_MASTER MARTIN, THE COOPER, AND HIS JOURNEYMAN._[1]
Well may your heart swell in presentient sadness, indulgent reader,when your footsteps wander through places where the splendid monumentsof Old German Art speak, like eloquent tongues, of the magnificence,good steady industry, and sterling honesty of an illustrious age nowlong since passed away. Do you not feel as if you were entering adeserted house? The Holy Book in which the head of the household readis still lying open on the table, and the gay rich tapestry that themistress of the house spun with her own hands is still hanging on thewalls; whilst round about in the bright clean cupboards are ranged allkinds of valuable works of art, gifts received on festive occasions.You could almost believe a member of the household will soon enter andreceive you with genuine hearty hospitality. But you will wait in vainfor those whom the eternally revolving wheel of Time has whirled away;you may therefore surrender yourself to the sweet dream in which theold Masters rise up before you and speak honest and weighty words thatsink deeply into your heart Then for the first time will you be able tograsp the profound significance of their works, for you will then notonly live in, but you will also understand the age which could producesuch masters and such works. But, alas! does it not happen that, as youstretch out your loving arms to clasp the beautiful image of yourdream, it shyly flees away on the light morning clouds before the noisybustle of the day, whilst you, your eyes filling with scalding tears,gaze after the bright vision as it gradually disappears? And so, rudelydisturbed by the life that is pulsing about you, you are suddenlywakened out of your pleasant dream, retaining only the passionatelonging that thrills your breast with its delicious awe.
Such sentiments as these, indulgent reader, have always animated thebreast of him who is about to pen these pages for you, whenever hispath has led him through the world-renowned city of Nuremberg. Nowlingering before that wonderful structure, the fountain[2]in the market-place, now contemplating St. Sebald's shrine,[3] and theciborium[4] in St. Lawrence's Church, and Albert Duerer's[5] grandpictures in the castle and in the town-house, he used to give himselfup entirely to the delicious reveries which transported him into themidst of all the glorious splendours of the old Imperial Town. Hethought of the true-hearted words of Father Rosenblueth[6]--
O Nuremberg, thou glorious spot, Thy honour's bolt was aimed aright, Sticks in the mark whereat wisdom shot; And truth in thee hath come to light.
Many a picture of the life of the worthy citizens of that period, whenart and manual industry went loyally and industriously hand in hand,rose up brightly before his mind's eye, impressing itself upon his soulin especially cheerful and pleasing colours. Graciously be pleased,therefore, that he put one of these pictures before you. Perhaps, asyou gaze upon it, it may afford you gratification, perhaps it may drawfrom you a good-natured smile, perhaps you may even come to feelyourself at home in Master Martin's house, and may linger willinglyamongst his casks and tubs. Well!--Then the writer of these pages willhave effected what is the sincere and honest wish of his heart.
_How Master Martin was elected "Candle-master" and how he returned thanks therefor._
On the 1st of May, 1580, in accordance with traditionary custom andusage, the honourable guild of coopers, or wine-cask makers, of thefree Imperial Town of Nuremberg, held with all due ceremony a meetingof their craft. A short time previously one of the presidents, or"Candle-masters," as they were called, had been carried to his grave;it was therefore necessary to elect a successor. Choice fell uponMaster Martin. And in truth there was scarcely another who could bemeasured against him in the building of strong and well-made casks;none understood so well as he the management of wine in the cellar;[7]hence he counted amongst his customers very many men of distinction,and lived in the most prosperous circumstances--nay, almost rolled inriches. Accordingly, after Martin had been elected, the worthyCouncillor Jacobus Paumgartner, who, in his official character ofsyndic,[8] presided over the meeting, said, "You have done bravelywell, friends, to choose Master Martin as your president, for theoffice could not be in better hands. He is held in high esteem by allwho know him, not only on account of his great skill, but on account ofhis ripe experience in the art of keeping and managing the rich juiceof the grape. His steady industry and upright life, in spite of all thewealth he has amassed, may serve as an example to you all. Welcome thena thousand times, goodman Master Martin, as our honoured president."
With these words Paumgartner rose to his feet and took a few stepsforward, with open arms, expecting that Martin would come to meet him.The latter immediately placed both his hands upon the arms of his chairand raised himself as expeditiously as his portly person would permithim to rise,--which was only slowly and heavily. Then just as slowly hestrode into Paumgartner's hearty embrace, which, however, he scarcelyreturned. "Well," said Paumgartner, somewhat nettled at this, "well,Master Martin, are you not altogether well pleased that we have electedyou to be our 'Candle-master'?" Master Martin, as was his wont, threwhis head back into his neck, played with his fingers upon his capaciousbelly, and, opening his eyes wide and thrusting forward his under-lipwith an air of superior astuteness, let his eyes sweep round theassembly. Then, turning to Paumgartner, he began, "Marry, my good andworthy sir, why should I not be altogether well pleased, seeing that Ireceive what is my due? Who refuses to take the reward of his honestlabour? Who turns away from his threshold the defaulting debtor when atlength he comes to pay his long standing debt? What! my good sirs," andMartin turned to the masters who sat around, "what! my good sirs, hasit then occurred to you at last that I--I _must_ be president of ourhonourable guild? What do you look for in your president? That he bethe most skilful in workmanship? Go look at my two-tun cask madewithout fire,[9] my brave masterpiece, and then come and tell me ifthere's one amongst you dare boast that, so far as concernsthoroughness and finish, he has ever turned out anything like it. Doyou desire that your president possess money and goods? Come to myhouse and I will throw open chests and drawers, and you shall feastyour eyes on the glitter of the sparkling gold and silver. Will youhave a president who is respected by noble and base-born alike? Onlyask our honoured gentlemen of the Council, ask the princes and noblemenaround our good town of Nuremberg, ask his Lordship, the Bishop ofBamberg, ask what they all think of Master Martin? Oh! I--I don't thinkyou'll hear much said against him." At the same time Master Martinstruck his big fat belly with the greatest self-satisfaction, smilingwith his eyes half-closed. Then, as all remained silent, nothing beingheard except a dubious clearing of the throat here and there, hecontinued, "Ay! ay! I see. I ought, I know very well, to thank you allhandsomely that in this election the good Lord above has at last seenfit to enlighten your minds. Well, when I receive the price of mylabour, when my debtor repays me the borrowed money, I write at thebottom of the bill or of the receipt my 'Paid with thanks, Thomas[10]Martin, Master-cooper here.' Let me then thank you all from my heart,since in electing me to be your president and 'Candle-master' you havewiped out an old debt. As for the rest, I pledge you that I willdischarge the duties of my office with all fidelity and uprightness. Inthe hour of need I will stand by the guild and by each of you to thevery best of my abilities with word and deed. I will exert the utmostdiligence to uphold the honour and fame of our celebrated handicraft,without bating one jot of its present credit. My honoured syndic, andall you, my good friends and masters, I invite to come and partake ofgood cheer with me on the coming Sunday. Then, with blithesome heartsand minds, let us deliberate over a glass of good Hochheimer[11] orJohannisberger,[12] or any other choice wine in my cellar that yourpalates may crave, what can be done for the furtherance of our commonweal. Once again, I say you shall be all heartily welcome."
The honest masters' countenances, which had perceptibly clouded onhearing Master Martin's proud words, now recovered their serenity,whilst the previous dead silence was followed by the cheerful buzzof conversation, i
n which a good deal was said about Master Martin'sgreat deserts, and also about his choice cellar. All promised to bepresent on the Sunday, and offered their hands to the newly-elected"Candle-master," who took them and shook them warmly, also drawing afew of the masters a little towards him, as if desirous of embracingthem. The company separated in blithe good-humour.
_What afterwards took place in Master Martin's house._
Now it happened that Councillor Jacobus Paumgartner had to pass byMaster Martin's in order to reach his own home; and as they both stoodoutside Master Martin's door, and Paumgartner was about to proceed onhis way, his friend, doffing his low bonnet, and bowing respectfullyand as low as he was able, said to him, "I should be very glad, my goodand worthy sir, if you would not disdain to step in and spend an houror so in my humble house. Be pleased to suffer me to derive both profitand entertainment from your wise conversation." "Ay, ay! Master Martin,my friend," replied Paumgartner smiling, "gladly enough will I stay awhile with you; but why do you call your house a humble house? I knowvery well that there's none of the richest of our citizens who canexcel you in jewels and valuable furniture. Did you not a short timeago complete a handsome building which makes your house one of theornaments of our renowned Imperial Town?[13] In respect of its interiorfittings I say nothing, for no patrician even need be ashamed of it."
Old Paumgartner was right; for on opening the door, which was brightlypolished and richly ornamented with brass-work, they stepped into aspacious entrance hall almost resembling a state-room; the floor wastastefully inlaid, fine pictures hung on the walls, and the cupboardsand chairs were all artistically carved. And all who came in willinglyobeyed the direction inscribed in verses, according to olden custom, ona tablet which hung near the door:--
Let him who will the stairs ascend See that his shoes be rubbed well clean. Or taken off were better, I ween; He thus avoids what might offend. A thoughtful man is well aware How he indoors himself should bear.
It had been a hot day, and now as the hour of twilight was approachedit began to be close and stuffy in the rooms, so Master Martin led hiseminent guest into the cool and spacious parlour-kitchen. For this wasthe name applied at that time to a place in the houses of the richcitizens which, although furnished as a kitchen, was never used assuch--all kinds of valuable utensils and other necessaries ofhousekeeping being there set out on show. Hardly had they got insidethe door when Master Martin shouted in a loud voice, "Rose, Rose!" Thenthe door was immediately opened, and Rose, Master Martin's onlydaughter, came in.
I should like you, dear reader, to awaken at this moment a vividrecollection of our great Albrecht Duerer's masterpieces; I wouldwish that the glorious maidens whom we find in them, with all theirnoble grace, their sweet gentleness and piety, should recur to yourmind, endowed with living form. Recall the noble and delicate figure,the beautifully arched, lily-white forehead, the carnation flittinglike a breath of roses across the cheek, the full sweet cherry-redlips,--recall the eyes full of pious aspirations, half-veiled by theirdark lashes, like moonlight seen through dusky foliage,--recall thesilky hair, artfully gathered into graceful plaits,--recall the divinebeauty of these maidens, and you will see lovely Rose. How else than inthis way could the narrator sketch the dear, darling child? And yetpermit me to remind you here of an admirable young artist into whoseheart a quickening ray has fallen from these beautiful old times. Imean the German painter Cornelius,[14] in Rome. Just as Margaret looksin Cornelius's drawings to Goethe's mighty _Faust_ when she utters thewords, "Bin weder Fraeulein noch schoen"[15] (I am neither a lady ofrank, nor yet beautiful), so also may Rose have looked when in theshyness of her pure chaste heart she felt compelled to shun addressesthat smacked somewhat too much of freedom.
Rose bowed low with child-like respect before Paumgartner, and takinghis hand, pressed it to her lips. The crimson colour rushed into theold gentleman's pale cheeks, as the sun when setting shoots up a dyingflash, suddenly converting the dark foliage into gold, so the fire of ayouth now left far behind gleamed once more in his eyes. "Ay! ay!" hecried in a blithesome voice, "marry, my good friend Master Martin, youare a rich and a prosperous man, but the best of all the blessingswhich the good Lord has given you is your lovely daughter Rose. If thehearts of old gentlemen like us who sit in the Town Council are sostirred that we cannot turn away our purblind eyes from the dear child,who can find fault with the young folks if they stop and stand likeblocks of wood, or as if spell-bound, when they meet your daughter inthe street, or see her at church, though we have a word of blame forour clerical gentry, because on the Allerwiese,[16] or wherever else afestival is held, they all crowd round your daughter, with their sighs,and loving glances, and honied words, to the vexation of all othergirls? Well, well, Master Martin, you can choose you your son-in-lawamongst any of our young patricians, or wherever else you may list."
A dark frown settled on Master Martin's face; he bade his daughterfetch some good old wine; and after she had left the room, the hotblushes mantling thick and fast upon her cheeks, and her eyes bent uponthe floor, he turned to old Paumgartner, "Of a verity, my good sir,Heaven has dowered my daughter with exceptional beauty, and herein tooI have been made rich; but how can you speak of it in the girl'spresence? And as for a patrician son-in-law, there'll never be anythingof that sort." "Enough, Master Martin, say no more," repliedPaumgartner, laughing. "Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth mustspeak. Don't you believe, then, that when I set eyes on Rose thesluggish blood begins to leap in my old heart also? And if I dohonestly speak out what she herself must very well know, surely there'sno very great mischief done."
Rose brought the wine and two beautiful drinking-glasses. Then Martinpushed the heavy table, which was ornamented with some remarkablecarving, into the middle of the kitchen. Scarcely, however, had the oldgentlemen taken their places and Master Martin had filled the glasseswhen a trampling of horses was heard in front of the house. It seemedas if a horseman had pulled up, and as if his voice was heard in theentrance-passage below. Rose hastened down and soon came back with theintelligence that old Junker[17] Heinrich von Spangenberg was there andwished to speak to Master Martin. "Marry!" cried Martin, "now this iswhat I call a fine lucky evening, which brings me my best and oldestcustomer. New orders of course, I see I shall have to 'cask' outagain"--Therewith he hastened down as fast as he was able to meet hiswelcome guest.
_How Master Martin extols his trade above all others._
The Hochheimer sparkled in the beautiful cut drinking-glasses, andloosened the tongues and opened the hearts of the three old gentlemen.Old Spangenberg especially, who, though advanced in years, was yetbrimming with freshness and vivacity, had many a jolly prank out of hismerry youth to relate, so that Master Martin's belly wabbled famously,and again and again he had to brush the tears out of his eyes, causedby his loud and hearty laughing. Herr Paumgartner, too, forgot morethan was customary with him the dignity of the Councillor, and enjoyedright well the noble liquor and the merry conversation. But when Roseagain made her appearance with the neat housekeeper's basket underher arm, out of which she took a tablecloth as dazzling white asfresh-fallen snow,--when she tripped backwards and forwards busy withhousehold matters, laying the cloth, and placing a plentiful supply ofappetising dishes on the table,--when, with a winning smile she invitedthe gentlemen not to despise what had been hurriedly prepared, but toturn to and eat--during all this time their conversation and laughterceased. Neither Paumgartner nor Spangenberg averted their sparklingeyes from the fascinating maiden, whilst Master Martin too, leaningback in his chair, and folding his hands, watched her busy movementswith a gratified smile. Rose was withdrawing, but old Spangenberg wason his feet in a moment, quick as a youth; he took the girl by bothshoulders and cried, again and again, as the bright tears trickled fromhis eyes, "Oh you good, you sweet little angel! What a dear darlinggirl you are!" then he kissed her twice--three times on the forehead,and returned to his seat,
apparently in deep thought.
Paumgartner proposed the toast of Rose's health. "Yes," beganSpangenberg, after she had gone out of the room, "yes, Master Martin,Providence has given you a precious jewel in your daughter, whom youcannot well over-estimate. She will yet bring you to great honour. Whois there, let him be of what rank in life he may, who would notwillingly be your son-in-law?" "There you are," interposed Paumgartner;"there you see, Master Martin, the noble Herr von Spangenberg isexactly of my opinion. I already see our dear Rose a patrician's bridewith the rich jewellery of pearls[18] in her beautiful flaxen hair.""My dear sirs," began Martin, quite testily, "why do you, my dear sirs,keep harping upon this matter--a matter to which I have not as yetdirected my thoughts? My Rose has only just reached her eighteenthyear; it's not time for such a young thing to be looking out for alover. How things may turn out afterwards--well, that I leave entirelyto the will of the Lord; but this I do at any rate know, that noneshall touch my daughter's hand, be he patrician or who he may, exceptthe cooper who approves himself the cleverest and skilfullest master inhis trade--presuming, of course, that my daughter will have him, fornever will I constrain my dear child to do anything in the world, leastof all to make a marriage that she does not like." Spangenberg andPaumgartner looked at each other, perfectly astonished at thisextraordinary decision of the Master's.[19] At length, after someclearing of his throat, Spangenberg began, "So, then, your daughter isnot to wed out of her own station?" "God forbid she should," rejoinedMartin. "But," continued Spangenberg, "if now a skilled master of ahigher trade, say a goldsmith, or even a brave young artist, were tosue for your Rose and succeeded in winning her favour more than allother young journeymen, what then?" "I should say," replied MasterMartin, throwing his head back into his neck, "show me, my excellentyoung friend, the fine two-tun cask which you have made as yourmasterpiece; and if he could not do so, I should kindly open the doorfor him and very politely request him to try his luck elsewhere." "Ah!but," went on Spangenberg again, "if the young journeyman should reply,'A little structure of that kind I cannot show you, but come with me tothe market-place and look at yon beautiful house which is sending upits slender gable into the free open air--that's my masterpiece.'" "Ah!my good sir, my good sir," broke in Master Martin impatiently, "why doyou give yourself all this trouble to try and make me alter myconviction? Once and for all, my son-in-law must be of _my_ trade; formy trade I hold to be the finest trade there is in the world. Do youthink we've nothing to do but to fix the staves into the trestles(hoops), so that the cask may hold together? Marry, it's a fine thingand an admirable thing that our handiwork requires a previous knowledgeof the way in which that noble blessing of Heaven, good wine, must bekept and managed, that it may acquire strength and flavour so as to gothrough all our veins and warm our blood like the true spirit of life!And then as for the construction of the casks--if we are to turn out asuccessful piece of work, must we not first draw out our plans withcompass and rule? We must be arithmeticians and geometricians of nomean attainments, how else can we adapt the proportion and size of thecask to the measure of its contents? Ay, sir, my heart laughs in mybody when we've bravely laboured at the staves with jointer and adzeand have gotten a brave cask in the vice; and then when my journeymenswing their mallets and down it comes on the drivers clipp! clapp!clipp! clapp!--that's merry music for you; and there stands yourwell-made cask. And of a verity I may look a little proudly about mewhen I take my marking-tool in my hand and mark the sign of myhandiwork, that is known and honoured of all respectable wine-masters,on the bottom of the cask. You spoke of house-building, my good sir.Well, a beautiful house is in truth a glorious piece of work, but if Iwere a house-builder and went past a house I had built, and saw a dirtyfellow or good-for-nothing rascal who had got possession of it lookingdown upon me from the bay-window, I should feel thoroughly ashamed,--Ishould feel, purely out of vexation and annoyance, as if I should liketo pull down and destroy my own work. But nothing like that can happenwith the structures I build. Within them there comes and lives once forall nothing but the purest spirit on earth--good wine. God prosper myhandiwork!"
"That's a fine eulogy," said Spangenberg, "and honestly and well meant.It does you honour to think so highly of your craft; but--do not getimpatient if I keep harping upon the same string--now if a patricianreally came and sued for your daughter? When a thing is brought righthome to a man it often looks very different from what he thought itwould." "Why, i' faith," cried Master Martin somewhat vehemently, "why,what else could I do but make a polite bow and say, 'My dear sir, ifyou were a brave cooper, but as it is'"---- "Stop a bit," broke inSpangenberg again; "but if now some fine day a handsome Junker on agallant horse, with a brilliant retinue dressed in magnificent silksand satins, were to pull up before your door and ask you for Rose towife?" "Marry, by my faith," cried Master Martin still more vehementlythan before, "why, marry, I should run down as fast as I could and lockand bolt the door, and I should shout 'Ride on farther! Ride onfarther! my worshipful Herr Junker; roses like mine don't blossom foryou. My wine-cellar and my money-bags would, I dare say, suit youpassing well--and you would take the girl in with the bargain; but rideon! ride on farther.'" Old Spangenberg rose to his feet, his face hotand red all over; then, leaning both hands on the table, he stoodlooking on the floor before him. "Well," he began after a pause, "andnow the last question, Master Martin. If the Junker before your doorwere my own son, if I myself stopped at your door, would you shutit then, should you believe then that we were only come for yourwine-cellar and your money-bags?" "Not at all, not at all, my good andhonoured sir," replied Master Martin. "I would gladly throw open mydoor, and everything in my house should be at your and your son'sservice; but as for my Rose, I should say to you, 'If it had onlypleased Providence to make your gallant son a brave cooper, there wouldbe no more welcome son-in-law on earth than he; but now'---- But, mydear good sir, why do you tease and worry me with such curiousquestions? See you, our merry talk has come abruptly to an end, andlook! our glasses are all standing full. Let's put all sons-in-law andRose's marriage aside; here, I pledge you to the health of your son,who is, I hear, a handsome young knight." Master Martin seized hisglass; Paumgartner followed his example, saying, "A truce to allcaptious conversation, and here's a health to your gallant son."Spangenberg touched glasses with them, and said with a forced smile,"Of course you know I was only speaking in jest; for nothing but wildhead-strong passion could ever lead my son, who may choose him a wifefrom amongst the noblest families in the land, so far to disregard hisrank and birth as to sue for your daughter. But methinks you might haveanswered me in a somewhat more friendly way." "Well, but, my good sir,"replied Master Martin, "even in jest I could only speak as I should actif the wonderful things you are pleased to imagine were really tohappen. But you _must_ let me have my pride; for you cannot but allowthat I am the skilfullest cooper far and near, that I understand themanagement of wine, that I observe strictly and truly the admirablewine-regulations of our departed Emperor Maximilian[20] (may he rest inpeace!), that as beseems a pious man I abhor all godlessness, that Inever burn more than one small half-ounce of pure sulphur[21] in one ofmy two-tun casks, which is necessary to preserve it--the which, my goodand honoured sirs, you will have abundantly remarked from the flavourof my wine." Spangenberg resumed his seat, and tried to put on acheerful countenance, whilst Paumgartner introduced other topics ofconversation. But, as it so often happens, when once the strings of aninstrument have got out of tune, they are always getting more or lesswarped, so that the player in vain tries to entice from them again thefull-toned chords which they gave at first, thus it was with the threeold gentlemen; no remark, no word, found a sympathetic response.Spangenberg called for his grooms, and left Master Martin's house quitein an ill-humour after he had entered it in gay good spirits.
_The old Grandmother's Prophecy._
Master Martin was rather ill at ease because his brave old customer hadgone away out of humour in this way, and he said to Paumg
artner, whohad just emptied his last glass and rose to go too, "For the life ofme, I can't understand what the old gentleman meant by his talk, andwhy he should have got testy about it at last." "My good friend MasterMartin," began Paumgartner, "you are a good and honest man; and a manhas verily a right to set store by the handiwork he loves and whichbrings him wealth and honour; but he ought not to show it in boastfulpride, that's against all right Christian feeling. And in ourguild-meeting to-day you did not act altogether right in puttingyourself before all the other masters. It may true that you understandmore about your craft than all the rest; but that you go and cast it intheir teeth can only provoke ill-humour and black looks. And then youmust go and do it again this evening! You could not surely be soinfatuated as to look for anything else in Spangenberg's talk beyond ajesting attempt to see to what lengths you would go in your obstinatepride. No wonder the worthy gentleman felt greatly annoyed when youtold him you should only see common covetousness in any Junker's wooingof your daughter. But all would have been well if, when Spangenbergbegan to speak of his son, you had interposed--if you had said, 'Marry,my good and honoured sir, if you yourself came along with your son tosue for my daughter--why, i' faith, that would be far too high anhonour for me, and I should then have wavered in my firmestprinciples.' Now, if you had spoken to him like that, what else couldold Spangenberg have done but forget his former resentment, and smilecheerfully and in good humour as he had done before?" "Ay, scold me,"said Master Martin, "scold me right well, I have well deserved it; butwhen the old gentleman would keep talking such stupid nonsense I feltas if I were choking, I could not make any other answer." "And then,"went on Paumgartner, "what a ridiculous resolve to give your daughterto nobody but a cooper! You will commit, you say, your daughter'sdestiny to Providence, and yet with human shortsightedness youanticipate the decree of the Almighty in that you obstinately determinebeforehand that your son-in-law is to come from within a certain narrowcircle. That will prove the ruin of you and your Rose, if you are notcareful Have done, Master Martin, have done with such unchristianchildish folly; leave the Almighty, who will put a right choice in yourdaughter's honest heart when the right time comes--leave Him to manageit all in his own way." "O my worthy friend," said Master Martin, quitecrest-fallen, "I now see how wrong I was not to tell you everything atfirst. You think it is nothing but overrating my handiwork that hasbrought me to take this unchangeable resolve of wedding Rose to nonebut a master-cooper; but that is not so; there is another reason, amore wonderful and mysterious reason. I can't let you go until you havelearned all; you shall not bear ill-will against me over-night. Sitdown, I earnestly beg you, stay a few minutes longer. See here; there'sstill a bottle of that old wine left which the ill-tempered Junker hasdespised; come, let's enjoy it together." Paumgartner was astonished atMaster Martin's earnest, confidential tone, which was in generalperfectly foreign to his nature; it seemed as if there was somethingweighing heavy upon the man's heart that he wanted to get rid of.
And when Paumgartner had taken his seat and drunk a glass of wine,Master Martin began as follows. "You know, my good and honoured friend,that soon after Rose was born I lost my beloved wife; Rose's birth washer death. At that time my old grandmother was still living, if you cancall it living when one is blind, deaf as a post, scarce able to speak,lame in every limb, and lying in bed day after day and night afternight Rose had been christened; and the nurse sat with the child in theroom where my old grandmother lay. I was so cut up with grief, and whenI looked upon my child, so sad and yet so glad--in fact I was sogreatly shaken that I felt utterly unfitted for any kind of work, andstood quite still and wrapped up in my own thoughts beside my oldgrandmother's bed; and I counted her happy, since now all her earthlypain was over. And as I gazed upon her face a strange smile began tosteal across it, her withered features seemed to be smoothed out, herpale cheeks became flushed with colour. She raised herself up in bed;she stretched out her paralysed arms, as if suddenly animated by somesupernatural power,--for she had never been able to do so at othertimes. She called distinctly in a low pleasant voice, 'Rose, my darlingRose!' The nurse got up and brought her the child, which she rocked upand down in her arms. But then, my good sir, picture my utterastonishment, nay, my alarm, when the old lady struck up in a clearstrong voice a song in the _Hohe froehliche Lobweis_[22] of Herr HansBerchler, mine host of the Holy Ghost in Strasburg, which ran likethis--
Maiden tender, with cheeks so red, Rose, listen to the words I say; Wouldst guard thyself from fear and ill? Then put thy trust in God alway; Let not thy tongue at aught make mock, Nor foolish longings feed at heart. A vessel fair to see he'll bring, In which the spicy liquid foams, And bright, bright angels gaily sing. And then in reverent mood Hearken to the truest love, Oh! hearken to the sweet love-words.
The vessel fair with golden grace-- Lo! him who brings it in the house Thou wilt reward with sweet embrace; And an thy lover be but true, Thou need'st nor wait thy father's kiss. The vessel fair will always bring All wealth and joy and peace and bliss; So, virgin fair, with the bright, bright eyes, Let aye thy little ear be ope To all true words. And henceforth live, And with God's richest blessing thrive.
"And after she had sung this song through, she laid the child gently andcarefully down upon the coverlet; and, placing her trembling witheredhand upon her forehead, she muttered something to herself, to us,however, unintelligible; but the rapt countenance of the old ladyshowed in every feature that she was praying. Then her head sank backupon the pillows, and just as the nurse took up the child my oldgrandmother took a deep breath; she was dead." "That is a wonderfulstory," said Paumgartner when Master Martin ceased speaking; "but Idon't exactly see what is the connection between your old grandmother'sprophetic song and your obstinate resolve to give Rose to none but amaster-cooper." "What!" replied Master Martin, "why, what can beplainer than that the old lady, especially inspired by the Lord at thelast moments of her life, announced in a prophetic voice what musthappen if Rose is to be happy? The lover who is to bring wealth and joyand peace and bliss into the house with his vessel fair, who is thatbut a lusty cooper who has made his vessel fair, his masterpiece withme? In what other vessel does the spicy liquid foam, if not in thewine-cask? And when the wine works, it bubbles and even murmurs andsplashes; that's the lovely angels chasing each other backwards andforwards in the wine and singing their gay songs. Ay, ay, I tell you,my old grandmother meant none other lover than a master-cooper; and itshall be so, it shall be so." "But, my good Master Martin," saidPaumgartner, "you are interpreting the words of your old grandmotherjust in your own way. Your interpretation is far from satisfactory tomy mind; and I repeat that you ought to leave all simply to theordering of Providence and your daughter's heart, in which I dare bebound the right choice lies hidden away somewhere." "And I repeat,"interrupted Martin impatiently, "that my son-in-law _shall_ be,--I amresolved,--_shall_ be none other than a skilful cooper." Paumgartneralmost got angry at Master Martin's stubbornness; he controlledhimself, however, and, rising from his seat, said, "It's getting late,Master Martin, let us now have done with our drinking and talking, forneither methinks will do us any more good."
When they came out into the entrance-hall, there stood a young womanwith five little boys, the eldest scarce eight years old apparently,and the youngest scarce six months. She was weeping and sobbingbitterly. Rose hastened to meet the two old gentlemen and said, "Ohfather, father! Valentine is dead; there is his wife and the children.""What! Valentine dead?" cried Master Martin, greatly startled. "Oh!that accident! that accident! Just fancy," he continued, turning toPaumgartner, "just fancy, my good sir, Valentine was the cleverestjourneyman I had on the premises; and he was industrious, and a goodhonest man as well. Some time ago he wounded himself dangerously withthe adze in building a
large cask; the wound got worse and worse; hewas seized with a violent fever, and now he has had to die of it in theprime of life." Thereupon Master Martin approached the poordisconsolate woman, who, bathed in tears, was lamenting that she hadnothing but misery and starvation staring her in the face. "What!" saidMaster Martin, "what do you think of me then? Your husband got hisdangerous wound whilst working for me, and do you think I am going tolet you perish of want? No, you all belong to my house from nowonwards. To-morrow, or whenever you like, we'll bury your poor husband,and then do you and your boys go to my farm outside the LadiesGate,[23] where my fine open workshop is, and where I work every daywith my journeymen. You can install yourself as housekeeper there tolook after things for me, and your fine boys I will educate as if theywere my own sons. And, I tell you what, I'll take your old father aswell into my house. He was a sturdy journeyman cooper once upon a timewhilst he still had muscle in his arms. And now--if he can no longerwield the mallet, or the beetle or the beak iron, or work at the bench,he yet can do something with croze-adze, or can hollow out staves forme with the draw-knife. At any rate he shall come along with you and betaken into my house." If Master Martin had not caught hold of thewoman, she would have fallen on the floor at his feet in a dead swoon,she was so affected by grief and emotion. The eldest of the boys clungto his doublet, whilst the two youngest, whom Rose had taken in herarms, stretched out their tiny hands towards him, as if they hadunderstood it all. Old Paumgartner said, smiling and with bright tearsstanding in his eyes, "Master Martin, one can't bear you any ill-will;"and he betook himself to his own home.
_How the two young journeymen Frederick and Reinhold became acquainted with each other._
Upon a beautiful, grassy, gently-sloping hill, shaded by lofty trees,lay a fine well-made young journeyman, whose name was Frederick. Thesun had already set, and rosy tongues of light were stretching upwardsfrom the furthest verge of the horizon. In the distance the famedimperial town of Nuremberg could be plainly seen, spreading across thevalley and boldly lifting up her proud towers against the red glow ofthe evening, its golden rays gilding their pinnacles. The youngjourneyman was leaning his arm on his bundle, which lay beside him, andcontained his necessaries whilst on the travel, and was gazing withlooks full of longing down into the valley. Then he plucked some of theflowers which grew among the grass within reach of him and tossed theminto the air towards the glorious sunset; afterwards he sat gazingsadly before him, and the burning tears gathered in his eyes. At lengthhe raised his head, and spreading out his arms as if about to embracesome one dear to him, he sang in a clear and very pleasant voice thefollowing song:--
My eyes now rest once more On thee, O home, sweet home! My true and honest heart Has ne'er forgotten thee. O rosy glow of evening come, I fain would naught but roses see. Ye sweetest buds and flowers of love, Bend down and touch my heart With winsome sweet caresses. O swelling bosom, wilt thou burst? Yet hold in pain and sweet joy fast. O golden evening red! O beauteous ray, be my sweet messenger, And bear to her my sighs and tears-- My tears and sighs on faithfully to her. And were I now to die, And roses then did ask thee--say, "His heart with love--it pined away."
Having sung this song, Frederick took a little piece of wax out of hisbundle, warmed it in his bosom, and began in a neat and artistic mannerto model a beautiful rose with scores of delicate petals. Whilst busywith this work he hummed to himself some of the lines of the song hehad just sung, and so deeply absorbed was he in his occupation that hedid not observe the handsome youth who had been standing behind him forsome time and attentively watching his work.
"Marry, my friend," began now the youth, "by my troth, that is a daintypiece of work you are making there." Frederick looked round in alarm;but when he looked into the dark friendly eyes of the young stranger,he felt as if he had known him for a long time. Smiling, he replied,"Oh! my dear sir, how can you notice such trifling? it only serves mefor pastime on my journey." "Well then," went on the stranger youth,"if you call that delicately formed flower, which is so faithful areproduction of Nature, trifling, you must be a skilful practisedmodeller. You have afforded me a pleasant surprise in two ways. First,I was quite touched to the heart by the song you sang so admirably toMartin Haescher's _Zarte Buchstabenweis_; and now I cannot but admireyour artistic skill in modelling. How much farther do you intend totravel to-day?" Frederick replied, "Yonder lies the goal of my journeybefore our eyes. I am going home, to the famed imperial town ofNuremberg. But as the sun has now been set some time, I shall pass thenight in the village below there, and then by being up and away in theearly morning I can be in Nuremberg at noon." "Marry," cried the youth,delighted, "how finely things will fit; we are both going the same way,for I want to go to Nuremberg. I will spend the night with you here inthe village, and then we'll proceed on our way again to-morrow. And nowlet us talk a little." The youth, Reinhold by name, threw himself downbeside Frederick on the grass, and continued, "If I mistake not, youare a skilful artist-caster, are you not? I infer it from your style ofmodelling; or perhaps you are a worker in gold and silver?" Frederickcast down his eyes sadly, and said dejectedly, "Marry, my dear sir, youare taking me for something far better and higher than I really am.Well, I will speak candidly; I have learned the trade of a cooper, andam now going to work for a well-known master in Nuremberg. You will nodoubt look down upon me with contempt since, instead of being able tomould and cast splendid statues, and such like, all I can do is to hoopcasks and tubs." Reinhold burst out laughing, and cried, "Now that Icall droll. I shall look down upon you--eh? because you are a cooper;why man, that's what I am; I'm nothing but a cooper." Frederick openedhis eyes wide in astonishment; he did not know what to make of it, forReinhold's dress was in keeping with anything sooner than a journeymancooper's on travel. His doublet of fine black cloth, trimmed withslashed velvet, his dainty ruff, his short broadsword, and baretta witha long drooping feather, seemed rather to point to a prosperousmerchant; and yet again there was a strange something about the faceand form of the youth which completely negatived the idea of amerchant. Reinhold, noticing Frederick's doubting glances, undid histravelling-bundle and produced his cooper's apron and knife-belt,saying, "Look here, my friend, look here. Have you any doubts now as tomy being a comrade? I perceive you are astonished at my clothing, but Ihave just come from Strasburg, where the coopers go about the streetsas fine as noblemen. Certainly I did once set my heart upon somethingelse like you, but now to be a cooper is the topmost height of myambition, and I have staked many a grand hope upon it. Is it notthe same with you, comrade? But I could almost believe that a darkcloud-shadow had been hung unawares about the brightness of your youth,so that you are no longer able to look freely and gladly about you. Thesong which you were just singing was full of pain and of the yearningof love; but there were strains in it that seemed as if they proceededfrom my own heart, and I somehow fancy I know all that is locked upwithin your breast. You may therefore all the more put confidence inme, for shall we not then be good comrades in Nuremberg?" Reinholdthrew his arm around Frederick and looked kindly into his eyes.Whereupon Frederick said, "The more I look at you, honest friend, thestronger I feel drawn towards you; I clearly discern within my breastthe wonderful voice which faithfully echoes the cry that you are asympathetic spirit I must tell you all--not that a poor fellow like mehas any important secrets to confide to you, but simply because thereis room in the heart of the true friend for _his_ friend's pain, andduring the first moments of our new acquaintance even I acknowledge youto be my truest friend.
"I am now a cooper, and may boast that I understand my work; but all mythoughts have been directed to another and a nobler art since my verychildhood. I wished to become a great master in casting statues and insilver-work, like Peter Fischer[24] or the Italian BenvenutoCellini;[25] and so I wor
ked with intense ardour along with HerrJohannes Holzschuer,[26] the well-known worker in silver in my nativetown yonder. For although he did not exactly cast statues himself, hewas yet able to give me a good introduction to the art. And Herr TobiasMartin, the master-cooper, often came to Herr Holzschuer's with hisdaughter, pretty Rose. Without being consciously aware of it, I fell inlove with her. I then left home and went to Augsburg in order to learnproperly the art of casting, but this first caused my smoulderingpassion to burst out into flames. I saw and heard nothing but Rose;every exertion and all labour that did not tend to the winning of hergrew hateful to me. And so I adopted the only course that would bringme to this goal. For Master Martin will only give his daughter to thecooper who shall make the very best masterpiece in his house, and whoof course finds favour in his daughter's eyes as well. I deserted myown art to learn cooperage. I am now going to Nuremberg to work forMaster Martin. But now that my home lies before me and Rose's imagerises up before my eyes, I feel overcome with anxiety and nervousness,and my heart sinks within me. Now I see clearly how foolishly I haveacted; for I don't even know whether Rose loves me or whether she everwill love me." Reinhold had listened to Frederick's story withincreasing attention. He now rested his head on his arm, and, shadinghis eyes with his hand, asked in a hollow moody voice, "And has Rosenever given you any signs of her love?" "Nay," replied Frederick, "nay,for when I left Nuremberg she was more a child than a maiden. No doubtshe liked me; she smiled upon me most sweetly when I never weariedplucking flowers for her in Herr Holzschuer's garden and weaving theminto wreaths, but----" "Oh! then all hope is not yet lost," criedReinhold suddenly, and so vehemently and in such a disagreeably shrillvoice that Frederick was almost terrified. At the same time he leapt tohis feet, his sword rattling against his side, and as he stood uprightat his full stature the deep shadows of the night fell upon his paleface and distorted his gentle features in a most unpleasant way, sothat Frederick cried, perfectly alarmed, "What's happened to you all atonce?" and stepping back, his foot knocked against Reinhold's bundle.There proceeded from it the jarring of some stringed instrument, andReinhold cried angrily, "You ill-mannered fellow, don't break my luteall to pieces." The instrument was fastened to the bundle; Reinholdunbuckled it and ran his fingers wildly over the strings as if he wouldbreak them all. But his playing soon grew soft and melodious. "Come,brother," said he in the same gentle tone as before, "let us now godown into the village. I've got a good means here in my hands to banishthe evil spirits who may cross our path, and who might in particularhave any dealings with me." "Why, brother," replied Frederick, "whatevil spirits will be likely to have anything to do with us on the way?But your playing is very, very nice; please go on with it."
The golden stars were beginning to dot the dark azure sky. The nightbreezes in low murmurous whispers swept lightly over the fragrantmeadows. The brooks babbled louder, and the trees rustled in thedistant woods round about Then Frederick and Reinhold went down theslope playing and singing, and the sweet notes of their songs, so fullof noble aspirations, swelled up clear and sharp in the air, as if theyhad been plumed arrows of light. Arrived at their quarters for thenight, Reinhold quickly threw aside lute and bundle and strainedFrederick to his heart; and Frederick felt on his cheeks the scaldingtears which Reinhold shed.
_How the two young journeymen, Reinhold and Frederick, were taken into Master Martin's house._
Next morning when Frederick awoke he missed his new-won friend, who hadthe night before thrown himself down upon the straw pallet at his side;and as his lute and his bundle were likewise missing, Frederick quiteconcluded that Reinhold, from reasons which were unknown to him, hadleft him and gone another road. But directly he stepped out of thehouse Reinhold came to meet him, his bundle on his back and his luteunder his arm, and dressed altogether differently from what he had beenthe day before. He had taken the feather out of his baretta, and laidaside his sword, and had put on a plain burgher's doublet of anunpretentious colour, instead of the fine one with the velvettrimmings. "Now, brother," he cried, laughing merrily to his astonishedfriend, "you will acknowledge me for your true comrade and faithfulwork-mate now, eh? But let me tell you that for a youth in love youhave slept most soundly. Look how high the sun is. Come, let us begoing on our way." Frederick was silent and busied with his ownthoughts; he scarcely answered Reinhold's questions and scarcely heededhis jests. Reinhold, however, was full of exuberant spirits; he ranfrom side to side, shouted, and waved his baretta in the air. But hetoo became more and more silent the nearer they approached the town. "Ican't go any farther, I am so full of nervousness and anxiety and sweetsadness; let us rest a little while beneath these trees." Thus spakeFrederick just before they reached the gate; and he threw himself downquite exhausted in the grass. Reinhold sat down beside him, and after awhile began, "I daresay you thought me extremely strange yesterdayevening, good brother mine. But as you told me about your love, andwere so very dejected, then all kinds of foolish nonsense flooded mymind and made me quite confused, and would have made me mad in the endif your good singing and my lute had not driven away the evil spirits.But this morning when the first ray of sunlight awoke me, all my gaietyof heart returned, for all nasty feelings had already left me lastevening. I ran out, and whilst wandering among the undergrowth a crowdof fine things came into my mind: how I had found you, and how all myheart felt drawn towards you. There also occurred to me a pretty littlestory which happened some time ago when I was in Italy; I will tell itto you, since it is a remarkable illustration of what true friendshipcan do.
"It chanced that a noble prince, a warm patron and friend of the FineArts, offered a very large prize for a painting, the subject of whichwas definitely fixed, and which, though a splendid subject, was onedifficult to treat. Two young painters, united by the closest bond offriendship and wont to work together, resolved to compete for theprize. They communicated their designs to each other and had long talksas to how they should overcome the difficulties connected with thesubject. The elder, more experienced in drawing and in arrangement andgrouping, had soon formed a conception of the picture and sketched it;then he went to the younger, whom he found so discouraged in the verydesigning that he would have given the scheme up, had not the elderconstantly encouraged him, and imparted to him good advice. But whenthey began to paint, the younger, a master in colour, was able to givehis friend many a hint, which he turned to the best account; andeventually it was found that the younger had never designed a betterpicture, nor the elder coloured one better. The pieces being finished,the two artists fell upon each other's neck; each was delighted,enraptured, with the other's work, and each adjudged the prize, whichthey both deserved, to his friend. But when, eventually, the prize wasdeclared to have fallen to the younger, he cried, ashamed, 'Oh! how canI have gained the prize? What is my merit in comparison with that of myfriend? I should never have produced anything at all good without hisadvice and valuable assistance.' Then said the elder, 'And did not youtoo stand by me with invaluable counsel? My picture is certainly notbad; but yours has carried off the prize as it deserved. To strivehonestly and openly towards the same goal, that is the way of truefriends; the wreath which the victor wins confers honour also upon thevanquished. I love you now all the more that you have so bravelystriven, and in your victory I also reap fame and honour.' And thepainter was right, was he not, Frederick? Honest contention for thesame prize, without any malicious reserve, ought to unite true friendsstill more and knit their hearts still closer, instead of setting themat variance. Ought there to be any room in noble minds for petty envyor malicious hate?" "Never, certainly not," replied Frederick. "We arenow faithful loving brothers, and shall both in a short time constructour masterpiece in Nuremburg, a good two-tun cask, made without fire;but Heaven forbid that I should feel the least spark of envy if yours,dear brother Reinhold, turned out to be better than mine." "Ha! ha!ha!" laughed Reinhold heartily, "go on with you and your masterpiece;you'll soon manage that to the joy of all good coopers.
And let me tellyou that in all that concerns calculation of size and proportion, anddrawing plans of sections of circles, you'll find I'm your man. Andthen in choosing your wood you may rely fully upon me. Staves of theholm oak felled in winter, without worm-holes, without either red orwhite streaks, and without blemish, that's what we must look for; youmay trust my eyes. I will stand by you with all the help I can, in bothdeed and counsel; and my own masterpiece will be none the worse forit." "But in the name of all that's holy," broke in Frederick here,"why are we chattering about who is to make the best masterpiece? Arewe to have any contest about the matter?--the best masterpiece--to gainRose! What are we thinking about? The very thought makes me giddy.""Marry, brother," cried Reinhold, still laughing, "there was no thoughtat all of Rose. You are a dreamer. Come along, let us go on if we areto get into the town." Frederick leapt to his feet, and went on hisway, his mind in a whirl of confusion.
As they were washing and brushing off the dust of travel in thehostelry, Reinhold said to Frederick, "To tell you the truth, I for mypart don't know for what master I shall work; I have no acquaintanceshere at all; and I thought you would perhaps take me along with you toMaster Martin's, brother? Perhaps I may get taken on by him." "Youremove a heavy load from my heart," replied Frederick, "for if you willonly stay with me, it will be easier for me to conquer my anxiety andnervousness." And so the two young apprentices trudged sturdily on tothe house of the famed cooper, Master Martin.
It happened to be the very Sunday on which Master Martin gave his feastin honour of his election as "Candle-master;" and the two arrived justas they were partaking of the good cheer. So it was that as Reinholdand Frederick entered into Master Martin's house they heard the ringingof glasses and the confused buzz and rattle of a merry company at afeast. "Oh!" said Frederick quite cast down, "we have, it seems, comeat an unseasonable time." "Nay, I think we have come exactly at theright time," replied Reinhold, "for Master Martin is sure to be in goodhumour after a good feast, and well disposed to grant our wishes." Theycaused their arrival to be announced to Master Martin, and soon heappeared in the entrance-passage, dressed in holiday garb and with nosmall amount of colour in his nose and on his cheeks. On catching sightof Frederick he cried, "Holla! Frederick, my good lad, have you comehome again? That's fine! And so you have taken up the best of alltrades--cooperage. Herr Holzschuer cuts confounded wry faces when yourname is mentioned, and says a great artist is ruined in you, and thatyou could have cast little images and espaliers as fine as those in St.Sebald's or on Fugger's[27] house at Augsburg. But that's all nonsense;you have done quite right to step across the way here. Welcome, lad,welcome with all my heart." And therewith Herr Martin took him by theshoulders and drew him to his bosom, as was his wont, thoroughly wellpleased. This kind reception by Master Martin infused new spirits intoFrederick; all his nervousness left him, so that unhesitatingly andwithout constraint he was able not only to prefer his own request butalso warmly to recommend Reinhold. "Well, to tell you the truth," saidMaster Martin, "you could not have come at a more fortunate time thanjust now, for work keeps increasing and I am bankrupt of workmen. Youare both heartily welcome. Put your bundles down and come in; our mealis indeed almost finished, but you can come and take your seats at thetable, and Rose shall look after you and get you something." And MasterMartin and the two journeymen went into the room. There sat the honestmasters, the worthy syndic Jacobus Paumgartner at their head, all withhot red faces. Dessert was being served, and a better brand of wine wassparkling in the glasses. Every master was talking about somethingdifferent from all his neighbours and in a loud voice, and yet they allthought they understood each other; and now and again some of themburst out in a hearty laugh without exactly knowing why. When, however.Master Martin came back, leading the two young men by the hand, andannounced aloud that he brought two journeymen who had come to him wellprovided with testimonials just at the time he wanted them, then allgrew silent, each master scrutinising the smart young fellows with asmile of comfortable satisfaction, whilst Frederick cast his eyes downand twisted his baretta about in his hands. Master Martin directed theyouths to places at the very bottom of the table; but these were soonthe very best of all, for Rose came and took her seat between the two,and served them attentively both with dainty dishes and with good richwine. There was Rose, a most winsome picture of grace and loveliness,seated between the two handsome youths, all in midst of the bearded oldmen--it was a right pleasant sight to see; the mind instantly recalleda bright morning cloud rising solitary above the dim dark horizon, orbeautiful spring flowers lifting up their bright heads from amidst theuniform colourless grass. Frederick was so very happy and so verydelighted that his breath almost failed him for joy; and only now andagain did he venture to steal a glance at her who filled his heart sofully. His eyes were fixedly bent upon his plate; how could he possiblydream of eating the least morsel? Reinhold, on the other hand, couldnot turn his sparkling, radiant eyes away from the lovely maiden. Hebegan to talk about his long journeys in such a wonderful way that Rosehad never heard anything like it. She seemed to see everything of whichhe spoke rise up vividly before her in manifold ever-changing forms.She was all eyes and ears; and when Reinhold, carried away by the fireof his own words, grasped her hand and pressed it to his heart, shedidn't know where she was. "But bless me," broke off Reinhold all atonce, "why, Frederick, you are quite silent and still. Have you lostyour tongue? Come, let us drink to the weal of the lovely maiden whohas so hospitably entertained us." With a trembling hand Frederickseized the huge drinking-glass that Reinhold had filled to the brim andnow insisted on his draining to the last drop. "Now here's long life toour excellent master," cried Reinhold, again filling the glasses andagain compelling Frederick to empty his. Then the fiery juices of thewine permeated his veins and stirred up his stagnant blood until itcoursed as it were triumphantly through his every limb. "Oh! I feel soindescribably happy," he whispered, the burning blushes mounting intohis cheeks. "Oh! I have never felt so happy in all my life before."Rose, who undoubtedly gave another interpretation to his words, smiledupon him with incomparable gentleness. Then, quit of all hisembarrassing shyness, Frederick said, "Dear Rose, I suppose you nolonger remember me, do you?" "But, dear Frederick," replied Rose,casting down her eyes, "how could I possibly forget you in so short atime? When you were at Herr Holzschuer's--true, I was only a mere childthen, yet you did not disdain to play with me, and always had somethingnice and pretty to talk about. And that dear little basket made of finesilver wire that you gave me at Christmas-time, I've got it still, andI take care of it and keep it as a precious memento." Frederick wasintoxicated with delight and tears glittered in his eyes. He tried tospeak, but there only burst from his breast, like a deep sigh, thewords, "O Rose--dear, dear Rose." "I have always really from my heartlonged to see you again," went on Rose; "but that you would become acooper, that I never for a moment dreamed. Oh! when I call to mindthe beautiful things that you made whilst you were with MasterHolzschuer--oh! it really is a pity that you have not stuck to your art.""O Rose," said Frederick, "it is only for your sake that I have becomeunfaithful to it." No sooner had he uttered these words than hecould have sunk into the earth for shame and confusion. He had mostthoughtlessly let the confession slip over his lips. Rose, as if diviningall, turned her face away from him; whilst he in vain struggled for words.
Then Herr Paumgartner struck the table a bang with his knife, andannounced to the company that Herr Vollrad, a worthy _Meistersinger_,[28]would favour them with a song. Herr Vollrad at once rose to his feet,cleared his throat, and sang such an excellent song in the _GueldneTonweis_[29] of Herr Vogelgesang that everybody's heart leapt with joy,and even Frederick recovered himself from his awkward embarrassment again.After Herr Vollrad had sung several other excellent songs to several otherexcellent tunes, such as the _Suesser Ton_, the _Krummzinkenweis_, the_Gebluemte Paradiesweis_, the _Frisch Pomeranzenweis_, &c., he calledupon any one else at the table who understood anything of the sweet anddelectable art of th
e _Meistersinger_ also to honour them with a song. ThenReinhold rose to his feet and said that if he might be allowed to accompanyhimself on his lute in the Italian fashion he would give them a song,keeping, however, strictly to the German tune. As nobody had any objectionhe fetched his instrument, and, after a little tuneful prelude, began thefollowing song:--
Where is the little fount Where sparkles the spicy wine? From forth its golden depths Its golden sparkles mount And dance 'fore the gladdened eye. This beautiful little fount Wherein the golden wine Sparkles--who made it, With thoughtful skill and fine, With such high art and industry, That praise deserve so well? This little fount so gay, Wrought with high art and fine, Was fashioned by one Who ne'er an artist was-- But a brave young cooper he, His veins with rich wine glowing, His heart with true love singing, And ever lovingly-- For that's young cooper's way In all the things he does.
This song pleased them all down to the ground, but none more sothan Master Martin, whose eyes sparkled with pleasure and delight.Without heeding Vollrad, who had almost too much to say about HansMueller's _Stumpfe Schossweis_, which the youth had caught excellentlywell,--Master Martin, without heeding him, rose from his seat, and,lifting his _passglas_[30] above his head, called aloud, "Come here,honest cooper and _Meistersinger_, come here and drain this glass withme, your Master Martin." Reinhold had to do as he was bidden. Returningto his place, he whispered into Frederick's ear, who was looking verypensive, "Now, you must sing--sing the song you sang last night." "Areyou mad?" asked Frederick, quite angry. But Reinhold turned to thecompany and said in a loud voice, "My honoured gentlemen and masters,my dear brother Frederick here can sing far finer songs, and has a muchpleasanter voice than I have, but his throat has got full of dust fromhis travels, and he will treat you to some of his songs another time,and then to the most admirable tunes." And they all began to showerdown their praises upon Frederick, as if he had already sung. Indeed,in the end, more than one of the masters was of opinion that his voicewas really more agreeable than journeyman Reinhold's, and Herr Vollradalso, after he had drunk another glass, was convinced that Frederickcould use the beautiful German tunes far better than Reinhold, for thelatter had too much of the Italian style about him. And Master Martin,throwing his head back into his neck, and giving his round belly ahearty slap, cried, "Those are _my_ journeymen, _my_ journeymen, I tellyou--mine, master-cooper Tobias Martin's of Nuremberg." And all theother masters nodded their heads in assent, and, sipping the last dropsout of the bottom of their tall glasses, said, "Yes, yes. Your brave,honest journeymen, Master Martin--that they are." At length it was timeto retire to rest Master Martin led Reinhold and Frederick each into abright cheerful room in his own house.
_How the third journeyman came into Master Martin's house and what followed in consequence._
After the two journeymen had worked for some weeks in Master Martin'sworkshop, he perceived that in all that concerned measurement with ruleand compass, and calculation, and estimation of measure and size byeyesight, Reinhold could hardly find his match, but it was a differentthing when it came to hard work at the bench or with the adze or themallet. Then Reinhold soon grew tired, and the work did not progress,no matter how great efforts he might make. On the other hand, Frederickplaned and hammered away without growing particularly tired. Butone thing they had in common with each other, and that was theirwell-mannered behaviour, marked, principally at Reinhold's instance, bymuch natural cheerfulness and good-natured enjoyment. Besides, evenwhen hard at work, they did not spare their throats, especially whenpretty Rose was present, but sang many an excellent song, theirpleasant voices harmonising well together. And whenever Frederick,glancing shyly across at Rose, seemed to be falling into his melancholymood, Reinhold at once struck up a satirical song that he composed,beginning, "The cask is not the cither, nor is the cither the cask," sothat old Herr Martin often had to let the croze-adze which he hadraised, sink again without striking and hold his big belly as itwabbled from his internal laughter. Above all, the two journeymen, andmainly Reinhold, had completely won their way into Martin's favour; andit was not difficult to observe that Rose found a good many pretextsfor lingering oftener and longer in the workshop than she certainlyotherwise would have done.
One day Master Martin entered his open workshop outside the town-gate,where work was carried on all the summer through, with his browweighted with thought Reinhold and Frederick were in the act of settingup a small cask. Then Master Martin planted himself before them withhis arms crossed over his chest and said, "I can't tell you how pleasedI am with you, my good journeymen, but I am just now in a greatdifficulty. They write me from the Rhine that this will be a moreprosperous wine-year than there ever has been before. A learned mansays that the comet which has been seen in the heavens will fructifythe earth with its wonderful tail, so that the glowing heat whichfabricates the precious metals down in the deepest mines will allstream upwards and evaporate into the thirsty vines, till they prosperand thrive and put forth multitudes of grapes, and the liquid fire withwhich they are filled will be poured out into the grapes. It will bealmost three hundred years before such a favourable constellationoccurs again. So now we shall all have our hands full of work. And thenthere's his Lordship the Bishop of Bamberg has written to me andordered a large cask. That we can't get done; and I shall have to lookabout for another useful journeyman. Now I should not like to take thefirst fellow I meet off the street amongst us, and yet the matter isvery urgent. If you know of a good journeyman anywhere whom you wouldbe willing to work with, you have only to tell me, and I will get himhere, even though it should cost me a good sum of money."
Hardly had Master Martin finished speaking when a young man, tall andstalwart, shouted to him in a loud voice, "Hi! you there! is thisMaster Martin's workshop?" "Certainly," replied Master Martin, goingtowards the young man, "certainly it is; but you needn't shout sodeuced loud and lumber in like that; that's not the way to findpeople." "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the young fellow, "marry, you are MasterMartin himself, for--fat belly--stately double-chin--sparkling eyes,and red nose--yes, that's just how he was described to me. I bid yougood hail, Master Martin." "Well, and what do you want from MasterMartin?" he asked, indignantly. The young fellow replied, "I am ajourneyman cooper, and merely wanted to ask if I could find work withyou." Marvelling that just as he was thinking about looking out for ajourneyman one should come to him like this, Master Martin drew back afew paces and eyed the young man from head to foot. He, however, metthe scrutiny unabashed and with sparkling eyes. Noting his broad chest,stalwart build, and powerful arms, Master Martin thought withinhimself, it's just such a lusty fellow as this that I want, and he atonce asked him for his trade testimonials.[31] "I haven't them with mejust at this present moment," replied the young man, "but I will getthem in a short time; and I give you now my word of honour that I willwork well and honestly, and that must suffice you." Thereupon, withoutwaiting for Master Martin's reply, the young journeyman stepped intothe workshop. He threw down his baretta and bundle, took off hisdoublet, put on his apron, and said, "Come, Master Martin, tell me atonce what I am to begin with." Master Martin, completely taken aback bythe young stranger's resolute vigour and promptitude, had to think alittle; then he said, "Come then, my fine fellow, and show me at oncethat you are a good cooper; take this croze-adze and finish the grooveof that cask lying in the vice yonder." The stranger performed what hehad been bidden with remarkable strength, quickness, and skill; andthen he cried, laughing loudly, "Now, Master Martin, have you anydoubts now as to my being a good cooper? But," he continued, goingbackwards and forwards through the shop, and examining the instrumentsand tools, and supply of wood, "but though you are well supplied withuseful stores and--but what do you call this little thing of a mallet?I suppose it's for your c
hildren to play with; and this little adzehere--why it must be for your apprentices when they first begin," andhe swung round his head the huge heavy mallet which Reinhold could notlift and which Frederick had great difficulty in wielding; and then hedid the same with the ponderous adze with which Master Martin himselfworked. Then he rolled a couple of huge casks on one side as if theyhad been light balls, and seized one of the large thick beams which hadnot yet been worked at "Marry, master," he cried, "marry, this is goodsound oak; I wager it will snap like glass." And thereupon he struckthe stave against the grindstone so that it broke clean in half with aloud crack. "Pray be so kind," said Master Martin, "pray have thekindness, my good fellow, to kick that two-tun cask about or to pulldown the whole shop. There, you can take that balk for a mallet, andthat you may have an adze to your mind I will have Roland's sword,which is three yards long, fetched for you from the town-house." "Ay,do, that's just the thing," said the young man, his eyes flashing; butthe next minute he cast them down upon the ground and said, loweringhis voice, "I only thought, good master, that you wanted right strongjourneymen for your heavy work, and now I have, I see, been tooforward, too swaggering, in displaying my bodily strength. But do takeme on to work, I will faithfully do whatever you shall require of me."Master Martin scanned the youth's features, and could not but admitthat he had never seen more nobility and at the same time moredownright honesty in any man's face. And yet, as he looked upon theyoung fellow, there stole into his mind a dim recollection of some manwhom he had long esteemed and honoured, but he could not clearly callto mind who it was. For this reason he granted the young man's requeston the spot, only enjoining upon him to produce at the earliestopportunity the needful credible trade attestations.
Meanwhile Reinhold and Frederick had finished setting up their cask andwere now busy driving on the first hoops. Whilst doing this they werealways in the habit of striking up a song; and on this occasion theybegan a good song in Adam Puschmann's _Stieglitzweis_. Then Conrad(that was the name of the new journeyman) shouted across from the benchwhere Master Martin had placed him, "By my troth, what squalling do youcall that? I could fancy I hear mice squeaking somewhere about theshop. An you mean to sing at all, sing so that it will cheer the heartand make the work go down well. That's how I sing a bit now and again."And he began to bellow out a noisy hunting ditty with its hollas! andhoy, boys! and he imitated the yelping of the hounds and the shrillshouts of the hunters in such a clear, keen, stentorian voice thatthe huge casks rang again and all the workshop echoed. Master Martinheld his hands over his ears, and Dame Martha's (Valentine's widow)little boys, who were playing in the shop, crept timorously behind thepiled-up staves. Just at this moment Rose came in, amazed, nay,frightened at the terrible noise; it could not be called singinganyhow. As soon as Conrad observed her, he at once stopped, and leavinghis bench he approached her and greeted her with the most polishedgrace. Then he said in a gentle voice, whilst an ardent fire gleamed inhis bright brown eyes, "Lovely lady, what a sweet rosy light shone intothis humble workman's hut when you came in! Oh! had I but perceived yousooner, I had not outraged your tender ears with my wild huntingditty." Then, turning to Master Martin and the other journeymen, hecried, "Oh! do stop your abominable knocking and rattling. As long asthis gracious lady honours us with her presence, let mallets anddrivers rest. Let us only listen to her sweet voice, and with bowedhead hearken to what she may command us, her humble servants." Reinholdand Frederick looked at each other utterly amazed; but Master Martinburst out laughing and said, "Well, Conrad, it is now plain that youare the most ridiculous donkey who ever put on apron. First you comehere and want to break everything to pieces like an uncultivated giant;then you bellow in such a way as to make our ears tingle; and, as afitting climax to all your foolishness, you take my little daughterRose for a lady of rank and act like a love-smitten Junker." Conradreplied, coolly, "Your lovely daughter I know very well, my worthyMaster Martin; but I tell you that she is the most peerless lady whotreads the earth, and if Heaven grant it she would honour the verynoblest of Junkers by permitting him to be her Paladin in faithfulknightly love." Master Martin held his sides, and it was only by givingvent to his laughter in hums and haws that he prevented himself fromchoking. As soon as he could at all speak, he stammered, "Good, verygood, my most excellent youth; you may continue to regard my daughteras a lady of high rank, I shall not hinder you; but, irrespective ofthat, will you have the goodness to go back to your bench?"Conrad stood as if spell-bound, his eyes cast down upon the ground; andrubbing his forehead, he said in a low voice, "Ay, it is so," and didas he was bidden. Rose, as she always did in the shop, sat down upon asmall cask, which Frederick placed for her, and which Reinholdcarefully dusted. At Master Martin's express desire they again struckup the admirable song in which they had been so rudely interrupted byConrad's bluster; but he went on with his work at the bench, quitestill, and entirely wrapped up in his own thoughts.
When the song came to an end Master Martin said, "Heaven has endowedyou with a noble gift, my brave lads; you would not believe how highlyI value the delectable art of song. Why, once I wanted to be a_Meistersinger_ myself, but I could not manage it, even though I triedall I knew how. All that I gained by my efforts was ridicule andmockery. In 'Voluntary Singing'[32] I either got into false'appendages,' or 'double notes,' or a wrong 'measure,' or an unsuitable'embellishment,' or started the wrong melody altogether. But you willsucceed better, and it shall be said, what the master can't do, hisjourneymen can. Next Sunday after the sermon there will be a singingcontest by the _Meistersinger_ at the usual time in St. Catherine'sChurch. But before the 'Principal Singing' there will be a 'Voluntary,'in which you may both of you win praise and honour in your beautifulart, for any stranger who can sing at all, may freely take part inthis. And, he! Conrad, my journeyman Conrad," cried Master Martinacross to the bench, "would not you also like to get into thesinging-desk and treat our good folk to your fine hunting-chorus?"Without looking up, Conrad replied, "Mock not, good master, mock not;everything in its place. Whilst you are being edified by the_Meistersinger_, I shall enjoy myself in my own way on the Allerwiese."
And what Master Martin anticipated came to pass. Reinhold got into thesinging-desk and sang divers songs to divers tunes, with which all the_Meistersingers_ were well pleased; and although they were of opinionthat the singer had not made any mistake, yet they had a slightobjection to urge against him--a sort of something foreign about hisstyle, but yet they could not say exactly in what it consisted. Soonafterwards Frederick took his seat in the singing-desk; and doffing hisbaretta, he stood some seconds looking silently before him; then aftersending a glance at the audience which entered lovely Rose's bosom likea burning arrow, and caused her to fetch a deep sigh, he began such asplendid song in Heinrich Frauenlob's[33] _Zarter Ton_, that all themasters agreed with one accord there was none amongst them who couldsurpass the young journeyman.
The singing-school came to an end towards evening, and Master Martin,in order to finish off the day's enjoyment in proper style, betookhimself in high good-humour to the Allerwiese along with Rose. The twojourneymen, Reinhold and Frederick, were permitted to accompany them;Rose was walking between them. Frederick, radiant with delight at themasters' praise, and intoxicated with happiness, ventured to breathemany a daring word in Rose's ear which she, however, casting down hereyes in maidenly coyness, pretended not to hear. Rather she turned toReinhold, who, according to his wont, was running on with all sorts ofmerry nonsense; nor did he hesitate to place his arm in Rose's. Whilsteven at a considerable distance from the Allerwiese they could hearnoisy shouts and cries. Arrived at the place where the young men wereamusing themselves in all kinds of games, partly chivalric, they heardthe crowd shout time after time, "Won again! won again! He's thestrongest again! Nobody can compete with him." Master Martin, onworking his way through the crowd, perceived that it was nobody elsebut his journeyman Conrad who was reaping all this praise and excitingthe people to all this applause. He had beaten everybody in
racing andboxing and throwing the spear. As Martin came up, Conrad was shoutingout and inquiring if there was anybody who would have a merry bout withhim with blunt swords. This challenge several stout young patricians,well accustomed to this species of pastime, stepped forward andaccepted. But it was not long before Conrad had again, without muchtrouble or exertion, overcome all his opponents; and the applause athis skill and strength seemed as if it would never end.
The sun had set; the last glow of evening died away, and twilight beganto creep on apace. Master Martin, with Rose and the two journeymen, hadthrown themselves down beside a babbling spring of water. Reinhold wastelling of the wonders of distant Italy, but Frederick, quiet andhappy, had his eyes fixed on pretty Rose's face. Then Conrad drew nearwith slow hesitating steps, as if rather undecided in his own mindwhether he should join them or not Master Martin called to him, "Comealong, Conrad, come along, come along; you have borne yourself bravelyon the meadow; that's what I like in my journeymen, and it's whatbecomes them. Don't be shy, lad; come and join us, you have mypermission." Conrad cast a withering glance at his master, who howevermet it with a condescending nod; then the young journeyman saidmoodily, "I am not the least bit shy of you, and I have not asked yourpermission whether I may lie down here or not,--in fact, I have notcome to _you_ at all. All my opponents I have stretched in the sand inthe merry knightly sports, and all I now wanted was to ask this lovelylady whether she would not honour me with the beautiful flowers shewears in her bosom, as the prize of the chivalric contest." Therewithhe dropped upon one knee in front of Rose, and looked her straight andhonestly in the face with his clear brown eyes, and he begged, "O giveme those beautiful flowers, sweet Rose, as the prize of victory; youcannot refuse me that." Rose at once took the flowers from her bosomand gave them to him, laughing and saying, "Ay, I know well that abrave knight like you deserves a token of honour from a lady; and sohere, you may have my withered flowers." Conrad kissed the flowers thatwere given him, and then fastened them in his baretta; but MasterMartin, rising to his feet, cried, "There's another of your sillytricks--come, let us be going home; it is getting dark." Herr Martinstrode on first; Conrad with modest courtly grace took Rose's arm;whilst Reinhold and Frederick followed them considerably out of humour.People who met them, stopped and turned round to look after them,saying, "Marry, look now, look; that's the rich cooper Thomas Martin,with his pretty little daughter and his stout journeymen. A fine set ofpeople I call them."
_Of Dame Martha's conversation with Rose about the three journeymen, Conrad's quarrel with Master Martin._
Generally it is the morning following a holiday when young girls arewont to enjoy all the pleasure of it, and taste it, and thoroughlydigest it; and this after celebration they seem to like far better thanthe actual holiday itself. And so next morning pretty Rose sat alone inher room with her hands folded on her lap, and her head bent slightlyforward in meditation--her spindle and embroidery meanwhile resting.Probably she was now listening to Reinhold's and Frederick's songs, andnow watching Conrad cleverly gaining the victory over his competitors,and now she saw him coming to her for the prize of victory; and thenshe hummed a few lines of a pretty song, and then she whispered, "Doyou want my flowers?" whereat a deeper crimson suffused her cheeks, andbrighter glances made their way through her downcast eyelashes, andsoft sighs stole forth from her inmost heart. Then Dame Martha came in,and Rose was delighted to be able to tell at full length all that hadtaken place in St. Catherine's Church and on the Allerwiese. When Rosehad done speaking, Dame Martha said, smiling, "Oh! so now, dear Rose,you will soon have to make your choice between your three handsomelovers." "For God's sake," burst out Rose, quite frightened, andflushing hotly all over her face, "for mercy's sake, Dame Martha, whatdo you mean by that? I--three lovers!" "Don't take on so," went on DameMartha, "don't take on in that way, dear Rose, as if you knew nothing,as if you could guess nothing. Why, where do you put your eyes, girl?you must be quite blind not to see that our journeymen. Reinhold,Frederick, and Conrad--yes, all three of them--are madly in love withyou." "What a fancy, to be sure, Dame Martha," whispered Rose, holdingher hands before her face. Then Dame Martha knelt down before her, andthrew her arm about her, saying, "Come, my pretty, bashful child, takeyour hands away, and look me straight in the eyes, and then tell me youhave not long ago perceived that you fill both the heart and the mindof each of our journeymen, deny that if you can. Nay, I tell you, youcan't do it; and it would, i' faith, be a truly wonderful thing if amaiden's eyes did not see a thing of that sort. Why, when you go intothe shop, their eyes are off their work and flying across to you in aminute, and they bustle and stir about with new life. And Reinhold andFrederick begin their best songs, and even wild Conrad grows quiet andgentle; each tries to invent some excuse to approach nearer to you, andwhen you honour one of them with a sweet look or a kindly word, how hiseyes sparkle, and his face flushes! Come now, my pet, is it not nice tohave such handsome fellows all making love to you? But whether you willchoose one of the three or which it will be, that I cannot indeed say,for you are good and kind to them all alike, and yet--and yet--but Imust not say more. Now an you come to me and said, 'O Dame Martha, giveme your advice, to which of these young men, who are all wanting me,shall I give my hand and heart?' then I should of course answer, 'Ifyour heart does not speak out loudly and distinctly. It's this or it'sthat, why, let them all three go.' I must say Reinhold pleases me rightwell, and so does Frederick, and so does Conrad; and then again on theother hand I have something to say against each of them. In fact, dearRose, when I see them working away so bravely, I always think of mypoor Valentine; and I must say that, if he could not perhaps produceany better work, there was yet quite a different kind of swing andstyle in all that he did do. You could see all his heart was in hiswork; but with these young fellows it always seems to me as if theyonly worked so, so--as if they had in their heads different thingsaltogether from their work; nay, it almost strikes me as if it were aburden which they have voluntarily taken up, and were now bearing withsturdy courage. Of them all I can get on best with Frederick; he's sucha faithful, affectionate fellow. He is the one who seems to belong tous most; I understand all that he says. And then his love for you is sostill, and as shy as a good child's; he hardly dares to look at you,and blushes if you only say a single word to him; and that's what Ilike so much in the dear lad." A tear seemed to glisten in Rose's eyeas Dame Martha said this. She stood up, and turning to the window,said, "I like Frederick very much, but you must not pass over Reinholdcontemptuously." "I never dreamt of doing so," replied Dame Martha,"for Reinhold is by a long way the handsomest of all. And what eyeshe has! And when he looks you through and through with his brightglances--no, it's more than you can endure. And yet there's somethingso strange and peculiar in his character, it quite makes me shiver attimes, and makes me quite afraid of him. When Reinhold is working inthe shop, I should think Herr Martin, when he tells him to do this ordo that, must always feel as I should if anybody were to put a brightpan in my kitchen all glittering with gold and precious stones, andshould bid me use it like any ordinary common pan--why, I should hardlydare to touch it at all. He tells his stories and talks and talks, andit all sounds like sweet music, and you are quite carried away by it,but when I sit down to think seriously about what he has been saying, Ifind I haven't understood a single word. And then when he now and againjests in the way we do, and I think now he's just like us, then all atonce he looks so distinguished that I get really afraid of him. And yetI can't say that he puffs himself up in the way that many of ourJunkers or patricians do; no, it's something else altogether different.In a word, it strikes me, by my troth, as if he held intercourse withhigher spirits, as if he belonged, in fact, to another world. Conrad isa wild overbearing fellow, and yet there is something confoundedlydistinguished about him as well; it doesn't agree with the cooper'sapron somehow. And he always acts as if nobody but he had to giveorders, and as if the others must obey him. In the short time that hehas been here he has
got so far that when he bellows at Master Martinin his loud ringing voice, his master generally does what he wishes.But at the same time he is so good-natured and so thoroughly honestthat you can't bear ill-will against him; rather, I must say, that inspite of his wildness, I almost like him better than I do Reinhold, foreven if he does speak fearfully grand, you can yet understand him verywell. I wager he has once been a campaigner, he may say what he likes.That's why he knows so much about arms, and has even got something ofknights' ways about him, which doesn't suit him at all badly. Now dotell me, Rose dear, without any ifs and ands, which of the threejourneymen you like best?" "Don't ask me such searching questions, dearDame Martha," answered Rose. "But of this I am quite sure, thatReinhold does not stir up in me the same feelings that he does in you.It's perfectly true, too, that he is altogether different from hisequals; and when he talks I could fancy I enter into a beautiful gardenfull of bright and magnificent flowers and blossoms and fruits, such asare not to be found on earth, and I like to be amongst them. SinceReinhold has been here I see many things in a different light, and lotsof things that were once dim and formless in my mind are now so brightand clear that I can easily distinguish them." Dame Martha rose to herfeet, and shaking her finger at Rose as she went out of the room, said,"Ah! ah! Rose, so Reinhold is the favourite then? I didn't think it, Ididn't even dream it." Rose made answer as she accompanied her as faras the door, "Pray, dear Dame Martha, think nothing, dream nothing, butleave all to the future. What _it_ brings is the will of God, and tothat everybody must bow humbly and gratefully."
Meanwhile it was becoming extremely lively in Master Martin's workshop.In order to execute all his orders he had engaged with ordinarylabourers and taken in some apprentices, and they all hammered andknocked till the din could be heard far and wide. Reinhold had finishedhis calculations and measurements for the great cask that was to bebuilt for the Bishop of Bamberg, whilst Frederick and Conrad had set itup so cleverly that Master Martin's heart laughed in his body, and hecried again and again, "Now that I call a grand piece of work; that'llbe the best little cask I've ever made--except my masterpiece." Now thethree apprentices stood driving the hoops on to the fitted staves, andthe whole place rang again with the din of their mallets. Old Valentinewas busy plying his draw-knife, and Dame Martha, her two youngest onher knee, sat just behind Conrad, whilst the other wideawake littlerascals were shouting and making a noise, tumbling the hoops about, andchasing each other. In fact, there was so much hubbub and so muchvigorous hard work going on that hardly anybody noticed old HerrJohannes Holzschuer as he stepped into the shop. Master Martin went tomeet him, and politely inquired what he desired. "Why, in the firstplace," said Holzschuer, "I want to have a look at my dear Frederickagain, who is working away so lustily yonder. And then, goodman MasterMartin, I want a stout cask for my wine-cellar, which I will ask you tomake for me. Why look you, that cask they are now setting up there isexactly the sort of thing I want; you can let me have that, you've onlygot to name the price." Reinhold, who had grown tired and had beenresting a few minutes down in the shop, and was now preparing to ascendthe scaffolding again, heard Holzschuer's words and said, turning hishead towards the old gentleman, "Marry, my friend Herr Holzschuer, youneed not set your heart upon this cask; we are making it for hisLordship the Bishop of Bamberg." Master Martin, his arms folded on hisback, his left foot planted forward, his head thrown back in his neck,blinked at the cask and said proudly, "My dear master, you might haveseen from the carefully selected wood and the great pains taken in thework that a masterpiece like that was meant for a prince's[34] cellar.My journeyman Reinhold has said the truth; don't set your heart on apiece of work like that. But when the vintage is over I will get you aplain strong little cask made, such as will be suitable for yourcellar." Old Holzschuer, incensed at Master Martin's pride, repliedthat his gold pieces weighed just as much as the Bishop of Bamberg's,and that he hoped he could get good work elsewhere for ready money.Master Martin, although fuming with rage, controlled himself withdifficulty; he would not by any means like to offend old HerrHolzschuer, who stood so high in the esteem both of the Council and ofall the burghers. At this moment Conrad struck mightier blows than everwith his mallet, so that the whole shop rang and cracked; then MasterMartin's internal rage boiled over, and he shouted vehemently, "Conrad,you blockhead, what do you mean by striking so blindly and heedlessly?do you mean to break my cask in pieces?" "Ho! ho!" replied Conrad,looking round defiantly at his master, "Ho! ho! my comical littlemaster, and why should I not?" And therewith he dealt such a terribleblow at the cask that the strongest hoop sprang, rattling, and knockedReinhold down from the narrow plank on the scaffolding; and it wasfurther evident from the hollow echo that a stave had been broken aswell. Completely mastered by his furious anger, Master Martin snatchedout of Valentine's hand the bar he was shaving, and striding towardsthe cask, dealt Conrad a good sound stroke with it on the back,shouting, "You cursed dog!" As soon as Conrad felt the blow he wheeledsharply round, and after standing for a moment as if bereft of hissenses, his eyes blazed up with fury, he ground his teeth, andscreamed, "Struck! struck!" Then at one bound he was down from thescaffolding, had snatched up an adze that lay on the floor, and aimed apowerful stroke at his master; had not Frederick pulled Martin on oneside the blow would have split his head; as it was, the adze onlygrazed his arm, from which, however, the blood at once began to spurtout. Martin, fat and helpless as he was, lost his equilibrium and fellover the bench, at which one of the apprentices was working, into thefloor. They all threw themselves upon Conrad, who was frantic,flourishing his bloody adze in the air, and shouting and screaming in aterrible voice, "Let him go to hell! To hell with him!" Hurling themall off with the strength of a giant, he was preparing to deal a secondblow at his poor master, who was gasping for breath and groaning on thefloor,--a blow that would have completely done for him--when Rose, paleas a corpse with fright, appeared in the shop-door. As soon as Conradobserved her he stood as if turned to a pillar of stone, the adzesuspended in the air. Then he threw the tool away from him, struck hishands together upon his chest, and cried in a voice that went toeverybody's heart, "Oh, good God! good God! what have I done?" and awayhe rushed out of the shop. No one thought of following him.
Now poor Master Martin was after some difficulty lifted up; it wasfound, however, that the adze had only penetrated into the thick fleshypart of the arm, and the wound could not therefore be called serious.Old Herr Holzschuer, whom Martin had involved with him in his fall, waspulled out from beneath the shavings, and Dame Martha's children, whoceased not to scream and cry over good Father Martin, were appeased asfar as that could be done. As for Martin himself, he was quite dazed,and said if only that devil of a bad journeyman had not spoilt his finecask he should not make much account of the wound.
Sedan chairs were brought for the old gentlemen, for Holzschuer alsohad bruised himself rather in his fall. He hurled reproaches at a tradein which they employed such murderous tools, and conjured Frederick tocome back to his beautiful art of casting and working in the preciousmetals, and the sooner the better.
As soon as the dusk of evening began to creep up over the sky,Frederick, and along with him Reinhold, whom the hoop had struck rathersharply, and who felt as if every limb was benumbed, strode back intothe town in very low spirits. Then they heard a soft sighing andgroaning behind a hedge. They stood still, and a tall figure at oncerose up; they immediately recognised Conrad, and began to withdrawtimidly. But he addressed them in a tearful voice, saying, "You neednot be so frightened at me, my good comrades; of course you take me fora devilish murderous brute, but I am not--indeed I am not so. I couldnot do otherwise; I _ought_ to have struck down the fat old master, andby rights I ought to go along with you and do it _now_, if I onlycould. But no, no; it's all over. Remember me to pretty Rose, whom Ilove so above all reason. Tell her I will bear her flowers on my heartall my life long, I will adorn myself with them when I--but she willperhaps hear of me again some day. Farewell! farewell! my
good, bravecomrades." And Conrad ran away across the field without once stopping.
Reinhold said, "There is something peculiar about this young fellow; wecan't weigh or measure this deed by any ordinary standard. Perhaps thefuture will unfold to us the secret that has lain heavy upon hisbreast."
_Reinhold leaves Master Martin's house._
If formerly there had been merry days in Master Martin's workshop, sonow they were proportionately dull. Reinhold, incapable of work,remained confined to his room; Martin, his wounded arm in a sling, wasincessantly abusing the good-for-nothing stranger-apprentice, andrailing at him for the mischief he had wrought Rose, and even DameMartha and her children, avoided the scene of the rash savage deed, andso Frederick's blows fell dull and melancholy enough, like awoodcutter's in a lonely wood in winter time, for to Frederick it wasnow left to finish the big cask alone, and a hard task it was.
And soon his mind and heart were possessed by a profound sadness, forhe believed he had now clear proofs of what he had for a long timefeared. He no longer had any doubt that Rose loved Reinhold. Notonly had she formerly shown many a kindness to Reinhold alone, andto him alone given many a sweet word, but now--it was as plain asnoonday--since Reinhold could no longer come to work. Rose too nolonger thought of going out, but preferred to stay indoors, no doubtto wait upon and take good care of her lover. On Sundays, when all therest set out gaily, and Master Martin, who had recovered to some extentof his wound, invited him to walk with him and Rose to the Allerwiese,he refused the invitation; but, burdened with trouble and the bitterpain of disappointed love, he hastened off alone to the village and thehill where he had first met with Reinhold. He threw himself down in thetall grass where the flowers grew, and as he thought how that thebeautiful star of hope which had shone before him all along hishomeward path had now suddenly set in the blackness of night after hehad reached his goal, and as he thought how that this step which he hadtaken was like the vain efforts of a dreamer stretching out hisyearning arms after an empty vision of air,--the tears fell from hiseyes and dropped upon the flowers, which bent their little heads as ifsorrowing for the young journeyman's great unhappiness. Without hisbeing exactly conscious of it, the painful sighs which escaped hislabouring breast assumed the form of words, of musical notes, and he sang this song:--
My star of hope, Where hast thou gone? Alas! thy glory rises up-- Thy glory sweet, far from me now-- And pours its light on others down. Ye rustling evening breezes, rouse you, Blow on my breast, Awake all joy that kills, Awake all pain that brings to death, So that my sore and bleeding heart, Steeped to the core in bitter tears, May break in yearning comfortless. Why whisper ye, ye darksome trees? So softly and like friends together? And why, O golden skirts of sky. Look ye so kindly down on me? Show me my grave; For that is now my haven of hope, Where I shall calmly, softly sleep.
And as it often happens that the very greatest trouble, if only it canfind vent in tears and words, softens down into a gentle melancholy,mild and painless, and that often a faint glimmer of hope appears thenin the soul, so it was with Frederick; when he had sung this song hefelt wonderfully strengthened and comforted The evening breezes and thedarksome trees that he had called upon in his song rustled andwhispered words of consolation; and like the sweet dreams of distantglory or of distant happiness, golden streaks of light worked their wayup across the dusky sky. Frederick rose to his feet, and went down thehill into the village. He almost fancied that Reinhold was walkingbeside him as he did on the day they first found each other; and allthe words which Reinhold had spoken again recurred to his mind. And ashis thoughts dwelt upon Reinhold's story about the contest between thetwo painters who were friends, then the scales fell from his eyes.There was no doubt about it; Reinhold must have seen Rose before andloved her. It was only his love for her which had brought him toNuremberg to Master Martin's, and by the contest between the twopainters he meant simply and solely their own--Reinhold's andFrederick's--rival wooing of beautiful Rose. The words that Reinholdhad then spoken rang again in his ears,--"Honest contention for thesame prize, without any malicious reserve, ought to unite true friendsand knit their hearts still closer together, instead of setting them atvariance. There should never be any place in noble minds for petty envyor malicious hatred." "Yes," exclaimed Frederick aloud, "yes, friend ofmy heart, I will appeal to you without any reserve, you yourself shalltell me if all hope for me is lost."
It was approaching noon when Frederick tapped at Reinhold's door. Asall remained still within, he pushed open the door, which was notlocked as usual, and went in. But the moment he did so he stood rootedto the spot. Upon an easel, the glorious rays of the morning sunfalling upon it, was a splendid picture, Rose in all the pride of herbeauty and charms, and life size. The maul-stick lying on the table,and the wet colours of the palette, showed that some one had been atwork on the picture quite recently. "O Rose, Rose!--By Heaven!" sighedFrederick. Reinhold, who had entered behind him unperceived, clappedhim on the shoulder and asked, smiling, "Well, now, Frederick, what doyou say to my picture!" Then Frederick pressed him to his heart andcried, "Oh you splendid fellow--you are indeed a noble artist. Yes,it's all clear to me now. You have won the prize--for which I--poorme!--had the hardihood to struggle. Oh! what am I in comparison withyou? And what is my art against yours? And yet I too had some fineideas in my head. Don't laugh at me, dear Reinhold; but, look you, Ithought what a grand thing it would be to model Rose's lovely figureand cast it in the finest silver. But that's all childishness, whilstyou--you--Oh! how sweetly she smiles upon you, and how delightfully youhave brought out all her beauty. O Reinhold! Reinhold! you happy, happyfellow! Ay, and it has all come about as you said long ago. We haveboth striven for the prize and you have won it: you could not help butwin it, and I shall still continue to be your friend with all my heartBut I must leave this house--my home: I cannot bear it, I should die ifI were to see Rose again. Please forgive me, my dear, dear, noblefriend. To-day, this very moment, I will go--go away into the wideworld, where my trouble, my unbearable misery, is sending me." And thusspeaking, Frederick was hastening out of the apartment, but Reinholdheld him fast, saying gently, "You shall not go; for things may turnout quite different from what you think. It is now time for me to tellyou all that I have hitherto kept silence about. That I am not a cooperbut a painter you are now well aware, and I hope a glance at thispicture will convince you that I am not to be ranked amongst theinferior artists. Whilst still young I went to Italy, the land of art;there I had the good fortune to be accepted as a pupil by renownedmasters, who fostered into living fire the spark which glowed withinme. Thus it came to pass that I rapidly rose into fame, that mypictures became celebrated throughout all Italy, and the powerful Dukeof Florence[35] summoned me to his court. At that time I would not heara word about German art, and without having seen any of your pictures,I talked a good deal of nonsense about the coldness, the bad drawing,and the hardness of your Duerer and your Cranach.[36] But one day apicture-dealer brought a small picture of the Madonna by old Albrechtto the Duke's gallery, and it made a powerful and wonderful impressionupon me, so that I turned away completely from the voluptuousness ofItalian art, and from that very hour determined to go back to my nativeGermany and study there the masterpieces upon which my heart was nowset I came to Nuremberg here, and when I beheld Rose I seemed to seethe Madonna who had so wonderfully stirred my heart, walking in bodilyform on earth. I had the same experiences as you, dear Frederick; thebright flames of love flashed up and consumed me, mind and heart andsoul. I saw nothing, I thought of nothing, but Rose; all else hadvanished from my mind; and even art itself only retained its holdupon me in so far as it enabled me to draw and paint Rose again andagain--hundreds of times. I would have approached the maiden in thefree Italian way; but all my attempts proved fruitless.
There was nomeans of securing a footing of intimacy in Master Martin's house in anyinsidious way. At last I made up my mind to sue for Rose directly, whenI learned that Master Martin had determined to give his daughter onlyto a good master-cooper. Straightway I formed the adventurous resolveto go and learn the trade of cooperage in Strasburg, and then to comeand work in Master Martin's work-shop. I left all the rest to theordering of Providence. You know in what way I carried out my resolve;but I must now also tell you what Master Martin said to me some daysago. He said I should make a skilful cooper and should be a right dearand worthy son-in-law, for he saw plainly that I was seeking to gainRose's favour, and that she liked me right well." "Can it then indeedwell be otherwise?" cried Frederick, painfully agitated "Yes, yes, Rosewill be _yours_; how came I, unhappy wretch that I am, ever to hope forsuch happiness?" "You are forgetting, my brother," Reinhold went on tosay; "you are forgetting that Rose herself has not confirmed this,which our cunning Master Martin no doubt is well aware of. True it isthat Rose has always shown herself kind and charming towards me, but aloving heart betrays itself in other ways. Promise me, brother, toremain quiet for three days longer, and to go to your work in the shopas usual. I also could now go to work again, but since I have been busywith, and wrapt up in this picture, I feel an indescribable disgust atthat coarse rough work out yonder. And, what is more, I can never layhand upon mallet again, let come what will. On the third day I willfrankly tell you how matters stand between me and Rose. If I shouldreally be the lucky one to whom she has given her love, then you may goyour way and make trial of the experience that time can cure thedeepest wounds." Frederick promised to await his fate.
On the third day Frederick's heart beat with fear and anxiousexpectation; he had in the meantime carefully avoided meeting Rose.Like one in a dream he crept about the workshop, and his awkwardnessgave Master Martin, no doubt, just cause for his grumbling andscolding, which was not by any means customary with him. Moreover, themaster seemed to have encountered something that completely spoilt allhis good spirits. He talked a great deal about base tricks andingratitude, without clearly expressing what he meant by it. When atlength evening came, and Frederick was returning towards the town, hesaw not far from the gate a horseman coming to meet him, whom herecognised to be Reinhold. As soon as the latter caught sight ofFrederick he cried, "Ha! ha! I meet you just as I wanted." And leapingfrom his horse, he slung the rein over his arm, and grasped hisfriend's hand. "Let us walk along a space beside each other," he said."Now I can tell you what luck I have had with my suit." Frederickobserved that Reinhold wore the same clothes which he had worn whenthey first met each other, and that the horse bore a portmanteau.Reinhold looked pale and troubled. "Good luck to you, brother," hebegan somewhat wildly; "good luck to you. You can now go and hammeraway lustily at your casks; I will yield the field to you. I have justsaid adieu to pretty Rose and worthy Master Martin." "What!" exclaimedFrederick, whilst an electric thrill, as it were, shot through all hislimbs--"what! you are going away now that Master Martin is willing totake you for his son-in-law, and Rose loves you?" Reinhold replied,"That was only a delusion, brother, which your jealousy has led youinto. It has now come out that Rose would have had me simply to showher dutifulness and obedience, but there's not a spark of love glowingin her ice-cold heart. Ha! ha! I should have made a fine cooper--that Ishould. Week-days scraping hoops and planing staves, Sundays walkingbeside my honest wife to St. Catherine's or St. Sebald's, and in theevening to the Allerwiese, year after year"---- "Nay, mock not," saidFrederick, interrupting Reinhold's loud laughter, "mock not at theexcellent burgher's simple, harmless life. If Rose does not really loveyou, it is not her fault; you are so passionate, so wild." "You areright," said Reinhold; "It is only the silly way I have of making asmuch noise as a spoilt child when I conceive I have been hurt. You caneasily imagine that I spoke to Rose of my love and of her father'sgood-will. Then the tears started from her eyes, and her hand trembledin mine. Turning her face away, she whispered, 'I must submit to myfather's will'--that was enough for me. My peculiar resentment, dearFrederick, will now let you see into the depths of my heart; I musttell you that my striving to win Rose was a deception, imposed upon meby my wandering mind. After I had finished Rose's picture my heart grewcalm; and often, strange enough, I fancied that Rose was now thepicture, and that the picture was become the real Rose. I detested myformer coarse, rude handiwork; and when I came so intimately intocontact with the incidents of common life, getting one's 'mastership'and getting married, I felt as if I were going to be confined in adungeon and chained to the stocks. How indeed can the divine being whomI carry in my heart ever be my wife? No, she shall for ever stand forthglorious in youth, grace, and beauty, in the pictures--themasterpieces--which my restless spirit shall create. Oh! how I long forsuch things! How came I ever to turn away from my divine art? O thouglorious land, thou home of Art, soon again will I revel amidst thycool and balmy airs." The friends had reached the place where the roadwhich Reinhold intended to take turned to the left. "Here we willpart," cried Reinhold, pressing Frederick to his heart in a long warmembrace; then he threw himself upon horseback and galloped away.Frederick stood watching him without uttering a word, and then,agitated by the most unaccountable feelings, he slowly wended his wayhomewards.
_How Frederick was driven out of the workshop by Master Martin._
The next day Master Martin was working away at the great cask for theBishop of Bamberg in moody silence, nor could Frederick, who now feltthe full bitterness of parting from Reinhold, utter a word either,still less break out into song. At last Master Martin threw aside hismallet, and crossing his arms, said in a muffled voice, "Well,Reinhold's gone. He was a distinguished painter, and has only beenmaking a fool of me with his pretence of being a cooper. Oh! that I hadonly had an inkling of it when he came into my house along with you andbore himself so smart and clever, wouldn't I just have shown him thedoor! Such an open honest face, and so much deceit and treachery in hismind! Well, he's gone, and now you will faithfully and honestly stickto me and my handiwork. Who knows whether you may not become somethingmore to me still--when you have become a skilful master and Rose willhave you--well, you understand me, and may try to win Rose's favour."Forthwith he took up his mallet and worked away lustily again.Frederick did not know how to account for it, but Master Martin's wordsrent his breast, and a strange feeling of anxiety arose in his mind,obscuring every glimmer of hope. After a long interval Rose made afirst appearance again in the workshop, but was very reserved, and, asFrederick to his mortification could see, her eyes were red withweeping. She has been weeping for him, she does love him, thus he saidwithin himself, and he was quite unable to raise his eyes to her whomhe loved with such an unutterable love.
The mighty cask was finished, and now Master Martin began to be blitheand in good humour again as he regarded this very successful piece ofwork. "Yes, my son," said he, clapping Frederick on the shoulder, "yes,my son, I will keep my word: if you succeed in winning Rose's favourand build a good sound masterpiece, you shall be my son-in-law. Andthen you can also join the noble guild of the _Meistersinger_, and sowin you great honour."
Master Martin's business now increased so very greatly that he had toengage two other journeymen, clever workmen, but rude fellows, quitedemoralised by their long wanderings. Coarse jests now echoed in theworkshop instead of the many pleasant talks of former days, and inplace of Frederick and Reinhold's agreeable singing were now heard lowand obscene ditties. Rose shunned the workshop, so that Frederick sawher but seldom, and only for a few moments at a time. And then when helooked at her with melancholy longing and sighed, "Oh! if I might talkto you again, dear Rose, if you were only as friendly again as at thetime when Reinhold was still with us!" she cast down her eyes in shyconfusion and whispered "Have you something to tell me, dearFrederick?" And Frederick stood like a statue, unable to speak a word,and the golden opportunity was quickly past, like a flash of lightningthat darts across the d
ark red glow of the evening, and is gone almostbefore it is observed.
Master Martin now insisted that Frederick should begin his masterpiece.He had himself sought out the finest, purest oak wood, without theleast vein or flaw, which had been over five years in his wood-store,and nobody was to help Frederick except old Valentine. Not only wasFrederick put more and more out of taste with his work by the roughjourneymen, but he felt a tightness in his throat as he thought thatthis masterpiece was to decide over his whole life long. The samepeculiar feeling of anxiety which he had experienced when Master Martinwas praising his faithful devotion to his handiwork now grew into amore and more distinct shape in a quite dreadful way. He now knew thathe should fail miserably and disgracefully in his work; his mind, nowonce more completely taken up with his own art, was fundamentallyaverse to it. He could not forget Reinhold and Rose's picture. His ownart now put on again her full glory in his eyes. Often as he wasworking, the crushing sense of the unmanliness of his conduct quiteoverpowered him, and, alleging that he was unwell, he ran off to St.Sebald's Church. There he spent hours in studying Peter Fischer'smarvellous monument, and he would exclaim, as if ravished with delight,"Oh, good God! Is there anything on earth more glorious than toconceive and execute such a work?" And when he had to go back again tohis staves and hoops, and remembered that in this way only was Rose tobe won, he felt as if burning talons were rending his bleeding heart,and as if he must perish in the midst of his unspeakable agony.Reinhold often came to him in his dreams and brought him strikingdesigns for artistic castings, into which Rose's form was worked inmost ingenious ways, now as a flower, now as an angel, with littlewings. But there was always something wanting; he discovered that itwas Rose's heart which Reinhold had forgotten, and that he added to thedesign himself. Then he thought he saw all the flowers and leaves ofthe work move, singing and diffusing their sweet fragrances, and theprecious metals showed him Rose's likeness in their glittering surface.Then he stretched out his arms longingly after his beloved, but thelikeness vanished as if in dim mist, and Rose herself, pretty Rose,pressed him to her loving heart in an ecstasy of passionate love.
His condition with respect to the unfortunate cooperage grew worse andworse, and more and more unbearable, and he went to his old masterJohannes Holzschuer to seek comfort and assistance. He allowedFrederick to begin in his shop a piece of work which he, Frederick, hadthought out and for which he had for some time been saving up hisearnings, so that he could procure the necessary gold and silver. Thusit happened that Frederick was scarcely ever at work in Martin's shop,and his deathly pale face gave credence to his pretext that he wassuffering from a consuming illness. Months went past, and hismasterpiece, his great two-tun cask, was not advanced any further.Master Martin was urgent upon him that he should at least do as much ashis strength would allow, and Frederick really saw himself compelled togo to the hated cutting block again and take the adze in hand. Whilsthe was working, Master Martin drew near and examined the staves atwhich he was working; and he got quite red in the face and cried, "Whatdo you call this? What work is this, Frederick? Has a journeyman beenpreparing these staves for his 'mastership,' or a stupid apprentice whoonly put his nose into the workshop three days ago? Pull yourselftogether, lad: what devil has entered into you that you are making abungle of things like this? My good oak wood,--and this yourmasterpiece! Oh! you awkward, imprudent boy!" Overmastered by thetorture and agony which raged within him, Frederick was unable tocontain himself any longer; so, throwing the adze from him he said,"Master, it's all over; no, even though it cost me my life, though Iperish in unutterable misery, I cannot work any longer--no, I cannotwork any longer at this coarse trade. An irresistible power is drawingme back to my own glorious art. Your daughter Rose I love unspeakably,more than anybody else on earth can ever love her. It is only for hersake that I ever entered upon this hateful work. I have now lost her, Iknow, and shall soon die of grief for love of her; but I can't help it,I must go back to my own glorious art, to my excellent old master,Johannes Holzschuer, whom I so shamefully deserted." Master Martin'seyes blazed like flashing candles. Scarce able to speak for rage, hestammered, "What! you too! Deceit and treachery! Dupe _me_ like this!coarse trade--cooperage! Out of my eyes, you disgraceful fellow; begonewith you!" And therewith he laid hold of poor Frederick by theshoulders and threw him out of the shop, which the rude journeymen andapprentices greeted with mocking laughter. But old Valentine folded hishands, and gazing thoughtfully before him, said, "I've noticed, that Ihave, the good fellow had something higher in his mind than our casks."Dame Martha shed many tears, and her boys cried and screamed forFrederick, who had often played kindly with them and brought themseveral lots of sweets.
_Conclusion._
However angry Master Martin might feel towards Reinhold and Frederick,he could not but admit to himself that along with them all joy and allpleasure had disappeared from the workshop. Every day he was annoyedand provoked by the new journeymen. He had to look after every littletrifle, and it cost him no end of trouble and exertion to get even thesmallest amount of work done to his mind. Quite tired out with thecares of the day, he often sighed, "O Reinhold! O Frederick! I wish youhad not so shamefully deceived me, I wish you had been good coopers."Things at last got so bad that he often contemplated the idea of givingup business altogether.
As he was sitting at home one evening in one of these gloomy moods,Herr Jacobus Paumgartner and along with him Master Johannes Holzschuercame in quite unexpectedly. He saw at once that they were going to talkabout Frederick; and in fact Herr Paumgartner very soon turned theconversation upon him, and Master Holzschuer at once began to say allhe could in praise of the young fellow. It was his opinion thatFrederick with his industry and his gifts would certainly not only makean excellent goldsmith, but also a most admirable art-caster, and wouldtread in Peter Fischer's footsteps. And now Herr Paumgartner began toreproach Master Martin in no gentle terms for his unkind treatment ofhis poor journeyman Frederick, and they both urged him to give Roseto the young fellow to wife when he was become a skilful goldsmithand caster,--that is, of course, in case she looked with favour uponhim,--for his affection for her tingled in every vein he had. MasterMartin let them have their say out, then he doffed his cap and said,smiling, "That's right, my good sirs, I'm glad you stand up so bravelyfor the journeyman who so shamefully deceived me. That, however, I willforgive him; but don't ask that I should alter my fixed resolve for hissake; Rose can never be anything to him." At this moment Rose entered theroom, pale and with eyes red with weeping, and she silently placed wineand glasses on the table. "Well then," began Herr Holzschuer, "I mustlet poor Frederick have his own way; he wants to leave home for ever.He has done a beautiful piece of work at my shop, which, if you, mygood master, will allow, he will present to Rose as a keepsake; look atit." Whereupon Master Holzschuer produced a small artistically-chasedsilver cup, and handed it to Master Martin, who, a great lover ofcostly vessels and such like, took it and examined it on all sides withmuch satisfaction. And indeed a more splendid piece of silver work thanthis little cup could hardly be seen. Delicate chains of vine-leavesand roses were intertwined round about it, and pretty angels peeped upout of the roses and the bursting buds, whilst within, on the gildedbottom of the cup, were engraved angels lovingly caressing each other.And when the clear bright wine was poured into the cup, the littleangels seemed to dance up and down as if playing prettily together. "Itis indeed an elegant piece of work," said Master Martin, "and I willkeep it if Frederick will take the double of what it is worth in goodgold pieces." Thus speaking, he filled the cup and raised it to hislips. At this moment the door was softly opened, and Frederick steppedin, his countenance pale and stamped with the bitter, bitter pain ofseparating for ever from her he held dearest on earth. As soon as Rosesaw him she uttered a loud piercing cry, "O my dearest Frederick!" andfell almost fainting on his breast. Master Martin set down the cup, andon seeing Rose in Frederick's arms opened his eyes wide as if he saw aghost.
Then he again took up the cup without speaking a word, andlooked into it; but all at once he leapt from his seat and cried in aloud voice, "Rose, Rose, do you love Frederick?" "Oh!" whispered Rose,"I cannot any longer conceal it, I love him as I love my own life; myheart nearly broke when you sent him away." "Then embrace yourbetrothed, Frederick; yes, yes, your betrothed, Frederick," criedMaster Martin. Paumgartner and Holzschuer looked at each other utterlybewildered with astonishment, but Master Martin, holding the cup in hishand, went on, "By the good God, has it not all come to pass as the oldlady prophesied?--
'A vessel fair to see he'll bring, In which the spicy liquid foams. And bright, bright angels gaily sing. ... The vessel fair with golden grace, Lo! him who brings it in the house, Thou wilt reward with sweet embrace. And, an thy lover be but true, Thou need'st not wait thy father's kiss.'
"O Stupid fool I have been! Here is the vessel fair to see, theangels--the lover--Ay! ay! gentlemen; it's all right now, all rightnow; my son-in-law is found."
Whoever has had his mind ever confused by a bad dream, so that hethought he was lying in the deep cold blackness of the grave, andsuddenly he awakens in the midst of the bright spring-tide full offragrance and sunshine and song, and she whom he holds dearest on earthhas come to him and has cast her arms about him, and he can look upinto the heaven of her lovely face,--whoever has at any timeexperienced this will understand Frederick's feelings, will comprehendhis exceeding great happiness. Unable to speak a word, he held Rosetightly clasped in his arms as though he would never let her leave him,until she at length gently disengaged herself and led him to herfather. Then he found his voice, "O my dear master, is it all reallytrue? You will give me Rose to wife, and I may go back to my art?""Yes, yes," said Master Martin, "you may in truth believe it; can I doany other since you have fulfilled my old grandmother's prophecy? Youneed not now of course go on with your masterpiece." Then Frederick,perfectly radiant with delight, smiled and said, "No, my dear master,if it be pleasing to you I will now gladly and in good spirits finishmy big cask--my last piece of work in cooperage--and then I will goback to the melting-furnace." "Yes, my good brave son," replied MasterMartin, his eyes sparkling with joy, "yes, finish your masterpiece, andthen we'll have the wedding."
Frederick kept his word faithfully, and finished the two-tun cask; andall the masters declared that it would be no easy task to do a finerpiece of work, whereat Master Martin was delighted down to the ground,and was moreover of opinion that Providence could not have found forhim a more excellent son-in-law.
At length the wedding day was come, Frederick's masterpiece stood inthe entrance hall filled with rich wine, and crowned with garlands. Themasters of the trade, with the syndic Jacobus Paumgartner at theirhead, put in an appearance along with their housewives, followed by themaster goldsmiths. All was ready for the procession to begin its marchto St. Sebald's Church, where the pair were to be married, when a soundof trumpets was heard in the street, and a neighing and stamping ofhorses before Martin's house. Master Martin hastened to the bay-window.It was Herr Heinrich von Spangenberg, in gay holiday attire, whohad pulled up in front of the house; a few paces behind him, on ahigh-spirited horse, sat a young and splendid knight, his glitteringsword at his side, and high-coloured feathers in his baretta, which wasalso adorned with flashing jewels. Beside the knight, Herr Martinperceived a wondrously beautiful lady, likewise splendidly dressed,seated on a jennet the colour of fresh-fallen snow. Pages andattendants in brilliant coats formed a circle round about them. Thetrumpet ceased, and old Herr von Spangenberg shouted up to him, "Aha!aha! Master Martin, I have not come either for your wine cellar or foryour gold pieces, but only because it is Rose's wedding day. Will youlet me in, good master?" Master Martin remembered his own words verywell, and was a little ashamed of himself; but he hurried down toreceive the Junker. The old gentleman dismounted, and after greetinghim, entered the house. Some of the pages sprang forward, and upontheir arms the lady slipped down from her palfrey; the knight gave herhis hand and followed the old gentleman. But when Master Martin lookedat the young knight he recoiled three paces, struck his hands together,and cried, "Good God! Conrad!" "Yes, Master Martin," said the knight,smiling, "I am indeed your journeyman Conrad. Forgive me for the woundI inflicted on you. But you see, my good master, that I ought properlyto have killed you; but things have now all turned out different."Greatly confused, Master Martin replied, that it was after all betterthat he had not been killed; of the little bit of a cut with the adzehe had made no account. Now when Master Martin with his new guestsentered the room where the bridal pair and the rest were assembled,they were all agreeably surprised at the beautiful lady, who was soexactly like the bride, even down to the minutest feature, that theymight have been taken for twin-sisters. The knight approached the bridewith courtly grace and said, "Grant, lovely Rose, that Conrad bepresent here on this auspicious day. You are not now angry with thewild thoughtless journeyman who was nigh bringing a great trouble uponyou, are you?" But as the bridegroom and the bride and Master Martinwere looking at each other in great wonder and embarrassment, old Herrvon Spangenberg said, "Well, well, I see I must help you out of yourdream. This is my son Conrad, and here is his good, true wife, namedRose, like the lovely bride. Call our conversation to mind, MasterMartin. I had a very special reason for asking you whether you wouldrefuse your Rose to my son. The young puppy was madly in love with her,and he induced me to lay aside all other considerations and make up mymind to come and woo her on his behalf. But when I told him in what anuncourteous way I had been dismissed, he in the most nonsensical waystole into your house in the guise of a cooper, intending to win herfavour and then actually to run away with her. But--you cured him withthat good sound blow across his back; my best thanks for it. And now hehas found a lady of rank who most likely is, after all, _the_ Rose whowas properly in his heart from the beginning."
Meanwhile the lady had with graceful kindness greeted the bride, andhung a valuable pearl necklace round her neck as a wedding present."See here, dear Rose," she then said, taking a very withered bunch offlowers out from amongst the fresh blooming ones which she wore at herbosom--"see here, dear Rose, these are the flowers that you once gavemy Conrad as the prize of victory; he kept them faithfully until he sawme, then he was unfaithful to you and gave them to me; don't be angrywith me for it." Rose, her cheeks crimson, cast down her eyes in shyconfusion, saying, "Oh! noble lady, how can you say so? Could theJunker then ever really love a poor maiden like me? You alone were hislove, and it was only because I am called Rose, and, as they say here,something like you, that he wooed me, all the while thinking it wasyou."
A second time the procession was about to set out, when a young manentered the room, dressed in the Italian style, all in black slashedvelvet, with an elegant lace collar and rich golden chains of honourhanging from his neck. "O Reinhold, my Reinhold!" cried Frederick,throwing himself upon the young man's breast. The bride and MasterMartin also cried out excitedly, "Reinhold, our brave Reinhold iscome!" "Did I not tell you," said Reinhold, returning Frederick'sembrace with warmth,--"did I not tell you, my dear, dear friend, thatthings might turn out gloriously for you? Let me celebrate your weddingday with you; I have come a long way on purpose to do so; and as alasting memento hang up in your house the picture which I have paintedfor you and brought with me." And then he called down to his twoservants, who brought in a large picture in a magnificent gold frame.It represented Master Martin in his workshop along with his journeymenReinhold, Frederick, and Conrad working at the great cask, and lovelyRose was just entering the shop. Everybody was astonished at the truthand magnificent colouring of the piece as a work of art. "Ay," saidFrederick, smiling, "that is, I suppose, your masterpiece as cooper;mine is below yonder in the entrance-hall; but I shall soon makeanother." "I know all," replied Reinhold, "and rate you lucky. Onlystick fast to your art; it can put up with more domesticity andsuch-like than mine."
&
nbsp; At the marriage feast Frederick sat between the two Roses, and oppositehim Master Martin between Conrad and Reinhold. Then Herr Paumgartnerfilled Frederick's cup up to the brim with rich wine, and drank to theweal of Master Martin and his brave journeymen. The cup went round; andfirst it was drained by the noble Junker Heinrich von Spangenberg, andafter him by all the worthy masters who sat at the table--to the wealof Master Martin and his brave journeymen.
FOOTNOTES TO "MASTER MARTIN, THE COOPER":
[Footnote 1: Written for the Leipsic _Taschenbuch zum geselligenVergnuegen_ for 1819.]
[Footnote 2: The "Beautiful Fountain," as it is called, is about 64 ft.in height, and consists of three stone Gothic pyramids and many statues(electors and heroes and prophets). It was built by Schonhover in1355-61, and restored in 1820.]
[Footnote 3: St. Sebald's shrine in St. Sebald's Church consists of abronze sarcophagus and canopy of rich Gothic style. It stands about16-1/2 ft. high, and bears admirable statues of the Twelve Apostles,certain church-fathers and prophets, and other representations of asemi-mythological character, together with reliefs illustrative ofepisodes in the saint's life. It is regarded by many as one of the gemsof German artistic work, and is the result of thirteen years' labour(1506-1519) by Peter Vischer and his sons.]
[Footnote 4: This ciborium or receptacle for the host is the work ofAdam Krafft, stands about 68 feet in height, and represents Christ'sPassion. The style is florid Gothic, and the material stone.]
[Footnote 5: Albrecht Duerer, born at Nuremberg in 1471, and died in1528, contemporary with Titian and Raphael, the most trulyrepresentative German painter as well as, perhaps, the greatest.]
[Footnote 6: Hans Rosenblueth, _Meistersinger_ and _Wappendichter_(Mastersinger and Herald-poet), called the _Schnepperer_ (babbler), wasa native of Nuremberg. Between 1431 and 1460 is the period of hisliterary activity, when he wrote _Fastnachtspiele_ (developments of thecomic elements in Mysteries), "Odes" on Wine, Farces, &c. He marks thetransition from the poetry of chivalric life and manners to that ofburgher life and manners.]
[Footnote 7: Wine was frequently stored at this period on the cooper'spremises in huge casks, and afterwards drawn off in smaller casks andbottled.]
[Footnote 8: In many Mediaeval German towns the rulers (Burgomaster andCouncillors) were mostly self-elected, power being in the hands of afew patrician families. A Councillor generally attended a full meetingof a guild as a sort of "patron" or "visitor." Compare the positionwhich Sir Patrick Charteris occupied with respect to the good citizensof Perth. (See Sir Walter Scott's _Fair Maid of Perth_, chap. vii., _etpassim_.)]
[Footnote 9: The well-known Great Cask of Heidelberg, built for theElector Palatine Ernest Theodore in 1751, is calculated to hold 49,000gallons, and is 32 feet long and 26 feet in diameter. This is not theonly gigantic wine cask that has been made in Germany. Other monstersare now in the cellars at Tuebingen (made in 1546), Groningen (1678),Koenigstein (1725), &c.]
[Footnote 10: Hoffmann calls him Tobias also lower down, and thenThomas again.]
[Footnote 11: Hochheimer is the name of a Rhine wine that has beencelebrated since the beginning of the ninth century, and is grown inthe neighbourhood of Hochheim, a town in the district of Wiesbaden.]
[Footnote 12: Johannisberger is also grown near Wiesbaden. Thecelebrated vineyard is said to cover only 39-1/2 acres.]
[Footnote 13: Nuremberg is noted for its interesting old houses withhigh narrow gables turned next the street: amongst the most famous arethose belonging to the families of Nassau, Tucher, Peller, Petersen(formerly Toppler), and those of Albrecht Duerer and of Hans Sachs, thecobbler-poet of the 16th century.]
[Footnote 14: Peter von Cornelius (1783-1867), founder of a greatGerman school of historical painting. Going to Rome in 1811, he painteda set of seven scenes illustrative of Goethe's _Faust_, havingpreviously finished a set at Frankfort (on Main). Amongst his manyfamous works are the Last Judgment in the Ludwig Church at Munich andfrescoes in the Glyptothek there.]
[Footnote 15: Gretchen's real words were "Bin weder Fraeulein wederschoen." See the scene which follows the "Hexenkueche" scene in the firstpart of _Faust_.]
[Footnote 16: A meadow or common on the outskirts of the town, whichserved as a general place of recreation and amusement. Nearly everyGerman town has such; as the Theresa Meadow at Munich, the CanstattMeadow near Stuttgart, the Communal Meadow on the right bank of theMain not far from Frankfort (see Goethe, _Wahrheit und Dichtung_, nearthe beginning), &c.]
[Footnote 17: This word is generally used to designate an untitledcountry nobleman, a member of an old-established noble "county" family.In Prussia the name came to be applied to a political party. A mostinteresting description of the old Prussian Junker is given in WilibaldAlexis' (W. H. Haering's) charming novel _Die Hosen des Herrn v. Bredow_(1846-48), in Sir Walter Scott's style.]
[Footnote 18: A string of pearls worn on the wedding-day was aprerogative of a patrician bride.]
[Footnote 19: In the Middle Ages, in Nuremberg, and in most otherindustrial towns also, the artisans and others who formed _guilds_(each respective trade or calling having generally its guild) weredivided into three grades, masters, journeymen, and apprentices.Admission from one of these grades into the one next above it wassubject to various more or less restrictive conditions. A man couldonly become a "master" and regularly set up in business for himselfafter having gone through the various stages of training in conformitywith the rules or prescriptions of his guild, after having constructedhis masterpiece to the satisfaction of a specially appointedcommission, and after fulfilling certain requirements as to age,citizenship, and in some cases possession of a certain amount ofproperty. It was usual for journeymen to spend a certain time intravelling going from one centre of their trade to another.]
[Footnote 20: From another passage (_Der Feind_, chap. i) it appearsthat the reference is to a series of regulations dealing with the wineindustry, of date August 24, 1498, in the reign of Maximilian I.]
[Footnote 21: Sulphur is burnt inside the cask (care being taken thatit does not touch it) in order to keep it sweet and pure, as well as toimpart both flavour and colour to the wine.]
[Footnote 22: See note 2, p. 15. The German _Meistersinger_ always sangwithout any accompaniment of musical instruments.]
[Footnote 23: This is one of the principal round towers, erected1558-1568, in the town walls; it is situated on the south-east.]
[Footnote 24: Peter Vischer (_c._ 1455-1529), a native of Nuremberg,one of the most distinguished of German sculptors, was chiefly engagedin making monuments for deceased princes in various parts of Germanyand central Europe. The shrine in St. Sebald's, mentioned above, isgenerally considered his masterpiece.]
[Footnote 25: Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1569) of Florence, goldsmith andworker in metals. Mr. W. M. Rossetti rightly says that his biography,written by himself, forms one of the most "fascinating" of books. Ithas been translated into English by Thomas Roscoe, and by Goethe intoGerman.]
[Footnote 26: Holzschuher was the name of an old and important familyin Nuremberg. Fifty-four years before the date of the present story,that is in 1526, a member of the family was burgomaster of his nativetown, and was painted by Duerer.]
[Footnote 27: The family of Fugger, which rose from the position ofpoor weavers to be the richest merchant princes in Augsburg, decoratedtheir house with frescoes externally, like so many other old Germanfamilies.]
[Footnote 28: During the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuriesthere existed in many German towns (Nuremberg, Frankfort, Strasburg,Ulm, Mayence, &c.) associations or guild-like corporations of burghers,the object of which was the cultivation of song in the same systematicway that the mechanical arts were practised. They framed strict andwell-defined codes of rules (_Tablatures_) by means of which theytested a singer's capabilities. As the chief aims which they setbefore themselves were the invention of new tunes or melodies, andalso songs (words), it resulted that they fell into the inevitablevice of cold formal
ism, and banished the true spirit of poetry bytheir many arbitrary rules about rhyme, measure, and melody, and thedry business-like manner in which they worked. The guild or companygenerally consisted of five distinct grades, the ultimate one beingthat of master, entrance into which was only permitted to the man whohad invented a new melody or tune, and had sung it in public withoutoffending against any of the laws of the _Tablature_. The subjects,which, as the singers were honest burghers, could not be taken fromtopics in which chivalric life took any interest, were mostlyrestricted to fables, legendary lore, and consisted very largely ofBiblical narratives and passages.]
[Footnote 29: These words are the names of various "tunes," andsignified in each case a particular metre, rhyme, melody, &c, so thateach was a brief definition of a number of individual items, so tospeak. These _Meistersinger_ technical terms (or slang?) are thereforenot translatable, nor could they be made intelligible by paraphrase,even if the requisite information for each instance were at hand.]
[Footnote 30: A glass divided by means of marks placed at intervalsfrom top to bottom. It was usual for one who was invited to drink todrink out of the challenger's glass down to the mark next below the topof the liquid.]
[Footnote 31: These would consist of the certificate of his admissioninto the ranks of the journeymen of the guild, of the certificates ofproper dismissal signed by the various masters for whom he had workedwhilst on travel, together with testimonials of good conduct from thesame masters.]
[Footnote 32: On these great singing days, generally on Sundays in thechurches, and on special occasions in the town-house, the"performances" consisted of three parts. 1. First came a "VoluntarySolo-Singing," in which anybody, even a stranger, might participate, nocontest being entered into, and no rewards given. 2. This was followedby a song by all the masters in chorus, 3. Then came the "PrincipalSinging," the chief "event" of the day--the actual singing contest.Four judges were appointed to examine those who successively presentedthemselves, being guided by the strict laws and regulations of the_Tablatures_. Those who violated these laws, that is, who mademistakes, had to leave the singing-desk; the successful ones were,however, crowned with wreaths, and had earned the right to actthemselves as judges on future occasions.]
[Footnote 33: Heinrich von Meissen, called Frauenlob (died 1318), afterhaving lived at various courts in both the north and the south ofGermany, settled at Mayence and gathered together (1311) a school orsociety of burgher singers.]
[Footnote 34: The word "prince" is expressed in German by two distinctwords; one, like the English word, designates a member of a royal orreigning house; the other is used as a simple title, often official,ranking above duke. The Bishop of Bamberg was in this latter sense aprince of the empire.]
[Footnote 35: At this time Francesco I. (of the illustrious house ofMedici) was _Grand Duke of Tuscany_, his father Cosimo I. havingexchanged the title of Duke of Florence for that of Grand Duke ofTuscany in 1569. Francesco did much for the encouragement of art andscience. He founded the well-known Uffizi Gallery, and it was in hisreign that the Accademia Della Crusca was instituted.]
[Footnote 36: Lucas Cranach occupies along with his contemporaryAlbrecht Duerer the first place in the ranks of German painters. Born inUpper Franconia in 1472 (died 1553), he secured the favour of theElector of Saxony, and manifested extraordinary activity in severalbranches of painting.]
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