Saturday 30 November 2019

Good Readings: "The Man without a Heart" by Ludwing Bechstein (translated into English)


Once upon a time there were seven brothers. As they were orphans and had no sister, they had to do all the house-work themselves. One day, however, they all took it into their heads to get married. Because there were no marriageable young ladies in the village where they lived, they decided to travel in search of wives, and agreed to leave their youngest brother, – to whom they promised to bring a fair bride, – to keep house at home. The youth was quite satisfied with this arrangement, and the six brothers set out in a high state of delight. After a while they came to a small cottage standing by itself in a wood. In front of its door sat an old man. He shouted to the brothers, "Holloa there, you young geese! Where are you going so merry and quick?"
"We are seeking for wives," answered one of them, "one for each of us, and another for our youngest brother at home."
"Oh, you dear young men," said the old fellow, "bring me a young and pretty bride too; for I live here motherless and alone."
The brothers walked off after that, wondering what such a grey old man as he could possibly want with a young and pretty bride.
In the first city they arrived at they found seven sisters, all as young and good-looking as one could desire. The brothers persuaded the young ladies to go with them and told the youngest that they had a brother at home for her.
On their way home they again passed by the cottage in the wood, and there sat the old man at his door, apparently waiting for them. "Ah, you brave youths," he cried out, "I am indebted to you, for I see you have brought a pretty young wife for me."
"No, no," answered the eldest, "she is not for you, but for our youngest brother at home, as we promised him."
"Oh, oh! promised?" said the old man; "then I will promise you something too." So saying he took a white rod and murmuring a few words, touched the brothers and their brides with it, all except the youngest girl, and changed them into grey stones. But the youngest girl he led into his cottage and told her she must always keep it in proper order. She submitted to this with a very good grace, but she got much troubled when she started to reflect that perhaps the old man soon would die. Then she would be left motherless and alone in the wild forest, just as the old man had done before she came.
When she told him of this, he answered, "Do not trouble yourself; fear not, and do not hope that I shall die, for I have no heart in my breast. But if I should die, you will find my white rod over the door, and then if you touch the grey stones with it, your sisters will regain their right forms and the brothers will too, and then you will have company enough."
"But where is your heart, if it is not in your breast?" asked the young bride.
"Must you know everything?" asked the old man. "Well then, if you must know, my heart is in my bed-covering."
So, the next time the old man went out on business, his young wife gathered the most beautiful flowers she could find while he was gone, and placed them on his bed, so that his heart might be pleased with them.
When the old man returned, he laughed at her and said, "It was only a joke when I said my heart was there; my heart is – is – in the oven."
When the old man went out again, his wife busied herself in covering the oven-door with beautiful feathers, and fresh flowers hanging in wreaths and festoons. On his return he asked her what this all meant; and she told him that she had done it to please his heart.
He laughed at her as before, and said," My heart is another place than in the oven."
Hearing this made her sad. In a reproachful tone she exclaimed, "Alas, you still must have a heart, and some day you will die, and then I shall be all alone."
The old man repeated what he had said before, while she pressed him to tell her where his heart really was.
At last he told her: "Far, far away from here, in deep solitude stands an old, old church, shut with iron doors. Round it runs a broad moat, and there is no bridge over it. In the church flies a bird to and fro. It neither eats nor drinks, nor will it die, and nobody can catch it. As long as the bird lives, so long shall I live, for in that bird is my heart."
The bride got very sad now that she found it was out of her power to show her love for the old man's heart. Time passed too slowly for her afterwards, for she used to be alone all day long, until one day there came past the house a young fellow who greeted her. Then, as he came nearer, she asked him where he was going and where he came from.
"Alas!" he sighed, "I am mourning, for once I had six brothers who left me to seek for brides and promised to bring me a wife too, but they never returned. Now I have come out into the world to look for them."
"Ah," she exclaimed, "you do not have to go any farther. Sit down and eat and drink, and I will tell you something."
Then she told him how his six brothers had come to the town close by and how they, together with her sisters, had been stopped by the old man. She went on to tell how the old man had claimed her, although she was to be the bride of the youngest brother; and how the old man had changed all the others into grey stones. All this she told him with many tears. She also told that the old man had no heart in his breast and how it was hidden far away in the bosom of a bird in an old church.
The young man said, "I will look for the bird and catch it with Heaven's help."
"That would be good," she said. "Then your brothers and my sisters will become humans again." So saying, she hid the youth, for it was evening and the old man would soon be back.
As soon as the old man was gone the next morning, she gave the youth a good supply of food and wine for his journey. Wishing him Heaven's blessing and good fortune, sent him off.
On he travelled, till it occurred to him that it was time for breakfast. He sat down and said to himself at the sight of the many good things in his package, "This is a treat. Come who will, he shall be my guest!"
Scarcely had he spoken, when "Mo, mo-o-o!" sounded close to his ears, Turning his head, he saw a great brown ox who said, "You have invited all who will, so I may as well be your guest."
"You are welcome to the best I have," answered the youth.
The ox sat down as carefully as he could; and when he had finished his meal, he said, "Many thanks. If at any time you want assistance, summon me and I will come." With these words the ox disappeared.
The youth packed up. After he had travelled some distance his short shadow showed it was dinner-time, and his appetite told him the same. Sitting down on the ground, he spread out his food as before and invited any guest who chose to come.
Presently he heard a great rustling in the brushwood, and a huge wild boar rushed out, grunting, "I was called to a feast, I should say."
"You are welcome," said the youth; and sitting down together, the youth and the boar had a good meal. When they had done, the boar said, "Thank you! If you ever need me, call the wild boar;" and trotted off.
The youth travelled on again, and by evening-time he had gone a very long distance. Feeling hungry again, he thought to himself that it was time to have supper. So he spread his cloth with meat and drink, and said out loud, "I invite anyone who wants to eat with me. It is worthwhile to come."
As he spoke, he heard a great flapping of wings over his head, and a shadow was cast on the ground before him. In a minute or two down came a large vulture. It called out, "I heard anyone was invited to a feast. All food suits me."
The youth said, "Come, sit down and take what you like of what is left."
The vulture did. When he had finished he flew off, saying to the youth, "If you need me, call, and I will come."
"Oh, he is off in a hurry," thought the youth to himself, "he might have been able to show me the way to the church, for I may never find it." He walked on another few miles, and then, to his surprise, came in sight of the church. Hurrying on, he soon reached the edge of the broad moat which ran around the building. There was no bridge across the moat. He found a nice resting-place, for he was tired and weary from his long walk, and soon fell asleep.
The next morning he wished he to get to the other side of the moat, and thought to himself, "Now if the great brown ox were here, he could perhaps have drunk this ditch dry for me so that I could get over without trouble."
At once the ox came to him and began to drink, and soon they youth was able to cross over and stand on the church-wall. But the walls were very thick, and the towers were made of stones as hard as iron, and the youth wished he had a pick-axe with him. "Ah, if the wild boar were here, he could break through for me," he thought to himself.
No sooner had he said so, than he heard a great noise. Up rushed the fierce boar. Soon it knocked out with its tusks one stone and then another till it had made a great hole that he could easily get through.
The youth entered and saw the bird flying about, but to catch it was more than he was able to. "If the vulture were here now," said he, "he would soon lay hold of that bird for me."
At once the vulture flew in and seized the bird that had the old man's heart in its breast. The youth thanked the vulture as best he could, before it flew away.
Now the youth hastened home to his bride-to-be, reached the house before evening, and told her all that had happened. She gave him a good supper, and then hid him under the bed together with the bird, so that the old man might not see him.
Soon the old man came home. He complained that he felt very ill, like dying, for his bird was caught. The youth under the bed heard this and thought to himself that even though the old man had never done him any harm, he had turned his brothers and their brides into stone, and also had robbed him of his bride. So he began to squeeze the neck of the bird, and the old man called out, "Oh, I am dying; someone is strangling me! Oh, I die!" With these words he fell off his chair dead, for the youth had wrung the bird's neck.
Then the youth crept out from under the bed. The maiden took the old man's white staff and struck the twelve grey stones with it, as he had taught her. In a moment the six brothers and six sisters stood up as humans again. What joy there was among them! They hugged and embraced one another, and the old man was as dead as could be.
The seven brothers married the seven sisters, and for many, many years they all lived together in health and happiness.

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