which in a few weeks extended to the great scale; and as his wealth
became daily more apparent, Neighbour Grudge, the scandal-chewer, was
obliged to conclude, that in the cashing of his old debts, he must have
had more luck than sense. He hired a large house, fronting the Roland,
in the Market-place; engaged clerks and warehousemen, and carried on his
trade unweariedly. Now the sorrowful populace of parasites again
diligently handled the knocker of his door; appeared in crowds, and
suffocated him with assurances of friendship, and joy-wishings on his
fresh prosperity; imagined they should once more catch him in their
robber claws. But experience had taught him wisdom; he paid them in
their own coin, feasted their false friendship on smooth words, and
dismissed them with fasting stomachs; which sovereign means for scaring
off the cumbersome brood of pickthanks and toadeaters produced the
intended effect, that they betook them elsewhither.
In Bremen, the remounting Melcherson had become the story of the day;
the fortune which in some inexplicable manner he had realised, as was
supposed, in foreign parts, was the subject-matter of all conversations
at formal dinners, in the Courts of Justice and at the Exchange. But in
proportion as the fame of his fortune and affluence increased, the
contentedness and peace of mind of the fair Meta diminished. The friend
_in petto_ was now, in her opinion, well qualified to speak a plain
word. Yet still his Love continued Dumb; and except the greeting on the
way from church, he gave no tidings of himself. Even this sort of visit
was becoming rarer, and such aspects were the sign not of warm, but of
cold weather in the atmosphere of Love. Jealousy,[10] the baleful Harpy,
fluttered round her little room by night, and when sleep was closing her
blue eyes, croaked many a dolorous presage into the ear of the
re-awakened Meta. "Forego the flattering hope of binding an inconstant
heart, which, like a feather, is the sport of every wind. He loved thee,
and was faithful to thee, while his lot was as thy own: like only draws
to like. Now a propitious destiny exalts the Changeful far above thee.
Ah! now he scorns the truest thoughts in mean apparel, now that pomp,
and wealth, and splendour dazzle him once more; and courts who knows
what haughty fair one that disdained him when he lay among the pots, and
now with siren call allures him back to her. Perhaps her cozening voice
has turned him from thee, speaking with false words: 'For thee, God's
garden blossoms in thy native town: friend, thou hast now thy choice of
all our maidens; choose with prudence, not by the eye alone. Of girls
are many, and of fathers many, who in secret lie in wait for thee; none
will withhold his darling daughter. Take happiness and honour with the
fairest; likewise birth and fortune. The councillor dignity awaits thee,
where vote of friends is potent in the city.'"
[10] Jealousy too (at bottom a very sad spectre, but not here
introduced as one) now _croaks_ in iambics, as the Goblin Barber
lately spoke in them.--WIELAND.
These suggestions of Jealousy disturbed and tormented her heart without
ceasing: she reviewed her fair contemporaries in Bremen, estimated the
ratio of so many splendid matches to herself and her circumstances; and
the result was far from favourable. The first tidings of her lover's
change of situation had in secret charmed her; not in the selfish view
of becoming participatress in a large fortune; but for her mother's
sake, who had abdicated all hopes of earthly happiness, ever since the
marriage project with neighbour Hop-King had made shipwreck. But now
poor Meta wished that Heaven had not heard the Prayer of the Church, or
granted to the traveller any such abundance of success; but rather kept
him by the bread and salt, which he would willingly have shared with
her.
The fair half of the species are by no means calculated to conceal an
inward care: Mother Brigitta soon observed the trouble of her daughter;
and without the use of any great penetration, likewise guessed its
cause. The talk about the re-ascending star of her former
flax-negotiator, who was now celebrated as the pattern of an orderly,
judicious, active tradesman, had not escaped her, any more than the
feeling of the good Meta towards him; and it was her opinion, that if he
loved in earnest, it was needless to hang off so long, without
explaining what he meant. Yet out of tenderness to her daughter, she let
no hint of this discovery escape her; till at length poor Meta's heart
became so full, that of her own accord she made her mother the
confidante of her sorrow, and disclosed to her its true origin. The
shrewd old lady learned little more by this disclosure than she knew
already. But it afforded opportunity to mother and daughter for a full,
fair and free discussion of this delicate affair. Brigitta made her no
reproaches on the subject; she believed that what was done could not be
undone; and directed all her eloquence to strengthen and encourage the
dejected Meta to bear the failure of her hopes with a steadfast mind.
With this view, she spelt out to her the extremely reasonable moral,
_a_, _b_, _ab_; discoursing thus: "My child, thou hast already said _a_,
thou must now say _b_ too; thou hast scorned thy fortune when it sought
thee, now thou must submit when it will meet thee no longer. Experience
has taught me, that the most confident Hope is the first to deceive us.
Therefore, follow my example; abandon the fair cozener utterly, and thy
peace of mind will no longer be disturbed by her. Count not on any
improvement of thy fate; and thou wilt grow contented with thy present
situation. Honour the spinning-wheel, which supports thee: what are
fortune and riches to thee, when thou canst do without them?"
Close on this stout oration followed a loud humming symphony of
snap-reel and spinning-wheel, to make up for the time lost in speaking.
Mother Brigitta was in truth philosophising from the heart. After her
scheme for the restoration of her former affluence had gone to ruin, she
had so simplified the plan of her life, that Fate could not perplex it
any more. But Meta was still far from this philosophical centre of
indifference; and hence this doctrine, consolation and encouragement
affected her quite otherwise than had been intended: the conscientious
daughter now looked upon herself as the destroyer of her mother's fair
hopes, and suffered from her own mind a thousand reproaches for this
fault. Though she had never adopted the maternal scheme of marriage, and
had reckoned only upon bread and salt in her future wedlock; yet, on
hearing of her lover's riches and spreading commerce, her diet-project
had directly mounted to six plates; and it delighted her to think, that
by her choice she should still realise her good mother's wish, and see
her once more planted in her previous abundance.
This fair dream now vanished by degrees, as Franz continued silent. To
make matters worse, there spread a rumour over all the city, that he was
furnishing his house in the most splendid fashion for his marriage with
a rich Antwerp lady, who was already on her way to Bremen. This
Job's-news drove the lovely maiden from her last defence: she passed on
the apostate sentence of banishment from her heart; and vowed from that
hour never more to think of him; and as she did so, wetted the twining
thread with her tears.
In a heavy hour she was breaking this vow, and thinking, against her
will, of the faithless lover: for she had just spun off a rock of flax;
and there was an old rhyme which had been taught her by her mother for
encouragement to diligence:
'Spin, daughterkin, spin;
Thy sweetheart's within!'
which she always recollected when her rock was done; and along with it
the memory of the Deceitful necessarily occurred to her. In this heavy
hour, a finger rapped with a most dainty patter at the door. Mother
Brigitta looked forth: the sweetheart was without. And who could it be?
Who else but neighbour Franz, from the alley? He had decked himself with
a gallant wooing-suit; and his well-dressed, thick brown locks shook
forth perfume. This stately decoration boded, at all events, something
else than flax-dealing. Mother Brigitta started in alarm; she tried to
speak, but words failed her. Meta rose in trepidation from her seat,
blushed like a purple rose, and was silent. Franz, however, had the
power of utterance; to the soft _adagio_ which he had in former days
trilled forth to her, he now appended a suitable text, and explained his
dumb love in clear words. Thereupon he made solemn application for her
to the mother; justifying his proposal by the statement, that the
preparations in his house had been meant for the reception of a bride,
and that this bride was the charming Meta.
The pointed old lady, having brought her feelings once more into
equilibrium, was for protracting the affair to the customary term of
eight days for deliberation; though joyful tears were running down her
cheeks, presaging no impediment on her side, but rather answer of
approval. Franz, however, was so pressing in his suit, that she fell
upon a middle path between the wooer's ardour and maternal use and wont,
and empowered the gentle Meta to decide in the affair according to her
own good judgment. In the virgin heart there had occurred, since Franz's
entrance, an important revolution. His presence here was the most
speaking proof of his innocence; and as, in the course of conversation,
it distinctly came to light, that his apparent coldness had been nothing
else than zeal and diligence in putting his commercial affairs in order,
and preparing what was necessary for the coming nuptials, it followed
that the secret reconciliation would proceed forthwith without any stone
of stumbling in its way. She acted with the outlaw, as Mother Brigitta
with her disposted spinning gear, or the First-born Son of the Church
with an exiled Parliament; recalled him with honour to her high-beating
heart, and reinstated him in all his former rights and privileges there.
The decisive three-lettered little word, that ratifies the happiness of
love, came gliding with such unspeakable grace from her soft lips, that
the answered lover could not help receiving it with a warm melting kiss.
The tender pair had now time and opportunity for deciphering all the
hieroglyphics of their mysterious love; which afforded the most pleasant
conversation that ever two lovers carried on. They found, what our
commentators ought to pray for, that they had always understood and
interpreted the text aright, without once missing the true sense of
their reciprocal proceedings. It cost the delighted bridegroom almost as
great an effort to part from his charming bride, as on the day when he
set out on his crusade to Antwerp. However, he had an important walk to
take; so at last it became time to withdraw.
This walk was directed to the Weser-bridge, to find Timbertoe, whom he
had not forgotten, though he had long delayed to keep his word to him.
Sharply as the physiognomist, ever since his interview with the
open-handed Bridge-bailiff, had been on the outlook, he could never
catch a glimpse of him among the passengers, although a second visit had
been faithfully promised. Yet the figure of his benefactor had not
vanished from his memory. The moment he perceived the fair-apparelled
youth from a distance, he stilted towards him, and gave him kindly
welcome. Franz answered his salutation, and said: "Friend, canst thou
take a walk with me into the Neustadt, to transact a small affair? Thy
trouble shall not be unpaid."
"Ah! why not?" replied the old blade; "though I have a wooden leg, I can
step you with it as stoutly as the lame dwarf that crept round the
city-common;[11] for the wooden leg, you must know, has this good
property, it never tires. But excuse me a little while till Graycloak is
come: he never misses to pass along the Bridge between day and night."
[11] There is an old tradition, that a neighbouring Countess
promised in jest to give the Bremers as much land as a cripple, who
was just asking her for alms, would creep round in a day. They took
her at her word; and the cripple crawled so well, that the town
obtained this large common by means of him.
"What of Graycloak?" inquired Franz: "let me know about him."
"Graycloak brings me daily about nightfall a silver groschen, I know not
from whom. It is of no use prying into things, so I never mind.
Sometimes it occurs to me Graycloak must be the devil, and means to buy
my soul with the money. But devil or no devil, what care I? I did not
strike him on the bargain, so it cannot hold."
"I should not wonder," answered Franz, with a smile, "if Graycloak were
a piece of a knave. But do thou follow me: the silver groschen shall not
fail thee."
Timbertoe set forth, hitched on briskly after his guide, who conducted
him up one street and down another, to a distant quarter of the city,
near the wall; then halted before a neat little new-built house, and
knocked at the door. When it was opened: "Friend," said he, "thou madest
one evening of my life cheerful; it is just that I should make the
evening of thy life cheerful also. This house, with its appurtenances,
and the garden where it stands, are thine; kitchen and cellar are full;
an attendant is appointed to wait upon thee; and the silver groschen,
over and above, thou wilt find every noon lying under thy plate. Nor
will I hide from thee that Graycloak was my servant, whom I sent to give
thee daily an honourable alms, till I had got this house made ready for
thee. If thou like, thou mayest reckon me thy proper Guardian Angel,
since the other has not acted to thy satisfaction."
He then led the old man into his dwelling, where the table was standing
covered, and everything arranged for his convenience and comfortable
living. The grayhead was so astonished at his fortune, that he could not
understand or even believe it. That a rich man should take such pity on
a poor one, was incomprehensible: he felt disposed to take the whole
affair for magic or jugglery, till Franz removed his doubts. A stream of
thankful tears flowed down the old man's cheeks; and his benefactor,
satisfied with this, did not wait till he should recover from his
amazement and thank him in words, but, after doing this angel-message,
vanished from the old man's eyes, as angels are wont; and left him to
piece together the affair as he best could.
Next morning, in the habitation of the lovely Meta, all was as a fair.
Franz dispatched to her a crowd of merchants, jewellers, milliners,
lace-dealers, tailors, sutors and sempstresses, in part to offer her all
sorts of wares, in part their own good services. She passed the whole
day in choosing stuffs, laces and other requisites for the condition of
a bride, or being measured for her various new apparel. The dimensions
of her dainty foot, her beautifully-formed arm, and her slim waist, were
as often and as carefully meted, as if some skilful statuary had been
taking from her the model for a Goddess of Love. Meanwhile the
bridegroom went to appoint the bans; and before three weeks were past,
he led his bride to the altar, with a solemnity by which even the
gorgeous wedding-pomp of the Hop-King was eclipsed. Mother Brigitta had
the happiness of twisting the bridal-garland for her virtuous Meta; she
completely attained her wish of spending her woman's-summer in
propitious affluence; and deserved this satisfaction, as a recompense
for one praiseworthy quality which she possessed: She was the most
tolerable mother-in-law that has ever been discovered.
LIBUSSA.[12]
Deep in the Bohemian forest, which has now dwindled to a few scattered
woodlands, there abode, in the primeval times, while it stretched its
umbrage far and wide, a spiritual race of beings, airy and avoiding
light, incorporeal also, more delicately fashioned than the clay-formed
sons of men; to the coarser sense of feeling imperceptible, but to the
finer, half-visible by moonlight; and well known to poets by the name of
Dryads, and to ancient bards by that of Elves. From immemorial ages,
they had dwelt here undisturbed; till all at once the forest sounded
with the din of warriors, for Duke Czech of Hungary, with his Sclavonic
hordes, had broken over the mountains, to seek in these wild tracts a
new habitation. The fair tenants of the aged oaks, of the rocks, clefts
and grottos, and of the flags in the tarns and morasses, fled before the
clang of arms and the neighing of chargers: the stout Erl-King himself
was annoyed by the uproar, and transferred his court to more sequestered
wildernesses. One solitary Elf could not resolve to leave her darling
oak; and as the wood began here and there to be felled for the purposes
of cultivation, she alone undertook to defend her tree against the
violence of the strangers, and chose the towering summit of it for her
residence.
[12] From _Jo. Dubravii Historia Bohemica_, and _AEneae Sylvii
Cardinalis de Bohemarum Origine ac Gestis Historia_.
Among the retinue of the Duke was a young Squire, Krokus by name, full
of spirit and impetuosity; stout and handsome, and of noble mien, to
whom the keeping of his master's stud had been entrusted, which at times
he drove far into the forest for their pasture. Frequently he rested
beneath the oak which the Elf inhabited: she observed him with
satisfaction; and at night, when he was sleeping at the root, she would
whisper pleasant dreams into his ear, and announce to him in expressive
images the events of the coming day. When any horse had strayed into the
desert, and the keeper had lost its tract, and gone to sleep with
anxious thoughts, he failed not to see in vision the marks of the hidden
path, which led him to the spot where his lost steed was grazing.
The farther the new colonists extended, the nearer came they to the
dwelling of the Elf; and as by her gift of divination, she perceived how
soon her life-tree would be threatened by the axe, she determined to
unfold this sorrow to her guest. One moonshiny summer evening, Krokus
had folded his herd somewhat later than usual, and was hastening to his
bed under the lofty oak. His path led him round a little fishy lake, on
whose silver face the moon was imaging herself like a gleaming ball of
gold; and across this glittering portion of the water, on the farther
side, he perceived a female form, apparently engaged in walking by the
cool shore. This sight surprised the young warrior: What brings the
maiden hither, thought he, by herself, in this wilderness, at the season
of the nightly dusk? Yet the adventure was of such a sort, that, to a
young man, the more strict investigation of it seemed alluring rather
than alarming. He redoubled his steps, keeping firmly in view the form
which had arrested his attention; and soon reached the place where he
had first noticed it, beneath the oak. But now it looked to him as if
the thing he saw were a shadow rather than a body; he stood wondering
and motionless, a cold shudder crept over him; and he heard a sweet soft
voice address to him these words: "Come hither, beloved stranger, and
fear not; I am no phantasm, no deceitful shadow: I am the Elf of this
grove, the tenant of the oak, under whose leafy boughs thou hast often
rested. I rocked thee in sweet delighting dreams, and prefigured to thee
thy adventures; and when a brood-mare or a foal had chanced to wander
from the herd, I told thee of the place where thou wouldst find it.
Repay this favour by a service which I now require of thee; be the
Protector of this tree, which has so often screened thee from the shower
and the scorching heat; and guard the murderous axes of thy brethren,
which lay waste the forest, that they harm not this venerable trunk."
The young warrior, restored to self-possession by this soft still voice,
made answer: "Goddess or mortal, whoever thou mayest be, require of me
what thou pleasest; if I can, I will perform it. But I am a man of no
account among my people, the servant of the Duke my lord. If he tell me
today or tomorrow, Feed here, feed there, how shall I protect thy tree
in this distant forest? Yet if thou commandest me, I will renounce the
service of princes, and dwell under the shadow of thy oak, and guard it
while I live."
"Do so," said the Elf: "thou shalt not repent it."
Hereupon she vanished; and there was a rustling in the branches above,
as if some breath of an evening breeze had been entangled in them, and
had stirred the leaves. Krokus, for a while, stood enraptured at the
heavenly form which had appeared to him. So soft a female, of such
slender shape and royal bearing, he had never seen among the short squat
damsels of his own Sclavonic race. At last he stretched himself upon the
moss, but no sleep descended on his eyes; the dawn overtook him in a
whirl of sweet emotions, which were as strange and new to him as the
first beam of light to the opened eye of one born blind. With the
earliest morning he hastened to the Court of the Duke, required his
discharge, packed up his war-accoutrements, and, with rapid steps, his
burden on his shoulders, and his head full of glowing enthusiasm, hied
him back to his enchanted forest-hermitage.
Meanwhile, in his absence, a craftsman among the people, a miller by
trade, had selected for himself the round straight trunk of the oak to
be an axle, and was proceeding with his mill-men to fell it. The
affrighted Elf sobbed bitterly, as the greedy saw began with iron tooth
to devour the foundations of her dwelling. She looked wildly round, from
the highest summit, for her faithful guardian, but her glance could find
him nowhere; and the gift of prophecy, peculiar to her race, was in the
present case so ineffectual, that she could as little read the fate that
stood before her, as the sons of AEsculapius, with their vaunted
prognosis, can discover ways and means for themselves when Death is
knocking at their own door.
Krokus, however, was approaching, and so near the scene of this
catastrophe, that the screeching of the busy saw did not escape his ear.
Such a sound in the forest boded no good: he quickened his steps, and
beheld before his eyes the horror of the devastation that was visiting
the tree which he had taken under his protection. Like a fury he rushed
upon the wood-cutters, with pike and sword, and scared them from their
work; for they concluded he must be a forest-demon, and fled in great
precipitation. By good fortune, the wound of the tree was still curable;
and the scar of it disappeared in a few summers.
In the solemn hour of evening, when the stranger had fixed upon the spot
for his future habitation; had meted out the space for hedging round as
a garden, and was weighing in his mind the whole scheme of his future
hermitage; where, in retirement from the society of men, he purposed to
pass his days in the service of a shadowy companion, possessed
apparently of little more reality than a Saint of the Calendar, whom a
pious friar chooses for his spiritual paramour,--the Elf appeared before
him at the brink of the lake, and with gentle looks thus spoke:
"Thanks to thee, beloved stranger, that thou hast turned away the
wasteful arms of thy brethren from ruining this tree, with which my life
is united. For thou shalt know that Mother Nature, who has granted to my
race such varied powers and influences, has combined the fortune of our
life with the growth and duration of the oak. By us the sovereign of the
forest raises his venerable head above the populace of other trees and
shrubs; we further the circulation of the sap through his trunk and
boughs, that he may gain strength to battle with the tempest, and for
long centuries to defy destructive Time. On the other hand, our life is
bound to his: when the oak, which the lot of Destiny has appointed for
the partner of our existence, fades by years, we fade along with him;
and when he dies, we die, and sleep, like mortals, as it were a sort of
death-sleep, till, by the everlasting cycle of things, Chance, or some
hidden provision of Nature, again weds our being to a new germ; which,
unfolded by our enlivening virtue, after the lapse of long years,
springs up to be a mighty tree, and affords us the enjoyment of
existence anew. From this thou mayest perceive what a service thou hast
done me by thy help, and what gratitude I owe thee. Ask of me the
recompense of thy noble deed; disclose to me the wish of thy heart, and
this hour it shall be granted thee."
Krokus continued silent. The sight of the enchanting Elf had made more
impression on him than her speech, of which, indeed, he understood but
little. She noticed his embarrassment; and, to extricate him from it,
plucked a withered reed from the margin of the lake, broke it into three
pieces, and said: "Choose one of these three stalks, or take one without
a choice. In the first, lie Honour and Renown; in the second, Riches
and the wise enjoyment of them; in the third is happiness in Love laid
up for thee."