Hoffmann's strange stories. From the German ...

Front matter

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Contents

Life of Hoffmann, 5

The Lost Eeflection, 73

Berthold, the Madman, 166 ^

I

At the commencement of the month of May, in 1580, the respectable society of coopers, of the free city of Nuremberg, celebrated, according to an ancient custom, the annual feast of its institution. A short time after this solemnity, one of the chief men, clothed with the title of Master of the Candles, having departed this life, they thought of choosing his successor. The voices in favor of master Martin were unanimous. Master Martin yielded to no one in all that concerned his profession. He knew marvellously well how to make casks, both elegantly and strongly, and understood how to organize a cellar according to the best rules. His well known reputation increased his custom, entirely composed of rich and distinguished people ; and, thanks to luck, which had favored all his enterprises, he enjoyed a very considerable fortune for a man in his station.

When the election of master Martin was known and proclaimed, the counsellor Jacob Paumgartner, who presided over the assembly, arose and said — " You have done perfectly well, my dear friends, in choosing master Martin for one of your chief officers, for this dignity could not be conferred upon a man more capable of exercising it. Master Martin enjoys the general esteem, and all those who know him bear witness to his skill. Notwithstanding his riches, he has preserved the habit and taste for labor. His whole conduct is a model worthy of being offered to you. Let us salute our dear master Martin, and let us congratulate him on the unanimous choice which honors and rewards in his person a whole life of probity and labor."

On finishing this discourse, Paumgartner arose and advanced several steps towards the subject of it, his arms stretched out as if to embrace master Martin. But the latter, rising only for good manners, and very much embarrassed by his corpulence, returned the salutation of the counsellor with very little ceremony, and fell back into his arm-chair, without appearing to care much for the brotherly embraces of Jacob Paumgartner.

" Ah, so, master Martin," continued the counsellor, " are you then not satisfied with being elected by us Master of the Candles?"

The cooper, throwing back his head, and patting gently with both hands his ample paunch, appeared to collect himself in the midst of the silence of the company ; then taking up the conversation — " Well, my worthy friend," said he to Paumgartner, " how should I not be satisfied with the justice that is done me ! And what man, I pray you, is such an enemy to himself, as to disdain the legitimate price of the efforts he has made ? Is the tardy debtor, who comes some day to settle the whole or part of an old account, chased from the door ? What has been, my dear friends," continued he, turning towards the assembly, ' ' the motive which has inspired you with the idea of choosing me ? What duties shall I have to perform ? Will it be necessary, to justify the honor of your choice, to know pertinently every detail of our trade ? I flatter myself with having given proof, in constructing, without the assistance of fire, my mammoth tun, a masterpiece known by you all ! Will it be necessary, to please you more, to add to this goods and money ? Come to my house, I will open to you my chests and closets ; I will satiate your eyes with the pleasure of counting a mass of bags of gold and vessels of silver, of no trifling weight. If to flatter your vanity, the newly elected Master of the Candles ought to receive the humble respect of the lowly and the consideration of the great, ask the first of the citizens of our good city of Nuremberg, ask of the noble bishop of Bamberg what opinion they have formed concerning master Martin. I do not fear, God Be thanked, either comparison or criticism."

Hereupon master Martin, satisfied with the speech that he had just improvised, threw T himself back in his arm-chair, and patting again his big belly ; he threw around him glances that called for applause ; then, seeing that his audience remained dumb, except some slight attacks of cough, which signified pretty distinctly the discontent of some of his fellow members, he added some few words to bring back the minds that his pride had just wounded.

" Receive," said he to them, " my very sincere thanks for a choice which honors you ; for you have all felt that the dignity of Master of Candles ought justly to reward the man who has raised to such renown the respectable society of coopers. You all know that I shall zealously fulfil the duties that are laid out for me. Every one of you will find in me a counsellor and an assistant. I shall defend as my own the privileges of all ; and to seal the compact of devotion which ought to unite us, I invite you to a friendly banquet which shall take place on Sunday. It is in joyfully tasting some old flagons of Johannisberg, that we will agree upon measures to be taken, with one consent, to assure protection to the general interest."

This -gracious speech produced a marvellous effect. AH faces were radiant, all voices broke out into noisy acclamations, which raised to the clouds the capacity, the merit and the liberality of master Martin. Each one came in his turn to embrace the new Master of the Candles, who allowed it to

1G hoffmaxn's strange stories.

be done by some without making too many grimaces, and who even deigned to grant to some the favor of extending to them his horny hand.

II

The worthy counsellor, Jacob Paumgartner, had to pass the house of master Martin to go to his own. On arriving before the cooper's door, Jacob, after a sign of farewell, was about to continue his road, when master Martin, taking off his fur cap, and bowing as low as his enormous obesity would allow, addressed him in these words — " Could I not have the honor of receiving, for a few minutes, in my humble domicil, my worthy friend the counsellor ? I should be too happy if he would do me the favor to allow me to enjoy more of his esteemed conversation."

" By my faith, master Martin," answered Paumgartner, I will very willingly make a short stay under your roof ; but, truly, you are too modest in speaking of what belongs to you, as if we did not know that your humble domicil, as it pleases you to call it, is more amply furnished than any other with quantities of furniture and objects of value, whose variety and elegance are the envy of the richest citizens of Nuremberg ; and I lay a wager that there is not a great lord who would not be glad to j>ossess such a jewel. "

Now there was no exaggeration in the praises lavished on the cooper's abode ; for as soon as the door was open, the peristyle, of exquisite architecture, already offered the graceful effect of a little fanciful room. The floor was figured in wood mosaic very artistically put together ; the pannels of the wood work enclosed paintings which were not without merit, and chests, sculptured by the best workmen of that epoch, stood along the walls. It was, at the time we see these two personages enter, suffocatingly hot ; a sultry and heavy atmosphere oppressed the breathing on reaching these apartments. For this reason, master Martin conducted his guest into a room disposed in such a manner that a current of fresh air circulated unceasingly through it ; this room resembled a dining room ; it was garnished with the furniture and plate necessary for splendid feasts. On entering, the sonorous voice of master Martin called Rosa. This was the only daughter of the proprietor of the dwelling.

Rosa made her appearance immediately. All the beautiful creations of Albert Durer could not give the idea of so perfect an assemblage of feminine graces. Figure to yourself a waist supple and frail as the stalk of a white lily — cheeks in which the rose was mingled with the alabaster — a mouth ornamented with every seduction — a look impressed with a mysterious melancholy, which hid itself under long eyelids, surmounted by ebony-hued eyebrows, and shone like the soft reflection of the May morn — hair running in silky waves on her alabaster shoulders, — and you will only have a faint idea of all the attractions of this young and interesting person, who looked more like an angel than a woman. You would have thought that you saw alive the beautiful Margaret of Faust, whose ideal the painter Cornelius has so well represented.

The charming Rosa made a childlike salutation to her father, and took his hands, which she kissed with a respect full of tenderness. At the sight of this sweet creature, the face of old Jacob was covered with a warm tint' of red, and the almost extinguished fire of his antique youth struck some sparks from his embers, long since grown cold. The honorable counsellor was re-animated for an instant, as the pale ray of the setting sun colors, before fading away, with a last flame-tint, the embrowned foliage of an autumn landscape. " Surely," exclaimed he, " master Martin, you have there a treasure which is singly worth all those that your house contains ; and if our old beards tremble with pleasure when we look at such sweet attractions, we must not be astonished at the effect produced by them upon youth. I am sure that your Rosa causes many distractions at church among the youth of the neighborhood, and that in the parties frequented by the young girls, gallantries and bouquets are for her alone ! And I engage, that to marry her to whoever is best in Nuremberg, you will only have, dear master Martin, the embarrassment of choice."

Instead of listening with pleasure to the praises of the counsellor, master Martin frowned discontentedly, and after having ordered his daughter to bring a flagon of his best Rhine wine, he said to the ardent Jacob, who watched Rosa as she retired, red as a cherry, and with her eyes modestly lowered — • ' You are right, counsellor ; I confess that my daughter is endowed with remarkable beauty ; and I add, that she possesses besides, other precious qualities. But you must not speak of those things before a young girl. And as to the best in the city of Nuremberg, I think little of it, truly, as far as regards choosing a son-in-law."

Rosa, who re-entered at this moment, placed on the table a flagon and two crystal glasses superbly cut. The two old men took seats at the table facing each other, and master Martin was pouring into the glasses his favorite liquor, when the step of a horse rang on the pavement before the house. Rosa ran to see who it was, and came back to announce to her father that an old nobleman, named Heinrich of Spangenberg, wished to speak to him.

" Blessed be this day ! '" exclaimed the cooper, c ' since it brings to me the noblest and the most liberal of all my customers. It is undoubtedly concerning some important order. Heinrich of Spangenberg, is a man who deserves a good reception."

Saying which, master Martin ran to meet the new comer, asfast as his old legs would allow him.

THE COOPER 01? NUREMBERG. 10

III

The- wine of Hochheim sparkled in the Bohemian crystal, and the three personages soon felt a new life diffuse itself within them. Many a sprightly story was given, forth by them without too many scruples, to such a point that the chest of master Martin floated on his enormous belly, here and there, serving vent to tremendous bursts of iauohter. The counsellor Jacob himself felt his parchment face unwrinkling.

Rosa was not long in entering the room with an elegant willow basket, from which she drew a table-cloth, as white as snow. The table was laid in the twinkling of an eye, and master Martin's dinner had a very inviting appearance. Paumgartner and Spangenberg could not take their eyes from this admirable young girl, who invited them, in her sweetest voice, to partake of her father's repast, which she herself had prepared ; and master Martin, buried in his arm-chair, with his hands clasped, contemplated her with the pride of an idolizing father. As she was about retiring discreetly, the old Spangenberg sprang from his seat with the quickness of a young man, and seizing the young girl by her waist, he exclaimed, his eyes moistened with tears — " Oh, dear angel ! Oh, child of heaven ! " Then he pressed to his lips, twice or thrice, the forehead of the beautiful maiden, and sank back into his seat, a prey to a sad pre-occupation.

The counsellor Jacob proposed to drink a full glass in honor of Rosa. " I tell you, master Martin," exclaimed he, ' ' and the worthy lord Spangenberg is assuredly of my opinion, I . tell you that Heaven has made you a priceless present in giving you this beautiful daughter ; and I already see her, in a near future, the wife of some high personage, with a string of pearls on her forehead, and a splendid carriage covered with the most illustrious blazonry."

"Indeed, gentlemen," continued master Martin, "I do not understand the warmth that you show in speaking of a

20 Hoffmann's stuaxcje stoiues. -

thing about which I do not trouble myself. Rosa is hardly eighteen years of age, and truly, at this age, a daughter ought not to think of quitting a father for a husband. God only knows what awaits her in the future ; but I can answer for, as a man assured of the fact, that no noble or citizen, were he rich in mountains of gold, would have the slightest right to the hand of my daughter, if he had not given proof before all of the most finished skill in the labors of the profession I honor, and which I have followed for a half century. All that I ask of him, besides that, is to obtain the love of my daughter, whose inclination I will never force."

Spangenberg and the counsellor fixed their astonished gaze upon master Martin. " So then," said one of them, after a pause, " your daughter is condemned to marry no one except a mechanic, a journeyman cooper ? "

" God wills it," replied master Martin.

' ' But, ' ' said Spangenberg, ' ' if the master of another profession, or an artist already celebrated by his works, should ask of you her hand, and if your daughter loved him, how would you decide ? "

" My young friend, I should say to this spark," replied master Martin, throwing himself back in his chair, " show me for masterpiece a fine mammoth tun like that which I made in my youth. And if he could not satisfy so legitimate a desire, I would not positively turn him out of doors, but I should desire him, very politely, never to step his foot into my house again."

" Nevertheless," replied Spangenberg, " if the young lover replied to you humbly that he could not offer you such a piece of workmanship, but that this magnificent house, which rises with pride at the corner of the market-place, was built after his plans, certainly a like labor would be worth as much as the workmanship of any other profession."

"Well, for heaven's sake, my worthy guest," exclaimed the cooper, ' ' do not give me ideas which are of little use at this time, and to which I would accord, in any case, very little

THE COOPER OE NUREMBERG. 21

credit. My wish is that the husband of my daughter should practise my profession, and honor it, as I have done ; for I hold that it is the first trade in the world. Hooping a cask is not all ; the spirit of the calling consists in knowing how to manage and improve generous wines. To make a regular cask, it is necessary to calculate and guage ; then a very skilful hand is necessary to bring together the staves and tie them solidly. I am the happiest man in the world when I hear from morning to night the klipp, klapp, klipp, klapp, of the mallets of my joyful workmen ; and when the work is finished, is polished, is made elegant, and when I have nothing more to do than to apply the master's sign, truly I am proud of my labor, as God must have been of the creation. You speak of the trade of architect ; but when the house is built, the first rustic who sleeps upon money can buy it, establish himself in it, and from his balconies laugh at the artist who is passing by in the street on foot. And what answer shall he make to the rustic ? Instead of which, in our handiwork we lodge the most generous, the noblest of creatures. Long live wine and casks ; I see nothing beyond them ! ' '

"Approved!" said Spangenberg, finishing his glass; — " but all the good and fine things that you have just said do rfot demonstrate that I am so much in the wrong, nor that you are wholly in the right. I suppose now that a man of illustrious race and princely nobility comes to ask your daughter. There are times in this life, master Martin, when the most stubborn minds reflect many times before letting certain opportunities escape which are not lavished."

"Very well," cried master Martin, half rising, his eyes on fire, his neck stretched out, his voice short and quick— "well, I should say to that gallant, of illustrious race and princely nobility — My good sir, if you were a cooper, we might talk with you ; but — ' '

" But," interrupted the old nobleman, who persisted in not losing the thread of his idea—" but if some day a young and brilliant lord came to you, surrounded by all the pomp that his riches and rank might give him, and if he besought you with entreaties to give him your little Rosa?"

" I would shut doors and windows in his face, and I would triple bolts and bars," howled master Martin ; " and I should tell him through the key-hole, Go farther, my fine lord ; it is not for you that the roses in my garden bloom. My cellar and my ducats are very much to your taste, I am sure, and you will do my little daughter the honor to accept her into the bargain? March on, march on, my gallant ! "

These words made the color mount into the face of the old nobleman. He leaned on the table, appeared to meditate a few instants, then he added, his eyes down, and in a grave voice, through which appeared, as if in spite of himself, a certain emotion — " Master Martin, you are inflexible in this affair ; but let us learn your last word. I suppose that the young lord of whom I have just spoken to you, to be my son, and that I accompany him to you to sustain his demand ; would you shut your door in our faces, and would you think that we were attracted by the charms of your cellar and your ducats ?"

" Heaven forbid that I should ever have such an idea of you, my worthy lords," replied the cooper. " I would give you an honorable welcome, such as you merit ; and I should put myself at the disposition of such respectable visitors. As

for my daughter, I repeat to you But, truly, I ask you,

what is the use of killing time by solving such singular questions ? We forget our filled glasses, in discussing things neither of the time, nor of our age. Leave here, I beg you, imagining sons-in-law and the future marriage of Rosa,- and let us drink to the health of your son, who is said to be the most gallant youth of Nuremberg."

The two talkers touched glances with the counsellor Jacob Paumgartner, who had long listened to their conversation without putting in a word. Spangenberg added constrainedly — " Do not believe, master Martin, that all we .have said is in the least serious ; it is on my part pure pleasantry • for you well understand that my son, unless he become madly in love with some little girl, cannot and ought not to choose a wife except from the bosom of some noble family. There was no occasion for proving so warmly that your Rosa could not suit him, and you could have, it seems to me, manifested less bitterness in your answers."

" Truly, I hasten to tell you as much," replied the cooper quickly. " I was joking, as you were. As for the bitterness which you reproach me with, it does not exist ; and if I have some pride, pardon it, I beg you, for my position. It is the pride of the trade. You will not find in the whole country a cooper of my capacity, practising his profession without charlatanism, and without caring for criticism j and this fiagon which we have just emptied, and which I am ready to replace, is the best guarantee of my knowledge of how to live."

Spangenberg answered no farther ; he appeared mortified, or under the influence of very deep reverie. The wise counsellor Paumgartner tried to lead the conversation to other subjects. But, as it happens, after an ardent debate, the minds too much on the stretch are suddenly relaxed ; something feverish, without their knowledge, ran in the veins of these three men. Suddenly the old Spangenberg, leaving the table, called his servants, went out of master Martin's house without taking his leave, and without speaking of coming back.

IV

Master Martin saw him go in this manner with some regret ; and as Paumgartner was also about to retire — " Do you know," said he to him, " that I cannot explain to myself the grieved look of that worthy gentleman, Heinrich Spangenberg ? "

''Dear Martin," answered the counsellor, "you are the best man that I know, and you ought certainly to think well

24 hoffmank's strange stomes.

of the business which has procured you riches and honor. But take care that this sentiment does not mislead you sometimes. Already, this morning, in the assembly of the masters of the corporation, you have spoken in a manner to make you more than one enemy. However independent you may be, is it generous to abase others ? See now what has just happened to you. You little thought, doubtlessly, of taking for other than pleasantry the words of Spangenberg ; and yet with what bitterness you have called the people of the nobility, who might think of the hand of your daughter, avaricious fortune hunters. Could you not have answered him, what would have been more suitable and truer, that such a proposition coming from him, would have destroyed your most decided prejudices ? You would have parted in a much more agreeable manner, and without leaving anything to wound more, some day, what you call your principles."

"At your ease, my dear counsellor," answered master Martin. " I agree that I may have been wrong; but why did this diabolical man pull, as it were, the words from my throat?"

" But still," continued Paunigartner, " what urges you to make your daughter marry a cooper by force ? Is this not to wound the holiest laws of nature, to wish to limit the circle of the affections of a young girl ? And do you not fear that there will proceed from it for you and for your child, the most deplorable results ? "

" Yes, I feel now," replied the cooper, shaking his head; " I see that I ought to have told you the truth immediately. You think that my resolution not to accept any one for son-in-law except a cooper, comes from an exaggerated love for my profession. No, it is nothing of all that ; I have a hidden motive. Seat yourself there, my dear Jacob, and listen to me, whilst drinking this flagon that, in his ill-humor, Spangenberg has left full. Touch glasses, I pray you ; do me this favor."

Paumgartner understood nothing of the graciousness with which master Martin loaded him. It was a thing so contrary to his habits, that he had indeed every reason to be surprised. Master Martin did not leave him time to think much of it, and commenced the following narration :

" I have sometimes told you that my poor wife died in giving birth to Rosa. With her then lived, if it can be called living to exist thus, an old relative bowed down by infirmities, md besides all, paralytic. One day Rosa was sleeping, tended by her nurse, in the chamber of this old relation, and I was contemplating this dear child with sad and mute melancholy, when my looks were turned towards the poor sick woman ; but seeing her so calm, so motionless, I began to think that she was not, perhaps, much to be pitied. Suddenly I saw her thin and wrinkled face become highly tinted with purple. She raised herself, extended her arms with as much facility as if a miracle had cured her, then she articulated these words — ' Rosa, my good Rosa ! ' The nurse gave her the child, and figure to yourself the surprise I felt, mingled with fear, when the old woman sang, in a voice clear and vibrating, a song after the fashion of Hans Berchler, the innkeeper at Strasbourg : — ' Tender child, with cheeks so blooming, Rosa, listen to my counsel. Dost thou wish to preserve thyself from suffering and cire ? Have no pride, criticise no one, and guard thyself from vain desires. Listen to my words, if thou wishest that the flower of happiness should bloom amongst thy days, and that God should grant thee his blessing ! '

" After having sung several couplets in the same manner, the old lady laid the child on the coverlid, and passing over her little angel's head her bony and wrinkled hand, she murmured several words that I did not hear ; but her attitude announced that she was praying. Then she fell back again into a stupor, and at the moment when the nurse went out of the chamber with the child, she breathed her last breath without agony."

" That is a strange story," said Paumgartner, after having listened to the relation of master Martin. "But explain to

26 Hoffmann's strange wombs,

me, I pray you, what connection can exist between the song of your old relation and the future of Rosa, that you so obstinately hold to making her the wife of a cooper,"

" How is it that you do not understand," exclaimed master Martin, "that the modest virtues recommended to Rosa, cannot be met with more certainly than in a family of good and honest work-people ? The old woman also spoke in her song of a neat house, of perfumed waves, and little angels with wings of fire. The neat house could not have more elegance than a cask made as a masterpiece by a master workman ; the perfumed waves are the generous wines with which is filled the masterpiece of the cooper ; and when the wine sparkles and ferments, the bubbles that rise from the bottom, do they not seem to you like little angels with enameled wings ? That is really, I assure you, the sense of the mysterious words muttered by the old woman ; and as this explanation suits me, I have decided that Rosa should marry no one but a cooper."

" But," continued the counsellor, " do you believe that it is sufficient to interpret thus vain words, instead of allowing yourself to be guided by the inspirations of Providence, that always knows much better than we ourselves what is suitable to our happiness ? And I add, that it appears just and wise to me, to leave to the heart of your daughter the care of seeking a husband worthy of her."

" That is all nonsense," exclaimed master Martin, striking the table with his fist. " I tell you, and I repeat, that Rosa must be the wife of the best cooper that I can discover."

The counsellor Jacob Paumgartner would willingly have got angry with the singular obstinacy of master Martin, but he had the good sense to restrain himself, and rising to take his leave — " The hours gallop," said he to his host ; "let us leave our empty glasses and our discussions, which are little less so."

As they were going out of the house, the one to retire, and the other conducting him, they perceived a young woman

THE COOPER OF NEKEMBEEG. 27

with five little boys. " Oh, heavens ! " exclaimed Rosa, c ■ Valentine is dead, for there are his wife and children ! ' y

" What do I hear ?" said master Martin. "Can Valentine be dead ? Oh, what a frightful misfortune ! He was the most skilful of my workmen, and the most upright one that I have ever known. He wounded himself with his adz several days ago. The wound became inflamed ; gangrene came to aid the fever, and the poor devil dies in the flower of his age."