Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar

by Ferdinand Ludwig Adam

  I wished him a happy trip and left him alone.

  * *

  *

  On the same day, Mr. Hirsch left without further adoption. But as the winter fell with all its might, I remained in the inn for the “Three Monarchs.”

  IV.

  Found in the halls of the Wiener Musikvereina big ball instead. It was one of those brilliant charity festivals that are now being held more and more frequently as a result of the increasing need - but also of increasing vanity. For a number of years I had not taken part in such amusements; mainly because I have often been away from Vienna for a long time. Today, however, I had come to once again let the “big world” affect me and to observe them in their new and newest appearances. These latter were in the overwhelming majority, and so it was that I soon felt strange and lonely in the multicolored tumult that permeated the radiant spaces. Even older acquaintances had some difficulty remembering mine, and then just handed me a fleeting one, “Ah, you're back!” In passing the hand.

  More sustainably, though in similar words, I was greeted by a handsome and distinguished-looking gentleman who, as I was about to withdraw into a corner, came up to me.

  This man was a city-known personality and took a peculiar position in society. He came from a very respected Jewish family Although wealth is inherited from his fathers, but not the gift of multiplying or even preserving him. Having traveled early, he had lived in Paris for a long time - and then later in Vienna he was fortunate enough to manage all sorts of noble passions with his fortune. But since he was in close contact with the entire money aristocracy, he could not be dropped from that side and provided the poorest with all sorts of commercial sins, which imposed no other obligation on him than to pay certain dividends on certain dates. As a result, he was able to remain faithful to his previous habits with some restrictions and was in the living world, male as well as female, therefore also in artistic circles, whether of his mobile mind and witty joke very popular; but he was not particularly respected. As he felt this, the longer he felt, the more he felt the need to avenge himself as he grew older, and that he poured out the caustic lye of his mockery of everything and everyone-and least of all of his own tribes. No die-hard anti-Semite could go against the Jewish character worse than Mr. X liked to do it with the widest pleasure on every occasion.

  “So where did you spend so much time again?” He asked. “In the countryside? They will still dilute completely. - But what do you say to today's creme of society? To our modern sizes? Our modern beauties? Dizziness! Pofel! Shining pofel - nothing else! And do not you find the national element (meaning the Jewish one) very much in the foreground? I would like to bet that two-thirds of those worshiped are Mosaic denominations - as one used to express euphemistically in my youth. And the ball patronesses are half Jewish. “He pointed to a group of ladies, not too far from us in the conversation stood together. “Just look at those noses! These round backs! The good Baroness Hirtburg is also there. For ten years her dream was to figure with Princess M... as patroness - now she has achieved it. What she loses in attitude has been replaced by jewelry. There - the fat person I mean, just talking to the princess. Does not she look like she was caught in diamonds?”

  I looked for the designated lady, who had indeed developed an almost fabulous dress and diamond splendor.

  “Her husband, too, is nearby, as usual,” X continued with a sidelong glance. “A most remarkable man. He is already estimated at twenty million. And he can go further if the gentlemen anarchists do not intervene. Because he is an exceptionally fine head - a kind of business genius. But no lotus without stalks. That is, every person has his own stupidity. So he too. He loves his wife to the point of excess. Just notice how he stands there and indulges in her sight. Like a rapturous one!”

  I had turned in the direction indicated and looked into the Lord. The longer I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed to me. “How did you feel about the lady?called? Baroness Hirtburg? Is not that gentleman's name Hirsch?”

  My cicerone laughed out loud. “You see, she knows where God lives. Hirsch he was called - Hirtburg he is called. He has acquired this name with the Baronat - or we say bought. He was also close to baptism. But he would have used it for all credit; For Israel, more than ever, is more proud than ever to dodge the waters.”

  “And you know, perhaps, what happened to his father? Is he alive??”

  “Old Seligmann? Did you know that?”

  “Very superficially. I met him somewhere some years ago.”

  “Be glad you did not get to know him better. An impossible individual. Do not you really know how he ended up?”

  “No.”

  “Then I want to tell you. Even if you have only seen him once, you will realize that one is suchFather can not have it in the house. By the way, that would have been arranged in some way. But the old jobber, who once owned quite a fortune himself, could not leave the stock market game. I do not know how many times his son paid the differences for him. But at last it was too much for him. Then Mr. Papa, in order to be able to satisfy his passion, resorted to all sorts of strange resources - at last he relied again on unclean commercial transactions with which he had once started his career, and which finally brought him into conflict with the courts threatened. How compromising for the future baronial house! So he had to be removed from Vienna at any cost. He was sent to small baths for the time being - then interned in Venice. Now imagine the old deer in Venice! A rhinoceros in an aquarium! But joking aside. The old feeble-minded man who hung on his family like all the Jews, like the albumen on the yolk, went mad about it, without it noticing immediately the people who should oversee him in every way. One fine morning, as he habitually took off his beard on his chin, he set the knife one inch too low and taught himself a very small cut on the neck. And this cut, you see, is the sore spot in the house of Hirtburg. What do I say stain! It's an abyss that the Lord Baron likes to share has gone crazy about it, without the same people who should monitor him in every way, noticed. One fine morning, as he habitually took off his beard on his chin, he set the knife one inch too low and taught himself a very small cut on the neck. And this cut, you see, is the sore spot in the house of Hirtburg. What do I say stain! It's an abyss that the Lord Baron likes to share has gone crazy about it, without the same people who should monitor him in every way, noticed. One fine morning, as he habitually took off his beard on his chin, he set the knife one inch too low and taught himself a very small cut on the neck. And this cut, you see, is the sore spot in the house of Hirtburg. What do I say stain! It's an abyss that the Lord Baron likes to share What do I say stain! It's an abyss that the Lord Baron likes to share What do I say stain! It's an abyss that the Lord Baron likes to share would like to fill in a few millions if possible - because he has - even that is incomprehensible! - greatly loved his father. But look here: Hirtburg, the youngest! “He pointed with his eyes to a young man, who was just walking toward the baron. “What do you say to this specimen? Is not he quite his grandfather in nuce ? Since Darwin you know the thing. Such a son could be stolen from me. But the daughter is the more attractive. Almost adorable. I do not know where she got it from. One of the few Jewish beauties that I accept. Come, I'll show you, “he added, rising on his toes. “If I'm not mistaken, she's dancing there again with a young diplomat, a marquis of république française. He seems to be aiming for her golden hand.”

  He had taken me under the arm, and we crowded through the circle of spectators who formed around the dancers.

  “Do you see the tall, slender figure with the tea roses on the dress? Well, what do you say? Is that a growth? Are these movements? The grace itself. And this profile! Those eyes - those hairs-”

  “In fact, a wonderful creature!”

  “Voilà : the granddaughter of Weiland Seligmann Hirsch.”

  THE TROGLODYTIN

  FOREWORD BY THE PUBLISHER

  According to Saars report, the novel is said to have been written by Stefan Milow in Blansko in 1887
/88, but according to the report to Bettelheim it had already appeared in 1887. If this last statement is correct, it must, like most others, first have been published in a journal. I only know the first imprint in book form, in the third novella collection “Destinies” 1889 (page 195-271). For the two-volume edition of the “Novellen in Austria” 1897 (second volume, pages 129-178), Saar announced to the publisher on January 10, 1897, that a small change was necessary; she is in the description of the market town (page 123 of our edition) which, in the first print, reads: “... market town that has already begun to harbor urban aspirations. The court of the district and the tax office had their headquarters there; likewise a lawyer and a notary, who, as well as some other wealthy citizens, had quite stately houses built; There was even a nice, Pompeian-painted villa, which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. as well as some other wealthy citizens, built quite stately homes; There was even a nice, Pompeian-painted villa, which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. as well as some other wealthy citizens, built quite stately homes; There was even a nice, Pompeian-painted villa, which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. to build quite stately houses; There was even a nice, Pompeian-painted villa, which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. to build quite stately houses; There was even a nice, Pompeian-painted villa, which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. which their owner intended to rent summer guests, because the scenic attractions of the area enjoyed in the nearby state capital of a certain reputation. Outside... “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), In addition to these stylistic changes, the cipher B... was dissolved in Brno. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), The cipher B... was dissolved in Brno in addition to these stylistic changes. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year. “In the second edition of the two-volume” Novellen aus Österreich “1904 (op. Cit.), The cipher B... was dissolved in Brno in addition to these stylistic changes. This text is based on the reprint in Reclam's universal library (1904, no. 4600, pages 65-104), in which only a few “which” are abolished. The second edition of “Destiny” (o. J. [1897]) is also based here on the same sentence as the edition of short stories from the same year.

  “Yes, it is a time since I experienced the story,” said the forestry master Pernett, while pensively stroking his graying beard, “yet still today the memory of it takes me quite peculiarly. But listen:

  I.

  The year was 65, and I was an adjutant in the service of Count W.... on one of his estates in Moravia. The ranger to whom I was assigned was an excellent forester, but quite old and afflicted with an evil gout, so almost all the real service was on my shoulders. But young and strong, passionate about my job, I did not let myself be frustrated with what I could afford - and sometimes even more. So, except for official walks to the forestry office in the castle, I rarely came out of the woods, which I did not regret at all. For I was no innkeeper, no friend of bowling and other conversations, to which the meaning of young people is usually directed. But one thing I did not want for a long time: dealing with pleasant women, to whom, frankly, I felt a great deal of affection during my life. And just in this respect it looked very sad in the forester's lodge. The old people had two daughters - one son had failed them - but one was already married when I came and the other soon followed this example, becoming the wife of a princely castle gardener in the neighborhood; So I stayed in our home at the sight of the well-bred, lumbering forester and an aging maid. For the rest, of course, I had too often to deal with young women, who were not entirely harmless. For the numerous and extensive manorial industries had created a working-class population, a kind of rural proletariat, that lived in the area in a large circle and lived from hand to mouth; there were only a few rural farms. The wives and daughters of these people also worked as day laborers in the field of agriculture and forestry, and so it came to that I often had to use and supervise a host of girls in suspending the crops; moreover, on certain days they appeared in the woods to gather the clippings. They did not have anything plump and unweakened in themselves; rather, most of them were slender, dainty figures with shapely hands and feet, and whatever could be said against their faces, they almost all had beautiful eyes and knew how to make extensive use of them. They were lethargic and careless, noshish and thieving - and otherwise disposed to any nonsense. Woe to him who would have taken himself lightly with one
of them; he would have been irretrievably involved in the desaster. How many times did I joke with the economics adjudicator, who was a young man of good family and some knowledge, about our common destiny, which, while we could have commanded more compliant slavegirls than the Grand Turk, condemned us to a bleak celibacy and, moreover, compelled us to set grim and bearish faces to the seductive soldier, though they were not particularly effective ; at best they had reproachfully languishing - but usually only overly humorous looks and derisive laughter behind our back. Nevertheless, we behaved well, and as for myself, I can say today that I have kept myself completely free from all the pretty devils. But once, after all, the temptation had approached me in a very strange way.

  The place near which the castle was located was an extensive market-place, flown by a river, whose population consisted of rather wealthy citizens and landowners; The court of the district also had its seat there. Outside the village, in the same line as the road leading to the count's iron and steel works, there ran an elongated lane consisting of uniformly built houses with small gardens. It was a labor colony that had already been founded by an Earl of the Earl in the English pattern, and in which cleanliness and relative prosperity reigned, since the inhabitants, mostly machinists and model carpenters, were well-paid, intelligent people, the majority of whom began to associate themselves to deal with all kinds of socialist problems. On the other hand, in the back of the village itself, on the craggy banks of a vast brook, another settlement had taken its place, which looked desolate and rude enough. For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more on the craggy banks of a vast stream, another settlement had taken its place, which looked desolate and rude enough. For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more on the craggy banks of a vast stream, another settlement had taken its place, which looked desolate and rude enough. For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more had taken place another settlement, which exaggerated wild and rude enough. For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more had taken place another settlement, which exaggerated wild and rude enough. For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more For there dwelt low servants and henchmen, who, with their numerous families in cramped huts, crowded together in their cramped existence, beset by distress and distress. Among them was a run-down man named Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more called Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more called Kratochwil. He had once seen better days, and some time ago he had been the owner of the Kaluppe, in which he now occupied a miserable place with his wife and five children, occasionally working at the blast furnaces and brickworks. But as he lost more and more body as a result of the drinking of spirits to which he had yielded, he could scarcely do more be used for any work and was eventually, backward rent, one day with his relentlessly set in front of the door. Nor did the people, who in their misery came to the most unclean handling, succeed in crawling under cover of the place in a makeshift protective shack; However, they had hardly established themselves there, as even the typhus fever broke out among them and the wife and two children had to be brought to the emergency hospital of the community. The children died, the mother recovered and returned to their own, who now, since they had to leave their haunt immediately, camped out in the open. Since it was summer, this way of life with the help of begging and all sorts of field thieves went awhile, but when the harsh season finally broke in, the homeless seemed abandoned to complete ruin. It would have been duty of the church, in some way, to care for the people who could not be “deported” as natives, and in fact the matter also came to trial in the council. But since it was impossible to foresee the help of this god-given ball of humanity, and yet it was not proper to nourish a family of five heads straight out of the community coffin, no decision was made, and for the time being things kept their course to take. It was a coincidence that the plague of the wandering Gypsies came again over the place. One had to allow these nomads a storage lasting several days outside the soft picture and provided them with a silted-up pasture on the left bank of the river, where soon a row of perforated tents had been pitched. After their departure there was a spacious depression, which the inhabitants of a spacious tent might have dug for better weather protection; There were also a number of fragile tent poles left. On these remains of an approximate Human habitation, the Kratochwil, who had lurked around the brown people all the time with scare-nosed curiosity, like hawks, and immediately took possession of it. The pile of rotten straw, which they found along with some bad rags in the pit, served them as a welcome deposit for the time being, and once their dull mind had been stimulated, the rest arose by itself. Using the tent poles, with gathered old battens, and Fresh spruce
, they knew how to make a protective roofing that would house them as best they could. They dug one half of the square down even deeper, and thereby gained two living quarters, where they poured moss and dry leaves. They provided a secure fireplace, they put up an underground pantry in which they kept captured food, and having been allowed to gather wood in the forest, a considerable supply of fuel was soon piled up near the entrance; yes, as spring moved in, they even tried to plant potatoes and other sprawling vegetables on their territory. With sneering amazement, one gazed after the strange property, which, dominated by two young silver poplars, actually quite picturesque except. Some jokers already called it “Villa Kratochwil"; but the economic adjunct had once referred to the inhabitants of the troglodytes conversationally, and this, if not quite the correct name, had remained in the mouth of many ever since. Nobody cared about their other activities. Of course, the children grew up without schooling in the utmost neglect. The older boy, a bloodless, lame-lewd companion, still seemed to possess the best equipment, for he grew weary of hanging around, and made himself a servant to a carter, who, however, had come down himself and had only a few aborted Moravians in the stable. But the two youngest, a girl and a boy, showed the worst qualities since their earliest childhood. Not only that they begged most urgently, they also stole like the magpies; especially the girl was notorious and feared in this regard. The little thing knew how to sneak into the houses in the evening, where she spent the night in some hiding place, escaping in the early morning with her prey slightly hoofed. For example, she was once discovered, arrested, and handed over to the courts under the jurisdiction of a landlord. But since she was not yet in the age of legal responsibility, she had to be released again and put to domestic punishment. What happened to the latter could be imagined with regard to the parents, which, in their addiction to spirits, may have at least indirectly borne the complicity of the instigation. But at last the prostitute was more than half-grown, when she, together with her younger brother, penetrated into a bedraggled chamber at night and stole all sorts of things there. She was so stuck for burglary for a year in the penitentiary, while the guy with a slight prison sentence in the place itself got away.