Carl Gottlieb Samuel Heun

“ I lay in tranquil expectation of my release from this world. It grew dusk—the gloom of the grave encompassed me—I had taken leave of my father, and closed my eyes—the chill of death pervaded my whole frame—my soul longed to wing its flight to happier regions, and in a sort of trance I beheld the dawn of everlasting glory, when I heard his voice. He called me softly by my name. I imagined that I had already quitted a world which had no charms for me, and that an angel had brought my William to meet and welcome me at the gates of celestial bliss. ”

“ For myself, I had received into my arms, through the pressure of the crowd, a stout, coarse, market-woman, who was immediately followed by the weight of a fat, heavy Finlander upon my poor toes, a Droschki driver thrust his elbows into my ribs, a long-legged Polish count lay upon my back, and to end all, a little Samojad-looking chambermaid supported her elbows upon my loins. Thus pressed and attacked on all sides, I was carried on by the crowd, in spite of all opposition, when suddenly another rush of the multitude threw into my arms a young and beautiful lady—that lady was Liesli! ”

“ I was myself so overpowered with the pain of parting and the grief of my beloved Mimili, that I could not find words to give vent to the feelings of my oppressed heart.
Mimili drew from the sweet recess of her chaste bosom a simple blue flower. “Take this,” said she, “and let it remind you of me. We call it man’s-truth. [1] I picked it this morning at the foot of the seat where there is so much clover. And now farewell, my only love till death. God above be witness that I never will forget you! I love you more than my own life. ”

“ I softly pronounced the beloved name of Liesli to the silent breezes of the night; and spreading out my arms towards her vanishing figure, embraced—the hermit! I was seized with terror and astonishment, and retreated back some paces; for the contrast between the coarse and heavy garb of the anchorite, and that of the light-flowing drapery of the lovely Liesli, was too great, too overpowering. ”

“ I fancied as I gazed upon them in silent horror, that I could distinguish two human skulls within their barred helmets, and, ejaculating I know not what, I turned round and darted into the corridor, hurling after me the iron door with such force as to detach the picture of the poisoned nun from the wall above, and it fell behind me with a noise which increased no little my consternation. Overturning the candle in my rapid progress, I rushed along the corridor in utter darkness, until I found my speed arrested by some one pulling vigorously at my dressing-gown. ”

“ Age does not always withstand folly: so long as no one had stood in his way he had left the young girl to herself, but now that the unsuspecting creature had, perhaps, in her simplicity betrayed to him her partiality for me, he tears her from my arms, confines her in some subterraneous corner of his hermitage, and retains her there a prisoner until I may have turned my back upon the frontiers of the Canton, which, having once reached, I may then travel as far as I like, seek as long as I please, and torment myself as much as I choose—to him that will be quite immaterial. ”

“ Turning round, I saw a faint gleam of light shoot athwart the deep gloom of this long passage, and with inexpressible astonishment I beheld the iron door of the armoury gradually opened, and the lofty figure of a knight in complete armour, issue from it, with a naked sword in one hand, and a small lantern in the other, which he held up as if to explore the intense darkness of the corridor. ”

“ I feel perfectly easy; the night of death has for me no terrors. The Alps will soon glow, and the sun, the moon, and the stars, shine far—far beneath me; and I shall rejoin my dear mother and my William, and on his bosom enjoy the transports of love to all eternity. Amen! amen!’ added she faintly, folding her hands, and dissolving in tears.”
“Amen! amen!” I repeated, not with dry eyes, after the lovely sufferer, and dispatched my letter, with the melancholy intelligence of the death of my gallant friend to Mimili’s worthy neighbour. ”

“ The whole day long I had flattered myself with the certain hope, at the least rustling of the leaves, of beholding the light form of Liesli issue forth, but a thousand times was I deceived. Whoever has felt the torment of love, and has passed in his life but one hour in waiting for the object he adores, such a one alone can form an idea how tedious and how long this agonizing day appeared to me. ”

“ Hearing no noise within, I grasped my sabre more firmly, and, clenching my teeth in angry and bitter determination to unravel, at all risks, this tissue of mysteries, I placed my only remaining taper on the ground, to preserve it from sudden extinction, pulled the door, which opened outwards, and stepped into the armoury, when, behold! by the faint light of two small lanterns, I saw the towering figures of Bruno and Gotthard, in panoplies of steel, and beavers down, crossing their long swords to renew the combat. ”

“ The form—ah no! that was purely human, reality itself; her limbs so finely rounded—her skin so delicately soft and tender; and the blood which coloured the veins of her beauteous cheeks flowed warm and full of life from the heart.
I lay down to rest, but could not sleep. The Mythen, which, from my bed, I could plainly perceive towering to the black heavens above, seemed to totter and tremble; I could not close my eyes, for at each moment I imagined I beheld it descending to bury me in its ruins, without either flowers or wreath to decorate my grave. At length, towards morning, I fell asleep ”

“ That which has life perishes; that which has not, endures for ever. Such is the pleasure of Him whom short-sighted mortals name the Father of Love. Yon cold glaciers have beheld for thousands of years the omnipotence of the Eternal, and will subsist for thousands of years to come in their awful magnificence; but the faithful heart of my noble William beats no more. ”

“ I have never yet had the happiness of entertaining one of your nation. You are the first to afford me that gratification. Share with us such as we have. We shall make no stranger of you; but while you stay here, we shall consider you as one of the family. Mimili, let us have the best that the kitchen and cellar can furnish: I will enjoy myself to-night with you, and talk, over a glass of wine, about the important events in which, as that cross shows, you have borne a part. ”

“ Whenever we, who contentedly remain at home, bless our stars to think that we have such a happy land to live and enjoy ourselves in, and which, surely, God has not in his goodness rendered quite a desert, there sits master Hermann, turning up his nose in contempt, as if our high hills in front of the windmill-gate were, in his opinion, not worth looking at. Well, dear heaven, they are certainly not glaciers; but pray do potatoes grow upon his favourite ice-tipped hill, as they do here round the windmill? Why the man will at last become a glacier himself, he is so cold and frosty in his manner! ”

“ Feeling how premature would be all attempts at consolation, I gradually led my aunt and cousin to discourse of the departed Cecilia, and had ere long the pleasure to see them more tranquil, and able to speak of her with comparative firmness and resignation. From their conversation I gathered that she was perfectly conscious of her approaching death, but was nevertheless apprehensive of premature interment, and earnestly besought her mother to have the vault under the large round tower converted into a sepulchre, and to place there her unscrewed coffin in an open sarcophagus. ”

“ On horseback a new charm was diffused over this extraordinary girl. On the brink of the most frightful precipices, along which the animal, accustomed to these romantic tracks, cautiously proceeded with his lovely burden, Mimili sat with perfect negligence and ease, as though flying over abysses of such tremendous depth that the eye could not discover the bottom. If the beast were to make but one false step, the angelic girl must inevitably perish. ”

“ When alone in my apartment, I tormented myself in forming every possible conjecture on her present abode and fate. The hermit, then, had provided for her merely from duty and friendship, and from motives purely disinterested. I certainly considered myself capable of doing any thing for such an angel, but I never could believe that another would do the same, and felt jealous at the thought that Liesli had confided her happiness to his hands and not to mine. ”

“ The day had been intensely hot; some menacing clouds in the southern horizon indicated an approaching storm, and, as we ascended the staircase leading to the corridor, the deep, low muttering of distant thunder was audible from the mountains.
“And do you really mean to sleep every night in the ‘Robber’s Tower,’ Major?” said the old man, as he placed my portmanteau, sabre, and pistols, on a chair in the Gothic parlour.
“Certainly, my good Caspar! and why not?” I replied.
“I would only say,” answered he, “that you must have more courage than I have; and yet a Bohemian gamekeeper is no coward. ”

“ Why should we not be as well acquainted with the plants and grasses of our pastures, as the girls of your country with those which grow in your fields? No sooner is the snow gone than they all shoot up here vigorously.—But come along a little higher. You have not there the blue-bell of the Alps, Soldanella Alpina, which flowers even upon the snow, and the Crocus vernus beneath it. These are fond of a cool situation; for when the snow melts, they fade and go off too. Both always appear to me like infants who die at the mother’s breast. The air of the earth is too heavy for them ”

“ Eastward a beaten path leads towards a hermitage, situated deep within the bosom of the wood: here I wished to take up my abode for the night, should the hermit and myself prove mutually pleased with each other. In my juvenile years I had read much of such hermitages, and with all the romantic imagination of youth, pictured to myself, in the most picturesque and seducing colours, these happy calm retreats and their holy inhabitants. As yet I had never had an opportunity of beholding such a spot, and now, therefore, wished to gratify my curiosity. ”

“ The combat was continued with unabated energy, and the ringing sound of swords and armour now evidently proceeded from the armoury, towards which I was cautiously advancing, when another peal of grating and Satanic laughter made me pause in shivering astonishment. At this moment the storm-clouds, which had been for some time concentrating, burst in fury over the ruins; the rain fell in heavy torrents, and an intensely vivid flash of lightning was instantaneously succeeded by a monstrous burst of thunder, which shook the old castle to its foundations. ”

“ You will from thence behold at once no less than fourteen lakes; you will see into the very heart of Swabia, and amidst the whole will rise to your view mount Jura, the Horns of St. Gothard, and the ancient town of Zurich, fourteen cantons, innumerable cities, towns, and villages; and, high above the clouds, the eternal snows and glaciers of the glorious and stately Jungfrau—all will present themselves to your admiring gaze.” “But, the chief and most beautiful object which I shall behold-to morrow, you have still forgotten,” said I to her, as I pressed her rosy fingers to my lips. ”

“ The consciousness of utter solitude, at such an hour, and in such a place, began to infect me with the superstitious fears of old Caspar, and the solemn stillness of the lofty and dimly lighted Gothic room, interrupted only by an occasional and distant roll of thunder, made me feel something very like repentance, that I had exchanged the modern mansion of my aunt for this old robber’s nest on a mountain crag. ”

“ Whoever has been in Switzerland must be acquainted with the theatrical costume of the damsels of the Alps. When I first entered the canton of Berne, and beheld the fanciful dresses of the Swiss girls, I was ready to imagine that some friend had played me a trick, and sent the most beautiful of their sex, arrayed after the elegant fashion of some tender idyl, to make me believe that I had found the Arcadian scenes of my youthful reveries. By degrees I became accustomed to the pleasing reality ”

“ I exclaimed joyfully, pressing the rose to my lips,—“and that you may not doubt my honour, I will not even wish to know where Liesli is, but after the twelve months are expired, I will come and demand her from your hands.”
“That, time will shew,” replied the hermit calmly, and bidding me farewell, requested me not to come again to him, as he would be absent for a considerable time.
“Father!” I exclaimed with emotion, “what if we never see each other again! Twelve months is a long time; you are old and stricken in years, God may call you to himself, and then what shall I do?” ”

“ Then did the Grand Master exclaim, with a loud voice; ‘As there is no accuser, there can be no judgment. Does no man accuse the dead?’
“And all the Templars knelt down and answered, ‘God is our judge.’ The Grand Master now raised an iron hammer, struck with it three heavy blows upon an iron cross, placed at the head of the coffin, and called aloud, ‘Open the gates of Death!’”
I had read thus far, when I heard three knocks, which sounded seemingly from the corridor. ”

“ I suppose I had ventured a step beyond the line, for I cannot recollect exactly what I had done, owing to the powerful effect of the wine I had taken, when she caught hold of both my hands, pressed them to her bosom, and said, in a tone that might have melted the everlasting mountains which towered above us, “Don’t behave so; I am but a weak girl, and you are a strong man, with whom my father has trusted his maiden.” Throwing her left arm round me, she pressed the Iron Cross to her lips with the right, as the superstitious, when in imminent danger, would an amulet. ”

“ Whether the hermit had concealed himself from me, or whether he were really absent, what was that now to me? I had renounced all farther intercourse—I had done with him. One short moment more in the church-yard, and should I again be disappointed in finding Liesli there, I resolved to ascertain her residence of my landlady; my patience was now indeed completely exhausted. I was determined to put my purpose into immediate execution, and thus finally attain the object of my wishes. I hastened to the cemetery—but Liesli was not there! How changeable, how versatile a being is man! ”

“ The pale and care-worn features of my aunt and cousin relaxed into frequent smiles as I pursued my strange narrative, and the ludicrous climax of my adventure with the two gardeners created even a hearty laugh at my expense. When I had concluded, the lovely Julia repaired the awful damage inflicted on my dressing-gown, and my aunt made me a present of the formidable portrait of the hapless Leah; the removal of which, she said, would alone convince the villagers that the unhappy original no longer walked the castle at midnight. ”

“ I could not conceal my surprise at her knowledge.
“You must not banter me, sir,” said she bashfully, “or I shall hold my tongue.”
“Ah Mimili! speak on,” cried I, kissing her hand, which lay within my arm. “I could listen to you for a day together, while you are talking of your Alps.”
“Don’t you think our mountains beautiful?” she again began, in her former friendly tone. “You should stay here always. I fancy I should not like any spot in the whole world as I do our own. It must be very disagreeable to live in a flat country. ”

“ What is the orphan to you? But answer me not, for the truth does not always proceed from your lips. You seek the maiden, but you may spare yourself that needless trouble—you will not find her. Her mother, in her dying moments, charged me to watch over her happiness and welfare. On the very morning when you imagined you would climb mount Rigi, Liesli departed.—She is gone to her relations, whom I had previously informed of her mother’s death, and from whom, after an interval of twelve months, I received money and instructions to send the orphan to them, provided with the necessary attendance. ”

“ A good son ought always to obey a good father. Let a hundred suitors solicit the maiden’s hand,—if Mimili loves me as dearly—no, that she never can—if she loves me but half as dearly as I love her, I need not be afraid of the result. ”

“ I shuddered as I thought that the old emaciated form of the anchorite, and that of the beautiful Liesli, blooming in all her charms—might be one and the same! How came he in possession of the money? Now it was I called to mind his words at parting; what could he mean by saying “those who hope to be happy on the morrow”—what should these words portend? What could the old man have to do with the blooming girl? What had the hermit of Siti to do at the flowery graves at the foot of the Mythen? Or, had the young maiden acted the character of an anchorite? ”

“ He has blessed my Alps, so that, were even Mimili to give me a son-in-law without a shilling, there would still be sufficient here to maintain both. I have always clung with peculiar fondness to the idea that Mimili would abide with me in my declining years, and close my eyes: you overthrow my plan; for the wife ought to follow the husband, and I cannot expect you to remain here, for you belong to your country and your king. Still I am ready to sacrifice the dearest wishes of my heart; when I am satisfied that God hath chosen you for my girl, I will not stand in the way of your happiness. ”

“ I have never as yet beheld either hermit or hermitage, though both have often been the subjects of my youthful fancy and meditation; I feel desirous, therefore, holy father, of now satisfying my curiosity, by passing a short and instructive hour in your society. You are more wise and pious than we children of the world; you live in solitude and seclusion; you pass your time in acts of devotion ”

“ The sweet maiden must indeed have imagined I had lost all power of speech, for since my first question, and my assurance of having also to wait for the hermit, not a sound had escaped my lips, so lost had I been in contemplating the magic charms of this lovely creature. Even nature was dumb, and appeared also to have shared in the general expression of silent awe and admiration at the scene of celestial splendour and magnificence around us ”

“ Such skill appertains to the Creator alone. That regular oval form, the mild lustre which shone so sweetly in her soft sloe-black eyes, half hid by their long lashes; that pure innocence of soul which beamed from them; the smile of love upon her rosy cheeks, those ruby lips, that row of teeth vying with ivory itself; no—never could the hand of the painter produce or pourtray so many charms. I was motionless with surprise, and gazed upon the beauteous being with silent wonder and admiration. ”

“ Those alone accustomed to the severe restrictions of a monastic life, could impose such laws and duties upon youth—upon a man anxious still to enjoy the world and its many pleasures. I rose from my seat on the wall, still undecided within myself whether or not to listen to the exhortations of the morose hermit, or to follow my own more congenial and inviting inclinations, intending to pass through the flowery graves around the church, and then to return home. ”

“ But what if I did not succeed in finding Liesli? And, should I return home without a wife, would not the minister most naturally conclude I had received a refusal? Might not this be extremely injurious to me in my new appointment? Ought I to explain to a man of such high importance, buried amidst his diplomatic duties, the tale of my love to the Swiss maiden, and my adventures with her and the hermit? ”

“ Well, then, to-morrow I will see you, but we must meet far—very far from this neighbourhood, and very early, when all are asleep. Would you like to mount the Engelstock, or mount Ruffi, or would you rather ascend the peak of Rigi? There I will point out to you, the chalky Alps and the Nagelflue mountains; aye, and you shall there behold objects which will cause you to remember our Canton all your life. ”