In this condition was the Kratochwil family, whose past fates were known to me only by hearsay, during my first year of service, and I too could not help but pay attention to their free settlement when I passed it, and that was at my service, a desired cutback half, mostly the case. Also, at the small auxiliary bridge that led across the river, the lad, who begged anyone from whom he might still hope to obtain a gift, always jostled himself. He pointed out the disgusting-looking stump of his right hand, which, when he was once wanted to force him to work in the fields, he made out of clumsiness or, as it was alleged, deliberately maimed with a sickle. For the rest, however, he was a vigorous, brimming boy whose impeccable physique one had to admire when standing in the water, half-nude, fishy, or cancerous. His face, too, was not unlovely in spite of his rudeness, and his lively, olive-green eyes strangely stung from a dense mass of copper-colored hair rising straight above his forehead. Besides, he was cheeky and droll in spite of his insolence, so that one often could not help throwing him a small coin or a cigar butt, against which he instantly began to suck with the most frightful grimaces.
One day - it was May, which was wonderful after a harsh, almost wintry April - I had to work again in the forestry office. As I approached the bridge I saw, down by the bank, a female figure lying down in the warm river sands, basking comfortably. She was clothed only in a thin, colorless little flag that, barely tattered, seemed to barely reach over her knees. The faded, colorful headscarf had sunk down her neck, revealing curly dark hair; The gaze stared thoughtlessly at the sky. Now, as my footsteps boiled on the timbers, she mechanically turned her head to me, under which she had pushed both arms, and looked at me with big, dark green eyes.
My business took longer this time, so that about two hours had passed when I returned home. The girl was still lying motionless in the same place. Looking at me, she stretched and stretched her limbs slowly, lifting herself up Yawning half-body up and following me urgently with the eyes.
In the forest house I told at table of my meeting. The forester, at heart a good-natured man, but harsh and often cruel in words, when something went against him, was very upset. He claimed that the useless thing would only have got worse in the penitentiary, and he was talking to the whole family, who had always been a thorn in his side. 'This breed,' he exclaimed, disguises the whole place. It is a real scandal that the community is not finally intervening! '
And there he sat once again on his hobbyhorses. Raised under the feudal rule, he was an enemy of the autonomous community, with which there were often border disputes that also touched the forest. But most of all he hated the mayor, because this, a wealthy landowner, was also considered the head of the Slavic party, which in its natural majority gradually acquired a certain position of power. The forester, though of Slavic descent himself, was passionately devoted to the Germans of the place, owing to his whole upbringing and his long service.
At the time, this discord did not bother me much, and I interjected that the community was facing Kratochwils in a very difficult situation.
,What!' he interrupted me violently. Do not speak the word to this people! Indolence is it, criminal indolence! And a crime on top of keeping people so close together in their foul-mouthed cave. It would have to go with the devil, if you could not mate the rag-parents and couple the children somewhere to honest acquisition. '
'It's too bad for the kids,' remarked the forester. “The two youngest ones have always attracted my attention; especially the girl. '
That can go far! But, of course, what does the fathers of the church care about? The mayor has let his only son grow up like the dear cattle. '
'The boy is supposed to have been idiotic since time immemorial,' said the woman, always ready to settle.
,Might be; but by no means in such a way that proper instruction would not have been enough for him. The father had been able to hold a teacher, or even two, if the boy did not move forward at school. He probably thought it was not necessary. For, despite his money and his urban dress, he is and remains a peasant whose whole wisdom is to harness the calf to the plow. Well, that's his business. But as far as the Cratochians are concerned, I am convinced that this scum will sooner or later do some harm. '
At dinner, the old man came back to this topic and as a result, at the end of all horror stories from his life for the best. He told of a desperate fight he had as a young man with wild shooters, of forest fires, of persecuted criminals who had fled into the area, and so on. When we went to bed I could not sleep for a long time; but then I dreamed all sorts of confused and frightful stuff, with the troglodyte family playing the lead roles on the river in all shapes.
II.
The next morning I hung my rifle over my shoulder, whistled my dog and went into the woods. Because it was one of the days on which Klaubholz was collected, and that meant keeping a watchful eye. After all, people who enjoyed this privilege did not know how to protect themselves of what, they thought, belonged to the great outdoors. They trampled the young crops most ruthlessly, and with their poles they fastened strong hooks, together with the dry twigs they hunted healthy ones, and not seldom laid fine slings in the shrubbery, so that chickens and young rabbits were caught. So I roamed that part of the district which was more attracted to the lowlands; on the higher ground, where deer moved, it was less dangerous, for most avoided as a rule the arduous ascent; and there, too, was the landlord of the abode above.
This time it was very lively, since one used the first good time to take care of himself for longer; it was full of women and teenage children. Meanwhile, the sun had risen ever higher, and the forest gradually began to reunify, when I, already thinking of returning home, saw Mother Kratochwil laboriously limping down a fairly steep back. The emaciated, decrepit woman had been burdened with a tremendous burden of brushwood and dry leaves on her back; she gasped, and the sweat ran down her bony, bluish-red face, while a few paces behind her the daughter danced away quite freely and unencumbered, dragging only the thin crowbar, as it were, to the game. See the Prison Princess, I thought, while the old woman called me in a hoarse voice a humble greeting, see the Troglodytin, she lets the mother drag herself to death, without even receiving a twig! Still, I could not help but glimpse the slender figure as she walked on level ground in spite of her rags, really like a princess, swaying gracefully on her hips. She had passed me without greetings and sidelong glance; but when she came to a bend in the path, she suddenly stopped and glanced quickly back at me with a fleeting smile. I resented how she now walked on level ground despite her rags really like a princess and gracefully swayed on her hips. She had passed me without greetings and sidelong glance; but when she came to a bend in the path, she suddenly stopped and glanced quickly back at me with a fleeting smile. I resented how she now walked on level ground despite her rags really like a princess and gracefully swayed on her hips. She had passed me without greetings and sidelong glance; but when she came to a bend in the path, she suddenly stopped and glanced quickly back at me with a fleeting smile. I resented me, that she had noticed how I am amazed her, and went straight home, where I said nothing of this recent meeting, not to bring the forester again in armor.
The next day I had to work in the nursery, which, quite close to the edge of the forest, lay in a graceful sheltered gorge. As I approached the enclosure, I saw the girl sitting on a mossy stone not far from it, as if she were expecting someone. She had a lot of forget-me-nots lying in her lap, which she had picked on the edge of a brook trickling past her, and on which she now looked down, blushing. A peculiar sensation permeated me; but I went past her without looking at her and went to the nursery. As I studied and fumbled there, I involuntarily looked between the slats and noticed, as she was now trying with awkward fingers, the little blue flowers to a bouquet. I was getting stranger and embarrassed, and so as not to get past her again, I forced my way to the other side through the fence, which had become brittle in several places, and tried to gain the thicket by turning into a narrow path.
I had not gone long before it rustled nearby and my dog struck lightly. I thought it was a deer, but instead the girl broke out and scurried past me as she dropped the bouquet, vanishing immediately beyond. I dropped the clumsy-looking gift and went on my way. To when it rustled nearby and my dog struck lightly. I thought it was a deer, but instead the girl broke out and scurried past me as she dropped the bouquet, vanishing immediately beyond. I dropped the clumsy-looking gift and went on my way. To when it rustled nearby and my dog struck lightly. I thought it was a deer, but instead the girl broke out and scurried past me as she dropped the bouquet, vanishing immediately beyond. I dropped the clumsy-looking gift and went on my way. ToSome time later she reappeared - and soon afterwards a third time. This intrusive persecution began to annoy me; Quickly determined, I immediately turned right and walked across the wood on the shortest line to the forester's lodge. As I approached the threshold I heard a short, bright laugh sound like a mockingbird behind me.
The next day She met me again - and also the next one; she obviously had to lie in wait somewhere to explore which direction I took when I left the house, otherwise she would not have been able to always come after me. When I returned on the third day, the forester said: 'You, Pernett, have not you met the young Kratochwil? I saw the damn wench creeping past the house like a cat this morning. She certainly goes around the area. '
I do not know what kept me from telling the full truth, and merely replied that I did, however, perceive the girl from afar.
Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar Page 11
