mother had found +her death, and, "little Rudy," so said his grandfather, "had lost his +childish merriment." "When the boy was not a year old, he laughed more +than he cried," so wrote <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>his mother, "but since he was in the +ice-gap, quite another mind has come over him." His grand-father did +not like to speak on the subject, but every one on the mountain knew +all about it.</p> + +<p>Rudy's father had been a postilion, and the large dog in the room, had +always followed him on his journeys to the lake of Geneva, over the +Simplon. In the valley of the Rhone, in Canton Valais, still lived +Rudy's family, on his father's side, and his father's brother was a +famous chamois hunter and a well-known guide. Rudy was only a year +old, when he lost his father, and his mother longed to return to her +relations in Berner Oberlande. Her father lived a few hours walk from +Grindelwald; he was a carver in wood, and earned enough by it to live. +In the month of June, carrying her little child, she started +homewards, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>accompanied by two chamois hunters; intending to cross the +Gemmi on their way to Grindelwald. They already had accomplished the +longer part of their journey, had passed the high ridges, had come to +the snow-plains, they already saw the valley of their home, with its +well-known wooden houses, and had now but to reach the summit of one +of the great glaciers. The snow had freshly fallen and concealed a +cleft,—which did not lead to the deepest abyss, where the water +roared—but still deeper than man could reach. The young woman, who +was holding her child, slipped, sank and was gone; one heard no cry, +no sigh, nought but a little child weeping. More than an hour elapsed, +before her companions could bring poles and ropes, from the nearest +house, in order to afford assistance. After great exertion they drew +from the ice-gap, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>what appeared to be two lifeless bodies; every +means were employed and they succeeded in calling the child back to +life, but not the mother. So the old grandfather received instead of a +daughter, a daughter's son in his house; the little one, who laughed +more than he wept, but, who now, seemed to have lost this custom. A +change in him, had certainly taken place, in the cleft of the glacier, +in the wonderful cold world; where, according to the belief of the +Swiss peasant, the souls of the damned are incarcerated until the day +of judgment.</p> + +<p>Not unlike water, which after long journeying, has been compressed into +blocks of green glass, the glaciers lie here, so that one huge mass of +ice is heaped on the other. The rushing stream roars below and melts +snow and ice; within, hollow caverns and mighty clefts open, this is a +wonderful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>palace of ice, and in it dwells the Ice-Maiden, the Queen of +the glaciers. She, the murderess, the destroyer, is half a child of air +and half the powerful ruler of the streams; therefore, she had received +the power, to elevate herself with the speed of the chamois to the +highest pinnacle of the snow-topped mountain; where the most daring +mountaineer had to hew his way, in order to take firm foot-hold. She +sails up the rushing river on a slender fir-branch—springs from one +cliff to another, with her long snow-white hair, fluttering around her, +and with her bluish-green mantle, which resembles the water of the deep +Swiss lakes.</p> + +<p>"Crush, hold fast! the power is mine!" cried she. "They have stolen a +lovely boy from me, a boy, whom I had kissed, but not kissed to death. +He is again with men, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>he tends the goats on the mountains; he climbs +up, up high, beyond the reach of all others, but not beyond mine! He +is mine, I shall have him!"—</p> + +<p>And she ordered Vertigo to fulfil her duty; it was too warm for the +Ice-Maiden, in summer-time, in the green spots where the mint thrives. +Vertigo arose; one came, three came, (for Vertigo had many sisters, +very many of them) and the Maiden chose the strongest among those that +rule within doors and without. They sit on the balusters and on the +spires of the steep towers, they tread through the air as the swimmer +glides through the water and entice their prey down the abyss. Vertigo +and the Ice-Maiden seize on men as the polypus clutches at all within +its reach. Vertigo was to gain possession of Rudy. "Yes, just catch +him for me" said Vertigo. "I cannot do <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>it! The cat, the dirty thing, +has taught him her arts! The child of the race of man, possesses a +power, that repulses me; I cannot get at the little boy, when he hangs +by the branches over the abyss. I may tickle him on the soles of his +feet or give him a box on the ear whilst he is swinging in the air, it +is of no avail. I can do nothing!"</p> + +<p>"We <i>can</i> do it!" said the Ice-Maiden. "You or I! I! I!"—</p> + +<p>"No, no!" sounded back the echo of the church-bells through the +mountain, like a sweet melody; it was like speech, an harmonious +chorus of all the spirits of nature, mild, good, full of love, for it +came from the daughters of the sun-beams, who encamped themselves +every evening in a circle around the pinnacles of the mountains, and +spread out their rose-coloured <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>wings, that grow more and more red as +the sun sinks, and glow over the high Alps; men call it, "the Alpine +glow." When the sun is down, they enter the peaks of the rocks and +sleep on the white snow, until the sun rises, and then they sally +forth. Above all, they love flowers, butterflies, and men, and amongst +them they had chosen little Rudy as their favourite.</p> + +<p>"You will not catch him! You shall not have him!" said they. "I have +caught and kept stronger and larger ones!" said the Ice-Maiden.</p> + +<p>Then the daughters of the Sun sang a lay of the wanderer, whose cloak +the whirlwind had torn off and carried away. The wind took the +covering, but not the man. "Ye children of strength can seize, but not +hold him; he is stronger, he is more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>spirit-like, than we; he ascends +higher than the Sun, our mother! He possesses the magic word, that +restrains wind and water, so that they are obliged to obey and serve +him!"</p> + +<p>So sounded cheerfully the bell-like chorus.</p> + +<p>And every morning the sun-beams shone through the tiny window in the +grandfather's house, on the quiet child. The daughters of the +sun-beams kissed him, they wished to thaw him, to warm him and to +carry away with them the icy kiss, which the queenly maiden of the +glaciers had given him, as he lay on his dead mother's lap, in the +deep icy gap, whence he was saved through a miracle.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="II" id="II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>II.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE JOURNEY TO THE NEW HOME.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Rudy was now eight years old. His father's brother, in Rhonethal, the +other side of the mountain, wished to have the boy, for he thought +that with him he would fare and prosper better; his grandfather +perceived this and gave his consent.</p> + +<p>Rudy must go. There were others to take leave of him, besides his +grandfather; first there was Ajola, the old dog.</p> + +<p>"Your father was post-boy and I was post-dog," said Ajola. "We have +travelled up and down; I know dogs and men on the other side of the +mountain. It is not my custom to speak much, but now, that we shall +not have much time to converse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>with each other, I must talk a little +more than usual. I will relate a story to you; I shall tell you how I +have earned my bread, and how I have eaten it. I do not understand it +and I suppose that you will not either, but it matters not, for I have +discovered that the good things of this earth are not equally divided +between dogs or men. All are not fitted to lie on the lap and sip +milk, I have not been accustomed to it; but I saw a little dog seated +in the coach with us and it occupied a person's place. The woman who +was its mistress, or who belonged to its mistress, had a bottle filled +with milk, out of which she fed it; it got sweet sugar biscuits too, +but it would not even eat them; only snuffed at them, and so the woman +ate them herself. I ran in the mud, by the side of the coach, as +hungry as a dog could be; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>I chewed my crude thoughts, that was not +right—but this is often done! If I could but have been carried on +some one's knee and have been seated in a coach! But one cannot have +all one desires. I have not been able to do so, neither with barking +nor with yawning."</p> + +<p>That was Ajola's speech, and Rudy seized him by the neck and kissed +him on his moist mouth, and then he took the cat in his arms, but she +was angry at it.</p> + +<p>"You are getting too strong for me, and I will not use my claws +against you! Just climb over the mountains, I taught you to climb! +Never think that you will fall, then you are secure!"</p> + +<p>Then the cat ran away, without letting Rudy see how her grief shone +out of her eye.</p> + +<p>The hens ran about the floor; one had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>lost her tail; a traveller, who +wished to be a hunter, had shot it off, because the creature had taken +the hen for a bird of prey!</p> + +<p>"Rudy is going over the mountain!" said one hen. "He is always in a +hurry," said the other, "and I do not care for leave-takings!" and so +they both tripped away.</p> + +<p>And the goats, too, said farewell and cried: "Mit, mit, mah!" and that +was so sad.</p> + +<p>There were two nimble guides in the neighbourhood, and they were about +to cross the mountains; they were to descend to the other side of the +Gemmi, and Rudy followed them on foot. This was a severe march for +such a little chap, but he had strength and courage, and felt not +fatigue.</p> + +<p>The swallows accompanied them a part of the way. They sang: "We and +you! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>You and us!" The road went over the rapid Lütschine, which +rushes forth from the black clefts of the glacier of Grindelwald, in +many little streams. The fallen timber and the quarry-stones serve as +bridges; they pass the alder-bush and descend the mountain where the +glacier has detached itself from the mountain side; they cross over +the glacier, over the blocks of ice, and go around them. Rudy was +obliged to creep a little, to walk a little, his eyes sparkled with +delight, and he trod as firmly with his iron-shod mountain shoes, as +though he wished to leave his foot-prints where he had stepped. The +black mud which the mountain stream had poured upon the glacier gave +it a calcined appearance, but the bluish-green, glassy ice still shone +through it. They were obliged to go around the little ponds <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>which +were dammed up by blocks of ice; during these wanderings they came too +near a large stone, which lay tottering on the brink of a crevice in +the ice. The stone lost its equilibrium, it fell, rolled and the echo +resounded from the deep hollow paths of the glacier.</p> + +<p>Up, ever up; the glacier stretched itself on high—as a river, of +wildly heaped up masses of ice, compressed among the steep cliffs. For +an instant Rudy thought on what they had told him, about his having +laid with his mother, in one of these cold-breathing chasms. Such +thoughts soon vanished; it seemed to him as though it were some other +story—one of the many which had been related to him. Now and then, +when the men thought that the ascent was too difficult for the little +lad, they would reach him their hand, but he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>never weary and +stood on the slippery ice as firm as a chamois. Now they reached the +bottom of the rocks, they were soon among the bare stones, which were +void of moss; soon under the low fir-trees and again out on the green +common—ever changing, ever new. Around them arose the snow mountains, +whose names were as familiar to Rudy as they were to every child in +the neighbourhood: "the Jungfrau," "the Mönch," and "the Eiger."</p> + +<p>Rudy had never been so high before, had never before trodden on the +vast sea of snow, which lay there with its immoveable waves. The wind +blew single flakes about, as it blows the foam upon the waters of the +sea.</p> + +<p>Glacier stood by glacier, if one may say so, hand in hand; each one +was an ice-palace for the Ice-Maiden, whose power and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>will is: "to +catch and to bury." The sun burned warmly, the snow was dazzling, as +if sown with bluish-white, glittering diamond sparks. Countless +insects (butterflies and bees mostly) lay in masses dead on the snow; +they had ventured too high, or the wind had borne them thither, but to +breathe their last in these cold regions. A threatening cloud hung +over the Wetterhorn, like a fine, black tuft of wool. It lowered +itself slowly, heavily, with that which lay concealed within it, and +this was the "Föhn,"<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> powerful in its strength when it broke loose. +The impression of the entire journey, the night quarters above and +then the road beyond, the deep rocky chasms, where the water forced +its way through the blocks of stone with terrible rapidity, engraved +itself indelibly on Rudy's mind.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>On the other side of the sea of snow, a forsaken stone hut gave them +protection and shelter for the night; a fire was quickly lighted, for +they found within it charcoal and fir branches; they arranged their +couch as well as possible. The men seated themselves around the fire, +smoked their tobacco and drank the warm spicy drink, which they had +prepared for themselves. Rudy had his share too and they told him of +the mysterious beings of the Alpine country; of the singular fighting +snakes in the deep lakes; of the people of night; of the hordes of +spectres, who carry sleepers through the air, towards the wonderful +floating city of Venice; of the wild shepherd, who drives his black +sheep over the meadow; it is true, they had never been seen, but the +sound of the bells and the unhappy bellowing of the flock, had been +heard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>Rudy listened eagerly, but without any fear, for he did not even know +what that was, and whilst he listened he thought he heard the +ghost-like hollow bellowing! Yes, it became more and more distinct, +the men heard it also, they stopped talking, listened and told Rudy he +must not sleep.</p> + +<p>It was the Föhn which blew, the powerful storm-wind, which rushes down +the mountains into the valley and with its strength bends the trees, +as if they were mere reeds, and lifts the wooden houses from one side +of the river to the other, as if the move had been made on a +chess-board.</p> + +<p>After the lapse of an hour, they told Rudy that the storm had now +blown over and that he might rest; with this license, fatigued by his +march, he at once fell asleep.</p> + +<p>They departed early in the morning; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>the sun showed Rudy new +mountains, new glaciers and snow-fields; they had now reached Canton +Valais and the other side of the mountain ridge which was visible at +Grindelwald, but they were still far from the new home. Other chasms, +precipices, pasture-grounds; forests and paths through the woods, +unfolded themselves to the view; other houses, other human beings—but +what human beings! Deformed creatures, with unmeaning, fat, +yellowish-white faces; with a large, ugly, fleshy lump on their necks; +these were cretins who dragged themselves miserably along and gazed +with their stupid eyes on the strangers who arrived among them. As for +the women, the greatest number of them were frightful!</p> + +<p>Were these the inhabitants of the new home?</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> A humid south wind on the lakes of Switzerland, a fearful +storm.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="III" id="III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>III.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE FATHER'S BROTHER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The people in the uncle's house, looked, thank heaven, like those whom +Rudy was accustomed to see. But one cretin was there, a poor silly +lad, one of the many miserable creatures, who on account of their +poverty and need, always make their home among the families of Canton +Valais and remain with each but a couple of months. The wretched +Saperli happened to be there when Rudy arrived.</p> + +<p>Rudy's father's brother was still a vigorous hunter and was also a +cooper by trade; his wife, a lively little person, had what is called +a bird's face; her eyes resembled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>those of an eagle and she had a +long neck entirely covered with down.</p> + +<p>Everything was new to Rudy, the dress, manners and customs, yes, even +the language, but that is soon acquired and understood by a child's +ear. Here, they seemed to be better off, than in his grandfather's +house; the dwelling rooms were larger, the walls looked gay with their +chamois horns and highly polished rifles; over the door-way hung the +picture of the blessed Virgin; alpine roses and a burning lamp stood +before it.</p> + +<p>His uncle, was as we have said before, one of the most famous chamois +hunters in the neighbourhood and also the most experienced and best +guide.</p> + +<p>Rudy was to be the pet of the household, although there already was +one, an old deaf and blind dog, whom they could no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>longer use; but +they remembered his many past services and he was looked upon as a +member of the family and was to pass his old days in peace. Rudy +patted the dog, but he would have nothing to do with strangers; Rudy +did not long remain one, for he soon took firm hold both in house and +heart.</p> + +<p>"One is not badly off in Canton Valais," said his uncle, "we have the +chamois, they do not die out so soon as the mountain goat! It is a +great deal better here now, than in the old times; they may talk about +their glory as much as they please. The present time is much better, +for a hole has been made in the purse and light and air let into our +quiet valley. When old worn-out customs die away, something new +springs forth!" said he. When uncle became talkative, he told of the +years of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>childhood and of his father's active time, when Valais +was still a closed purse, as the people called it, and when it was +filled with sick people and miserable cretins. French soldiers came, +they were the right kind of doctors, they not only shot down the +sickness but the men also.</p> + +<p>"The Frenchmen can beat the stones until they surrender! they cut the +Simplon-road out of the rocks—they have hewn out such a road, that I +now can tell a three year old child to go to Italy! Keep to the +highway, and a child may find his way there!" Then the uncle would +sing a French song and cry hurrah for Napoleon Bonaparte.</p> + +<p>Rudy now heard for the first time of France, of Lyons—the large city +of the Rhone—for his uncle had been there.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Rudy will become an agile <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>chamois hunter in a few years? +He has every disposition for it!" said his uncle, and instructed him +how to hold a rifle, how to aim and to fire. In the hunting season, he +took him with him in the mountains and made him drink the warm chamois +blood, which prevents the hunter from becoming dizzy. He taught him to +heed the time when the avalanches roll down the different sides of the +mountain—at mid-day or at night-fall—which depended upon the heat of +the rays of the sun. He taught him to notice the chamois, in order to +learn from them how to jump, so as to alight steadily upon the feet. +If there was no resting place in the clefts of the rock for the foot, +he must know how to support himself with the elbow, and be able to +climb by means of the muscles of the thigh and calf, even the neck +must serve when it is necessary. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>The chamois are cunning, they place +out-guards—but the hunter must be still more cunning and follow the +trail—and he can deceive them by hanging his coat and hat on his +alpine stick, and so make the chamois take the coat for the man.</p> + +<p>One day when Rudy was out with his uncle hunting, he tried this sport.</p> + +<p>The rocky path was not wide; indeed there was scarcely any, only a +narrow ledge, close to the dizzy abyss. The snow was half-thawed, the +stones crumbled when trodden upon, and his uncle stretched himself out +full length and crept along. Each stone as it broke away, fell, +knocked itself, bounded and then rolled down; it made many leaps from +one rocky wall to another until it found repose in the black deep. +Rudy stood about a hundred steps behind his uncle on the outermost +cliff, and saw a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>huge golden vulture, hovering over his uncle, and +sailing towards him through the air, as though wishing to cast the +creeping worm into the abyss with one blow of his wing, and to make +carrion of him. His uncle had only eyes for the chamois and its young +kid, on the other side of the cleft. Rudy looked at the bird, +understood what it wanted, and laid his hand on his rifle in order to +shoot it. At that moment the chamois leaped—his uncle fired—the ball +hit the animal, but the kid was gone, as though flight and danger had +been its life's experience. The monstrous bird terrified by the report +of the gun, took flight in another direction, and Rudy's uncle knew +nought of his danger, until Rudy told him of it.</p> + +<p>As they now were on their way home in the gayest spirits—his uncle +playing one of his youthful melodies on his flute—they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>suddenly +heard not far from them a singular sound; they looked sideways, they +gazed aloof and saw high above them the snow covering of the rugged +shelf of the rock, waving like an outspread piece of linen when +agitated by the wind. The icy waves cracked like slabs of marble, they +broke, dissolved in foaming, rushing water and sounded like a muffled +thunder-clap. It was an avalanche rolling down, not over Rudy and his +uncle, but near, only too near to them.</p> + +<p>"Hold fast, Rudy," cried he, "firm, with your whole strength!"</p> + +<p>And Rudy clasped the trunk of a tree; his uncle climbed into its +branches and held fast, whilst the avalanche rolled many fathoms away +from them. But the air-drift of the blustering storm, which +accompanied it, bowed down the trees and bushes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>around them like dry +reeds and threw them beyond. Rudy lay cast on the earth; the trunk of +the tree on which he had held was as though sawed off, and its crown +was hurled still farther along. His uncle lay amongst the broken +branches, with his head shattered; his hands were yet warm, but his +face was no longer to be recognized. Rudy stood pale and trembling; +this was the first terror of his life, the first hour of fear that he +had ever known.</p> + +<p>Late in the evening, he returned with his message of death to his +home, which was now one of sorrow.</p> + +<p>The wife stood without words, without tears, and not until the corpse +was brought home did her sorrow find an outburst. The poor cretin +crept to his bed and was not seen all day, but towards evening he came +to Rudy, and said: "Write a letter for me. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>Saperli cannot write! +Saperli can take the letter to the post office."</p> + +<p>"A letter for you," asked Rudy, "and to whom?"</p> + +<p>"To our Lord Christ!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>And the half-witted creature gave a touching glance at Rudy, folded +his hands and said piously and solemnly: "Jesus Christ! Saperli wishes +to send him a letter, praying him to let Saperli lie dead and not the +man of this house!"</p> + +<p>And Rudy pressed his hand, "the letter cannot be sent, the letter will +not give him back to us!"</p> + +<p>It was difficult for Rudy to explain the impossibility to him.</p> + +<p>"Now you are the stay of the house!" said his foster-mother, and Rudy +became it.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="IV" id="IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>IV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>BABETTE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Who is the best shot in Canton Valais? The chamois knew only too well: +"Beware of Rudy!" they could say. Who is the handsomest hunter?—"It +is Rudy." The young girls said this also, but they did not say: +"Beware of Rudy!" No, not even the grave mothers, for he nodded to +them quite as amicably as to the young girls. He was so bold and gay, +his cheeks were brown, his teeth fresh and white and his coal-black +eyes glittered; he was a handsome young fellow and but twenty years +old. The icy water did not sting him when he swam, he could turn +around in it like a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>fish; he could climb as did no one, and he was as +firm on the rocky walls as a snail—for he had good sinews and muscles +that served him well in leaping—the cat had first taught him this, +and later the chamois. One could not trust one's self to a better +guide than to Rudy. In this way he could collect quite a fortune, but +he had no taste for the trade of a cooper, which his uncle had taught +him; his delight and pleasure was to shoot chamois, and this was +profitable also. Rudy was a good match if one did not look higher than +one's station, and in dancing he was just the kind of dancer that +young girls dream about, and one or the other were always thinking of +him when they were awake.</p> + +<p>"He kissed me whilst dancing!" said the schoolmaster's Annette to her +most intimate friend, but she should not have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>said this, not even to +her dearest friend, but it is difficult to keep such things to one's +self—like sand in a purse with a hole in it, it soon runs out—and +although Rudy was so steady and good it was soon known that he kissed +whilst dancing.</p> + +<p>"Watch him," said an old hunter, "he has commenced with A, and he will +kiss the whole alphabet through!"</p> + +<p>A kiss, at a dance, was all they could say in their gossipping, but he +had kissed Annette, and she was by no means the flower of his heart.</p> + +<p>Down near Bex, between the great walnut trees, close by a rapid little +stream, dwelt the rich miller. The dwelling-house was a large +three-storied building, with little towers covered with wood and +coated with sheets of lead, which shone in the sunshine and in the +moonshine; the largest tower <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>had for a weather-cock a bright arrow +which pierced an apple and which was intended to represent the apple +shot by Tell. The mill looked neat and comfortable, so that it was +really worth describing and drawing, but the miller's daughter could +neither be described nor drawn, at least so said Rudy. Yet she was +imprinted in his heart, and her eyes acted as a fire-brand upon it, +and this had happened suddenly and unexpectedly. The most wonderful +part of all was, that the miller's daughter, the pretty Babette, +thought not of him, for she and Rudy had never even spoken two words +with each other.</p> + +<p>The miller was rich, and riches placed her much too high to be +approached; "but no one," said Rudy to himself, "is placed so high as +to be unapproachable; one must climb and one does not fall, when one +does <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>not think of it." <i>This</i> knowledge he had brought from home with +him.</p> + +<p>Now it so happened that Rudy had business at Bex and it was quite a +journey there, for the railroad was not completed. The broad valley of +Valais stretches itself from the glaciers of the Rhone, under the foot +of the Simplon-mountain, between many varying mountain-heights, with +its mighty river, the Rhone, which often swells and destroys +everything, overflooding fields and roads. The valley makes a bend, +between the towns of Sion and St. Maurice, like an elbow and becomes +so narrow at Maurice, that there only remains sufficient room for the +river bed and a cart way. Here an old tower stands like a sentry +before the Canton Valais; it ends at this point and overlooks the +bridge, which has a wall towards the custom-house. Now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>begins the +Canton called Pays de Vaud and the nearest town is Bex, where +everything becomes luxuriant and fruitful—one is in a garden of +walnut and chestnut trees and here and there, cypress and pomegranate +blossoms peep out—it is as warm as the South; one imagines one's self +transplanted into Italy.</p> + +<p>Rudy reached Bex, accomplished his business and looked about him, but +he did not see a single miller's boy, not to speak of Babette. It +appeared as though they were not to meet.</p> + +<p>It was evening, the air was heavy with the wild thyme and blooming +linden, a glistening veil lay over the forest-clad mountains, there +was a stillness over everything, but not the quiet of sleep. It seemed +as though all nature retained her breath, as if she felt disposed to +allow her image to be imprinted upon the firmament.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>Here and there, there were poles standing on the green fields, between +the trees; they held the telegraph wire, which has been conducted +through this peaceful valley. An object leant against one of these +poles, so immoveable, that one might have taken it for a withered +trunk of a tree; but it was Rudy. He slept not and still less was he +dead; but as the most important events of this earth, as well as +affairs of vital moment for individuals pass over the wires, without +their giving out a tone or a tremulous movement, even so flashed +through Rudy, thoughts—powerful, overwhelming, speaking of the +happiness of his life; his, henceforth, "<i>constant thought</i>." His eyes +were fixed upon a point in the trellis-work, and this was a light in +Babette's sitting room. Rudy was so motionless, one might have thought +that he was observing a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>chamois, in order to shoot it. Now, however, +he was like the chamois—which appears sculptured on the rock, and +suddenly if a stone rolls, springs and flies away—thus stood Rudy, +until a thought struck him.</p> + +<p>"Never despair," said he. "I shall make a visit to the mill, and say: +Good evening miller, good evening Babette! One does not fall when one +does not think of it! Babette must see me, if I am to be her husband!"</p> + +<p>And Rudy laughed, was of good cheer and went to the mill; he knew what +he wanted, he wanted Babette.</p> + +<p>The river, with its yellowish white water rolled on; the willow trees +and the lindens bowed themselves deep in the hastening water; Rudy +went along the path, and as it says in the old child's song:</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">—— —— —— Zu des Müllers Haus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aber da war Niemand drinnen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nur die Katze schaute aus!<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The house-cat stood on the step, put up her back and said: "Miau!" but +Rudy had no thoughts for her language, he knocked, no one heard, no +one opened. "Miau!" said the cat. If Rudy had been little, he would +have understood the speech of animals and known that the cat told him: +"There is no one at home!" He was obliged to cross over to the mill, +to make inquiries, and here he had news. The master of the house was +away on a journey, far away in the town of Interlaken—<i>inter lacus</i>, +"between the lakes"—as the school-master, Annette's father, had +explained, in his wisdom. Far away was the miller and Babette with +him; there was to be a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>shooting festival, which was to commence on +the following day and to continue for a whole week. The Swiss from all +the German cantons were to meet there.</p> + +<p>Poor Rudy, one could well say that he had not taken the happiest time +to visit Bex; now he could return and that was what he did. He took +the road over Sion and St. Maurice, back to his own valley, back to +his own mountain, but he was not down-cast. On the following morning, +when the sun rose, his good humour had returned, in fact it had never +left him.</p> + +<p>"Babette is in Interlaken, many a day's journey from here!" said he to +himself, "it is a long road thither, if one goes by the highway, but +not so far if one passes over the rocks and that is the road for a +chamois hunter! I went this road formerly, for there is my home, where +I lived with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>my grandfather when I was a little child, and they have +a shooting festival in Interlaken! I will be the <i>first</i> one there, +and that will I be with Babette also, as soon as I have made her +acquaintance!"</p> + +<p>With his light knapsack containing his Sunday clothes, with his gun +and his huntsman's pouch, Rudy ascended the mountain. The short road, +was a pretty long one, but the shooting-match had but commenced to-day +and was to last more than a week; the miller and Babette were to +remain the whole time, with their relations in Interlaken. Rudy +crossed the Gemmi, for he wished to go to Grindelwald.</p> + +<p>He stepped forwards merry and well, out into the fresh, light mountain +air. The valley sank beneath him, the horizon widened; here and there +a snow-peak, and soon appeared the whole shining white <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>alpine chain. +Rudy knew every snow mountain, onward he strode towards the +Schreckhorn, that elevates its white powdered snow-finger high in the +air.</p> + +<p>At last he crossed the ridge of the mountain and the pasture-grounds +and reached the valley of his home; the air was light and his spirits +gay, mountain and valley stood resplendent with verdure and flowers. +His heart was filled with youthful thoughts;—that one can never grow +old, never die; but live, rule and enjoy;—free as a bird, light as a +bird was he. The swallows flew by and sang as in his childhood: "We +and you, and You and we!" All was happiness.</p> + +<p>Below lay the velvet-green meadow, with its brown wooden houses, the +Lütschine hummed and roared. He saw the glacier with its green glass +edges and its black <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>crevices in the deep snow, and the under and +upper glacier. The sound of the church-bells was carried over to him, +as if they chimed a welcome home; his heart beat loudly and expanded, +so, that for a moment, Babette vanished from it; his heart widened, it +was so full of recollections. He retraced his steps, over the path, +where he used to stand when a little boy, with the other children, on +the edge of the ditch, and where he sold carved wooden houses. Yonder, +under the fir-trees was his grandfather's house,—strangers dwelled +there. Children came running up the path, wishing to sell; one of them +held an alpine rose towards him. Rudy took it for a good omen and +thought of Babette. Quickly he crossed the bridge, where the two +Lütschines meet; the leafy trees had increased and the walnut trees +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>gave deeper shade. He saw the streaming Swiss and Danish flags—the +white cross on the red cloth—and Interlaken lay before him.</p> + +<p>It was certainly a magnificent town; like no other, it seemed to Rudy. +A Swiss town in its Sunday dress, was not like other trading-places, a +mass of black stone houses, heavy, uninviting and stiff. No! it looked +as though the wooden houses, on the mountain had run down into the +green valley, to the clear, swift river and had ranged themselves in a +row—a little in and out—so as to form a street, the most splendid of +all streets, which had grown up since Rudy was here as a child. It +appeared to him, that here all the pretty wooden houses that his +grandfather had carved, and with which the cup-board at home used to +be filled, had placed themselves <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>there and had grown in strength, as +the old, the oldest chestnut trees had done. Each house had carved +wood-work around the windows and balconies, projecting roofs, pretty +and neat; in front of every house a little flower garden extended into +the stone-covered street. The houses were all placed on one side, as +if they wished to conceal the forest-green meadow, where the cows with +their tinkling bells made one fancy one's self near the high alpine +pasture-grounds. The meadow was enclosed with high mountains, that +leaned to one side so that the Jungfrau, the most stately of the Swiss +mountains, with its glistening snow-clad top, was visible.</p> + +<p>What a quantity of well dressed ladies and gentlemen from foreign +countries! What multitudes of inhabitants from the different cantons! +The shooters, with their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>numbers placed in a wreath around their +hats, waiting to take their turn. Here was music and song, +hurdy-gurdys and wind instruments, cries and confusion. The houses and +bridges were decked with devices and verses; banners and flags +floated, rifles sounded shot after shot; this was the best music to +Rudy's ear and he entirely forgot Babette, although he had come for +her sake.</p> + +<p>The marksmen thronged towards the spot where the target-shooting was; +Rudy was soon among them and he was the best, the luckiest, for he +always hit the mark.</p> + +<p>"Who can the strange hunter be?" they asked, "He speaks the French +language as though he came from Canton Valais!" "He speaks our German +very distinctly!" said others. "He is said to have lived in the +neighbourhood of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>Grindelwald, when a child!" said one of them.</p> + +<p>There was life in the youth; his eyes sparkled, his aim was true. Good +luck gives courage, and Rudy had courage at all times; he soon had a +large circle of friends around him, they praised him, they did homage +to him, and Babette had almost entirely left his thoughts. At that +moment a heavy hand struck him on the shoulder, and a gruff voice +addressed him in the French tongue:</p> + +<p>"You are from Canton Valais?"</p> + +<p>Rudy turned around. A stout person, with a red, contented countenance, +stood by him and that was the rich miller of Bex. He covered with his +wide body, the slight pretty Babette, who however, soon peeped out +with her beaming dark eyes. The rich peasant became consequential +because the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>hunter from his canton had made the best shot and was the +honoured one. Rudy was certainly a favourite of fortune, that, for +which he had journeyed thither and almost forgotten had sought him.</p> + +<p>When one meets a countryman far from one's home, why then one knows +one another, and speaks together. Rudy was the first at the shooting +festival and the miller was the first at Bex, through his money and +mill, and so the two men pressed each other's hands: this they had +never done before. Babette also, gave Rudy her little hand and he +pressed her's in return and looked at her, so—that she became quite +red.</p> + +<p>The miller told of the long journey which they had made here, of the +many large towns which they had seen—that was a real journey; they +had come in the steam-boat and had been driven by post and rail!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>"I came by the short road," said Rudy, "I came over the mountains; +there is no path so high, that one can not reach it!"</p> + +<p>"But one can break one's neck," said the miller, "you look as though +you would do so some day, you are so daring!"</p> + +<p>"One does not fall, when one does not think of it!" said Rudy.</p> + +<p>And the miller's family in Interlaken, with whom the miller and +Babette were staying, begged Rudy to pay them a visit, for he was from +the same canton as their relations.</p> + +<p>These were glad tidings for Rudy, fortune smiled upon him, as it +always does on those that rely upon themselves and think upon the +saying: "Our Lord gives us nuts, but he does not crack them for us!" +Rudy made himself quite at home <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>with the miller's relations; they +drank the health of the best marksman. Babette knocked her glass +against his and Rudy gave thanks for the honour shown him.</p> + +<p>In the evening, they all walked under the walnut trees, in front of +the decorated hôtels; there was such a crowd, such a throng, that Rudy +was obliged to offer his arm to Babette. "He was so rejoiced to have +met people from Pays de Vaud," said he, "Pays de Vaud and Valais were +good neighbourly cantons." His joy was so profound that it struck +Babette, she must press his hand. They walked along almost like old +acquaintances; she was so amusing, the darling little creature, it +became her so prettily Rudy thought, when she described what was +laughable and overdone in the dress of the ladies, and ridiculed their +manners and walk. She did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>not do this in order to mock them, for no +doubt they were very good people, yes! kind and amiable. Babette knew +what was right, for she had a god-mother that was a distinguished +English lady. She was in Bex, eighteen years ago, when Babette was +baptized; she had given Babette, the expensive breastpin which she +wore. The god-mother had written her two letters; this year she was to +meet her in Interlaken, with her daughters; they were old maids, over +thirty years old, said Babette;—she was just eighteen.</p> + +<p>The sweet little mouth was not still a minute; everything that Babette +said, sounded to Rudy of great importance. Then he related how often +he had been in Bex, how well he knew the mill; how often he had seen +Babette, but she of course had never remarked him; he told <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>how, when +he reached the mill, with many thoughts to which he could give no +utterance, she and her father were far away; still not so far as to +render it impossible for him to ascend the rocky wall which made the +road so long.</p> + +<p>Yes, he said this; and he also said how much he thought of her; that +it was for her sake and not on account of the shooting festival that +he had come.</p> + +<p>Babette remained very still, for what he confided to her was almost +too much joy.</p> + +<p>The sun set behind the rocky wall, whilst they were walking, and there +stood the Jungfrau in all her radiant splendour, surrounded by the +dark green circle of the adjacent mountains. The vast crowd of people +stopped to look at it, Rudy and Babette also gazed upon its grandeur.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>"It is nowhere more beautiful than here!" said Babette.</p> + +<p>"Nowhere!" said Rudy, and looked at Babette.</p> + +<p>"I must leave to-morrow!" said he, a little later.</p> + +<p>"Visit us in Bex," whispered Babette, "it will delight my father!"</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5%;">The cat looked out from the miller's house,<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 5%;">No one was in, not even a mouse!<br /></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="V" id="V"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>V.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>HOMEWARDS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Ah! how much Rudy carried with him, as he went home the next morning +over the mountains. Yes, there were three silver goblets, two very +fine rifles and a silver coffee pot, which one could use if one wished +to go to house-keeping; but he carried with him something far, far +more important, far mightier, or rather <i>that</i> carried him over the +high mountains.</p> + +<p>The weather was raw, moist and cold, grey and heavy; the clouds +lowered over the mountain-tops like mourning veils, and enveloped the +shining peaks of the rocks. The sound of the axe resounded from the +depths of the forest, and the trunks of the trees rolled down the +mountain, looking in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>the distance like slight sticks, but on +approaching them they were heavy trees, suitable for making masts. The +Lütschine rushed on with its monotonous sound, the wind blustered, the +clouds sailed by.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a young girl approached Rudy, whom he had not noticed before; +not until she was beside him; she also was about crossing the +mountain. Her eyes had so peculiar a power that one was forced to look +into them; they were so strangely clear—clear as glass, so deep, so +fathomless—</p> + +<p>"Have you a beloved one?" asked Rudy; for to have a beloved one was +everything to him.</p> + +<p>"I have none!" said she, and laughed; but it was as though she was not +speaking the truth. "Do not let us take a by-way," continued she, "we +must go more to the left, that way is shorter!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>"Yes, so as to fall down a precipice!" said Rudy; "Do you know no +better way, and yet wish to be a guide?"</p> + +<p>"I know the road well," said she, "my thoughts are with me; yours are +beneath in the valley; here on high, one must think on the Ice-Maiden, +for they say she is not well disposed to mankind!"</p> + +<p>"I do not fear her," said Rudy, "she was forced to let me go when I +was a child, so I suppose I can slip away from her now that I am +older!"</p> + +<p>The darkness increased, the rain fell, the snow came; it shone and +dazzled. "Give me your hand, I will help you to ascend!" said the +girl, and touched him with icy-cold fingers.</p> + +<p>"You help me," said Rudy, "I do not yet need a woman's help in +climbing!" He strode quickly on, away from her; the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>snow-shower +formed a curtain around him, the wind whistled by him and he heard the +young girl laugh and sing; it sounded so oddly! Yes, that was +certainly a spirit in the service of the Ice-Maiden. Rudy had heard of +them, when he had passed a night on high; when he had crossed the +mountain, as a little boy.</p> + +<p>The snow fell more scantily and the shadows lay under him; he looked +back, there was no one to be seen, but he heard laughing and <i>jodling</i> +and it did not appear to come from a human being. When Rudy reached +the uppermost portion of the mountain, where the rocky path leads to +the valley of the Rhone, he saw in the direction of Chamouni, two +bright stars, twinkling and shining in the clear streaks of blue; he +thought of Babette, of himself, of his happiness and became warmed by +his thoughts.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="VI" id="VI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>VI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE VISIT TO THE MILL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"You bring princely things into the house!" said the old +foster-mother, her singular eagle-eyes glistened and she made strange +and hasty motions with her lean neck.</p> + +<p>"Fortune is with you, Rudy, I must kiss you, my sweet boy!"</p> + +<p>Rudy allowed himself to be kissed, but one could read in his +countenance, that he but submitted to circumstances and to little +household miseries. "How handsome you are, Rudy!" said the old woman.</p> + +<p>"Do not put notions into my head!" answered Rudy, and laughed, but +still it pleased him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>"I say it once more," said the old woman, "fortune is with you!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I agree with you there!" said he; thought of Babette and longed +to be in the deep valley. "They must have returned, two days have +passed since they expected to do so. I must go to Bex!"</p> + +<p>Rudy went to Bex, and the inhabitants of the mill had returned; he was +well received and they brought him greetings from the family at +Interlaken. Babette did not talk much, she had grown silent; but her +eyes spoke and that was quite enough for Rudy. The miller who +generally liked to carry on the conversation—for he was accustomed to +have every one laugh at his witty sayings and puns—was he not the +rich miller?—seemed now to prefer to listen. Rudy recounted to him +his hunting expeditions; described the difficulties, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>dangers and +the privations of the chamois hunter when on the lofty mountain peak; +how often he must climb over the insecure snow-ledges, that the wind +had blown on the rocky brink, and how he must pass over slight bridges +that the snow-drifts had thrown across the abyss. Rudy looked +fearless, his eyes sparkled whilst he spoke of the shrewdness of the +chamois, of their daring leaps, of the violence of the Föhn and of the +rolling avalanches. He observed that with every description he won +more and more favour; but what pleased the miller more than all, was +the account of the lamb's vulture and the bold golden eagle.</p> + +<p>In Canton Valais, not far from here, there was an eagle's nest, very +slyly built under the projecting edge of the rock; a young one was in +it, but no one could steal it! An Englishman had offered Rudy a few +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>days before, a whole handful of gold, if he would bring him the young +one alive, "but everything has a limit," said he, "the young eagle +cannot be taken away, and it would be madness to attempt it!"</p> + +<p>The wine and conversation flowed freely; but the evening appeared all +too short for Rudy; yet it was past midnight, when he went home from +his first visit to the mill.</p> + +<p>The light shone a little while longer through the window and between +the green trees; the parlour-cat came out of an opening in the roof +and the kitchen-cat came along the gutter.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the latest news at the mill?" said the parlour-cat, +"there has been a silent betrothal in the house! Father does not yet +know it, but Rudy and Babette have reached each other their paws under +the table, and he trod three times on my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>fore-paws, but still I did +not mew, for that would have awakened attention!"</p> + +<p>"I should have done it, nevertheless!" said the kitchen-cat.</p> + +<p>"What is suited to the kitchen is not suited to the parlour," said the +parlour-cat. "I should like to know what the miller will say, when he +hears of the betrothal!"</p> + +<p>Yes, what the miller would say! That was what Rudy would have liked to +know, for Rudy was not at all patient. When the omnibus rumbled over +the bridge of the Rhone, between Valais and Pays de Vaud not many days +after, Rudy sat in it and was of good cheer; filled with pleasing +thoughts of the "Yes," of the same evening.</p> + +<p>When evening came and the omnibus returned, yes, there sat Rudy +within, but the parlour-cat, was running about in the mill with great +news.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>"Listen, you, in the kitchen! The miller knows everything now. This +has had an exquisite ending! Rudy came here towards evening; he and +Babette had much to whisper and to chatter about, as they stood in the +walk, under the miller's chamber. I lay close to their feet but they +had neither eyes nor thoughts for me. 'I am going directly to your +father,' said Rudy, 'this is an honourable affair!' 'Shall I follow +you?' asked Babette, 'it may give you more courage!' 'I have courage +enough,' said Rudy, 'but if you are there, he will be forced to look +at it in a more favourable light!' They went in. Rudy trod heavily on +my tail! Rudy is indescribably awkward; I mewed, but neither he nor +Babette had ears to hear it. They opened the door, they entered and I +preceded them; I leaped upon the back of a chair, for I did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>know +but that Rudy would overturn everything! But the miller reversed all, +that was a great step! Out of the door, up the mountains, to the +chamois! Rudy can aim at them now, but not at our little Babette!"</p> + +<p>"But what was said?" asked the kitchen-cat.</p> + +<p>"Said? Everything. 'I care for her and she cares for me! When there is +milk enough in the jug for one, there is milk enough in the jug for +two!' 'But she is placed too high for you,' said the miller, 'she sits +on gold dust, so now you know it; you can not reach her!' 'Nothing is +too high; he who wills can reach anything!' said Rudy. He is too +headstrong on this subject! 'But you cannot reach the eaglet, you said +so yourself lately! Babette is still higher!' 'I will have them both!' +said Rudy. 'Yes, I will bestow her upon you, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>if you make me a present +of the eaglet alive!' said the miller and laughed until the tears +stood in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Thanks for your visit, Rudy! Come again to-morrow, you will find no +one at home. Farewell, Rudy!' Babette said farewell also, as +sorrowfully as a kitten, that cannot see its mother. 'A word is a +word, a man is a man,' said Rudy, 'do not weep Babette, I shall bring +the eaglet!' 'I hope that you will break your neck!' said the miller. +That's what I call an overturning! Now Rudy has gone, and Babette sits +and weeps; but the miller sings in German, he learned to do so whilst +on his journey! I do not intend to trouble myself any longer about it, +it does no good!"</p> + +<p>"There is still a prospect!" said the kitchen-cat.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="VII" id="VII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>VII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE EAGLE'S NEST.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Merry and loud sounded the <i>jodel</i> from the mountain-path, it +indicated good humour and joyous courage; it was Rudy; he was going to +his friend Vesinand.</p> + +<p>"You must help me! We will take Ragli with us; I am going after the +eaglet on the brink of the rock!"</p> + +<p>"Do you not wish to go after the black spot in the moon? That is quite +as easy," said Vesinand; "you are in a good humour!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, because I am thinking of my wedding; but seriously, you shall +know how my affairs stand!"</p> + +<p>Vesinand and Ragli soon knew what Rudy wished.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>"You are a bold fellow," said they, "do not do this! You will break +your neck!"</p> + +<p>"One does not fall, when one does not think of it!" said Rudy.</p> + +<p>About mid-day, they set out with poles, ladders and ropes; their path +lay through bushes and brambles, over the rolling stones, up, up in +the dark night.</p> + +<p>The water rushed beneath them; the water flowed above them and the +humid clouds chased each other in the air. The hunters approached the +steep brink of the rock; it became darker and darker, the rocky walls +almost met; high above them in the narrow fissure the air penetrated +and gave light. Under their feet there was a deep abyss with its +roaring waters.</p> + +<p>They all three sat still, awaiting the grey of the morning; then the +eagle would fly out; they must shoot him before they could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>think of +obtaining the young one. Rudy seemed to be a part of the stone on +which he sat; his rifle placed before him, ready to take aim, his eyes +immoveably fastened on yon high cleft which concealed the eagle's +nest. The three huntsmen waited long.</p> + +<p>A crashing, whizzing noise sounded high above them; a large hovering +object darkened the air. Two rifle barrels were aimed as the black +eagle flew from its nest; a shot was heard, the out-spread wings moved +an instant, then the bird slowly sank as if it wished to fill the +entire cliff with its outstretched wings and bury the huntsmen in its +fall. The eagle sank in the deep; the branches of the trees and bushes +cracked, broken by the fall of the bird.</p> + +<p>They now displayed their activity; three of the longest ladders were +tied together; they stood them on the farthest point where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>the foot +could place itself with security, close to the brink of the +precipice—but they were not long enough; there was still a great +space from the outermost projecting cliff, which protected the nest; +the rocky wall was perfectly smooth. After some consultation, they +decided to lower into the opening two ladders tied together and to +fasten them to the three already beneath them. With great difficulty +they dragged them up and attached them with cords; the ladders shot +over the projecting cliffs and hung over the chasm; Rudy sat already +on the lowest round.</p> + +<p>It was an ice-cold morning, and the mist mounted from the black +ravine. Rudy sat there like a fly on a rocking blade of grass, which a +nest-building bird has dropped in its hasty flight, on the edge of a +factory chimney; but the fly had the advantage of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>escaping by its +wings, poor Rudy had none, he was almost sure to break his neck. The +wind whistled around him and the roaring water from the thawed +glaciers, the palace of the Ice-Maiden, poured itself into the abyss.</p> + +<p>He gave the ladders a swinging motion—as the spider swings herself by +her long thread—he seized them with a strong and steady hand, but +they shook as if they had worn-out hasps.</p> + +<p>The five long ladders looked like a tremulous reed, as they reached +the nest and hung perpendicularly over the rocky wall. Now came the +most dangerous part; Rudy had to climb as a cat climbs; but Rudy could +do this, for the cat had taught it to him. He did not feel that +Vertigo trod in the air behind him and stretched her polypus-like arms +towards him. Now he stood on the highest round of the ladder and +perceived <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>that he was not sufficiently high to enable him to see into +the nest; he could reach it with his hands. He tried how firm the +twigs were, which plaited in one another formed the bottom of the +nest; when he had assured himself of a thick and immoveable one, he +swung himself off of the ladder. He had his breast and head over the +nest, out of which streamed towards him a stifling stench of carrion; +torn lambs, chamois and birds lay decomposing around him. Vertigo, who +had no power over him, blew poisonous vapours into his face to stupify +him; below in the black, yawning abyss, sat the Ice-Maiden herself, on +the hastening water, with her long greenish-white hair and stared at +him with death-like eyes, which were pointed at him like two rifle +barrels.</p> + +<p>"Now, I shall catch you!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>Seated in one corner of the eagle's nest was the eaglet, who could not +fly yet, although so strong and powerful. Rudy fastened his eyes on +it, held himself with his whole strength firmly by one hand, and with +the other threw the noose around it. It was captured alive, its legs +were in the knot; Rudy cast the rope over his shoulder, so that the +animal dangled some distance below him, and sustained himself by +another rope which hung down, until his feet touched the upper round +of the ladder.</p> + +<p>"Hold fast, do not think that you will fall and then you are sure not +to do so!" That was the old lesson, and he followed it; held fast, +climbed, was sure not to fall and he did not.</p> + +<p>There resounded a strong <i>jodling</i>, and a joyous one too. Rudy stood +on the firm, rocky ground with the young eaglet.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>VIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE NEWS WHICH THE PARLOUR-CAT RELATED.</h4> +<br /> + +<p>"Here is what you demanded!" said Rudy, on entering the house of the +miller at Bex, as he placed a large basket on the floor and took off +the covering. Two yellow eyes, with black circles around them, fiery +and wild, looked out as if they wished to set on fire, or to kill +those around them. The short beak yawned ready to bite and the neck +was red and downy.</p> + +<p>"The eaglet!" cried the miller. Babette screamed, jumped to one side +and could neither turn her eyes from Rudy, nor from the eaglet.</p> + +<p>"You do not allow yourself to be frightened!" said the miller.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>"And you keep your word, at all times," said Rudy, "each has his +characteristic trait!"</p> + +<p>"But why did you not break your neck?" asked the miller.</p> + +<p>"Because I held on firmly," answered Rudy, "and I hold firmly on +Babette!"</p> + +<p>"First see that you have her!" said the miller and laughed; that was a +good sign; Babette knew this.</p> + +<p>"Let us take the eaglet from the basket, it is terrible to see how he +glares! How did you get him?"</p> + +<p>Rudy was obliged to recount his adventure, whilst the miller stared at +him with eyes, which grew larger and larger.</p> + +<p>"With your courage and with your luck you could take care of three +wives!" said the miller.</p> + +<p>"Thanks! Thanks!" cried Rudy.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>"Yes, but you have not yet Babette!" said the miller as he struck the +young chamois hunter, jestingly on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the latest news in the mill?" said the parlour-cat to the +kitchen-cat. "Rudy has brought us the young eagle and taken Babette in +exchange. They have kissed each other and the father looked on. That +is just as good as a betrothal; the old man did not overturn anything, +he drew in his claws, took his nap and left the two seated, caressing +each other. They have so much to relate, they will not get through +till Christmas!"</p> + +<p>They had not finished at Christmas.</p> + +<p>The wind whistled through the brown foliage, the snow swept through +the valley as it did on the high mountains. The Ice-Maiden sat in her +proud castle and arrayed herself in her winter costume; the ice walls +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>stood in glazed frost; where the mountain streams waved their watery +veil in summer, were now seen thick elephantine icicles, shining +garlands of ice, formed of fantastic ice crystals, encircled the +fir-trees, which were powdered with snow.</p> + +<p>The Ice-Maiden rode on the blustering wind over the deepest valleys. +The snow covering lay over all Bex; Rudy stayed in doors more than was +his wont, and sat with Babette. The wedding was to take place in the +summer; their friends talked so much of it that it often made their +ears burn. All was sunshine with them, and the loveliest alpine rose +was Babette, the sprightly, laughing Babette, who was as charming as +the early spring; the spring that makes the birds sing, that will +bring the summer time and the wedding day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>"How can they sit there and hang over each other," exclaimed the +parlour-cat, "I am really tired of their eternal mewing!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="IX" id="IX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>IX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE ICE-MAIDEN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The early spring time had unfolded the green leaves of the walnut and +chestnut trees; they were remarkably luxuriant from the bridge of St. +Maurice to the banks of the lake of Geneva.</p> + +<p>The Rhone, which rushes forth from its source, has under the green +glacier the palace of the Ice-Maiden. She is carried by it and the +sharp wind to the elevated snow-fields, where she extends herself on +her damp cushions in the brilliant sunshine. There she sits and gazes, +with far-seeing sight, upon the valley where mortals busily move about +like so many ants.</p> + +<p>"Beings endowed with mental powers, as the children of the Sun, call +you," said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>the Ice-Maiden—"ye are worms! <i>One</i> snow-ball rolled and +you and your houses and towns are crushed and swept away!" She raised +her proud head still higher and looked with death-beaming eyes far +around and below her. From the valley resounded a rumbling, a blasting +of rocks, men were making railways and tunnels. "They are playing like +moles," said she, "they excavate passages, and a noise is made like +the firing of a gun. When I transpose <i>my</i> castles, it roars louder +than the rolling of the thunder!"</p> + +<p>A smoke arose from the valley and moved along like a floating veil, +like a waving plume; it was the locomotive which led the train over +the newly built railroad—this crooked snake, whose limbs are formed +of cars upon cars. It shot along with the speed of an arrow.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>"They are playing the masters with their mental powers," said the +Ice-Maiden, "but the powers of nature are the ruling ones!" and she +laughed and her laugh was echoed in the valley.</p> + +<p>"Now an avalanche is rolling!" said the men below.</p> + +<p>Still more loudly sang the children of the Sun; they sang of the +"thoughts" of men which fetter the sea to the yoke, cut down mountains +and fill up valleys; of human thoughts which rule the powers of +nature. At this moment, a company of travellers crossed the snow-field +where the Maiden sat; they had bound themselves firmly together with +ropes, in order to form a large body on the smooth ice-field by the +deep abyss.</p> + +<p>"Worms!" said she, "as if you were lords of creation!" She turned from +them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>and looked mockingly upon the deep valley, where the cars were +rushing by.</p> + +<p>"There sit those <i>thoughts</i> in their power of strength! I see them +all!—There sits one, proud as a king and alone! They sit in masses! +There, half are asleep! When the steam-dragon stops, they will descend +and go their way! The thoughts go out into the world!" She laughed.</p> + +<p>"There rolls another avalanche!" they said in the valley.</p> + +<p>"It will not catch us!" said two on the back of the steam +dragon;—"two souls and one thought"—these were Rudy and Babette; the +miller was there also.</p> + +<p>"As baggage," said he, "I go along, as the indispensable!"</p> + +<p>"There sit the two," said the Ice-Maiden, "I have crushed many a +chamois; I have bent and broken millions of alpine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>roses, so that no +roots were left! I shall annihilate <i>them</i>! The thoughts! The mental +powers!" She laughed.</p> + +<p>"There rolls another avalanche!" they said in the valley.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="X" id="X"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>X.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE GOD-MOTHER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In Montreux, one of the adjoining towns, which with Clarens, Vernex +and Crin forms a garland around the northeast part of the lake of +Geneva, dwelt Babette's god-mother, a distinguished English lady, with +her daughters and a young relation. Although she had but lately +arrived, the miller had already made her his visit and announced +Babette's engagement; had spoken of Rudy and the eaglet; of the visit +to Interlaken and in short had told the whole story. This had rejoiced +her in the highest degree, both for Rudy and Babette's sake, as well +as for the miller's; they must all visit her—therefore they came. +Babette was to see <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>her god-mother, and the god-mother was to see +Babette.</p> + +<p>At the end of the lake of Geneva, by the little town of Villeneuve, +lay the steam-boat which after half an hour's trip from Vernex, +arrived at Montreux. This is one of the coasts which are sung of by +the poets. Here sat Byron, by the deep bluish green lake, under the +walnut trees and wrote his melodious verses upon the prisoner of the +deep sombre castle of Chillon. Here, where Clarens with its weeping +willows, mirrored itself in the waters, once wandered Rousseau and +dreamt of Heloïse. Yonder, where the Rhone glides along under Savoy's +snow-topped mountains and not far from its mouth, in the lake lies a +little island, indeed it is so small, that from the coast it is taken +for a vessel. It is a valley between the rocks, which a lady caused +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>be dammed up a hundred years ago and to be covered with earth and +planted with three acacia-trees, which now shade the whole island. +Babette was quite charmed with this little spot; they must and should +go there, yes, it must be charming beyond description to be on the +island; but the steamer sailed by, and stopped as it should, at +Vernex.</p> + +<p>The little party wandered between the white, sunlighted walls, which +surround the vineyards of the little mountain town of Montreux, +through the fig-trees which flourish before every peasant's house and +in whose gardens, the laurel and cypress trees are green. Half-way up +the hill stood the boarding house where the god-mother resided.</p> + +<p>The reception was very cordial. The god-mother was a large amiable +person and had a round smiling countenance; as a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>child she must have +had a real Raphael's angel head, but now it was an old angel's head +with silvery white hair, well curled. The daughters were tall, +slender, refined and much dressed. The young cousin who was with them, +was clad in white from head to foot; he had golden hair and immense +whiskers; he immediately showed little Babette the greatest attention.</p> + +<p>Richly bound books, loose music and drawings lay strewn about the +large table; the balcony door stood open and one had a view of the +beautiful out-spread lake, which was so shining, so still, that the +mountains of Savoy with their little villages, their forest and their +snowy peaks mirrored themselves in it.</p> + +<p>Rudy, who usually was so full of life, so merry and so daring, did not +feel in his element; he moved about over the smooth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>floor as though +he were treading on peas. How wearily the time dragged along, it was +just as if one was in a tread mill! If they did go walking, why, that +was just as slow; Rudy could take two steps forwards and two steps +backwards and still remain in the pace of the others.</p> + +<p>When they came to Chillon, (the old sombre castle on the rocky island) +they entered in order to see the dungeon and the martyr's stake, as +well as the rusty chains on the wall; the stone bed for those +condemned to death and the trap-door where the wretched beings impaled +on iron goads, were hurled into the breakers. It was a place of +execution elevated through Byron's song to the world of poetry. Rudy +was sad, he lent over the broad stone sill of the window, gazed into +the deep blue water and over to the little solitary island with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>its +three acacias and wished himself there, free from the whole gossiping +society. Babette was remarkably merry, she had been indescribably +amused. The cousin found her perfect.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a perfect jackanapes!" said Rudy; this was the first time, that +he had said something, that did not please her. The Englishman had +presented her with a little book, as a souvenir of Chillon,—Byron's +poem of "The Prisoner of Chillon," in the French language, so that +Babette might read it.</p> + +<p>"The book may be good," said Rudy, "but the finely combed fellow that +gave it to you does not please me!"</p> + +<p>"He looked like a meal-bag, without meal in it!" said the miller and +laughed at his own wit. Rudy laughed and thought that this was very +well said.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="XI" id="XI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>XI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE COUSIN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Rudy came to the mill, a couple of days afterwards, he found the +young Englishman there. Babette had just cooked some trout for him and +had dressed them with parsley in order to make them appear more +inviting. That was assuredly not necessary. What did the Englishman +want here? Did he come in order to have Babette entertain and wait +upon him?</p> + +<p>Rudy was jealous and that amused Babette; it rejoiced her, to learn +the feelings of his heart, the strong as well as the weak ones.</p> + +<p>Until now love had been a play and she played with Rudy's whole heart; +yet he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>was her happiness, her life's thought, the noblest one! The +more gloomy he looked, the more her eyes laughed and she would have +liked to kiss the blonde Englishman with his golden whiskers, if she +could have succeeded by so doing, in making Rudy rush away furious. +Then, yes then, she would have known how much he loved her. That was +not right, that was not wise in little Babette; but she was only +nineteen! She did not reflect and still less did she think how her +behaviour towards the young Englishman might be interpreted; for it +was lighter and merrier than was seemly for the honourable and newly +affianced daughter of the miller.</p> + +<p>The mill lay where the highway slopes—under the snow covered rocky +heights—which are called here, in the language of the country +"Diablerets" close to a rapid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>mountain stream, which was of a greyish +white, like bubbling soap suds. A smaller stream, rushes forth from +the rocks on the other side of the river, passes through an enclosed, +broad rafter-made-gutter and turns the large wheel of the mill. The +gutter was so full of water, that it streamed over and offered a most +slippery way, to one who had the idea of crossing more quickly to the +mill; a young man had this idea—the Englishman. Guided by the light, +which shone from Babette's window, he arrived in the evening, clothed +in white, like a miller's boy; he had not learnt to climb and nearly +tumbled head over heels into the stream, but escaped with wet sleeves +and splashed pantaloons. He reached Babette's window, muddy and wet +through, there he climbed into the old linden tree and imitated the +screech of an owl, for he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>could not sing like any other bird. Babette +heard it and peeped through the thin curtains, but when she remarked +the white man and recognized him, her little heart fluttered with +alarm, but also with anger. She hastily extinguished the light, +fastened the windows securely and then she let him howl.</p> + +<p>If Rudy was in the mill it would have been dreadful, but Rudy was not +there; no, it was much worse, for he was below. There was loud +conversation, angry words; there might be blows; yes, perhaps murder.</p> + +<p>Babette was terrified; she opened the window, called Rudy's name and +begged him to go; she said she would not suffer him to remain.</p> + +<p>"You will not suffer me to remain," he exclaimed, "then it is a +preconcerted thing! You were expecting other friends, friends better +than myself; shame on you, Babette!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>"You are detestable," said Babette, "I hate you!" and she wept. "Go! +Go!"</p> + +<p>"I have not deserved this!" said he, and departed. His cheeks burned +like fire, his heart burned like fire.</p> + +<p>Babette threw herself on her bed and wept.</p> + +<p>"So much as I love you, Rudy, how can you believe ill of me!"</p> + +<p>She was angry, very angry, and this was good for her; otherwise she +would have sorrowed deeply; but now she could sleep, and she slept the +strengthening sleep of youth.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="XII" id="XII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>XII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE EVIL POWERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Rudy forsook Bex and went on his way home, in the fresh, cool air, up +the snow-covered mountain, where the Ice-Maiden ruled. The leafy trees +which lay beneath him, looked like potato vines; fir-trees and bushes +became less frequent; the alpine roses grew in the snow, which lay in +little spots like linen put out to bleach. There stood a blue anemone, +he crushed it with the barrel of his gun.</p> + +<p>Higher up two chamois appeared and Rudy's eyes gained lustre and his +thoughts took a new direction; but he was not near enough to make a +good shot; he ascended still higher, where only stiff grass grows +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>between the blocks of stone; the chamois were quietly crossing the +snow field; he hurried hastily on; the fog was descending and he +suddenly stood before the steep rocky wall. The rain commenced to +fall.</p> + +<p>He felt a burning thirst; heat in his head, cold in all his limbs; he +grasped his hunting flask, but it was empty; he had not thought of +filling it when he rushed up the hill. He had never been ill, but now +he was so; he was weary and had a desire to throw himself down to +sleep, but everything was streaming with water. He endeavoured to +collect his ideas, but all objects danced before his eyes. Suddenly he +perceived a newly built house leaning against the rocks and in the +doorway stood a young girl. Yes, it appeared to him that it was the +schoolmaster's Annette, whom he had once kissed whilst dancing; but it +was not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>Annette and yet he had seen her before—perhaps in +Grindelwald, on the evening when he returned from the shooting-festival +at Interlaken.</p> + +<p>"Where do you come from?" asked he.</p> + +<p>"I am at home," said she, "I tend my flock!"</p> + +<p>"Your flock, where do they pasture? Here are only cliffs and snow!"</p> + +<p>"You have a ready answer," said she and laughed; "below there is a +charming meadow! There are my goats! I take good care of them! I lose +none of them, what is mine, remains mine!"</p> + +<p>"You are bold!" said Rudy.</p> + +<p>"So are you!" answered she.</p> + +<p>"Have you any milk? Do give me some, my thirst is intolerable!"</p> + +<p>"I have something better than milk," said she, "and you shall have +it! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>Travellers came yesterday with their guide, but they forgot a +flask of wine, such as you have never tasted; they will not come for +it, I shall not drink it, so drink you!"</p> + +<p>She brought the wine, poured it in a wooden cup and handed it to Rudy.</p> + +<p>"That is good," said he, "I have never drunk such a warming, such a +fiery wine!" His eyes beamed, a life, a glow came over him; all sorrow +and oppression seemed to die away; gushing, fresh human nature stirred +itself within him.</p> + +<p>"Why this is the schoolmaster's Annette," exclaimed he, "give me a +kiss!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, give me the beautiful ring, which you wear on your finger!"</p> + +<p>"My engagement ring?"</p> + +<p>"Just that one!" said the young girl and pouring wine into the cup, +put it to his lips and he drank. Then the joy of life streamed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>in his +blood; the whole world seemed to belong to him. "Why torment one's +self? Every thing is made for our enjoyment and happiness! The stream +of life is the stream of joy, and forgetfulness is felicity!" He +looked at the young girl, it was Annette and then again not Annette; +still less, an enchanted phantom, as he had named her, when he met her +near Grindelwald. The girl on the mountain was fresh as the newly +fallen snow, blooming as the alpine rose and light as a kid; and a +human being like Rudy. He wound his arm about her, looked in her +strange clear eyes, yes, only for a second—but was it spiritual life +or was it death which flowed through him? Was he raised on high, or +did he sink into the deep, murderous ice-pit, deeper and ever deeper? +He saw icy walls like bluish green glass, numberless clefts yawned +around, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>the water sounded as it dropped, like a chime of bells; +it was pearly, clear and shone in bluish white flames. The Ice-Maiden +gave him a kiss, which made him shiver from head to foot and he gave a +cry of pain. He staggered and fell; it grew dark before his eyes, but +soon all became clear to him again; the evil powers had had their +sport with him.</p> + +<p>The alpine maiden had vanished, the mountain hut had vanished, the +water beat against the bare rocky walls and all around him lay snow. +Rudy wet to the skin, trembled from cold and his ring had disappeared, +his engagement ring, which Babette had given him. He tried to fire off +his rifle which lay near him in the snow but it missed. Humid clouds +lay in the clefts like firm masses of snow and Vertigo watched for her +powerless prey; beneath him in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>deep chasm it sounded as if a +block of the rock was rolling down and was endeavouring to crush and +tear up all that met it in its fall.</p> + +<p>In the mill sat Babette and wept; Rudy had not been there for six +days; he who had been so wrong; he who must beg her forgiveness, +because she loved him with her whole heart.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>XIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>IN THE MILLER'S HOUSE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"What confusion!" said the parlour-cat to the kitchen-cat.</p> + +<p>"Now all is wrong between Rudy and Babette. She sits and weeps and he +thinks no longer on her, I suppose.</p> + +<p>"I cannot bear it!" said the kitchen-cat.</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said the parlour-cat, "but I shall not worry myself any +longer about it! Babette can take the red-whiskered one for a dear +one, but he has not been here either, since he tried to get on the +roof!"</p> + +<p>Within and without, the evil powers ruled, and Rudy knew this, and +reflected upon what had taken place both around and within him, whilst +upon the mountain. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>Were those faces, or was all a feverish dream? He +had never known fever or sickness before. Whilst he condemned Babette, +he also condemned himself. He thought of the wild, wicked feelings +which had lately possessed him. Could he confess everything to +Babette? Every thought, which in the hour of temptation might have +become a reality? He had lost her ring and by this loss had she won +him back. Could she confess to him? It seemed as if his heart would +break when he thought of her; so many recollections passed through his +soul. He saw her a lively, laughing, petulant child; many a loving +word, which she had said to him in the fullness of her heart, shot +like a sunbeam through his breast and soon all there was sunshine for +Babette.</p> + +<p>She must be able to confess to him and she should do so.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>He came to the mill, he came to confession; and this commenced with a +kiss, and ended with the fact that Rudy was the sinner; his great +fault was, that he had doubted Babette's fidelity; yes, that was +indeed atrocious in him! Such mistrust, such violence could bring them +both into misfortune! Yes, most surely! Thereupon Babette preached him +a little sermon, which much diverted her and became her charmingly; in +one article Rudy was quite right; the god-mother's relation was a +jackanapes! She should burn the book that he had given her, and not +possess the slightest object which could remind her of him.</p> + +<p>"Now it is all arranged," said the parlour-cat, "Rudy is here again, +they understand each other and that is a great happiness!"</p> + +<p>"Last night," said the kitchen-cat, "I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>heard the rats say that the +greatest happiness was to eat tallow candles, and to have abundance of +tainted meat. Now who must one believe, the rats or the lovers?"</p> + +<p>"Neither of them," said the parlour-cat, "that is the surest way!"</p> + +<p>The greatest happiness for Rudy and Babette was drawing near; they +were awaiting, so they said, their happiest day, their wedding day.</p> + +<p>But the wedding was not to be in the church of Bex, nor in the +miller's house; the god-mother wished it to be solemnized near her, +and the marriage ceremony was to take place in the beautiful little +church of Montreux. The miller insisted that her desire should be +fulfilled; he alone knew what the god-mother intended for the young +couple; they were to receive a bridal present from her, which was well +worth so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>slight a concession. The day was appointed. They were to +leave for Villeneuve, in time to arrive at Montreux early in the +morning, and so enable the god-mother's daughters to dress the bride.</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose there will be a wedding here in the house, on the +following day," said the parlour-cat, "otherwise, I would not give a +single mew for the whole thing!"</p> + +<p>"There will be a feast here," said the kitchen-cat, "the ducks are +slain, the pigeons necks wrung, and a whole deer hangs on the wall. My +teeth itch just with looking on! To-morrow the journey commences!"</p> + +<p>Yes, to-morrow! Rudy and Babette sat together for the last time in the +mill.</p> + +<p>Without was the alpine glow; the evening bells pealed; the daughters +of the Sun sang: "What is for the best will take place!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>XIV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The sun had gone down; the clouds lowered themselves into the Rhone +valley—between the high mountains; the wind blew from the south over +the mountains—an African wind, a Föhn,—which tore the clouds +asunder. When the wind had passed, all was still for an instant; the +parted clouds hung in fantastic forms between the forest-grown +mountains. Over the hastening Rhone, their shapes resembled +sea-monsters of the primeval world, soaring eagles of the air and +leaping frogs of the ditches—they seemed to sink into the rapid +stream and to sail on the river, yet they still floated in the air. +The stream <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>carried away a pine tree, torn up by the roots; and the +water sent whirlpools ahead; this was Vertigo, with her attendants, +and they danced in circles on the foaming stream. The moon shone on +the snow of the mountain-peaks; it lighted up the dark forest and the +singular white clouds; the peasants of the mountain, saw through their +window panes, the nightly apparitions and the spirits of the powers of +nature, as they sailed before the Ice-Maiden. She came from her +glacier castle, she sat in a frail bark, a felled fir-tree; the water +of the glaciers carried her up the stream out to the main sea.</p> + +<p>"The wedding guests are coming!" was whizzed and sung in the air and +in the water.</p> + +<p>Visions without and visions within!</p> + +<p>Babette dreamt a wonderful dream.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>It appeared to her, as though she was married to Rudy, and had been so +for many years. He had gone chamois hunting and as she sat at home, +the young Englishman with the golden whiskers was beside her; his eyes +were fiery, his words seemed endowed with magical power; he reached +her his hand and she was obliged to follow him.</p> + +<p>They flew from home. Steadily downwards.</p> + +<p>A weight lay upon her heart and it grew ever heavier. It was a sin +against Rudy, a sin against God; suddenly she stood forsaken. Her +clothes were torn by the thorns; her hair had grown grey; she looked +up in her sorrow and she saw Rudy on the edge of the rock. She +stretched her arms towards him, but she ventured neither to call, nor +to implore him; but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>she soon saw that it was not he himself, only his +hunting coat and hat, which were hanging on his alpine staff, as the +hunters are accustomed to place them, in order to deceive the chamois! +Babette moaned in boundless anguish:</p> + +<p>"Ah! would that I had died on my wedding day, my happiest day! Oh! my +heavenly Father! That would have been a mercy, a life's happiness! +Then we would have obtained, the best, that could have happened to us! +No one knows his future!" In her impious sorrow, she threw herself +down the steep precipice. It seemed as if a string broke, and a +sorrowful tone resounded.</p> + +<p>Babette awoke—the dream was at an end and obliterated; but she knew +that she had dreamt of something terrible, and of the young +Englishman, whom she had neither seen, nor thought of, for many +months. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>Was he perhaps in Montreux? Should she see him at her +wedding? A slight shadow flitted over her delicate mouth, her brow +contracted; but her smile soon returned; her eyes sparkled again; the +sun shone so beautifully without, and to-morrow, yes to-morrow was her +and Rudy's wedding day.</p> + +<p>Rudy had already arrived, when she came down stairs, and they soon +left for Villeneuve. They were so happy, the two, and the miller also; +he laughed and was radiant with joy; he was a good father, an honest +soul.</p> + +<p>"Now we are the masters of the house!" said the parlour-cat.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="XV" id="XV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>XV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was not yet night, when the three joyous people reached Villeneuve +and took their dinner. The miller seated himself in an arm-chair with +his pipe and took a little nap. The betrothed went out of the town arm +in arm, out on the carriage way, under the bush-grown rocks, to the +deep bluish-green lake. Sombre Chillon, with its grey walls and heavy +towers, mirrored itself in the clear water; but still nearer lay the +little island, with its three acacias, and it looked like a bouquet on +the lake.</p> + +<p>"How charming it must be there!" said Babette; she felt again the +greatest desire to visit it, and this wish could be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>immediately +fulfilled; for a boat lay on the shore and the rope which fastened it, +was easy to untie. As no one was visible, from whom they could ask +permission, they took the boat without hesitation, for Rudy could row +well. The oars skimmed like the fins of a fish, over the pliant water, +which is so yielding and still so strong; which is all back to carry, +but all mouth to engulph; which smiles—yes, is gentleness itself, and +still awakens terror—and is so powerful in destroying. The rapid +current soon brought the boat to the island; they stepped on land. +There was just room enough for the two to dance.</p> + +<p>Rudy swung Babette three times around, and then they seated themselves +on the little bench, under the acacias, looked into each other's eyes, +held each other by the hand, and everything around them shone in the +splendour of the setting sun. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>forests of fir-trees on the +mountains became of a pinkish lilac aspect, the colour of blooming +heath, and where the bare rocks were apparent, they glowed as if they +were transparent. The clouds in the sky were radiant with a red glow; +the whole lake was like a fresh flaming rose leaf. As the shadows +arose to the snow-covered mountains of Savoy, they became dark blue, +but the uppermost peak seemed like red lava and pointed out for a +moment, the whole range of mountains, whose masses arose glowing from +the bosom of the earth.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Rudy and Babette, that they had never seen such an alpine +glow. The snow-covered Dent-du-Midi, had a lustre like the full moon, +when it rises to the horizon.</p> + +<p>"So much beauty, so much happiness!" they both said.</p> + +<p>"Earth can give me no more," said Rudy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>"an evening hour like this is +a whole life! How often have I felt as now, and thought that if +everything should end suddenly, how happily have I lived! How blessed +is this world! The day ended, a new one dawned and I felt that it was +still more beautiful! How bountiful is our Lord, Babette!"</p> + +<p>"I am so happy!" said she.</p> + +<p>"Earth can give me no more!" exclaimed Rudy.</p> + +<p>The evening bells resounded from the Savoy and Swiss mountains; the +bluish-black Jura arose in golden splendour towards the west.</p> + +<p>"God give you that which is most excellent and best, Rudy!" said +Babette.</p> + +<p>"He will do that," answered Rudy, "to-morrow I shall have it! +To-morrow you will be entirely mine! Mine own, little, lovely wife!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>"The boat!" cried Babette at the same moment.</p> + +<p>The boat, which was to convey them back, had broken loose and was +sailing from the island.</p> + +<p>"I will go for it!" said Rudy. He threw off his coat, drew off his +boots, sprang in the lake and swam towards the boat.</p> + +<p>The clear, bluish-grey water of the ice mountains, was cold and deep. +Rudy gave but a single glance and it seemed as though he saw a gold +ring, rolling, shining and sporting—he thought on his lost engagement +ring—and the ring grew larger, widened into a sparkling circle and +within it shone the clear glacier; all about yawned endless deep +chasms; the water dropped and sounded like a chime of bells, and shone +with bluish-white flames. He saw in a second, what we must say in many +long words. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>Young hunters and young girls, men and women, who had +once perished in the glacier, stood there living, with open eyes and +smiling mouth; deep below them chimed from buried towns the peal of +church bells; under the arches of the churches knelt the congregation; +pieces of ice formed the organ pipes, and the mountain stream played +the organ. On the clear transparent ground sat the Ice-Maiden; she +raised herself towards Rudy, kissed his feet, and the coldness of +death ran through his limbs and gave him an electric shock—ice and +fire. He could not perceive the difference.</p> + +<p>"Mine, mine!" sounded around him and within him.</p> + +<p>"I kissed you, when you were young, kissed you on your mouth! Now I +kiss your feet, you are entirely mine!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>He vanished in the clear blue water.</p> + +<p>Everything was still; the church bells stopped ringing; the last tones +died away with the splendour of the red clouds.</p> + +<p>"You are mine!" sounded in the deep. "You are mine!" sounded from on +high, from the infinite.</p> + +<p>How happy to fly from love to love, from earth to heaven!</p> + +<p>A string broke, a cry of grief was heard, the icy kiss of death +conquered; the prelude ended; so that the drama of life might +commence, discord melted into harmony.—</p> + +<p>Do you call this a sad story?</p> + +<p>Poor Babette! For her it was a period of anguish.</p> + +<p>The boat drifted farther and farther. No one on shore knew that the +lovers were on the island. The evening darkened, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>clouds lowered +themselves; night came. She stood there, solitary, despairing, +moaning. A flash of lightning passed over the Jura mountains, over +Switzerland and over Savoy. From all sides flash upon flash of +lightning, clap upon clap of thunder, which rolled continuously many +minutes. At times the lightning was vivid as sunshine, and you could +distinguish the grape vines; then all became black again in the dark +night. The lightning formed knots, ties, zigzags, complicated figures; +it struck in the lake, so that it lit it up on all sides; whilst the +noise of the thunder was made louder by the echo. The boat was drawn +on shore; all living objects sought shelter. Now the rain streamed +down.</p> + +<p>"Where can Rudy and Babette be in this frightful weather!" said the +miller.</p> + +<p>Babette sat with folded hands, with her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>head in her lap, mute with +sorrow, with screaming and bewailing.</p> + +<p>"In the deep water," said she to herself, "he is as far down as the +glaciers!"</p> + +<p>She remembered what Rudy had related to her of his mother's death, of +his preservation, and how he was withdrawn death-like, from the clefts +of the glacier. "The Ice-Maiden has him again!"</p> + +<p>There was a flash of lightning, as dazzling as the sunlight on the +white snow. Babette started up; at this instant, the sea rose like a +glittering glacier; there stood the Ice-Maiden majestic, pale, blue, +shining, and at her feet lay Rudy's corpse. "Mine!" said she, and then +all around was fog and night and streaming water.</p> + +<p>"Cruel!" moaned Babette, "why must he die, now that the day of our +happiness approached. God! Enlighten my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>understanding! Enlighten my +heart! I do not understand thy ways! Notwithstanding all thy +omnipotence and wisdom, I still grope in the darkness."</p> + +<p>God enlightened her heart. A thought like a ray of mercy, her last +night's dream in all its vividness flashed through her; she remembered +the words which she had spoken: "the wish for the best for herself and +Rudy."</p> + +<p>"Woe is me! Was that the sinful seed in my heart? Did my dream +foretell my future life? Is all this misery for my salvation? Me, +miserable one!"</p> + +<p>Lamenting, sat she in the dark night. In the solemn stillness, sounded +Rudy's last words; the last ones he had uttered: "Earth has no more +happiness to give me!" She had heard it in the fullness of her joy, +she heard it again in all the depths of her sorrow.</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span><hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p>A couple of years have passed since then. The lake smiles, the coast +smiles; the vine branches are filled with ripe grapes; the steamboats +glide along with waving flags and the pleasure boats float over the +watery mirror, with their two expanded sails like white butterflies. +The railroad to Chillon is opened; it leads into the Rhone valley; +strangers alight at every station; they arrive with their red covered +guide books and read of remarkable sights which are to be seen. They +visit Chillon, they stand upon the little island, with its three +acacias—out on the lake—and they read in the book about the +betrothed ones, who sailed over one evening in the year 1856;—of the +death of the bridegroom, and: "it was not till the next morning, that +the despairing shrieks of the bride were heard on the coast!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>The book does not tell, however, of Babette's quiet life with her +father; not in the mill, where strangers now dwell, but in the +beautiful house, near the railway station. There she looks from the +window many an evening and gazes over the chestnut trees, upon the +snow mountains, where Rudy once climbed. She sees in the evening hours +the alpine glow—the children of the Sun encamp themselves above, and +repeat the song of the wanderer, whose mantle the whirlwind tore off, +and carried away: "it took the covering but not the man."</p> + +<p>There is a rosy hue on the snow of the mountains; there is a rosy hue +in every heart, where the thought dwells, that: "God always gives us +that which is best for us!" but it is not always revealed to us, as it +once happened to Babette in her dream.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span><br /> +<a name="The_Butterfly" id="The_Butterfly"></a><hr /> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span><br /> + +<h1>The Butterfly.</h1> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span><br /> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>The butterfly wished to procure a bride for himself—of course, one of +the flowers—a pretty little one. He looked about him. Each one sat +quietly and thoughtfully on her stalk, as a young maiden should sit, +when she is not affianced; but there were many of them, and it was a +difficult matter to choose amongst them. The butterfly could not make +up his mind; so he flew to the daisy. The French call her +<i>Marguerite</i>; they know that she can tell fortunes, and she does this +when lovers pluck off leaf after leaf and ask her at each one a +question about the beloved one: "How does he love me?—With all his +heart?—With <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>sorrow?—Above all?—Can not refrain from it?—Quite +secretly?—A little bit?—Not at all?"—or questions to the same +import. Each one asks in his own language. The butterfly flew towards +her and questioned her; he did not pluck off the leaves, but kissed +each separate one, thinking that by so doing, he would make himself +more agreeable to the good creature.</p> + +<p>"Sweet Margaret Daisy," said he, "of all the flowers you are the +wisest woman! You can prophesy! Tell me, shall I obtain this one or +that one? Which one? If I but know this, I can fly to the charming one +at once, and pay my court!"</p> + +<p>Margaret did not answer. She could not bear to be called a <i>woman</i>, +for she was a young girl, and when one is a young girl, one is not a +woman.</p> + +<p>He asked again, he asked a third time, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>but as she did not answer a +single word, he questioned her no more and flew away without further +parley, intent on his courtship.</p> + +<p>It was early spring time, and there was an abundance of snow-drops and +crocuses. "They are very neat," said the butterfly, "pretty little +confirmed ones, but a little green!" He, like all young men looked at +older girls.</p> + +<p>From thence he flew to the anemones; but he found them a little too +sentimental; the tulips, too showy; the broom, not of a good family; +the linden blossoms, too small—then they had so many relations; as to +the apple blossoms, why to look at them you would think them as +healthy as roses, but to-day they blossom and to-morrow, if the wind +blows, they drop off; a marriage with them would be too short. The pea +blossom pleased him most, she was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>pink and white, she was pure and +refined and belonged to the housewifely girls that look well, and +still can make themselves useful in the kitchen. He had almost +concluded to make love to her, when he saw hanging near to her, a +pea-pod with its white blossom. "Who is that?" asked he. "That is my +sister," said the pea blossom.</p> + +<p>"How now, is that the way you look when older?" This terrified the +butterfly and he flew away.</p> + +<p>The honeysuckles were hanging over the fence—young ladies with long +faces and yellow skins—but he did not fancy their style of beauty. +Yes, but which did he like? Ask him!</p> + +<p>The spring passed, the summer passed, and then came the autumn. The +flowers appeared in their most beautiful dresses, but of what avail +was this? The butterfly's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>fresh youthful feelings had vanished. In +old age, the heart longs for fragrance, and dahlias and gillyflowers +are scentless. So the butterfly flew to the mint. "She has no flower +at all, but she is herself a flower, for she is fragrant from head to +foot and each leaf is filled with perfume. I shall take her!"</p> + +<p>But the mint stood stiff and still, and at last said: "Friendship—but +nothing more! I am old and you are old! We can live very well for one +another, but to marry? No! Do not let us make fools of ourselves in +our old age."</p> + +<p>So the butterfly obtained no one.</p> + +<p>The butterfly remained a bachelor.</p> + +<p>Many violent and transient showers came late in the autumn; the wind +blew so coldly down the back of the old willow trees, that it cracked +within them. It did not do to fly about in summer garments, for even +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>love itself would then grow cold. The butterfly however preferred not +to fly out at all; he had by chance entered a door-way, and there was +fire in the stove—yes, it was just as warm there, as in +summer-time;—there he could live. "Life is not enough," said he, "one +must have sunshine, liberty and a little flower!"</p> + +<p>He flew against the window-panes, was seen, was run through by a pin +and placed in a curiosity-box; one could not do more for him.</p> + +<p>"Now I also am seated on a stalk like a flower," said the butterfly, +"it is not so comfortable after all! But it is as well as being +married, for then one is tied down!" He consoled himself with this.</p> + +<p>"What a wretched consolation!" said the flower, that grew in the pot +in the room.</p> + +<p>"One can not entirely trust to flowers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>that grow in pots," thought +the butterfly, "they have too much intercourse with men."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span><br /> +<a name="The_Psyche" id="The_Psyche"></a><hr /> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span><br /> + +<h1>The Psyche.</h1> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span><br /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>A large star beams in the dawn of morning in the red sky—the +clearest star of the morning—its rays tremble upon the white wall, as +if they wished to write down and relate, the scenes which they had +witnessed during many centuries.</p> + +<p>Listen to one of these stories!</p> + +<p>A short time ago—(this <i>not long ago</i> is with us men—centuries)—my +rays followed a young artist; it was in the realm of the Pope, in the +city of the world, in Rome. Many changes have been made, but the +imperial palace, was, as it is to-day, a ruin; between the overthrown +marble columns and over the ruined bath-rooms, whose walls <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>were still +decorated with gold, grew fig and laurel trees. The Colosseum was a +ruin; the church bells rang, the incense arose and processions passed +through the streets with tapers and gorgeous canopies. The Church was +holy, and art was lofty and holy also. In Rome dwelt Raphael, the +greatest painter of the world, here also dwelt Michael Angelo, the +greatest sculptor of the age; even the Pope did homage to them both, +and honoured them with his visits. Art was recognized, honoured and +rewarded. All greatness and excellence is not seen and recognized.</p> + +<p>In a little narrow street, stood an old house, which had once been a +temple; here dwelt a young artist; he was poor, he was unknown; it is +true that he had young friends, artists also, young in feelings, in +hopes, and in thoughts. They told him, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>that he was rich in talents +and excellence but that he needed confidence in himself. He was never +satisfied with his work and either destroyed all that he modeled or +left it unfinished; this is not the proper course to adopt, if one +would be known, appreciated and live.</p> + +<p>"You are a dreamer," said they, "this is your misfortune! You have not +yet lived, you have not inhaled life in large healthy draughts, you +have not yet enjoyed it. One should do this in youth and become a man! +Look at the great master Raphael whom the Pope honours and the world +admires,—he takes wine and bread with him."</p> + +<p>"He dines with the baker's wife, the pretty Fornarina!" said Angelo, +one of the merry young friends.</p> + +<p>Yes, they all appealed to his good sense and to his youth.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>They wished to have the young artist join them in their merry-makings, +in their extravagances and in their mad tricks; he would do so for a +short time, for his blood was warm, his imagination strong; he could +take his part in their merry conversation, and laugh as loudly as the +others; and yet "the merry life of Raphael," as they named it, +vanished from him like the morning mist, when he saw the godlike +lustre which shone forth from the paintings of the great masters, or +when he stood in the Vatican and beheld the forms of beauty, which the +old sculptors had fashioned from blocks of marble, centuries ago. His +breast swelled, he felt something so lofty, so holy, so elevated +within him, yes, something so great and good, that he longed to create +and chisel like forms from marble blocks. He desired to give +expression to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>feelings which agitated his heart; but how and in +what shape? The soft clay allowed itself to be modeled into beautiful +figures by his fingers, but on the following day, dissatisfied, he +destroyed all he had created.</p> + +<p>One day he passed by one of the rich palaces, of which Rome has so +many; he stood a moment at the large open entrance, and gazed into a +little garden, full of the most beautiful roses, which was surrounded +by archways, decorated with paintings. Large, white callas, with their +green leaves, sprouted forth from marble shells, into which splashed +clear water; a form glided by, a young girl, the daughter of this +princely house, so elegant, so light, so charming! He had never seen +so lovely a woman. Hold! yes, once, one made by Raphael, a painting of +Psyche, in one of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>the palaces of Rome. There she was but painted, +here she breathed and moved.</p> + +<p>She lived in his thoughts and in his heart; he went home to his poor +lodgings and formed a Psyche out of clay; it was the rich, young Roman +girl, the princely woman, and he gazed at his work with satisfaction, +for the first time. This had a signification—it was <i>She</i>. When his +friends looked upon it, they exclaimed with joy, that this work was a +revelation of his artistic greatness, which they had always +recognized, but which now should be recognized by the whole world.</p> + +<p>Clay is natural, flesh like, but it has not the whiteness, the +durability of marble; the Psyche must obtain life from the block of +marble—and he had the most precious piece of marble. It had been the +property of his parents, and had been lying many years, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>in the court +yard; bits of broken bottles, remains of artichokes were heaped over +it and it was soiled, but its interior was white as the mountain snow; +the Psyche should rise forth from it.</p> + +<p>One day, it so happened—it is true, that the clear stars do not +relate it, for they did not see it, but we know it—that a +distinguished Roman party, came to view the young artist's work, of +which they had casually heard. Who were the distinguished visitors? +Poor young man! All too happy young man, one may call him also. Here +in his room stood the young girl herself—with what a smile—when her +father said: "You are that, living!" One cannot picture the look, one +cannot render the look, the strange look with which she glanced at the +young artist; it was a look which elevated, ennobled and—destroyed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>"The Psyche must be executed in marble!" said the rich man. This was a +word of life, for the dead clay and for the heavy block of marble; it +was also a word of life for the young man who was overcome by emotion. +"I will buy it, as soon as the work is completed!" said the princely +man.</p> + +<p>It seemed as though a new era had dawned in the poor work-room; +occupation, life and gayety, lighted it up. The beaming morning star +saw how the work progressed. Even the clay had been endowed with a +soul, since <i>she</i> had been there, and he bent entranced over the well +known features.</p> + +<p>"Now I know what life is," he exclaimed with delight, "it is love! it +is the elevation of the heart to the divine, it is rapture for the +beautiful! What my friends call life and enjoyment, is perishable, +like bubbles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>in the fermenting lees, not the pure, heavenly wine of +the altar, the consecration of life!"</p> + +<p>The marble block was erected, the chisel hewed away large pieces; the +labourer's part was done, marks and points placed, until little by +little, the stone became a body, a shape of beauty—the Psyche—as +charming as was the woman made by God. The massive stone became a +soaring, dancing, airy, light and graceful Psyche, with a heavenly, +innocent smile, the smile that had been mirrored in the young +sculptor's heart.</p> + +<p>The star, in the rosy-tinted morning saw, and partly understood what +was agitating the mind of the young man; it understood as well, the +varying colour of his checks and the glance of his eye, whilst he +created, as though inspired by God.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>"You are a master like those in the days of the Greeks," said his +enchanted friends, "the world will soon admire your Psyche!"</p> + +<p>"My Psyche," he repeated, "mine, yes, that she must be! I am also an +artist like the great departed ones! God has granted gifts of mercy to +me, and has elevated me to the highly born!"</p> + +<p>He sank, weeping, on his knees and offered up his thanks to God—but +forgot him again for her, for her portrait in marble, for the Psyche +form, that stood before him, as though cut out of snow, blushing, in +the morning sun.</p> + +<p>He should see her, the living, floating one, in reality; she, whose +words sounded like music. He would himself carry the tidings, that the +marble Psyche was completed, to the rich palace. He arrived, passed +through the open court-yard, where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>the water splashed from dolphin's +mouths into marble shells, where callas bloomed and fresh roses +blossomed. He stepped into the large, lofty hall, whose walls and +ceilings were gorgeous with brilliant colours, with paintings and +armorial bearings. Well dressed and haughty servants, holding up their +heads, (like sleigh horses with their bells,) were pacing up and down; +some of them had even stretched themselves out comfortably and +insolently on the carved wooden benches; they appeared to be the +masters of the house. He named his business, and was conducted up the +marble steps, which were covered with soft carpets. On each side stood +statues. Then he came to richly decorated apartments, hung with +paintings and with mosaic floors.</p> + +<p>This pomp, this splendour made him breathe a little heavily, but he +soon felt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>reassured; for the old prince, received him kindly, almost +cordially. After they had spoken, as he was taking leave, he begged +him to visit the young Signora, for she also wished to see him. The +servants led him through magnificent chambers and corridors to her +apartments, of which she was the glory and splendour.</p> + +<p>She spoke with him! No Miserere, no church song could have melted the +heart more, or have more elevated the soul, than did the music of her +voice. He seized her hand and pressed it to his lips—no rose is so +soft, but a fire proceeds from this rose—a fire streams through him +and his breast heaves; words streamed from his lips, but he knew not +what he said. Does the crater know that it throws forth burning lava? +He told her his love. She stood there, surprised, insulted, proud, +yes, scornful; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>with an expression on her face as though a damp, +clammy frog had suddenly touched her. Her cheeks coloured, her lips +grew pale, her eyes were on fire, and still black as the darkness of +night.</p> + +<p>"Frantic creature! Away, away!" said she, as she turned her back upon +him. Her face of beauty seemed turned to stone, like unto the Medusa's +head with its serpent locks. He descended to the street, a weak, +lifeless thing; he entered his room like a night-walker, and in the +rage of his grief, he seized his hammer, brandished it high in the air +and sought to destroy the beautiful marble form. He did not +observe—so excited was he—that Angelo, his friend, stood near him, +and arrested his arm with a firm grasp.</p> + +<p>"Have you become mad? What would you do?" They struggled with each +other. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>Angelo was the stronger, and with a deep drawn breath, he +threw the young artist on a chair.</p> + +<p>"What has occurred?" asked Angelo, "Collect yourself! Speak!"</p> + +<p>What could he say? What could he tell? As Angelo could not seize the +thread of his discourse, he let it drop.</p> + +<p>"Your blood grows thick with this eternal dreaming! Be human, like +others and live not in the clouds! Drink, until you become slightly +intoxicated, then you will sleep well! The young girl from the +Campagna, is as beautiful as the princess in the marble palace, they +are both daughters of Eve, and can not be distinguished one from the +other in Paradise! Follow your Angelo! I am your good angel, the angel +of your life! A time will come when you are old, when the body will +dwindle and some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>beautiful sunshiny day, when everything laughs and +rejoices, you will lie like a withered straw! I do not believe what +the priests say, that there is a life beyond the grave! It is a pretty +fancy, a fairy tale for children, delightful to think upon. I do not +live in imagination, but in reality! Come with me! Become a man!"</p> + +<p>He drew him away, he could do this now, for there was a fire in the +young artist's blood, a change in his soul; an ardent desire to tear +himself away from all his wonted ways, from all accustomed thoughts; +to forget his old self—and to-day he followed Angelo.</p> + +<p>In the suburbs, lay an osteria, which was much frequented by artists; +it was built in the ruins of a bathing chamber. Amongst the dark +shining foliage, hung large yellow lemons which covered a portion of +the old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>reddish-yellow wall. The osteria was a deep vault, almost +like a hollow in the ruins; within, a lamp burned before the image of +the Madonna; a large fire flamed on the hearth, for here they roasted, +cooked and prepared the dishes for the guests. Without, under the +lemon and laurel trees, stood tables ready set.</p> + +<p>They were received merrily and rejoicingly by their friends; they ate +little and drank much and became gay; they sang, and played on the +guitar; the Saltarello sounded and the dance began. Two Roman girls, +models of the young artists, joined in the dance and merriment; two +pretty Bacchante! They had no Psyche forms, they were not delicate +beautiful roses, but fresh, healthy flaming pinks.</p> + +<p>How warm it was on this day, even warm at sundown! Fire in the blood, +fire in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>air, fire in every glance. The air swam in gold and +roses, life was gold and roses.</p> + +<p>"Now you have at last joined us! Allow yourself to be carried away by +the current within and without you!"</p> + +<p>"I never felt so well and joyous before!" said the young artist. "You +are right, you are all of you right. I was a fool, a dreamer; man +belongs to reality and not to fancy!"</p> + +<p>The young man left the osteria, in the clear starry evening, with song +and tinkling guitars, and passed through the narrow streets. The +daughters of the Campagna, the two flaming pinks, were in their train.</p> + +<p>In Angelo's room, the voices sounded more suppressed but not less +fiery, amongst the scattered sketches, the outlines, the glowing, +voluptuous paintings; amongst the drawings on the floor there was many +a sketch of vigorous beauty, like unto the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>daughters of the Campagna, +yet they themselves were much more beautiful. The six-armed lamp +glowed brightly, and the human forms warmed and shone like gods.</p> + +<p>"Apollo! Jupiter! I elevate myself to your heaven, to your glory! +Methinks, that the flower of my life has unfolded within my heart!" +Yes, it did unfold—it withered and fell to pieces; a stunning, +loathsome vapour arose, dazzling the sight, benumbing the thoughts, +extinguishing his sensual, fiery emotions, and all was dark. He went +home, sat down on his bed, and thought. "Fie!" sounded from his lips, +from the bottom of his heart. "Miserable wretch! away! away!"—and he +sighed sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"Away! Away!" These, her words, the words of the living Psyche, +weighed upon him, and flowed from his lips. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>bowed his head upon +the pillows, his thoughts became confused and he slept.</p> + +<p>At the dawn of day he started up.—What was this? Was it a dream? Were +her words, the visit to the osteria, the evening with the purple red +pinks of the Campagna but a dream?—No, all was reality; he had not +known this before.</p> + +<p>The clear star beamed in the purple-tinted air, its rays fell upon +him, and upon the marble Psyche; he trembled whilst he contemplated +the image of immortality, his glance even appeared impure to him. He +threw a covering over it, he touched it once more in order to veil its +form, but he could not view his work.</p> + +<p>Still, sombre, buried in his own meditations, he sat there the whole +day; he took no heed of what passed around him, no one knew what was +agitating this human heart. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>Days passed by, weeks passed by; the +nights were the longest. One morning, the twinkling star saw him rise +from his couch—pale—trembling with fever; he walked to the marble +statue, lifted the cover, gazed upon his work with a sorrowful, deep, +long look, and then almost sinking under the weight, he drew the +statue into the garden. There was a sunken, dried-up well, within it, +into which he lowered the Psyche, threw earth upon it and covered the +fresh grave with small sticks and nettles.</p> + +<p>"Away! Away," was the short funereal service.</p> + +<p>The star in the rosy red atmosphere saw this, and two heavy tears +trembled on the deathly pale cheeks of the fever sick one—sick unto +death, as they called him.</p> + +<p>The lay brother Ignatius came to him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>as a friend and as a physician. +He came, and with the consoling words of religion, he spoke of the +peace and happiness of the church, of the sins of man, of the mercy +and peace of God.</p> + +<p>The words fell like warm sun beams on the moist, fermenting ground; +they dispersed and cleared away the misty clouds, from the troubled +thoughts which had held possession of him; he gazed upon his past +life; everything had been a failure, a deception—yes, <i>had been</i>. Art +was an enchantress, that but leads us into vanity, into earthly +pleasures. We become false to ourselves, false to our friends, false +to our God. The serpent speaks ever in us: "Taste and thou shalt +become like unto God."</p> + +<p>Now, for the first time, he appeared to understand himself, to have +discovered the road to truth, to peace.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>In the church was God's light and brightness, in the monk's cell was +found that peace, which enables man to obtain eternal bliss.</p> + +<p>Brother Ignatius supported him in these thoughts, and the decision was +firmly made—a worldling became a servant of the church;—the young +artist took leave of the world, and entered the cloister.</p> + +<p>How joyfully, how cordially the brothers greeted him! How festive the +ordination! It seemed to him that God was in the sunshine of the +church, and beamed within it, from the holy pictures and from the +shining cross. He stood in the evening sunset, in his little cell, and +opened his window and gazed in the spring-time over old Rome—with her +broken temples, her massive, but dead Colosseum; her blooming acacias, +her flourishing evergreens, her fragrant roses, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>her shining lemons +and oranges, her palm trees fanned by the breeze—and felt touched and +satisfied. The quiet, open Campagna extended to the blue snow-topped +mountains, which appeared to be painted on the air. Everything +breathed beauty and peace. The whole—a dream!</p> + +<p>Yes, the world here was a dream, and the dream ruled the hours and +returned to hours again. But the life of a cloister is a life of many, +many long years.</p> + +<p>Man is naturally impure and he felt this! What flames were these, that +at times glowed through him? Was it the power of the Evil One, that +caused these wild thoughts to rage constantly within him? He punished +his body, but without effect. What portion of his mind was that, which +wound itself around him, pliable as a serpent, and which crept about +his conscience <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>under a loving cloak and consoled him! The saints pray +for us, the holy Virgin prays for us, Jesus himself gave his blood for +us!</p> + +<p>Was it a childlike feeling, or the levity of youth, that had induced +him to give himself up to grace, and which made him feel elevated +above so many? For had he not cast away the vanity of the world, was +he not a son of the church?</p> + +<p>One day, after many years, he met Angelo, who recognized him.</p> + +<p>"Man," said he, "yes, it is you! Are you happy now? You have sinned +against God, and cast his gifts of mercy away from you; you have +gambled away your vocation for this world. Read the parable of the +entrusted pledge. The Master who related it, spoke but truth! What +have you won and found after all? Do not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>make a dream life for +yourself! Make a religion for yourself, as all do. Suppose all is but +a dream, a fancy, a beautiful thought!"</p> + +<p>"Get thee from behind me, Satan!" said the monk, and forsook Angelo.</p> + +<p>"It is a devil, a devil personified! I saw him to-day," murmured the +monk, "I reached him but a finger, and he took my whole hand! No," +sighed he, "the wickedness is in myself; it is also in this man, but +he is not tormented by it; he walks with elevated brow, he has his +enjoyment; I but clutch at the consolation of the church for my +welfare! But if this is only consolation! If all here consists of +beautiful thoughts and but resemble those which beguiled me in the +world? Is it but a deception like unto the beauty of the red evening +clouds and like unto the blue <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>wave-like beauty of the distant +mountains! Seen near, how changed! Eternity, art thou like unto the +great infinite, calm ocean, which beckons to us, calls us, fills us +with presentiments, and if we venture upon it, we sink, we +vanish—die—cease to be?—</p> + +<p>"Deceit! away! away!"</p> + +<p>He sat tearless on his hard couch, desolate, kneeling—before whom? +Before the stone cross which was placed in the wall? No, habit alone +caused his body to bend.</p> + +<p>The deeper he read within himself, the darker all appeared to him. +"Nothing within, nothing without! Life thrown away!" This thought, +crushed him—expunged him.</p> + +<p>"I dare confide to none the doubts which consume me! My prisoner is my +secret and if it escape I am lost!"</p> + +<p>The power of God, wrestled within him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>"Lord! Lord!" he exclaimed in his despair, "be merciful, give me +faith! I cast thy gifts of mercy from me and my vocation for this +world! I prayed for strength and thou hast not given it to me. +Immortality! The Psyche in my breast—away! away!—Must it be buried +like yon Psyche, the light of my life? Never to arise from the grave!"</p> + +<p>The star beamed in the rosy red atmosphere, the star which will be +lost and will vanish, whilst the soul lives and emits light. Its +trembling ray fell upon the white wall, but it spoke not of the glory +of God, of the grace, the eternal love which beams in the breast of +every believer.</p> + +<p>"Can the Psyche never die?—Can one live with consciousness?—Can the +impossible take place?—Yes! Yes! My being is inexplicable. +Inconceivable art thou, oh <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>Lord! A wonder of might, glory and love!"</p> + +<p>His eyes beamed, his eyes closed. The peal of the church bells passed +over the dead one. He was laid in holy ground and his ashes mingled +with the dust of strangers.</p> + +<p>Years afterwards, his bones were exhumed and stood in a niche in the +cloisters, as had stood those of the dead monks before him; they were +dressed in the brown cowl, a rosary of beads placed in his hand, the +sun shone without, incense perfumed within, and mass was read.—</p> + +<p>Years rolled by.</p> + +<p>The bones and legs fell asunder. They stood up the skulls, and with +them, formed the whole outside wall of a church. There he stood in the +burning sunshine; there were so many, many dead, they did not know +their names, much less his.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>See, something living moved in the sunshine in the two eye sockets; +what was that? A brilliant lizard was running about in the hollow +skull, slipping in and out of the large, empty sockets. This was now +the life in the head, where once elevated thoughts, brilliant dreams, +love for art and the magnificent had been rife; from which hot tears +had rolled and where the hope of immortality had lived. The lizard +leaped out and disappeared; the skull crumbled away and became dust to +dust.—</p> + +<p>Centuries passed. Unchanged, the star, clear and large, beamed on as +it had done for centuries. The atmosphere shone with a red rosy hue, +fresh as roses, flaming as blood.</p> + +<p>Where there had once been a little street with the remains of an old +temple, now stood a convent; a grave was dug in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>garden, for a +young nun had died, and she was to be lowered in the earth at this +early hour of the morning. The spade struck against a stone which +appeared of a dazzling whiteness—the white marble came forth—it +rounded into a shoulder;—they used the spade with care, and a female +head became visible—butterfly wings. They raised from the grave, in +which the young nun was to be laid on this rosy morning, a gloriously +beautiful Psyche-form, chiseled from white marble.</p> + +<p>"How magnificent! How perfect a master work!" they said. "Who can the +artist be?" He was unknown. None knew him, save the clear star, which +had been beaming for centuries; it knew the course of his earthly +life, his trials, his failings; it knew that he was: "but a man!" But +he was dead, dispersed as dust must <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>and shall be; but the result of +his best efforts, the glory which pointed out the divine within him, +the Psyche, which never dies, which surpasses in brightness, all +earthly renown, this remained, was seen, acknowledged, admired and +beloved.</p> + +<p>The clear morning star in the rosy tinted sky, cast its most radiant +beams upon the Psyche, and upon the smile of happiness about the mouth +and eyes of the admiring ones, who beheld the soul, chiseled in the +marble block.</p> + +<p>That which is earthly passes away, and is forgotten; only the star in +the infinite knows of it. That which is heavenly surpasses renown; for +renown, fame and earthly glory die away, but—the Psyche lives +forever!</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span><br /> +<a name="The_Snail" id="The_Snail"></a><hr /> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span><br /> + +<h1>The Snail and the Rose-Tree.</h1> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span><br /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>A hedge of hazel-nut bushes encircled the garden; without was field +and meadow, with cows and sheep; but in the centre of the garden stood +a rose-tree, and under it sat a snail—she had much within her, she +had herself.</p> + +<p>"Wait, until my time comes," said she, "I shall accomplish something +more than putting forth roses, bearing nuts, or giving milk, like the +cows and sheep!"</p> + +<p>"I expect something fearfully grand," said the rose-tree, "may I ask +when it will take place?"</p> + +<p>"I shall take my time," said the snail, "you are in too great a hurry, +and when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>this is the case, how can one's expectations be fulfilled?"</p> + +<p>The next year the snail lay in about the same spot under the +rose-tree, which put forth buds and developed roses, ever fresh, ever +new. The snail half crept forth, stretched out its feelers and drew +itself in again.</p> + +<p>"Everything looks as it did a year ago! No progress has been made; the +rose-tree still bears roses; it does not get along any farther!"</p> + +<p>The summer faded away, the autumn passed, the rose-tree constantly +bore flowers and buds, until the snow fell, and the weather was raw +and damp. The rose-tree bent itself towards the earth, the snail crept +in the earth.</p> + +<p>A new year commenced; the roses came out, and the snail came out.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>"Now you are an old rose bush," said the snail, "you will soon die +away. You have given the world everything that you had in you; whether +that be much or little is a question, upon which I have not time to +reflect. But it is quite evident, that you have not done the slightest +thing towards your inward developement; otherwise I suppose that +something different would have sprung from you. Can you answer this? +You will soon be nothing but a stick! Can you understand what I say?"</p> + +<p>"You startle me," said the rose-tree, "I have never thought upon +that!"</p> + +<p>"No, I suppose that you have never meddled much with thinking! Can you +tell me why you blossom? And how it comes to pass? How? Why?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the rose-tree, "I blossom <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>with pleasure because I could +not do otherwise. The sun was so warm, the air so refreshing, I drank +the clear dew and the fortifying rain; I breathed, I lived! A strength +came to me from the earth, a strength came from above, I felt a +happiness, ever new, ever great and therefore I must blossom ever, +that was my life, I could not do otherwise!"</p> + +<p>"You have led a very easy life!" said the snail.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, everything has been given to me," said the rose-tree, "but +still more has been given to you. You are one of those meditative, +pensive, profound natures, one of the highly gifted, that astound the +whole world!"</p> + +<p>"I have assuredly no such thought in my mind," said the snail, "the +world is nothing to me! What have I to do with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>the world? I have +enough with myself, and enough in myself!"</p> + +<p>"But should we not all, here on earth, give the best part of us to +others? Offer what we can!—It is true, that I have only given +roses—but you? You who have received so much, what have you given to +the world? What do you give her?"</p> + +<p>"What I have given? What I give? I spit upon her! She is good for +nothing! I have nought to do with her. Put forth roses, you can do no +more! Let the hazel bushes bear nuts! Let the cows and sheep give +milk; they have each their public, I have mine within myself! I retire +within myself, and there I remain. The world is nothing to me!"</p> + +<p>And thereupon the snail withdrew into her house and closed it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>"That is so sad," said the rose-tree, "with the best will, I cannot +creep in, I must ever spring out, spring forth in roses. The leaves +drop off and are blown away by the wind. Yet, I saw one of the roses +laid in the hymn-book of the mother of the family; one of my roses was +placed upon the breast of a charming young girl, and one was kissed +with joy by a child's mouth. This did me so much good, it was a real +blessing! That is my recollection, my life!"</p> + +<p>And the rose-tree flowered in innocence, and the snail sat +indifferently in her house. The world was nothing to her.</p> + +<p>And years passed away. The snail became earth to earth and the +rose-tree became earth to earth; the remembrances in the hymn-book +were also blown away—but new rose-trees bloomed in the garden, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>new +snails grew in the garden; they crept in their houses and spat.—The +world is nothing to them.</p> + +<p>Shall we read the story of the past again? It will not be different.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 104: succeded replaced with succeeded<br /> +Page 116: petulent replaced with petulant<br /> +Page 144: prefered replaced with preferred<br /> +Page 167: 'were' capitalized to 'Were' (new sentence)<br /> +Page 170: ordonation replaced with ordination<br /> +Page 174: beckens replaced with beckons<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales, by +Hans Christian Andersen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ICE-MAIDEN: AND OTHER TALES. *** + +***** This file should be named 18604-h.htm or 18604-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/0/18604/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales. + +Author: Hans Christian Andersen + +Translator: Fanny Fuller + +Release Date: June 16, 2006 [EBook #18604] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ICE-MAIDEN: AND OTHER TALES. *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation matches the original document. | + | | + | A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected | + | in this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of | + | this document. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE +ICE-MAIDEN: +AND OTHER TALES. + + +By +HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. + + +TRANSLATED +By +FANNY FULLER + + +PHILADELPHIA: F. LEYPOLDT. +1863. + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by +F. LEYPOLDT, +In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States in +and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. + + +PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + +THE ICE-MAIDEN 7 + +THE BUTTERFLY 139 + +THE PSYCHE 149 + +THE SNAIL AND THE ROSE-TREE 183 + + + + +The Ice-Maiden. + + + + +I. + +LITTLE RUDY. + + +Let us visit Switzerland and look around us in the glorious country of +mountains, where the forest rises out of steep rocky walls; let us +ascend to the dazzling snow-fields, and thence descend to the green +plains, where the rivulets and brooks hasten away, foaming up, as if +they feared not to vanish, as they reached the sea. + +The sun beams upon the deep valley, it burns also upon the heavy +masses of snow; so that after the lapse of years, they melt into +shining ice-blocks, and become rolling avalanches and heaped-up +glaciers. + +Two of these lie in the broad clefts of the rock, under the +Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, near the little town of Grindelwald. They +are so remarkable that many strangers come to gaze at them, in the +summer time, from all parts of the world; they come over the high +snow-covered mountains, they come from the deepest valleys, and they +are obliged to ascend during many hours, and as they ascend, the +valley sinks deeper and deeper, as though seen from an air-balloon. + +Far around the peaks of the mountains, the clouds often hang like +heavy curtains of smoke; whilst down in the valley, where the many +brown wooden houses lie scattered about, a sun-beam shines, and here +and there brings out a tiny spot, in radiant green, as though it were +transparent. The water roars, froths and foams below, the water hums +and tinkles above, and it looks as if silver ribbons were fluttering +over the cliffs. + +On each side of the way, as one ascends, are wooden houses; each house +has a little potato-garden, and that is a necessity, for in the +door-way are many little mouths. There are plenty of children, and +they can consume abundance of food; they rush out of the houses, and +throng about the travellers, come they on foot or in carriage. The +whole horde of children traffic; the little ones offer prettily carved +wooden houses, for sale, similar to those they build on the mountains. +Rain or shine, the children assemble with their wares. + +Some twenty years ago, there stood here, several times, a little boy, +who wished to sell his toys, but he always kept aloof from the other +children; he stood with serious countenance and with both hands +tightly clasped around his wooden box, as if he feared it would slip +away from him; but on account of this gravity, and because the boy was +so small, it caused him to be remarked, and often he made the best +bargain, without knowing why. His grandfather lived still higher in +the mountains, and it was he who carved the pretty wooden houses. +There stood in the room, an old cup-board, full of carvings; there +were nut-crackers, knives, spoons, and boxes with delicate foliage, +and leaping chamois; there was everything, which could rejoice a merry +child's eye, but this little fellow, (he was named Rudy) looked at and +desired only the old gun under the rafters. His grandfather had said, +that he should have it some day, but that he must first grow big and +strong enough to use it. + +Small as the boy was, he was obliged to take care of the goats, and if +he who can climb with them is a good guardian, well then indeed was +Rudy. Why he climbed even higher than they! He loved to take the +bird's nests from the trees, high in the air, for he was bold and +daring; and he only smiled when he stood by the roaring water-fall, or +when he heard a rolling avalanche. + +He never played with the other children; he only met them, when his +grandfather sent him out to sell his carvings, and Rudy took but +little interest in this; he much preferred to wander about the rocks, +or to sit and listen to his grandfather relate about old times and +about the inhabitants of Meiringen, where he came from. He said that +these people had not been there since the beginning of the world; they +had come from the far North, where the race called Swedes, dwelt. To +know this, was indeed great wisdom, and Rudy knew this; but he became +still wiser, through the intercourse which he had with the other +occupants of the house--belonging to the animal race. There was a +large dog, Ajola, an heir-loom from Rudy's father; and a cat, and she +was of great importance to Rudy, for she had taught him to climb. +"Come out on the roof!" said the cat, quite plain and distinctly, for +when one is a child, and can not yet speak, one understands the hens +and ducks, the cats and dogs remarkably well; they speak for us as +intelligibly as father or mother. One needs but to be little, and then +even grandfather's stick can neigh, and become a horse, with head, +legs and tail. With some children, this knowledge slips away later +than with others, and people say of these, that they are very +backward, that they remain children fearfully long.--People say so +many things! + +"Come with me, little Rudy, out on the roof!" was about the first +thing that the cat said, that Rudy understood. "It is all imagination +about falling; one does not fall, when one does not fear to do so. +Come, place your one paw so, and your other so! Take care of your +fore-paws! Look sharp with your eyes, and give suppleness to your +limbs! If there be a hole, jump, hold fast, that's the way I do!" + +And Rudy did so, and that was the reason that he sat out on the roof +with the cat so often; he sat with her in the tree-tops, yes, he sat +on the edge of the rocks, where the cats could not come. "Higher, +higher!" said the trees and bushes. "See, how we climb! how high we +go, how firm we hold on, even on the outermost peaks of the rocks!" + +And Rudy went generally on the mountain before the sun rose, and then +he got his morning drink, the fresh, strengthening mountain air, the +drink, that our Lord only can prepare, and men can read its recipe, +and thus it stands written: "the fresh scent of the herbs of the +mountains and the mint and thyme of the valleys." + +All heaviness is imbibed by the hanging clouds, and the wind sends it +out like grape-shot into the fir-woods; the fragrant breeze becomes +perfume, light and fresh and ever fresher--that was Rudy's morning +drink. + +The blessing bringing daughters of the Sun, the sun-beams, kissed his +cheeks, and Vertigo stood and watched, but dared not approach him; and +the swallows below from grandfather's house, where there were no less +than seven nests, flew up to him and the goats, and they sang: "We and +you! and you and we!" They brought greetings from home, even from the +two hens, the only birds in the room; with whom however Rudy never had +intercourse. + +Little as he was, he had traveled, and not a little, for so small a +boy; he was born in the Canton Valais, and had been carried from there +over the mountains. Lately he had visited the Staubbach, which waves +in the air like a silver gauze, before the snow decked, dazzling white +mountain: "the Jungfrau." And he had been in Grindelwald, near the +great glaciers; but that was a sad story. There, his mother had found +her death, and, "little Rudy," so said his grandfather, "had lost his +childish merriment." "When the boy was not a year old, he laughed more +than he cried," so wrote his mother, "but since he was in the +ice-gap, quite another mind has come over him." His grand-father did +not like to speak on the subject, but every one on the mountain knew +all about it. + +Rudy's father had been a postilion, and the large dog in the room, had +always followed him on his journeys to the lake of Geneva, over the +Simplon. In the valley of the Rhone, in Canton Valais, still lived +Rudy's family, on his father's side, and his father's brother was a +famous chamois hunter and a well-known guide. Rudy was only a year +old, when he lost his father, and his mother longed to return to her +relations in Berner Oberlande. Her father lived a few hours walk from +Grindelwald; he was a carver in wood, and earned enough by it to live. +In the month of June, carrying her little child, she started +homewards, accompanied by two chamois hunters; intending to cross the +Gemmi on their way to Grindelwald. They already had accomplished the +longer part of their journey, had passed the high ridges, had come to +the snow-plains, they already saw the valley of their home, with its +well-known wooden houses, and had now but to reach the summit of one +of the great glaciers. The snow had freshly fallen and concealed a +cleft,--which did not lead to the deepest abyss, where the water +roared--but still deeper than man could reach. The young woman, who +was holding her child, slipped, sank and was gone; one heard no cry, +no sigh, nought but a little child weeping. More than an hour elapsed, +before her companions could bring poles and ropes, from the nearest +house, in order to afford assistance. After great exertion they drew +from the ice-gap, what appeared to be two lifeless bodies; every +means were employed and they succeeded in calling the child back to +life, but not the mother. So the old grandfather received instead of a +daughter, a daughter's son in his house; the little one, who laughed +more than he wept, but, who now, seemed to have lost this custom. A +change in him, had certainly taken place, in the cleft of the glacier, +in the wonderful cold world; where, according to the belief of the +Swiss peasant, the souls of the damned are incarcerated until the day +of judgment. + +Not unlike water, which after long journeying, has been compressed into +blocks of green glass, the glaciers lie here, so that one huge mass of +ice is heaped on the other. The rushing stream roars below and melts +snow and ice; within, hollow caverns and mighty clefts open, this is a +wonderful palace of ice, and in it dwells the Ice-Maiden, the Queen of +the glaciers. She, the murderess, the destroyer, is half a child of air +and half the powerful ruler of the streams; therefore, she had received +the power, to elevate herself with the speed of the chamois to the +highest pinnacle of the snow-topped mountain; where the most daring +mountaineer had to hew his way, in order to take firm foot-hold. She +sails up the rushing river on a slender fir-branch--springs from one +cliff to another, with her long snow-white hair, fluttering around her, +and with her bluish-green mantle, which resembles the water of the deep +Swiss lakes. + +"Crush, hold fast! the power is mine!" cried she. "They have stolen a +lovely boy from me, a boy, whom I had kissed, but not kissed to death. +He is again with men, he tends the goats on the mountains; he climbs +up, up high, beyond the reach of all others, but not beyond mine! He +is mine, I shall have him!"-- + +And she ordered Vertigo to fulfil her duty; it was too warm for the +Ice-Maiden, in summer-time, in the green spots where the mint thrives. +Vertigo arose; one came, three came, (for Vertigo had many sisters, +very many of them) and the Maiden chose the strongest among those that +rule within doors and without. They sit on the balusters and on the +spires of the steep towers, they tread through the air as the swimmer +glides through the water and entice their prey down the abyss. Vertigo +and the Ice-Maiden seize on men as the polypus clutches at all within +its reach. Vertigo was to gain possession of Rudy. "Yes, just catch +him for me" said Vertigo. "I cannot do it! The cat, the dirty thing, +has taught him her arts! The child of the race of man, possesses a +power, that repulses me; I cannot get at the little boy, when he hangs +by the branches over the abyss. I may tickle him on the soles of his +feet or give him a box on the ear whilst he is swinging in the air, it +is of no avail. I can do nothing!" + +"We _can_ do it!" said the Ice-Maiden. "You or I! I! I!"-- + +"No, no!" sounded back the echo of the church-bells through the +mountain, like a sweet melody; it was like speech, an harmonious +chorus of all the spirits of nature, mild, good, full of love, for it +came from the daughters of the sun-beams, who encamped themselves +every evening in a circle around the pinnacles of the mountains, and +spread out their rose-coloured wings, that grow more and more red as +the sun sinks, and glow over the high Alps; men call it, "the Alpine +glow." When the sun is down, they enter the peaks of the rocks and +sleep on the white snow, until the sun rises, and then they sally +forth. Above all, they love flowers, butterflies, and men, and amongst +them they had chosen little Rudy as their favourite. + +"You will not catch him! You shall not have him!" said they. "I have +caught and kept stronger and larger ones!" said the Ice-Maiden. + +Then the daughters of the Sun sang a lay of the wanderer, whose cloak +the whirlwind had torn off and carried away. The wind took the +covering, but not the man. "Ye children of strength can seize, but not +hold him; he is stronger, he is more spirit-like, than we; he ascends +higher than the Sun, our mother! He possesses the magic word, that +restrains wind and water, so that they are obliged to obey and serve +him!" + +So sounded cheerfully the bell-like chorus. + +And every morning the sun-beams shone through the tiny window in the +grandfather's house, on the quiet child. The daughters of the +sun-beams kissed him, they wished to thaw him, to warm him and to +carry away with them the icy kiss, which the queenly maiden of the +glaciers had given him, as he lay on his dead mother's lap, in the +deep icy gap, whence he was saved through a miracle. + + + + +II. + +THE JOURNEY TO THE NEW HOME. + + +Rudy was now eight years old. His father's brother, in Rhonethal, the +other side of the mountain, wished to have the boy, for he thought +that with him he would fare and prosper better; his grandfather +perceived this and gave his consent. + +Rudy must go. There were others to take leave of him, besides his +grandfather; first there was Ajola, the old dog. + +"Your father was post-boy and I was post-dog," said Ajola. "We have +travelled up and down; I know dogs and men on the other side of the +mountain. It is not my custom to speak much, but now, that we shall +not have much time to converse with each other, I must talk a little +more than usual. I will relate a story to you; I shall tell you how I +have earned my bread, and how I have eaten it. I do not understand it +and I suppose that you will not either, but it matters not, for I have +discovered that the good things of this earth are not equally divided +between dogs or men. All are not fitted to lie on the lap and sip +milk, I have not been accustomed to it; but I saw a little dog seated +in the coach with us and it occupied a person's place. The woman who +was its mistress, or who belonged to its mistress, had a bottle filled +with milk, out of which she fed it; it got sweet sugar biscuits too, +but it would not even eat them; only snuffed at them, and so the woman +ate them herself. I ran in the mud, by the side of the coach, as +hungry as a dog could be; I chewed my crude thoughts, that was not +right--but this is often done! If I could but have been carried on +some one's knee and have been seated in a coach! But one cannot have +all one desires. I have not been able to do so, neither with barking +nor with yawning." + +That was Ajola's speech, and Rudy seized him by the neck and kissed +him on his moist mouth, and then he took the cat in his arms, but she +was angry at it. + +"You are getting too strong for me, and I will not use my claws +against you! Just climb over the mountains, I taught you to climb! +Never think that you will fall, then you are secure!" + +Then the cat ran away, without letting Rudy see how her grief shone +out of her eye. + +The hens ran about the floor; one had lost her tail; a traveller, who +wished to be a hunter, had shot it off, because the creature had taken +the hen for a bird of prey! + +"Rudy is going over the mountain!" said one hen. "He is always in a +hurry," said the other, "and I do not care for leave-takings!" and so +they both tripped away. + +And the goats, too, said farewell and cried: "Mit, mit, mah!" and that +was so sad. + +There were two nimble guides in the neighbourhood, and they were about +to cross the mountains; they were to descend to the other side of the +Gemmi, and Rudy followed them on foot. This was a severe march for +such a little chap, but he had strength and courage, and felt not +fatigue. + +The swallows accompanied them a part of the way. They sang: "We and +you! You and us!" The road went over the rapid Luetschine, which +rushes forth from the black clefts of the glacier of Grindelwald, in +many little streams. The fallen timber and the quarry-stones serve as +bridges; they pass the alder-bush and descend the mountain where the +glacier has detached itself from the mountain side; they cross over +the glacier, over the blocks of ice, and go around them. Rudy was +obliged to creep a little, to walk a little, his eyes sparkled with +delight, and he trod as firmly with his iron-shod mountain shoes, as +though he wished to leave his foot-prints where he had stepped. The +black mud which the mountain stream had poured upon the glacier gave +it a calcined appearance, but the bluish-green, glassy ice still shone +through it. They were obliged to go around the little ponds which +were dammed up by blocks of ice; during these wanderings they came too +near a large stone, which lay tottering on the brink of a crevice in +the ice. The stone lost its equilibrium, it fell, rolled and the echo +resounded from the deep hollow paths of the glacier. + +Up, ever up; the glacier stretched itself on high--as a river, of +wildly heaped up masses of ice, compressed among the steep cliffs. For +an instant Rudy thought on what they had told him, about his having +laid with his mother, in one of these cold-breathing chasms. Such +thoughts soon vanished; it seemed to him as though it were some other +story--one of the many which had been related to him. Now and then, +when the men thought that the ascent was too difficult for the little +lad, they would reach him their hand, but he was never weary and +stood on the slippery ice as firm as a chamois. Now they reached the +bottom of the rocks, they were soon among the bare stones, which were +void of moss; soon under the low fir-trees and again out on the green +common--ever changing, ever new. Around them arose the snow mountains, +whose names were as familiar to Rudy as they were to every child in +the neighbourhood: "the Jungfrau," "the Moench," and "the Eiger." + +Rudy had never been so high before, had never before trodden on the +vast sea of snow, which lay there with its immoveable waves. The wind +blew single flakes about, as it blows the foam upon the waters of the +sea. + +Glacier stood by glacier, if one may say so, hand in hand; each one +was an ice-palace for the Ice-Maiden, whose power and will is: "to +catch and to bury." The sun burned warmly, the snow was dazzling, as +if sown with bluish-white, glittering diamond sparks. Countless +insects (butterflies and bees mostly) lay in masses dead on the snow; +they had ventured too high, or the wind had borne them thither, but to +breathe their last in these cold regions. A threatening cloud hung +over the Wetterhorn, like a fine, black tuft of wool. It lowered +itself slowly, heavily, with that which lay concealed within it, and +this was the "Foehn,"[A] powerful in its strength when it broke loose. +The impression of the entire journey, the night quarters above and +then the road beyond, the deep rocky chasms, where the water forced +its way through the blocks of stone with terrible rapidity, engraved +itself indelibly on Rudy's mind. + +On the other side of the sea of snow, a forsaken stone hut gave them +protection and shelter for the night; a fire was quickly lighted, for +they found within it charcoal and fir branches; they arranged their +couch as well as possible. The men seated themselves around the fire, +smoked their tobacco and drank the warm spicy drink, which they had +prepared for themselves. Rudy had his share too and they told him of +the mysterious beings of the Alpine country; of the singular fighting +snakes in the deep lakes; of the people of night; of the hordes of +spectres, who carry sleepers through the air, towards the wonderful +floating city of Venice; of the wild shepherd, who drives his black +sheep over the meadow; it is true, they had never been seen, but the +sound of the bells and the unhappy bellowing of the flock, had been +heard. + +Rudy listened eagerly, but without any fear, for he did not even know +what that was, and whilst he listened he thought he heard the +ghost-like hollow bellowing! Yes, it became more and more distinct, +the men heard it also, they stopped talking, listened and told Rudy he +must not sleep. + +It was the Foehn which blew, the powerful storm-wind, which rushes down +the mountains into the valley and with its strength bends the trees, +as if they were mere reeds, and lifts the wooden houses from one side +of the river to the other, as if the move had been made on a +chess-board. + +After the lapse of an hour, they told Rudy that the storm had now +blown over and that he might rest; with this license, fatigued by his +march, he at once fell asleep. + +They departed early in the morning; the sun showed Rudy new +mountains, new glaciers and snow-fields; they had now reached Canton +Valais and the other side of the mountain ridge which was visible at +Grindelwald, but they were still far from the new home. Other chasms, +precipices, pasture-grounds; forests and paths through the woods, +unfolded themselves to the view; other houses, other human beings--but +what human beings! Deformed creatures, with unmeaning, fat, +yellowish-white faces; with a large, ugly, fleshy lump on their necks; +these were cretins who dragged themselves miserably along and gazed +with their stupid eyes on the strangers who arrived among them. As for +the women, the greatest number of them were frightful! + +Were these the inhabitants of the new home? + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] A humid south wind on the lakes of Switzerland, a fearful storm. + + + + +III. + +THE FATHER'S BROTHER. + + +The people in the uncle's house, looked, thank heaven, like those whom +Rudy was accustomed to see. But one cretin was there, a poor silly +lad, one of the many miserable creatures, who on account of their +poverty and need, always make their home among the families of Canton +Valais and remain with each but a couple of months. The wretched +Saperli happened to be there when Rudy arrived. + +Rudy's father's brother was still a vigorous hunter and was also a +cooper by trade; his wife, a lively little person, had what is called +a bird's face; her eyes resembled those of an eagle and she had a +long neck entirely covered with down. + +Everything was new to Rudy, the dress, manners and customs, yes, even +the language, but that is soon acquired and understood by a child's +ear. Here, they seemed to be better off, than in his grandfather's +house; the dwelling rooms were larger, the walls looked gay with their +chamois horns and highly polished rifles; over the door-way hung the +picture of the blessed Virgin; alpine roses and a burning lamp stood +before it. + +His uncle, was as we have said before, one of the most famous chamois +hunters in the neighbourhood and also the most experienced and best +guide. + +Rudy was to be the pet of the household, although there already was +one, an old deaf and blind dog, whom they could no longer use; but +they remembered his many past services and he was looked upon as a +member of the family and was to pass his old days in peace. Rudy +patted the dog, but he would have nothing to do with strangers; Rudy +did not long remain one, for he soon took firm hold both in house and +heart. + +"One is not badly off in Canton Valais," said his uncle, "we have the +chamois, they do not die out so soon as the mountain goat! It is a +great deal better here now, than in the old times; they may talk about +their glory as much as they please. The present time is much better, +for a hole has been made in the purse and light and air let into our +quiet valley. When old worn-out customs die away, something new +springs forth!" said he. When uncle became talkative, he told of the +years of his childhood and of his father's active time, when Valais +was still a closed purse, as the people called it, and when it was +filled with sick people and miserable cretins. French soldiers came, +they were the right kind of doctors, they not only shot down the +sickness but the men also. + +"The Frenchmen can beat the stones until they surrender! they cut the +Simplon-road out of the rocks--they have hewn out such a road, that I +now can tell a three year old child to go to Italy! Keep to the +highway, and a child may find his way there!" Then the uncle would +sing a French song and cry hurrah for Napoleon Bonaparte. + +Rudy now heard for the first time of France, of Lyons--the large city +of the Rhone--for his uncle had been there. + +"I wonder if Rudy will become an agile chamois hunter in a few years? +He has every disposition for it!" said his uncle, and instructed him +how to hold a rifle, how to aim and to fire. In the hunting season, he +took him with him in the mountains and made him drink the warm chamois +blood, which prevents the hunter from becoming dizzy. He taught him to +heed the time when the avalanches roll down the different sides of the +mountain--at mid-day or at night-fall--which depended upon the heat of +the rays of the sun. He taught him to notice the chamois, in order to +learn from them how to jump, so as to alight steadily upon the feet. +If there was no resting place in the clefts of the rock for the foot, +he must know how to support himself with the elbow, and be able to +climb by means of the muscles of the thigh and calf, even the neck +must serve when it is necessary. The chamois are cunning, they place +out-guards--but the hunter must be still more cunning and follow the +trail--and he can deceive them by hanging his coat and hat on his +alpine stick, and so make the chamois take the coat for the man. + +One day when Rudy was out with his uncle hunting, he tried this sport. + +The rocky path was not wide; indeed there was scarcely any, only a +narrow ledge, close to the dizzy abyss. The snow was half-thawed, the +stones crumbled when trodden upon, and his uncle stretched himself out +full length and crept along. Each stone as it broke away, fell, +knocked itself, bounded and then rolled down; it made many leaps from +one rocky wall to another until it found repose in the black deep. +Rudy stood about a hundred steps behind his uncle on the outermost +cliff, and saw a huge golden vulture, hovering over his uncle, and +sailing towards him through the air, as though wishing to cast the +creeping worm into the abyss with one blow of his wing, and to make +carrion of him. His uncle had only eyes for the chamois and its young +kid, on the other side of the cleft. Rudy looked at the bird, +understood what it wanted, and laid his hand on his rifle in order to +shoot it. At that moment the chamois leaped--his uncle fired--the ball +hit the animal, but the kid was gone, as though flight and danger had +been its life's experience. The monstrous bird terrified by the report +of the gun, took flight in another direction, and Rudy's uncle knew +nought of his danger, until Rudy told him of it. + +As they now were on their way home in the gayest spirits--his uncle +playing one of his youthful melodies on his flute--they suddenly +heard not far from them a singular sound; they looked sideways, they +gazed aloof and saw high above them the snow covering of the rugged +shelf of the rock, waving like an outspread piece of linen when +agitated by the wind. The icy waves cracked like slabs of marble, they +broke, dissolved in foaming, rushing water and sounded like a muffled +thunder-clap. It was an avalanche rolling down, not over Rudy and his +uncle, but near, only too near to them. + +"Hold fast, Rudy," cried he, "firm, with your whole strength!" + +And Rudy clasped the trunk of a tree; his uncle climbed into its +branches and held fast, whilst the avalanche rolled many fathoms away +from them. But the air-drift of the blustering storm, which +accompanied it, bowed down the trees and bushes around them like dry +reeds and threw them beyond. Rudy lay cast on the earth; the trunk of +the tree on which he had held was as though sawed off, and its crown +was hurled still farther along. His uncle lay amongst the broken +branches, with his head shattered; his hands were yet warm, but his +face was no longer to be recognized. Rudy stood pale and trembling; +this was the first terror of his life, the first hour of fear that he +had ever known. + +Late in the evening, he returned with his message of death to his +home, which was now one of sorrow. + +The wife stood without words, without tears, and not until the corpse +was brought home did her sorrow find an outburst. The poor cretin +crept to his bed and was not seen all day, but towards evening he came +to Rudy, and said: "Write a letter for me. Saperli cannot write! +Saperli can take the letter to the post office." + +"A letter for you," asked Rudy, "and to whom?" + +"To our Lord Christ!" + +"What do you mean?" + +And the half-witted creature gave a touching glance at Rudy, folded +his hands and said piously and solemnly: "Jesus Christ! Saperli wishes +to send him a letter, praying him to let Saperli lie dead and not the +man of this house!" + +And Rudy pressed his hand, "the letter cannot be sent, the letter will +not give him back to us!" + +It was difficult for Rudy to explain the impossibility to him. + +"Now you are the stay of the house!" said his foster-mother, and Rudy +became it. + + + + +IV. + +BABETTE. + + +Who is the best shot in Canton Valais? The chamois knew only too well: +"Beware of Rudy!" they could say. Who is the handsomest hunter?--"It +is Rudy." The young girls said this also, but they did not say: +"Beware of Rudy!" No, not even the grave mothers, for he nodded to +them quite as amicably as to the young girls. He was so bold and gay, +his cheeks were brown, his teeth fresh and white and his coal-black +eyes glittered; he was a handsome young fellow and but twenty years +old. The icy water did not sting him when he swam, he could turn +around in it like a fish; he could climb as did no one, and he was as +firm on the rocky walls as a snail--for he had good sinews and muscles +that served him well in leaping--the cat had first taught him this, +and later the chamois. One could not trust one's self to a better +guide than to Rudy. In this way he could collect quite a fortune, but +he had no taste for the trade of a cooper, which his uncle had taught +him; his delight and pleasure was to shoot chamois, and this was +profitable also. Rudy was a good match if one did not look higher than +one's station, and in dancing he was just the kind of dancer that +young girls dream about, and one or the other were always thinking of +him when they were awake. + +"He kissed me whilst dancing!" said the schoolmaster's Annette to her +most intimate friend, but she should not have said this, not even to +her dearest friend, but it is difficult to keep such things to one's +self--like sand in a purse with a hole in it, it soon runs out--and +although Rudy was so steady and good it was soon known that he kissed +whilst dancing. + +"Watch him," said an old hunter, "he has commenced with A, and he will +kiss the whole alphabet through!" + +A kiss, at a dance, was all they could say in their gossipping, but he +had kissed Annette, and she was by no means the flower of his heart. + +Down near Bex, between the great walnut trees, close by a rapid little +stream, dwelt the rich miller. The dwelling-house was a large +three-storied building, with little towers covered with wood and +coated with sheets of lead, which shone in the sunshine and in the +moonshine; the largest tower had for a weather-cock a bright arrow +which pierced an apple and which was intended to represent the apple +shot by Tell. The mill looked neat and comfortable, so that it was +really worth describing and drawing, but the miller's daughter could +neither be described nor drawn, at least so said Rudy. Yet she was +imprinted in his heart, and her eyes acted as a fire-brand upon it, +and this had happened suddenly and unexpectedly. The most wonderful +part of all was, that the miller's daughter, the pretty Babette, +thought not of him, for she and Rudy had never even spoken two words +with each other. + +The miller was rich, and riches placed her much too high to be +approached; "but no one," said Rudy to himself, "is placed so high as +to be unapproachable; one must climb and one does not fall, when one +does not think of it." _This_ knowledge he had brought from home with +him. + +Now it so happened that Rudy had business at Bex and it was quite a +journey there, for the railroad was not completed. The broad valley of +Valais stretches itself from the glaciers of the Rhone, under the foot +of the Simplon-mountain, between many varying mountain-heights, with +its mighty river, the Rhone, which often swells and destroys +everything, overflooding fields and roads. The valley makes a bend, +between the towns of Sion and St. Maurice, like an elbow and becomes +so narrow at Maurice, that there only remains sufficient room for the +river bed and a cart way. Here an old tower stands like a sentry +before the Canton Valais; it ends at this point and overlooks the +bridge, which has a wall towards the custom-house. Now begins the +Canton called Pays de Vaud and the nearest town is Bex, where +everything becomes luxuriant and fruitful--one is in a garden of +walnut and chestnut trees and here and there, cypress and pomegranate +blossoms peep out--it is as warm as the South; one imagines one's self +transplanted into Italy. + +Rudy reached Bex, accomplished his business and looked about him, but +he did not see a single miller's boy, not to speak of Babette. It +appeared as though they were not to meet. + +It was evening, the air was heavy with the wild thyme and blooming +linden, a glistening veil lay over the forest-clad mountains, there +was a stillness over everything, but not the quiet of sleep. It seemed +as though all nature retained her breath, as if she felt disposed to +allow her image to be imprinted upon the firmament. + +Here and there, there were poles standing on the green fields, between +the trees; they held the telegraph wire, which has been conducted +through this peaceful valley. An object leant against one of these +poles, so immoveable, that one might have taken it for a withered +trunk of a tree; but it was Rudy. He slept not and still less was he +dead; but as the most important events of this earth, as well as +affairs of vital moment for individuals pass over the wires, without +their giving out a tone or a tremulous movement, even so flashed +through Rudy, thoughts--powerful, overwhelming, speaking of the +happiness of his life; his, henceforth, "_constant thought_." His eyes +were fixed upon a point in the trellis-work, and this was a light in +Babette's sitting room. Rudy was so motionless, one might have thought +that he was observing a chamois, in order to shoot it. Now, however, +he was like the chamois--which appears sculptured on the rock, and +suddenly if a stone rolls, springs and flies away--thus stood Rudy, +until a thought struck him. + +"Never despair," said he. "I shall make a visit to the mill, and say: +Good evening miller, good evening Babette! One does not fall when one +does not think of it! Babette must see me, if I am to be her husband!" + +And Rudy laughed, was of good cheer and went to the mill; he knew what +he wanted, he wanted Babette. + +The river, with its yellowish white water rolled on; the willow trees +and the lindens bowed themselves deep in the hastening water; Rudy +went along the path, and as it says in the old child's song: + + ---- ---- ---- Zu des Muellers Haus, + Aber da war Niemand drinnen + Nur die Katze schaute aus![B] + +The house-cat stood on the step, put up her back and said: "Miau!" but +Rudy had no thoughts for her language, he knocked, no one heard, no +one opened. "Miau!" said the cat. If Rudy had been little, he would +have understood the speech of animals and known that the cat told him: +"There is no one at home!" He was obliged to cross over to the mill, +to make inquiries, and here he had news. The master of the house was +away on a journey, far away in the town of Interlaken--_inter lacus_, +"between the lakes"--as the school-master, Annette's father, had +explained, in his wisdom. Far away was the miller and Babette with +him; there was to be a shooting festival, which was to commence on +the following day and to continue for a whole week. The Swiss from all +the German cantons were to meet there. + +Poor Rudy, one could well say that he had not taken the happiest time +to visit Bex; now he could return and that was what he did. He took +the road over Sion and St. Maurice, back to his own valley, back to +his own mountain, but he was not down-cast. On the following morning, +when the sun rose, his good humour had returned, in fact it had never +left him. + +"Babette is in Interlaken, many a day's journey from here!" said he to +himself, "it is a long road thither, if one goes by the highway, but +not so far if one passes over the rocks and that is the road for a +chamois hunter! I went this road formerly, for there is my home, where +I lived with my grandfather when I was a little child, and they have +a shooting festival in Interlaken! I will be the _first_ one there, +and that will I be with Babette also, as soon as I have made her +acquaintance!" + +With his light knapsack containing his Sunday clothes, with his gun +and his huntsman's pouch, Rudy ascended the mountain. The short road, +was a pretty long one, but the shooting-match had but commenced to-day +and was to last more than a week; the miller and Babette were to +remain the whole time, with their relations in Interlaken. Rudy +crossed the Gemmi, for he wished to go to Grindelwald. + +He stepped forwards merry and well, out into the fresh, light mountain +air. The valley sank beneath him, the horizon widened; here and there +a snow-peak, and soon appeared the whole shining white alpine chain. +Rudy knew every snow mountain, onward he strode towards the +Schreckhorn, that elevates its white powdered snow-finger high in the +air. + +At last he crossed the ridge of the mountain and the pasture-grounds +and reached the valley of his home; the air was light and his spirits +gay, mountain and valley stood resplendent with verdure and flowers. +His heart was filled with youthful thoughts;--that one can never grow +old, never die; but live, rule and enjoy;--free as a bird, light as a +bird was he. The swallows flew by and sang as in his childhood: "We +and you, and You and we!" All was happiness. + +Below lay the velvet-green meadow, with its brown wooden houses, the +Luetschine hummed and roared. He saw the glacier with its green glass +edges and its black crevices in the deep snow, and the under and +upper glacier. The sound of the church-bells was carried over to him, +as if they chimed a welcome home; his heart beat loudly and expanded, +so, that for a moment, Babette vanished from it; his heart widened, it +was so full of recollections. He retraced his steps, over the path, +where he used to stand when a little boy, with the other children, on +the edge of the ditch, and where he sold carved wooden houses. Yonder, +under the fir-trees was his grandfather's house,--strangers dwelled +there. Children came running up the path, wishing to sell; one of them +held an alpine rose towards him. Rudy took it for a good omen and +thought of Babette. Quickly he crossed the bridge, where the two +Luetschines meet; the leafy trees had increased and the walnut trees +gave deeper shade. He saw the streaming Swiss and Danish flags--the +white cross on the red cloth--and Interlaken lay before him. + +It was certainly a magnificent town; like no other, it seemed to Rudy. +A Swiss town in its Sunday dress, was not like other trading-places, a +mass of black stone houses, heavy, uninviting and stiff. No! it looked +as though the wooden houses, on the mountain had run down into the +green valley, to the clear, swift river and had ranged themselves in a +row--a little in and out--so as to form a street, the most splendid of +all streets, which had grown up since Rudy was here as a child. It +appeared to him, that here all the pretty wooden houses that his +grandfather had carved, and with which the cup-board at home used to +be filled, had placed themselves there and had grown in strength, as +the old, the oldest chestnut trees had done. Each house had carved +wood-work around the windows and balconies, projecting roofs, pretty +and neat; in front of every house a little flower garden extended into +the stone-covered street. The houses were all placed on one side, as +if they wished to conceal the forest-green meadow, where the cows with +their tinkling bells made one fancy one's self near the high alpine +pasture-grounds. The meadow was enclosed with high mountains, that +leaned to one side so that the Jungfrau, the most stately of the Swiss +mountains, with its glistening snow-clad top, was visible. + +What a quantity of well dressed ladies and gentlemen from foreign +countries! What multitudes of inhabitants from the different cantons! +The shooters, with their numbers placed in a wreath around their +hats, waiting to take their turn. Here was music and song, +hurdy-gurdys and wind instruments, cries and confusion. The houses and +bridges were decked with devices and verses; banners and flags +floated, rifles sounded shot after shot; this was the best music to +Rudy's ear and he entirely forgot Babette, although he had come for +her sake. + +The marksmen thronged towards the spot where the target-shooting was; +Rudy was soon among them and he was the best, the luckiest, for he +always hit the mark. + +"Who can the strange hunter be?" they asked, "He speaks the French +language as though he came from Canton Valais!" "He speaks our German +very distinctly!" said others. "He is said to have lived in the +neighbourhood of Grindelwald, when a child!" said one of them. + +There was life in the youth; his eyes sparkled, his aim was true. Good +luck gives courage, and Rudy had courage at all times; he soon had a +large circle of friends around him, they praised him, they did homage +to him, and Babette had almost entirely left his thoughts. At that +moment a heavy hand struck him on the shoulder, and a gruff voice +addressed him in the French tongue: + +"You are from Canton Valais?" + +Rudy turned around. A stout person, with a red, contented countenance, +stood by him and that was the rich miller of Bex. He covered with his +wide body, the slight pretty Babette, who however, soon peeped out +with her beaming dark eyes. The rich peasant became consequential +because the hunter from his canton had made the best shot and was the +honoured one. Rudy was certainly a favourite of fortune, that, for +which he had journeyed thither and almost forgotten had sought him. + +When one meets a countryman far from one's home, why then one knows +one another, and speaks together. Rudy was the first at the shooting +festival and the miller was the first at Bex, through his money and +mill, and so the two men pressed each other's hands: this they had +never done before. Babette also, gave Rudy her little hand and he +pressed her's in return and looked at her, so--that she became quite +red. + +The miller told of the long journey which they had made here, of the +many large towns which they had seen--that was a real journey; they +had come in the steam-boat and had been driven by post and rail! + +"I came by the short road," said Rudy, "I came over the mountains; +there is no path so high, that one can not reach it!" + +"But one can break one's neck," said the miller, "you look as though +you would do so some day, you are so daring!" + +"One does not fall, when one does not think of it!" said Rudy. + +And the miller's family in Interlaken, with whom the miller and +Babette were staying, begged Rudy to pay them a visit, for he was from +the same canton as their relations. + +These were glad tidings for Rudy, fortune smiled upon him, as it +always does on those that rely upon themselves and think upon the +saying: "Our Lord gives us nuts, but he does not crack them for us!" +Rudy made himself quite at home with the miller's relations; they +drank the health of the best marksman. Babette knocked her glass +against his and Rudy gave thanks for the honour shown him. + +In the evening, they all walked under the walnut trees, in front of +the decorated hotels; there was such a crowd, such a throng, that Rudy +was obliged to offer his arm to Babette. "He was so rejoiced to have +met people from Pays de Vaud," said he, "Pays de Vaud and Valais were +good neighbourly cantons." His joy was so profound that it struck +Babette, she must press his hand. They walked along almost like old +acquaintances; she was so amusing, the darling little creature, it +became her so prettily Rudy thought, when she described what was +laughable and overdone in the dress of the ladies, and ridiculed their +manners and walk. She did not do this in order to mock them, for no +doubt they were very good people, yes! kind and amiable. Babette knew +what was right, for she had a god-mother that was a distinguished +English lady. She was in Bex, eighteen years ago, when Babette was +baptized; she had given Babette, the expensive breastpin which she +wore. The god-mother had written her two letters; this year she was to +meet her in Interlaken, with her daughters; they were old maids, over +thirty years old, said Babette;--she was just eighteen. + +The sweet little mouth was not still a minute; everything that Babette +said, sounded to Rudy of great importance. Then he related how often +he had been in Bex, how well he knew the mill; how often he had seen +Babette, but she of course had never remarked him; he told how, when +he reached the mill, with many thoughts to which he could give no +utterance, she and her father were far away; still not so far as to +render it impossible for him to ascend the rocky wall which made the +road so long. + +Yes, he said this; and he also said how much he thought of her; that +it was for her sake and not on account of the shooting festival that +he had come. + +Babette remained very still, for what he confided to her was almost +too much joy. + +The sun set behind the rocky wall, whilst they were walking, and there +stood the Jungfrau in all her radiant splendour, surrounded by the +dark green circle of the adjacent mountains. The vast crowd of people +stopped to look at it, Rudy and Babette also gazed upon its grandeur. + +"It is nowhere more beautiful than here!" said Babette. + +"Nowhere!" said Rudy, and looked at Babette. + +"I must leave to-morrow!" said he, a little later. + +"Visit us in Bex," whispered Babette, "it will delight my father!" + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] + The cat looked out from the miller's house, + No one was in, not even a mouse! + + + + +V. + +HOMEWARDS. + + +Ah! how much Rudy carried with him, as he went home the next morning +over the mountains. Yes, there were three silver goblets, two very +fine rifles and a silver coffee pot, which one could use if one wished +to go to house-keeping; but he carried with him something far, far +more important, far mightier, or rather _that_ carried him over the +high mountains. + +The weather was raw, moist and cold, grey and heavy; the clouds +lowered over the mountain-tops like mourning veils, and enveloped the +shining peaks of the rocks. The sound of the axe resounded from the +depths of the forest, and the trunks of the trees rolled down the +mountain, looking in the distance like slight sticks, but on +approaching them they were heavy trees, suitable for making masts. The +Luetschine rushed on with its monotonous sound, the wind blustered, the +clouds sailed by. + +Suddenly a young girl approached Rudy, whom he had not noticed before; +not until she was beside him; she also was about crossing the +mountain. Her eyes had so peculiar a power that one was forced to look +into them; they were so strangely clear--clear as glass, so deep, so +fathomless-- + +"Have you a beloved one?" asked Rudy; for to have a beloved one was +everything to him. + +"I have none!" said she, and laughed; but it was as though she was not +speaking the truth. "Do not let us take a by-way," continued she, "we +must go more to the left, that way is shorter!" + +"Yes, so as to fall down a precipice!" said Rudy; "Do you know no +better way, and yet wish to be a guide?" + +"I know the road well," said she, "my thoughts are with me; yours are +beneath in the valley; here on high, one must think on the Ice-Maiden, +for they say she is not well disposed to mankind!" + +"I do not fear her," said Rudy, "she was forced to let me go when I +was a child, so I suppose I can slip away from her now that I am +older!" + +The darkness increased, the rain fell, the snow came; it shone and +dazzled. "Give me your hand, I will help you to ascend!" said the +girl, and touched him with icy-cold fingers. + +"You help me," said Rudy, "I do not yet need a woman's help in +climbing!" He strode quickly on, away from her; the snow-shower +formed a curtain around him, the wind whistled by him and he heard the +young girl laugh and sing; it sounded so oddly! Yes, that was +certainly a spirit in the service of the Ice-Maiden. Rudy had heard of +them, when he had passed a night on high; when he had crossed the +mountain, as a little boy. + +The snow fell more scantily and the shadows lay under him; he looked +back, there was no one to be seen, but he heard laughing and _jodling_ +and it did not appear to come from a human being. When Rudy reached +the uppermost portion of the mountain, where the rocky path leads to +the valley of the Rhone, he saw in the direction of Chamouni, two +bright stars, twinkling and shining in the clear streaks of blue; he +thought of Babette, of himself, of his happiness and became warmed by +his thoughts. + + + + +VI. + +THE VISIT TO THE MILL. + + +"You bring princely things into the house!" said the old +foster-mother, her singular eagle-eyes glistened and she made strange +and hasty motions with her lean neck. + +"Fortune is with you, Rudy, I must kiss you, my sweet boy!" + +Rudy allowed himself to be kissed, but one could read in his +countenance, that he but submitted to circumstances and to little +household miseries. "How handsome you are, Rudy!" said the old woman. + +"Do not put notions into my head!" answered Rudy, and laughed, but +still it pleased him. + +"I say it once more," said the old woman, "fortune is with you!" + +"Yes, I agree with you there!" said he; thought of Babette and longed +to be in the deep valley. "They must have returned, two days have +passed since they expected to do so. I must go to Bex!" + +Rudy went to Bex, and the inhabitants of the mill had returned; he was +well received and they brought him greetings from the family at +Interlaken. Babette did not talk much, she had grown silent; but her +eyes spoke and that was quite enough for Rudy. The miller who +generally liked to carry on the conversation--for he was accustomed to +have every one laugh at his witty sayings and puns--was he not the +rich miller?--seemed now to prefer to listen. Rudy recounted to him +his hunting expeditions; described the difficulties, the dangers and +the privations of the chamois hunter when on the lofty mountain peak; +how often he must climb over the insecure snow-ledges, that the wind +had blown on the rocky brink, and how he must pass over slight bridges +that the snow-drifts had thrown across the abyss. Rudy looked +fearless, his eyes sparkled whilst he spoke of the shrewdness of the +chamois, of their daring leaps, of the violence of the Foehn and of the +rolling avalanches. He observed that with every description he won +more and more favour; but what pleased the miller more than all, was +the account of the lamb's vulture and the bold golden eagle. + +In Canton Valais, not far from here, there was an eagle's nest, very +slyly built under the projecting edge of the rock; a young one was in +it, but no one could steal it! An Englishman had offered Rudy a few +days before, a whole handful of gold, if he would bring him the young +one alive, "but everything has a limit," said he, "the young eagle +cannot be taken away, and it would be madness to attempt it!" + +The wine and conversation flowed freely; but the evening appeared all +too short for Rudy; yet it was past midnight, when he went home from +his first visit to the mill. + +The light shone a little while longer through the window and between +the green trees; the parlour-cat came out of an opening in the roof +and the kitchen-cat came along the gutter. + +"Do you know the latest news at the mill?" said the parlour-cat, +"there has been a silent betrothal in the house! Father does not yet +know it, but Rudy and Babette have reached each other their paws under +the table, and he trod three times on my fore-paws, but still I did +not mew, for that would have awakened attention!" + +"I should have done it, nevertheless!" said the kitchen-cat. + +"What is suited to the kitchen is not suited to the parlour," said the +parlour-cat. "I should like to know what the miller will say, when he +hears of the betrothal!" + +Yes, what the miller would say! That was what Rudy would have liked to +know, for Rudy was not at all patient. When the omnibus rumbled over +the bridge of the Rhone, between Valais and Pays de Vaud not many days +after, Rudy sat in it and was of good cheer; filled with pleasing +thoughts of the "Yes," of the same evening. + +When evening came and the omnibus returned, yes, there sat Rudy +within, but the parlour-cat, was running about in the mill with great +news. + +"Listen, you, in the kitchen! The miller knows everything now. This +has had an exquisite ending! Rudy came here towards evening; he and +Babette had much to whisper and to chatter about, as they stood in the +walk, under the miller's chamber. I lay close to their feet but they +had neither eyes nor thoughts for me. 'I am going directly to your +father,' said Rudy, 'this is an honourable affair!' 'Shall I follow +you?' asked Babette, 'it may give you more courage!' 'I have courage +enough,' said Rudy, 'but if you are there, he will be forced to look +at it in a more favourable light!' They went in. Rudy trod heavily on +my tail! Rudy is indescribably awkward; I mewed, but neither he nor +Babette had ears to hear it. They opened the door, they entered and I +preceded them; I leaped upon the back of a chair, for I did not know +but that Rudy would overturn everything! But the miller reversed all, +that was a great step! Out of the door, up the mountains, to the +chamois! Rudy can aim at them now, but not at our little Babette!" + +"But what was said?" asked the kitchen-cat. + +"Said? Everything. 'I care for her and she cares for me! When there is +milk enough in the jug for one, there is milk enough in the jug for +two!' 'But she is placed too high for you,' said the miller, 'she sits +on gold dust, so now you know it; you can not reach her!' 'Nothing is +too high; he who wills can reach anything!' said Rudy. He is too +headstrong on this subject! 'But you cannot reach the eaglet, you said +so yourself lately! Babette is still higher!' 'I will have them both!' +said Rudy. 'Yes, I will bestow her upon you, if you make me a present +of the eaglet alive!' said the miller and laughed until the tears +stood in his eyes. + +"'Thanks for your visit, Rudy! Come again to-morrow, you will find no +one at home. Farewell, Rudy!' Babette said farewell also, as +sorrowfully as a kitten, that cannot see its mother. 'A word is a +word, a man is a man,' said Rudy, 'do not weep Babette, I shall bring +the eaglet!' 'I hope that you will break your neck!' said the miller. +That's what I call an overturning! Now Rudy has gone, and Babette sits +and weeps; but the miller sings in German, he learned to do so whilst +on his journey! I do not intend to trouble myself any longer about it, +it does no good!" + +"There is still a prospect!" said the kitchen-cat. + + + + +VII. + +THE EAGLE'S NEST. + + +Merry and loud sounded the _jodel_ from the mountain-path, it +indicated good humour and joyous courage; it was Rudy; he was going to +his friend Vesinand. + +"You must help me! We will take Ragli with us; I am going after the +eaglet on the brink of the rock!" + +"Do you not wish to go after the black spot in the moon? That is quite +as easy," said Vesinand; "you are in a good humour!" + +"Yes, because I am thinking of my wedding; but seriously, you shall +know how my affairs stand!" + +Vesinand and Ragli soon knew what Rudy wished. + +"You are a bold fellow," said they, "do not do this! You will break +your neck!" + +"One does not fall, when one does not think of it!" said Rudy. + +About mid-day, they set out with poles, ladders and ropes; their path +lay through bushes and brambles, over the rolling stones, up, up in +the dark night. + +The water rushed beneath them; the water flowed above them and the +humid clouds chased each other in the air. The hunters approached the +steep brink of the rock; it became darker and darker, the rocky walls +almost met; high above them in the narrow fissure the air penetrated +and gave light. Under their feet there was a deep abyss with its +roaring waters. + +They all three sat still, awaiting the grey of the morning; then the +eagle would fly out; they must shoot him before they could think of +obtaining the young one. Rudy seemed to be a part of the stone on +which he sat; his rifle placed before him, ready to take aim, his eyes +immoveably fastened on yon high cleft which concealed the eagle's +nest. The three huntsmen waited long. + +A crashing, whizzing noise sounded high above them; a large hovering +object darkened the air. Two rifle barrels were aimed as the black +eagle flew from its nest; a shot was heard, the out-spread wings moved +an instant, then the bird slowly sank as if it wished to fill the +entire cliff with its outstretched wings and bury the huntsmen in its +fall. The eagle sank in the deep; the branches of the trees and bushes +cracked, broken by the fall of the bird. + +They now displayed their activity; three of the longest ladders were +tied together; they stood them on the farthest point where the foot +could place itself with security, close to the brink of the +precipice--but they were not long enough; there was still a great +space from the outermost projecting cliff, which protected the nest; +the rocky wall was perfectly smooth. After some consultation, they +decided to lower into the opening two ladders tied together and to +fasten them to the three already beneath them. With great difficulty +they dragged them up and attached them with cords; the ladders shot +over the projecting cliffs and hung over the chasm; Rudy sat already +on the lowest round. + +It was an ice-cold morning, and the mist mounted from the black +ravine. Rudy sat there like a fly on a rocking blade of grass, which a +nest-building bird has dropped in its hasty flight, on the edge of a +factory chimney; but the fly had the advantage of escaping by its +wings, poor Rudy had none, he was almost sure to break his neck. The +wind whistled around him and the roaring water from the thawed +glaciers, the palace of the Ice-Maiden, poured itself into the abyss. + +He gave the ladders a swinging motion--as the spider swings herself by +her long thread--he seized them with a strong and steady hand, but +they shook as if they had worn-out hasps. + +The five long ladders looked like a tremulous reed, as they reached +the nest and hung perpendicularly over the rocky wall. Now came the +most dangerous part; Rudy had to climb as a cat climbs; but Rudy could +do this, for the cat had taught it to him. He did not feel that +Vertigo trod in the air behind him and stretched her polypus-like arms +towards him. Now he stood on the highest round of the ladder and +perceived that he was not sufficiently high to enable him to see into +the nest; he could reach it with his hands. He tried how firm the +twigs were, which plaited in one another formed the bottom of the +nest; when he had assured himself of a thick and immoveable one, he +swung himself off of the ladder. He had his breast and head over the +nest, out of which streamed towards him a stifling stench of carrion; +torn lambs, chamois and birds lay decomposing around him. Vertigo, who +had no power over him, blew poisonous vapours into his face to stupify +him; below in the black, yawning abyss, sat the Ice-Maiden herself, on +the hastening water, with her long greenish-white hair and stared at +him with death-like eyes, which were pointed at him like two rifle +barrels. + +"Now, I shall catch you!" + +Seated in one corner of the eagle's nest was the eaglet, who could not +fly yet, although so strong and powerful. Rudy fastened his eyes on +it, held himself with his whole strength firmly by one hand, and with +the other threw the noose around it. It was captured alive, its legs +were in the knot; Rudy cast the rope over his shoulder, so that the +animal dangled some distance below him, and sustained himself by +another rope which hung down, until his feet touched the upper round +of the ladder. + +"Hold fast, do not think that you will fall and then you are sure not +to do so!" That was the old lesson, and he followed it; held fast, +climbed, was sure not to fall and he did not. + +There resounded a strong _jodling_, and a joyous one too. Rudy stood +on the firm, rocky ground with the young eaglet. + + + + +VIII. + +THE NEWS WHICH THE PARLOUR-CAT RELATED. + + +"Here is what you demanded!" said Rudy, on entering the house of the +miller at Bex, as he placed a large basket on the floor and took off +the covering. Two yellow eyes, with black circles around them, fiery +and wild, looked out as if they wished to set on fire, or to kill +those around them. The short beak yawned ready to bite and the neck +was red and downy. + +"The eaglet!" cried the miller. Babette screamed, jumped to one side +and could neither turn her eyes from Rudy, nor from the eaglet. + +"You do not allow yourself to be frightened!" said the miller. + +"And you keep your word, at all times," said Rudy, "each has his +characteristic trait!" + +"But why did you not break your neck?" asked the miller. + +"Because I held on firmly," answered Rudy, "and I hold firmly on +Babette!" + +"First see that you have her!" said the miller and laughed; that was a +good sign; Babette knew this. + +"Let us take the eaglet from the basket, it is terrible to see how he +glares! How did you get him?" + +Rudy was obliged to recount his adventure, whilst the miller stared at +him with eyes, which grew larger and larger. + +"With your courage and with your luck you could take care of three +wives!" said the miller. + +"Thanks! Thanks!" cried Rudy. + +"Yes, but you have not yet Babette!" said the miller as he struck the +young chamois hunter, jestingly on the shoulder. + +"Do you know the latest news in the mill?" said the parlour-cat to the +kitchen-cat. "Rudy has brought us the young eagle and taken Babette in +exchange. They have kissed each other and the father looked on. That +is just as good as a betrothal; the old man did not overturn anything, +he drew in his claws, took his nap and left the two seated, caressing +each other. They have so much to relate, they will not get through +till Christmas!" + +They had not finished at Christmas. + +The wind whistled through the brown foliage, the snow swept through +the valley as it did on the high mountains. The Ice-Maiden sat in her +proud castle and arrayed herself in her winter costume; the ice walls +stood in glazed frost; where the mountain streams waved their watery +veil in summer, were now seen thick elephantine icicles, shining +garlands of ice, formed of fantastic ice crystals, encircled the +fir-trees, which were powdered with snow. + +The Ice-Maiden rode on the blustering wind over the deepest valleys. +The snow covering lay over all Bex; Rudy stayed in doors more than was +his wont, and sat with Babette. The wedding was to take place in the +summer; their friends talked so much of it that it often made their +ears burn. All was sunshine with them, and the loveliest alpine rose +was Babette, the sprightly, laughing Babette, who was as charming as +the early spring; the spring that makes the birds sing, that will +bring the summer time and the wedding day. + +"How can they sit there and hang over each other," exclaimed the +parlour-cat, "I am really tired of their eternal mewing!" + + + + +IX. + +THE ICE-MAIDEN. + + +The early spring time had unfolded the green leaves of the walnut and +chestnut trees; they were remarkably luxuriant from the bridge of St. +Maurice to the banks of the lake of Geneva. + +The Rhone, which rushes forth from its source, has under the green +glacier the palace of the Ice-Maiden. She is carried by it and the +sharp wind to the elevated snow-fields, where she extends herself on +her damp cushions in the brilliant sunshine. There she sits and gazes, +with far-seeing sight, upon the valley where mortals busily move about +like so many ants. + +"Beings endowed with mental powers, as the children of the Sun, call +you," said the Ice-Maiden--"ye are worms! _One_ snow-ball rolled and +you and your houses and towns are crushed and swept away!" She raised +her proud head still higher and looked with death-beaming eyes far +around and below her. From the valley resounded a rumbling, a blasting +of rocks, men were making railways and tunnels. "They are playing like +moles," said she, "they excavate passages, and a noise is made like +the firing of a gun. When I transpose _my_ castles, it roars louder +than the rolling of the thunder!" + +A smoke arose from the valley and moved along like a floating veil, +like a waving plume; it was the locomotive which led the train over +the newly built railroad--this crooked snake, whose limbs are formed +of cars upon cars. It shot along with the speed of an arrow. + +"They are playing the masters with their mental powers," said the +Ice-Maiden, "but the powers of nature are the ruling ones!" and she +laughed and her laugh was echoed in the valley. + +"Now an avalanche is rolling!" said the men below. + +Still more loudly sang the children of the Sun; they sang of the +"thoughts" of men which fetter the sea to the yoke, cut down mountains +and fill up valleys; of human thoughts which rule the powers of +nature. At this moment, a company of travellers crossed the snow-field +where the Maiden sat; they had bound themselves firmly together with +ropes, in order to form a large body on the smooth ice-field by the +deep abyss. + +"Worms!" said she, "as if you were lords of creation!" She turned from +them and looked mockingly upon the deep valley, where the cars were +rushing by. + +"There sit those _thoughts_ in their power of strength! I see them +all!--There sits one, proud as a king and alone! They sit in masses! +There, half are asleep! When the steam-dragon stops, they will descend +and go their way! The thoughts go out into the world!" She laughed. + +"There rolls another avalanche!" they said in the valley. + +"It will not catch us!" said two on the back of the steam +dragon;--"two souls and one thought"--these were Rudy and Babette; the +miller was there also. + +"As baggage," said he, "I go along, as the indispensable!" + +"There sit the two," said the Ice-Maiden, "I have crushed many a +chamois; I have bent and broken millions of alpine roses, so that no +roots were left! I shall annihilate _them_! The thoughts! The mental +powers!" She laughed. + +"There rolls another avalanche!" they said in the valley. + + + + +X. + +THE GOD-MOTHER. + + +In Montreux, one of the adjoining towns, which with Clarens, Vernex +and Crin forms a garland around the northeast part of the lake of +Geneva, dwelt Babette's god-mother, a distinguished English lady, with +her daughters and a young relation. Although she had but lately +arrived, the miller had already made her his visit and announced +Babette's engagement; had spoken of Rudy and the eaglet; of the visit +to Interlaken and in short had told the whole story. This had rejoiced +her in the highest degree, both for Rudy and Babette's sake, as well +as for the miller's; they must all visit her--therefore they came. +Babette was to see her god-mother, and the god-mother was to see +Babette. + +At the end of the lake of Geneva, by the little town of Villeneuve, +lay the steam-boat which after half an hour's trip from Vernex, +arrived at Montreux. This is one of the coasts which are sung of by +the poets. Here sat Byron, by the deep bluish green lake, under the +walnut trees and wrote his melodious verses upon the prisoner of the +deep sombre castle of Chillon. Here, where Clarens with its weeping +willows, mirrored itself in the waters, once wandered Rousseau and +dreamt of Heloise. Yonder, where the Rhone glides along under Savoy's +snow-topped mountains and not far from its mouth, in the lake lies a +little island, indeed it is so small, that from the coast it is taken +for a vessel. It is a valley between the rocks, which a lady caused +to be dammed up a hundred years ago and to be covered with earth and +planted with three acacia-trees, which now shade the whole island. +Babette was quite charmed with this little spot; they must and should +go there, yes, it must be charming beyond description to be on the +island; but the steamer sailed by, and stopped as it should, at +Vernex. + +The little party wandered between the white, sunlighted walls, which +surround the vineyards of the little mountain town of Montreux, +through the fig-trees which flourish before every peasant's house and +in whose gardens, the laurel and cypress trees are green. Half-way up +the hill stood the boarding house where the god-mother resided. + +The reception was very cordial. The god-mother was a large amiable +person and had a round smiling countenance; as a child she must have +had a real Raphael's angel head, but now it was an old angel's head +with silvery white hair, well curled. The daughters were tall, +slender, refined and much dressed. The young cousin who was with them, +was clad in white from head to foot; he had golden hair and immense +whiskers; he immediately showed little Babette the greatest attention. + +Richly bound books, loose music and drawings lay strewn about the +large table; the balcony door stood open and one had a view of the +beautiful out-spread lake, which was so shining, so still, that the +mountains of Savoy with their little villages, their forest and their +snowy peaks mirrored themselves in it. + +Rudy, who usually was so full of life, so merry and so daring, did not +feel in his element; he moved about over the smooth floor as though +he were treading on peas. How wearily the time dragged along, it was +just as if one was in a tread mill! If they did go walking, why, that +was just as slow; Rudy could take two steps forwards and two steps +backwards and still remain in the pace of the others. + +When they came to Chillon, (the old sombre castle on the rocky island) +they entered in order to see the dungeon and the martyr's stake, as +well as the rusty chains on the wall; the stone bed for those +condemned to death and the trap-door where the wretched beings impaled +on iron goads, were hurled into the breakers. It was a place of +execution elevated through Byron's song to the world of poetry. Rudy +was sad, he lent over the broad stone sill of the window, gazed into +the deep blue water and over to the little solitary island with its +three acacias and wished himself there, free from the whole gossiping +society. Babette was remarkably merry, she had been indescribably +amused. The cousin found her perfect. + +"Yes, a perfect jackanapes!" said Rudy; this was the first time, that +he had said something, that did not please her. The Englishman had +presented her with a little book, as a souvenir of Chillon,--Byron's +poem of "The Prisoner of Chillon," in the French language, so that +Babette might read it. + +"The book may be good," said Rudy, "but the finely combed fellow that +gave it to you does not please me!" + +"He looked like a meal-bag, without meal in it!" said the miller and +laughed at his own wit. Rudy laughed and thought that this was very +well said. + + + + +XI. + +THE COUSIN. + + +When Rudy came to the mill, a couple of days afterwards, he found the +young Englishman there. Babette had just cooked some trout for him and +had dressed them with parsley in order to make them appear more +inviting. That was assuredly not necessary. What did the Englishman +want here? Did he come in order to have Babette entertain and wait +upon him? + +Rudy was jealous and that amused Babette; it rejoiced her, to learn +the feelings of his heart, the strong as well as the weak ones. + +Until now love had been a play and she played with Rudy's whole heart; +yet he was her happiness, her life's thought, the noblest one! The +more gloomy he looked, the more her eyes laughed and she would have +liked to kiss the blonde Englishman with his golden whiskers, if she +could have succeeded by so doing, in making Rudy rush away furious. +Then, yes then, she would have known how much he loved her. That was +not right, that was not wise in little Babette; but she was only +nineteen! She did not reflect and still less did she think how her +behaviour towards the young Englishman might be interpreted; for it +was lighter and merrier than was seemly for the honourable and newly +affianced daughter of the miller. + +The mill lay where the highway slopes--under the snow covered rocky +heights--which are called here, in the language of the country +"Diablerets" close to a rapid mountain stream, which was of a greyish +white, like bubbling soap suds. A smaller stream, rushes forth from +the rocks on the other side of the river, passes through an enclosed, +broad rafter-made-gutter and turns the large wheel of the mill. The +gutter was so full of water, that it streamed over and offered a most +slippery way, to one who had the idea of crossing more quickly to the +mill; a young man had this idea--the Englishman. Guided by the light, +which shone from Babette's window, he arrived in the evening, clothed +in white, like a miller's boy; he had not learnt to climb and nearly +tumbled head over heels into the stream, but escaped with wet sleeves +and splashed pantaloons. He reached Babette's window, muddy and wet +through, there he climbed into the old linden tree and imitated the +screech of an owl, for he could not sing like any other bird. Babette +heard it and peeped through the thin curtains, but when she remarked +the white man and recognized him, her little heart fluttered with +alarm, but also with anger. She hastily extinguished the light, +fastened the windows securely and then she let him howl. + +If Rudy was in the mill it would have been dreadful, but Rudy was not +there; no, it was much worse, for he was below. There was loud +conversation, angry words; there might be blows; yes, perhaps murder. + +Babette was terrified; she opened the window, called Rudy's name and +begged him to go; she said she would not suffer him to remain. + +"You will not suffer me to remain," he exclaimed, "then it is a +preconcerted thing! You were expecting other friends, friends better +than myself; shame on you, Babette!" + +"You are detestable," said Babette, "I hate you!" and she wept. "Go! +Go!" + +"I have not deserved this!" said he, and departed. His cheeks burned +like fire, his heart burned like fire. + +Babette threw herself on her bed and wept. + +"So much as I love you, Rudy, how can you believe ill of me!" + +She was angry, very angry, and this was good for her; otherwise she +would have sorrowed deeply; but now she could sleep, and she slept the +strengthening sleep of youth. + + + + +XII. + +THE EVIL POWERS. + + +Rudy forsook Bex and went on his way home, in the fresh, cool air, up +the snow-covered mountain, where the Ice-Maiden ruled. The leafy trees +which lay beneath him, looked like potato vines; fir-trees and bushes +became less frequent; the alpine roses grew in the snow, which lay in +little spots like linen put out to bleach. There stood a blue anemone, +he crushed it with the barrel of his gun. + +Higher up two chamois appeared and Rudy's eyes gained lustre and his +thoughts took a new direction; but he was not near enough to make a +good shot; he ascended still higher, where only stiff grass grows +between the blocks of stone; the chamois were quietly crossing the +snow field; he hurried hastily on; the fog was descending and he +suddenly stood before the steep rocky wall. The rain commenced to +fall. + +He felt a burning thirst; heat in his head, cold in all his limbs; he +grasped his hunting flask, but it was empty; he had not thought of +filling it when he rushed up the hill. He had never been ill, but now +he was so; he was weary and had a desire to throw himself down to +sleep, but everything was streaming with water. He endeavoured to +collect his ideas, but all objects danced before his eyes. Suddenly he +perceived a newly built house leaning against the rocks and in the +doorway stood a young girl. Yes, it appeared to him that it was the +schoolmaster's Annette, whom he had once kissed whilst dancing; but it +was not Annette and yet he had seen her before--perhaps in +Grindelwald, on the evening when he returned from the shooting-festival +at Interlaken. + +"Where do you come from?" asked he. + +"I am at home," said she, "I tend my flock!" + +"Your flock, where do they pasture? Here are only cliffs and snow!" + +"You have a ready answer," said she and laughed; "below there is a +charming meadow! There are my goats! I take good care of them! I lose +none of them, what is mine, remains mine!" + +"You are bold!" said Rudy. + +"So are you!" answered she. + +"Have you any milk? Do give me some, my thirst is intolerable!" + +"I have something better than milk," said she, "and you shall have +it! Travellers came yesterday with their guide, but they forgot a +flask of wine, such as you have never tasted; they will not come for +it, I shall not drink it, so drink you!" + +She brought the wine, poured it in a wooden cup and handed it to Rudy. + +"That is good," said he, "I have never drunk such a warming, such a +fiery wine!" His eyes beamed, a life, a glow came over him; all sorrow +and oppression seemed to die away; gushing, fresh human nature stirred +itself within him. + +"Why this is the schoolmaster's Annette," exclaimed he, "give me a +kiss!" + +"Yes, give me the beautiful ring, which you wear on your finger!" + +"My engagement ring?" + +"Just that one!" said the young girl and pouring wine into the cup, +put it to his lips and he drank. Then the joy of life streamed in his +blood; the whole world seemed to belong to him. "Why torment one's +self? Every thing is made for our enjoyment and happiness! The stream +of life is the stream of joy, and forgetfulness is felicity!" He +looked at the young girl, it was Annette and then again not Annette; +still less, an enchanted phantom, as he had named her, when he met her +near Grindelwald. The girl on the mountain was fresh as the newly +fallen snow, blooming as the alpine rose and light as a kid; and a +human being like Rudy. He wound his arm about her, looked in her +strange clear eyes, yes, only for a second--but was it spiritual life +or was it death which flowed through him? Was he raised on high, or +did he sink into the deep, murderous ice-pit, deeper and ever deeper? +He saw icy walls like bluish green glass, numberless clefts yawned +around, and the water sounded as it dropped, like a chime of bells; +it was pearly, clear and shone in bluish white flames. The Ice-Maiden +gave him a kiss, which made him shiver from head to foot and he gave a +cry of pain. He staggered and fell; it grew dark before his eyes, but +soon all became clear to him again; the evil powers had had their +sport with him. + +The alpine maiden had vanished, the mountain hut had vanished, the +water beat against the bare rocky walls and all around him lay snow. +Rudy wet to the skin, trembled from cold and his ring had disappeared, +his engagement ring, which Babette had given him. He tried to fire off +his rifle which lay near him in the snow but it missed. Humid clouds +lay in the clefts like firm masses of snow and Vertigo watched for her +powerless prey; beneath him in the deep chasm it sounded as if a +block of the rock was rolling down and was endeavouring to crush and +tear up all that met it in its fall. + +In the mill sat Babette and wept; Rudy had not been there for six +days; he who had been so wrong; he who must beg her forgiveness, +because she loved him with her whole heart. + + + + +XIII. + +IN THE MILLER'S HOUSE. + + +"What confusion!" said the parlour-cat to the kitchen-cat. + +"Now all is wrong between Rudy and Babette. She sits and weeps and he +thinks no longer on her, I suppose. + +"I cannot bear it!" said the kitchen-cat. + +"Nor I," said the parlour-cat, "but I shall not worry myself any +longer about it! Babette can take the red-whiskered one for a dear +one, but he has not been here either, since he tried to get on the +roof!" + +Within and without, the evil powers ruled, and Rudy knew this, and +reflected upon what had taken place both around and within him, whilst +upon the mountain. Were those faces, or was all a feverish dream? He +had never known fever or sickness before. Whilst he condemned Babette, +he also condemned himself. He thought of the wild, wicked feelings +which had lately possessed him. Could he confess everything to +Babette? Every thought, which in the hour of temptation might have +become a reality? He had lost her ring and by this loss had she won +him back. Could she confess to him? It seemed as if his heart would +break when he thought of her; so many recollections passed through his +soul. He saw her a lively, laughing, petulant child; many a loving +word, which she had said to him in the fullness of her heart, shot +like a sunbeam through his breast and soon all there was sunshine for +Babette. + +She must be able to confess to him and she should do so. + +He came to the mill, he came to confession; and this commenced with a +kiss, and ended with the fact that Rudy was the sinner; his great +fault was, that he had doubted Babette's fidelity; yes, that was +indeed atrocious in him! Such mistrust, such violence could bring them +both into misfortune! Yes, most surely! Thereupon Babette preached him +a little sermon, which much diverted her and became her charmingly; in +one article Rudy was quite right; the god-mother's relation was a +jackanapes! She should burn the book that he had given her, and not +possess the slightest object which could remind her of him. + +"Now it is all arranged," said the parlour-cat, "Rudy is here again, +they understand each other and that is a great happiness!" + +"Last night," said the kitchen-cat, "I heard the rats say that the +greatest happiness was to eat tallow candles, and to have abundance of +tainted meat. Now who must one believe, the rats or the lovers?" + +"Neither of them," said the parlour-cat, "that is the surest way!" + +The greatest happiness for Rudy and Babette was drawing near; they +were awaiting, so they said, their happiest day, their wedding day. + +But the wedding was not to be in the church of Bex, nor in the +miller's house; the god-mother wished it to be solemnized near her, +and the marriage ceremony was to take place in the beautiful little +church of Montreux. The miller insisted that her desire should be +fulfilled; he alone knew what the god-mother intended for the young +couple; they were to receive a bridal present from her, which was well +worth so slight a concession. The day was appointed. They were to +leave for Villeneuve, in time to arrive at Montreux early in the +morning, and so enable the god-mother's daughters to dress the bride. + +"Then I suppose there will be a wedding here in the house, on the +following day," said the parlour-cat, "otherwise, I would not give a +single mew for the whole thing!" + +"There will be a feast here," said the kitchen-cat, "the ducks are +slain, the pigeons necks wrung, and a whole deer hangs on the wall. My +teeth itch just with looking on! To-morrow the journey commences!" + +Yes, to-morrow! Rudy and Babette sat together for the last time in the +mill. + +Without was the alpine glow; the evening bells pealed; the daughters +of the Sun sang: "What is for the best will take place!" + + + + +XIV. + +THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT. + + +The sun had gone down; the clouds lowered themselves into the Rhone +valley--between the high mountains; the wind blew from the south over +the mountains--an African wind, a Foehn,--which tore the clouds +asunder. When the wind had passed, all was still for an instant; the +parted clouds hung in fantastic forms between the forest-grown +mountains. Over the hastening Rhone, their shapes resembled +sea-monsters of the primeval world, soaring eagles of the air and +leaping frogs of the ditches--they seemed to sink into the rapid +stream and to sail on the river, yet they still floated in the air. +The stream carried away a pine tree, torn up by the roots; and the +water sent whirlpools ahead; this was Vertigo, with her attendants, +and they danced in circles on the foaming stream. The moon shone on +the snow of the mountain-peaks; it lighted up the dark forest and the +singular white clouds; the peasants of the mountain, saw through their +window panes, the nightly apparitions and the spirits of the powers of +nature, as they sailed before the Ice-Maiden. She came from her +glacier castle, she sat in a frail bark, a felled fir-tree; the water +of the glaciers carried her up the stream out to the main sea. + +"The wedding guests are coming!" was whizzed and sung in the air and +in the water. + +Visions without and visions within! + +Babette dreamt a wonderful dream. + +It appeared to her, as though she was married to Rudy, and had been so +for many years. He had gone chamois hunting and as she sat at home, +the young Englishman with the golden whiskers was beside her; his eyes +were fiery, his words seemed endowed with magical power; he reached +her his hand and she was obliged to follow him. + +They flew from home. Steadily downwards. + +A weight lay upon her heart and it grew ever heavier. It was a sin +against Rudy, a sin against God; suddenly she stood forsaken. Her +clothes were torn by the thorns; her hair had grown grey; she looked +up in her sorrow and she saw Rudy on the edge of the rock. She +stretched her arms towards him, but she ventured neither to call, nor +to implore him; but she soon saw that it was not he himself, only his +hunting coat and hat, which were hanging on his alpine staff, as the +hunters are accustomed to place them, in order to deceive the chamois! +Babette moaned in boundless anguish: + +"Ah! would that I had died on my wedding day, my happiest day! Oh! my +heavenly Father! That would have been a mercy, a life's happiness! +Then we would have obtained, the best, that could have happened to us! +No one knows his future!" In her impious sorrow, she threw herself +down the steep precipice. It seemed as if a string broke, and a +sorrowful tone resounded. + +Babette awoke--the dream was at an end and obliterated; but she knew +that she had dreamt of something terrible, and of the young +Englishman, whom she had neither seen, nor thought of, for many +months. Was he perhaps in Montreux? Should she see him at her +wedding? A slight shadow flitted over her delicate mouth, her brow +contracted; but her smile soon returned; her eyes sparkled again; the +sun shone so beautifully without, and to-morrow, yes to-morrow was her +and Rudy's wedding day. + +Rudy had already arrived, when she came down stairs, and they soon +left for Villeneuve. They were so happy, the two, and the miller also; +he laughed and was radiant with joy; he was a good father, an honest +soul. + +"Now we are the masters of the house!" said the parlour-cat. + + + + +XV. + +CONCLUSION. + + +It was not yet night, when the three joyous people reached Villeneuve +and took their dinner. The miller seated himself in an arm-chair with +his pipe and took a little nap. The betrothed went out of the town arm +in arm, out on the carriage way, under the bush-grown rocks, to the +deep bluish-green lake. Sombre Chillon, with its grey walls and heavy +towers, mirrored itself in the clear water; but still nearer lay the +little island, with its three acacias, and it looked like a bouquet on +the lake. + +"How charming it must be there!" said Babette; she felt again the +greatest desire to visit it, and this wish could be immediately +fulfilled; for a boat lay on the shore and the rope which fastened it, +was easy to untie. As no one was visible, from whom they could ask +permission, they took the boat without hesitation, for Rudy could row +well. The oars skimmed like the fins of a fish, over the pliant water, +which is so yielding and still so strong; which is all back to carry, +but all mouth to engulph; which smiles--yes, is gentleness itself, and +still awakens terror--and is so powerful in destroying. The rapid +current soon brought the boat to the island; they stepped on land. +There was just room enough for the two to dance. + +Rudy swung Babette three times around, and then they seated themselves +on the little bench, under the acacias, looked into each other's eyes, +held each other by the hand, and everything around them shone in the +splendour of the setting sun. The forests of fir-trees on the +mountains became of a pinkish lilac aspect, the colour of blooming +heath, and where the bare rocks were apparent, they glowed as if they +were transparent. The clouds in the sky were radiant with a red glow; +the whole lake was like a fresh flaming rose leaf. As the shadows +arose to the snow-covered mountains of Savoy, they became dark blue, +but the uppermost peak seemed like red lava and pointed out for a +moment, the whole range of mountains, whose masses arose glowing from +the bosom of the earth. + +It seemed to Rudy and Babette, that they had never seen such an alpine +glow. The snow-covered Dent-du-Midi, had a lustre like the full moon, +when it rises to the horizon. + +"So much beauty, so much happiness!" they both said. + +"Earth can give me no more," said Rudy, "an evening hour like this is +a whole life! How often have I felt as now, and thought that if +everything should end suddenly, how happily have I lived! How blessed +is this world! The day ended, a new one dawned and I felt that it was +still more beautiful! How bountiful is our Lord, Babette!" + +"I am so happy!" said she. + +"Earth can give me no more!" exclaimed Rudy. + +The evening bells resounded from the Savoy and Swiss mountains; the +bluish-black Jura arose in golden splendour towards the west. + +"God give you that which is most excellent and best, Rudy!" said +Babette. + +"He will do that," answered Rudy, "to-morrow I shall have it! +To-morrow you will be entirely mine! Mine own, little, lovely wife!" + +"The boat!" cried Babette at the same moment. + +The boat, which was to convey them back, had broken loose and was +sailing from the island. + +"I will go for it!" said Rudy. He threw off his coat, drew off his +boots, sprang in the lake and swam towards the boat. + +The clear, bluish-grey water of the ice mountains, was cold and deep. +Rudy gave but a single glance and it seemed as though he saw a gold +ring, rolling, shining and sporting--he thought on his lost engagement +ring--and the ring grew larger, widened into a sparkling circle and +within it shone the clear glacier; all about yawned endless deep +chasms; the water dropped and sounded like a chime of bells, and shone +with bluish-white flames. He saw in a second, what we must say in many +long words. Young hunters and young girls, men and women, who had +once perished in the glacier, stood there living, with open eyes and +smiling mouth; deep below them chimed from buried towns the peal of +church bells; under the arches of the churches knelt the congregation; +pieces of ice formed the organ pipes, and the mountain stream played +the organ. On the clear transparent ground sat the Ice-Maiden; she +raised herself towards Rudy, kissed his feet, and the coldness of +death ran through his limbs and gave him an electric shock--ice and +fire. He could not perceive the difference. + +"Mine, mine!" sounded around him and within him. + +"I kissed you, when you were young, kissed you on your mouth! Now I +kiss your feet, you are entirely mine!" + +He vanished in the clear blue water. + +Everything was still; the church bells stopped ringing; the last tones +died away with the splendour of the red clouds. + +"You are mine!" sounded in the deep. "You are mine!" sounded from on +high, from the infinite. + +How happy to fly from love to love, from earth to heaven! + +A string broke, a cry of grief was heard, the icy kiss of death +conquered; the prelude ended; so that the drama of life might +commence, discord melted into harmony.-- + +Do you call this a sad story? + +Poor Babette! For her it was a period of anguish. + +The boat drifted farther and farther. No one on shore knew that the +lovers were on the island. The evening darkened, the clouds lowered +themselves; night came. She stood there, solitary, despairing, +moaning. A flash of lightning passed over the Jura mountains, over +Switzerland and over Savoy. From all sides flash upon flash of +lightning, clap upon clap of thunder, which rolled continuously many +minutes. At times the lightning was vivid as sunshine, and you could +distinguish the grape vines; then all became black again in the dark +night. The lightning formed knots, ties, zigzags, complicated figures; +it struck in the lake, so that it lit it up on all sides; whilst the +noise of the thunder was made louder by the echo. The boat was drawn +on shore; all living objects sought shelter. Now the rain streamed +down. + +"Where can Rudy and Babette be in this frightful weather!" said the +miller. + +Babette sat with folded hands, with her head in her lap, mute with +sorrow, with screaming and bewailing. + +"In the deep water," said she to herself, "he is as far down as the +glaciers!" + +She remembered what Rudy had related to her of his mother's death, of +his preservation, and how he was withdrawn death-like, from the clefts +of the glacier. "The Ice-Maiden has him again!" + +There was a flash of lightning, as dazzling as the sunlight on the +white snow. Babette started up; at this instant, the sea rose like a +glittering glacier; there stood the Ice-Maiden majestic, pale, blue, +shining, and at her feet lay Rudy's corpse. "Mine!" said she, and then +all around was fog and night and streaming water. + +"Cruel!" moaned Babette, "why must he die, now that the day of our +happiness approached. God! Enlighten my understanding! Enlighten my +heart! I do not understand thy ways! Notwithstanding all thy +omnipotence and wisdom, I still grope in the darkness." + +God enlightened her heart. A thought like a ray of mercy, her last +night's dream in all its vividness flashed through her; she remembered +the words which she had spoken: "the wish for the best for herself and +Rudy." + +"Woe is me! Was that the sinful seed in my heart? Did my dream +foretell my future life? Is all this misery for my salvation? Me, +miserable one!" + +Lamenting, sat she in the dark night. In the solemn stillness, sounded +Rudy's last words; the last ones he had uttered: "Earth has no more +happiness to give me!" She had heard it in the fullness of her joy, +she heard it again in all the depths of her sorrow. + + * * * * * + +A couple of years have passed since then. The lake smiles, the coast +smiles; the vine branches are filled with ripe grapes; the steamboats +glide along with waving flags and the pleasure boats float over the +watery mirror, with their two expanded sails like white butterflies. +The railroad to Chillon is opened; it leads into the Rhone valley; +strangers alight at every station; they arrive with their red covered +guide books and read of remarkable sights which are to be seen. They +visit Chillon, they stand upon the little island, with its three +acacias--out on the lake--and they read in the book about the +betrothed ones, who sailed over one evening in the year 1856;--of the +death of the bridegroom, and: "it was not till the next morning, that +the despairing shrieks of the bride were heard on the coast!" + +The book does not tell, however, of Babette's quiet life with her +father; not in the mill, where strangers now dwell, but in the +beautiful house, near the railway station. There she looks from the +window many an evening and gazes over the chestnut trees, upon the +snow mountains, where Rudy once climbed. She sees in the evening hours +the alpine glow--the children of the Sun encamp themselves above, and +repeat the song of the wanderer, whose mantle the whirlwind tore off, +and carried away: "it took the covering but not the man." + +There is a rosy hue on the snow of the mountains; there is a rosy hue +in every heart, where the thought dwells, that: "God always gives us +that which is best for us!" but it is not always revealed to us, as it +once happened to Babette in her dream. + + + + +The Butterfly. + + +The butterfly wished to procure a bride for himself--of course, one of +the flowers--a pretty little one. He looked about him. Each one sat +quietly and thoughtfully on her stalk, as a young maiden should sit, +when she is not affianced; but there were many of them, and it was a +difficult matter to choose amongst them. The butterfly could not make +up his mind; so he flew to the daisy. The French call her +_Marguerite_; they know that she can tell fortunes, and she does this +when lovers pluck off leaf after leaf and ask her at each one a +question about the beloved one: "How does he love me?--With all his +heart?--With sorrow?--Above all?--Can not refrain from it?--Quite +secretly?--A little bit?--Not at all?"--or questions to the same +import. Each one asks in his own language. The butterfly flew towards +her and questioned her; he did not pluck off the leaves, but kissed +each separate one, thinking that by so doing, he would make himself +more agreeable to the good creature. + +"Sweet Margaret Daisy," said he, "of all the flowers you are the +wisest woman! You can prophesy! Tell me, shall I obtain this one or +that one? Which one? If I but know this, I can fly to the charming one +at once, and pay my court!" + +Margaret did not answer. She could not bear to be called a _woman_, +for she was a young girl, and when one is a young girl, one is not a +woman. + +He asked again, he asked a third time, but as she did not answer a +single word, he questioned her no more and flew away without further +parley, intent on his courtship. + +It was early spring time, and there was an abundance of snow-drops and +crocuses. "They are very neat," said the butterfly, "pretty little +confirmed ones, but a little green!" He, like all young men looked at +older girls. + +From thence he flew to the anemones; but he found them a little too +sentimental; the tulips, too showy; the broom, not of a good family; +the linden blossoms, too small--then they had so many relations; as to +the apple blossoms, why to look at them you would think them as +healthy as roses, but to-day they blossom and to-morrow, if the wind +blows, they drop off; a marriage with them would be too short. The pea +blossom pleased him most, she was pink and white, she was pure and +refined and belonged to the housewifely girls that look well, and +still can make themselves useful in the kitchen. He had almost +concluded to make love to her, when he saw hanging near to her, a +pea-pod with its white blossom. "Who is that?" asked he. "That is my +sister," said the pea blossom. + +"How now, is that the way you look when older?" This terrified the +butterfly and he flew away. + +The honeysuckles were hanging over the fence--young ladies with long +faces and yellow skins--but he did not fancy their style of beauty. +Yes, but which did he like? Ask him! + +The spring passed, the summer passed, and then came the autumn. The +flowers appeared in their most beautiful dresses, but of what avail +was this? The butterfly's fresh youthful feelings had vanished. In +old age, the heart longs for fragrance, and dahlias and gillyflowers +are scentless. So the butterfly flew to the mint. "She has no flower +at all, but she is herself a flower, for she is fragrant from head to +foot and each leaf is filled with perfume. I shall take her!" + +But the mint stood stiff and still, and at last said: "Friendship--but +nothing more! I am old and you are old! We can live very well for one +another, but to marry? No! Do not let us make fools of ourselves in +our old age." + +So the butterfly obtained no one. + +The butterfly remained a bachelor. + +Many violent and transient showers came late in the autumn; the wind +blew so coldly down the back of the old willow trees, that it cracked +within them. It did not do to fly about in summer garments, for even +love itself would then grow cold. The butterfly however preferred not +to fly out at all; he had by chance entered a door-way, and there was +fire in the stove--yes, it was just as warm there, as in +summer-time;--there he could live. "Life is not enough," said he, "one +must have sunshine, liberty and a little flower!" + +He flew against the window-panes, was seen, was run through by a pin +and placed in a curiosity-box; one could not do more for him. + +"Now I also am seated on a stalk like a flower," said the butterfly, +"it is not so comfortable after all! But it is as well as being +married, for then one is tied down!" He consoled himself with this. + +"What a wretched consolation!" said the flower, that grew in the pot +in the room. + +"One can not entirely trust to flowers that grow in pots," thought +the butterfly, "they have too much intercourse with men." + + + + +The Psyche. + + +A large star beams in the dawn of morning in the red sky--the +clearest star of the morning--its rays tremble upon the white wall, as +if they wished to write down and relate, the scenes which they had +witnessed during many centuries. + +Listen to one of these stories! + +A short time ago--(this _not long ago_ is with us men--centuries)--my +rays followed a young artist; it was in the realm of the Pope, in the +city of the world, in Rome. Many changes have been made, but the +imperial palace, was, as it is to-day, a ruin; between the overthrown +marble columns and over the ruined bath-rooms, whose walls were still +decorated with gold, grew fig and laurel trees. The Colosseum was a +ruin; the church bells rang, the incense arose and processions passed +through the streets with tapers and gorgeous canopies. The Church was +holy, and art was lofty and holy also. In Rome dwelt Raphael, the +greatest painter of the world, here also dwelt Michael Angelo, the +greatest sculptor of the age; even the Pope did homage to them both, +and honoured them with his visits. Art was recognized, honoured and +rewarded. All greatness and excellence is not seen and recognized. + +In a little narrow street, stood an old house, which had once been a +temple; here dwelt a young artist; he was poor, he was unknown; it is +true that he had young friends, artists also, young in feelings, in +hopes, and in thoughts. They told him, that he was rich in talents +and excellence but that he needed confidence in himself. He was never +satisfied with his work and either destroyed all that he modeled or +left it unfinished; this is not the proper course to adopt, if one +would be known, appreciated and live. + +"You are a dreamer," said they, "this is your misfortune! You have not +yet lived, you have not inhaled life in large healthy draughts, you +have not yet enjoyed it. One should do this in youth and become a man! +Look at the great master Raphael whom the Pope honours and the world +admires,--he takes wine and bread with him." + +"He dines with the baker's wife, the pretty Fornarina!" said Angelo, +one of the merry young friends. + +Yes, they all appealed to his good sense and to his youth. + +They wished to have the young artist join them in their merry-makings, +in their extravagances and in their mad tricks; he would do so for a +short time, for his blood was warm, his imagination strong; he could +take his part in their merry conversation, and laugh as loudly as the +others; and yet "the merry life of Raphael," as they named it, +vanished from him like the morning mist, when he saw the godlike +lustre which shone forth from the paintings of the great masters, or +when he stood in the Vatican and beheld the forms of beauty, which the +old sculptors had fashioned from blocks of marble, centuries ago. His +breast swelled, he felt something so lofty, so holy, so elevated +within him, yes, something so great and good, that he longed to create +and chisel like forms from marble blocks. He desired to give +expression to the feelings which agitated his heart; but how and in +what shape? The soft clay allowed itself to be modeled into beautiful +figures by his fingers, but on the following day, dissatisfied, he +destroyed all he had created. + +One day he passed by one of the rich palaces, of which Rome has so +many; he stood a moment at the large open entrance, and gazed into a +little garden, full of the most beautiful roses, which was surrounded +by archways, decorated with paintings. Large, white callas, with their +green leaves, sprouted forth from marble shells, into which splashed +clear water; a form glided by, a young girl, the daughter of this +princely house, so elegant, so light, so charming! He had never seen +so lovely a woman. Hold! yes, once, one made by Raphael, a painting of +Psyche, in one of the palaces of Rome. There she was but painted, +here she breathed and moved. + +She lived in his thoughts and in his heart; he went home to his poor +lodgings and formed a Psyche out of clay; it was the rich, young Roman +girl, the princely woman, and he gazed at his work with satisfaction, +for the first time. This had a signification--it was _She_. When his +friends looked upon it, they exclaimed with joy, that this work was a +revelation of his artistic greatness, which they had always +recognized, but which now should be recognized by the whole world. + +Clay is natural, flesh like, but it has not the whiteness, the +durability of marble; the Psyche must obtain life from the block of +marble--and he had the most precious piece of marble. It had been the +property of his parents, and had been lying many years, in the court +yard; bits of broken bottles, remains of artichokes were heaped over +it and it was soiled, but its interior was white as the mountain snow; +the Psyche should rise forth from it. + +One day, it so happened--it is true, that the clear stars do not +relate it, for they did not see it, but we know it--that a +distinguished Roman party, came to view the young artist's work, of +which they had casually heard. Who were the distinguished visitors? +Poor young man! All too happy young man, one may call him also. Here +in his room stood the young girl herself--with what a smile--when her +father said: "You are that, living!" One cannot picture the look, one +cannot render the look, the strange look with which she glanced at the +young artist; it was a look which elevated, ennobled and--destroyed. + +"The Psyche must be executed in marble!" said the rich man. This was a +word of life, for the dead clay and for the heavy block of marble; it +was also a word of life for the young man who was overcome by emotion. +"I will buy it, as soon as the work is completed!" said the princely +man. + +It seemed as though a new era had dawned in the poor work-room; +occupation, life and gayety, lighted it up. The beaming morning star +saw how the work progressed. Even the clay had been endowed with a +soul, since _she_ had been there, and he bent entranced over the well +known features. + +"Now I know what life is," he exclaimed with delight, "it is love! it +is the elevation of the heart to the divine, it is rapture for the +beautiful! What my friends call life and enjoyment, is perishable, +like bubbles in the fermenting lees, not the pure, heavenly wine of +the altar, the consecration of life!" + +The marble block was erected, the chisel hewed away large pieces; the +labourer's part was done, marks and points placed, until little by +little, the stone became a body, a shape of beauty--the Psyche--as +charming as was the woman made by God. The massive stone became a +soaring, dancing, airy, light and graceful Psyche, with a heavenly, +innocent smile, the smile that had been mirrored in the young +sculptor's heart. + +The star, in the rosy-tinted morning saw, and partly understood what +was agitating the mind of the young man; it understood as well, the +varying colour of his checks and the glance of his eye, whilst he +created, as though inspired by God. + +"You are a master like those in the days of the Greeks," said his +enchanted friends, "the world will soon admire your Psyche!" + +"My Psyche," he repeated, "mine, yes, that she must be! I am also an +artist like the great departed ones! God has granted gifts of mercy to +me, and has elevated me to the highly born!" + +He sank, weeping, on his knees and offered up his thanks to God--but +forgot him again for her, for her portrait in marble, for the Psyche +form, that stood before him, as though cut out of snow, blushing, in +the morning sun. + +He should see her, the living, floating one, in reality; she, whose +words sounded like music. He would himself carry the tidings, that the +marble Psyche was completed, to the rich palace. He arrived, passed +through the open court-yard, where the water splashed from dolphin's +mouths into marble shells, where callas bloomed and fresh roses +blossomed. He stepped into the large, lofty hall, whose walls and +ceilings were gorgeous with brilliant colours, with paintings and +armorial bearings. Well dressed and haughty servants, holding up their +heads, (like sleigh horses with their bells,) were pacing up and down; +some of them had even stretched themselves out comfortably and +insolently on the carved wooden benches; they appeared to be the +masters of the house. He named his business, and was conducted up the +marble steps, which were covered with soft carpets. On each side stood +statues. Then he came to richly decorated apartments, hung with +paintings and with mosaic floors. + +This pomp, this splendour made him breathe a little heavily, but he +soon felt reassured; for the old prince, received him kindly, almost +cordially. After they had spoken, as he was taking leave, he begged +him to visit the young Signora, for she also wished to see him. The +servants led him through magnificent chambers and corridors to her +apartments, of which she was the glory and splendour. + +She spoke with him! No Miserere, no church song could have melted the +heart more, or have more elevated the soul, than did the music of her +voice. He seized her hand and pressed it to his lips--no rose is so +soft, but a fire proceeds from this rose--a fire streams through him +and his breast heaves; words streamed from his lips, but he knew not +what he said. Does the crater know that it throws forth burning lava? +He told her his love. She stood there, surprised, insulted, proud, +yes, scornful; with an expression on her face as though a damp, +clammy frog had suddenly touched her. Her cheeks coloured, her lips +grew pale, her eyes were on fire, and still black as the darkness of +night. + +"Frantic creature! Away, away!" said she, as she turned her back upon +him. Her face of beauty seemed turned to stone, like unto the Medusa's +head with its serpent locks. He descended to the street, a weak, +lifeless thing; he entered his room like a night-walker, and in the +rage of his grief, he seized his hammer, brandished it high in the air +and sought to destroy the beautiful marble form. He did not +observe--so excited was he--that Angelo, his friend, stood near him, +and arrested his arm with a firm grasp. + +"Have you become mad? What would you do?" They struggled with each +other. Angelo was the stronger, and with a deep drawn breath, he +threw the young artist on a chair. + +"What has occurred?" asked Angelo, "Collect yourself! Speak!" + +What could he say? What could he tell? As Angelo could not seize the +thread of his discourse, he let it drop. + +"Your blood grows thick with this eternal dreaming! Be human, like +others and live not in the clouds! Drink, until you become slightly +intoxicated, then you will sleep well! The young girl from the +Campagna, is as beautiful as the princess in the marble palace, they +are both daughters of Eve, and can not be distinguished one from the +other in Paradise! Follow your Angelo! I am your good angel, the angel +of your life! A time will come when you are old, when the body will +dwindle and some beautiful sunshiny day, when everything laughs and +rejoices, you will lie like a withered straw! I do not believe what +the priests say, that there is a life beyond the grave! It is a pretty +fancy, a fairy tale for children, delightful to think upon. I do not +live in imagination, but in reality! Come with me! Become a man!" + +He drew him away, he could do this now, for there was a fire in the +young artist's blood, a change in his soul; an ardent desire to tear +himself away from all his wonted ways, from all accustomed thoughts; +to forget his old self--and to-day he followed Angelo. + +In the suburbs, lay an osteria, which was much frequented by artists; +it was built in the ruins of a bathing chamber. Amongst the dark +shining foliage, hung large yellow lemons which covered a portion of +the old reddish-yellow wall. The osteria was a deep vault, almost +like a hollow in the ruins; within, a lamp burned before the image of +the Madonna; a large fire flamed on the hearth, for here they roasted, +cooked and prepared the dishes for the guests. Without, under the +lemon and laurel trees, stood tables ready set. + +They were received merrily and rejoicingly by their friends; they ate +little and drank much and became gay; they sang, and played on the +guitar; the Saltarello sounded and the dance began. Two Roman girls, +models of the young artists, joined in the dance and merriment; two +pretty Bacchante! They had no Psyche forms, they were not delicate +beautiful roses, but fresh, healthy flaming pinks. + +How warm it was on this day, even warm at sundown! Fire in the blood, +fire in the air, fire in every glance. The air swam in gold and +roses, life was gold and roses. + +"Now you have at last joined us! Allow yourself to be carried away by +the current within and without you!" + +"I never felt so well and joyous before!" said the young artist. "You +are right, you are all of you right. I was a fool, a dreamer; man +belongs to reality and not to fancy!" + +The young man left the osteria, in the clear starry evening, with song +and tinkling guitars, and passed through the narrow streets. The +daughters of the Campagna, the two flaming pinks, were in their train. + +In Angelo's room, the voices sounded more suppressed but not less +fiery, amongst the scattered sketches, the outlines, the glowing, +voluptuous paintings; amongst the drawings on the floor there was many +a sketch of vigorous beauty, like unto the daughters of the Campagna, +yet they themselves were much more beautiful. The six-armed lamp +glowed brightly, and the human forms warmed and shone like gods. + +"Apollo! Jupiter! I elevate myself to your heaven, to your glory! +Methinks, that the flower of my life has unfolded within my heart!" +Yes, it did unfold--it withered and fell to pieces; a stunning, +loathsome vapour arose, dazzling the sight, benumbing the thoughts, +extinguishing his sensual, fiery emotions, and all was dark. He went +home, sat down on his bed, and thought. "Fie!" sounded from his lips, +from the bottom of his heart. "Miserable wretch! away! away!"--and he +sighed sorrowfully. + +"Away! Away!" These, her words, the words of the living Psyche, +weighed upon him, and flowed from his lips. He bowed his head upon +the pillows, his thoughts became confused and he slept. + +At the dawn of day he started up.--What was this? Was it a dream? Were +her words, the visit to the osteria, the evening with the purple red +pinks of the Campagna but a dream?--No, all was reality; he had not +known this before. + +The clear star beamed in the purple-tinted air, its rays fell upon +him, and upon the marble Psyche; he trembled whilst he contemplated +the image of immortality, his glance even appeared impure to him. He +threw a covering over it, he touched it once more in order to veil its +form, but he could not view his work. + +Still, sombre, buried in his own meditations, he sat there the whole +day; he took no heed of what passed around him, no one knew what was +agitating this human heart. Days passed by, weeks passed by; the +nights were the longest. One morning, the twinkling star saw him rise +from his couch--pale--trembling with fever; he walked to the marble +statue, lifted the cover, gazed upon his work with a sorrowful, deep, +long look, and then almost sinking under the weight, he drew the +statue into the garden. There was a sunken, dried-up well, within it, +into which he lowered the Psyche, threw earth upon it and covered the +fresh grave with small sticks and nettles. + +"Away! Away," was the short funereal service. + +The star in the rosy red atmosphere saw this, and two heavy tears +trembled on the deathly pale cheeks of the fever sick one--sick unto +death, as they called him. + +The lay brother Ignatius came to him as a friend and as a physician. +He came, and with the consoling words of religion, he spoke of the +peace and happiness of the church, of the sins of man, of the mercy +and peace of God. + +The words fell like warm sun beams on the moist, fermenting ground; +they dispersed and cleared away the misty clouds, from the troubled +thoughts which had held possession of him; he gazed upon his past +life; everything had been a failure, a deception--yes, _had been_. Art +was an enchantress, that but leads us into vanity, into earthly +pleasures. We become false to ourselves, false to our friends, false +to our God. The serpent speaks ever in us: "Taste and thou shalt +become like unto God." + +Now, for the first time, he appeared to understand himself, to have +discovered the road to truth, to peace. + +In the church was God's light and brightness, in the monk's cell was +found that peace, which enables man to obtain eternal bliss. + +Brother Ignatius supported him in these thoughts, and the decision was +firmly made--a worldling became a servant of the church;--the young +artist took leave of the world, and entered the cloister. + +How joyfully, how cordially the brothers greeted him! How festive the +ordination! It seemed to him that God was in the sunshine of the +church, and beamed within it, from the holy pictures and from the +shining cross. He stood in the evening sunset, in his little cell, and +opened his window and gazed in the spring-time over old Rome--with her +broken temples, her massive, but dead Colosseum; her blooming acacias, +her flourishing evergreens, her fragrant roses, her shining lemons +and oranges, her palm trees fanned by the breeze--and felt touched and +satisfied. The quiet, open Campagna extended to the blue snow-topped +mountains, which appeared to be painted on the air. Everything +breathed beauty and peace. The whole--a dream! + +Yes, the world here was a dream, and the dream ruled the hours and +returned to hours again. But the life of a cloister is a life of many, +many long years. + +Man is naturally impure and he felt this! What flames were these, that +at times glowed through him? Was it the power of the Evil One, that +caused these wild thoughts to rage constantly within him? He punished +his body, but without effect. What portion of his mind was that, which +wound itself around him, pliable as a serpent, and which crept about +his conscience under a loving cloak and consoled him! The saints pray +for us, the holy Virgin prays for us, Jesus himself gave his blood for +us! + +Was it a childlike feeling, or the levity of youth, that had induced +him to give himself up to grace, and which made him feel elevated +above so many? For had he not cast away the vanity of the world, was +he not a son of the church? + +One day, after many years, he met Angelo, who recognized him. + +"Man," said he, "yes, it is you! Are you happy now? You have sinned +against God, and cast his gifts of mercy away from you; you have +gambled away your vocation for this world. Read the parable of the +entrusted pledge. The Master who related it, spoke but truth! What +have you won and found after all? Do not make a dream life for +yourself! Make a religion for yourself, as all do. Suppose all is but +a dream, a fancy, a beautiful thought!" + +"Get thee from behind me, Satan!" said the monk, and forsook Angelo. + +"It is a devil, a devil personified! I saw him to-day," murmured the +monk, "I reached him but a finger, and he took my whole hand! No," +sighed he, "the wickedness is in myself; it is also in this man, but +he is not tormented by it; he walks with elevated brow, he has his +enjoyment; I but clutch at the consolation of the church for my +welfare! But if this is only consolation! If all here consists of +beautiful thoughts and but resemble those which beguiled me in the +world? Is it but a deception like unto the beauty of the red evening +clouds and like unto the blue wave-like beauty of the distant +mountains! Seen near, how changed! Eternity, art thou like unto the +great infinite, calm ocean, which beckons to us, calls us, fills us +with presentiments, and if we venture upon it, we sink, we +vanish--die--cease to be?-- + +"Deceit! away! away!" + +He sat tearless on his hard couch, desolate, kneeling--before whom? +Before the stone cross which was placed in the wall? No, habit alone +caused his body to bend. + +The deeper he read within himself, the darker all appeared to him. +"Nothing within, nothing without! Life thrown away!" This thought, +crushed him--expunged him. + +"I dare confide to none the doubts which consume me! My prisoner is my +secret and if it escape I am lost!" + +The power of God, wrestled within him. + +"Lord! Lord!" he exclaimed in his despair, "be merciful, give me +faith! I cast thy gifts of mercy from me and my vocation for this +world! I prayed for strength and thou hast not given it to me. +Immortality! The Psyche in my breast--away! away!--Must it be buried +like yon Psyche, the light of my life? Never to arise from the grave!" + +The star beamed in the rosy red atmosphere, the star which will be +lost and will vanish, whilst the soul lives and emits light. Its +trembling ray fell upon the white wall, but it spoke not of the glory +of God, of the grace, the eternal love which beams in the breast of +every believer. + +"Can the Psyche never die?--Can one live with consciousness?--Can the +impossible take place?--Yes! Yes! My being is inexplicable. +Inconceivable art thou, oh Lord! A wonder of might, glory and love!" + +His eyes beamed, his eyes closed. The peal of the church bells passed +over the dead one. He was laid in holy ground and his ashes mingled +with the dust of strangers. + +Years afterwards, his bones were exhumed and stood in a niche in the +cloisters, as had stood those of the dead monks before him; they were +dressed in the brown cowl, a rosary of beads placed in his hand, the +sun shone without, incense perfumed within, and mass was read.-- + +Years rolled by. + +The bones and legs fell asunder. They stood up the skulls, and with +them, formed the whole outside wall of a church. There he stood in the +burning sunshine; there were so many, many dead, they did not know +their names, much less his. + +See, something living moved in the sunshine in the two eye sockets; +what was that? A brilliant lizard was running about in the hollow +skull, slipping in and out of the large, empty sockets. This was now +the life in the head, where once elevated thoughts, brilliant dreams, +love for art and the magnificent had been rife; from which hot tears +had rolled and where the hope of immortality had lived. The lizard +leaped out and disappeared; the skull crumbled away and became dust to +dust.-- + +Centuries passed. Unchanged, the star, clear and large, beamed on as +it had done for centuries. The atmosphere shone with a red rosy hue, +fresh as roses, flaming as blood. + +Where there had once been a little street with the remains of an old +temple, now stood a convent; a grave was dug in the garden, for a +young nun had died, and she was to be lowered in the earth at this +early hour of the morning. The spade struck against a stone which +appeared of a dazzling whiteness--the white marble came forth--it +rounded into a shoulder;--they used the spade with care, and a female +head became visible--butterfly wings. They raised from the grave, in +which the young nun was to be laid on this rosy morning, a gloriously +beautiful Psyche-form, chiseled from white marble. + +"How magnificent! How perfect a master work!" they said. "Who can the +artist be?" He was unknown. None knew him, save the clear star, which +had been beaming for centuries; it knew the course of his earthly +life, his trials, his failings; it knew that he was: "but a man!" But +he was dead, dispersed as dust must and shall be; but the result of +his best efforts, the glory which pointed out the divine within him, +the Psyche, which never dies, which surpasses in brightness, all +earthly renown, this remained, was seen, acknowledged, admired and +beloved. + +The clear morning star in the rosy tinted sky, cast its most radiant +beams upon the Psyche, and upon the smile of happiness about the mouth +and eyes of the admiring ones, who beheld the soul, chiseled in the +marble block. + +That which is earthly passes away, and is forgotten; only the star in +the infinite knows of it. That which is heavenly surpasses renown; for +renown, fame and earthly glory die away, but--the Psyche lives +forever! + + + + +The Snail and the Rose-Tree. + + +A hedge of hazel-nut bushes encircled the garden; without was field +and meadow, with cows and sheep; but in the centre of the garden stood +a rose-tree, and under it sat a snail--she had much within her, she +had herself. + +"Wait, until my time comes," said she, "I shall accomplish something +more than putting forth roses, bearing nuts, or giving milk, like the +cows and sheep!" + +"I expect something fearfully grand," said the rose-tree, "may I ask +when it will take place?" + +"I shall take my time," said the snail, "you are in too great a hurry, +and when this is the case, how can one's expectations be fulfilled?" + +The next year the snail lay in about the same spot under the +rose-tree, which put forth buds and developed roses, ever fresh, ever +new. The snail half crept forth, stretched out its feelers and drew +itself in again. + +"Everything looks as it did a year ago! No progress has been made; the +rose-tree still bears roses; it does not get along any farther!" + +The summer faded away, the autumn passed, the rose-tree constantly +bore flowers and buds, until the snow fell, and the weather was raw +and damp. The rose-tree bent itself towards the earth, the snail crept +in the earth. + +A new year commenced; the roses came out, and the snail came out. + +"Now you are an old rose bush," said the snail, "you will soon die +away. You have given the world everything that you had in you; whether +that be much or little is a question, upon which I have not time to +reflect. But it is quite evident, that you have not done the slightest +thing towards your inward developement; otherwise I suppose that +something different would have sprung from you. Can you answer this? +You will soon be nothing but a stick! Can you understand what I say?" + +"You startle me," said the rose-tree, "I have never thought upon +that!" + +"No, I suppose that you have never meddled much with thinking! Can you +tell me why you blossom? And how it comes to pass? How? Why?" + +"No," said the rose-tree, "I blossom with pleasure because I could +not do otherwise. The sun was so warm, the air so refreshing, I drank +the clear dew and the fortifying rain; I breathed, I lived! A strength +came to me from the earth, a strength came from above, I felt a +happiness, ever new, ever great and therefore I must blossom ever, +that was my life, I could not do otherwise!" + +"You have led a very easy life!" said the snail. + +"Certainly, everything has been given to me," said the rose-tree, "but +still more has been given to you. You are one of those meditative, +pensive, profound natures, one of the highly gifted, that astound the +whole world!" + +"I have assuredly no such thought in my mind," said the snail, "the +world is nothing to me! What have I to do with the world? I have +enough with myself, and enough in myself!" + +"But should we not all, here on earth, give the best part of us to +others? Offer what we can!--It is true, that I have only given +roses--but you? You who have received so much, what have you given to +the world? What do you give her?" + +"What I have given? What I give? I spit upon her! She is good for +nothing! I have nought to do with her. Put forth roses, you can do no +more! Let the hazel bushes bear nuts! Let the cows and sheep give +milk; they have each their public, I have mine within myself! I retire +within myself, and there I remain. The world is nothing to me!" + +And thereupon the snail withdrew into her house and closed it. + +"That is so sad," said the rose-tree, "with the best will, I cannot +creep in, I must ever spring out, spring forth in roses. The leaves +drop off and are blown away by the wind. Yet, I saw one of the roses +laid in the hymn-book of the mother of the family; one of my roses was +placed upon the breast of a charming young girl, and one was kissed +with joy by a child's mouth. This did me so much good, it was a real +blessing! That is my recollection, my life!" + +And the rose-tree flowered in innocence, and the snail sat +indifferently in her house. The world was nothing to her. + +And years passed away. The snail became earth to earth and the +rose-tree became earth to earth; the remembrances in the hymn-book +were also blown away--but new rose-trees bloomed in the garden, new +snails grew in the garden; they crept in their houses and spat.--The +world is nothing to them. + +Shall we read the story of the past again? It will not be different. + + * * * * * + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 104: succeded replaced with succeeded | + | Page 116: petulent replaced with petulant | + | Page 144: prefered replaced with preferred | + | Page 167: 'were' capitalized to 'Were' (new sentence) | + | Page 170: ordonation replaced with ordination | + | Page 174: beckens replaced with beckons | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales, by +Hans Christian Andersen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ICE-MAIDEN: AND OTHER TALES. *** + +***** This file should be named 18604.txt or 18604.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/0/18604/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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