for instance, at Hengler's, never thinks of offering her poor fairy Godmother a ticket from the Mendicity Society. She immediately goes and fetches her some dinner. And she makes herself generally useful, and sweeps the doorstep, and dusts the door;-and none of the audience think any the worse of her on that account. They think the worse of her proud sisters who make her do it. But when they leave the Circus, they never think for a moment of making themselves useful, like Cinderella. They forthwith play the proud sisters as much as they can; and try to make anybody else, who will, sweep their doorsteps. Also, at Hengler's, nobody advises Cinderella to write novels, instead of doing her washing, by way of bettering herself. The audience, gentle and simple, feel that the only chance she has of pleasing her Godmother, or marrying a prince, is in remaining patiently at her tub, as long as the Fates will have it so, heavy though it be. Again, in all dramatic representation of Little Red Riding Hood, everybody disapproves of the carnivorous propensities of the Wolf. They clearly distinguish there—as clearly as the Fourteenth Psalm, itself between the class of animal which eats, and the class of animal which is eaten.1 But once outside the theatre, they declare the whole human race to be universally carnivorous-and are ready themselves to eat up any quantity of Red Riding Hoods, body and soul, if they can make money by them. And lastly, at Hengler's and Drury Lane, see how the whole of the pleasure of life depends on the existence of Princes, Princesses, and Fairies. One never hears of a Republican pantomime; one never thinks Cinderella would be a bit better off if there were no princes. The audience understand that though it is not every good little housemaid who can marry a prince, the world would not be the least pleasanter, for the rest, if there were no princes to marry. 1 [See Letter 36, § 8 (Vol. XXVII. p. 673).] 2 [See below, Letter 42, § 14 (p. 103).] 8. Nevertheless, it being too certain that the sweeping of doorsteps diligently will not in all cases enable a pretty maiden to drive away from said doorsteps, for evermore, in a gilded coach,-one has to consider what may be the next best for her. And next best, or, in the greater number of cases, best altogether, will be that Love, with his felicities, should himself enter over the swept and garnished steps, and abide with her in her own life, such as it is. And since St. Valentine's grace is with us, at this season, I will finish my Fors, for this time, by carrying on our little romance of the Broom-maker, to the place in which he unexpectedly finds it. In which romance, while we may perceive the principal lesson intended by the author to be that the delights and prides of affectionate married life are consistent with the humblest station (or may even be more easily found there than in a higher one), we may for ourselves draw some farther conclusions which the good Swiss pastor only in part intended. We may consider in what degree the lightening of the wheels of Hansli's cart, when they drave heavily by the wood of Muri, corresponds to the change of the English highway into Mount Parnassus, for Sir Philip Sidney; and if the correspondence be not complete, and some deficiency in the divinest power of Love be traceable in the mind of the simple person as compared to that of the gentle one, we may farther consider, in due time, how, without help from any fairy Godmother, we may make Cinderella's life gentle to her, as well as simple; and, without taking the peasant's hand from his labour, make his heart leap with joy as pure as a king's.* 1 3 *If to any reader, looking back on the history of Europe for the last four centuries, this sentence seems ironical, let him be assured that for the causes which make it seem so, during the last four centuries, the end of kinghood has come. 1 [Exodus xiv. 25.] See Letter 35, § 4 (Vol. XXVII. p. 652).] [On this aspect of the matter, compare Letter 55, § 5 (below, pp. 373–374).] 9. Well, said Hansli, I'll help you; give me your bag; I'll put it among my brooms, and nobody will see it. Everybody knows me. Not a soul will think I've got your shoes underneath there. You've only to tell me where to leave them-or indeed where to stop for you, if you like. You can follow a little way off;-nobody will think we have anything to Ido with each other. The young girl made no compliments.* You are really very good,† said she, with a more serene face. She brought her packet, and Hans hid it so nicely that a cat couldn't have seen it. Shall I push, or help you to pull? asked the young girl, as if it had been a matter of course that she should also do her part in the work. As you like best, though you needn't mind; it isn't a pair or two of shoes that will make my cart much heavier. The young girl began by pushing; but that did not last long. Presently she found herself front, pulling also by the pole. in It seems to me that the cart goes better so,2 said she. As one ought to suppose, she pulled with all her strength; that which nevertheless did not put her out of breath, nor hinder her from relating all she had in her head, or heart. They got to the top of the hill of Stalden without Hansli's knowing how that had happened: the long alley § seemed to have shortened itself by half. There, one made one's dispositions; the young girl stopped behind, * Untranslatable. It means, she made no false pretence of reluctance, and neither politely nor feebly declined what she meant to accept. But the phrase might be used of a person accepting with ungraceful eagerness, or want of sense of obligation. A slight sense of this simplicity is meant by our author to be here included in the expression. "Trop bon." It is a little more than "very good," but not at all equivalent to our English "too good." "Se trouva." Untranslatable. It is very little more than "was in front. But that little more, the slight sense of not knowing quite how she got there, is necessary to mark the under-current of meaning; 4 she goes behind the cart first, thinking it more modest; but presently, nevertheless, "finds herself" in front; "the cart goes better, so." § There used to be an avenue of tall trees, about a quarter of a mile long, on the Thun road, just at the brow of the descent to the bridge of the Aar, at the lower end of the main street of Berne. 1 [This narrative is continued from Letter 34, § 10 (Vol. XXVII. p. 635). For the original, see Gotthelf's Gesammelte Werke, 1857, vol. ix. pp. 356-362.] 3 [The title of this Letter.] In the original, "Wolltest? frug es mit aufgeheitertem Angesicht, das ginge mir viel zu gut."] 4 [The undercurrent, however, is not in the German original, which reads, "Anfangs stiez das Mädchen hinten am Karren, doch nicht lange ging's, so war es vorne und zog an der Stange. Es dünke ihm, es schicke sich ihm hier besser, sagte es."] while Hansli, with her bag and his brooms, entered the town without the least difficulty, where he remitted her packet to the young girl, also without any accident; but they had scarcely time to say a word to each other * Hansli before the press of people, cattle, and vehicles separated them. had to look after his cart, lest it should be knocked to bits. And so ended the acquaintanceship for that day. This vexed Hansli not a little; howbeit he didn't think long about it. We cannot (more's the pity) affirm that the young girl had made an ineffaceable impression upon him,-and all the less, that she was not altogether made for producing ineffaceable impressions. She was a stunted little girl, with a broad face. That which she had of best was a good heart, and an indefatigable ardour for work; but those are things which, externally, are not very remarkable, and many people don't take much notice of them. Nevertheless, the next Tuesday, when Hansli saw himselft at his cart again, he found it extremely heavy. I wouldn't have believed, said he to himself, what a difference there is between two pulling, and one. Will she be there again, I wonder, thought he, as he came near the little wood of Muri. I would take her bag very willingly if she would help me to pull. Also the road is nowhere so ugly as between here and the town.‡ And behold that it precisely happened that the young girl was sitting there upon the same bench, all the same as eight days before; only with the difference that she was not crying. Have you got anything for me to carry to-day? asked Hansli, who found his cart at once became a great deal lighter at the sight of the young girl. It is not only for that that I have waited, answered she; even if I had had nothing to carry to the town, I should have come, all the same; for eight days ago I wasn't able to thank you; nor to ask if that cost anything. A fine question! said Hansli. Why, you served me for a second donkey; and yet I never asked how much I owed you for helping me to pull! So, as all that went of itself, the young girl brought her bundle, and Hansli hid it, and she went to put herself at the pole as if she had * "Cohue." word.1 Confused and moving mass. We have no such useful † "Se revit." It would not be right to say here "se trouva," because there is no surprise, or discovery, in the doing once again what is done every week. But one may nevertheless contemplate oneself, and the situation, from a new point of view. Hansli "se revit "2-reviewed himself, literally; a very proper operation, every now and then, for everybody. A slight difference between the Swiss and English peasant is marked here; to the advantage of the former. At least, I imagine an English Hansli would not have known, even in love, whether the road was ugly or pretty. [In the original, "Fluth."] 2 [In the original simply "als Hansli wieder den Karren zog."] known it all by heart. I had got a little way from home, said she, before it came into my head that I ought to have brought a cord to tie to the cart behind, and that would have gone better; but another time, if I return, I won't forget. This association for mutual help found itself, then, established, without any longer diplomatic debates, and in the most simple manner. And, that day, it chanced that they were also able to come back together as far as the place where their roads parted; all the same, they were so prudent as not to show themselves together before the gens-d'armes at the town gates. And now for some time Hansli's mother had been quite enchanted with her son. It seemed to her he was more gay, she said. He whistled and sang, now, all the blessed day; and tricked himself up, so that he could never have done.* Only just the other day he had bought a great-coat of drugget, in which he had nearly the air of a real counsellor. But she could not find any fault with him for all that; he was so good to her that certainly the good God must reward him;-as for herself, she was in no way of doing it, but could do nothing but pray for him. Not that you are to think, said she, that he puts everything into his clothes; he has some money too. If God spares his life, I'll wager that one day he'll come to have a cow:-he has been talking of a goat ever so long; but it's not likely I shall be spared to see it. And, after all, I don't pretend to be sure it will ever be. Mother, said Hans one day, I don't know how it is; but either the cart gets heavier, or I'm not so strong as I was; for some time I've scarcely been able to manage it. It is getting really too much for me; especially on the Berne road, where there are so many hills. I dare say, said the mother; aussi, why do you go on loading it more every day? I've been fretting about you many a time; for one always suffers for over-work when one gets old. But you must take care. Put a dozen or two of brooms less on it, and it will roll again all right. That's impossible, mother; I never have enough as it is, and I haven't time to go to Berne twice a week. But, Hansli, suppose you got a donkey. I've heard say they are the most convenient beasts in the world: they cost almost nothing, eat almost nothing, and anything one likes to give them; and that's † as strong as a horse, without counting that one can make something of the milk,-not that I want any, but one may speak of it.‡ * "Se requinquait à n'en plus finir." Entirely beyond English rendering.2 "Ça." Note the peculiar character and value, in modern French, of this general and slightly depreciatory pronoun, essentially a republican word, hurried, inconsiderate, and insolent. The popular chant "ça ira" gives the typical power. "C'est seulement pour dire." I've been at least ten minutes trying to translate it, and can't. 1 [Aussi: see Letter 30, § 5, author's note (Vol. XXVII. p. 550).] [In the original, "und er pützerle sich zweg, es habe keine Gattig."] 3 [In the German, "nit dass ich möchte, aber nur so zu sagen."] |