And that caused
his death. Mrs. Behrens, Mrs. Nuessler, and his old friend Charles
Hawermann came round his bed. He held Mrs. Nuessler's hand tight all the
while. Suddenly he raised himself and said: "Mrs. Nuessler, please put
your hand on my head; I have always loved you. Charles Hawermann, will
you rub my legs, they're so cold." Hawermann did as he was asked, and
Braesig said, very slowly with one of his old smiles: "In style I was
always better than you." That was all.]
_ADALBERT STIFTER_
* * * * *
ROCK CRYSTAL[10] (1846)
TRANSLATED BY LEE M. HOLLANDER, PH.D.
Among the high mountains of our fatherland there lies a little village
with a small but very pointed church-tower which emerges with red
shingles from the green of many fruit-trees, and by reason of its red
color is to be seen far and away amid the misty bluish distances of the
mountains. The village lies right in the centre of a rather broad valley
which has about the shape of a longish circle. Besides the church it
contains a school, a townhall, and several other houses of no mean
appearance, which form a square on which stand four linden-trees
surrounding a stone cross. These buildings are not mere farms but house
within them those handicrafts which are indispensable to the human race
and furnish the mountaineers with all the products of industry which
they require.
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