on the contrary insisted that Zues should select one of them and tell
him to remain in Seldwyla, and each one of them in saying so only
thought of himself. She, however, was careful to avoid a premature
choice. On the contrary, she told them bluntly that they must obey her
on pain of forfeiting her friendship forever. At once Jobst, the oldest
of the three, skipped off, right into the house of their ex-master, and
to perceive that and follow him in haste, was the work of an instant,
since they were afraid that he might be planning something against them
on the sly, and thus the trio acted all day long, whisking about like
falling stars, hither and thither. They hated each other like three
spiders in one web. Half the town witnessed this queer spectacle,
observing the three strangely excited combmakers, they who until that
day had always been so orderly and quiet. The ancient people of the
town could not but feel that something evil, something tragic was
underway, and they would nod and whisper to one another of their fears.
Towards nightfall, however, the combmakers became tired and spent,
without having reached any definite conclusion, and in that mood they
retired and stretched out their limbs in the old bed, with chattering
teeth and half-sick with impotent rage. One by one they crept beneath
the covering, and there they lay, as though felled by the hand of death
itself, with thoughts in turmoil and confusion, until at last sleep
came like balm for their uproarious minds.
Jobst was first to waken, at early dawn, and he saw that spring was
weaving its garlands and that the great orb was rising in the east, in
a mass of cloudlets of dainty hue. The first rays of the sun were
already penetrating the dusky chamber wherein he had been sleeping for
the past six years. And while the room assuredly looked bare and
unattractive enough, it seemed nevertheless a paradise to him, a
paradise from which he was about to be driven thus unjustly and
unfairly, it appeared to him. He let his eyes wander all over the
walls, and counted on them the traces left by all the preceding
journeymen that had been harbored under that roof. Here there was a
dark stain from the one who was in the habit of rubbing against the
wall his greasy pate; there another one had driven in a nail, on which
he used to hang his long pipe, and, sure enough, a bit of scarlet tape
still clung to the nail. How good and harmless had they all been, all
those that had come and gone, while these fellows now, spread out their
whole length next to him in bed, would not go. Next he fastened his
glance upon the objects nearer his field of vision, those objects which
he had noticed thousands of times before, on all those occasions when
he had lain in bed in a contemplative mood, mornings, nights, or
daytime, and when he had enjoyed in his own peculiar way the bliss of
existence, free of cost and with a serene mind. There was, for example,
a spot in the ceiling where the wet had damaged it. This spot had often
set his imagination at work. It looked like the map of a whole country,
with lakes and rivers and cities, and a group of grains of sand
represented an isle of the blessed. Farther down a long bristle from
the painter's brush attracted Jobst's wandering attention; for this
bristle had been held back by the blue paint and was embedded in it.
This phenomenon interested Jobst greatly, for it was his own handiwork.
Last autumn he had accidentally discovered a small remnant of the azure
paint, and to utilize it had proceeded to spread it over that portion
of the ceiling nearest to him. But just beyond the bristle there was a
very slight protuberance, almost like a chain of mountains, and this
threw its shadow across the bristle over against the isle of the
blessed. About this rise in the scenery he had been brooding and
speculating the whole of the past winter, because it seemed to him that
it had not been there formerly.
And as he now cast searching glances for this protuberance and could
not find it despite all his pains, he thought he must suddenly have
gone daft when instead of it he discovered a tiny bare spot on the
wall. On the other hand he noticed that the small bluish mountain
itself was moving. Amazed beyond measure at this miracle, Jobst quickly
sat up and watched the cerulean wonder march steadily on: the
conviction dawned on him that the prodigy was nothing but a bedbug; his
logical deduction then was that he must have unawares applied a coat of
paint to this insect, at a time in its life when it was already in a
state of coma. But now the little creature had been reawakened under
the warming influence of the spring sun, had started on a tour of
adventure, and was actually and bravely ascending the steep pathway on
the wall, ready for business, without in the least minding its blue
back and Jobst's astonishment. Jobst watched the meanderings of the
dear little thing with concentrated interest. So long as it cut across
the blue paint it was barely visible; but now it issued forth into the
region beyond, traversing first a few remaining splotches of paint, and
next wandering diligently among the darker districts. With softened
feelings Jobst sank back into his pillows. Generally rather indifferent
to quips of mere fancy, this time sentiment struggled uppermost. He
took the enterprising bedbug as an omen for himself. He, too, must be
wandering forth again, seeking new pastures. And thankfully and
resignedly he thought of this insect as a model for himself to strive
after. In this frame of mind he resolved to put a good face on the
matter and to bow to the unavoidable. He meant to start at once.
Indulging these wise reflections his natural wisdom and forethought
slowly came back to him, however, and resuming his train of
deliberations he at last concluded that there might not be any
necessity for clearing out at all. By reassuming his habitual modesty
and resignation and submitting in that spirit to the trial at hand, it
might come to pass, after all, that he would overcome his rivals.
Softly and slowly, therefore, he now rose, and began to arrange his
belongings; but above all he dug up his hidden treasure and started to
pack it away, lowest in his knapsack. While thus engaged the others
also awoke. And when they observed Jobst packing up his things in that
matter-of-fact, unobtrusive manner, they grew more and more astonished,
and this feeling increased when Jobst spoke to them in a conciliatory
tone and wished them a good morning. More than that, though, he did not
say, but continued peaceably in his task. Instantly, however, not being
able to explain to themselves his behavior, they began to suspect a
ruse, a deep-laid scheme, and to imitate him. At the same time they
closely watched him, curious to find out what he would do next.
It was ludicrous as well to observe the other two now exhuming their
hoards quite openly from underneath their own tiles, and to put them
away, without first counting them over, in their knapsacks. For they
had known for long that each was aware of the secret of the others, and
according to the old-fashioned honorable traditions of their guild not
one of them suspected the others of theft. Each of them, in fact, was
fully convinced that they would not be robbed. For it is an iron-clad
custom among traveling journeymen, soldiers, and similar folk that
nothing must be locked up and that there must be no suspicion of foul
play.
In this way they at last were ready to start. The master paid each his
wages, and handed them back their service booklets, wherein on the part
of the town authorities and of the master himself there were inscribed
the most satisfactory certificates as to good behavior and steadiness
of conduct. A minute later they stood, in a state of soft melancholy,
before the house door of Zues Buenzlin, each dressed in a long brown
coat, with a duster above that, and their hats, albeit by no means new
or fashionable, covered with a tight casing of oil cloth. Each carried
a tiny van strapped to his knapsack to enable him, as soon as
long-distance walking should start, to pull his heavy baggage with
greater ease. The small wheels belonging to this contraption stood up
high above their shoulders. Jobst was assisted in walking by a decent
bamboo cane, Fridolin by a staff of ash painted all over with red and
black stripes, and Dietrich by a fantastic baton around which were
curling carved branches. But he was almost ashamed of this absurd and
bragging thing, since it dated from the first days of his pilgrimage, a
time when he had not yet attained to the sober view of life as since.
Many neighbors and their children lined the way and wished these three
serious-minded men godspeed.
But now Zues showed at the door, her mien even more solemn than usual,
and at the head of the little procession she went on with the three
courageously to beyond the town gate. In their honor she had donned
some of her choicest finery. She wore a huge hat draped with broad
yellow ribbons, a pink calico dress trimmed in a style of ten years
ago, a black velvet scarf and shoes of red morocco with fringes. With
this costume she also carried a reticule of green silk filled with
dried pears and prunes, and had a small parasol in her other hand on
top of which there could be seen an ivory ornament carved in the shape
of a lyre. She had also hung around her fair neck the locket with the
monument of hair, and in front of her chaste bosom had pinned on the
gold forget-me-not, and wore white knit gloves. Dainty and pleasant she
looked in this guise; her countenance was slightly flushed and her
bosom heaved higher than its wont, and the departing combmakers
scarcely were able to conceal their feelings of utter woe and sorrow at
the prospect of losing her. For even their extreme situation, the
lovely spring weather, and Zues' exquisite finery, or all of it
together mingled with their sentiments of expectation and anxiety
something of what habitually is denominated Love. Arrived beyond the
town gate, though, the winsome maiden encouraged her three admirers to
place their heavy knapsacks upon those tiny wheels and to pull their
loads, so as not to tire themselves needlessly. This they did, and as
they steadily began to climb the steep heights that rose just outside
the town, it looked for all the world almost like a train of light
mountain guns moving slowly upwards, in order to form a battery for
attack. And when they had thus proceeded for half an hour they reached
a pleasant hilltop, where they halted. A crossroad was there, and they
sat down beneath a linden tree, in a semicircle, whence a far view was
obtainable across forests and lakes and villages. Zues brought out her
reticule and handed to each one a handful of pears and prunes, in order
to restore themselves. Thus they sat for quite a while, solemn and
silent, merely causing a slight noise by the slow degustation of the
sweet fruit.
Then Zues, throwing away a prune pit and drying her hands on the grass,
drew breath and began to speak: "Dear friends," she said, "only see how
beautiful and how big the world is, all around full of fine things and
of human habitations! And yet I should wager that in this fateful hour
there are nowhere else seated together four such decent and just souls
as are seated here under this tree, four who are so sensible and so
gentle in all their doings, so inclined to all useful and laborious
exercises, so given to virtues like economy, peaceableness, and dutiful
friendship. How many flowers are surrounding us here, of every kind,
such as early spring produces, especially yellow cowslips, from which a
wholesome and well-tasting tea may be prepared. But are these flowers,
I ask you, as decent and as diligent, as economical and cautious, as
apt to think correct and useful thoughts? No, indeed, they are ignorant
and soulless things, and without benefiting themselves they waste time
and opportunity, and no matter how nice they may look in a short time
they turn into dead and useless hay, while we with our virtues are far
superior to them and also do not yield to them in beauty of outward
shape. For it was God who created us after His image and blew His
divine breath into us. Ah, would it were possible to keep seated here
in this spot for all eternity, in this paradise and in our present
state of innocency. Indeed, my friends, it seems to me that we all of
us at this hour are in a state of innocency, although ennobled by
sinless consciousness and intelligence, for all four of us are able,
God be praised, to read and write, and we have, each of us, likewise
acquired a craft, a useful calling. For many things, I am aware, I have
talent and skill, and would engage to do many things which even the
most learned young lady would be unable to do, that is, if I were
inclined to go outside of and beyond my proper station. But modesty and
humility are the dearest virtues of a decent maiden, and it is enough
for me to know that my intellectual gifts are not worthless nor
despised by the judicious and those of a keener discernment. Many have
before this wooed me, men who were not worthy of me, and now I see
three just and decent bachelors assembled around me, each of whom is as
worthy to win me as are the others. From this, my friends, you may
measure and imagine how my own heart must long for a solution in view
of this unheard-of abundance, and may each of you take pattern by me
and think for the moment that he, too, were surrounded by three
virgins, each equally lovely and worthy to be loved, and all three
desirous to wed and possess him, and that on that account it might
happen that he would be unable to make up his mind to incline to this
or that one, and therefore at last unable to wed any. Only place
yourselves in your thoughts in my stead: fancy that each of you were
courted simultaneously by three Miss Buenzlins at once, and were thus
seated around you the way we are seated here, dressed as I am, and of
similarly alluring exterior, so that I in a manner of speaking would
exist ninefold, and that they all were regarding you with love-lorn
eyes, and were desiring to possess you with great strength of feeling.
Can you do that?"
The three lovers ceased for a moment to chew their dried prunes, and
made an attempt to follow the maiden's flight of fancy, their faces
meanwhile assuming a peculiarly sheep-like cast. But after a while the
Suabian, as the greatest thinker and inventor amongst them, seemed to
grasp the idea, and said with a voluptuous grin: "Well, most beloved
Miss Zues, if you have no objection, I should indeed like to see you
hover around here not only threefold but a hundredfold, and to have you
look at me with lovelorn eyes and to offer me a thousand kisses!"
"Nay, nay," Zues replied, rather put out by this, "do not talk in this
unbecoming and extravagant style! What is entering your head, you
overbold Dietrich? Not a hundredfold and not offering kisses, but only
threefold and in a virtuous and honorable manner, so that no wrong may
be done me!"
"Yes," now cried Jobst, brandishing a pear stalk and gesturing with it,
"only threefold and behaving with the greatest chastity do I see the
beloved Miss Buenzlin walking about me and greeting me while placing
her hand on her heart. Your most devoted servant, thank you, thank
you!" he said, smiling with great urbanity and bowing thrice in
different directions as though he really perceived these hallucinations
in the air around him. "Thus you should speak," rejoined Zues, with a
seductive smirk. "If there really exists any difference between you
three, it is you, after all, dear Jobst, who are the most gifted, or at
least the most sensible."
Fridolin, the Bavarian, had not yet succeeded in conjuring up in his
slower brain all these figments of imagination. But now seeing Jobst
evidently scoring a hit, he was afraid that he was losing in favor, and
so shouted in haste: "I also notice the lovely virgin, Miss Zues
Buenzlin, perambulating right here in my vicinity and throwing
voluptuous glances in my direction, while putting her hand on--"
"Fie, you Bavarian," shrieked Zues wrathfully, turning her face aside
out of very shame. "Not another word! Where do you get the courage from
to talk to me in such a tone of impure grossness, and to allow your
fancy to indulge in such smuttiness? Fie, fie!"
The poor Bavarian felt abashed, reddened under this reproof, and looked
about foolishly, not knowing what he had done amiss. For really his
imagination had not been at work at all, and he had merely meant to
repeat about what he had heard Jobst say a moment before and what the
latter had been praised for. But now Zues once more turned and
remarked: "And you, dear Dietrich, have you not yet been able to
reshape that last observation of yours in a more modest guise?"
"Indeed I have," the young man made answer, glad to be forgiven, "I now
perceive you only in three different shapes, regarding me pleasantly
but in a quite respectable manner, and offering me three white hands,
on which I imprint three just as respectable kisses."
"Well, then, that is proper," remarked Zues, "and you, Fridolin, have
you recovered from your fit of libertinism? Have you not yet calmed
your rampageous blood, and are you now in condition to conceive of an
image not so obscene?"
"Begging pardon," murmured Fridolin greatly crestfallen, "I also can
now clearly recognize three maidens, each of whom has dried pears in
her hand and offers them to me, not being quite at variance with me any
longer. One of these is as handsome as the others, and to make a choice
among them appears to me a hard matter indeed."
"Well said," remarked Zues, "and since you in your fancy are surrounded
by no less than nine equally desirable persons, and nevertheless in
spite of such delectable superabundance are suffering in your hearts
from a lack of love, you may easily conceive of my own condition. And
as you also saw how with modest and pure heart I know to tame my
desires, I trust you will take me as a model and will vow here and now
to further live in amity and to separate when the hour comes just as
pleasantly and without a grudge, no matter how fate may deal with each
one of you. Rise and come hither. Let each one of you place his hand in
mine, and pledge himself to act just as I have indicated!"
"With perfect good faith," said Jobst in reply, "I at least will do
precisely as you suggest!"
And the other two, not to be behindhand, likewise shouted: "And so will
I!" and they all three pledged themselves as she had requested,
secretly, of course, each with the proviso to run as hard towards the
goal as he was able.
"Yes, indeed," Jobst once more interjected, "I at least will live up to
my promise, for from my youth upwards I have unfailingly shown a
conciliatory and equable disposition. Never in my life have I had a
quarrel with anyone, and would never suffer to see an animal tortured.
Wherever I have been I was on good terms with my fellows, and thus
earned much praise because of my peaceful ways. And while I may say
that I, too, understand many things passably well, and am usually held
a sensible young man, at no time have I interfered with things that did
not concern me, and have always done my duty with consideration for
others. I can work just as hard as I choose without losing my health,
since I am sound and strong and abstemious in my ways, and have still
the best years before me. All the wives of my masters have said that I
was a man in a thousand, a real treasure, and that it was easy to get
along with me. Oh, indeed, Miss Buenzlin, I believe I could live with
you as though in Heaven, in uninterrupted bliss."
"That would not be hard," broke in the Bavarian at this, "to live in
concord and happiness with Miss Zues. I also would undertake to do the
same. I am not a fool, either. My craft I understand as well as the
best, and I know how to keep things in order without ever having to get
excited about it. And although I also have dwelt in the largest cities
and have earned good wages there, I have never got into trouble, and
neither have I ever killed as much as a spider or thrown a brick at a
mewling cat. I am temperate and easily pleased with my food, and am
able to get along with very little indeed. With that I am in full
health and of good temper and cheerful. I can stand much hardship
without losing my bland mind, and my good conscience is an elixir that
keeps me in excellent spirit. All animals love me and follow me,
because they scent my kind heart, for with an unjust man they would not
stay. A poodle dog once followed me for three entire days, on leaving
the town of Ulm, and at last I was forced to leave it in charge of a
peasant, since I as an humble journeyman combmaker could not afford to
feed such a creature. When I was traveling through the Bohemian Forest
stags and deer used to come within twenty paces of me, and would then
stand and watch me. It is wonderful indeed how even such wild beasts
know by instinct what kind of human beings they have to deal with."
"True," here sang out the Suabian. "Don't you see how this chaffinch
has been fluttering around me this whole while, and how it is anxious
to approach me? And that squirrel over there by the pine tree is
constantly glancing towards me, and here again a small beetle is
creeping up my leg and will not go away. Surely, it must be feeling
comfortable with me, the tiny thing."
But now Zues grew jealous. Rather nettled, she spoke: "Animals all love
me and like to stay with me. One of my birds remained with me for eight
years, until unfortunately it died. Our cat is so fond of me that it
forever purrs about me, and our neighbor's pigeons crowd about me every
day when I scatter some crumbs for them on my window sill. Wonderful
qualities animals have, anyway, each after its kind. The lion loves to
follow in the footprints of kings and heroes, and the elephant
accompanies the prince and the doughty warrior. The camel bears the
merchant through the desert and keeps a store of fresh water in its
belly for him. The dog again shares all the dangers with his owner and
pitches himself headlong into the sea just to prove his devotion. The
dolphin has a strong love for music and swims in the wake of vessels,
while the eagle accompanies armies. The ape bears a strong resemblance
to the human species and imitates everything he sees us do. The parrot
understands our speech and converses with us just like any person of
sense. Even the snakes may be tamed and then dance on the tip of their
tails. The crocodile sheds human tears and is consequently in those
parts esteemed and spared. The ostrich may be saddled and ridden like a
horse. The savage buffalo pulls the carriage of his human master, as
the reindeer does the sledge of his. The unicorn furnishes man with
snow-white ivory and the tortoise with its transparent bones--"
"Beg pardon," interrupted all the three combmakers together, "herein
you are slightly in error, for ivory comes from the teeth of the
elephant, and tortoise-shell combs are made out of the shell of that
animal and not of the bones of the tortoise."
Zues colored deeply and rejoined: "That, I believe, remains to be
proved. For you certainly have not seen of your own knowledge whence it
is obtained, but only work up its pieces. I as a rule make no mistakes
in matters of that kind. However, be that as it may, just let me
finish. Not the animals alone have their peculiarities implanted by the
hand of God, but even dead minerals that are dug out of the sides of
mountains. The crystal is clear as glass, marble hard and full of
veins, sometimes white and sometimes black. Amber possesses electric
properties and attracts lightning; but in that case it burns and smells
like incense. The magnet attracts iron; on slates one can write, but
not upon diamonds, for these are hard as steel; the glazier, too, uses
the diamond for cutting glass, because it is small and pointed. You
see, dear friends, that I can also tell you a few things about minerals
and animals. But as regards my relations with them I may say this: that
the cat is a sly and cunning beast, and that is why it will attach
itself only to persons possessing the same characteristics. The pigeon,
however, is the symbol of innocence and simplicity of mind, and may
only be the companion of those similarly constituted. And since it is
certain that both cats and pigeons are attracted by me, the conclusion
must be that I am at the same time sly and cunning, simple-minded and
innocent. As Holy Writ says, Be wise like the serpent and simple like
the dove! In this way we are able to understand both animals and our
relations to them, and to learn a deal, if we only look at things in
the right manner."