The Sorrows of Young Werther and Selected Writings Read online

  “It was decided!” I cried. “All well and good; things can be decided, but to give a pixie the form of a goddess…how did your wise men manage that?”

  “That, too,” she said, “was ordained by our ancestors. In the royal treasure chest there was a huge gold ring. I speak of it now as it looked to me when I was shown it as a child. It is the ring I have on now, and this is how they set about it. I was carefully instructed in everything that was to take place, and told what I could and could not do.

  “A magnificent palace was built after the pattern of my parents’ favorite summer residence. It had a main building, two ells, everything one could wish for, and it stood in the entrance of a rocky crevasse, embellishing it marvelously. On a certain day, the whole court repaired to it, and my parents with me. The army paraded, and twenty-four priests carried the miraculous ring on a precious litter, not without a great deal of effort. It was laid down on the threshold of the palace, just inside as you step over it. A ceremony followed; then, after bidding everyone a fond farewell, I set to work. I walked up to the ring, laid my hands on it, and at once began to grow noticeably. In a few minutes, I had attained my present stature and I at once put on the ring. In no time at all, windows, doors, gate, and ells shrank into the main building, and in front of me, instead of the palace, stood a casket, which I immediately picked up and carried off, feeling quite pleased to be so big and strong even if I was still tiny compared to the trees and mountains, the rivers and vast plains. Still, beside grass and herbs, I was a giant, especially when compared to an ant. We pixies do not get along with the ants and are therefore often plagued by them.

  “There would be much to tell of all the things that happened to me on my pilgrimage before I met you, but let it suffice to say that I tested many, and only you seemed to be worthy of renewing the wonderful line of Eckwald and perpetuating it.”

  As she spoke, I could feel my head move every now and then, but I was careful not to shake it in negation. I asked a lot of questions, but did not receive very satisfactory answers to any of them. To my dismay, however, I heard that, after what had happened between us, she would have to return to her parents. She hoped to be able to come back to me, but at this moment there was no getting around her putting in an appearance at home or all would be lost for both of us. The sacks would soon cease to pay, and there would be other disastrous consequences. When I heard that there was a possibility of our running out of money, I asked no further questions. I shrugged and was silent, and she seemed to understand.

  We packed and took our seats in the carriage, the casket opposite us. It didn’t look like a palace to me. Thus we drove past several stations. The moneybags provided simply and liberally for tips and the fare until we reached mountainous terrain. We stopped, my lovely lady got out and hurried on ahead, and I followed with the casket at her request. She led me up a steep path to a narrow valley where a clear spring bubbled and wound its way through a meadow. Pointing to a rise in the ground, she told me to put the casket down and said, “Farewell. You won’t have any difficulty in finding your way back. I hope we shall meet again.”

  But I could not leave her. It was one of her most beautiful days or, if you like, her loveliest hour. To be alone with such a ravishing creature on a green sward, between grass and flowers, hemmed in by rock and rushing water—what heart could have remained unfeeling under such circumstances? I wanted to grasp her hand and embrace her, but she pushed me away and, in terms that still were loving, threatened me with great peril unless I left immediately. “Is there no possibility of my staying with you?” I cried. “Can’t you keep me with you?”

  My words were spoken in such heartrending tones and accompanied by such desperate gestures that she seemed touched and after some deliberation finally admitted that a continuation of our life together was not entirely out of the question. Not a man on earth could have been happier than I! I became more and more importunate and at last forced her to speak. She revealed the fact that if I was prepared to become as small as she had been when I had seen her in the casket, I could stay with her in her residence and kingdom and become a member of her family.

  I can’t say that the idea appealed to me, but at that moment it was quite impossible for me to part from her, and since I had become accustomed to the miraculous some time ago and was in a rash mood, I agreed and told her to do with me what she liked.

  Immediately she asked me to stretch out the little finger of my right hand; she put hers against it and, with her left hand, gently slipped the golden ring from her finger onto mine. This had scarcely taken place when I felt a dreadful pain in that finger; the ring shrank and caused my agony. I screamed and reached out for my beautiful love, but she had disappeared. I simply cannot express what I felt at that moment, and there really is nothing to tell except that I very soon found myself a shrunken, tiny figure, standing beside my beloved in a forest of grass. Our joy at finding each other again after such a brief yet strange separation or, if you like, a reunion without a parting, defies description. I threw my arms around her, she returned my embrace, and as a tiny couple we were just as happy as we had been when we were big.

  We walked up a hill—which was not easy, because the grass meadow had become almost impenetrable forest for us—and finally managed to reach a clearing. To our astonishment, we found there an evenly constructed solid that we soon recognized as the casket. It was still in the condition in which I had set it down.

  “Go up to it, my friend,” my beloved said. “Knock on it with your ring, and you will see marvelous things.”

  I did as she told me, and had scarcely knocked when the marvels began to take place. Two ells shot out on either side, and parts of the box fell off like scales or shavings, revealing doors, windows, archways—everything that goes to make up a perfect palace.

  Whoever may have seen a trick writing desk made by Röntgen,1 with springs and secret drawers that can be set in motion, whereupon writing space, paper, letters, pigeonholes, and money compartment are revealed, all at once or one at a time, will have some idea of how this palace unfolded before our eyes. My sweet companion now drew me into it behind her. In the main hall I at once recognized the fireplace I had looked down on and the chair she had sat in, and when I looked up, I thought I could actually see traces of the crack in the dome through which I had peered. I will spare you a detailed description of the rest. Suffice it to say it was roomy, priceless, and in excellent taste. I had scarcely recovered from my amazement when I could hear martial music in the distance. My beautiful lady jumped joyfully to her feet and announced that her father was approaching the palace. We stepped outside and could see a glittering procession emerge from an imposing crevasse in the rocks. Soldiers, servants, household officials, and a whole brilliant court followed, one behind the other. Finally there came a golden multitude, and in its midst, the king himself. When everyone was assembled before the palace, the king stepped forward and approached it with his retinue. His loving daughter hurried to meet him, pulling me along with her; we threw ourselves at his feet, he raised me graciously, and I noticed only when I came to stand next to him that I was better built than anyone else in this little world. We walked up to the palace together, and in a studied speech, the king did me the honor of welcoming me before the entire court. He expressed his astonishment at finding us here, recognized me as his future son-in-law, and set the following day for the wedding.

  I can’t tell you how horrified I was suddenly to hear mention of a wedding, for I had always been almost more afraid of marriage than of music. Those who make music, I used to say, at least enjoy the illusion that they are in unison and that the overall effect is harmony, because after they have allowed themselves sufficient time to tune up and have massacred our eardrums with all sorts of discordant sounds, they think that now they are in tune and the various instruments are perfectly suited to one another. The conductor himself suffers from this delusion, and they’re off, while the listener’s ears are screaming! But in marriage, no
t even this applies, because although it is nothing but a duet, and one would think that it should be possible to bring two voices—that is to say, two instruments—in harmony, still, it rarely happens. For, if the man gives the pitch, the woman usually wants it higher; then the man raises it again; and this goes on and on, from normal pitch to concert pitch, until in the end even the horns can’t follow! And, since I couldn’t bear harmonic music, you can’t blame me for hating discord even more.

  I don’t want to speak of the festivities that took place next day; in fact, I can’t speak of them because I paid them so little heed. The magnificent food, the priceless wine—nothing tasted right to me. I was considering what I should do. But there wasn’t much to consider. I decided to escape and hide somewhere when night fell and actually succeeded in finding my way to a fissure in the rocks and squeezing through it, concealing myself as best I could. My first efforts were bent toward getting that cursed ring off my finger, but I couldn’t do it however hard I tried. On the contrary, I could feel it contracting the minute I tried to get it off, causing me great pain—which stopped immediately, however, as soon as I desisted in my efforts.

  Early in the morning I awoke, the little that was left of me having slept very well, and wanted to move farther away, when something that felt like rain fell on me from above. It was falling through grass, leaves, and flowers, something akin to sand or grit, quantities of it, and I was horrified when everything around me suddenly came to life and a huge army of ants came hurtling down upon me. They saw me and at once attacked from all sides. Although I put up a brave defense, in the end they succeeded in covering, pinching, and tormenting me until I was thankful when someone called out to me to surrender, which I did promptly, whereupon an impressive-looking ant approached me most courteously—I would go so far as to say reverently—and begged for my good will. I learned that the ants were now my father-in-law’s allies, that he had called upon them to bring me back, and that they were in duty bound to do so. So there I was, small, in the hands of creatures even smaller than I. There was no escaping the wedding, and I could only thank God that my father-in-law was not angry with me, and my beautiful lady not vexed.

  Let me remain silent about the ceremony; let it suffice to say that we were married. I was surrounded by gaiety and mirth, but in spite of this, there were lonely hours that were conducive to thought. And now something took place that had never happened to me before. Let me tell you about it.

  Everything around me was perfectly matched to my present size and needs. Flacons and goblets were beautifully proportioned for a tiny drinker—as a matter of fact they were better proportioned than ours. Everything I ate tasted wonderful, my wife’s kisses were adorable, and I won’t deny that the novelty of the situation made it very enjoyable. Unfortunately, I could not forget my former condition. I discovered within myself the measure of my former size, and it made me restless and unhappy. For the first time, I could grasp what philosophers mean when they speak of the ideal that is supposed to cause mankind so much suffering. I had an ideal of myself and at times saw myself in my dreams as a giant. In short, wife, wedding ring, the shape of a pixie, and many other constrictions served only to make me utterly miserable, and I began to think seriously about extricating myself.

  Since I was sure that the whole spell was contained in the ring, I decided to file it off. Toward this end I stole several files from the court jeweler. Fortunately I was left-handed, and had never done anything with my right hand in my life. I worked hard, but it was not easy, for the little gold band—although it looked thin—had grown thicker in proportion to the amount it had shrunk from its original size. I spent every spare hour on the project and was clever enough to step outdoors when the metal was almost split. And a good thing I did, for the golden band suddenly burst from my finger, and my figure shot up with such velocity that I was afraid it might reach heaven! At any rate, I certainly would have rammed through the dome of the palace and destroyed the whole building with my newborn clumsiness.

  So there I stood, alone again, only much bigger and—it seemed to me—much more stupid and awkward, and when I had recovered from my stupor, I saw the casket standing at my side. I lifted it and found that it was heavy as I carried it down the footpath to the station, where I immediately ordered the horses harnessed and drove off. As we drove away, I tried the moneybags on either side. The money seemed to be spent; instead, I found a small key. It belonged to the casket, which contained a considerable replenishment. As long as it lasted, I used the carriage, which I then sold and continued my journey by stagecoach. I rid myself of the casket last because I was always hoping that it might be filled again. And so I finally arrived, although in a roundabout fashion, back in the kitchen where you first met me.

  THE FAIRY TALE

  Weary from the exertions of the day, the old ferryman lay asleep in his little hut on the banks of the great river which was swollen from a heavy rain and had overflowed its banks. In the middle of the night he was awakened by loud voices. He could hear that they belonged to travelers who wanted to be put across.

  He went outside and could see two will-o’-the-wisps hovering over his moored boat. They explained that they were in a great hurry to get to the other side. The old man wasted no time, but pushed off and crossed the stream with his customary skill. Meanwhile the two strangers hissed at each other in a strange language that he could not understand. Every now and then, they laughed loudly. All the time they were jumping back and forth from the edge of the boat to the seats.

  “You’re rocking the boat!” the old man cried. “If you go on jumping around like that, it will tip over. Sit down, little lights.”

  They burst into loud, rude laughter at the very thought of such a thing; they jeered at the old man and were wilder than ever. He bore their bad behavior with patience, and soon they had reached the other side.

  “This is for your trouble,” his passengers cried, shaking themselves, whereupon many shining pieces of gold fell into the dank boat.

  “For heaven’s sake, what are you doing?” cried the old man. “You will bring disaster upon me. If one of the gold pieces had fallen into the water, it would have reared up and swallowed me and my boat—you, too, perhaps—for it cannot abide metal. Take your gold back!”

  “We can never take back anything we have shaken off,” said the will-o’-the-wisps.

  “So you’re going to leave me with the nuisance of picking it up, carrying it on land, and burying it,” the old man said, stooping and gathering the gold pieces into his cap.

  Meanwhile, the will-o’-the-wisps leaped out of the boat, and the old man called out to them, “What about my fare?”

  “He who takes no money must work for naught,” they cried.

  “But didn’t you know that I get paid only with the fruits of the earth?”

  “Fruits of the earth? We despise them and have never partaken of any.”

  “Still, I can’t let you go until you have promised to give me three cabbages, three artichokes, and three onions.”

  The will-o’-the-wisps would have liked to trick the old man by stealing away, but they felt quite incomprehensibly attached to the ground, and it was the most unpleasant experience they had ever had. They promised to fulfill his demand as soon as they could; he let them go and pushed his boat off. He was already quite far away when they shouted to him, “Old man! Listen, old man! We have forgotten the most important thing of all!” But he was too far away and couldn’t hear them. He let the boat drift downriver, alongshore, intending to bury the dangerous gold in a mountainous region that the water could never reach. When he got there, he spilled it into a great crevasse between high rocks; then he rowed back to his hut.

  A beautiful green serpent lived in the crevasse, and the sound of coins clinking awoke her. One look at the tiny discs, and she began to swallow them greedily. She even picked up all the pieces that had fallen among the bushes and into the cracks.

  As soon as she had swallowed them, she could
feel them melting inside her. It was a very pleasant sensation. They spread through her entire body, and to her delight, she could see that she had become transparent and glowing. She had been promised a long time ago that she would one day look like this; now she began to wonder if the illumination would last. Thus curiosity and assurance for the future drove her out of the rocks to find out who could have scattered all this beautiful gold. She found no one. But she did find it very pleasant to admire herself, slithering between grass and bushes, and the lovely light she shed on the fresh green. Every leaf was an emerald, every blossom magnificently glorified. She roamed the lonely wilderness in vain, but her hopes rose when she came out into the open and, far off, could see a glow that equaled hers. “So I shall find my peers!” she cried and turned in that direction, paying no heed to the difficulties she encountered as she crawled through swamp and reeds. For, although she preferred living in dry, mountain meadows and deep crevasses and was accustomed to quenching her thirst with fresh spring water, she was ready to undertake anything for the sake of the gold and the beautiful light.

  When she at last reached the soggy marsh where the will-o’-the-wisps were gamboling she was very weary, but she rushed up to them, greeted them, and was pleased to find herself related to two such pleasant gentlemen. The will-o’-the-wisps brushed against her, hopped over her, and laughed. “Well, dear coz,” they said, “even if you are only from the horizontal line of our family, it doesn’t really matter. Of course you realize that we are related to one another only because we glow…because—look!” and they turned themselves into flames by making themselves as long and pointed as possible. “See how well this narrow shape suits us gentlemen of the vertical lineage. Don’t take offense, good friend, but show me another family that can boast the like. Never since the will-o’-the-wisps were created has one of them sat down or reclined.”