登陆注册
15679900000005

第5章 CHAPTER II IN WHICH THE PRINCE PLAYS HAROUN-AL-RAS

`Yes, sir, despised,' nodded Killian, filling a long pipe, `and, to my way of thinking, justly despised. Here is a man with great opportunities, and what does he do with them? He hunts, and he dresses very prettily -- which is a thing to be ashamed of in a man -- and he acts plays; and if he does aught else, the news of it has not come here.'

`Yet these are all innocent,' said Otto. `What would you have him do -- make war?'

`No, sir,' replied the old man. `But here it is; I have been fifty years upon this River Farm, and wrought in it, day in, day out; I have ploughed and sowed and reaped, and risen early, and waked late; and this is the upshot: that all these years it has supported me and my family; and been the best friend that ever I had, set aside my wife; and now, when my time comes, I leave it a better farm than when I found it. So it is, if a man works hearty in the order of nature, he gets bread and he receives comfort, and whatever he touches breeds. And it humbly appears to me, if that Prince was to labour on his throne, as I have laboured and wrought in my farm, he would find both an increase and a blessing.'

`I believe with you, sir,' Otto said; `and yet the parallel is inexact. For the farmer's life is natural and simple; but the prince's is both artificial and complicated. It is easy to do right in the one, and exceedingly difficult not to do wrong in the other. If your crop is blighted, you can take off your bonnet and say, "God's will be done"; but if the prince meets with a reverse, he may have to blame himself for the attempt. And perhaps, if all the kings in Europe were to confine themselves to innocent amusement, the subjects would be the better off.'

`Ay,' said the young man Fritz, `you are in the right of it there.

That was a true word spoken. And I see you are like me, a good patriot and an enemy to princes.'

Otto was somewhat abashed at this deduction, and he made haste to change his ground. `But,' said he, `you surprise me by what you say of this Prince Otto. I have heard him, I must own, more favourably painted.

I was told he was, in his heart, a good fellow, and the enemy of no one but himself.'

`And so he is, sir,' said the girl, `a very handsome, pleasant prince; and we know some who would shed their blood for him.'

`O! Kuno!' said Fritz. `An ignoramus!'

`Ay, Kuno, to be sure,' quavered the old farmer. `Well, since this gentleman is a stranger to these parts, and curious about the Prince, I do believe that story might divert him. This Kuno, you must know, sir, is one of the hunt servants, and a most ignorant, intemperate man: a right Grünewalder, as we say in Gerolstein. We know him well, in this house; for he has come as far as here after his stray dogs; and I make all welcome, sir, without account of state or nation. And, indeed, between Gerolstein and Grünewald the peace has held so long that the roads stand open like my door; and a man will make no more of the frontier than the very birds themselves.'

`Ay,' said Otto, `it has been a long peace -- a peace of centuries.'

`Centuries, as you say,' returned Killian; `the more the pity that it should not be for ever. Well, sir, this Kuno was one day in fault, and Otto, who has a quick temper, up with his whip and thrashed him, they do say, soundly. Kuno took it as best he could, but at last he broke out, and dared the Prince to throw his whip away and wrestle like a man; for we are all great at wrestling in these parts, and it's so that we generally settle our disputes. Well, sir, the Prince did so; and, being a weakly creature, found the tables turned; for the man whom he had just been thrashing like a negro slave, lifted him with a back grip and threw him heels overhead.'

`He broke his bridle-arm,' cried Fritz -- `and some say his nose.

Serve him right, say I! Man to man, which is the better at that?'

`And then?' asked Otto.

`O, then Kuno carried him home; and they were the best of friends from that day forth. I don't say it's a discreditable story, you observe,' continued Mr. Gottesheim; `but it's droll, and that's the fact. A man should think before he strikes; for, as my nephew says, man to man was the old valuation.'

`Now, if you were to ask me,' said Otto, `I should perhaps surprise you. I think it was the Prince that conquered.'

`And, sir, you would be right,' replied Killian seriously. `In the eyes of God, I do not question but you would be right; but men, sir, look at these things differently, and they laugh.'

`They made a song of it,' observed Fritz. `How does it go? Ta-tum-ta-ra ...'

`Well,' interrupted Otto, who had no great anxiety to hear the song, `the Prince is young; he may yet mend.'

`Not so young, by your leave,' cried Fritz. `A man of forty.'

`Thirty-six,' corrected Mr. Gottesheim.

`O,' cried Ottilia, in obvious disillusion, `a man of middle age!

And they said he was so handsome when he was young!'

`And bald, too,' added Fritz.

Otto passed his hand among his locks. At that moment he was far from happy, and even the tedious evenings at Mittwalden Palace began to smile upon him by comparison.

`O, six-and-thirty!' he protested. `A man is not yet old at six-and-thirty. I am that age myself.'

`I should have taken you for more, sir,' piped the old farmer.

`But if that be so, you are of an age with Master Ottekin, as people call him; and, I would wager a crown, have done more service in your time. Though it seems young by comparison with men of a great age like me, yet it's some way through life for all that; and the mere fools and fiddlers are beginning to grow weary and to look old. Yes, sir, by six-and-thirty, if a man be a follower of God's laws, he should have made himself a home and a good name to live by; he should have got a wife and a blessing on his marriage; and his works, as the Word says, should begin to follow him.'

`Ah, well, the Prince is married,' cried Fritz, with a coarse burst of laughter.

`That seems to entertain you, sir,' said Otto.

`Ay,' said the young boor. `Did you not know that? I thought all Europe knew it!' And he added a pantomime of a nature to explain his accusation to the dullest.

同类推荐
  • 龙虎还丹诀

    龙虎还丹诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 杂纂二续

    杂纂二续

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 孟子注疏

    孟子注疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 乡言解颐

    乡言解颐

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 上清无上金元玉清金真飞元步虚玉章

    上清无上金元玉清金真飞元步虚玉章

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 当时间与世纪重合

    当时间与世纪重合

    人,永远不知道,在时间的另一端,自己会是什么样的。或许,遇到相同的人,在时间的夹缝的角度不同,结果也就不一样。猜想,推测,后悔,感叹,日日重复着。时间永远不会停住,所以告诉我,在时间的另一边,你,也爱着我。世纪,过去。又一个时间,我们相遇。却忘记了彼此。时间与世纪重合,你是否如往,爱着我?
  • 四川文学(2015年第6期)

    四川文学(2015年第6期)

    《四川文学》: 文学刊物。以发表短篇小说为主,同时容纳其它文学体裁、品类,注重思想性与文学性的统一,刊物融现实性、艺术性、可读性于一体,聚读者、作者、编者为一家,所发作品受到省内外广大读者和全国各家文学选刊的青睐。
  • 泣蝶之泪

    泣蝶之泪

    十年,与彼岸的约定。这是虚幻,还是现实?等待长久的愿望,化作暗藏在心里的种子渴望成长。无法逃脱的命运,牵连着世界的转动,与其邂逅,与其分离。一个不经意的抉择即能改变一切,创造名为希望的未来。
  • 不羁青衣

    不羁青衣

    2019年,著名武术奇才郑青书,因私人原因成为杀人犯。被判定为死罪,意外穿越至异界。在这个神秘的世界留下了属于他的传说。杀神灭佛经历种种困难终归地球,将战心归还于先祖,做回自己,大道无边终有念,回归真我初心变。
  • 诡境传

    诡境传

    一条道走到黑,走的好便是英雄,走岔了便是空气中某粒尘埃或史书上某块排泄物。这就是规则。每个人都不会希望走岔,但谁又说得清自己走没走岔呢。于是,便得小心谨慎地走,以防走错。那位来自某个世界琴呦大陆上的朴去病曾经说过,“刚出生的孩子之所以不会走错,除了因为不会走路外,还是因为他们还没有被世界所吸收,不会去考虑很多人的感受,只会按照自己的本能。所以,只要做好自己,不必过分地去考虑外人的想法,便算是走好了路。尽管,那都不算是条路。
  • 仙鸿界

    仙鸿界

    人类在一次次的断层中不断的在追寻真相,天崩地裂,海水倒转,这次大恐怖又来临人类能否改变命运。。。。。。
  • 武道天极录破

    武道天极录破

    那是一个动荡的年代,也是一个英雄的年代,少年们彼此相遇,又彼此别离!
  • 1~2岁宝宝护养全程宝典

    1~2岁宝宝护养全程宝典

    本书介绍了1-2岁幼儿的生长发育、饮食营养、安全护理、疾病急救等知识。
  • 汉译佛教经典哲学

    汉译佛教经典哲学

    《汉译佛教经典哲学(上下)》即是作者长期披辨和研究汉译佛教经典、着力厘清繁杂佛教哲学的精要之作。全书共分两卷:上卷“原始佛教与部派佛教的基本教义和经典”,主要分析了佛教早中期形成的基础教义、基本概念及诸经典;下卷“大乘佛教思潮和大乘佛教经典”,主要分析了大乘思潮以及对中国佛教影响深远的大乘诸经典。佛教作为一种域外的宗教,其思想在中国的传播,主要是通过汉译经典来实现的。
  • 霹雳之夜雨迷离

    霹雳之夜雨迷离

    她是鬼猫一族,拥有强大的魔法能量,久远的封印导致她性格极端,魔法的失误,让她来到霹雳的世界。迎接她的,是血雨腥风,还是平静淡泊?霹雳同人,女主文,正直向。剧集内容跨度:圣魔战印至动机风云。