Latest / Hans Christian Andersen Fairytales & Short Stories Vol. 1 / 020 - What the Moon Saw Part 1

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020 - What the Moon Saw Part 1 · Hans Christian Andersen Fairytales & Short Stories Vol. 1

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Speaker 1: Section twenty of Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and Short Stories,
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Speaker 1: Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by no Al Badrian.
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Speaker 1: Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and Short Stories, Volume one,
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Speaker 1: eighteen thirty five to eighteen forty two by Hans Christian Andersen,
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Speaker 1: translated by H. P. Paul What the Moon Saw, Part
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Speaker 1: one introduction. It is a strange thing when I feel
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Speaker 1: most fervently and most deeply, my hands and my tongue
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Speaker 1: seem alike tied, so that I cannot rightly describe or
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Speaker 1: accurately portray the thoughts that are arising within me. And
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Speaker 1: yet I am a painter, b tells me as much
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Speaker 1: as that, and all my friends who have seen my
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Speaker 1: sketches and fancies say the same. I am a poor
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Speaker 1: lad and live in one of the narrowests of lanes,
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Speaker 1: but I do not want for light, as my room
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Speaker 1: is high up in the house, with an extensive prospect
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Speaker 1: over the neighboring roofs. During the first few days I
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Speaker 1: went to live in the town. I felt low spirited
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Speaker 1: and solitary enough. Instead of the forests and the green
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Speaker 1: hills of former days, I had here only a forest
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Speaker 1: of chimney pots to look out upon. And then I
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Speaker 1: had not a single friend, not one familiar face greeted me.
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Speaker 1: So one evening I sat at the window in a
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Speaker 1: desponding mood, and presently I opened the casement and looked out.
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Speaker 1: Oh how my heart leapt up with joy. Here was
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Speaker 1: a well known face at last, a round, friendly countenance,
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Speaker 1: the face of a good friend I had known at home.
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Speaker 1: In fact, it was the moon that looked in upon me.
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Speaker 1: He was quite unchanged, the dear old Moon, and had
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Speaker 1: the same face exactly that he used to show when
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Speaker 1: he peered down upon me through all the willow trees
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Speaker 1: on the moor. I kissed my hand to him over
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Speaker 1: and over again as he shone far into my little room,
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Speaker 1: And he, for his part, promised me that every evening,
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Speaker 1: when he came abroad, he would look in upon me
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Speaker 1: for a few moments. This promise he has faithfully kept.
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Speaker 1: It is a pity that he can only stay such
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Speaker 1: a short time when he comes. Whenever he appears, he
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Speaker 1: tells me of one thing or another that he has
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Speaker 1: seen on the previous night or on that same evening.
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Speaker 1: Just paint the scenes I described to you. This is
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Speaker 1: what he said to me, and you will have a
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Speaker 1: very pretty picture book. I have followed his injunction for
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Speaker 1: many evenings. I could make up a new thousand and
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Speaker 1: one nights in my own way out of these pictures,
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Speaker 1: but the number might be too great. After all, the
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Speaker 1: pictures I have here given have not been chosen at random,
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Speaker 1: but follow in their proper order, just as they were
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Speaker 1: described to me. Some great gifted painter, or some poet
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Speaker 1: or musician may make something more of them if he
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Speaker 1: likes what I have given. Here are only hasty sketches,
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Speaker 1: hurriedly put upon the paper, with some of my own
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Speaker 1: thoughts interspersed. For the Moon did not come to me
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Speaker 1: every evening. A cloud sometimes hid his face from me
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Speaker 1: first evening. Last night, I am quoting the Moon's own words.
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Speaker 1: Last night I was gliding through the cloudless Indian sky.
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Speaker 1: My face was mirrored in the waters of the Ganges,
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Speaker 1: and my beams strove to pierce through the thick, intertwining
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Speaker 1: boughs of the bananas arching beneath me. Like the tortoise's shell.
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Speaker 1: Forth from the thicket tripped to Hindo maid, light as
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Speaker 1: a gazelle, beautiful as eve, airy and ethereal as a vision,
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Speaker 1: and yet sharply defined amid the surrounding shadows, stood this
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Speaker 1: daughter of Hindustan. I could read on her delicate brow
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Speaker 1: the thoughts that had brought her hither. The thorny, creeping
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Speaker 1: plants tore her sandals, But for all that, she came
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Speaker 1: rapidly forward. The deer that had come down to the
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Speaker 1: river to quench her thirst sprang by with a startled bound.
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Speaker 1: For in her hand, the maiden bore a lighted lamp.
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Speaker 1: I could see the blood in her delicate finger tips
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Speaker 1: as she spread them for a screen before the dancing flame.
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Speaker 1: She came down to the stream and set the lamp
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Speaker 1: upon the water and let it float away. The flame
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Speaker 1: flickered to and fro and seemed ready to expire, But
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Speaker 1: still the lamp burned on, and the girl's black, sparkling eyes,
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Speaker 1: half veiled behind her long silken lashes, followed it with
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Speaker 1: a gaze of earnest intensity. She knew that if the
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Speaker 1: lamp continued to burn, so long as she could keep
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Speaker 1: it in sight, her betrothed was still alive. But if
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Speaker 1: the lamp was suddenly extinguished, he was dead. And the
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Speaker 1: lamp burned bravely on and she fell on her knees
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Speaker 1: and prayed. Near her. In the grass lay a speckled snake,
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Speaker 1: but she heeded it not. She thought only of Brahma
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Speaker 1: and of her betrothed. He lives. She shouted joyfully, he lives.
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Speaker 1: And from the mountains the echo came back upon her.
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Speaker 1: He lives. Second evening yesterday, said the moon to me.
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Speaker 1: I looked down upon a small courtyard, surrounded on all
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Speaker 1: sides by houses. In the courtyard sat a clucking hen
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Speaker 1: with eleven chickens, and a pretty little girl was running
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Speaker 1: and jumping around them. The hen was frightened and screamed
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Speaker 1: and spread out her wings over the little brood. Then
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Speaker 1: the girl's father came out and scolded her, and I
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Speaker 1: glided away and thought no more of the matter. But
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Speaker 1: this evening, only a few minutes ago, I looked down
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Speaker 1: into the same courtyard. Everything was quiet, but presently the
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Speaker 1: little girl came forth again, crept quietly to the hen house,
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Speaker 1: pushed back the bolt, and slipped into the apartment of
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Speaker 1: the hens, and chickens. They cried out loudly and came
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Speaker 1: fluttering down from their perches and ran about in dismay,
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Speaker 1: and the little girl ran after them. I saw it
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Speaker 1: quite plainly, for I looked through a hole in the
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Speaker 1: hen house wall. I was angry with the wilful child,
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Speaker 1: and felt glad when her father came out and scolded
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Speaker 1: her more violently than yesterday, holding her roughly by the arm.
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Speaker 1: She held down her head, and her blue eyes were
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Speaker 1: full of large tears. What are you about here, he asked.
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Speaker 1: She wept and said I wanted to kiss the hen
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Speaker 1: and beg her pardon for frightening her yesterday, but I
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Speaker 1: was afraid to tell you. And the father kissed the
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Speaker 1: innocent child's forehead, and I kissed her on the mouth
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Speaker 1: and eyes. Third evening, in the narrow street around the
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Speaker 1: corner yonder. It is so narrow that my beams can
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Speaker 1: only glide for a minute along the walls of the house.
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Speaker 1: But in that minute I see enough to learn what
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Speaker 1: the world is made of. In that narrow street I
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Speaker 1: saw a woman sixteen years ago. That woman was a
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Speaker 1: child playing in the garden of the old parsonage in
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Speaker 1: the country. The hedges of rose bushes were old, and
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Speaker 1: the flowers were faded. They straggled wild over the paths,
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Speaker 1: and the ragged branches grew up among the boughs of
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Speaker 1: the apple trees. Here and there were a few roses
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Speaker 1: still in bloom, not so fair as the queen of
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Speaker 1: flowers generally appears, but still they had color and scent. Two,
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Speaker 1: the clergyman's little daughter appeared to me a far lovelier rose,
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Speaker 1: as she sat on her stool under the straggling edge,
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Speaker 1: hugging and caressing her doll with the battered pasteboard cheeks.
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Speaker 1: Ten years afterward I saw her again. I beheld her
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Speaker 1: in a splendid ball room. She was the beautiful bride
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Speaker 1: of a rich merchant. I rejoiced at her happiness, and
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Speaker 1: sought her on calm, quiet evenings. Ah, nobody thinks of
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Speaker 1: my clear eye and my silent glance, alas my rose
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Speaker 1: ran wild like the rose bushes in the garden of
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Speaker 1: the parsonage. There are tragedies in every day life, and
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Speaker 1: to night I saw the last act of one. She
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Speaker 1: was lying in bed in a house in the narrow street.
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Speaker 1: She was sick unto death, and the cruel landlord came
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Speaker 1: up and tore away the thin coverlet her only protection
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Speaker 1: against the cold. Get up, said he. Your face is
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Speaker 1: enough to frighten one. Get up and dress yourself. Give
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Speaker 1: me money, or I'll turn you out into the street.
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Speaker 1: Quick get up. She answered, alas death is gnawing at
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Speaker 1: my heart, Let me rest. But he forced her to
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Speaker 1: get up and bathe her face, and put a wreath
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Speaker 1: of roses in her hair. And he placed her in
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Speaker 1: a chair at the window, with a candle burning beside her,
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Speaker 1: and went away. I looked at her, and she was
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Speaker 1: sitting motionless, with her hands in her lap. The wind
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Speaker 1: caught the open window and shut it with a crash,
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Speaker 1: so that a pane came clattering down in fragments. But
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Speaker 1: still she never moved. The curtain caught fire, and the
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Speaker 1: flames played about her face, and I saw that she
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Speaker 1: was dead. There at the open window sat the dead
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Speaker 1: woman preaching a sermon against sin. My poor faded rose
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Speaker 1: out of the parsonage garden. Fourth evening, this evening I
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Speaker 1: saw a German play acted, said the moon. It was
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Speaker 1: in a little town a stable had been turned into
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Speaker 1: a theater. That is to say, the stable had been
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Speaker 1: left standing and had been turned into private boxes, and
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Speaker 1: all the timber work had been covered with colored paper.
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Speaker 1: A little iron chandelier hung beneath the ceiling, and that
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Speaker 1: it might be made to disappear into the ceiling, as
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Speaker 1: it does in great theaters. When the ting king of
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Speaker 1: the prompter's bell is heard, a great inverted tub has
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Speaker 1: been placed just above it. Ting King, and the little
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Speaker 1: iron chandelier suddenly rose at least half a yard and
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Speaker 1: disappeared in the tub. And that was the sign that
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Speaker 1: the play was going to begin. A young nobleman and
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Speaker 1: his lady, who happened to be passing through the little town,
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Speaker 1: were present at the performance, and consequently the house was crowded,
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Speaker 1: But under the chandelier was a vacant space, like a
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Speaker 1: little crater. Not a single soul sat there, for the
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Speaker 1: tallow was dropping drip drip. I saw everything, for it
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Speaker 1: was so warm in there that every loophole had been opened.
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Speaker 1: The male and female servants stood outside, peeping through the chinks,
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Speaker 1: although a real policeman was inside, threatening them with the stick.
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Speaker 1: Close by the orchestra could be seen the noble young
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Speaker 1: couple in two old arm chairs, which were usually occupied
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Speaker 1: by his worship the mayor and his lady. But these
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Speaker 1: latter were to day obliged to content themselves with wooden forms,
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Speaker 1: just as if they had been ordinary citizens, And the
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Speaker 1: lady observed quietly to herself, one sees now that there
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Speaker 1: is rank above rank. And this incident gave an air
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Speaker 1: of extra festivity to the whole proceedings. The chandelier gave
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Speaker 1: little leaps, the crowd got their knuckles wrapped, and I
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Speaker 1: the moon was present at the performance from beginning to end.
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Speaker 1: Fifth evening yesterday began, and the moon I looked down
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Speaker 1: upon the turmoil of Paris. My eye penetrated into an
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Speaker 1: apartment of the louver. An old grandmother, poorly clad. She
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Speaker 1: belonged to the working class, was following one of the
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Speaker 1: under servants into the great empty throne room, for this
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Speaker 1: was the apartment she wanted to see that she was
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Speaker 1: resolved to see. It had cost her many a little
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Speaker 1: sacrifice and many a coaxing word to penetrate thus far.
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Speaker 1: She folded her thin hands and looked around with an
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Speaker 1: air of reverence, as if she had been in a church.
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Speaker 1: Here it was, she said, here, and she approached the
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Speaker 1: throne from which hung the rich velvet fringe with gold lace. There,
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Speaker 1: she exclaimed, There, and she knelt and kissed the purple carpet.
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Speaker 1: I think she was actually weeping. But it was not
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Speaker 1: this very velvet, observed the footman, and a smile played
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Speaker 1: about his mouth. True, but it was this very place,
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Speaker 1: replied the woman. And it must have looked just like this.
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Speaker 1: It looked so, and yet it did not, observed the man.
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Speaker 1: The windows were beaten in, and the doors were off
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Speaker 1: the hinges, and there was blood upon the floor. But
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Speaker 1: for all that, you can say, my grandson died upon
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Speaker 1: the throne of France, died mournfully, repeated the old woman.
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Speaker 1: I do not think another word was spoken, and they
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Speaker 1: soon quitted the hall. The evening twilight faded, and my
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Speaker 1: light shone doubly vivid upon the rich velvet that covered
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Speaker 1: the throne of France. Now, who do you think this
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Speaker 1: poor woman was? Listen, I will tell you a story.
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Speaker 1: It happened in the Revolution of July, on the evening
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Speaker 1: of the most brilliant victorious day, when every house was
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Speaker 1: a fortress, every window a breastwork. The people stormed the Tuieri,
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Speaker 1: even women and children, and were to be found among
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Speaker 1: the combatants. They penetrated into the apartments and halls of
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Speaker 1: the palace. A poor half grown boy in a ragged
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Speaker 1: blouse fought among the older insurgents. Mortally wounded with several
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Speaker 1: baynert thrusts, he sank down. This happened in the throne room.
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Speaker 1: They laid the bleeding youth upon the throne of France,
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Speaker 1: wrapped the velvet around his wounds, and his blood streamed
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Speaker 1: forth upon the imperial purple. There was a picture the
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Speaker 1: splendid hall, the fighting groups, a torn flag upon the ground.
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Speaker 1: The tricolor was waving above the bayonets, And on the
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Speaker 1: throne lay the poor lad with the pale, glorified countenance,
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Speaker 1: his eyes turned towards the sky, his limbs writhing in
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Speaker 1: the death agony, his breast bare, and his poor tattered
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Speaker 1: clothing half hidden by the rich velvet embroidered with silver lilies.
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Speaker 1: At the boy's cradle. The prophecy hath been spoken, he
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Speaker 1: will die on the throne of France. The mother's heart
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Speaker 1: dreamt of a second Napoleon. My beams have kissed the
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Speaker 1: wreath of Immortelles on his grave, and this night they
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Speaker 1: kissed the forehead of the old Grandame, while in a dream.
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Speaker 1: The picture floated before her, which thou mayst draw. The
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Speaker 1: poor boy on the throne of France. Sixth evening. I've
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Speaker 1: been in Uppsala, said the moon. I look down upon
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Speaker 1: the great plain covered with coarse grass, and upon the
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Speaker 1: barren fields. I merrid my face in the Tyres River,
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Speaker 1: while the steam boats strove the fish into the rushes.
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Speaker 1: Beneath me floated the waves, throwing long shadows on the
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Speaker 1: so called graves of odin Thor and Friga. In the
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Speaker 1: scanty turf that covers the hillside, names have been cut.
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Speaker 1: There is no monument here, no memorial on which the
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Speaker 1: traveler can have his name carved, no rocky wall on
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Speaker 1: whose surface he can get it painted. So visitors have
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Speaker 1: the turf cut away for that purpose. The naked earth
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Speaker 1: piers through in the form of great letters and names.
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Speaker 1: These form a network over the whole hill. Here is
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Speaker 1: an immortality which lasts until the fresh turf grows. Upon
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Speaker 1: the hill stood a man, a poet. He emptied the
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Speaker 1: mead horn with the broad silver rim and murmured a name.
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Speaker 1: He begged the winds not to betray him. But I
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Speaker 1: heard the name, I knew it. A count's coronet sparkles
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Speaker 1: above it, and therefore he did not speak it out.
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Speaker 1: I smiled, for I knew that a poet's crown adorns
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Speaker 1: his own name. The nobility of Eleanora dair Stay is
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Speaker 1: attached to the name of Tasso. And I also know
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Speaker 1: where the rose of beauty blooms. Thus spake the moon,
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Speaker 1: and a cloud came between us. May no cloud separate
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Speaker 1: the poet from the rose. Seventh evening, along the margin
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Speaker 1: of the shore stretches a forest of firs and beeches.
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Speaker 1: And fresh and fragrant is this wood. Hundreds of nightingales
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Speaker 1: visited every spring. Close beside it is the sea, the
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Speaker 1: ever changing sea. And between the two is placed the
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Speaker 1: broad high road. One carriage after another rolls over it,
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Speaker 1: but I did not follow them, for my eye loved
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Speaker 1: best to rest upon one point. A hun's grave lies there,
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Speaker 1: and the slow and blackthorn grow luxuriantly among the stones.
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Speaker 1: Here is true poetry in nature. And how do you
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Speaker 1: think men appreciate this poetry? I will tell you what
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Speaker 1: I heard there last evening, and during the night, first
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Speaker 1: two rich landed proprietors came driving by. Those are glorious
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Speaker 1: trees said the first. Certainly, there are ten loads of
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Speaker 1: firewood in each, observed the other. It will be a
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Speaker 1: hard winter, and last year we got fourteen dollars a load,
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Speaker 1: and they were gone. The road here is wretched, observed
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Speaker 1: another man who drove past. That's the fault of those
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Speaker 1: horrible trees, replied his neighbor. There is no free current
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Speaker 1: of air. The wind can only come from the sea.
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Speaker 1: And they were gone. The stage coach went rattling past.
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Speaker 1: All the passengers were asleep at this beautiful spot. The
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Speaker 1: postilion blew his horn, but he only thought, I can
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Speaker 1: play capitally. It sounds well here. I wonder if those
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Speaker 1: in there like it. And the stage coach vanished. Then
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Speaker 1: two young fellows came galloping up on horseback. There there's
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Speaker 1: a youth and spirit in the blood here, thought I,
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Speaker 1: And indeed they looked with a smile at the moss
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Speaker 1: grown hill and thick forest. I should not dislike a
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Speaker 1: walk here with the millers, Christine, said one, And they
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Speaker 1: flew past. The flowers scented the air. Every breath of
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Speaker 1: air was hushed. It seemed as if the sea were
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Speaker 1: a part of the sky that stretched above the deep valley.
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Speaker 1: A carriage rolled by. Six people were sitting in it.
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Speaker 1: Four of them were asleep. The fifth was thinking of
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Speaker 1: his new summer coat, which would suit him admirably. The
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Speaker 1: sixth turned to the coachman and asked him if there
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Speaker 1: was anything remarkable connected with yonder heap of stones. No,
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Speaker 1: replied the coachman, it's only a heap of stones. But
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Speaker 1: the trees are remarkable, how, sir, Why, I'll tell you
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Speaker 1: how they are very remarkable. You see, in winter, when
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Speaker 1: the snow lies very deep and hidden the whole road,
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Speaker 1: so that nothing is to be seen, those trees serve
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Speaker 1: me for a landmark. I steer by them so as
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Speaker 1: not to drive into the sea. And you see, that
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Speaker 1: is why the trees are remarkable. Now came a painter.
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Speaker 1: He spoke not a word, but his eyes sparkled. He
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Speaker 1: began to whistle. At this, the nightingales sang louder than ever.
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Speaker 1: Hold your tongues, he cried testily, and he made accurate
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Speaker 1: notes of all the colors and transitions, blue and lilac
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Speaker 1: and dark brown. That will make a beautiful picture, he said.
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Speaker 1: He took it in just as a mirror takes in
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Speaker 1: a view. And as he worked he whistled a march
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Speaker 1: of Roussini, and last of all came a poor girl.
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Speaker 1: She laid aside the burden she carried, and sat down
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Speaker 1: to rest upon the hun's grave. Her pale, handsome face
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Speaker 1: was bent in a listening attitude towards the forest. Her
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Speaker 1: eyes brightened. She gazed earnestly at the sea and the sky.
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Speaker 1: Her hands were folded, and I think she prayed our father.
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Speaker 1: She herself could not understand the feelings that swept through her,
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Speaker 1: But I know that this minute and the beautiful natural
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Speaker 1: scene will live within her memory for years, far more
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Speaker 1: vividly and more truly than the painter could portray it
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Speaker 1: with his colors on paper. My rays followed her till
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Speaker 1: the morning dawn kissed her brow. Eighth evening, heavy clouds
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Speaker 1: obscured the sky, and the moon did not make his
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Speaker 1: appearance at all. I stood in my little room, more
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Speaker 1: lonely than ever, and looked up at the sky where
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Speaker 1: he ought to have shown himself. My thoughts flew far
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Speaker 1: away up to my great friend, who every evening told
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Speaker 1: me such pretty tales and showed me pictures. Yes, he
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Speaker 1: has had an experience. Indeed, he glided over the waters
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Speaker 1: of the deluge and smiled on Noah's ark, just as
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Speaker 1: he lately glanced down upon me and brought comfort and
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Speaker 1: promise of a new world that was to spring forth
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Speaker 1: from the old. When the children of Israel sat weeping
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Speaker 1: by the waters of Babylon, he glanced mournfully upon the
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Speaker 1: willows where hung the silent harps. When Romeo climbed the balcony,
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Speaker 1: and the promise of true love fluttered like a cherub
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Speaker 1: toward heaven. The round moon hung half hidden among the
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Speaker 1: dark cypresses. In the lucid air. He saw the captive
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Speaker 1: giant at Saint Helena, looking from the lonely rock across
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Speaker 1: the wide ocean, while great thoughts swept through his soul. Ah,
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Speaker 1: what tales the moon can tell human life is like
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Speaker 1: a story to him. To night I shall not see
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Speaker 1: thee again, old friend. To night I can draw no
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Speaker 1: picture of the memories of thy visit. And as I
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Speaker 1: looked dreamily towards the clouds, the sky became bright. There
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Speaker 1: was a glancing light, and a beam from the moon
23:06
Speaker 1: fell upon me. It vanished again, and dark clouds flew past,
23:11
Speaker 1: But still it was a greeting, a friendly good night,
23:15
Speaker 1: offered to me. By the moon ninth evening, the air
23:21
Speaker 1: was clear again. Several evenings had passed, and the moon
23:25
Speaker 1: was in the first quarter again. He gave me an
23:28
Speaker 1: outline for a sketch. Listen to what he told me.
23:33
Speaker 1: I have followed the polar bird and the swimming whale
23:36
Speaker 1: to the eastern coast of Greenland. Gaunt, ice covered rocks
23:40
Speaker 1: and dark clouds hung over a valley where dwarf willows
23:43
Speaker 1: and barbery bushes stood clothed in green. The blooming lightness
23:48
Speaker 1: exhaled sweet odors. My light was faint, my face pale
23:53
Speaker 1: as the water lily that torn from its stem has
23:56
Speaker 1: been drifting for weeks. In the tide, the crown shaped
23:59
Speaker 1: northern light burned fiercely in the sky. Its ring was broad,
24:04
Speaker 1: and from its circumference the rays shot like whirling shafts
24:08
Speaker 1: of fire across the whole sky, flashing in changing radiance
24:12
Speaker 1: from green to red. The inhabitants of that icy region
24:17
Speaker 1: were assembling for dance and festivity, but accustomed to this
24:22
Speaker 1: glorious spectacle, they scarcely deigned to glance at it. Let
24:26
Speaker 1: us leave the soul of the dead to their ball
24:28
Speaker 1: play with the heads of the walruses, they thought in
24:31
Speaker 1: their superstition, and they turned their whole attention to the
24:35
Speaker 1: song and dance. In the midst of the circle, and
24:38
Speaker 1: divested of his ferry cloak, stood a Greenlander with the
24:42
Speaker 1: small pipe, and he played and sang a song about
24:46
Speaker 1: catching the seal, and the chorus around him chimed in
24:50
Speaker 1: with ai ya ay ya ah. And in their white
24:54
Speaker 1: furs they danced about in the circle till you might
24:58
Speaker 1: fancy it was a polar bears. And now a court
25:02
Speaker 1: of judgment was opened. Those Greenlanders who had quarreled stepped forward,
25:08
Speaker 1: and the offended persons chanted forth the faults of his
25:11
Speaker 1: adversary in an extemporary song, turning them sharply into ridicule.
25:16
Speaker 1: To the sound of the pipe and the measures of
25:18
Speaker 1: the dance, the defendant replied with satire as keen, while
25:23
Speaker 1: the audience laughed and gave their verdict. The rocks heaved,
25:28
Speaker 1: the glaciers melted, and great masses of ice and snow
25:32
Speaker 1: came crashing down, shivering to fragments as they fell. It
25:37
Speaker 1: was a glorious greenland summer night. A hundred paces away,
25:41
Speaker 1: under the open tent of hides lay a sick man
25:45
Speaker 1: life still flowed through his warm blood. But still he
25:49
Speaker 1: was to die. He himself felt it, and all who
25:53
Speaker 1: stood around him knew it also. Therefore his wife was
25:57
Speaker 1: already sewing around him the shroud of her, that she
26:01
Speaker 1: might not afterwards be obliged to touch the dead body.
26:05
Speaker 1: And she asked, wilt thou be buried on the rock
26:08
Speaker 1: in the firm snow. I will deck the spot with
26:12
Speaker 1: thy kayak and thy arrows, and the angecoq shall dance
26:16
Speaker 1: over it. Or wouldst thou rather be buried in the sea.
26:21
Speaker 1: In the sea, he whispered and nodded with a mournful smile. Yes,
26:26
Speaker 1: it is a pleasant summer tent the sea, observed the wife.
26:30
Speaker 1: Thousands of seals spot They the walrus shall lie at
26:33
Speaker 1: thy feet, and the hunt will be safe and merry.
26:38
Speaker 1: And the yelling children tore the outspread hide from the window,
26:41
Speaker 1: holl that the dead man might be carried to the ocean,
26:45
Speaker 1: the billowy ocean that had given him food in life,
26:49
Speaker 1: and that now in death was to afford him a
26:53
Speaker 1: place of rest. For his monument, he had the floating,
26:57
Speaker 1: ever changing icebergs, where on the seal sleeps while the
27:02
Speaker 1: storm birds fly round their gleaming summits. Tenth evening, I
27:08
Speaker 1: knew an old maid said the moon. Every winter she
27:12
Speaker 1: wore a wrapper of yellow satin, and it always remained new,
27:16
Speaker 1: and was the only fashion she followed. In summer, she
27:20
Speaker 1: always wore the same straw hat, and I verily believed
27:24
Speaker 1: the very same gray blue dress. She never went out
27:28
Speaker 1: except across the street to an old female friend, and
27:32
Speaker 1: in later years she did not even take this walk,
27:35
Speaker 1: for the old friend was dead. In her solitude, my
27:39
Speaker 1: old maid was always busy at the window, which was
27:42
Speaker 1: adorned in summer with pretty flowers and in winter with
27:45
Speaker 1: crests grown upon felt. During the last months I saw
27:50
Speaker 1: her no more at the window, but she was still alive.
27:54
Speaker 1: I knew that, for I had not yet seen her
27:56
Speaker 1: begin the long journey of which she often spoke with
27:59
Speaker 1: her friend. Yes, yes, she was in the habit of saying,
28:04
Speaker 1: when I come to die, I shall take a longer
28:07
Speaker 1: journey than I have made my whole life long. Our
28:11
Speaker 1: family vault is six miles from here. I shall be
28:15
Speaker 1: carried there and shall sleep there among my family and relatives.
28:19
Speaker 1: Last night a van stopped at the house, A coffin
28:23
Speaker 1: was carried out, and then I knew that she was dead.
28:28
Speaker 1: They placed straw around the coffin, and the van drove away.
28:33
Speaker 1: There slept the quiet old lady, who had not gone
28:36
Speaker 1: out of her house once for the last year. The
28:39
Speaker 1: van rolled out through the town gate as briskly as
28:42
Speaker 1: if it were going for a pleasant excursion on the
28:45
Speaker 1: high road. The place was quicker. Yet the coachman looked
28:49
Speaker 1: nervously round every now and then. I fancy he half
28:53
Speaker 1: expected to see her sitting on the coffin in her
28:56
Speaker 1: yellow satin wrapper. And because he was startled, he foolishly
29:00
Speaker 1: lashed his horses whilst he held the reins so tightly
29:04
Speaker 1: that the poor beasts were in a foam. They were
29:07
Speaker 1: young and fiery. A here jumped across the road and
29:11
Speaker 1: startled them, and they fairly ran away. The old sober maiden,
29:16
Speaker 1: who had for years and years moved quietly round around
29:20
Speaker 1: in a dull circle, was now in death, rattled over
29:25
Speaker 1: stock and stone on the public highway. The coffin, in
29:29
Speaker 1: its covering of straw, tumbled out of the van and
29:31
Speaker 1: was left on the high road, while horses, coachmen and
29:35
Speaker 1: carriage flew past in wild career. The lark rose up
29:40
Speaker 1: caroling from the field, twittering her morning lay over the coffin,
29:45
Speaker 1: and presently perched upon it, picking with her beak at
29:48
Speaker 1: the straw covering, as though she would tear it up.
29:52
Speaker 1: The lark rose up again, singing gaily, and I withdrew
29:56
Speaker 1: behind the red morning clouds. The End of What the
30:02
Speaker 1: Moon Saw, Part one,