Only a fiddler. A Danish romance

Chapter 1

^ Among those ruins, which occupy a circuit of two miles, the great temple is prominent over all the others, having almost completely preserved its portico. It produces an almost startling effect, on the very top of the pediment, straight over the head of the golden eagle, to see now a stork’s nest. It is a pity that its inhabitants just now should have moved to their summer country-seat in Europe, so that perhaps some of my friendly readers may have seen the proprietor stalking solemnly about, while for me the empty nest only was left to contemplate. ” — Semilasso in Africa.

W HEN the snow melts and the woods again become green, the storks return from their long journey. They have been in far Africa, have drunk of the waters of the Nile, and rested on the pyramids. The inhabitants of the Sicilian coasts and of the promontory of Messina relate how, at a certain time every year, the storks come over the sea in great flocks to rest themselves on the slopes of the mountains, which are then wholly covered by these creatures. Suddenly they again arise, and wing their way toward the north, over the snow and clouds of the Alps, ‘where the great multitude divides itself into smaller companies. . The smallest knows, as well as the largest, how to direct itself toward the land where it has its home : and it is not the smallest band which flies toward little Denmark. Each one knows the bay whither he must direct his course, knows the clump of trees, and the white chimney on the indented gable of the hall, where the empty nest awaits him. Strange, mystical bird ! Upon thy back ^ rides spring into the land j the forests become green, the grass grows more joyously, the air becomes warmer.

Such a pair had returned ; their nest stood on a farm-house

I situated on a road leading from the town of Svendborg. They were both in the greatest activity, carrying into their nest, which needed repairs, a long straw band, three yards in length, which they had found in a field. Their industry was observed, and occasioned some talk in a little neighboring court-yard. The only peculiarities about the man in the court were a dark mustache and a cap, the top of which, like that of the Neapolitan, hung to one side. He leaned against the frame of an open window. In the room sat an equally powerful form upon a table ; a tschako would have suited better with the dark hair than the white cap, a sabre better in his hand than the needle which now figured between the fingers. The man before the window was a sergeant ; the figure on the table a master-tailor. A little boy pressed his nose against the window to see the storks.

“ Droll creatures ! ” said the sergeant, curling his mustache ; “ not for a whole month’s pay should I like to shoot one of them ! They bring good luck wherever they build their nest; therefore the Jew has them also.”

“Certainly,” replied the tailor, “they build on the Jew’s house, but we have the advantage. Year after year they give their tithe : one year, an egg ; the next, a young one. They stick their pointed beaks through his neck, and then hoist him out of the nest. Otherwise, it is quite fun, when they feed their young, or teach them to fly. The old ones, especially at feeding-times, play curious pranks. They stand straight up in the nest, bend their necks over their backs, their beaks over their tails, just as when a juggler bends backward to pick up a piece of money from the ground. First of all, they draw in their necks, and then dart them out again, to present nice little frogs and snails with which the young ones are feasted. But the most amusing thing to see is when the young birds are taught to fly. The maneuver generally takes place on the roof. The little ones go along, balancing themselves with their wings, like rope-dancers on a rope, and commence with little springs, for they are very heavy. Every time when I see the storks returning from their long journey, it seems to me no other than if I myself had returned from my long wandering. Then I have all kinds of thoughts : I remember the

ONLY A FIDDLER!

high mountains up which I climbed ; the beautiful cities where the houses were palaces, and where the churches were filled with wealth, like the emperor’s treasures. Yes, it is glorious abroad ! ” sighed he ; “ there, it is summer the greater part of the year. The dear Lord has made us pretty much his step-children. But what was I going to say? We were speaking of the storks. People are not yet able properly to understand the peculiarities of these birds. Before they depart, they regularly assemble at certain places in the country. I have seen them by hundreds at Quarndrup. It was a thorough maneuver which they had there. They all struck their bills together at once, so loudly that one could not hear a single word for them. No doubt they were chattering about the journey which lay before them. They deliberated among themselves ; and suddenly the greater portion fell upon the few remaining ones, and killed them. There lay ten dead on the spot. People said it was the weak ones, which had not strength sufficient for the long journey, that they had killed. Then the whole band rises toward heaven, making spirals in the air like a corkscrew. Good Heavens ! how high these birds can soar ! They resemble, at last, a swarm of bees, and then they vanish. The yolk in their eggs is blood-red ; one can see that it is a summer-bird which has laid them.”

“ Did the stork bring me also out of the hot countries ? ” asked the little boy, who still lay with his nose against the window, although he had heard every word which was spoken.

“ He picked thee out of the mill-dam,” replied the father. “ Thou knowest that little children are brought out of the mill-dam.”

‘‘ But they have no clothes on,” said the boy : “ how can the stork, then, know which are boys and which girls ? ”

“Yes, on that account he often brings up a wrong one,” returned the sergeant; “he brings us a boy when we expect a girl.”

“ Shall we not pass from the stork to the lark ? ” observed the tailor, jestingly, whilst he took a blue bottle down from the cupboard, which was decorated with cups and cans ; and amidst which sat a doll, just such as in Catholic countries one •ees the Mother of God represented by.

ONLY A FIDDLER!

“ Mother Maria sits there very nicely,” said the sergeant, pointing toward the doll. “You have dressed her yourself, doubtless ? ”

“ The head is out of Austria,” answered the tailor ; “ the clothes I have sewn myself. Such things remind me of the journeys of my youth. Such a figure as this the children had placed on the table before the door ; little candles burned near ; and they begged from the passers-by. It is the Madonna’s birthday, said they. But you should see my changing-picture ! I have made it myself.” He pointed to a badly painted picture in a large frame. “It represents Dr. Faust, as he sits in the middle of his study. On one side stands a clock ; it is twelve o’clock at night : on the other side lies the Bible. Pull the string, there, on the left. See ! the clock changes into a devil, who leads Faust into temptation. Now, we will pull this string on the right, and the Bible opens, an angel comes forth from the leaves and speaks words of peace.” As he had said, so did it happen ; and near each figure came, at the same time, a motto to view, containing the temptation of the devil and the warning of the angel. The tailor again pulled the string on the right hand ; the angel returned into the Bible and vanished ; the devil only remained with Faust.

“ Zounds ! ” cried the sergeant ; “ have you contrived that ? You ought not to be a tailor; you have a head-piece ! ”

“ I have put this picture together in imitation of a similar one I saw in Germany: the machinery I invented myself. Neither is the history of Faust my invention : I saw it, during my travels, in a puppet-show. The angel rose out of the Bible to warn Faust; but the clock changed into Satan, who gained power over the doctor, when the angel retired and the book closed. This same Faust had an amanuensis. He knew the whole compact, and was himself on a dangerous path, but he drew back at the right time. Poor and miserable, one sees him in the last act, where he is a watchman in the town in which Faust lives. He knows that the devil will come to fetch his master so soon as he shall have announced twelve o’clock. One hears it strike twelve. The amanuensis, folding his hands, calls out, ‘ The bell has he dare not pro-

nounce ‘twelve,’ but merely lisps ‘tolled.’ But that does

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D

not help him ; Faust is borne away on red flames through the window.”

“You are not made to sit upon a table,” said the sergeant; “ you only live in travelling and marching. In the field, that would be the life for vou! Forward ! March ! The badg-e of honor on your breast ! Before a year is past you will be a sergeant ! ”

“ And my wife and child ? ” asked the tailor. “ The lad must then follow as piper, and she as a sutleress ! That would be no life for them ! No, one must be free and alone, and then the whole world is open before one ! Those were beautiful days when, for five whole years, I was my own master ! You see, sergeant, I was then just nineteen, and had neither father nor mother, nor any sweetheart either. Faaborg is a pretty little town, and there was I born and apprenticed. The neighbor’s Marie was already woman grown, whilst I was still called the lad ; therefore was I no little proud when the pretty girl, whom so many wooed, often extended her hand, and smiled upon me in a friendly manner : but that she should become my bride, my thoughts never rose so high ! I wished to travel as soon as I became a journeyman ; the world, about which 1 had heard and read so much, I wished to see and become acquainted with. Therefore, when the master-piece had succeeded and my savings had been counted, my knapsack was strapped together, and I bade adieu to all my friends. Now, in Faaborg, the church is at one end of the town, the tower at the other. In the evening before my journey, as I was passing the tower, Marie met me. She threw her arms round my neck, and kissed me on the lips. It was like fire, and never again did a kiss from any girl so penetrate to my heart ; I wished that the whole world had seen how Marie kissed me. The town has no watch, and only on the tower wall stand two painted watchmen, the size of life : they still stand there, for they are painted up every year. How I wished they had been alive ! I could not avoid saying to myself, in my heart. ‘ You have seen how the most beautiful girl in the world has kissed me ! ’ ”

“ So, doubtless, you were engaged to each other ? ” observed the sergeant.

“ By no means,” returned the tailor. “ I was as if born again, and my journey was commenced with a joyous mood. Five long years I travelled from one country to another , agreeable people, excellent masters I met with, but nowhere had I peace.”

“ And Marie’s kiss was a bait to you ; you took pleasure in the company of girls ! ”

“ Now, I will not make myself out better than I am ; but it is true that the first time when I abroad flung my arm round another girl, and received a kiss from her, my thoughts returned to Marie ; it was to me as if she saw us, and the blood rushed to my face. I never felt myself forlorn among strangers, and often when I had worked a few weeks in a town it seemed to me as though I had always 'wwked there, as though I had always sung songs with my companions. Only when I saw anything which made me feel completely away from home, such as the old Church of St. Stephen’s in Vienna, or the lofty mountains shrouded in clouds, did Faaborg stand before my eyes, and all my old acquaintance ; and whilst my eyes became moist at seeing all this splendor of the world, I thought involuntarily of the tower in my native town, and of the watchmen who had seen how Marie kissed me, and it seemed to me that it would be still more beautiful in these foreign countries were the old tower with its painted watchmen there, and Marie beside it in her gay bodice and green skirt. But I whistled a little song, and my gayety soon returned. Huzza ! thus I wandered with my companions further into the world ! ”

“ But here with us it is also beautiful ! ” interrupted the sergeant.

“ Yes truly, sergeant, there you are right ! When the fruit-trees are in bloom, the corn-fields are as odorous as a pot-pourri ! But you should only see how it is yonder, when one passes those mountains — the Alps, as they call them ! It is just as though a large garden lay before one, a garden which completely cuts out the Glorup garden, and leaves all royal gardens completely behind it. Marble, white as sugar, they hew out of the mountains, and grapes hang there as large as our plums. Three years I remained there. Once a letter

ONLY A FIDDLER!

reached me from my sister’s child out of Horne, and on the margin stood the words, ‘ Marie greets thee, and begs not to be forgotten : ’ they were from her own hand. Then my heart became tender. I knew well that it was love which I felt for Marie, and I had no longer any rest. A mighty yearning came over me, and I must away. Many nights I wandered solitarily along the road, past convents, through narrow village ways, over hill and dale. At length I heard again the Danish tongue, saw the spires of Horne, the heath-hills at Faaborg ; and when I sought Marie’s hand she said ‘Yes!’ Since then I have travelled no more ; I look at the storks when they depart and rejoice in their return. Yet, sometimes, I am not quite cheerful ; but then Marie has her own way of consoling one. Once a year we sail to Thorseng, and take a little exercise there. That is also travelling ! The longer journeys the lad can take when he is grown up ! There is courage in the lad, sergeant ! ”

“ Therefore he shall drink of this clear stuff,” replied the sergeant, and gave the little boy a half filled glass. The lad seized the glass with both hands, and drank out of it till the tears ran out of his eyes.

“ Here we have our little mistress ! ” cried the sergeant, as the mother entered the room at that moment. The full form and large brown eyes might have well recalled a heart from out the south.

A somewhat severe glance was cast on the husband ; a short, but friendly greeting given to the sergeant, who tapped her in a friendly manner on the shoulder. “ The whole love-story I have heard,” said he ; “ have been with the master in the east and in the west.”

“ Yes, he has nothing else to do,” replied she rather shortly, took off her shawl, and laid it in the drawer. “ He should have remained there if it was so splendid. God may know what he sought for here ! Now it is too cold ; again it rains too much ! Therefore I say to him so often : ‘ Travel ! no one keeps thee back. I can again go into service, and I shall earn bread enough for the boy.’ ”

“ Marie,” said the husband, “ that thou dost not really mean I Had I not returned thou wouldst, perhaps, still have had no husband.”

“ I might have had three for one. The farmer’s son from Orebak courted me j but I was then such a fool as we women are, alas ! only too often.”

“ Thou hast not repented ! ” said the husband, with a friendly manner, and laid his cheek against hers. She gave him a kiss, smiled, and went into the kitchen, where soon the fish was cooking for their small meal.

Chapter II

So they walked among flowers, embraced each other, and trembled with joy.” — Oehlenschlager

I N country towns, generally, each house has a garden, but the tailor’s house had none. Yet one must have some sort of a garden, if it be only to grow a little garlic in, and this they had managed. It was, if we may be allowed to say so, a kind of hanging garden, such as the poor in northern countries possess. A large box filled with earth was their garden ; it was fastened up high on the roof of the neighboring house, so that the ducks might not get to it.

Is green stuff wanted for the kitchen, a ladder must be put up to the box ; and this had to be done out of the kitchen. Between the shelves, ornamented with their pewter-plates and dishes, and the hearth, was the ladder fixed ; one person held the unsteady stairs whilst the other ascended to the ceiling, and, with half their body protruding through the opening, reached the garden. It was, indeed, a joy for the little lad when his turn came to climb up the ladder ! Once he had been permitted, swinging in his mother’s arms, to ascend out of the opening, and even touch the edge of the box with his feet.

“ We have, perhaps, more enjoyment in our box,” said Marie, “than the Jew has in his beautiful garden.

“ But we should very well like to have his garden,” replied the husband. “Beautiful flowers are said to grow in it — splendid plants, which grow in no other garden here in Svendborg. On summer evenings, when the wind blows in this direction, we can smell the jasmine. Often the desire has seized upon me to climb up to the stork’s nest, so that I might look down into the garden. Marie, that proud poplar which rises high over the house can stir strange thoughts within me. When in summer the full moon shines, it stands out so strangely lO

ONLY A FIDDLER!

contrasted against the blue heaven ; it is then as if I saw the large cypresses in Italy. Then, often when thou hast slept, I have got up and opened the window, and if a gentle breeze has borne to me the scent of the jasmine I have fancied myself in Italy.”

“ Am I again to hear these speeches ? ” said Marie, and turned her back ; but the little boy listened with open ears to his father’s accounts. How willingly would he also have flown with the storks to strange countries ! Yes, how happy would he have felt, could he only once have sat on the roof so as to see the Jew’s garden ! A mysterious world moved there. Once he had been with his mother in the house, and had seen the Feast of Tabernacles. Never could he forget the beautiful vaults of fir-trees, the heads of asparagus, the splendid pomegranates under the ceiling, and the fine unleavened bread. In the long winter evenings the father read aloud out of the “ Arabian Nights ; ” his father’s own travels sounded to him equally full of adventure ; the stork was in his imagination a mysterious creature, like the roc ; and the Jew’s garden, which he had never seen, was like the home of Scheherazade with the golden fountain and the talking bird.

It was in the month of July. The little fellow played in the turf-shed which formed the boundary between his home and his fairy-land. At one end of the little house some stones had got displaced. The boy knelt down to spy through the crevice in the wall, but he could only see a few green leaves which were shone upon by the sun. With a trembling hand he ventured to loosen a stone ; those that lay upon it tumbled down ; his heart beat, he did not dare to move. After a few moments he again summoned courage. The opening in the wall was become larger, but still he could only overlook the domain of a strawberry-bed; but to the boy’s imagination' there lay in this a feeling of wealth, such as a grown-up person experiences at sight of a fruit-tree overladen with fruit, when the branches, bowed by the rich weight, bend toward the earth. The leaves were large and full, though a few shone in the sun ; others, on the contrary, retired into the shade ; and in the midst of this luxuriant abundance hung two ripe berries, so fresh and red ! The grapes of Canaan could not have excited more glowing

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1 1

ideas of fruitfulness than did those two strawberries ! But in the contemplation lay also the temptation of gathering them ; but that was not to be attempted : to have loosened a stone was sin enough for one day.

The following afternoon the stones still lay as ever. The green leaves quivered before the opening from the air, and the berries yet hung there ! Then did the little hand move with fear and touch the berries, but without gathering them. But when the little hand a second time touched the enchanting fruit, and the fingers had already surrounded the stems, did another little hand touch his, and he drew it away so quickly that another stone fell out. He hid himself in fear, and only after a few minutes of expectation did he venture to glide forth and look through the opening. A pair of large brown eyes met his glance, but they vanished again as quickly ; soon, however, showing themselves again. They were the eyes of a sweet little girl ; full of curiosity waited she, at a prudent distance from the opening.

It was Naomi, the child of the Jew’s daughter, who was only a few years younger than the boy, and who was already known to him. He had seen her standing at her grandfather’s windows ; she had then little yellow laced boots on, and these had made an inextinguishable impression on him.

For some time the children gazed at each other without moving. “Little boy!” said Naomi, after some time, “thou mayest come into the garden to me ; make the hole larger ! ”

And, as though a powerful fairy had commanded it, down slid two more stones.

“ What art thou called ? ” asked she.

“ Christian,” answered the boy, as he thrust out his head into the garden, which was warmly shone upon by the sun. Naomi pushed aside the vine-leaves which shaded the wall, and Christian stood in the land of his dreams, forgetting him self in contemplation.

An older person would only have seen here a pretty little garden full of rare flowers, vines trained along the walls, a poplar, and at some distance two acacias : but we must see things as the one who had just entered saw them ; we must, like him, breathe the strong odor of flowers, feel the warm sunbeams, behold the rich splendor.

ONLY A FIDDLER!

Luxuriant, broad-leaved vines, the odorous honeysuckle, and blue and red convolvuli crept over the wall, and formed a kind of tapestry. A crescent-shaped thicket of moss-roses closed around splendid stocks of unusual varieties of color, from a deep purple to snow-white ; their fragrance seemed to overpower all other odors. Beside the poplar, round which twined the dark green ivy with its firm leaves, stood Naomi, the lovely child with the gazelle-eyes, and the brown complexion which betrayed her Asiatic extraction ; but the blood shone fresh and beautiful through her round cheeks, shaded by her raven hair. A dark dress, confined by a leathern girdle, enveloped her slender little form.

She drew him to the bench under the acacia, where the pale red blossom hung down in thick bunches. The most beautiful strawberries were gathered. The boy looked around him, and imagined himself transported into another world, which lay far from his home. Then the stork on the roof clattered with his bill, and Christian recognized the nest and young ones which stood in it, and which seemed to observe him with their wise eyes. And he thought of his parents’ little court-yard, of the box with the garlic, and of the eaves of the neighbor’s house j and he was astonished to be so near them : the stork could overlook all.

Naomi now took him by the hand and led him into the small garden-house, which could scarcely have contained four people, but to the children it was a splendid hall. The imagination of children can form castles and palaces out of sand.

A single window of dark-red glass threw a magical light over the dark hangings of the walls, which represented all kinds of animals with flowers ; an ostrich-egg, which from the ruddy light assumed a peculiar color, hung under the arched roof. Naomi pointed to the window ; Christian hastened within, and there lay everything without in the most wonderful light. He was obliged to think of the burning mountain, about which his father had told him. All objects lay as in a sea of flame ; every bush and every flower glowed ; the clouds appeared fire upon a fiery ground ; the stork itself, the nest, and the young ones all glittered.

“ It burns ! ” cried the boy \ but Naomi laughed at him, and clapped her little hands. As soon as the children looked at each other through the open door, everything assumed its natural hue ; nay, the green grass seemed to them still more lovely than before. The flowers had again their varied colors ; the stork was again white, and had red legs as always.

“ Shall we play at selling money } ” asked little Naomi, drawing a straw through two leaves. This was to represent the scales ; yellow, red, and blue leaves meant gold.

“ The red are the best,” said she. “ Thou must buy, but thou must give me something ; that is the pledge. Thou canst give me thy mouth ; we are only playing, I will not really keep it. Then thou wilt give me thy eyes, also.” She made a motion with her hand, as though she would take them both, and Christian received red as well as blue and yellow leaves. Never had he played so gloriously !

“ Good Heavens, Christian ! art thou there in the garden ? ” suddenly cried his mother through the opening in the wall.

Terrified, the boy let go Naomi’s hand, and crept back through the hole to the paternal domain, where Iris reception consisted in several rather heavy blows on his shoulders. The stones were then replaced, and similar tricks, as Marie called them, forbidden in future. Over her work, however, she delayed a little, looked at the garden, gathered the nearest straw berries, and put them into her mouth.

The following morning on the garden side a wooden wall was placed against the opening. Probably Naomi had mentioned the visit. In vain did Christian press the stones against the boards, dared even to knock at them j the entrance to the beautiful flower-land was closed.

The whole splendor, the trees and the flowers, the red windows, and the beautiful Naomi, stood before his eyes ; in the evening he thought of them so long that sleep overpowered him.

CHAPTER III. “ The pillars of smoke like whirlwinds appear

And shrieks for help salute the ear.”

Gaudy’s Son£-s of Empire^

I T was night when Christian again woke ; a strange ruddy light, like that which he had seen through the colored glass, illuminated the room. He stretched his head out of bed : yes ! the window-frames had the same fiery color, the heavens the same burning brightness ; the dark poplar appeared to glow ; it was indeed a joy to him to see these fiery colors once again.-

Suddenly there resounded a cry ; his parents sprang out of bed, the call of fire was heard. The whole of the Jew’s house stood in flames ; a shower of sparks fell in the neighboring courts ; the heaven was of a red hue, and the fire shot upward in long tongues of flame. Marie gave her boy over to the care of her opposite neighbor, and busied herself in collecting together, in the greatest haste, her most valuable possessions, for the fire had already seized upon the neighboring house with the stork’s nest.