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Title: Peter Schlemihl etc.

Author:  Chamisso et. al.

Release Date: March, 2004  [EBook #5339]

[Posted: July 2, 2002]
[Updated: July 2, 2002]







                  PETER SCHLEMIHL ETC. 




Transcribed from he 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price,
email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk




PETER SCHLEMIHL ETC.




Contents:
   Introduction by Henry Morley
   Peter Schlemihl by Adelbert Chamisso
      Peter Schlemihl
      Appendix
         Preface by the Editor
         Brief Sketch of Chamisso's Life
         From the Baron de la Motte Fouque
   The Story Without An End by Carode translated by Sarah Austin
   Hymns To Night by Novalis translated by Henry Morley



INTRODUCTION.



"Peter Schlemihl," one of the pleasantest fancies of the days when
Germany delighted in romance, was first published in 1814, and was
especially naturalised in England by association with the genius of
George Cruikshank, who enriched a translation of it with some of his
happiest work as an illustrator.  An account of the book and its
author is here reprinted at the end of the tale, as originally given
by the translator.  To this account one or two notes may be added.
Louis Charles Adelaide de Chamisso de Boncourt was born on the 27th
of January, 1781, at the Chateau of Boncourt, in Champagne, which he
made the subject of one of his most beautiful lyrics.  He belonged
to a family faithful to Louis XVI., that fled to Wurzburg from the
fury of the French Revolution.  Thus he was taken to Germany a child
of nine, and was left there when the family, with other emigrants,
returned to France in 1801.  At fifteen he had Teutonised his name
to Adelbert von Chamisso, and was appointed page to the Queen of
Prussia.  In the war that came afterwards, for a very short time he
bore arms against the French, but being one of a garrison taken in
the captured fort of Hamlin, he and his comrades had to pledge their
honour that they would not again bear arms against France during
that war.  After the war he visited France.  His parents then were
dead, and though he stayed in France some years, he wrote from
France to a friend, "I am German heart and soul, and cannot feel at
home here."  He wandered irresolutely, then became Professor of
Literature in a gymnasium in La Vendee.  Still he was restless.  In
1812 he set off for a walk in Switzerland, returned to Germany, and
took to the study of anatomy.  In 1813, Napoleon's expedition to
Russia and the peril to France from legions marching upon Paris
caused to Chamisso suffering and confusion of mind.

It is often said that his sense of isolation between interests of
the land of his forefathers and the land of his adoption makes
itself felt through all the wild playfulness of "Peter Schlemihl,"
which was at this time written, when Chamisso's age was about
thirty-two.  A letter of his to the Councillor Trinius, in
Petersburg, tells how he came to write it.  He had lost on a
pedestrian tour his hat, his knapsack, his gloves, and his pocket
handkerchief--the chief movables about him.  His friend Fouque asked
him whether he hadn't also lost his shadow?  The friends pleased
their fancies in imagining what would have happened to him if he
had.  Not long afterwards he was reading in La Fontaine of a polite
man who drew out of his pocket whatever was asked for.  Chamisso
thought, He will be bringing out next a coach and horses.  Out of
these hints came the fancy of "Peter Schlemihl, the Shadowless Man."
In all thought that goes with invention of a poet, there are depths
as well as shallows, and the reader may get now and then a peep into
the depths.  He may find, if he will, in a man's shadow that outward
expression of himself which shows that he has been touched, like
others, by the light of heaven.  But essentially the story is a
poet's whim.  Later writings of Chamisso proved him to be one of the
best lyric poets of the romance school of his time, entirely German
in his tone of thought.  His best poem, "Salas y Gomez," describes
the feeling of a solitary on a sea-girt rock, living on eggs of the
numberless sea-birds until old age, when a ship is in sight, and
passes him, and his last agony of despair is followed by a triumph
in the strength of God.


"Alone and world-forsaken let me die;
   Thy Grace is all my wealth, for all my loss:
On my bleached bones out of the southern sky
   Thy Love will look down from the starry cross."


The "Story Without an End"--a story of the endless beauty of
Creation--is from a writer who has no name on the rolls of fame.
The little piece has been made famous among us by the good will of
Sarah Austin.  The child who enjoyed it, and for whom she made the
delicate translation which here follows next after Chamisso's "Peter
Schlemihl," was that only daughter who became Lady Duff-Gordon, and
with whom we have made acquaintance in this Library as the
translator of "The Amber Witch."

To make up the tale of pages in this little book without breaking
its uniformity, I have added a translation of the "Hymns to Night"
of Novalis.  It is a translation made by myself seven-and-forty
years ago, and printed in a student's magazine that I then edited.
"Novalis" was the name assumed by a poet, Friedrich von Hardenberg,
who died on the 25th March, 1801, aged twenty-nine.  He was bred
among the Moravian brethren, and then sent to the University of
Jena.  Two years after his marriage to a young wife, Sophie von
Kuhn, she died.  That was in 1797.  At the same time he lost a
brother who was very dear to him.  It was then--four years before
his own death--that he wrote his "Hymns to Night."

H. M.




PETER SCHLEMIHL, THE SHADOWLESS MAN.




INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE FROM
A. VON CHAMISSO TO JULIUS EDWARD HITZIG.



You, who forget nobody, must surely remember one Peter Schlemihl,
whom you used to meet occasionally at my house--a long-legged youth,
who was considered stupid and lazy, on account of his awkward and
careless air.  I was sincerely attached to him.  You cannot have
forgotten him, Edward.  He was on one occasion the hero of our
rhymes, in the hey-day of our youthful spirits; and I recollect
taking him one evening to a poetical tea-party, where he fell asleep
while I was writing, without even waiting to hear my effusion:  and
this reminds me of a witticism of yours respecting him.  You had
already seen him, I know not where or when, in an old black frock-
coat, which, indeed, he constantly wore; and you said, "He would be
a lucky fellow if his soul were half as immortal as his coat," so
little opinion had you of him.  _I_ loved him, however:  and to this
very Schlemihl, of whom for many years I had wholly lost sight, I am
indebted for the little volume which I communicate to you, Edward,
my most intimate friend, my second self, from whom I have no
secrets;--to you, and of course our Fouque, I commit them, who like
you is intimately entwined about my dearest affections,--to him I
communicate them only as a friend, but not as a poet; for you can
easily imagine how unpleasant it would be if a secret confided to me
by an honest man, relying implicitly on my friendship and honour,
were to be exposed to the public in a poem.

One word more as to the manner in which I obtained these sheets:
yesterday morning early, as soon as I was up, they were brought to
me.  An extraordinary-looking man, with a long grey beard, and
wearing an old black frock-coat with a botanical case hanging at his
side, and slippers over his boots, in the damp, rainy weather, had
just been inquiring for me, and left me these papers, saying he came
from Berlin.

ADELBERT VON CHAMISSO.



CHAPTER I.



After a prosperous, but to me very wearisome, voyage, we came at
last into port.  Immediately on landing I got together my few
effects; and, squeezing myself through the crowd, went into the
nearest and humblest inn which first met my gaze.  On asking for a
room the waiter looked at me from head to foot, and conducted me to
one.  I asked for some cold water, and for the correct address of
Mr. Thomas John, which was described as being "by the north gate,
the first country-house to the right, a large new house of red and
white marble, with many pillars."  This was enough.  As the day was
not yet far advanced, I untied my bundle, took out my newly-turned
black coat, dressed myself in my best clothes, and, with my letter
of recommendation, set out for the man who was to assist me in the
attainment of my moderate wishes.

After proceeding up the north street, I reached the gate, and saw
the marble columns glittering through the trees.  Having wiped the
dust from my shoes with my pocket-handkerchief and readjusted my
cravat, I rang the bell--offering up at the same time a silent
prayer.  The door flew open, and the porter sent in my name.  I had
soon the honour to be invited into the park, where Mr. John was
walking with a few friends.  I recognised him at once by his
corpulency and self-complacent air.  He received me very well--just
as a rich man receives a poor devil; and turning to me, took my
letter.  "Oh, from my brother! it is a long time since I heard from
him:  is he well?--Yonder," he went on,--turning to the company, and
pointing to a distant hill--"Yonder is the site of the new
building."  He broke the seal without discontinuing the
conversation, which turned upon riches.  "The man," he said, "who
does not possess at least a million is a poor wretch."  "Oh, how
true!" I exclaimed, in the fulness of my heart.  He seemed pleased
at this, and replied with a smile, "Stop here, my dear friend;
afterwards I shall, perhaps, have time to tell you what I think of
this," pointing to the letter, which he then put into his pocket,
and turned round to the company, offering his arm to a young lady:
his example was followed by the other gentlemen, each politely
escorting a lady; and the whole party proceeded towards a little
hill thickly planted with blooming roses.

I followed without troubling any one, for none took the least
further notice of me.  The party was in high spirits--lounging about
and jesting--speaking sometimes of trifling matters very seriously,
and of serious matters as triflingly--and exercising their wit in
particular to great advantage on their absent friends and their
affairs.  I was too ignorant of what they were talking about to
understand much of it, and too anxious and absorbed in my own
reflections to occupy myself with the solution of such enigmas as
their conversation presented.

By this time we had reached the thicket of roses.  The lovely Fanny,
who seemed to be the queen of the day, was obstinately bent on
plucking a rose-branch for herself, and in the attempt pricked her
finger with a thorn.  The crimson stream, as if flowing from the
dark-tinted rose, tinged her fair hand with the purple current.
This circumstance set the whole company in commotion; and court-
plaster was called for.  A quiet, elderly man, tall, and meagre-
looking, who was one of the company, but whom I had not before
observed, immediately put his hand into the tight breast-pocket of
his old-fashioned coat of grey sarsnet, pulled out a small letter-
case, opened it, and, with a most respectful bow, presented the lady
with the wished-for article.  She received it without noticing the
giver, or thanking him.  The wound was bound up, and the party
proceeded along the hill towards the back part, from which they
enjoyed an extensive view across the green labyrinth of the park to
the wide-spreading ocean.  The view was truly a magnificent one.  A
slight speck was observed on the horizon, between the dark flood and
the azure sky.  "A telescope!" called out Mr. John; but before any
of the servants could answer the summons the grey man, with a modest
bow, drew his hand from his pocket, and presented a beautiful
Dollond's telescope to Mr. John, who, on looking through it,
informed the company that the speck in the distance was the ship
which had sailed yesterday, and which was detained within sight of
the haven by contrary winds.  The telescope passed from hand to
hand, but was not returned to the owner, whom I gazed at with
astonishment, and could not conceive how so large an instrument
could have proceeded from so small a pocket.  This, however, seemed
to excite surprise in no one; and the grey man appeared to create as
little interest as myself.

Refreshments were now brought forward, consisting of the rarest
fruits from all parts of the world, served up in the most costly
dishes.  Mr. John did the honours with unaffected grace, and
addressed me for the second time, saying, "You had better eat; you
did not get such things at sea."  I acknowledged his politeness with
a bow, which, however, he did not perceive, having turned round to
speak with some one else.

The party would willingly have stopped some time here on the
declivity of the hill, to enjoy the extensive prospect before them,
had they not been apprehensive of the dampness of the grass.  "How
delightful it would be," exclaimed some one, "if we had a Turkey
carpet to lay down here!"  The wish was scarcely expressed when the
man in the grey coat put his hand in his pocket, and, with a modest
and even humble air, pulled out a rich Turkey carpet, embroidered in
gold.  The servant received it as a matter of course, and spread it
out on the desired spot; and, without any ceremony, the company
seated themselves on it.  Confounded by what I saw, I gazed again at
the man, his pocket, and the carpet, which was more than twenty feet
in length and ten in breadth; and rubbed my eyes, not knowing what
to think, particularly as no one saw anything extraordinary in the
matter.

I would gladly have made some inquiries respecting the man, and
asked who he was, but knew not to whom I should address myself, for
I felt almost more afraid of the servants than of their master.  At
length I took courage, and stepping up to a young man who seemed of
less consequence than the others, and who was more frequently
standing by himself, I begged of him, in a low tone, to tell me who
the obliging gentleman was in the grey cloak.  "That man who looks
like a piece of thread just escaped from a tailor's needle?"  "Yes;
he who is standing alone yonder."  "I do not know," was the reply;
and to avoid, as it seemed, any further conversation with me, he
turned away, and spoke of some common-place matters with a
neighbour.

The sun's rays now being stronger, the ladies complained of feeling
oppressed by the heat; and the lovely Fanny, turning carelessly to
the grey man, to whom I had not yet observed that any one had
addressed the most trifling question, asked him if, perhaps, he had
not a tent about him.  He replied, with a low bow, as if some
unmerited honour had been conferred upon him; and, putting his hand
in his pocket, drew from it canvas, poles, cord, iron--in short,
everything belonging to the most splendid tent for a party of
pleasure.  The young gentlemen assisted in pitching it:  and it
covered the whole carpet:  but no one seemed to think that there was
anything extraordinary in it.

I had long secretly felt uneasy--indeed, almost horrified; but how
was this feeling increased when, at the next wish expressed, I saw
him take from his pocket three horses!  Yes, Adelbert, three large
beautiful steeds, with saddles and bridles, out of the very pocket
whence had already issued a letter-case, a telescope, a carpet
twenty feet broad and ten in length, and a pavilion of the same
extent, with all its appurtenances!  Did I not assure thee that my
own eyes had seen all this, thou wouldst certainly disbelieve it.

This man, although he appeared so humble and embarrassed in his air
and manners, and passed so unheeded, had inspired me with such a
feeling of horror by the unearthly paleness of his countenance, from
which I could not avert my eyes, that I was unable longer to endure
it.

I determined, therefore, to steal away from the company, which
appeared no difficult matter, from the undistinguished part I acted
in it.  I resolved to return to the town, and pay another visit to
Mr. John the following morning, and, at the same time, make some
inquiries of him relative to the extraordinary man in grey, provided
I could command sufficient courage.  Would to Heaven that such good
fortune had awaited me!

I had stolen safely down the hill, through the thicket of roses, and
now found myself on an open plain; but fearing lest I should be met
out of the proper path, crossing the grass, I cast an inquisitive
glance around, and started as I beheld the man in the grey cloak
advancing towards me.  He took off his hat, and made me a lower bow
than mortal had ever yet favoured me with.  It was evident that he
wished to address me; and I could not avoid encountering him without
seeming rude.  I returned his salutation, therefore, and stood
bareheaded in the sunshine as if rooted to the ground.  I gazed at
him with the utmost horror, and felt like a bird fascinated by a
serpent.

He affected himself to have an air of embarrassment.  With his eyes
on the ground, he bowed several times, drew nearer, and at last,
without looking up, addressed me in a low and hesitating voice,
almost in the tone of a suppliant:  "Will you, sir, excuse my
importunity in venturing to intrude upon you in so unusual a manner?
I have a request to make--would you most graciously be pleased to
allow me--!"  "Hold! for Heaven's sake!" I exclaimed; "what can I do
for a man who"--I stopped in some confusion, which he seemed to
share.  After a moment's pause, he resumed:  "During the short time
I have had the pleasure to be in your company, I have--permit me,
sir, to say--beheld with unspeakable admiration your most beautiful
shadow, and remarked the air of noble indifference with which you,
at the same time, turn from the glorious picture at your feet, as if
disdaining to vouchsafe a glance at it.  Excuse the boldness of my
proposal; but perhaps you would have no objection to sell me your
shadow?"  He stopped, while my head turned round like a mill-wheel.
What was I to think of so extraordinary a proposal?  To sell my
shadow!  "He must be mad," thought I; and assuming a tone more in
character with the submissiveness of his own, I replied, "My good
friend, are you not content with your own shadow?  This would be a
bargain of a strange nature indeed!"

"I have in my pocket," he said, "many things which may possess some
value in your eyes:  for that inestimable shadow I should deem the
highest price too little."

A cold shuddering came over me as I recollected the pocket; and I
could not conceive what had induced me to style him "GOOD FRIEND,"
which I took care not to repeat, endeavouring to make up for it by a
studied politeness.

I now resumed the conversation: --"But, Sir--excuse your humble
servant--I am at a loss to comprehend your meaning,--my shadow?--how
can I?"

"Permit me," he exclaimed, interrupting me, "to gather up the noble
image as it lies on the ground, and to take it into my possession.
As to the manner of accomplishing it, leave that to me.  In return,
and as an evidence of my gratitude, I shall leave you to choose
among all the treasures I have in my pocket, among which are a
variety of enchanting articles, not exactly adapted for you, who, I
am sure, would like better to have the wishing-cap of Fortunatus,
all made new and sound again, and a lucky purse which also belonged
to him."

"Fortunatus's purse!" cried I; and, great as was my mental anguish,
with that one word he had penetrated the deepest recesses of my
soul.  A feeling of giddiness came over me, and double ducats
glittered before my eyes.

"Be pleased, gracious sir, to examine this purse, and make a trial
of its contents."  He put his hand in his pocket, and drew forth a
large strongly stitched bag of stout Cordovan leather, with a couple
of strings to match, and presented it to me.  I seized it--took out
ten gold pieces, then ten more, and this I repeated again and again.
Instantly I held out my hand to him.  "Done," said I; "the bargain
is made:  my shadow for the purse."  "Agreed," he answered; and,
immediately kneeling down, I beheld him, with extraordinary
dexterity, gently loosen my shadow from the grass, lift it up, fold
it together, and, at last put it in his pocket.  He then rose, bowed
once more to me, and directed his steps towards the rose bushes.  I
fancied I heard him quietly laughing to himself.  However, I held
the purse fast by the two strings.  The earth was basking beneath
the brightness of the sun; but I presently lost all consciousness.

On recovering my senses, I hastened to quit a place where I hoped
there was nothing further to detain me.  I first filled my pockets
with gold, then fastened the strings of the purse round my neck, and
concealed it in my bosom.  I passed unnoticed out of the park,
gained the high road, and took the way to the town.  As I was
thoughtfully approaching the gate, I heard some one behind me
exclaiming, "Young man! young man! you have lost your shadow!"  I
turned, and perceived an old woman calling after me.  "Thank you, my
good woman," said I; and throwing her a piece of gold for her well-
intended information, I stepped under the trees.  At the gate,
again, it was my fate to hear the sentry inquiring where the
gentleman had left his shadow; and immediately I heard a couple of
women exclaiming, "Jesu Maria! the poor man has no shadow."  All
this began to depress me, and I carefully avoided walking in the
sun; but this could not everywhere be the case:  for in the next
broad street I had to cross, and, unfortunately for me, at the very
hour in which the boys were coming out of school, a humpbacked lout
of a fellow--I see him yet--soon made the discovery that I was
without a shadow, and communicated the news, with loud outcries, to
a knot of young urchins.  The whole swarm proceeded immediately to
reconnoitre me, and to pelt me with mud.  "People," cried they, "are
generally accustomed to take their shadows with them when they walk
in the sunshine."

In order to drive them away I threw gold by handfuls among them, and
sprang into a hackney-coach which some compassionate spectators sent
to my rescue.

As soon as I found myself alone in the rolling vehicle I began to
weep bitterly.  I had by this time a misgiving that, in the same
degree in which gold in this world prevails over merit and virtue,
by so much one's shadow excels gold; and now that I had sacrificed
my conscience for riches, and given my shadow in exchange for mere
gold, what on earth would become of me?

As the coach stopped at the door of my late inn, I felt much
perplexed, and not at all disposed to enter so wretched an abode.  I
called for my things, and received them with an air of contempt,
threw down a few gold pieces, and desired to be conducted to a
first-rate hotel.  This house had a northern aspect, so that I had
nothing to fear from the sun.  I dismissed the coachman with gold;
asked to be conducted to the best apartment, and locked myself up in
it as soon as possible.

Imagine, my friend, what I then set about?  O my dear Chamisso! even
to thee I blush to mention what follows.

I drew the ill-fated purse from my bosom; and, in a sort of frenzy
that raged like a self-fed fire within me, I took out gold--gold--
gold--more and more, till I strewed it on the floor, trampled upon
it, and feasting on its very sound and brilliancy, added coins to
coins, rolling and revelling on the gorgeous bed, until I sank
exhausted.

Thus passed away that day and evening; and as my door remained
locked, night found me still lying on the gold, where, at last,
sleep overpowered me.

Then I dreamed of thee, and fancied I stood behind the glass door of
thy little room, and saw thee seated at thy table between a skeleton
and a bunch of dried plants; before thee lay open the works of
Haller, Humboldt, and Linnaeus; on thy sofa a volume of Goethe, and
the Enchanted Ring.  I stood a long time contemplating thee, and
everything in thy apartment; and again turning my gaze upon thee, I
perceived that thou wast motionless--thou didst not breathe--thou
wast dead.

I awoke--it seemed yet early--my watch had stopped.  I felt thirsty,
faint, and worn out; for since the preceding morning I had not
tasted food.  I now cast from me, with loathing and disgust, the
very gold with which but a short time before I had satiated my
foolish heart.  Now I knew not where to put it--I dared not leave it
lying there.  I examined my purse to see if it would hold it,--
impossible!  Neither of my windows opened on the sea.  I had no
other resource but, with toil and great fatigue, to drag it to a
huge chest which stood in a closet in my room; where I placed it
all, with the exception of a handful or two.  Then I threw myself,
exhausted, into an arm-chair, till the people of the house should be
up and stirring.  As soon as possible I sent for some refreshment,
and desired to see the landlord.

I entered into some conversation with this man respecting the
arrangement of my future establishment.  He recommended for my
personal attendant one Bendel, whose honest and intelligent
countenance immediately prepossessed me in his favour.  It is this
individual whose persevering attachment has consoled me in all the
miseries of my life, and enabled me to bear up under my wretched
lot.  I was occupied the whole day in my room with servants in want
of a situation, and tradesmen of every description.  I decided on my
future plans, and purchased various articles of vertu and splendid
jewels, in order to get rid of some of my gold; but nothing seemed
to diminish the inexhaustible heap.

I now reflected on my situation with the utmost uneasiness.  I dared
not take a single step beyond my own door; and in the evening I had
forty wax tapers lighted before I ventured to leave the shade.  I
reflected with horror on the frightful encounter with the school-
boys; yet I resolved, if I could command sufficient courage, to put
the public opinion to a second trial.  The nights were now
moonlight.  Late in the evening I wrapped myself in a large cloak,
pulled my hat over my eyes, and, trembling like a criminal, stole
out of the house.

I did not venture to leave the friendly shadow of the houses until I
had reached a distant part of the town; and then I emerged into the
broad moonlight, fully prepared to hear my fate from the lips of the
passers-by.

Spare me, my beloved friend, the painful recital of all that I was
doomed to endure.  The women often expressed the deepest sympathy
for me--a sympathy not less piercing to my soul than the scoffs of
the young people, and the proud contempt of the men, particularly of
the more corpulent, who threw an ample shadow before them.  A fair
and beauteous maiden, apparently accompanied by her parents, who
gravely kept looking straight before them, chanced to cast a beaming
glance on me; but was evidently startled at perceiving that I was
without a shadow, and hiding her lovely face in her veil, and
holding down her head, passed silently on.

This was past all endurance.  Tears streamed from my eyes; and with
a heart pierced through and through, I once more took refuge in the
shade.  I leant on the houses for support, and reached home at a
late hour, worn out with fatigue.

I passed a sleepless night.  My first care the following morning
was, to devise some means of discovering the man in the grey cloak.
Perhaps I may succeed in finding him; and how fortunate it were if
he should be as ill satisfied with his bargain as I am with mine!

I desired Bendel to be sent for, who seemed to possess some tact and
ability.  I minutely described to him the individual who possessed a
treasure without which life itself was rendered a burden to me.  I
mentioned the time and place at which I had seen him, named all the
persons who were present, and concluded with the following
directions: --He was to inquire for a Dollond's telescope, a Turkey
carpet interwoven with gold, a marquee, and, finally, for some black
steeds--the history, without entering into particulars, of all these
being singularly connected with the mysterious character who seemed
to pass unnoticed by every one, but whose appearance had destroyed
the peace and happiness of my life.

As I spoke I produced as much gold as I could hold in my two hands,
and added jewels and precious stones of still greater value.
"Bendel," said I, "this smooths many a path, and renders that easy
which seems almost impossible.  Be not sparing of it, for I am not
so; but go, and rejoice thy master with intelligence on which depend
all his hopes."

He departed, and returned late and melancholy.

None of Mr. John's servants, none of his guests (and Bendel had
spoken to them all) had the slightest recollection of the man in the
grey cloak.

The new telescope was still there, but no one knew how it had come;
and the tent and Turkey carpet were still stretched out on the hill.
The servants boasted of their master's wealth; but no one seemed to
know by what means he had become possessed of these newly acquired
luxuries.  He was gratified; and it gave him no concern to be
ignorant how they had come to him.  The black coursers which had
been mounted on that day were in the stables of the young gentlemen
of the party, who admired them as the munificent present of Mr.
John.

Such was the information I gained from Bendel's detailed account;
but, in spite of this unsatisfactory result, his zeal and prudence
deserved and received my commendation.  In a gloomy mood, I made him
a sign to withdraw.

"I have, sir," he continued, "laid before you all the information in
my power relative to the subject of the most importance to you.  I
have now a message to deliver which I received early this morning
from a person at the gate, as I was proceeding to execute the
commission in which I have so unfortunately failed.  The man's words
were precisely these:  'Tell your master, Peter Schlemihl, he will
not see me here again.  I am going to cross the sea; a favourable
wind now calls all the passengers on board; but, in a year and a day
I shall have the honour of paying him a visit; when, in all
probability, I shall have a proposal to make to him of a very
agreeable nature.  Commend me to him most respectfully, with many
thanks.'  I inquired his name; but he said you would remember him."

"What sort of person was he?" cried I, in great emotion; and Bendel
described the man in the grey coat feature by feature, word for
word; in short, the very individual in search of whom he had been
sent.  "How unfortunate!" cried I bitterly; "it was himself."
Scales, as it were, fell from Bendel's eyes.  "Yes, it was he,"
cried he, "undoubtedly it was he; and fool, madman, that I was, I
did not recognise him--I did not, and have betrayed my master!"  He
then broke out into a torrent of self-reproach; and his distress
really excited my compassion.  I endeavoured to console him,
repeatedly assuring him that I entertained no doubt of his fidelity;
and despatched him immediately to the wharf, to discover, if
possible, some trace of the extraordinary being.  But on that very
morning many vessels which had been detained in port by contrary
winds had set sail, all bound to different parts of the globe; and
the grey man had disappeared like a shadow.



CHAPTER II.



Of what use were wings to a man fast bound in chains of iron?  They
would but increase the horror of his despair.  Like the dragon
guarding his treasure, I remained cut off from all human
intercourse, and starving amidst my very gold, for it gave me no
pleasure:  I anathematised it as the source of all my wretchedness.

Sole depository of my fearful secret, I trembled before the meanest
of my attendants, whom, at the same time, I envied; for he possessed
a shadow, and could venture to go out in the daytime; while I shut
myself up in my room day and night, and indulged in all the
bitterness of grief.

One individual, however, was daily pining away before my eyes--my
faithful Bendel, who was the victim of silent self-reproach,
tormenting himself with the idea that he had betrayed the confidence
reposed in him by a good master, in failing to recognise the
individual in quest of whom he had been sent, and with whom he had
been led to believe that my melancholy fate was closely connected.
Still, I had nothing to accuse him with, as I recognised in the
occurrence the mysterious character of the unknown.

In order to leave no means untried, I one day despatched Bendel with
a costly ring to the most celebrated artist in the town, desiring
him to wait upon me.  He came; and, dismissing the attendants, I
secured the door, placing myself opposite to him, and, after
extolling his art, with a heavy heart came to the point, first
enjoining the strictest secrecy.

"For a person," said I, "who most unfortunately has lost his shadow,
could you paint a false one?"

"Do you speak of the natural shadow?"

"Precisely so."

"But," he asked, "by what awkward negligence can a man have lost his
shadow?"

"How it occurred," I answered, "is of no consequence; but it was in
this manner"--(and here I uttered an unblushing falsehood)--"he was
travelling in Russia last winter, and one bitterly cold day it froze
so intensely, that his shadow remained so fixed to the ground, that
it was found impossible to remove it."

"The false shadow that I might paint," said the artist, "would be
liable to be lost on the slightest movement, particularly in a
person who, from your account, cares so little about his shadow.  A
person without a shadow should keep out of the sun, that is the only
safe and rational plan."

He rose and took his leave, casting so penetrating a look at me that
I shrunk from it.  I sank back in my chair, and hid my face in my
hands.

In this attitude Bendel found me, and was about to withdraw silently
and respectfully on seeing me in such a state of grief:  looking up,
overwhelmed with my sorrows, I felt that I must communicate them to
him.  "Bendel," I exclaimed, "Bendel, thou the only being who seest
and respectest my grief too much to inquire into its cause--thou who
seemest silently and sincerely to sympathise with me--come and share
my confidence.  The extent of my wealth I have not withheld from
thee, neither will I conceal from thee the extent of my grief.
Bendel! forsake me not.  Bendel, you see me rich, free, beneficent;
you fancy all the world in my power; yet you must have observed that
I shun it, and avoid all human intercourse.  You think, Bendel, that
the world and I are at variance; and you yourself, perhaps, will
abandon me, when I acquaint you with this fearful secret.  Bendel, I
am rich, free, generous; but, O God, I have NO SHADOW!"

"No shadow!" exclaimed the faithful young man, tears starting from
his eyes.  "Alas! that I am born to serve a master without a
shadow!"  He was silent, and again I hid my face in my hands.

"Bendel," at last I tremblingly resumed, "you have now my
confidence; you may betray me--go--bear witness against me!"

He seemed to be agitated with conflicting feelings; at last he threw
himself at my feet and seized my hand, which he bathed with his
tears.  "No," he exclaimed; "whatever the world may say, I neither
can nor will forsake my excellent master because he has lost his
shadow.  I will rather do what is right than what may seem prudent.
I will remain with you--I will shade you with my own shadow--I will
assist you when I can--and when I cannot, I will weep with you."

I fell upon his neck, astonished at sentiments so unusual; for it
was very evident that he was not prompted by the love of money.

My mode of life and my fate now became somewhat different.  It is
incredible with what provident foresight Bendel contrived to conceal
my deficiency.  Everywhere he was before me and with me, providing
against every contingency, and in cases of unlooked-for danger,
flying to shield me with his own shadow, for he was taller and
stouter than myself.  Thus I once more ventured among mankind, and
began to take a part in worldly affairs.  I was compelled, indeed,
to affect certain peculiarities and whims; but in a rich man they
seem only appropriate; and so long as the truth was kept concealed I
enjoyed all the honour and respect which gold could procure.

I now looked forward with more composure to the promised visit of
the mysterious unknown at the expiration of the year and a day.

I was very sensible that I could not venture to remain long in a
place where I had once been seen without a shadow, and where I might
easily be betrayed; and perhaps, too, I recollected my first
introduction to Mr. John, and this was by no means a pleasing
reminiscence.  However, I wished just to make a trial here, that I
might with greater ease and security visit some other place.  But my
vanity for some time withheld me, for it is in this quality of our
race that the anchor takes the firmest hold.

Even the lovely Fanny, whom I again met in several places, without
her seeming to recollect that she had ever seen me before, bestowed
some notice on me; for wit and understanding were mine in abundance
now.  When I spoke, I was listened to; and I was at a loss to know
how I had so easily acquired the art of commanding attention, and
giving the tone to the conversation.

The impression which I perceived I had made upon this fair one
completely turned my brain; and this was just what she wished.
After that, I pursued her with infinite pains through every
obstacle.  My vanity was only intent on exciting hers to make a
conquest of me; but although the intoxication disturbed my head, it
failed to make the least impression on my heart.

But why detail to you the oft-repeated story which I have so often
heard from yourself?

However, in the old and well-known drama in which I played so worn-
out a part a catastrophe occurred of quite a peculiar nature, in a
manner equally unexpected to her, to me, and to everybody.

One beautiful evening I had, according to my usual custom, assembled
a party in a garden, and was walking arm-in-arm with Fanny at a
little distance from the rest of the company, and pouring into her
ear the usual well-turned phrases, while she was demurely gazing on
vacancy, and now and then gently returning the pressure of my hand.
The moon suddenly emerged from behind a cloud at our back.  Fanny
perceived only her own shadow before us.  She started, looked at me
with terror, and then again on the ground, in search of my shadow.
All that was passing in her mind was so strangely depicted in her
countenance, that I should have burst into a loud fit of laughter
had I not suddenly felt my blood run cold within me.  I suffered her
to fall from my arm in a fainting-fit; shot with the rapidity of an
arrow through the astonished guests, reached the gate, threw myself
into the first conveyance I met with, and returned to the town,
where this time, unfortunately, I had left the wary Bendel.  He was
alarmed on seeing me:  one word explained all.  Post-horses were
immediately procured.  I took with me none of my servants, one
cunning knave only excepted, called Rascal, who had by his
adroitness become very serviceable to me, and who at present knew
nothing of what had occurred--I travelled thirty leagues that night;
having left Bendel behind to discharge my servants, pay my debts,
and bring me all that was necessary.

When he came up with me next day, I threw myself into his arms,
vowing to avoid such follies and to be more careful for the future.

We pursued our journey uninterruptedly over the frontiers and
mountains; and it was not until I had placed this lofty barrier
between myself and the before-mentioned unlucky town that I was
persuaded to recruit myself after my fatigues in a neighbouring and
little-frequented watering-place.


I must now pass rapidly over one period of my history, on which how
gladly would I dwell, could I conjure up your lively powers of
delineation!  But the vivid hues which are at your command, and
which alone can give life and animation to the picture, have left no
trace within me; and were I now to endeavour to recall the joys, the
griefs, the pure and enchanting emotions, which once held such
powerful dominion in my breast, it would be like striking a rock
which yields no longer the living spring, and whose spirit has fled
for ever.  With what an altered aspect do those bygone days now
present themselves to my gaze!

In this watering-place I acted an heroic character, badly studied;
and being a novice on such a stage, I forgot my part before a pair
of lovely blue eyes.

All possible means were used by the infatuated parents to conclude
the bargain; and deception put an end to these usual artifices.  And
that is all--all.

The powerful emotions which once swelled my bosom seem now in the
retrospect to be poor and insipid, nay, even terrible to me.

Alas, Minna! as I wept for thee the day I lost thee, so do I now
weep that I can no longer retrace thine image in my soul.

Am I, then, so far advanced into the vale of years?  O fatal effects
of maturity! would that I could feel one throb, one emotion of
former days of enchantment--alas, not one! a solitary being, tossed
on the wild ocean of life--it is long since I drained thine
enchanted cup to the dregs!

But to return to my narrative.  I had sent Bendel to the little town
with plenty of money to procure me a suitable habitation.  He spent
my gold profusely; and as he expressed himself rather reservedly
concerning his distinguished master (for I did not wish to be
named), the good people began to form rather extraordinary
conjectures.

As soon as my house was ready for my reception, Bendel returned to
conduct me to it.  We set out on our journey.  About a league from
the town, on a sunny plain, we were stopped by a crowd of people,
arrayed in holiday attire for some festival.  The carriage stopped.
Music, bells, cannons, were heard; and loud acclamations rang
through the air.

Before the carriage now appeared in white dresses a chorus of
maidens, all of extraordinary beauty; but one of them shone in
resplendent loveliness, and eclipsed the rest as the sun eclipses
the stars of night.  She advanced from the midst of her companions,
and, with a lofty yet winning air, blushingly knelt before me,
presenting on a silken cushion a wreath, composed of laurel
branches, the olive, and the rose, saying something respecting
majesty, love, honour, &c., which I could not comprehend; but the
sweet and silvery magic of her tones intoxicated my senses and my
whole soul:  it seemed as if some heavenly apparition were hovering
over me.  The chorus now began to sing the praises of a good
sovereign, and the happiness of his subjects.  All this, dear
Chamisso, took place in the sun:  she was kneeling two steps from
me, and I, without a shadow, could not dart through the air, nor
fall on my knees before the angelic being.  Oh, what would I not now
have given for a shadow!  To conceal my shame, agony, and despair, I
buried myself in the recesses of the carriage.  Bendel at last
thought of an expedient; he jumped out of the carriage.  I called
him back, and gave him out of the casket I had by me a rich diamond
coronet, which had been intended for the lovely Fanny.

He stepped forward, and spoke in the name of his master, who, he
said, was overwhelmed by so many demonstrations of respect, which he
really could not accept as an honour--there must be some error;
nevertheless he begged to express his thanks for the goodwill of the
worthy townspeople.  In the meantime Bendel had taken the wreath
from the cushion, and laid the brilliant crown in its place.  He
then respectfully raised the lovely girl from the ground; and, at
one sign, the clergy, magistrates, and all the deputations withdrew.
The crowd separated to allow the horses to pass, and we pursued our
way to the town at full gallop, through arches ornamented with
flowers and branches of laurel.  Salvos of artillery again were
heard.  The carriage stopped at my gate; I hastened through the
crowd which curiosity had attracted to witness my arrival.
Enthusiastic shouts resounded under my windows, from whence I
showered gold amidst the people; and in the evening the whole town
was illuminated.  Still all remained a mystery to me, and I could
not imagine for whom I had been taken.  I sent Rascal out to make
inquiry; and he soon obtained intelligence that the good King of
Prussia was travelling through the country under the name of some
count; that my aide-de-camp had been recognised, and that he had
divulged the secret; that on acquiring the certainty that I would
enter their town, their joy had known no bounds:  however, as they
perceived I was determined on preserving the strictest incognito,
they felt how wrong they had been in too importunately seeking to
withdraw the veil; but I had received them so condescendingly and so
graciously, that they were sure I would forgive them.  The whole
affair was such capital amusement to the unprincipled Rascal, that
he did his best to confirm the good people in their belief, while
affecting to reprove them.  He gave me a very comical account of the
matter; and, seeing that I was amused by it, actually endeavoured to
make a merit of his impudence.

Shall I own the truth?  My vanity was flattered by having been
mistaken for our revered sovereign.  I ordered a banquet to be got
ready for the following evening, under the trees before my house,
and invited the whole town.  The mysterious power of my purse,
Bendel's exertions, and Rascal's ready invention, made the shortness
of the time seem as nothing.

It was really astonishing how magnificently and beautifully
everything was arranged in these few hours.  Splendour and abundance
vied with each other, and the lights were so carefully arranged that
I felt quite safe:  the zeal of my servants met every exigency and
merited all praise.

Evening drew on, the guests arrived, and were presented to me.  The
word MAJESTY was now dropped; but, with the deepest respect and
humility, I was addressed as the COUNT.  What could I do?  I
accepted the title, and from that moment I was known as Count Peter.
In the midst of all this festivity my soul pined for one individual.
She came late--she who was the empress of the scene, and wore the
emblem of sovereignty on her brow.

She modestly accompanied her parents, and seemed unconscious of her
transcendent beauty.

The Ranger of the Forests, his wife, and daughter, were presented to
me.  I was at no loss to make myself agreeable to the parents; but
before the daughter I stood like a well-scolded schoolboy, incapable
of speaking a single word.

At length I hesitatingly entreated her to honour my banquet by
presiding at it--an office for which her rare endowments pointed her
out as admirably fitted.  With a blush and an expressive glance she
entreated to be excused; but, in still greater confusion than
herself, I respectfully begged her to accept the homage of the first
and most devoted of her subjects, and one glance of the count was
the same as a command to the guests, who all vied with each other in
acting up to the spirit of the noble host.

In her person majesty, innocence, and grace, in union with beauty,
presided over this joyous banquet.  Minna's happy parents were
elated by the honours conferred upon their child.  As for me, I
abandoned myself to all the intoxication of delight:  I sent for all
the jewels, pearls, and precious stones still left to me--the
produce of my fatal wealth--and, filling two vases, I placed them on
the table, in the name of the Queen of the banquet, to be divided
among her companions and the remainder of the ladies.

I ordered gold in the meantime to be showered down without ceasing
among the happy multitude.

Next morning Bendel told me in confidence that the suspicions he had
long entertained of Rascal's honesty were now reduced to a
certainty; he had yesterday embezzled many bags of gold.

"Never mind," said I; "let him enjoy his paltry booty.  I like to
spend it; why should not he?  Yesterday he, and all the newly-
engaged servants whom you had hired, served me honourably, and
cheerfully assisted me to enjoy the banquet."

No more was said on the subject.  Rascal remained at the head of my
domestics.  Bendel was my friend and confidant; he had by this time
become accustomed to look upon my wealth as inexhaustible, without
seeking to inquire into its source.  He entered into all my schemes,
and effectually assisted me in devising methods of spending my
money.

Of the pale, sneaking scoundrel--the unknown--Bendel only knew thus
much, that he alone had power to release me from the curse which
weighed so heavily on me, and yet that I stood in awe of him on whom
all my hopes rested.  Besides, I felt convinced that he had the
means of discovering ME under any circumstances, while he himself
remained concealed.  I therefore abandoned my fruitless inquiries,
and patiently awaited the appointed day.

The magnificence of my banquet, and my deportment on the occasion,
had but strengthened the credulous townspeople in their previous
belief.

It appeared soon after, from accounts in the newspapers, that the
whole history of the King of Prussia's fictitious journey originated
in mere idle report.  But a king I was, and a king I must remain by
all means; and one of the richest and most royal, although people
were at a loss to know where my territories lay.

The world has never had reason to lament the scarcity of monarchs,
particularly in these days; and the good people, who had never yet
seen a king, now fancied me to be first one, and then another, with
equal success; and in the meanwhile I remained as before, Count
Peter.

Among the visitors at this watering-place a merchant made his
appearance, one who had become a bankrupt in order to enrich
himself.  He enjoyed the general good opinion; for he projected a
shadow of respectable size, though of somewhat faint hue.

This man wished to show off in this place by means of his wealth,
and sought to rival me.  My purse soon enabled me to leave the poor
devil far behind.  To save his credit he became bankrupt again, and
fled beyond the mountains; and thus I was rid of him.  Many a one in
this place was reduced to beggary and ruin through my means.

In the midst of the really princely magnificence and profusion,
which carried all before me, my own style of living was very simple
and retired.  I had made it a point to observe the strictest
precaution; and, with the exception of Bendel, no one was permitted,
on any pretence whatever, to enter my private apartment.  As long as
the sun shone I remained shut up with him; and the Count was then
said to be deeply occupied in his closet.  The numerous couriers,
whom I kept in constant attendance about matters of no importance,
were supposed to be the bearers of my despatches.  I only received
company in the evening under the trees of my garden, or in my
saloons, after Bendel's assurance of their being carefully and
brilliantly lit up.

My walks, in which the Argus-eyed Bendel was constantly on the watch
for me, extended only to the garden of the forest-ranger, to enjoy
the society of one who was dear to me as my own existence.

Oh, my Chamisso!  I trust thou hast not forgotten what love is!  I
must here leave much to thine imagination.  Minna was in truth an
amiable and excellent maiden:  her whole soul was wrapped up in me,
and in her lowly thoughts of herself she could not imagine how she
had deserved a single thought from me.  She returned love for love
with all the full and youthful fervour of an innocent heart; her
love was a true woman's love, with all the devotion and total
absence of selfishness which is found only in woman; she lived but
in me, her whole soul being bound up in mine, regardless what her
own fate might be.

Yet I, alas, during those hours of wretchedness--hours I would even
now gladly recall--how often have I wept on Bendel's bosom, when
after the first mad whirlwind of passion I reflected, with the
keenest self-upbraidings, that I, a shadowless man, had, with cruel
selfishness, practised a wicked deception, and stolen away the pure
and angelic heart of the innocent Minna!

At one moment I resolved to confess all to her; then that I would
fly for ever; then I broke out into a flood of bitter tears, and
consulted Bendel as to the means of meeting her again in the
forester's garden.

At times I flattered myself with great hopes from the near
approaching visit of the unknown; then wept again, because I saw
clearly on reflection that they would end in disappointment.  I had
made a calculation of the day fixed on by the fearful being for our
interview; for he had said in a year and a day, and I depended on
his word.

The parents were worthy old people, devoted to their only child; and
our mutual affection was a circumstance so overwhelming that they
knew not how to act.  They had never dreamed for a moment that the
Count could bestow a thought on their daughter; but such was the
case--he loved and was beloved.  The pride of the mother might not
have led her to consider such an alliance quite impossible, but so
extravagant an idea had never entered the contemplation of the
sounder judgment of the old man.  Both were satisfied of the
sincerity of my love, and could but put up prayers to Heaven for the
happiness of their child.

A letter which I received from Minna about that time has just fallen
into my hands.  Yes, these are the characters traced by her own
hand.  I will transcribe the letter:-

"I am indeed a weak, foolish girl to fancy that the friend I so
tenderly love could give an instant's pain to his poor Minna!  Oh
no! thou art so good, so inexpressibly good!  But do not
misunderstand me.  I will accept no sacrifice at thy hands--none
whatever.  Oh heavens!  I should hate myself!  No; thou hast made me
happy, thou hast taught me to love thee.

"Go, then--let me not forget my destiny--Count Peter belongs not to
me, but to the whole world; and oh! what pride for thy Minna to hear
thy deeds proclaimed, and blessings invoked on thy idolised head!
Ah! when I think of this, I could chide thee that thou shouldst for
one instant forget thy high destiny for the sake of a simple maiden!
Go, then; otherwise the reflection will pierce me.  How blest I have
been rendered by thy love!  Perhaps, also, I have planted some
flowers in the path of thy life, as I twined them in the wreath
which I presented to thee.

"Go, then--fear not to leave me--you are too deeply seated in my
heart--I shall die inexpressibly happy in thy love."

Conceive how these words pierced my soul, Chamisso!

I declared to her that I was not what I seemed--that, although a
rich, I was an unspeakably miserable man--that a curse was on me,
which must remain a secret, although the only one between us--yet
that I was not without a hope of its being removed--that this
poisoned every hour of my life--that I should plunge her with me
into the abyss--she, the light and joy, the very soul of my
existence.  Then she wept because I was unhappy.  Oh!  Minna was all
love and tenderness.  To save me one tear she would gladly have
sacrificed her life.

Yet she was far from comprehending the full meaning of my words.
She still looked upon me as some proscribed prince or illustrious
exile; and her vivid imagination had invested her lover with every
lofty attribute.

One day I said to her, "Minna, the last day in next month will
decide my fate, and perhaps change it for the better; if not, I
would sooner die than render you miserable."

She laid her head on my shoulder to conceal her tears.  "Should thy
fate be changed," she said, "I only wish to know that thou art
happy; if thy condition is an unhappy one, I will share it with
thee, and assist thee to support it."

"Minna, Minna!" I exclaimed, "recall those rash words--those mad
words which have escaped thy lips!  Didst thou know the misery and
curse--didst thou know who--what--thy lover--Seest thou not, my
Minna, this convulsive shuddering which thrills my whole frame, and
that there is a secret in my breast which you cannot penetrate?"
She sank sobbing at my feet, and renewed her vows and entreaties.

Her father now entered, and I declared to him my intention to
solicit the hand of his daughter on the first day of the month after
the ensuing one.  I fixed that time, I told him, because
circumstances might probably occur in the interval materially to
influence my future destiny; but my love for his daughter was
unchangeable.

The good old man started at hearing such words from the mouth of
Count Peter.  He fell upon my neck, and rose again in the utmost
confusion for having forgotten himself.  Then he began to doubt, to
ponder, and to scrutinise; and spoke of dowry, security, and future
provision for his beloved child.  I thanked him for having reminded
me of all this, and told him it was my wish to remain in a country
where I seemed to be beloved, and to lead a life free from anxiety.
I then commissioned him to purchase the finest estate in the
neighbourhood in the name of his daughter--for a father was the best
person to act for his daughter in such a case--and to refer for
payment to me.  This occasioned him a good deal of trouble, as a
stranger had everywhere anticipated him; but at last he made a
purchase for about 150,000 pounds.

I confess this was but an innocent artifice to get rid of him, as I
had frequently done before; for it must be confessed that he was
somewhat tedious.  The good mother was rather deaf, and not jealous,
like her husband, of the honour of conversing with the Count.

The happy party pressed me to remain with them longer this evening.
I dared not--I had not a moment to lose.  I saw the rising moon
streaking the horizon--my hour was come.

Next evening I went again to the forester's garden.  I had wrapped
myself closely up in my cloak, slouched my hat over my eyes, and
advanced towards Minna.  As she raised her head and looked at me,
she started involuntarily.  The apparition of that dreadful night in
which I had been seen without a shadow was now standing distinctly
before me--it was she herself.  Had she recognised me?  She was
silent and thoughtful.  I felt an oppressive load at my heart.  I
rose from my seat.  She laid her head on my shoulder, still silent
and in tears.  I went away.

I now found her frequently weeping.  I became more and more
melancholy.  Her parents were beyond expression happy.  The eventful
day approached, threatening and heavy, like a thundercloud.  The
evening preceding arrived.  I could scarcely breathe.  I had
carefully filled a large chest with gold, and sat down to await the
appointed time--the twelfth hour--it struck.

Now I remained with my eyes fixed on the hand of the clock, counting
the seconds--the minutes--which struck me to the heart like daggers.
I started at every sound--at last daylight appeared.  The leaden
hours passed on--morning--evening--night came.  Hope was fast fading
away as the hand advanced.  It struck eleven--no one appeared--the
last minutes--the first and last stroke of the twelfth hour died
away.  I sank back in my bed in an agony of weeping.  In the morning
I should, shadowless as I was, claim the hand of my beloved Minna.
A heavy sleep towards daylight closed my eyes.



CHAPTER III.



It was yet early, when I was suddenly awoke by voices in hot dispute
in my antechamber.  I listened.  Bendel was forbidding Rascal to
enter my room, who swore he would receive no orders from his equals,
and insisted on forcing his way.  The faithful Bendel reminded him
that if such words reached his master's ears, he would turn him out
of an excellent place.  Rascal threatened to strike him if he
persisted in refusing his entrance.

By this time, having half dressed myself, I angrily threw open the
door, and addressing myself to Rascal, inquired what he meant by
such disgraceful conduct.  He drew back a couple of steps, and
coolly answered, "Count Peter, may I beg most respectfully that you
will favour me with a sight of your shadow?  The sun is now shining
brightly in the court below."

I stood as if struck by a thunderbolt, and for some time was unable
to speak.  At last, I asked him how a servant could dare to behave
so towards his master.  He interrupted me by saying, quite coolly,
"A servant may be a very honourable man, and unwilling to serve a
shadowless master--I request my dismissal."

I felt that I must adopt a softer tone, and replied, "But, Rascal,
my good fellow, who can have put such strange ideas into your head?
How can you imagine--"

He again interrupted me in the same tone--"People say you have no
shadow.  In short, let me see your shadow, or give me my dismissal."

Bendel, pale and trembling, but more collected than myself, made a
sign to me.  I had recourse to the all-powerful influence of gold.
But even gold had lost its power--Rascal threw it at my feet:  "From
a shadowless man," he said, "I will take nothing."

Turning his back upon me, and putting on his hat, he then slowly
left the room, whistling a tune.  I stood, with Bendel, as if
petrified, gazing after him.

With a deep sigh and a heavy heart I now prepared to keep my
engagement, and to appear in the forester's garden like a criminal
before his judge.  I entered by the shady arbour, which had received
the name of Count Peter's arbour, where we had appointed to meet.
The mother advanced with a cheerful air; Minna sat fair and
beautiful as the early snow of autumn reposing on the departing
flowers, soon to be dissolved and lost in the cold stream.

The ranger, with a written paper in his hand, was walking up and
down in an agitated manner, and struggling to suppress his feelings-
-his usually unmoved countenance being one moment flushed, and the
next perfectly pale.  He came forward as I entered, and, in a
faltering voice, requested a private conversation with me.  The path
by which he requested me to follow him led to an open spot in the
garden, where the sun was shining.  I sat down.  A long silence
ensued, which even the good woman herself did not venture to break.
The ranger, in an agitated manner, paced up and down with unequal
steps.  At last he stood still; and glancing over the paper he held
in his hand, he said, addressing me with a penetrating look,

"Count Peter, do you know one Peter Schlemihl?" I was silent.

"A man," he continued, "of excellent character and extraordinary
endowments."

He paused for an answer.--"And supposing I myself were that very
man?"

"You!" he exclaimed, passionately; "he has lost his shadow!"

"Oh, my suspicion is true!" cried Minna; "I have long known it--he
has no shadow!"  And she threw herself into her mother's arms, who,
convulsively clasping her to her bosom, reproached her for having so
long, to her hurt, kept such a secret.  But, like the fabled
Arethusa, her tears, as from a fountain, flowed more abundantly, and
her sobs increased at my approach.

"And so," said the ranger fiercely, "you have not scrupled, with
unparalleled shamelessness, to deceive both her and me; and you
pretended to love her, forsooth--her whom you have reduced to the
state in which you now see her.  See how she weeps!--Oh, shocking,
shocking!"

By this time I had lost all presence of mind; and I answered,
confusedly, "After all, it is but a shadow, a mere shadow, which a
man can do very well without; and really it is not worth the while
to make all this noise about such a trifle."  Feeling the
groundlessness of what I was saying, I ceased, and no one
condescended to reply.  At last I added, "What is lost to-day may be
found to-morrow."

"Be pleased, sir," continued the ranger, in great wrath--"be pleased
to explain how you have lost your shadow."

Here again an excuse was ready:  "A boor of a fellow," said I, "one
day trod so rudely on my shadow that he tore a large hole in it.  I
sent it to be repaired--for gold can do wonders--and yesterday I
expected it home again."

"Very well," answered the ranger.  "You are a suitor for my
daughter's hand, and so are others.  As a father, I am bound to
provide for her.  I will give you three days to seek your shadow.
Return to me in the course of that time with a well-fitted shadow,
and you shall receive a hearty welcome; otherwise, on the fourth
day--remember, on the fourth day--my daughter becomes the wife of
another."

I now attempted to say one word to Minna; but, sobbing more
violently, she clung still closer to her mother, who made a sign for
me to withdraw.  I obeyed; and now the world seemed shut out from me
for ever.

Having escaped from the affectionate care of Bendel, I now wandered
wildly through the neighbouring woods and meadows.  Drops of anguish
fell from my brow, deep groans burst from my bosom--frenzied despair
raged within me.

I knew not how long this had lasted, when I felt myself seized by
the sleeve on a sunny heath.  I stopped, and looking up, beheld the
grey-coated man, who appeared to have run himself out of breath in
pursuing me.  He immediately began:

"I had," said he, "appointed this day; but your impatience
anticipated it.  All, however, may yet be right.  Take my advice--
redeem your shadow, which is at your command, and return immediately
to the ranger's garden, where you will be well received, and all the
past will seem a mere joke.  As for Rascal--who has betrayed you in
order to pay his addresses to Minna--leave him to me; he is just a
fit subject for me."

I stood like one in a dream.  "This day?" I considered again.  He
was right--I had made a mistake of a day.  I felt in my bosom for
the purse.  He perceived my intention, and drew back.

"No, Count Peter; the purse is in good hands--pray keep it."  I
gazed at him with looks of astonishment and inquiry.  "I only beg a
trifle as a token of remembrance.  Be so good as to sign this
memorandum."  On the parchment, which he held out to me, were these
words: --"By virtue of this present, to which I have appended my
signature, I hereby bequeath my soul to the holder, after its
natural separation from my body."

I gazed in mute astonishment alternately at the paper and the grey
unknown.  In the meantime he had dipped a new pen in a drop of blood
which was issuing from a scratch in my hand just made by a thorn.
He presented it to me.  "Who are you?" at last I exclaimed.  "What
can it signify?" he answered; "do you not perceive who I am?  A poor
devil--a sort of scholar and philosopher, who obtains but poor
thanks from his friends for his admirable arts, and whose only
amusement on earth consists in his small experiments.  But just sign
this; to the right, exactly underneath--Peter Schlemihl."

I shook my head, and replied, "Excuse me, sir; I cannot sign that."

"Cannot!" he exclaimed; "and why not?"

"Because it appears to me a hazardous thing to exchange my soul for
my shadow."

"Hazardous!" he exclaimed, bursting into a loud laugh.  "And, pray,
may I be allowed to inquire what sort of a thing your soul is?--have
you ever seen it?--and what do you mean to do with it after your
death?  You ought to think yourself fortunate in meeting with a
customer who, during your life, in exchange for this infinitely-
minute quantity, this galvanic principle, this polarised agency, or
whatever other foolish name you may give it, is willing to bestow on
you something substantial--in a word, your own identical shadow, by
virtue of which you will obtain your beloved Minna, and arrive at
the accomplishment of all your wishes; or do you prefer giving up
the poor young girl to the power of that contemptible scoundrel
Rascal ?  Nay, you shall behold her with your own eyes.  Come here;
I will lend you an invisible cap (he drew something out of his
pocket), and we will enter the ranger's garden unseen."

I must confess that I felt excessively ashamed to be thus laughed at
by the grey stranger.  I detested him from the very bottom of my
soul; and I really believe this personal antipathy, more than
principle or previously-formed opinion, restrained me from
purchasing my shadow, much as I stood in need of it, at such an
expense.  Besides, the thought was insupportable, of making this
proposed visit in his society.  To behold this hateful sneak, this
mocking fiend, place himself between me and my beloved, between our
torn and bleeding hearts, was too revolting an idea to be
entertained for a moment.  I considered the past as irrevocable, my
own misery as inevitable; and turning to the grey man, I said, "I
have exchanged my shadow for this very extraordinary purse, and I
have sufficiently repented it.  For Heaven's sake, let the
transaction be declared null and void!"  He shook his head; and his
countenance assumed an expression of the most sinister cast.  I
continued, "I will make no exchange whatever, even for the sake of
my shadow, nor will I sign the paper.  It follows, also, that the
incognito visit you propose to me would afford you far more
entertainment than it could possibly give me.  Accept my excuses,
therefore; and, since it must be so, let us part."

"I am sorry, Mr. Schlemihl, that you thus obstinately persist in
rejecting my friendly offer.  Perhaps, another time, I may be more
fortunate.  Farewell!  May we shortly meet again!  But, a propos,
allow me to show you that I do not undervalue my purchase, but
preserve it carefully."

So saying, he drew my shadow out of his pocket; and shaking it
cleverly out of its folds, he stretched it out at his feet in the
sun--so that he stood between two obedient shadows, his own and
mine, which was compelled to follow and comply with his every
movement.

On again beholding my poor shadow after so long a separation, and
seeing it degraded to so vile a bondage at the very time that I was
so unspeakably in want of it, my heart was ready to burst, and I
wept bitterly.  The detested wretch stood exulting over his prey,
and unblushingly renewed his proposal.  "One stroke of your pen, and
the unhappy Minna is rescued from the clutches of the villain
Rascal, and transferred to the arms of the high-born Count Peter--
merely a stroke of your pen!"

My tears broke out with renewed violence; but I turned away from
him, and made a sign for him to be gone.

Bendel, whose deep solicitude had induced him to come in search of
me, arrived at this very moment.  The good and faithful creature, on
seeing me weeping, and that a shadow (evidently mine) was in the
power of the mysterious unknown, determined to rescue it by force,
should that be necessary; and disdaining to use any finesse, he
desired him directly, and without any disputing, to restore my
property.  Instead of a reply, the grey man turned his back on the
worthy fellow, and was making off.  But Bendel raised his buck-thorn
stick; and following close upon him, after repeated commands, but in
vain, to restore the shadow, he made him feel the whole force of his
powerful arm.  The grey man, as if accustomed to such treatment,
held down his head, slouched his shoulders, and, with soft and
noiseless steps, pursued his way over the heath, carrying with him
my shadow, and also my faithful servant.  For a long time I heard
hollow sounds ringing through the waste, until at last they died
away in the distance, and I was again left to solitude and misery.


Alone on the wild heath, I disburdened my heart of an insupportable
load by giving free vent to my tears.  But I saw no bounds, no
relief, to my surpassing wretchedness; and I drank in the fresh
poison which the mysterious stranger had poured into my wounds with
a furious avidity.  As I retraced in my mind the loved image of my
Minna, and depicted her sweet countenance all pale and in tears,
such as I had beheld her in my late disgrace, the bold and sarcastic
visage of Rascal would ever and anon thrust itself between us.  I
hid my face, and fled rapidly over the plains; but the horrible
vision unrelentingly pursued me, till at last I sank breathless on
the ground, and bedewed it with a fresh torrent of tears--and all
this for a shadow!--a shadow which one stroke of the pen would
repurchase.  I pondered on the singular proposal, and on my
hesitation to comply with it.  My mind was confused--I had lost the
power of judging or comprehending.  The day was waning apace.  I
satisfied the cravings of hunger with a few wild fruits, and
quenched my thirst at a neighbouring stream.  Night came on; I threw
myself down under a tree, and was awoke by the damp morning air from
an uneasy sleep, in which I had fancied myself struggling in the
agonies of death.  Bendel had certainly lost all trace of me, and I
was glad of it.  I did not wish to return among my fellow-creatures-
-I shunned them as the hunted deer flies before its pursuers.  Thus
I passed three melancholy days.

I found myself on the morning of the fourth on a sandy plain,
basking in the rays of the sun, and sitting on a fragment of rock;
for it was sweet to enjoy the genial warmth of which I had so long
been deprived.  Despair still preyed on my heart.  Suddenly a slight
sound startled me; I looked round, prepared to fly, but saw no one.
On the sunlit sand before me flitted the shadow of a man not unlike
my own; and wandering about alone, it seemed to have lost its
master.  This sight powerfully excited me.  "Shadow!" thought I,
"art thou in search of thy master? in me thou shalt find him."  And
I sprang forward to seize it, fancying that could I succeed in
treading so exactly in its traces as to step in its footmarks, it
would attach itself to me, and in time become accustomed to me, and
follow all my movements.

The shadow, as I moved, took to flight, and I commenced a hot chase
after the airy fugitive, solely excited by the hope of being
delivered from my present dreadful situation; the bare idea inspired
me with fresh strength and vigour.

The shadow now fled towards a distant wood, among whose shades I
must necessarily have lost it.  Seeing this, my heart beat wild with
fright, my ardour increased and lent wings to my speed.  I was
evidently gaining on the shadow--I came nearer and nearer--I was
within reach of it, when it suddenly stopped and turned towards me.
Like a lion darting on its prey, I made a powerful spring and fell
unexpectedly upon a hard substance.  Then followed, from an
invisible hand, the most terrible blows in the ribs that anyone ever
received.  The effect of my terror made me endeavour convulsively to
strike and grasp at the unseen object before me.  The rapidity of my
motions brought me to the ground, where I lay stretched out with a
man under me, whom I held tight, and who now became visible.

The whole affair was now explained.  The man had undoubtedly
possessed the bird's nest which communicates its charm of
invisibility to its possessor, though not equally so to his shadow;
and this nest he had now thrown away.  I looked all round, and soon
discovered the shadow of this invisible nest.  I sprang towards it,
and was fortunate enough to seize the precious booty, and
immediately became invisible and shadowless.

The moment the man regained his feet he looked all round over the
wide sunny plain to discover his fortunate vanquisher, but could see
neither him nor his shadow, the latter seeming particularly to be
the object of his search:  for previous to our encounter he had not
had leisure to observe that I was shadowless, and he could not be
aware of it.  Becoming convinced that all traces of me were lost, he
began to tear his hair, and give himself up to all the frenzy of
despair.  In the meantime, this newly acquired treasure communicated
to me both the ability and the desire to mix again among mankind.

I was at a loss for a pretext to vindicate this unjust robbery--or,
rather, so deadened had I become, I felt no need of a pretext; and
in order to dissipate every idea of the kind, I hastened on,
regardless of the unhappy man, whose fearful lamentations long
resounded in my ears.  Such, at the time, were my impressions of all
the circumstances of this affair.

I now ardently desired to return to the ranger's garden, in order to
ascertain in person the truth of the information communicated by the
odious unknown; but I knew not where I was, until, ascending an
eminence to take a survey of the surrounding country, I perceived,
from its summit, the little town and the gardens almost at my feet.
My heart beat violently, and tears of a nature very different from
those I had lately shed filled my eyes.  I should, then, once more
behold her!

Anxiety now hastened my steps.  Unseen I met some peasants coming
from the town; they were talking of me, of Rascal, and of the
ranger.  I would not stay to listen to their conversation, but
proceeded on.  My bosom thrilled with expectation as I entered the
garden.  At this moment I heard something like a hollow laugh which
caused me involuntarily to shudder.  I cast a rapid glance around,
but could see no one.  I passed on; presently I fancied I heard the
sound of footsteps close to me, but no one was within sight.  My
ears must have deceived me.

It was early; no one was in Count Peter's bower--the gardens were
deserted.  I traversed all the well-known paths, and penetrated even
to the dwelling-house itself.  The same rustling sound became now
more and more audible.  With anguished feelings I sat down on a seat
placed in the sunny space before the door, and actually felt some
invisible fiend take a place by me, and heard him utter a sarcastic
laugh.  The key was turned in the door, which was opened.  The
forest-master appeared with a paper in his hand.  Suddenly my head
was, as it were, enveloped in a mist.  I looked up, and, oh horror!
the grey-coated man was at my side, peering in my face with a
satanic grin.  He had extended the mist-cap he wore over my head.
His shadow and my own were lying together at his feet in perfect
amity.  He kept twirling in his hand the well-known parchment with
an air of indifference; and while the ranger, absorbed in thought,
and intent upon his paper, paced up and down the arbour, my
tormentor confidentially leaned towards me, and whispered, "So, Mr.
Schlemihl, you have at length accepted my invitation; and here we
sit, two heads under one hood, as the saying is.  Well, well, all in
good time.  But now you can return me my bird's nest--you have no
further occasion for it; and I am sure you are too honourable a man
to withhold it from me.  No need of thanks, I assure you; I had
infinite pleasure in lending it to you."  He took it out of my
unresisting hand, put it into his pocket, and then broke into so
loud a laugh at my expense, that the forest-master turned round,
startled at the sound.  I was petrified.  "You must acknowledge," he
continued, "that in our position a hood is much more convenient.  It
serves to conceal not only a man, but his shadow, or as many shadows
as he chooses to carry.  I, for instance, to-day bring two, you
perceive."  He laughed again.  "Take notice, Schlemihl, that what a
man refuses to do with a good grace in the first instance, he is
always in the end compelled to do.  I am still of opinion that you
ought to redeem your shadow and claim your bride (for it is yet
time); and as to Rascal, he shall dangle at a rope's end--no
difficult matter, so long as we can find a bit.  As a mark of
friendship I will give you my cap into the bargain."

The mother now came out, and the following conversation took place:
"What is Minna doing?"  "She is weeping."  "Silly child! what good
can that do?"  "None, certainly; but it is so soon to bestow her
hand on another.  O husband, you are too harsh to your poor child."
"No, wife; you view things in a wrong light.  When she finds herself
the wife of a wealthy and honourable man, her tears will soon cease;
she will waken out of a dream, as it were, happy and grateful to
Heaven and to her parents, as you will see."  "Heaven grant it may
be so!" replied the wife.  "She has, indeed, now considerable
property; but after the noise occasioned by her unlucky affair with
that adventurer, do you imagine that she is likely soon to meet with
so advantageous a match as Mr. Rascal?  Do you know the extent of
Mr. Rascal's influence and wealth?  Why, he has purchased with ready
money, in this country, six millions of landed property, free from
all encumbrances.  I have had all the documents in my hands.  It was
he who outbid me everywhere when I was about to make a desirable
purchase; and, besides, he has bills on Mr. Thomas John's house to
the amount of three millions and a half."  "He must have been a
prodigious thief!"  "How foolishly you talk! he wisely saved where
others squandered their property."  "A mere livery-servant!"
"Nonsense! he has at all events an unexceptionable shadow."  "True,
but . . . "

While this conversation was passing, the grey-coated man looked at
me with a satirical smile.

The door opened, and Minna entered, leaning on the arm of her female
attendant, silent tears flowing down her fair but pallid face.  She
seated herself in the chair which had been placed for her under the
lime-trees, and her father took a stool by her side.  He gently
raised her hand; and as her tears flowed afresh, he addressed her in
the most affectionate manner

"My own dear, good child--my Minna--will act reasonably, and not
afflict her poor old father, who only wishes to make her happy.  My
dearest child, this blow has shaken you--dreadfully, I know it; but
you have been saved, as by a miracle, from a miserable fate, my
Minna.  You loved the unworthy villain most tenderly before his
treachery was discovered:  I feel all this, Minna; and far be it
from me to reproach you for it--in fact, I myself loved him so long
as I considered him to be a person of rank:  you now see yourself
how differently it has turned out.  Every dog has a shadow; and the
idea of my child having been on the eve of uniting herself to a man
who . . . but I am sure you will think no more of him.  A suitor has
just appeared for you in the person of a man who does not fear the
sun--an honourable man--no prince indeed, but a man worth ten
millions of golden ducats sterling--a sum nearly ten times larger
than your fortune consists of--a man, too, who will make my dear
child happy--nay, do not oppose me--be my own good, dutiful child--
allow your loving father to provide for you, and to dry up these
tears.  Promise to bestow your hand on Mr. Rascal.  Speak my child:
will you not?"

Minna could scarcely summon strength to reply that she had now no
longer any hopes or desires on earth, and that she was entirely at
her father's disposal.  Rascal was therefore immediately sent for,
and entered the room with his usual forwardness; but Minima in the
meantime had swooned away.

My detested companion looked at me indignantly, and whispered, "Can
you endure this?  Have you no blood in your veins?"  He instantly
pricked my finger, which bled.  "Yes, positively," he exclaimed,
"you have some blood left!--come, sign."  The parchment and pen were
in my hand!



CHAPTER IV.



I submit myself to thy judgment, my dear Chamisso; I do not seek to
bias it.  I have long been a rigid censor of myself, and nourished
at my heart the worm of remorse.  This critical moment of my life is
ever present to my soul, and I dare only cast a hesitating glance at
it, with a deep sense of humiliation and grief.  Ah, my dear friend,
he who once permits himself thoughtlessly to deviate but one step
from the right road, will imperceptibly find himself involved in
various intricate paths, all leading him farther and farther astray.
In vain he beholds the guiding-stars of Heaven shining before him.
No choice is left him--he must descend the precipice, and offer
himself up a sacrifice to his fate.  After the false step which I
had rashly made, and which entailed a curse upon me, I had, in the
wantonness of passion, entangled one in my fate who had staked all
her happiness upon me.  What was left for me to do in a case where I
had brought another into misery, but to make a desperate leap in the
dark to save her ?--the last, the only means of rescue presented
itself.  Think not so meanly of me, Chamisso, as to imagine that I
would have shrunk from any sacrifice on my part.  In such a case it
would have been but a poor ransom.  No, Chamisso; but my whole soul
was filled with unconquerable hatred to the cringing knave and his
crooked ways.  I might be doing him injustice; but I shuddered at
the bare idea of entering into any fresh compact with him.  But here
a circumstance took place which entirely changed the face of things
. . .

I know not whether to ascribe it to excitement of mind, exhaustion
of physical strength (for during the last few days I had scarcely
tasted anything), or the antipathy I felt to the society of my
fiendish companion; but just as I was about to sign the fatal paper,
I fell into a deep swoon, and remained for a long time as if dead.
The first sounds which greeted my ear on recovering my consciousness
were those of cursing and imprecation; I opened my eyes--it was
dusk; my hateful companion was overwhelming me with reproaches.  "Is
not this behaving like an old woman?  Come, rise up, and finish
quickly what you were going to do; or perhaps you have changed your
determination, and prefer to lie groaning there?"

I raised myself with difficulty from the ground and gazed around me
without speaking a word.  It was late in the evening, and I heard
strains of festive music proceeding from the ranger's brilliantly
illuminated house; groups of company were lounging about the
gardens; two persons approached, and seating themselves on the bench
I had lately occupied, began to converse on the subject of the
marriage which had taken place that morning between the wealthy Mr.
Rascal and Minima.  All was then over.

I tore off the cap which rendered me invisible; and my companion
having disappeared, I plunged in silence into the thickest gloom of
the grove, rapidly passed Count Peter's bower towards the entrance-
gate; but my tormentor still haunted me, and loaded me with
reproaches.  "And is this all the gratitude I am to expect from you,
Mr. Schlemihl--you, whom I have been watching all the weary day,
until you should recover from your nervous attack?  What a fool's
part I have been enacting!  It is of no use flying from me, Mr.
Perverse--we are inseparable--you have my gold, I have your shadow;
this exchange deprives us both of peace.  Did you ever hear of a
man's shadow leaving him?--yours follows me until you receive it
again into favour, and thus free me from it.  Disgust and weariness
sooner or later will compel you to do what you should have done
gladly at first.  In vain you strive with fate!"

He continued unceasingly in the same tone, uttering constant
sarcasms about the gold and the shadow, till I was completely
bewildered.  To fly from him was impossible.  I had pursued my way
through the empty streets towards my own house, which I could
scarcely recognise--the windows were broken to pieces, no light was
visible, the doors were shut, and the bustle of domestics had
ceased.  My companion burst into a loud laugh.  "Yes, yes," said he,
"you see the state of things:  however, you will find your friend
Bendel at home; he was sent back the other day so fatigued, that I
assure you he has never left the house since.  He will have a fine
story to tell!  So I wish you a very good night--may we shortly meet
again!"

I had repeatedly rung the bell:  at last a light appeared; and
Bendel inquired from within who was there.  The poor fellow could
scarcely contain himself at the sound of my voice.  The door flew
open, and we were locked in each other's arms.  I found him sadly
changed; he was looking ill and feeble.  I, too, was altered; my
hair had become quite grey.  He conducted me through the desolate
apartments to an inner room, which had escaped the general wreck.
After partaking of some refreshment, we seated ourselves; and, with
fresh lamentations, he began to tell me that the grey withered old
man whom he had met with my shadow had insensibly led him such a
zig-zag race, that he had lost all traces of me, and at last sank
down exhausted with fatigue; that, unable to find me, he had
returned home, when, shortly after the mob, at Rascal's instigation,
assembled violently before the house, broke the windows, and by all
sorts of excesses completely satiated their fury.  Thus had they
treated their benefactor.  My servants had fled in all directions.
The police had banished me from the town as a suspicious character,
and granted me an interval of twenty-four hours to leave the
territory.  Bendel added many particulars as to the information I
had already obtained respecting Rascal's wealth and marriage.  This
villain, it seems--who was the author of all the measures taken
against me--became possessed of my secret nearly from the beginning,
and, tempted by the love of money, had supplied himself with a key
to my chest, and from that time had been laying the foundation of
his present wealth.  Bendel related all this with many tears, and
wept for joy that I was once more safely restored to him, after all
his fears and anxieties for me.  In me, however, such a state of
things only awoke despair.

My dreadful fate now stared me in the face in all its gigantic and
unchangeable horror.  The source of tears was exhausted within me;
no groans escaped my breast; but with cool indifference I bared my
unprotected head to the blast.  "Bendel," said I, "you know my fate;
this heavy visitation is a punishment for my early sins:  but as for
thee, my innocent friend, I can no longer permit thee to share my
destiny.  I will depart this very night--saddle me a horse--I will
set out alone.  Remain here, Bendel--I insist upon it:  there must
be some chests of gold still left in the house--take them, they are
thine.  I shall be a restless and solitary wanderer on the face of
the earth; but should better days arise, and fortune once more smile
propitiously on me, then I will not forget thy steady fidelity; for
in hours of deep distress thy faithful bosom has been the depository
of my sorrows."  With a bursting heart, the worthy Bendel prepared
to obey this last command of his master; for I was deaf to all his
arguments and blind to his tears.  My horse was brought--I pressed
my weeping friend to my bosom--threw myself into the saddle, and,
under the friendly shades of night, quitted this sepulchre of my
existence, indifferent which road my horse should take; for now on
this side the grave I had neither wishes, hopes, nor fears.

After a short time I was joined by a traveller on foot, who, after
walking for a while by the side of my horse, observed that as we
both seemed to be travelling the same road, he should beg my
permission to lay his cloak on the horse's back behind me, to which
I silently assented.  He thanked me with easy politeness for this
trifling favour, praised my horse, and then took occasion to extol
the happiness and the power of the rich, and fell, I scarcely know
how, into a sort of conversation with himself, in which I merely
acted the part of listener.  He unfolded his views of human life and
of the world, and, touching on metaphysics, demanded an answer from
that cloudy science to the question of questions--the answer that
should solve all mysteries.  He deduced one problem from another in
a very lucid manner, and then proceeded to their solution.

You may remember, my dear friend, that after having run through the
school-philosophy, I became sensible of my unfitness for
metaphysical speculations, and therefore totally abstained from
engaging in them.  Since then I have acquiesced in some things, and
abandoned all hope of comprehending others; trusting, as you advised
me, to my own plain sense and the voice of conscience to direct and,
if possible, maintain me in the right path.

Now this skilful rhetorician seemed to me to expend great skill in
rearing a firmly-constructed edifice, towering aloft on its own
self-supported basis, but resting on, and upheld by, some internal
principle of necessity.  I regretted in it the total absence of what
I desired to find; and thus it seemed a mere work of art, serving
only by its elegance and exquisite finish to captivate the eye.
Nevertheless, I listened with pleasure to this eloquently gifted
man, who diverted my attention from my own sorrows to the speaker;
and he would have secured my entire acquiescence if he had appealed
to my heart as well as to my judgment.

In the meantime the hours had passed away, and morning had already
dawned imperceptibly in the horizon; looking up, I shuddered as I
beheld in the east all those splendid hues that announce the rising
sun.  At this hour, when all natural shadows are seen in their full
proportions, not a fence or a shelter of any kind could I descry in
this open country, and I was not alone!  I cast a glance at my
companion, and shuddered again--it was the man in the grey coat
himself!  He laughed at my surprise, and said, without giving me
time to speak:  "You see, according to the fashion of this world,
mutual convenience binds us together for a time:  there is plenty of
time to think of parting.  The road here along the mountain, which
perhaps has escaped your notice, is the only one that you can
prudently take; into the valley you dare not descend--the path over
the mountain would but reconduct you to the town which you have
left--my road, too, lies this way.  I perceive you change colour at
the rising sun--I have no objections to let you have the loan of
your shadow during our journey, and in return you may not be
indisposed to tolerate my society.  You have now no Bendel; but I
will act for him.  I regret that you are not over-fond of me; but
that need not prevent you from accepting my poor services.  The
devil is not so black as he is painted.  Yesterday you provoked me,
I own; but now that is all forgotten, and you must confess I have
this day succeeded in beguiling the wearisomeness of your journey.
Come, take your shadow, and make trial of it."

The sun had risen, and we were meeting with passengers; so I
reluctantly consented.  With a smile, he immediately let my shadow
glide down to the ground; and I beheld it take its place by that of
my horse, and gaily trot along with me.  My feelings were anything
but pleasant.  I rode through groups of country people, who
respectfully made way for the well-mounted stranger.  Thus I
proceeded, occasionally stealing a sidelong glance with a beating
heart from my horse at the shadow once my own, but now, alas,
accepted as a loan from a stranger, or rather a fiend.  He moved on
carelessly at my side, whistling a song.  He being on foot, and I on
horseback, the temptation to hazard a silly project occurred to me;
so, suddenly turning my bridle, I set spurs to my horse, and at full
gallop struck into a by-path; but my shadow, on the sudden movement
of my horse, glided away, and stood on the road quietly awaiting the
approach of its legal owner.  I was obliged to return abashed
towards the grey man; but he very coolly finished his song, and with
a laugh set my shadow to rights again, reminding me that it was at
my option to have it irrevocably fixed to me, by purchasing it on
just and equitable terms.  "I hold you," said he, "by the shadow;
and you seek in vain to get rid of me.  A rich man like you requires
a shadow, unquestionably; and you are to blame for not having seen
this sooner."

I now continued my journey on the same road; every convenience and
even luxury of life was mine; I moved about in peace and freedom,
for I possessed a shadow, though a borrowed one; and all the respect
due to wealth was paid to me.  But a deadly disease preyed on my
heart.  My extraordinary companion, who gave himself out to be the
humble attendant of the richest individual in the world, was
remarkable for his dexterity; in short, his singular address and
promptitude admirably fitted him to be the very beau ideal of a rich
man's lacquey.  But he never stirred from my side, and tormented me
with constant assurances that a day would most certainly come when,
if it were only to get rid of him, I should gladly comply with his
terms, and redeem my shadow.  Thus he became as irksome as he was
hateful to me.  I really stood in awe of him--I had placed myself in
his power.  Since he had effected my return to the pleasures of the
world, which I had resolved to shun, he had the perfect mastery of
me.  His eloquence was irresistible, and at times I almost thought
he was in the right.  A shadow is indeed necessary to a man of
fortune; and if I chose to maintain the position in which he had
placed me, there was only one means of doing so.  But on one point I
was immovable:  since I had sacrificed my love for Minna, and
thereby blighted the happiness of my whole life, I would not now,
for all the shadows in the universe be induced to sign away my soul
to this being--I knew not how it might end.

One day we were sitting by the entrance of a cavern, much visited by
strangers, who ascended the mountain:  the rushing noise of a
subterranean torrent resounded from the fathomless abyss, the depths
of which exceeded all calculation.  He was, according to his
favourite custom, employing all the powers of his lavish fancy, and
all the charm of the most brilliant colouring, to depict to me what
I might effect in the world by virtue of my purse, when once I had
recovered my shadow.  With my elbows resting on my knees, I kept my
face concealed in my hands, and listened to the false fiend, my
heart torn between the temptation and my determined opposition to
it.  Such indecision I could no longer endure, and resolved on one
decisive effort.

"You seem to forget," said I, "that I tolerate your presence only on
certain conditions, and that I am to retain perfect freedom of
action."

"You have but to command, I depart," was all his reply.

The threat was familiar to me; I was silent.  He then began to fold
up my shadow.  I turned pale, but allowed him to continue.  A long
silence ensued, which he was the first to break.

"You cannot endure me, Mr Schlemihl--you hate me--I am aware of it--
but why?--is it, perhaps, because you attacked me on the open plain,
in order to rob me of my invisible bird's nest? or is it because you
thievishly endeavoured to seduce away the shadow with which I had
entrusted you--my own property--confiding implicitly in your honour!
I, for my part, have no dislike to you.  It is perfectly natural
that you should avail yourself of every means, presented either by
cunning or force, to promote your own interests.  That your
principles also should be of the strictest sort, and your intentions
of the most honourable description,--these are fancies with which I
have nothing to do; I do not pretend to such strictness myself.
Each of us is free, I to act, and you to think, as seems best.  Did
I ever seize you by the throat, to tear out of your body that
valuable soul I so ardently wish to possess?  Did I ever set my
servant to attack you, to get back my purse, or attempt to run off
with it from you?"

I had not a word to reply.

"Well, well," he exclaimed, "you detest me, and I know it; but I
bear you no malice on that account.  We must part--that is clear;
also I must say that you begin to be very tiresome to me.  Once more
let me advise you to free yourself entirely from my troublesome
presence by the purchase of your shadow."

I held out the purse to him.

"No, Mr. Schlemihl; not at that price."

With a deep sigh, I said, "Be it so, then; let us part, I entreat;
cross my path no more.  There is surely room enough in the world for
us both."

Laughing, he replied, "I go; but just allow me to inform you how you
may at any time recall me whenever you have a mind to see your most
humble servant:  you have only to shake your purse, the sound of the
gold will bring me to you in an instant.  In this world every one
consults his own advantage; but you see I have thought of yours, and
clearly confer upon you a new power.  Oh this purse! it would still
prove a powerful bond between us, had the moth begun to devour your
shadow.--But enough:  you hold me by my gold, and may command your
servant at any distance.  You know that I can be very serviceable to
my friends; and that the rich are my peculiar care--this you have
observed.  As to your shadow, allow me to say, you can only redeem
it on one condition."

Recollections of former days came over me; and I hastily asked him
if he had obtained Mr. Thomas John's signature.

He smiled, and said, "It was by no means necessary from so excellent
a friend."

"Where is he? for God's sake tell me:  I insist upon knowing."

With some hesitation, he put his hand into his pocket; and drew out
the altered and pallid form of Mr. John by the hair of his head,
whose livid lips uttered the awful words, "Justo judicio Dei
judicatus sum; justo judicio Dei condemnatus sum"--"I am judged and
condemned by the just judgment of God."  I was horror-struck; and
instantly throwing the jingling purse into the abyss, I exclaimed,
"Wretch! in the name of Heaven, I conjure you to be gone!--away from
my sight!--never appear before me again!"  With a dark expression on
his countenance, he arose, and immediately vanished behind the huge
rocks which surrounded the place.



CHAPTER V.



I was now left equally without gold and without shadow; but a heavy
load was taken from my breast, and I felt cheerful.  Had not my
Minna been irrecoverably lost to me, or even had I been perfectly
free from self-reproach on her account, I felt that happiness might
yet have been mine.  At present I was lost in doubt as to my future
course.  I examined my pockets, and found I had a few gold pieces
still left, which I counted with feelings of great satisfaction.  I
had left my horse at the inn, and was ashamed to return, or at all
events I must wait till the sun had set, which at present was high
in the heavens.  I laid myself down under a shady tree and fell into
a peaceful sleep.

Lovely forms floated in airy measures before me, and filled up my
delightful dreams.  Minna, with a garland of flowers entwined in her
hair, was bending over me with a smile of goodwill; also the worthy
Bendel was crowned with flowers, and hastened to meet me with
friendly greetings.  Many other forms seemed to rise up confusedly
in the distance:  thyself among the number, Chamisso.  Perfect
radiance beamed around them, but none had a shadow; and what was
more surprising, there was no appearance of unhappiness on this
account.  Nothing was to be seen or heard but flowers and music; and
love and joy, and groves of never-fading palms, seemed the natives
of that happy clime.

In vain I tried to detain and comprehend the lovely but fleeting
forms.  I was conscious, also, of being in a dream, and was anxious
that nothing should rouse me from it; and when I did awake, I kept
my eyes closed, in order if possible to continue the illusion.  At
last I opened my eyes.  The sun was now visible in the east; I must
have slept the whole night:  I looked upon this as a warning not to
return to the inn.  What I had left there I was content to lose,
without much regret; and resigning myself to Providence, I decided
on taking a by-road that led through the wooded declivity of the
mountain.  I never once cast a glance behind me; nor did it ever
occur to me to return, as I might have done, to Bendel, whom I had
left in affluence.  I reflected on the new character I was now going
to assume in the world.  My present garb was very humble--consisting
of an old black coat I formerly had worn at Berlin, and which by
some chance was the first I put my hand on before setting out on
this journey, a travelling-cap, and an old pair of boots.  I cut
down a knotted stick in memory of the spot, and commenced my
pilgrimage.

In the forest I met an aged peasant, who gave me a friendly
greeting, and with whom I entered into conversation, requesting, as
a traveller desirous of information, some particulars relative to
the road, the country, and its inhabitants, the productions of the
mountain, &c.  He replied to my various inquiries with readiness and
intelligence.  At last we reached the bed of a mountain-torrent,
which had laid waste a considerable tract of the forest; I inwardly
shuddered at the idea of the open sunshine.  I suffered the peasant
to go before me.  In the middle of the very place which I dreaded so
much, he suddenly stopped, and turned back to give me an account of
this inundation; but instantly perceiving that I had no shadow, he
broke off abruptly, and exclaimed, "How is this?--you have no
shadow!"

"Alas, alas!" said I, "in a long and serious illness I had the
misfortune to lose my hair, my nails, and my shadow.  Look, good
father; although my hair has grown again, it is quite white; and at
my age, my nails are still very short; and my poor shadow seems to
have left me, never to return."

"Ah!" said the old man, shaking his head; "no shadow! that was
indeed a terrible illness, sir."

But he did not resume his narrative; and at the very first cross-
road we came to, left me without uttering a syllable.  Fresh tears
flowed from my eyes, and my cheerfulness had fled.  With a heavy
heart I travelled on, avoiding all society.  I plunged into the
deepest shades of the forest; and often, to avoid a sunny tract of
country, I waited for hours till every human being had left it, and
I could pass it unobserved.  In the evenings I took shelter in the
villages.  I bent my steps to a mine in the mountains, where I hoped
to meet with work underground; for besides that my present situation
compelled me to provide for my own support, I felt that incessant
and laborious occupation alone could divert my mind from dwelling on
painful subjects.  A few rainy days assisted me materially on my
journey; but it was to the no small detriment of my boots, the soles
of which were better suited to Count Peter than to the poor foot-
traveller.  I was soon barefoot, and a new purchase must be made.
The following morning I commenced an earnest search in a
marketplace, where a fair was being held; and I saw in one of the
booths new and second-hand boots set out for sale.  I was a long
time selecting and bargaining; I wished much to have a new pair, but
was frightened at the extravagant price; and so was obliged to
content myself with a second-hand pair, still pretty good and
strong, which the beautiful fair-haired youth who kept the booth
handed over to me with a cheerful smile, wishing me a prosperous
journey.  I went on, and left the place immediately by the northern
gate.

I was so lost in my own thoughts, that I walked along scarcely
knowing how or where.  I was calculating the chances of my reaching
the mine by the evening, and considering how I should introduce
myself.  I had not gone two hundred steps, when I perceived I was
not in the right road.  I looked round, and found myself in a wild-
looking forest of ancient firs, where apparently the stroke of the
axe had never been heard.  A few steps more brought me amid huge
rocks covered with moss and saxifragous plants, between which whole
fields of snow and ice were extended.  The air was intensely cold.
I looked round, and the forest had disappeared behind me; a few
steps more, and there was the stillness of death itself.  The icy
plain on which I stood stretched to an immeasurable distance, and a
thick cloud rested upon it; the sun was of a red blood-colour at the
verge of the horizon; the cold was insupportable.  I could not
imagine what had happened to me.  The benumbing frost made me
quicken my pace.  I heard a distant sound of waters; and, at one
step more, I stood on the icy shore of some ocean.  Innumerable
droves of sea-dogs rushed past me and plunged into the waves.  I
continued my way along this coast, and again met with rocks, plains,
birch and fir forests, and yet only a few minutes had elapsed.  It
was now intensely hot.  I looked around, and suddenly found myself
between some fertile rice-fields and mulberry-trees; I sat down
under their shade, and found by my watch that it was just one
quarter of an hour since I had left the village market.  I fancied
it was a dream; but no, I was indeed awake, as I felt by the
experiment I made of biting my tongue.  I closed my eyes in order to
collect my scattered thoughts.  Presently I heard unintelligible
words uttered in a nasal tone; and I beheld two Chinese, whose
Asiatic physiognomies were not to be mistaken, even had their
costume not betrayed their origin.  They were addressing me in the
language and with the salutations of their country.  I rose, and
drew back a couple of steps.  They had disappeared; the landscape
was entirely changed; the rice-fields had given place to trees and
woods.  I examined some of the trees and plants around me, and
ascertained such of them as I was acquainted with to be productions
of the southern part of Asia.  I made one step towards a particular
tree, and again all was changed.  I now moved on like a recruit at
drill, taking slow and measured steps, gazing with astonished eyes
at the wonderful variety of regions, plains, meadows, mountains,
steppes, and sandy deserts, which passed in succession before me.  I
had now no doubt that I had seven-leagued boots on my feet.

I fell on my knees in silent gratitude, shedding tears of
thankfulness; for I now saw clearly what was to be my future
condition.  Shut out by early sins from all human society, I was
offered amends for the privation by Nature herself, which I had ever
loved.  The earth was granted me as a rich garden; and the knowledge
of her operations was to be the study and object of my life.  This
was not a mere resolution.  I have since endeavoured, with anxious
and unabated industry, faithfully to imitate the finished and
brilliant model then presented to me; and my vanity has received a
check when led to compare the picture with the original.  I rose
immediately, and took a hasty survey of this new field, where I
hoped afterwards to reap a rich harvest.

I stood on the heights of Thibet; and the sun I had lately beheld in
the east was now sinking in the west.  I traversed Asia from east to
west, and thence passed into Africa, which I curiously examined at
repeated visits in all directions.  As I gazed on the ancient
pyramids and temples of Egypt, I descried, in the sandy deserts near
Thebes of the hundred gates, the caves where Christian hermits dwelt
of old.

My determination was instantly taken, that here should be my future
dwelling.  I chose one of the most secluded, but roomy, comfortable,
and inaccessible to the jackals.

I stepped over from the pillars of Hercules to Europe; and having
taken a survey of its northern and southern countries, I passed by
the north of Asia, on the polar glaciers, to Greenland and America,
visiting both parts of this continent; and the winter, which was
already at its height in the south, drove me quickly back from Cape
Horn to the north.  I waited till daylight had risen in the east of
Asia, and then, after a short rest, continued my pilgrimage.  I
followed in both the Americas the vast chain of the Andes, once
considered the loftiest on our globe.  I stepped carefully and
slowly from one summit to another, sometimes over snowy heights,
sometimes over flaming volcanoes, often breathless from fatigue.  At
last I reached Elias's mountain, and sprang over Behring's Straits
into Asia; I followed the western coast in its various windings,
carefully observing which of the neighbouring isles was accessible
to me.  From the peninsula of Malacca, my boots carried me to
Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Lombok.  I made many attempts--often with
danger, and always unsuccessfully--to force my way over the numerous
little islands and rocks with which this sea is studded, wishing to
find a north-west passage to Borneo and other islands of the
Archipelago.

At last I sat down at the extreme point of Lombok, my eyes turned
towards the south-east, lamenting that I had so soon reached the
limits allotted to me, and bewailing my fate as a captive in his
grated cell.  Thus was I shut out from that remarkable country, New
Holland, and the islands of the southern ocean, so essentially
necessary to a knowledge of the earth, and which would have best
assisted me in the study of the animal and vegetable kingdoms.  And
thus, at the very outset, I beheld all my labours condemned to be
limited to mere fragments.

Ah! Chamisso, what is the activity of man?

Frequently in the most rigorous winters of the southern hemisphere I
have rashly thrown myself on a fragment of drifting ice between Cape
Horn and Van Dieman's Land, in the hope of effecting a passage to
New Holland, reckless of the cold and the vast ocean, reckless of my
fate, even should this savage land prove my grave.

But all in vain--I never reached New Holland.  Each time, when
defeated in my attempt, I returned to Lombok; and seated at its
extreme point, my eyes directed to the south-east, I gave way afresh
to lamentations that my range of investigation was so limited.  At
last I tore myself from the spot, and, heartily grieved at my
disappointment, returned to the interior of Asia.  Setting out at
morning dawn, I traversed it from east to west, and at night reached
the cave in Thebes which I had previously selected for my dwelling-
place, and had visited yesterday afternoon.

After a short repose, as soon as daylight had visited Europe, it was
my first care to provide myself with the articles of which I stood
most in need.  First of all a drag, to act on my boots; for I had
experienced the inconvenience of these whenever I wished to shorten
my steps and examine surrounding objects more fully.  A pair of
slippers to go over the boots served the purpose effectually; and
from that time I carried two pairs about me, because I frequently
cast them off from my feet in my botanical investigations, without
having time to pick them up, when threatened by the approach of
lions, men, or hyenas.  My excellent watch, owing to the short
duration of my movements, was also on these occasions an admirable
chronometer.  I wanted, besides, a sextant, a few philosophical
instruments, and some books.  To purchase these things, I made
several unwilling journeys to London and Paris, choosing a time when
I could be hid by the favouring clouds.  As all my ill-gotten gold
was exhausted, I carried over from Africa some ivory, which is there
so plentiful, in payment of my purchases--taking care, however, to
pick out the smallest teeth, in order not to over-burden myself.  I
had thus soon provided myself with all that I wanted, and now
entered on a new mode of life as a student--wandering over the
globe--measuring the height of the mountains, and the temperature of
the air and of the springs--observing the manners and habits of
animals--investigating plants and flowers.  From the equator to the
pole, and from the new world to the old, I was constantly engaged in
repeating and comparing my experiments.

My usual food consisted of the eggs of the African ostrich or
northern sea-birds, with a few fruits, especially those of the palm
and the banana of the tropics.  The tobacco-plant consoled me when I
was depressed; and the affection of my spaniel was a compensation
for the loss of human sympathy and society.  When I returned from my
excursions, loaded with fresh treasures, to my cave in Thebes, which
he guarded during my absence, he ever sprang joyfully forward to
greet me, and made me feel that I was indeed not alone on the earth.
An adventure soon occurred which brought me once more among my
fellow-creatures.


One day, as I was gathering lichens and algae on the northern coast,
with the drag on my boots, a bear suddenly made his appearance, and
was stealing towards me round the corner of a rock.  After throwing
away my slippers, I attempted to step across to an island, by means
of a rock, projecting from the waves in the intermediate space, that
served as a stepping-stone.  I reached the rock safely with one
foot, but instantly fell into the sea with the other, one of my
slippers having inadvertently remained on.  The cold was intense;
and I escaped this imminent peril at the risk of my life.  On coming
ashore, I hastened to the Libyan sands to dry myself in the sun; but
the heat affected my head so much, that, in a fit of illness, I
staggered back to the north.  In vain I sought relief by change of
place--hurrying from east to west, and from west to east--now in
climes of the south, now in those of the north; sometimes I rushed
into daylight, sometimes into the shades of night.  I know not how
long this lasted.  A burning fever raged in my veins; with extreme
anguish I felt my senses leaving me.  Suddenly, by an unlucky
accident, I trod upon some one's foot, whom I had hurt, and received
a blow in return which laid me senseless.

On recovering, I found myself lying comfortably in a good bed,
which, with many other beds, stood in a spacious and handsome
apartment.  Some one was watching by me; people seemed to be walking
from one bed to another; they came beside me, and spoke of me as
NUMBER TWELVE.   On the wall, at the foot of my bed--it was no
dream, for I distinctly read it--on a black-marble tablet was
inscribed my name, in large letters of gold


PETER SCHLEMIHL


Underneath were two rows of letters in smaller characters, which I
was too feeble to connect together, and closed my eyes again.

I now heard something read aloud, in which I distinctly noted the
words, "Peter Schlemihl," but could not collect the full meaning.  I
saw a man of benevolent aspect, and a very beautiful female dressed
in black, standing near my bed; their countenances were not unknown
to me, but in my weak state I could not remember who they were.
Some time elapsed, and I began to regain my strength.  I was called
Number Twelve, and, from my long beard, was supposed to be a Jew,
but was not the less carefully nursed on that account.  No one
seemed to perceive that I was destitute of a shadow.  My boots, I
was assured, together with everything found on me when I was brought
here, were in safe keeping, and would be given up to me on my
restoration to health.  This place was called the SCHLMEIHLIUM:  the
daily recitation I had heard, was an exhortation to pray for Peter
Schlemihl as the founder and benefactor of this institution.  The
benevolent-looking man whom I had seen by my bedside was Bendel; the
beautiful lady in black was Minna.

I had been enjoying the advantages of the Schlemihlium without being
recognised; and I learned, further, that I was in Bendel's native
town, where he had employed a part of my once unhallowed gold in
founding an hospital in my name, under his superintendence, and that
its unfortunate inmates daily pronounced blessings on me.  Minna had
become a widow:  an unhappy lawsuit had deprived Rascal of his life,
and Minna of the greater part of her property.  Her parents were no
more; and here she dwelt in widowed piety, wholly devoting herself
to works of mercy.

One day, as she stood by the side of Number Twelve's bed with
Bendel, he said to her, "Noble lady, why expose yourself so
frequently to this unhealthy atmosphere?  Has fate dealt so harshly
with you as to render you desirous of death?"

"By no means, Mr. Bendel," she replied; "since I have awoke from my
long dream, all has gone well with me.  I now neither wish for death
nor fear it, and think on the future and on the past with equal
serenity.  Do you not also feel an inward satisfaction in thus
paying a pious tribute of gratitude and love to your old master and
friend?"

"Thanks be to God, I do, noble lady," said he.  "Ah, how wonderfully
has everything fallen out!  How thoughtlessly have we sipped joys
and sorrows from the full cup now drained to the last drop; and we
might fancy the past a mere prelude to the real scene for which we
now wait armed by experience.  How different has been the reality!
Yet let us not regret the past, but rather rejoice that we have not
lived in vain.  As respects our old friend also, I have a firm hope
that it is now better with him than formerly."

"I trust so, too," answered Minna; and so saying she passed by me,
and they departed.

This conversation made a deep impression on me; and I hesitated
whether I should discover myself or depart unknown.  At last I
decided; and, asking for pen and paper, wrote as follows:-

"Matters are indeed better with your old friend than formerly.  He
has repented; and his repentance has led to forgiveness."

I now attempted to rise, for I felt myself stronger.  The keys of a
little chest near my bed were given me; and in it I found all my
effects.  I put on my clothes; fastened my botanical case round me--
wherein, with delight, I found my northern lichens all safe--put on
my boots, and leaving my note on the table, left the gates, and was
speedily far advanced on the road to Thebes.

Passing along the Syrian coast, which was the same road I had taken
on last leaving home, I beheld my poor Figaro running to meet me.
The faithful animal, after vainly waiting at home for his master's
return, had probably followed his traces.  I stood still, and called
him.  He sprang towards me with leaps and barks, and a thousand
demonstrations of unaffected delight.  I took him in my arms--for he
was unable to follow me--and carried him home.

There I found everything exactly in the order in which I had left
it; and returned by degrees, as my increasing strength allowed me,
to my old occupations and usual mode of life, from which I was kept
back a whole year by my fall into the Polar Ocean.  And this, dear
Chamisso, is the life I am still leading.  My boots are not yet worn
out, as I had been led to fear would be the case from that very
learned work of Tieckius--De rebus gestis Pollicilli.  Their
energies remain unimpaired; and although mine are gradually failing
me, I enjoy the consolation of having spent them in pursuing
incessantly one object, and that not fruitlessly.

So far as my boots would carry me, I have observed and studied our
globe and its conformation, its mountains and temperature, the
atmosphere in its various changes, the influences of the magnetic
power; in fact, I have studied all living creation--and more
especially the kingdom of plants--more profoundly than any one of
our race.  I have arranged all the facts in proper order, to the
best of my ability, in different works.  The consequences deducible
from these facts, and my views respecting them, I have hastily
recorded in some essays and dissertations.  I have settled the
geography of the interior of Africa and the Arctic regions, of the
interior of Asia and of its eastern coast.  My Historia stirpium
plantarum utriusque orbis is an extensive fragment of a Flora
universalis terrae and a part of my Systema naturae.  Besides
increasing the number of our known species by more than a third, I
have also contributed somewhat to the natural system of plants and
to a knowledge of their geography.  I am now deeply engaged on my
Fauna, and shall take care to have my manuscripts sent to the
University of Berlin before my decease.

I have selected thee, my dear Chamisso, to be the guardian of my
wonderful history, thinking that, when I have left this world, it
may afford valuable instruction to the living.  As for thee,
Chamisso, if thou wouldst live amongst thy fellow-creatures, learn
to value thy shadow more than gold; if thou wouldst only live to
thyself and thy nobler part--in this thou needest no counsel.



APPENDIX.



[From the prefatory matter prefixed to time Berlin edition, 1839,
from which the present translation is made.]



PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.



The origin of "Peter Schlemihl" is to be ascribed in a great degree
to circumstances that occurred in the life of the writer.  During
the eventful year of 1813, when the movement broke out which
ultimately freed Germany from the yoke of her oppressor, and
precipitated his downfall, Chamisso was in Berlin.  Everyone who
could wield a sword hastened then to employ it on behalf of Germany
and of the good cause.  Chamisso had not only a powerful arm, but a
heart also of truly German mould; and yet he was placed in a
situ