Das landhaus am Rhein. English

by Berthold Auerbach

  CHAPTER III.

  HERCULES IN A HAIR-DRESSER'S SHOP.

  The telegraphist was very much astonished, but did not dare to expresshis surprise, when the handsome, noble young man, with the polishedexterior and the unassuming air, through which there was plainlydiscernible a feeling of condescension towards a public officer, handedin a telegram mysteriously worded, and running thus:--

  "God be praised! a green twig from the island of felicity. Newgenealogical tree. Heavenly manna. Endless possessions, A consecratedone, new-born.

  "OTTO VON PRANKEN."

  Pranken walked about in the tasteful, well-arranged grounds of thestation, looked up to the mountains, down to the river, to the island;the whole world was as if freshly created to him, he seemed to himselfin a new earth; a veil was removed from everything, and all wasravishingly beautiful. In a copse, where no one saw him, he knelt down;and while he knelt he felt inexpressibly happy, and as if he neverwished to rise again. He heard a noise in his vicinity, stood upright,and brushed his knees carefully. It was nothing but a beggar thatdisturbed him. Without waiting to be spoken to, Pranken gave him aconsiderable sum of money, and after the beggar had gone away, hecalled him back and gave him as much again.

  The air was loaded with aromatic fragrance, intermingled with thatdelicate resinous perfume that comes from the opening buds; innumerablerose-buds hung from the trellises, as if waiting for the word to open;from the steep wall of rock, where a passage for the railroad had beencut, a cuckoo called, and thousands of birds joined in with theirsong. The whole world was full of blossoming fragrance and music ofbirds,--all was redeemed, ransomed, blessed.

  The people at the station thought that the young man who was thuswalking to and fro, sometimes hurrying, sometimes standing still,sometimes looking up, and then casting his eyes to the ground, must beexpecting a relative by the next train; but Pranken was waiting for noperson and no thing. What could there be in the world to come to him?He had everything. He could not conceive how he could stay here, andManna be over there; no moment ought to pass away without their beingtogether, one, inseparable.

  A finch now flew away from the tree beneath which he was standing; itflew over the river to the island. Ah! could I also fly over andlook at her and greet her from the tree, and at evening fly to herwindow-sill, and look upon her until she went to sleep, and in themorning when she awoke!

  All the feelings that ever moved the heart of youth now took possessionof Pranken, and he was frightened at himself, when that demon of vanityand self-conceit, whose growth he had so fostered within him, whisperedin his ear. Thou art a noble, enthusiastic youth! All great qualitiesare thine! He now hated this evil spirit, and he found means of drivinghim out.

  He sat in a retired arbor and read in Thomas a Kempis. He read theadmonition: "Learn to rule thyself, and then thou canst rule the thingsof the world." Pranken had, until now, regarded life as a light jest,not worth the trouble, indeed, of attempting to do any thing with it.He had that contemptuous tone with which one orders a poodle to jumpover a stick, and he looked up amazed as to what this should mean.

  Is it possible that there is such a way of thinking as this, even inthose who belong to the church? "In my father's house are manymansions, and perhaps, it is very well to show for once to the childrenof the world, that they are not the sole possessors of the right tosport freely with the world."

  All was to Pranken more and more amazing, more and more enigmatical,and, at the same time, more and more illuminated. If the buds thereupon the hedge could tell, in the moment when they open, how the lightthrills through them, it would be like what was now taking place in thesoul of this young man. And if a man, who had heard the old legendwithout believing it, should find down there in the river theNiebelungen treasure, the old, beautiful, splendid, rare and solidjewelry--he would feel as Pranken did when he really discovered, forthe first time, the Christian doctrine in this searching and impressivelittle book. All is here so comprehensive, expressing thine own innerconflicting desires, and expressing them with such tenderness, anddisclosing their secret springs, and giving too, the directions howthou canst lay aside what is wrong, and make the true thine own.

  Pranken sat there a long time in a reverie; railway trains came,railway trains went; boats went up and down the river, but Prankenheard and saw all as if it were only a dream. The noon-day bell at theconvent first aroused him. He went to the inn.

  He met here a comrade, who was making a wedding tour with his youngbride. Pranken was warmly welcomed; they were very glad to meet him.Pranken must join a water-party on an excursion to the mountains, afterdinner; but he declined, he knew not why. But he looked at the youngbride and bridegroom with gleaming eyes; so will it be,--so will it be,when he journeys with Manna! It thrilled him with ecstasy to think thathe should be alone with her, alone out in the wide world! Why can henot, even now, go for her and bring her out? He promised to himself tolearn patience.

  They were very merry at dinner-time, and Pranken was delighted that hecould still crack his old jokes; his comrade should not have a finestory to tell at the military-club, its members should not have achance to jeer; and the stout Kannenberg should not bet a flask ofCanary that this pious mood was only one of Pranken's whims. Prankenbrought out his witticisms as if he had learned them by rote, and itseemed to him a century ago, almost as if it had been in a previousstate of existence, that there had been such a thing as appearing onparade.

  At table, Pranken heard accidentally that, on the next day, apilgrimage was to leave the town near by with great pomp. Thenew-married couple took counsel whether they should not be spectatorsof the display at the place of pilgrimage; they would decide in theevening.

  After Pranken had accompanied them to the boat, he went to the station,and took a ticket for town; he was glad to be able to be in time forthe evening service at the cathedral. He reached the town and smiledcompassionately, when obliging servants in the streets offeredthemselves as guides to places of amusements; he smiledcompassionately, when a servant in the church asked the "graciousgentleman," whether he should show him everything. Pranken knelt amongthe worshippers.

  Refreshed, and satisfied with himself, he left the church. He strolledthrough the town, and stood long before a hair-dresser's shop. No onewould have thought, and Otto von Pranken least of all, that there was abattle-field destined for him, not outside in the wild contest of arms,but before a great window filled with various perfumes, false hair formen and women, with dolls' heads, whose glass eyes stared under theartificial brows and lashes. Over the door was printed in goldenletters, "Hair-dressing and shaving done here." Is it not laughablethat a battle is to be fought here? so far from being laughable, it isserious, bitter, earnest.

  Pranken had made a heroic resolve to take part in the pilgrimage, andindeed he wanted to unite himself with the pilgrims in a humble manner,and join in their prayers and mortifications. And in the meanwhile, notto attract attention, and all alone, to allow the change to proceedsilently in himself, it seemed expedient, first to get rid of his verynoticeable whiskers and moustaches; and it was very important to makerecognition difficult, for he feared that some one might meet him andchange his determination, and other people be guilty of the sin ofmockery. And he was especially troubled in regard to the young marriedcouple, who wished to make the pilgrimage. He would be one of thesights of their journey which they could talk of on their return home.And, besides, how many might be seduced into impiety by laughing overit, and they certainly would laugh at Otto von Pranken's being amongthe pilgrims! Therefore, for your own sake, and that of others, youmust be disguised somewhat.

  So with heroic resolution--and it was certainly heroic, for who wouldbe willing to deprive himself of an ornament so highly prized and notto be replaced at pleasure?--Pranken entered the fragrant shop, satdown in an arm-chair, and looked at his beard and moustache reflectedin a great mirror hanging opposite. His eyes almost overfl
owed. A greatwhite apron, a true sacrificial mantle for the sacrificial lamb, wasthrown over him, and an exceedingly polite young man, who had nosuspicion of the priestly office assigned to him, asked,--

  "Does the gracious gentleman wish to be shaved, or to be curled?"

  "Curled," answered Pranken, quick as lightning, for it came to him likean inspiration, that he would mingle with the pilgrims curled andelegantly dressed; this would be a fuller and deeper confession, and itwould bring more honor to the sanctuaries, if it were seen that a manof rank, evidently a military officer, offered to them his veneration.

  Finally, with hair nicely dressed, Pranken went out of the shop, and inall the large windows of all the stores he passed, he looked notwithout satisfaction at his rescued treasure,--his beard and moustache.

  He smiled victoriously upon the world.

  Pranken knew of an inn, in the town, which was the resort of the eliteof the nobility, and he went there hoping to find some companion ofequal rank, and with the firm determination to induce him to go on thepilgrimage with him. He found no one whom he knew, and he could notremain in the public parlor, for he saw there, on entering, a famousactress, who was fulfilling here a star engagement, and whom he hadformerly known; he pretended not to recognize her and withdrew to hisown room.

  The morning came; the bells rang for the pilgrims to take theirdeparture. Pranken formed a weighty resolve. Nothing hasty! hesaid to himself. Make no show! Give the world no opportunity formisconstruction! One has a duty to perform to the world and to thepast! One must be putting off the old man, by degrees, and let the newman be unfolded.

  From the window of the inn Pranken saw the pilgrims go forth, as hepuffed clouds of smoke from his cigar. Then he went to the station,bought a ticket, and returned to Wolfsgarten.