Latest / Fairytales and Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen / 018 - Lucky Peer part 2

Transcript

018 - Lucky Peer part 2 · Fairytales and Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

0:01
Speaker 1: Section eighteen of Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales and Short Stories,
0:07
Speaker 1: Volume six. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
0:13
Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
0:18
Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Ruy huck Ann's
0:28
Speaker 1: Christian Anderson Fairy Tales and Short Stories, Volume six, eighteen
0:35
Speaker 1: sixty six to eighteen seventy three by Hans Christian Anderson,
0:42
Speaker 1: translated by HP. Paul. Chapter eighteen, The Lucky Peer, Part two.
0:51
Speaker 1: A good many thoughts went through little Peer's head, and
0:55
Speaker 1: one Sunday, when he had his best clothes on, he
0:59
Speaker 1: started out with us, saying a word about it to
1:01
Speaker 1: his mother or grandmother, or even to Miss Franzen, who
1:06
Speaker 1: always gave him good advice. Straight to the chapel master.
1:10
Speaker 1: He thought this man was the most important one there
1:13
Speaker 1: was outside the ballet. He stepped boldly in and said,
1:18
Speaker 1: I am at the dancing school, but there is so
1:21
Speaker 1: much che cane that I would much rather be a
1:25
Speaker 1: player or a singer. If you please have you a voice,
1:30
Speaker 1: asked the chapel master, and looked quite pleasantly at him.
1:34
Speaker 1: Seems to me I know you where have I seen
1:37
Speaker 1: you before? Was it not you who was ripped down
1:40
Speaker 1: the back? And now he laughed, But Pierre grew red.
1:44
Speaker 1: He was surely no longer Lucky Pierre, as his grandmother
1:48
Speaker 1: had called him. He looked down at his feet and
1:51
Speaker 1: wished himself away. Sing me a song, said the chapel master. Nay,
1:57
Speaker 1: cheer up, my lad, And he lapped him under the chin.
2:01
Speaker 1: And Pierre looked up into his kind eyes and sang
2:04
Speaker 1: a song which he had heard at the theater in
2:07
Speaker 1: the opera Robert le de'able grass a mooir. That is
2:14
Speaker 1: a difficult song. Hought you make it go? Said the
2:18
Speaker 1: chapel master. You have an excellent voice when it is
2:21
Speaker 1: not ripped in the back. And he laughed and called
2:24
Speaker 1: his wife. She also must hear Pierre sing, and she
2:28
Speaker 1: nodded her head and said something in her foreign tongue.
2:31
Speaker 1: Just at that moment the singing master of the theater
2:34
Speaker 1: came in. It was he to whom Pierre should have
2:38
Speaker 1: gone if he wanted to get among the singers. Now
2:41
Speaker 1: he came of himself, quite accidentally, as it were. He
2:45
Speaker 1: heard him also sing crass samoi. But he did not laugh,
2:50
Speaker 1: and he did not look so kindly on him as
2:53
Speaker 1: the chapel master and his wife. Still, it was decided
2:57
Speaker 1: that Pierre should have singing lessons. Now he has got
3:02
Speaker 1: on the right track, said miss Franson. One gets along
3:06
Speaker 1: a great deal farther with a voice than with legs.
3:10
Speaker 1: If I had had a voice, I should have been
3:12
Speaker 1: a great songstress, and perhaps a baroness now or a
3:17
Speaker 1: bookbinder's lady said, mother, had you become rich, you would
3:21
Speaker 1: have had the bookbinder. Anyway, we do not understand that hint,
3:27
Speaker 1: But miss Franston did. Pierre must sing for her, and
3:31
Speaker 1: sing for the merchant's family when they heard of his
3:34
Speaker 1: new career. He was called in one evening when they
3:38
Speaker 1: had company downstairs, and he sang several songs for one
3:43
Speaker 1: Crays and more. All the company clapped their hands, and
3:46
Speaker 1: Felix with them. He had heard him sing before in
3:51
Speaker 1: the stable Peter had sung the entire ballet of Samson,
3:55
Speaker 1: and that was the most delightful of all. One cannot
3:59
Speaker 1: sing a ballet, said the lady. Yes Pierre could, said Felix,
4:03
Speaker 1: and so he was bidden to it. He sang, and
4:07
Speaker 1: he talked, he drummed and humped. It was child's play,
4:11
Speaker 1: but there came snatches of well known melodies, which did
4:14
Speaker 1: not give him an idea of what the ballet meant.
4:17
Speaker 1: All the company found it very entertaining. They laughed and
4:21
Speaker 1: praised it, one louder than the other. The merchant's lady
4:26
Speaker 1: gave Pierre a great piece of cake and a silver dollar.
4:30
Speaker 1: How lucky the boy felt till his eyes rested on
4:33
Speaker 1: a gentleman who stood somewhat back and looked sternly at him.
4:38
Speaker 1: There was something harsh and severe in the man's black eyes.
4:42
Speaker 1: He did not laugh, he did not speak a single
4:45
Speaker 1: friendly word. And this gentleman was the theater's singing master.
4:52
Speaker 1: Next morning, Pierre was to go to him, and he
4:54
Speaker 1: stood there quite as severe looking as before. What possessed
4:59
Speaker 1: you yesterday? Said he? Could you not understand that they
5:02
Speaker 1: were making a fool of you? Never do that again,
5:05
Speaker 1: And don't you go running about and singing at doors
5:09
Speaker 1: outside or in. Now you can go. I'll not have
5:12
Speaker 1: any singing with you to day. Pierre was dreadfully cast down.
5:17
Speaker 1: He had fallen out of the master's good grace. Nevertheless,
5:20
Speaker 1: the master was really better satisfied with him than ever before.
5:25
Speaker 1: In all the absurdity which he had scraped together. There
5:29
Speaker 1: was some meaning, something not at all common. The lad
5:33
Speaker 1: had an ear for music, and a voice clear as
5:36
Speaker 1: a bell, and of great compass. If it continued like that,
5:41
Speaker 1: then the little man's fortune was made. Now began the
5:45
Speaker 1: singing lesson. Pierre was industrious, arid quick. How much there
5:50
Speaker 1: was to learn, how much to know? The mother toiled
5:54
Speaker 1: and slaved that her son might go well dressed and neat,
5:58
Speaker 1: and not look too mean among the people to whose
6:01
Speaker 1: houses he now went. He was always singing and trolling.
6:05
Speaker 1: They had no heed at all of a canary bird,
6:07
Speaker 1: the mother said, every Sunday must he sing a psalm
6:11
Speaker 1: with his grandmother? It was charming to hear his fresh
6:15
Speaker 1: voice lift itself up with hers. It is much more
6:20
Speaker 1: beautiful than to hear him sing wildly. That was what
6:24
Speaker 1: she called his singing, when like a little bird he
6:28
Speaker 1: trolled with his voice and gave forth tones which seemed
6:32
Speaker 1: to come of themselves, and make such music as they pleased.
6:37
Speaker 1: What tunes there were in his little throat, What sounding
6:40
Speaker 1: music in his little breast. Indeed he could imitate a
6:44
Speaker 1: whole orchestra. There were both flute and bassoon in his voice,
6:50
Speaker 1: violin and bugle. He sang as the birds sang. But
6:54
Speaker 1: man's voice is most charming, even a little man's, when
6:59
Speaker 1: he can sing like Pierre. But in the winter, just
7:03
Speaker 1: as he was to go to the priest to be
7:05
Speaker 1: prepared for confirmation, he caught cold. The little bird in
7:09
Speaker 1: his breast, said Pip. The voice was ripped like a
7:13
Speaker 1: vampire's back piece. It is no great misfortune, thought mother
7:18
Speaker 1: and grandmother. Now he doesn't go singing Trallah, and thus
7:22
Speaker 1: he can think more seriously about his Christianity. His voice
7:27
Speaker 1: was changing, the singing master, said, Pierre must now not
7:31
Speaker 1: sing at all. How long would it be? A year,
7:35
Speaker 1: perhaps two? Perhaps the voice would never come again. That
7:39
Speaker 1: was a great grief. Think now only of the confirmation,
7:43
Speaker 1: said mother and grandmother. Apply yourself to music, said the
7:47
Speaker 1: singing master. But hold your mouth. He thought of his Christianity.
7:52
Speaker 1: As he studied music. There was singing and playing going
7:55
Speaker 1: on inside him. He wrote entire melodies down in notes,
8:00
Speaker 1: songs without words. Finally he wrote the words too, Really,
8:05
Speaker 1: thou art a poet, little Pierre, said the merchant's wife,
8:08
Speaker 1: to whom he carried his text in music. The merchant
8:12
Speaker 1: received a piece of music dedicated to him, a piece
8:15
Speaker 1: without words. Felix only got one, and so did Miss Franzon,
8:21
Speaker 1: and that went into her album, in which were verses
8:25
Speaker 1: and music by two who were once young lieutenants but
8:29
Speaker 1: now were old majors on half Bay. The book was
8:33
Speaker 1: given by a friend who had himself bounded. And Pierre
8:40
Speaker 1: stood at Easter, as they say, Felix presented him with
8:43
Speaker 1: a silver watch. It was the first watch peer had owned.
8:48
Speaker 1: It seemed to him that he was a man already,
8:50
Speaker 1: when he did not need to ask others what o'clock
8:54
Speaker 1: it was. Felix came up to the garret, congratulated him,
8:58
Speaker 1: and handed him the watch. He himself was not to
9:01
Speaker 1: stand until the autumn. They took each other by the hand,
9:05
Speaker 1: these two children of the house, both just the same age,
9:09
Speaker 1: born the same day and in the same house. And
9:13
Speaker 1: Felix ate of the cake which had been baked in
9:16
Speaker 1: the garret on occasion of the confirmation. It is a
9:20
Speaker 1: glad day with solemn thoughts, said grandmother. Yes, very solemn,
9:26
Speaker 1: said mother. Had father only lived to see Pierre stand.
9:30
Speaker 1: The next Sunday they all three sat at our Lord's
9:33
Speaker 1: table as they came from church there came a message
9:37
Speaker 1: from the singing master, asking Pierre to come to him,
9:40
Speaker 1: and Pierre went. Some good news awaited him, and yet
9:44
Speaker 1: pretty serious too. He was to give up singing for
9:47
Speaker 1: a year altogether. His voice was to lie fallow, like
9:51
Speaker 1: a field peasant might say. But during that time he
9:55
Speaker 1: was to go to school. Not in the capital, where
9:58
Speaker 1: every evening he would be running to the theater from
10:02
Speaker 1: which he could not keep away. He was to go
10:04
Speaker 1: thirteen miles away from home to board with a schoolmaster
10:08
Speaker 1: who kept a lad or two aunt pensonts. There he
10:13
Speaker 1: was to learn language and science, which would one day
10:16
Speaker 1: be of service to him. The charge for a year's
10:20
Speaker 1: course was three hundred ricks dollars, and that was paid
10:24
Speaker 1: by a benevolent man who did not wish his name given.
10:28
Speaker 1: It is the merchant, said mother and grandmother. The day
10:32
Speaker 1: of departure came a good Many tears were shed, and
10:36
Speaker 1: kisses and blessings given, And then Pier rode thirteen miles
10:41
Speaker 1: on the railway out into the wide world. It was whitsuntide,
10:46
Speaker 1: the sun shone, The woods were fresh and green. The
10:50
Speaker 1: train went rushing through them. Fields and villages flitted past,
10:55
Speaker 1: gentlemen's country seats peeped out. The cattle stood on the
10:59
Speaker 1: aftercrop pass. Soon there came a station, then another market town,
11:05
Speaker 1: after market town. At each stopping place there was a
11:08
Speaker 1: hubbub of people welcoming or saying good bye. There was
11:12
Speaker 1: noisy talking outside, and in the carriages where Pierce sat
11:17
Speaker 1: there was a deal of entertainment and chattering by a
11:20
Speaker 1: widow dressed in black. She talked about his grave, his coffin,
11:25
Speaker 1: and his corpse, meaning her child's. It had been such
11:29
Speaker 1: a poor little thing, and there could have been no
11:31
Speaker 1: happiness for it had it lived. It was a great
11:36
Speaker 1: relief for her and the little lamb when it fell asleep.
11:40
Speaker 1: I spared no expense in the flowers, said she, And
11:44
Speaker 1: you must remember that it died at a very expensive time,
11:49
Speaker 1: when you have to cut the flowers in pots. Every
11:53
Speaker 1: Sunday I went to my grave and laid a wreath
11:56
Speaker 1: on it, and great wild silk bows. The silk bows
12:00
Speaker 1: were immediately stolen by small girls and used for dancing bows.
12:05
Speaker 1: They were so attractive. One Sunday, when I went there,
12:10
Speaker 1: I knew that my grave was on the left of
12:12
Speaker 1: the principal path. But when I got there there was
12:16
Speaker 1: my grave on the right. How is this, says I
12:19
Speaker 1: to the grave, Digger, isn't my grave on the left? No,
12:24
Speaker 1: it isn't any longer, said he. Madam's grave lies there,
12:27
Speaker 1: to be sure, But the mound has been moved over
12:31
Speaker 1: to the right. That place belongs to another man's grave.
12:37
Speaker 1: But I will have my corpse in my grave, said I.
12:40
Speaker 1: And I have a perfect right to say. So. Shall
12:44
Speaker 1: I go and dress a false mount when my corpse
12:47
Speaker 1: lies without any sign on the other side? Indeed I won't. Oh,
12:52
Speaker 1: Madam must talk to the dean. He is such a
12:55
Speaker 1: good man, that dean. He gave me permission to have
12:58
Speaker 1: my corpse on the right. It would cost five rix dollars.
13:03
Speaker 1: I gave that with a kiss of my hand, and
13:06
Speaker 1: stood myself by my old grave. Can I now be
13:11
Speaker 1: very sure that it is my own coffin, and that
13:14
Speaker 1: my corpse that has moved? That, Madam can? And so
13:19
Speaker 1: I gave each of the men a piece of money
13:21
Speaker 1: for the moving. But now, since it had cost so much,
13:26
Speaker 1: I thought I ought to send something to make it beautiful,
13:29
Speaker 1: And so I ordered a monument with an inscription. But
13:33
Speaker 1: will you believe it? When I got it, there was
13:36
Speaker 1: a carving of a butterfly at the top. Why that
13:40
Speaker 1: means frivilty, said I I want that have on my grave.
13:45
Speaker 1: It's not frivilty, madam. It is immortality. I never heard that,
13:50
Speaker 1: said I. Now, have you have any of you here
13:54
Speaker 1: in the carriage? Ever heard of a butterfly as a
13:57
Speaker 1: sign of anything, for anything except frivilty. I held my peace.
14:03
Speaker 1: I have no liking for talk, and I put the
14:06
Speaker 1: monument away in my pantry. There it stood till my
14:10
Speaker 1: lodger came home. He is a student and has ever
14:15
Speaker 1: so many books. He assured me that it stood for immortality,
14:21
Speaker 1: and so the monument was placed on the grave. In
14:28
Speaker 1: the midst of this chatter, Pierre came to the station
14:31
Speaker 1: where he was to stop, that he too might become
14:36
Speaker 1: student and have ever so many books. And of Part three,
14:46
Speaker 1: Part four, her Gabriel, the worthy man of learning, with
14:50
Speaker 1: whom Pierre was to live as a boarding scholar, was
14:53
Speaker 1: himself at the railway station waiting to meet him. Gabriel
15:00
Speaker 1: was a lank, bony man with great staring eyes that
15:04
Speaker 1: stuck out so very far one was almost afraid that
15:09
Speaker 1: when he sneezed they would start out of his head entirely.
15:15
Speaker 1: He was accompanied by three of his own little boys.
15:18
Speaker 1: One of them stumbled over his own legs, and the
15:21
Speaker 1: other two trod on piers stores in their eagerness to
15:25
Speaker 1: see him close to Two languor boys besides were with him,
15:31
Speaker 1: the older about fourteen years, fair skinned, freckled, and very pimply,
15:38
Speaker 1: young Madison student in about three years, if he studies
15:42
Speaker 1: primus the dean's son. That was the younger, who looked
15:46
Speaker 1: like a head of wheat. Both her borders studying with me,
15:51
Speaker 1: said her Gabriel. Our little playthings, he called his own boys.
15:58
Speaker 1: Try and take the newcomers trunk on your wheelbarrow. The
16:01
Speaker 1: table is set for you at home. Stuffed turkey, said
16:06
Speaker 1: the two young gentlemen who were borders. Stuffed turkey said
16:11
Speaker 1: the little playthings, and the first again fell over his
16:15
Speaker 1: own legs. Caesar, look after your feet, exclaimed her Gabriel.
16:22
Speaker 1: And they went into the town, and out of it
16:24
Speaker 1: there stood a great half tumbled down timber workhouse and
16:28
Speaker 1: a jasmine covered summer house. Here stood Madame Gabriel with
16:33
Speaker 1: more small playthings, two little girls. The new pupil, said
16:38
Speaker 1: Her Gabriel, most heartily welcome, said Madame Gabriel, a youthful,
16:43
Speaker 1: thrifty dame red and white, with kiss me, a few
16:47
Speaker 1: dare curls and a good deal of pomade on her hair.
16:51
Speaker 1: Good heavens, a well grown lad you are, said she
16:54
Speaker 1: to Pierre. You are quite a gentleman already. I suppose
16:58
Speaker 1: that you were like primer. So yeah, Madson Angel Gabriel,
17:03
Speaker 1: it was well that the inner door is nailed. You
17:06
Speaker 1: know what I think? Fudge, said her Gabriel, and they
17:11
Speaker 1: stepped out into the room. There was a novel on
17:14
Speaker 1: the table, lying open, and a sandwich on it. One
17:17
Speaker 1: could see that it was used for a bookmark. It
17:20
Speaker 1: lay across the open page. Now I must be the housewife,
17:25
Speaker 1: And with all five of the children and the two boarders,
17:28
Speaker 1: she carried Peer through the kitchen, out by the passageway
17:32
Speaker 1: and into a little room, the windows of which looked
17:35
Speaker 1: out on the garden that was to be his study
17:38
Speaker 1: and sleeping apartment. It was next to Madame Gabriel's room
17:43
Speaker 1: where she slept with all the five children, and were
17:46
Speaker 1: the connecting door. For decency's sake and to prevent gossip,
17:50
Speaker 1: which spears nobody had been that very day nailed up
17:53
Speaker 1: by her Gabriel at Madame's express request. Here you are
17:59
Speaker 1: to live just as if you were at your parents.
18:02
Speaker 1: We have a theater too in the town. The apothecary
18:06
Speaker 1: is the director of a private company, and we have
18:09
Speaker 1: traveling players. But now you shall have your turkey. And
18:13
Speaker 1: so she carried Peer into the dining room, where the
18:16
Speaker 1: week's wash was drying on her line. That doesn't go
18:21
Speaker 1: do any harm, said she. It's only cleanliness, and you
18:25
Speaker 1: are accustomed, of course to that. So Pierre sat down
18:30
Speaker 1: to the roast turkey in the midst of the children,
18:32
Speaker 1: but not with the two boarders, who had squeezed themselves
18:35
Speaker 1: in behind and were now giving a dramatic representation for
18:39
Speaker 1: the entertainment of themselves and the stranger. There had lately
18:44
Speaker 1: been strolling players in town who had acted Schiller's Robbers,
18:48
Speaker 1: and the two oldest boys had been immensely taken with it,
18:52
Speaker 1: and at once performed the whole piece at home, all
18:55
Speaker 1: the parts. Notwithstanding, they only remembered these words dream come
19:00
Speaker 1: from the stomach, and they were made use of by
19:05
Speaker 1: all the characters in different tones of voice. There stood
19:08
Speaker 1: Amelia with heavenly eyes and dreamy lookie Dreams come from
19:13
Speaker 1: the stomach, said she, and covered her face with both
19:16
Speaker 1: her hands. Carl Moore came forward with heroic stride and
19:20
Speaker 1: manly voice. Dreams come from the stomach. And at the
19:24
Speaker 1: whole flock of children, boys and girls stumbled in. They
19:31
Speaker 1: were all robbers and murdered one another, crying out, dreams
19:35
Speaker 1: come from the stomach. This was Schiller's robbers. Pierre had
19:40
Speaker 1: this representation and stuffed turkey for his first introduction into
19:44
Speaker 1: her Gabriel's house. Then he betook himself to his little chamber,
19:49
Speaker 1: whose window into which the sunshine warmly gave upon the garden.
19:54
Speaker 1: He sat there and looked out. Her Gabriel was walking there,
19:57
Speaker 1: absorbed in reading a book. He came near nearer and
20:00
Speaker 1: looked in. His eyes seemed fixed upon Pierre, who bowed respectfully.
20:05
Speaker 1: Her Gabriel opened his mouth as wide as he could,
20:08
Speaker 1: thrust his tongue out, and led it back from one
20:11
Speaker 1: side to the other, right in the face of the
20:14
Speaker 1: astonished peer, who could not understand what in the world
20:17
Speaker 1: he meant by this performance. Then off went her Gabriel,
20:22
Speaker 1: but turned back again before the window and thrust his
20:26
Speaker 1: tongue out of his mouth. What did he do that,
20:30
Speaker 1: for he was not thinking of peer or that the
20:32
Speaker 1: panes of glass were transparent. He only saw that one
20:36
Speaker 1: on the outside was reflected in them, and he wanted
20:39
Speaker 1: to see his tongue, as he had a stomach ache.
20:42
Speaker 1: But Pierre did not know all this. Later in the evening,
20:47
Speaker 1: her Gabriel went into his room, and Pierre sat in his.
20:50
Speaker 1: It was quite late he heard scolding. A woman's voice
20:54
Speaker 1: scolding in Madame Gabriel's sleeping chamber. I shall go up
20:58
Speaker 1: to Gabriel and tell him what rascals you are. We
21:01
Speaker 1: should also go to Gabriel and tell him what Madame is.
21:04
Speaker 1: I shall go into fits, she cried out, Who will
21:07
Speaker 1: see a woman in a fit for skillings? Then Madam's
21:11
Speaker 1: voice sank deeper, but distinctly said what must the young
21:14
Speaker 1: gentleman in there think of our house? And hearing all
21:17
Speaker 1: this plain talk, at that the scolding grew less, But
21:21
Speaker 1: then again rose louder and louder. Phineys cried, Madame, go
21:27
Speaker 1: and make the punch better peace than strife, And then
21:33
Speaker 1: it was still. They went out of the door, the
21:36
Speaker 1: girls and Madame knocked on the door to peer, young man,
21:41
Speaker 1: now you have some notion what it is to be
21:43
Speaker 1: a housewife. Thank Heaven, you don't keep girls. I want peace,
21:48
Speaker 1: and so I give them punch. I would gladly give
21:51
Speaker 1: you a glass. One sleeps so well after it, but
21:55
Speaker 1: no one dares go through the entry after ten o'clock.
21:58
Speaker 1: Gabriel will not all, but you shall have your punch. Nevertheless,
22:04
Speaker 1: there is a great hole stopped up in the door.
22:07
Speaker 1: I will push the stopper out, put the nose of
22:09
Speaker 1: the picture in, and do you hold your tumbler under?
22:13
Speaker 1: And so I'll give you the punch. It is a
22:16
Speaker 1: secret even from my Gabriel. You must not worry him
22:20
Speaker 1: with household affairs. And so Pierre got his punch, and
22:25
Speaker 1: there was peace in Madame Gabriel's room, peace and quiet
22:29
Speaker 1: in the whole house. Pierre lay down, thought of his
22:33
Speaker 1: mother and grandmother, said his evening prayer, and fell asleep.
22:37
Speaker 1: What one dreams the first night one sleeps in a
22:40
Speaker 1: strange house has special significance, grandmother had said. Pierre dreamt
22:45
Speaker 1: that he took the amber heart, which he still constantly wore,
22:50
Speaker 1: laid it in a flower pot, and it grew into
22:53
Speaker 1: a great tree up through the loft and roof, it
22:58
Speaker 1: both thousands of hearts, silver and gold. The flower pot
23:02
Speaker 1: broke in two, and it was no bigger than an
23:05
Speaker 1: amber heart. It had become mold earth to earth, gone
23:10
Speaker 1: gone forever. Then Pierre awoke. He still had the amber heart,
23:15
Speaker 1: and it was warm, warm, on his own warm heart.
23:20
Speaker 1: Fart five, early in the morning, the first study hours
23:25
Speaker 1: began at her gabriels. They studied French at breakfast. The
23:30
Speaker 1: only ones present were the borders, the children, and Madame.
23:35
Speaker 1: She drank here her second cup of coffee. How first
23:38
Speaker 1: she always took in bed. It was so wholesome when
23:42
Speaker 1: one is liable to spasms. She asked Pierre what he
23:46
Speaker 1: had studied thus far French. She replied. It's a high
23:51
Speaker 1: cost language, said she. It is the diplomatic speech, and
23:55
Speaker 1: the one that is used by people of good blood.
23:58
Speaker 1: I did not study it in my child, But when
24:01
Speaker 1: one lives with a learned man, one gets of his
24:04
Speaker 1: wisdom quite as one gets his mother's milk. That I
24:09
Speaker 1: have all the necessary words, I am quite confident I
24:12
Speaker 1: should know how to compromise myself in whatever company I
24:16
Speaker 1: happened to be. Madame had won a foreign word a
24:20
Speaker 1: title by her marriage with a learned man. She was
24:23
Speaker 1: baptized met after a rich aunt whose heir she was
24:28
Speaker 1: to be. She got the name, but not the inheritance.
24:32
Speaker 1: Her Gabriel rebaptized met into Meta, the Latin for measure.
24:37
Speaker 1: When she was named. All her clothes, woolen and linen
24:41
Speaker 1: were marked with the letters Mg, Meta Gabriel by young Madsen.
24:47
Speaker 1: But young Madsen had a boy's wit and read in
24:50
Speaker 1: the letters MG the character very good Danish mege good.
24:57
Speaker 1: And therefore he added in ink great interrogation point, and
25:02
Speaker 1: put it on the tablecloth, the towels, the sheets, And
25:07
Speaker 1: put it on the tablecloth, the towels and sheets. Don't
25:12
Speaker 1: you like madame? Asked Pierre, when young Madson made him
25:15
Speaker 1: privately acquainted with this piece of wet. She's so kind,
25:19
Speaker 1: and her Gabriel is so learned. She's a bundle of lies,
25:23
Speaker 1: said young Madsen. And her Gabriel is a scoundrel. If
25:28
Speaker 1: I were only a corporal and here recruit, ach, how
25:32
Speaker 1: I would give him the flat of my sword. And
25:35
Speaker 1: there was a bloody, thirsty look about young Madsen. His
25:39
Speaker 1: lips grew smaller than they won't, and his whole face
25:44
Speaker 1: seemed one great freckle. These were dreadful words to hear spoken,
25:49
Speaker 1: and they gave Pierre a shock. Yet young Madsen had
25:53
Speaker 1: the clearest stripe to them. In his mind. It was
25:56
Speaker 1: a cruel thing on the part of parents and tutor,
25:59
Speaker 1: that have fell should waste his best, most delightful youth
26:02
Speaker 1: in learning grammar, names and dates, which nobody cares anything for,
26:07
Speaker 1: instead of enjoying his liberty and spending his time going
26:10
Speaker 1: about with a gun over his shoulder like a good shot.
26:14
Speaker 1: No one has no business to be shut up and
26:17
Speaker 1: sit on a bench till he falls asleep over a book. Hey,
26:23
Speaker 1: Gabriel wants that, and so no one gets called lazy
26:27
Speaker 1: and has the character possible. Yes, one's parents get letters
26:33
Speaker 1: about it, So I say her Gabriel is a scoundrel.
26:38
Speaker 1: He crips your hand too, added little Primus, who seemed
26:42
Speaker 1: to agree with young Madson. It was not at all
26:46
Speaker 1: pleasant for Pierre to hear them. But Pier got no
26:50
Speaker 1: hand grips. He was too grown up. As Madsen had said,
26:55
Speaker 1: he was not called lazy either, For that he was not.
26:59
Speaker 1: He was to have his hours alone. He was soon
27:03
Speaker 1: well ahead of Madsen and Primus He has ability, said
27:08
Speaker 1: here Gabriel. And one can see that he has been
27:12
Speaker 1: to dancing school, said Madame. We must have him in
27:15
Speaker 1: a dramatic society, said the apothecary, who lived more for
27:19
Speaker 1: the town's private theater than for his apothecary shop. Malicious
27:23
Speaker 1: people applied the old stale witticism, and he had certainly
27:27
Speaker 1: been bitten by a mad player, for he was clean
27:30
Speaker 1: gone mad for the theater. The young scholar is born
27:34
Speaker 1: for a lover, said the apothecary. In a couple of
27:37
Speaker 1: years he could be a Romeo. And I believe that
27:40
Speaker 1: if he were well painted and had a little mustache,
27:43
Speaker 1: we could go on the stage very well. This winter.
27:48
Speaker 1: The Apothecary's daughter, great domatic talent, said the father. True beauty,
27:54
Speaker 1: said the mother was to be Juliet. Madame Gabriel must
27:59
Speaker 1: be the nurse, and the apothecary, who was both director
28:02
Speaker 1: and stage manager, would take the role of the apothecary,
28:06
Speaker 1: a slight one, but one of great importance. The whole
28:10
Speaker 1: depended on her Gabriel's permission for peer to act Romeo.
28:14
Speaker 1: It was plain that it was best to work through
28:16
Speaker 1: Madame Gabriel and the apothecary understood that he must first
28:21
Speaker 1: win her over. You are born to be nurse, said he,
28:26
Speaker 1: and thought he was flattering her exceedingly. This is assuredly
28:30
Speaker 1: the most complete role in the piece, he continued. It
28:33
Speaker 1: is the humorous role. Without it, the piece could not
28:36
Speaker 1: be tolerated for its melancholy. No one but you, Madame
28:40
Speaker 1: Gabriel has the quickness and life that should bubble tip
28:44
Speaker 1: there here. All very true, she agreed, But her husband
28:49
Speaker 1: would surely never permit his young pupil to contribute those
28:53
Speaker 1: crumbs of time which would have to be given in
28:56
Speaker 1: learning the part of Romeo. She promised, however, to pump him,
29:01
Speaker 1: as she called it. The apothecary began at once to
29:04
Speaker 1: study his part, and especially to think about his make up.
29:08
Speaker 1: He wished to be a squick, tight, poor miserable fellow,
29:12
Speaker 1: and yet a clever man, rather a difficult problem. But
29:16
Speaker 1: Madame Gabriel had a much harder one in pumping her
29:20
Speaker 1: husband to the required point. He could not, he said,
29:24
Speaker 1: answer for it to Pierre's guardians, who paid for his
29:27
Speaker 1: schooling and board. If he permitted the young man to
29:32
Speaker 1: play in tragedy, we cannot conceal the fact, however, that
29:37
Speaker 1: Pierre had the most intense longing to act. But it
29:41
Speaker 1: will not do, said he. It's coming, said Madame. Only
29:47
Speaker 1: let me keep on pumping. She would have given punch,
29:51
Speaker 1: but her Gabriel did not drink it with any pleasure.
29:54
Speaker 1: Married people are sometimes different. We say this without any
29:58
Speaker 1: offense to Madame. One glass and no more. She said
30:02
Speaker 1: to herself. It elevates the soul and makes one happy,
30:05
Speaker 1: and thus it behooves us to be. It is our
30:08
Speaker 1: lord's will with us. Pierre was to be Romeo. That
30:12
Speaker 1: was pumped through by Madame. The rehearsals were held at
30:16
Speaker 1: the Apothecaries. They had chocolate and geniuses, that is to say,
30:21
Speaker 1: small biscuits. They were sold at the big shop twelve
30:25
Speaker 1: for a skilling, and they were so exceedingly small and
30:29
Speaker 1: so many that it was thought a witticism to call
30:33
Speaker 1: them geniuses. It is an easy thing to make fun
30:38
Speaker 1: of one, said her Gabriel, and so he himself gave
30:43
Speaker 1: nicknames to one thing and another. The apothecares house he
30:48
Speaker 1: called Noah's Ark, with its clean and unclean beasts, And
30:54
Speaker 1: that was only because of the affection which was shown
30:57
Speaker 1: by the family towards the two and four foot pets
31:00
Speaker 1: in the house. The young lady had her own cat, Graciosa,
31:06
Speaker 1: a pretty soft skinned creature, which lay in the window,
31:09
Speaker 1: in her lap, on her work, or ran over the
31:13
Speaker 1: table spread for dinner. The mistress had a poultry yard,
31:17
Speaker 1: a duck yard, a parrot, and canary birds, and Polly
31:22
Speaker 1: could outcry them altogether. Two dogs, Flick and Flock, walked
31:27
Speaker 1: about the chamber. They were not perfumery bottles by any means,
31:31
Speaker 1: and they lay on the sofa and on the matrimonial bed.
31:36
Speaker 1: The rehearsal began and was only interrupted a moment by
31:39
Speaker 1: the dogs slobbering over Madame Gabriel's new gown, but that
31:43
Speaker 1: was out of pure friendship, and it did not spot it.
31:47
Speaker 1: The cat also caused a slight disturbance. It would insist
31:51
Speaker 1: on giving its paw to Juliet, sit on her head,
31:54
Speaker 1: and beat its tail. Juliet's tender speeches were divided between
31:59
Speaker 1: the cat and Romeo. Every word that Pierre had to
32:02
Speaker 1: say was exactly what he wished to say to the
32:05
Speaker 1: apothecary's daughter. How lovely and charming she was a child
32:09
Speaker 1: of nature, who, as Madame Gabriel expressed, it went right
32:14
Speaker 1: by the side of her part. Pierre grew quite warm
32:17
Speaker 1: about it. There surely was instinct or something even higher
32:23
Speaker 1: with the cat. It perched on Pierre's shoulders and symbolized
32:27
Speaker 1: the sympathy between Romeo and Juliet. With each successive rehearsal,
32:33
Speaker 1: Pierre's ardor grew more manifest and stronger, the cat more confidential,
32:38
Speaker 1: the parrot and the canary birds more noisy. Flick and
32:44
Speaker 1: flock ran in and out. The evening of the representation came,
32:50
Speaker 1: and Pierre was Romeo himself. He kissed Juliet right on
32:54
Speaker 1: her mouth, quite like nature, said Madame Gabriel. Disgraceful, said
33:00
Speaker 1: the councilor Herst sed Enston, the richest citizen and fattiest
33:04
Speaker 1: man in the town. The perspiration ran down him. The
33:09
Speaker 1: house was so warm, and he himself was so heated.
33:13
Speaker 1: Pierre found no favor in his eyes. Such a puppy,
33:17
Speaker 1: said he a peer, so long too, that one could
33:20
Speaker 1: track him in halves and make two puppies of him.
33:25
Speaker 1: Great applause, and one enemy. He got off well. Indeed,
33:30
Speaker 1: Pierre was a lucky Pierre, tired and overcome by the
33:34
Speaker 1: exertions of the evening, and the flattery shown him. He
33:38
Speaker 1: went home to his little chamber. It was past midnight.
33:42
Speaker 1: Madame Gabriel knocked on the wall. Romeo, here's punch, and
33:47
Speaker 1: the spout was put through the door, and Pierre Romeo
33:51
Speaker 1: held his glass under good night, Madame Gabriel. But Pierre
33:56
Speaker 1: could not sleep. All that he had said, and Eshley,
34:00
Speaker 1: what Juliet had said, buzzed in his head, And when
34:04
Speaker 1: at length he fell asleep, he dreamt of a wedding,
34:08
Speaker 1: a wedding with miss Franson. What singular things one can dream?
34:15
Speaker 1: Footnotes one Danish miles two. Madame Gabriel, in anxiety to
34:22
Speaker 1: use fine words, sometimes overshot the mark translated. Three. The
34:30
Speaker 1: character given meta Gabriel by young Madsen was not the highest,
34:35
Speaker 1: which is u g who the market got. But the
34:40
Speaker 1: next to that it is a pity her name had
34:43
Speaker 1: not been Una translated. Fourth, The fifth and next to
34:48
Speaker 1: the worst character translated five a little more than half
34:56
Speaker 1: a cent. End of Chapter eighteen