CHAPTER IX

ULI GAINS PRESTIGE AND IMPRESSES GIRLS

[Uli's improvement proceeds steadily, and his self-respect with it. The

two maids are greatly impressed by him, and both set their caps for him.

Stini, the elder, is very ugly and cross-grained, but a good worker and

very thrifty. Yrsi, on the other hand, is pretty and sweet-tempered, but

lazy and heedless, and wants a husband so as to avoid working. Jealously

the two watch each other's attempts to catch Uli, who is drawn now to

Yrsi's prettiness, now to Stini's thrift. Their jealousy finally becomes

so furious that Uli begins to cool off, which only makes them the more

eager. Yrsi plans a master-stroke: she uncovers the liquid manure-pit,

and Stini tumbles into it. When she is finally hauled out, not without

difficulty and amid the gibes of the other servants, she falls like a

tigress upon her rival, and the two roll in the dirt and become such a

reeking ball of filth that no one ventures to touch them to pull them

apart. But Uli has had enough of them both and is entirely cured, though

not of his desire for marriage.]

The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 08 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English · 第 9 / 29 章