Beside Kuni's pallet stood a Gray Sister and an elderly man, evidently a physician. His long black robe, tall dark cap, and gold headed cane6 bore witness to it. Bending forward, with eyeglasses on his prominent nose, he gazed intently into her face.
Her return to consciousness seemed to please him, and he showed himself to be a kind, experienced leech7. With tireless solicitude8 he strove to cure the numerous injuries which she had received, and she soon learned through him and the nun9, that she had fallen from the rope and escaped death as if by a miracle. The triumphal arch under her, and the garlands which decorated the wooden structure, had caught her before she touched the pavement. True, her right leg was broken, and it had been necessary to amputate her left foot in order to save her life. Many a wound and slash10 on her breast and head also needed healing, and her greatest ornament11, her long, thick, dark hair, had been cut off.
Why had they called her, the ropedancer, back to a life which henceforward could offer her nothing save want and cruel suffering? She uttered this reproach to her preservers very indignantly; but as the physician saw her eating a bunch of grapes with much enjoyment12, he asked if this pleasure did not suffice to make her rejoice over the preservation13 of her existence. There were a thousand similar gifts of God, which scarcely seemed worthy14 of notice, yet in the aggregate15 outweighed16 a great sorrow which, moreover, habit daily diminished.
The Sister tried, by other arguments, to reconcile her to the life which had been preserved, but the words her devout17 heart inspired and which were intended for a pious18 soul, produced little influence upon the neglected child of the highroad. Kuni felt most deeply the reference to the sorely afflicted19 Mother of God. If such sorrow had been sent to the noblest and purest of mortals, through whom God had deigned20 to give his divine Son to the world, what grief could be too great for her, the wandering vagabond? She often silently repeated this to herself; yet only too frequently her impetuous heart rebelled against the misery21 which she felt that she would encounter. But many weeks were to pass before she recovered; a severe relapse again endangered her life.
During the first days of illness she had talked to Lienhard in her fevered visions, called him by name, and warned him against the spiteful elf who would ruin him. Frequently, too, oaths and horrible, coarse imprecations, such as are heard only from the mouths of the vagrants22 among whom she had grown to womanhood, fell from her burning lips. When she improved, the leech asked in the jesting tone which elderly men are fond of using to young women whose heart secrets they think they have detected, what wrong her lover had done her. The Sister, nay24, even the abbess, wished to learn what she meant by the wicked witch whom she had mentioned with such terrible curses during the ravings of the fever, but she made no reply. In fact, she said very little, and her nurses thought her a reserved creature with an obdurate25 nature; for she obstinately26 rejected the consolations27 of religion.
Only to her confessor, a kind old priest, who knew how to discover the best qualities in every one, did she open her heart so far as to reveal that she loved the husband of another and had once wished evil, ay, the very worst evil, to a neighbour. But since the sin had been committed only in thought, the kindly28 guardian29 of her conscience was quickly disposed to grant her absolution if, as a penance30, she would repeat a goodly number of paternosters and undertake a pilgrimage. If she had had sound feet, she ought to have journeyed to Santiago di Compostella; but, since her condition precluded31 this, a visit to Altotting in Bavaria would suffice. But Kuni by no means desired any mitigation of the penance. She silently resolved to undertake the pilgrimage to Compostella, at the World's End,—[Cape Finisterre]—in distant Spain, though she did not know how it would be possible to accomplish this with her mutilated foot. Not even to her kind confessor did she reveal this design. The girl who had relied upon herself from childhood, needed no explanation, no confidante.
Therefore, during the long days and nights which she was obliged to spend in bed, she pondered still more constantly upon her own past. That she had been drawn32 and was still attracted to Lienhard with resistless power, was true; yet whom, save herself, had this wounded or injured? On the other hand, it had assuredly been a heavy sin that she had called down such terrible curses upon the child. Still, even now she might have had good reason to execrate33 the wearer of the wreath; for she alone, not Lienhard, was the sole cause of her misfortune. Her prayer on the rope that the saints would destroy the hated child, and the idea which then occupied her mind, that she was really a grown maiden34, whose elfin delicacy35 of figure was due to her being one of the fays or elves mentioned in the fairy tales, had made a deep impression upon her memory.
Whenever she thought of that supplication36 she again felt the bitterness she had tasted on the rope. Though she believed herself justified37 in hating the little mischief-maker, the prayer uttered before her fall did not burden her soul much less heavily than a crime. Suppose the Sister was right, and that the saints heard every earnest petition?
She shuddered38 at the thought. The child was so young, so delicate. Though she had caused her misfortune, the evil was not done intentionally39. Such thoughts often induced Kuni to clasp her hands and pray to the saint not to fulfil the prayer she uttered at that time; but she did not continue the petition long, a secret voice whispered that every living creature—man and beast—felt the impulse to inflict40 a similar pang41 on those who caused suffering, and that she, who believed the whole world wicked, need not be better than the rest.
Meanwhile she longed more and more eagerly to know the name of the little creature that had brought so much trouble upon her, and whether she was still forcing herself between Lienhard and his beautiful wife.
As soon as she was able to talk again, she began her inquiries42. The Sister, who was entirely43 absorbed in her calling and never left the scene of her wearisome toil44, had little to tell; but the leech and the priest, in reply to her questions concerning what had happened during the period of her unconsciousness, informed her that the Emperor had ordered that she should receive the most careful nursing, and had bestowed45 a donation upon the convent for the purpose. He had thought of her future, too. When she recovered, she would have the five heller pounds which the generous sovereign had left for her as a partial compensation for the injuries sustained while employing her rare skill for the delight of the multitude and, above all, himself. A wealthy Nuremberg Honourable46, Lienhard Groland, a member of the Council, had also interested himself in her and deposited the same amount with the abbess, in case she should recover the use of her limbs and did not prefer to spend the remainder of her life here, though only as a lay sister. In that case he would be ready to defray the cost of admission.
"That the lofty convent walls might rise between him and the sight of me!" Kuni said to herself at this information, with a bitter smile. On the—other hand, her eyes filled with tears of genuine emotion and sincere shame, when she learned from the leech that Herr Lienhard Groland's lovely wife had come daily to the convent to inquire about her, and had even honoured her couch with a visit several times. She did not remain absent until one day, in the noble lady's presence, Kuni, when her fever was fiercest, loaded the wearer of the wreath, whom her delirium47 often brought before her as a nightmare, with the most savage48 and blasphemous49 curses. The gracious young wife was overwhelmed with horror, which had doubtless prevented her return, unless her absence was due to departure from the city. Besides, she had committed the care of inquiring about her convalescence51 to an aristocratic friend in Augsburg, the wife of the learned city clerk, Doctor Peutinger, a member of the famous Welser family of Augsburg. The latter had often inquired for her in person, until the illness of her own dear child had kept her at home. Yet, in spite of this, her housekeeper52 had appeared the day before to inform the abbess that, if the injured girl should recover and wished to lead a respectable life in future, she might be sure of a welcome and easy duties in her own household. This surely ought to be a great comfort to Kuni, the physician added; for she could no longer pursue rope-dancing, and the Peutingers were lavishly53 endowed with worldly goods and intellectual gifts, and, besides, were people of genuine Christian54 spirit. The convent, too, would be ready to receive her—the abbess had told him so—if Herr Groland, of Nuremberg, kept his promise of paying her admission dues.
All these things awakened55 a new world of thoughts and feelings in the convalescent. That they ought, above all, to have aroused sincere gratitude56, she felt keenly, yet she could not succeed in being especially thankful. It would be doing Lienhard a favour, she repeated to herself, if she should enter a convent, and she would rather have sought shelter in a lion's den4 than under the Peutinger roof. She had been informed the day before that the city clerk's wife was the mother of the child upon whom she had called down misfortune and death.
The keeper of an Augsburg bath-house, who had burned herself with boiling water, occupied the next bed. She was recovering, and was a talkative woman, whose intrusive57 loquacity58 at first annoyed Kuni, nay, when she could not silence it, caused her pain. But her conversation soon revealed that she knew every stick and stone in her native city. Kuni availed herself of this, and did not need to ask many questions to learn everything that she desired to know about the little beggar-landed elf.
She was Juliane, the young daughter of Herr Conrad Peutinger, the city clerk—a girl of unusual cleverness, and a degree of learning never before found in a child eleven years old. The bath-house keeper had many wonderful stories to relate of her remarkable59 wisdom, with which even highly educated men could not vie. In doing so, she blamed the father and mother, who had been unnatural60 parents to the charming child; for to make the marvel61 complete, and to gratify their own vanity, they had taxed the little girl's mind with such foolish strenuousness62 that the frail63 body suffered. She had heard this in her own bath-house from the lips of the child's aunt and from other distinguished64 friends of the Welsers and Peutingers. Unfortunately, these sensible women proved to have been right; for soon after the close of the Reichstag, Juliane was attacked by a lingering illness, from which rumour65 now asserted that she would never recover. Some people even regarded the little girl's sickness as a just punishment of God, to whom the constant devotion of the father and his young daughter to the old pagans and their ungodly writings must have given grave offence.
This news increased to the utmost the anxiety from which Kuni had long suffered. Often as she thought of Lienhard, she remembered still more frequently that it was she, who had prayed for sickness to visit the child of a mother, who had so kindly offered her, the strolling player, whom good women usually shunned66, the shelter of her distinguished house.
The consciousness of owing a debt of gratitude to those, against whom she had sinned so heavily, oppressed her. The kind proposal of the sick child's mother seemed like a mockery. It was painful even to hear the name of Peutinger.
Besides, the further she advanced toward recovery, the more unendurable appeared the absence of liberty. The kind efforts of the abbess to keep her in the cloister67, and teach her to make herself useful there by sewing, were unsuccessful; for she could not turn the spinning wheel on account of her amputated foot, and she had neither inclination68 nor patience for the finer branches of needlework.
Those who charged her with a lamentable69 lack of perseverance70 were right; the linen71 which she began to hem50 fell into her lap only too soon. When her eyes—which could see nothing here except a small walled yard—closed while she was working, the others thought that she was asleep; but her mind remained awake, though she had lowered her lids, and it wandered restlessly over valleys rivers, and mountains through the wide, wide world. She saw herself in imagination travelling along the highway with nimble jugglers merry musicians, and other care-free vagrant23 folk, instead of plying72 the needle. Even the whirling dust, the rushing wind, and the refreshing73 rain outside seemed desirable compared with the heavy convent air impregnated by a perpetual odour of lavender.
When at last, in the month of March, little Afra, the fair-haired niece of the portress, brought her the first snowdrop, and Kuni saw a pair of starlings enter the box on the budding linden before her window, she could no longer bear her imprisonment74 in the convent.
Within these walls she must fade, perhaps die and return to dust. In spite of all the warnings, representations, entreaties75, and promises of those who—she gratefully perceived it—meant well toward her, she persisted in her desire to be dismissed, to live out of doors as she had always done. At last they paid her what was due, but she accepted only the Emperor's bounty76, proudly refusing Lienhard Groland's money, earnestly as she was urged to add it to the other and to the viaticum bestowed by the nuns77.
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1
delusions
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| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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7
leech
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| n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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11
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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12
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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13
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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16
outweighed
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| v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 )；在重要性或价值方面超过 | |
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17
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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18
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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19
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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22
vagrants
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| 流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 )； 无业游民； 乞丐； 无赖 | |
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23
vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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24
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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consolations
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| n.安慰，慰问( consolation的名词复数 )；起安慰作用的人（或事物） | |
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28
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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30
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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31
precluded
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| v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通 | |
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32
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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33
execrate
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| v.憎恶；厌恶；诅咒 | |
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34
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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35
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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36
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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37
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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38
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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39
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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40
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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41
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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42
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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43
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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44
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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45
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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47
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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48
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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49
blasphemous
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| adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的 | |
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50
hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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51
convalescence
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| n.病后康复期 | |
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52
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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53
lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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54
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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55
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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56
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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57
intrusive
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| adj.打搅的；侵扰的 | |
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58
loquacity
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| n.多话，饶舌 | |
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59
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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60
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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61
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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62
strenuousness
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63
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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64
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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65
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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66
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
cloister
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| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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68
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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69
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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70
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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71
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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72
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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73
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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74
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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75
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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76
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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77
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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