Master Flea by E. T. A. Hoffmann (classic novels to read .TXT) 📖

me, my honoured friend, although I have not the pleasure to be a man, as you are, but only a flea--no simple one, indeed, but a graduate,--still I thoroughly understand human beings, amongst whom I so constantly live. Most frequently their actions appear to me very ridiculous, and even childish.--Do not take it ill, my friend; I speak it only as Master Flea. You are right; it would be a bad thing, and could not possibly lead to any good, if a man were able to spy thus, without ceremony, into the brains of his neighbours; still to the careless, lively, flea this quality of the microscopic glass is not in the least dangerous.

"Most honoured friend, and, as fortune soon will have it, most happy friend,--you know that my people are of a reckless, merry disposition, and one might say that they consisted of mere youthful springalds. With this I can, for my part, boast of a peculiar sort of wisdom, which in general is wanting to you children of men;--that is, I never do any thing out of season. To bite is the principal business of my life, but I always bite in the right time and right place; lay that to your heart, my worthy friend.

"I will now back from your hands, and faithfully preserve the gift, intended for you, and which neither that preparation of a man, called Swammerdamm, nor Leuwenhock, who wears himself out with petty envy, could possess. And now, my honoured Mr. Tyss, resign yourself to slumber. You will soon fall into a dreamy delirium, in which the great moment will reveal itself. At the right time I shall be with you again."

Master Flea disappeared, and the brilliance, which he had spread, faded away in the darkness of the chamber, the curtains of which were closely drawn.

It fell out as Master Flea had said.

Peregrine fancied that he was lying on the banks of a murmuring wood-stream, and heard the sighing of the wind, the whispering of the leaves, and the humming of a thousand insects that buzzed about him. Then it seemed as if strange voices were audible, plainer and still plainer, so that, at last, Peregrine thought he could make out words. But it was only a confused and stunning hubbub that reached his ear.

At length these words were pronounced by a solemn, hollow voice, that sounded clearer and clearer,--

"Unhappy king, Sekakis, thou who didst despise the intelligence of nature, who, blinded by the evil spells of a crafty demon, didst look upon the false Teraphim, instead of the real spirit!

"In that fate-fraught spot at Famagusta, buried in the deep mine of the earth, lay the talisman; but, when you destroyed yourself, there was no principle to rekindle its frozen powers. In vain you sacrificed your daughter, the beautiful Gamaheh; in vain was the amorous despair of the Thistle, Zeherit; but at the same time impotent and inoperative was the blood-thirst of the Leech-Prince. Even the awkward Genius, Thetel, was obliged to let go his sweet prey, for so mighty still, O king, Sekakis, was thy half-extinct idea, that thou couldst return the lost one to the primal element, from which she sprang.

"And ye, insane anatomists of nature, that ever the unhappy one should have fallen into your hands, when you discovered her in the petal of a tulip! That you should have tormented her with your detestable experiments, presuming, in your childish arrogance, that you could effect that by your wretched arts, which could only happen by the power of that sleeping talisman.

"And you, Master Flea, even to you it was not granted to pierce the mystery, for thy clear sight had not yet the power to penetrate the depths of earth, and see the frozen carbuncle.

"The stars now crossed each other in strange motions, and fearful constellations produced the wonderful, the inscrutable to the purblind sight of man. But still no starry conflict awoke the carbuncle; for the human mind was not born that could cherish it--but at last--

"The wonder is fulfilled, the moment is come."

A bright shine flickered by Peregrine; he awoke out of his stupefaction, and, to his no little surprise, perceived Master Flea, who, in his microscopic form, but clad in a splendid drapery, and holding a blazing torch in his forepaws, busily skipped, up and down the chamber, and trilled forth the finest tones imaginable.

Peregrine strove to rouse himself from sleep, when suddenly a thousand fiery flashes quivered through the room, that in a short time seemed to be filled by one single glowing ball of fire. Then a mild aromatic breeze waved through the wild blaze, which soon died away into the softest moonlight.

Peregrine now found himself on a splendid throne, in the rich garments of an Indian king, the sparkling diadem upon his head, the emblematic lotus-flower in his hand instead of a sceptre. The throne stood in the midst of a hall, so large, the eye could not take in its extent; and its thousand columns were slim cedars, aspiring to the heavens. Between them, roses and the most odorous flowers of every kind lifted up their heads from amidst a dark foliage, as if longing for the pure bright azure, that glittered through the twined branches of the cedars, and seemed to look down upon them with the eyes of love.

Peregrine recognized himself; he felt that the carbuncle, rekindled into life, was glowing in his own breast.

In the farthest background the Genius, Thetel, was labouring to rise into the air, but never was able to reach half the height of the cedars, and fell back again to earth. Here the odious Leech-Prince was crawling with abominable contortions, now blowing himself out, and then again extending himself, and groaning out, all the time,--"Gamaheh! Still mine!"

In the middle of the hall, upon colossal microscopes, sate Leuwenhock and Swammerdamm, making most piteous faces, and reproachfully calling out to each other,--"See now! that was the point in the horoscope, the meaning of which you could not interpret. The talisman is lost to us for ever!"

Close upon the steps of the throne Dörtje Elverdink and George Pepusch seemed not so much to sleep as to be in a deep swoon.

Peregrine,--or, as we may now call him, King Sekakis,--flung back the regal mantle that covered his breast, and, from within, the carbuncle shot forth dazzling beams, like Heaven's fire, through the immense hall.

The Genius, Thetel, again tried to rise, but he fell away, with a hollow groan, into innumerable colourless flocks, which, driven by the wind, were lost in the bushes.

With the most horrible cries of agony, the Leech-Prince shrunk up, and vanished into the earth, while an indignant roar was heard, as if she reluctantly received into her bosom the odious fugitive. Leuwenhock and Swammerdamm had sunk down from the microscopes into themselves, and it was plain, from their sighs and groans, that they were undergoing a severe punishment.

But Dörtje Elverdink and George Pepusch,--or, as we should now call them, Princess Gamaheh and the Thistle, Zeherit,--had awakened from their swoon, and knelt before the king. Their eyes were cast to earth, as if unable to bear the burning splendour of the carbuncle.

Peregrine addressed them all with solemnity:

"Thou, who shouldst deceive men as the Genius, Thetel, thou wert compounded, by the evil demon, of clay and feathers, and therefore the beaming of love destroyed thee, empty phantom, and thou wert reduced to thy original nothing.

"And thou too, blood-thirsty monster of the night, thou wast forced to fly from the fire of the carbuncle into the bosom of the earth.

"But you, poor dupes, unhappy Swammerdamm, wretched Leuwenhock, your whole life was one incessant error. You sought to inquire into Nature, without suspecting the import of her inward being. You were presumptuous enough to wish to penetrate into her workshop and watch her secret labours, imagining that you could, without punishment, look into the fearful mysteries of those depths, which are inscrutable to the human eye. Your hearts remained cold and insensible; the real love has never warmed your bosom. You imagined that you read the holy wonders of nature, with pious admiration, but, in endeavouring to find out the condition of those wonders, even in their inmost core, yourself destroyed that pious feeling, and the knowledge, after which you strove, was a phantom merely, that has deceived you, like prying, inquisitive children.

"Fools! For you the beams of the carbuncle no longer have hope or consolation."

"Ha! ha! There is hope, there is consolation; the old one betakes herself to the old ones; there's love! there's truth! there's tenderness! And the old one is now really a queen, and takes her little Swammerdamm and her little Leuwenhock into her kingdom, and there they are princes, and wind gold thread and silver thread, and do many other useful things."

So spoke the old Alina, who suddenly stood between the two microscopists, clad in a strange dress, which nearly resembled the costume of the Queen of Golconda in the opera. But Leuwenhock and Swammerdamm had so shrunk up, that they seemed to be scarcely a span high, and the Queen of Golconda, putting her puppets into two ivory cradles, rocked and nursed them, and sang to them,--Lullaby, lullaby, baby mine, &c.

During this the Princess Gamaheh and the Thistle, Zeherit, were still kneeling on the steps of the throne. Peregrine spoke:

"Yes, beloved pair, the error is past, which disturbed your lives. Come, dear ones, to my breast. The beam of the carbuncle will penetrate your hearts, and you will enjoy the blessedness of Heaven."

With a cry of joy and hope, the lovers started up, and Peregrine pressed them strongly to his glowing heart. When he released them, they fell, transported, into each others arms; the corpse-like paleness had vanished from their brows, and the freshness of youth bloomed on their cheeks and sparkled in their eyes.

Master Flea, who had hitherto stood by the throne with all the gravity of a guard of honour, suddenly resumed his natural shape, and with a vigorous spring he leaped upon Dörtje's neck, crying out, in a shrill voice, "Old love never changes."

But, oh wonder! in the same moment, Rose lay upon Peregrine's breast, in all her youthful beauty, beaming with the purest love, like a cherub from Heaven.

And now the branches of the cedars rustled, the flowers lifted their heads more loftily, soft melodies poured from the bushes, and the thousand voices of delight rose from earth, and air, and water.

* * * * *

Mr. Peregrine Tyss had purchased a handsome villa, in the vicinity of the city, and here, on the same day, was to be celebrated the double marriage of himself with Rose, and his friend George Pepusch with the little Dörtje Elverdink.

The kind reader will excuse my entering into the details of the nuptial feast and ceremonies. For my part I am willing to leave it to my fair readers to settle the dress of the two brides according to their own fancy. It is only to be observed, that Peregrine and his beautiful Rose were all simple delight, while George and Dörtje, on the contrary, were meditative, and with mutual gaze seemed to have thought, eyes, and ears for each other only.

* * * * *

It was midnight, when suddenly the balsamic odours of the large-blossomed thistle spread through the whole garden.

Peregrine awoke from sleep. He fancied that he heard the plaintive melody of hopeless desire, and a strange foreboding got possession of him. It seemed to him as if a friend were violently torn from him.

The next morning the second bridal pair was missing, namely, George Pepusch and Dörtje Elverdink; what added not a little to the general astonishment was, that they had not at all entered the bridal chamber.

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