The Friday, on which Rudolph and Mining were to be married, had come,
and the loveliest Whitsuntide weather shone upon Rexow, and on the
singular edifice which Jochen, with the aid of Schultz the carpenter,
had constructed near his modest farm-house. From the outside, the
affair was not very distinguished looking, it was only of boards and
laths hammered together, and looked uncommonly like a building in which
wild beasts are exhibited, at the Leipsic fair. Inside, the work of art
presented a more stately appearance, for the boards were covered with
blue and yellow cloth, half of one color, and half of the other, since
there was not enough of one kind, in Rahnstadt, to cover so large a
hall; and secondly, it was adorned with six notched beams, for on no
other condition would carpenter Schultz undertake the job. There ought,
properly, he said, to be nine, in such a building as a wedding-hall,
but the expense would be too great, and since Jochen did not understand
much about architecture, and Frau Nuessler had enough to do with the
eating and drinking for the wedding, and Braesig was his friend, and
would not oppose him, because he had helped him at the Reformverein,
carpenter Schultz had his own way, like a moth in a rug, and built in
the notched beams to his heart's content; and upon each of them Braesig
hung a sort of contrivance, intended to represent a chandelier, and
Krischan the coachman climbed about on them for a week, in his buckskin
breeches, adorning them with oak-leaves; which he did very finely, but
to the detriment of his apparel, since the beams, with their splinters,
little by little devoured his buckskin breeches.
Jochen put his hand in his purse, and paid the money for the new house,
for he wanted everything done, for his Mining, in the finest manner,
and he got Krischan a new pair of breeches.
"Mother," he cried to his wife, "come! look! What shall we do about
it?"
"Yes, Jochen, it is all very well. But there ought to be lights in the
chandeliers!"
She was going out, when a voice spoke to her from the clouds, that is,
the oak-leaf-clouds, and a face full of light, candlelight, bent down
to her and said solemnly, "It shall all be attended to, Frau Nuessler,"
and as she looked nearer into the clouds, she saw the honest, red
face of her old angel, Braesig, looking out from the oak-leaves and
tallow-candles, which he had strung around his neck, like a clergyman's
bands, that he might have his hands free to fasten them in their
places.
When this was done, the three stood together, and contemplated the
effect, and Braesig said, "Truly, Jochen! 'Tis like a fairy palace, out
of the 'Arabian Nights,' which I read last winter from the circulating
library!"
And Jochen said, "Yes, Braesig; it is all as true as leather; but it is
only for one night; for, day after to-morrow, we must tear it down."
"That would be barbarous!" said the carpenter, "the six notched beams
would last ages, and the fairies might walk in as if they were born and
bred there."
And the next day came the fairies, not, indeed, exactly as Herr Schultz
had represented, no, they came, at that time, all in crinoline, that is
to say, the half-grown, horse-hair variety, not with bells and springs
and bee-hives, and steel bird-cages, as at present; but they were
beginning, even then, and Auntie Klein, from Rostock, had put a regular
barrel-hoop of tough oaken wood, into her petticoat, which grazed her
sister's shins so unmercifully on the way, that the poor woman had to
stand on one foot through the whole wedding. But the fairies came, and
they had wreaths in their hair, of natural flowers, and not artificial,
which was a pity, for towards the close of the wedding, when the feet
were weary, and the lovely eyes drooped, and the bright clouds of hair
were tumbled about as if a storm-wind had blown through them, then the
weary flowers drooped their heads and whispered to each other, "I wish
it were over; nothing gives one such a longing for the quiet night, as
all this gaiety." How much better we do things at present! The
artificial flowers stand up brisk and lively, and say, "Always ready!
Our stems and strings hold out, and when this is over, they will lay us
away in a box; and we shall get rested, and when another time comes we
are always ready!" Ah, how the world has improved! If they could only
keep fresh and bright the youthful limbs and the fresh lungs and the
innocent hearts,--well, for all me, the whole pretty fairies
themselves,--with their wires and threads and steel springs!
Braesig distributed invitations for Frau Nuessler and Jochen with a free
hand, and had selected from Rahnstadt and the vicinity a fine company
of neat, willing and active dancers, and although there was now and
then a crooked stick among the men, it was no matter, said Uncle
Braesig, for you could see a man's legs distinctly enough, and could
beware of them. Besides the Rahnstadters and a few others in the
region, Jochen Nuessler had, through Rudolph, invited all his relations,
a very wide-spreading race. Not that they themselves were so
wide-spreading, I only mean the relationship, and they were scattered
widely over all Mecklenburg and Pommerania.
There sat uncle Luting, there Uncle Krischaning, there Uncle Hanning,
and there Cousin Wilhelming,--"who is my own second cousin, and a very
witty fellow, when it comes to eating and drinking," said Jochen,--and
there sat Aunt Dining, and Aunt Stining, and Aunt Mining, and Aunt
Lining, and Aunt Rining,--"and Aunt Zaphie is coming too," said Jochen,
"who was an extremely fine woman in her day." "She has been here this
great while," said Braesig. And as one stately equipage after another
drove up to the Rexow court, and the whole Nuessler family in a company
stood around Jochen, welcoming each other, and inquiring how things had
gone for the last sixteen or twenty years,--for it was as long as that
since they had seen each other, and those who knew how to write never
did,--Braesig said to Frau Nuessler:
"A very constant race, these Nuesslers! Regular thorough-bred Nuesslers!
Only Jochen is a little different from the rest, since he has grown so
thin, and so talkative." And going into the "temple of art," as
carpenter Schultz called his edifice, and finding the architect sitting
there, absorbed in admiration of his work and a bottle of Bavarian
beer, he said, "Schultz, you have done your part, and I have done mine;
but, you shall see, Jochen will spoil the whole performance, with his
stupid relations, so that it will turn out like a mess of sour
porridge."
"I have nothing to say about it, being only a guest here," said Herr
Schultz, "but if they are what you say, then, out with them!"
And Braesig walked up and down the garden, like a tree-frog, not that he
had on a green coat, for he wore his nice brown one, with the yellow
vest, no, he was like a tree-frog only because he prophesied foul
weather before night. All at once, he looked over the garden fence, and
saw Jochen's own "phantom" approaching, not driven by Krischan, but by
a day-laborer, and looking nearer he saw two women sitting in it, and
when he looked nearer still, there sat his own sister the widow of the
dairy-farmer Korthals, with her only daughter, who lived far away, in
straitened circumstances, in a village in Pomerania.
"God preserve us!" he cried, "my own sister! And her little Lotting,
too! This is _her_ doing!" and running through the kitchen to the hall,
he met Frau Nuessler, and cried, "You have done this for me! Oh, you
are----"
Just then two ladies entered the hall, very simply dressed, but both of
them lovely as pictures; the older, with tears of emotion and gratitude
running down her friendly, true-hearted face, the younger, with her
fresh, innocent soul shining out of great blue eyes, under a cloud of
golden hair, and asking, "Where is my dear, good Uncle Zachary?" for it
was long years since she had seen him.
"Here! here!" he cried, and pulled and pushed his dear relations
through the hall, till he got them up to Frau Nuessler, and said, "There
she is; now thank her!" And when the two had expressed their gratitude,
and turned round again to look for him, he was gone. Like a miller, who
has started his mill, and poured the corn into the hopper, he had
crowded his way through the stout meal-bags of the Nuessler family, and
now sat in the arbor, in the garden, blowing and trumpeting at his
nose, until Schultz the carpenter decamped with his beer-bottle from
the temple of art, believing that the musicians had arrived.
But they did not come yet; first came Kurz and the rector, each with
his good old advocate at his side, and when they had been presented,
and had crowded about, for a while, in the room with the Nuessler
family, old Uncle Luting Nuessler came up to Kurz, in a pompous,
overbearing way, and said, in a deep voice, "You can congratulate
yourself upon being connected afresh with such a rich and noble
relationship. Do you see," and he pointed to Uncle Krischan, who had
just thrown himself upon the sofa, "there tumbles a hundred thousand
thalers."
"I don't do it for that," said Uncle Krischan.
Well, that made Kurz angry, but he restrained himself; but when Uncle
Luting went on to ask, "Have you ever in your life seen so many rich
people together in one company?" then Kurz's wrath broke out, and he
replied, "No! nor ever in my life so many blockheads!"
He turned away, and his wife, who had heard it, followed him and said,
"Kurz, I beg you, for God's sake, don't begin again with your
democracy! It would be much better for you to go to bed at once."
He would not do that, but he was placed under the ban, for the whole
evening, by all the Nuessler family.
And Pastor Gottlieb came with Lining, and they were treated with great
respect by their elders, because they were to perform the marriage
ceremony. Don't misunderstand me! Not that Lining herself was to marry
them, not at all! but, for once in her life, she had interfered in
Gottlieb's professional affairs, and had altered his marriage ceremony
a little, so that Gottlieb said it was not like a Christian minister's
speech, it was more like a family speech; but she remained firm in her
position that as Mining's twin she ought to know what would go most to
her heart, and Gottlieb had to yield to her.
And now came Habermann, with the Frau Pastorin and Louise and the
little assessor, driving up in a glass coach, for the Frau Pastorin had
said, "So, and in no other way!" She had once been compelled to decline
a wedding invitation from Frau Nuessler, in her great sorrow, and now
she would make up for it in her great pleasure at this second wedding,
and then she pressed the hands of Habermann and Louise and the little
assessor, saying, "Isn't it so? We are all happy to-day." So they came
to Rexow, and when they arrived Habermann saw Braesig's sister, whom he
had known years ago, and it was not long before they sat together,
talking of old times, and every other word was "Zachary," and Louise
and the little assessor had Lotting between them, and every other word
was "Uncle Braesig."
Then came a great harvest wagon, with flowers and wreaths, Krischan the
coachman driving the four horses, in the saddle, in his new yellow
buckskins, his whip ornamented with red and blue ribbons, and he
himself with a wreath of roses around his hat, which looked uncommonly
as if the old hat were celebrating its fiftieth golden wedding,
upon this occasion, and on the front seat, sat David Berger, the
town-musician, playing on his clarionet:
"Wer niemals sinen Rausch gehabt,
Das ist kein braver Mann,"
and behind him sat his companions, blowing the same tune, though not in
the same time, for since they sat on the second, third and fourth seats
they could not possibly keep it, since he was always three ahead of
them; and when he turned round angrily, or Krischan would go faster and
used his whip, he always got his hair pulled, for one of his
mischievous companions had fastened the handle of the whip to his back
hair, and when Krischan touched the whip, or when he stirred himself,
he was in constant torment.
And behind this wagon came another harvest wagon, full of white
dresses, and from under the white dresses peeped pretty little dancing
feet, and above them, on the round heads, nodded roses and pinks, which
looked out modestly from the curly locks, as if they were too bashful
to glance at the pretty faces. These were the little fairies. And right
in the midst of the fairies sat the Herr Postmaster, in his new
uniform, the only one Rahnstadt had to show,--otherwise he would not
have arrived at such an honor,--and sung, gay as a finch, his finest
song in this garden of roses. Behind this wagon came yet another
harvest wagon, loaded with gentlemen, with dancers, the best dancers in
Rahnstadt, and Kurz's Herr Suessmann danced along the wagon pole in
front, and the Herr Rector's youngest pupil sat, with his legs dangling
in the air, behind.
The guests all looked very joyous, but the Frau Hostess was in the
greatest perplexity, for she was not acquainted with a single one of
them, since Braesig had selected them merely with reference to their
capacities for dancing, and she called for Braesig; but when he finally
came Krischan the coachman had brought them all in, and undertook to
dispose of them. He opened the doors of the kitchen and dining-room,
and shoved them all in: "In with you, there! Take it easy! Get a little
something to eat and drink; they are not ready yet!"
And the advice was good, for the marriage was delayed a little, because
one of the groomsmen had not yet arrived, namely Fritz Triddelsitz, who
at Rudolph's request had been persuaded to remove the ban from the
Nuessler house, and to officiate in that capacity. At last he came,
riding up the court on his dapple-gray and in full state, and mingled
among the guests with so much dignity, and bowed right and left with so
much elegance, that the rector's foolish little pupil whispered in Herr
Suessmann's ear: "What a pity that we are all ready, he might have
helped us." Whereupon Herr Suessmann regarded him with a look of
compassion, and turning to Braesig, who stood at his other side, said,
"Herr Inspector, have you heard that I am chosen dance-director for our
fraternity ball, day after tomorrow?"
Braesig was going to tell him that he would be a blockhead if he
undertook it, for Kurz would discharge him, but he did not have time to
say it, for just then the bridal pair entered the room.
Rudolph was truly a fine looking bridegroom. His fresh, joyous demeanor
was hidden, to-day, under a quiet earnestness, and only the firm
resolve under all circumstances to fight for his wife and himself, like
an honest fellow, shone in his brown eyes. Yes, he was a handsome
bridegroom, for when does a man look handsomer than when, full of
courage and hope, he goes out to his first conflict? Who could blame
his mother, the good old advocate, for going up to him at this moment,
and kissing him, and stroking his brown curls, and secretly pulling out
his ruffle a little, from the dress coat, so that people might see it?
And now Mining! Mining looked, in her white satin dress and myrtle
wreath, like a Bauersdorf apple, freshly plucked from the tree, and
laid in its green leaves on a silver salver. Fresh and cool outside, as
the ripe fruit, but her heart was glowing, and before Gottlieb had
uttered a word of the ceremony, there was a pair betrothed,--confident
hope and quiet blessedness had joined hands. And Frau Nuessler was
crying quietly behind her handkerchief, and saying to Braesig, "I cannot
help it, she is my last, my youngest." And Braesig looked at her, full
of friendliness, and said, "Frau Nuessler, control yourself! It will
soon be over;" and going up to Louise Habermann, he made a bow, saying,
"My Fraeulein, if you are ready, it is time,"--usually he called her
"Louise," but to-day he was a groomsman, and must do what was proper.
And Fritz Triddelsitz went up to the little assessor, for she was the
other bride's maid, and Kurz and Rector Baldrian placed themselves as
leaders by Rudolph, and when young Jochen after some delay was shoved
forward, he stood by his Mining, and on his other side stood Habermann,
for they were the two leaders for the bride,--and then the procession
moved to carpenter Schultz's temple of art, where Gottlieb stood behind
a green and white altar, and began to read Lining's marriage ceremony.
I know very well that a marriage at home is not thought much
of,--now-a-days all marriages must be celebrated in church, and I have
nothing against it, for I was married in church myself about that time,
since my wife was a minister's daughter, and would not have it
otherwise; but, as I was saying, at that time this kind of marriage
ceremony had not been established in Mecklenburg by the ecclesiastical
consistory, and the old modes were still in fashion, and children were
married as their parents had been. New modes were in fashion too, as
Krischan Schultz said, when he fastened his horse by the tail; but
Gottlieb knew nothing about them, and if he had known about them, and
had wished to fasten his horse in the new mode. Lining would not have
allowed it; Lining was a married woman, but she would not allow her
other half to disgrace himself before these rich, stout, stupid
Nuesslers, and the Rahnstadt shopmen and school-boys, or that her twin
sister should have her marriage feast spoiled by an ecclesiastical
consistory, although she was the most dignified of pastors' wives, that
is, after the Frau Pastorin, who was always the nearest.
After the ceremony, the two little twin-apples lay in each other's
arms, in full, untroubled blessedness, and Rudolph embraced them both
together, and Frau Nuessler stood a little aside, looking over her
handkerchief, with her head turned over our shoulder, as if she were
listening to something,--possibly the angel's song,--and as the stout,
rich, stupid Nuesslers pressed around, with their congratulations, young
Jochen stood among them and bowed to this one and that, as if it were
his own wedding-day over again: "Uncle Luting, it is my Mining! Cousin
Wilhelming, it is our little governess! Aunt Zaphie, what shall we do
about it!" These people crowded up, the men with their bright
waistcoats, and gold watch-chains across their breasts, and the women
with whole flower-pots on their caps, and some of them with dropping
eyes, as if the flowerpots had been watered too plentifully, and were
running over. And the men and the women of Jochen's family kissed,
alternately, Rudolph and Mining, as if before all things they must be
taken into this rich, stout, stupid relationship, so that Kurz
at last grew terribly angry, because he could not reach his new
daughter-in-law, and for once his good old advocate agreed with him,
because she could not reach her own son. And the Rahnstadt dancers also
crowded about and wandered around the pair, and what else could they
do? they could not have their kisses yet; and among this company stood
Fritz Triddelsitz with the little assessor, tall and slender and
imposing, not as a groomsman, no, as commander of the whole, and behind
him stood the rector's little pupil, imitating with his short body and
black woolen stockings all the motions that Fritz made with his long
body and black silk stockings. He was Fritz's natural shadow, that is,
at noon-day, when shadows are short.
Near by stood two other couples, who were not crowding up, for they
were sufficiently occupied with themselves, and had time to spare;
these were Habermann and his Louise, and Uncle Braesig and the Frau
Pastorin. Louise lay with her head on her father's breast, looking up
to him, as if she had been long ill, and had been brought out from her
couch, for the first time, into the free air, and the blue sky seemed
to say: "Better days! better days!" and her face looked as peaceful and
happy as the blue sky, and sun and moon and stars might wander there,
and dew and rain might fall, to refresh and rejoice and enlighten
mankind. Close to this pair stood Zachary Braesig, with his arm round
the little Frau Pastorin, and his eyebrows elevated, and he blew his
nose, and said, "My little Mining! My little goddaughter! How happy she
is!" and every time that one of the old, stout Nuesslers gave Mining a
kiss, he bent down to the Frau Pastorin, and gave her a kiss, as if he
must make up to this good old lady what the stupid old people were
inflicting upon Mining. "You see, because!" as our servant maid,
Lisette, says, here in Eisenach, when she can think of no other reason.
And so Braesig kissed the Frau Pastorin, and the Frau Pastorin suffered
it, without thinking any harm; but when Aunt Zaphie, who had formerly
been very handsome, and a sort of Venus among the Nuesslers, gave
Rudolph three or four kisses, the little Frau Pastorin was startled,
and when Braesig approached his lips again, in such a friendly way, she
said, "Braesig, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! What have you
particularly to do with me?"
And Braesig drew back embarrassed, and said, "Frau Pastorin, don't take
it unkindly, but my feelings ran away with me," and he brought the Frau
Pastorin to Habermann, saying, "Karl, you must exchange. Louise is my
bride's maid, and I am a bachelor, and you and the Frau Pastorin are
both widowers, and that is suitable."
Mining had taken her Rudolph by the hand, and, when she saw her dearest
and oldest friends standing a little on one side, had made various
efforts to penetrate the sand-bags of stout, rich, stupid Nuesslers, and
the wooden palisades of shopmen and school-boys, but without success;
but when her brand new husband saw her futile man[oe]uvres, he came to
her assistance, shoved aside sand-bag No. 1, the rich Uncle Luting, and
sand-bag No. 2, the witty cousin Wilhelming, grasped the longest
palisade, Fritz Triddelsitz himself, in the short ribs, and moved him
gently to another place, and neatly sent his pupil-shadow after him,
and having thus made a breach through obstinacy, stupidity and
tedium,--certainly no easy thing to do,--he brought his brand new bride
to the people, who instead of congratulating her with flower-pots, and
gay waistcoats and gold watch-chains, did it with what lies beneath
them, their heads and their hearts. And when Frau Nuessler came up, and
pressed her children, alternately, to her heart, Rudolph wiped the
tears from his eyes, and said, "Let us all come out into the garden,
and be by ourselves a little while."
And the carpenter, Schultz, who stood near and heard him, said; "Yes,
out with you! All of you, out! We must set the tables here!" and he
began to shove the rich Nuesslers about as if they were blocks and
lumber. And when our company,--I say _our_--had come to the famous
arbor, Braesig pointed to the cherry-tree, and said, "Mining, this tree
must be an indicium and a token to you, all your life, since your
future was decided under it, and under me that time; and since we are
talking about tokens, Mining, bring me a blue larkspur again, there is
one!"
And when Mining had gone for it Uncle Braesig said, "Rudolph, have you
always remembered the blue larkspur?" And when Rudolph said he had,
Braesig looked in his clear eyes, and then examined him from head to
foot, and said, "I believe you!" and when Mining came back with the
flower he said, "Thank you, Mining! And now I will give you my wedding
present for it," and he pulled out an old thick, black pocket-book from
his brown coat, and rummaged among his old milk and corn accounts, and
took out a withered flower, saying, "See, my little godchild, this is
the flower of that time,"--and he held it towards her with the fresh
blossom,--"and if, after long years, Rudolph can look at you with the
same clear eyes, and give you this new flower, then you may say, 'I
have been a happy wife.' I have nothing more to say, nothing! and I
have nothing else to give you, nothing at all!" and with that he walked
away, and our company heard him saying to himself, "Nothing at all! but
this indicium, Rudolph's indicium!" And when they found him again, he
was walking with his sister and his niece Lotting, and the two women
were caressing and thanking him, because he had never forgotten or
forsaken them.
Then Frau Nuessler came up to our company: "Come children, all is ready.
But don't take it ill! Jochen's family are the most distinguished, and
I cannot offend Jochen to-day,--he is master for this once,--they must
sit nearest the bridal pair. Kurz and his wife, of course, will sit
among them, for, as you say, Frau Pastorin, they are the nearest, and
Gottlieb and Lining must also sit there, he as clergyman, and she as
twin, and Jochen, too, because they are his friends. But we, Frau
Pastorin, Karl, Louise, and you, Braesig! we will sit together at one
end, and it shall be a merry wedding."
"A la bong koer!" said Braesig, "but where is the shopman, Suessmann? I
must speak to him about the fraternity ball."
"Oh, bless you! the poor fellow is sitting in the back kitchen; he
and Triddelsitz were performing some kind of antics over a heap of
pea-straw, and he fell, and something split, and Krischan had to get
him Jochen's old blue trousers, and he will not let himself be seen by
daylight, but is waiting until evening, when they will not noticed."
"And he wants to be dance-director!" said Braesig, as he followed our
company to the hall.
Then the feast began, and Frau Nuessler's little waiting-maids, with
their fresh faces and three-cornered caps, and white bib-aprons,
ran about the temple of art, and turned and whirled like humming
tops,--for the old waiters with their shabby black dress-coats, and
white neck-ties _a la_ turkey-cock, and white cotton gloves which are
always dipping into the gravy, were not the fashion then,--and the
stout Nuesslers sat there and ate, as if there were a French commissary
in their stomachs, provisioning an army for a Russian campaign, and
when they had finished the fricassee they began on the pudding, and
when they had disposed of the pudding they attacked the roasted pigeons
and sparrows, and wondered that the pigeons in Mecklenburg were not as
large as the geese, and murmured against providence because sparrows
were not as thick as hops, and when the roast meat came, Cousin
Wilhelming, the wit of the Nuessler family, stood up and clinked his
glass, and cried, "Quiet!" three times, and holding up his glass said,
"To the health of the old General Knusemong (que nous aimons), who has
been a very distinguished general, and is so to this day!" and with
that he looked towards the young pair, blinking with his left eye at
Mining, and with his right at Rudolph. And Uncle Luting--understand me,
the rich Uncle Luting--stood up expressly for the purpose, and said,
"Wilhelming, you are a devilish fellow!" And Braesig said to the Frau
Pastorin, "Frau Pastorin, I know you are opposed to the Reform, but I
assure you the witty shoemaker in the Reform would have done it much
better!" And Frau Nuessler sat on thorns and thistles, in distress lest
Jochen should take it into his head to make a speech; but Jochen
restrained himself, his speeches were not for the world at large, they
were only for the neighborhood, and all he said was, "Wilhelming, fill
Luting's glass! Luting, help Wilhelming!"
And when the punch-bowls were placed on the table, and the champagne
came, the old Nuesslers looked at the labels, and said they had just
such in their cellars, and Fritz Triddelsitz and the Herr Shopmen and
the Herr Pupils drank one glass after another, losing no time, until
the left wing of the wedding-army became so uproarious that the little
assessor remarked to the commander of these light troops, to Fritz
Triddelsitz, that if they were to attack the enemy in that condition
they would be obliged to retreat, and when Fritz was making
arrangements to withdraw his forces, then there happened a diversion,
for him and for the whole company. Well, just to think what clever
things an ignorant beast will do sometimes! Bauschan, Jochen's
Bauschan, our old Bauschan was sitting with a green wreath about his
neck, and another about his tail,--for Krischan the coachman had
dressed him up for the occasion,--on the green and white altar, which
was behind the bridal pair, and where Gottlieb and Lining had married
them, and he thrust his dignified autocratic face between their heads
and licked Mining with his tongue, and struck Rudolph with his tail,
and then licked Rudolph, and struck Mining. And when he had done this,
the old fellow settled down again upon the altar with the greatest
dignity, looking as if he were well contented with the whole affair,
but meant to sit there a little longer, for his own pleasure. Jochen
sprang up: "Bauschan, for shame! Down with you!" But Uncle Braesig
sprang up also, saying; "Jochen, do you treat your best friend like
that, on this solemn occasion?" and turning to Pastor Gottlieb, he
added: "Herr Pastor, let Bauschan alone! When the beast shows his
affection, here on this Christian altar, the beast knows something that
we don't. And Bauschan is a clever dog! I know it; for when I heard
about the love-affairs, up in the cherry-tree, he heard them from
below, for he was lying in the arbor, under the bench. Herr Pastor,
this Bauschan is certainly a marriage witness, for he was there when
they were betrothed."
Gottlieb turned pale at the scandalous idea, but did not break out into
a sermon this time, for there was suddenly a humming and buzzing, as of
a swarm of bees; everybody had risen, and began to remove chairs and
tables,--"Out! out!" cried carpenter Schultz,--and dishes and platters,
and the rector's youngest pupil tumbled down with a great pile of Frau
Nuessler's china plates, and the fragments clattered through the hall,
and he stood looking at his work, and feeling in his vest-pocket for
treasures which were as much concealed from his own eyes as from those
of other people, and as Frau Nuessler passed by and saw the performance
he turned very red, and said he would gladly pay for them, but he
hadn't so much by him. And Frau Nuessler patted him kindly on the
shoulder and said, "Oh, nonsense! But you must be punished!" and she
took him by the hand and led him to Braesig's niece Lotting, and said,
"You shall dance out my plates here, this evening." And he paid his
debt honestly.
Then the dancing began. First the Polonaise. Fritz Triddelsitz had the
lead for Herr Suessmann was not yet visible, and what a dance he led
them! Through the hall, and through the garden, and through the
kitchen, and the entry, and the living room and the sleeping rooms, and
back into the garden again, and into the hall went the procession,
until Jochen's stout relations were quite out of breath, and Braesig
called out to him, why didn't he take the barn-yard by the way? And
Jochen Nuessler danced, third couple, with Aunt Zaphie in her flower-pot
on one side, and Bauschan in his wreath on the other, and he looked
between them like a pearl in a golden setting, or an ass between two
bundles of hay. And when the Polonaise was over, David Berger played
the slowest of waltzes, "Thou, thou reign'st in this bosom, There,
there, hast thou thy throne," and another band answered out of the
distance: "Our cat has nine kits," and as he played on: "Speak, speak,
Love, I implore thee! Say, say, hope shall be mine!"--came the answer
from the distance: "Son and daughter, Into the water!"--and so on, for
Frau Nuessler had given orders that there should be dancing in the
milk-cellar also, and there sat old Hartloff, with his one eye, and
Wichmann the joiner, and Ruhrdanz the weaver, and all the rest; and
Hartloff had helped them all to a good drink, and told them not to be
discouraged, they could cope with such a city band as that, any day,
and so they did their best, and Krischan the coachman kept them
supplied with liquor. And when the fun was at its height, Rudolph and
Mining came into the milk-cellar, and Mining danced with Krischan, and
Rudolph with the cook, and the bailiff got up a hurrah for the married
pair, and Hartloff fiddled so madly that Ruhrdanz tried in vain to keep
up with him on the clarionet, and finally gave up in despair. And when
the bridal pair had gone, Krischan stood behind the door with the cook,
arguing the matter.
"Duert, what must be, must."
"Eh, Krischan, what do you want?"
"Duert, we are a bridal pair too, and what is sauce for the goose is
sauce for the gander; we must show ourselves on this occasion, they
cannot take it ill of us."
And Duert said it was very disagreeable to her, and, if she must do it,
she would rather dance with Inspector Braesig, for she knew him; and
Krischan said, for all he cared, and he would dance with the Frau. And
nobody thought it anything out of the way, in the temple of art, when
Krischan stood up with Frau Nuessler and Braesig with Duert, and danced as
merrily as the rest. So it was, in those times, and 'tis a pity it is
so no longer,--at least not in many places. Great joy and profound
grief bring high and low together: why should a master who wishes his
laborers to mourn at his funeral not share his pleasures with them
also?
It was a joyful occasion, and I could not possibly describe the
pleasure which filled every heart, as the young feet danced merrily
about, and hands silently pressed each other. I only know that Fritz
Triddelsitz stood there as commander-in-chief, and that the little
assessor at his side very often blushed, and after the dance ran to
Louise, as if to seek her protection. I only know that the little pupil
got knocked over several times, in the dance, because he was lost in
arithmetical calculations, how he, when his predecessor came to be
sexton, and he should be appointed school-master, might live with the
greatest economy, and rent a bit of potato-land from the shoemaker at
four shillings the square rood, and if the rich Uncle Braesig could help
them with a few thalers, perhaps he might marry the lovely blue eyes
and the golden hair which looked up to him so joyously, and in the
confusion of the dance got entangled in his black coat, which was about
one third paid for at Kurz's shop. I only know that the only unhappy
being, in the whole company, was Herr Suessmann, and he only when his
eyes happened to fall upon Jochen's old blue trousers.
Yes, it was a joyful occasion; but everything has its end; the little
fairies and the shopmen and school-boys and the dancers, and David
Berger with the musicians, drove off home,--the old people had gone
before,--and Jochen placed himself at the head of his relations, and
showed them to their quarters, and Frau Nuessler took the ladies to
their rooms, and every married lady had her nice bed; but the unmarried
ones, with Aunt Zaphie at their head, had to sleep in the great blue
room, _en table d'hote_.