Andersen's Fairy Tales

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difference, in the institution the casts were taken at the entry of the patient; but here they
were retained and guarded in the heart while the sound persons went away. They were,
namely, casts of female friends, whose bodily or mental deformities were here most
faithfully preserved.
With the snake-like writhings of an idea he glided into another female heart; but this
seemed to him like a large holy fane.* The white dove of innocence fluttered over the altar.
How gladly would he have sunk upon his knees; but he must away to the next heart; yet he
still heard the pealing tones of the organ, and he himself seemed to have become a newer
and a better man; he felt unworthy to tread the neighboring sanctuary which a poor garret,
with a sick bed-rid mother, revealed. But God's warm sun streamed through the open
window; lovely roses nodded from the wooden flower-boxes on the roof, and two sky-blue
birds sang rejoicingly, while the sick mother implored God's richest blessings on her pious
daughter.
* temple
He now crept on hands and feet through a butcher's shop; at least on every side, and above
and below, there was nought but flesh. It was the heart of a most respectable rich man,
whose name is certain to be found in the Directory.
He was now in the heart of the wife of this worthy gentleman. It was an old, dilapidated,
mouldering dovecot. The husband's portrait was used as a weather-cock, which was
connected in some way or other with the doors, and so they opened and shut of their own
accord, whenever the stern old husband turned round.
Hereupon he wandered into a boudoir formed entirely of mirrors, like the one in Castle
Rosenburg; but here the glasses magnified to an astonishing degree. On the floor, in the
middle of the room, sat, like a Dalai-Lama, the insignificant "Self" of the person, quite
confounded at his own greatness. He then imagined he had got into a needle-case full of
pointed needles of every size.
"This is certainly the heart of an old maid," thought he. But he was mistaken. It was the
heart of a young military man; a man, as people said, of talent and feeling.
In the greatest perplexity, he now came out of the last heart in the row; he was unable to
put his thoughts in order, and fancied that his too lively imagination had run away with
him.
"Good Heavens!" sighed he. "I have surely a disposition to madness--'tis dreadfully hot
here; my blood boils in my veins and my head is burning like a coal." And he now
remembered the important event of the evening before, how his head had got jammed in
between the iron railings of the hospital. "That's what it is, no doubt," said he. "I must do
something in time: under such circumstances a Russian bath might do me good. I only wish
I were already on the upper bank"*
*In these Russian (vapor) baths the person extends himself on a bank or form, and as he
gets accustomed to the heat, moves to another higher up towards the ceiling, where, of
course, the vapor is warmest. In this manner he ascends gradually to the highest.
And so there he lay on the uppermost bank in the vapor-bath; but with all his clothes on, in
his boots and galoshes, while the hot drops fell scalding from the ceiling on his face.
"Holloa!" cried he, leaping down. The bathing attendant, on his side, uttered a loud cry of
astonishment when he beheld in the bath, a man completely dressed.
The other, however, retained sufficient presence of mind to whisper to him, "'Tis a bet, and
I have won it!" But the first thing he did as soon as he got home, was to have a large blister
put on his chest and back to draw out his madness.
The next morning he had a sore chest and a bleeding back; and, excepting the fright, that
was all that he had gained by the Shoes of Fortune.
V. Metamorphosis of the Copying-Clerk
The watchman, whom we have certainly not forgotten, thought meanwhile of the galoshes
he had found and taken with him to the hospital; he now went to fetch them; and as neither
the lieutenant, nor anybody else in the street, claimed them as his property, they were
delivered over to the police-office.*
* As on the continent, in all law and police practices nothing is verbal, but any
circumstance, however trifling, is reduced to writing, the labor, as well as the number of
papers that thus accumulate, is enormous. In a police-office, consequently, we find
copying-clerks among many other scribes of various denominations, of which, it seems, our
hero was one.
"Why, I declare the Shoes look just like my own," said one of the clerks, eying the newly-
found treasure, whose hidden powers, even he, sharp as he was, was not able to discover.
"One must have more than the eye of a shoemaker to know one pair from the other," said
he, soliloquizing; and putting, at the same time, the galoshes in search of an owner, beside
his own in the corner.
"Here, sir!" said one of the men, who panting brought him a tremendous pile of papers.
The copying-clerk turned round and spoke awhile with the man about the reports and legal
documents in question; but when he had finished, and his eye fell again on the Shoes, he
was unable to say whether those to the left or those to the right belonged to him. "At all
events it must be those which are wet," thought he; but this time, in spite of his cleverness,
he guessed quite wrong, for it was just those of Fortune which played as it were into his
hands, or rather on his feet. And why, I should like to know, are the police never to be
wrong? So he put them on quickly, stuck his papers in his pocket, and took besides a few
under his arm, intending to look them through at home to make the necessary notes. It was
noon; and the weather, that had threatened rain, began to clear up, while gaily dressed
holiday folks filled the streets. "A little trip to Fredericksburg would do me no great harm,"
thought he; "for I, poor beast of burden that I am, have so much to annoy me, that I don't
know what a good appetite is. 'Tis a bitter crust, alas! at which I am condemned to gnaw!"
Nobody could be more steady or quiet than this young man; we therefore wish him joy of
the excursion with all our heart; and it will certainly be beneficial for a person who leads so [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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