 Section 10 of Stories by Foreign Authors, German Authors Volume 2. Section 10. Chapter 5. Peter Schlemiel by Adalbert von Camiso. Chapter 5. 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 menna 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. Menna, with a garland of flowers entwined in her hair, was bending over me with a smile of good will. Though 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, camiso, perfect radiance beamed around them, but none had a shadow, and what was more surprising there was no appearance of unhappiness on this account. Everything was to be seen or heard but flowers and music of love and joy, of groves of never-fading palms seemed the natives of that happy climb. 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 end. What I had left there I was content to lose without much regret, and residing 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 Bindel 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 traveling 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 traveler desirous of information some particulars relative to the road, the country and its inhabitants, the productions of the mountains, etc. 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 on before me. In the middle of the very place which I dreaded so much, he suddenly stopped and turned back to me 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 crossroad we came to, left me without uttering a syllable. Fresh tears flowed from my eyes, and my truffleness 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 the 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 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 that no small detriment of my boots, the souls 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 boots 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 shouldn't introduce myself. I had not gone two hundred steps when I perceived I was not in the right road. I looked around and found myself in a wild-looking forest of ancient furs, where apparently the stroke of the axe had never been heard. A few steps more brought me amid huge rocks covered with moss and sacks of fragrant 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 a red, blood-color at the verge of the horizon. The cold was insupportable. I could not imagine what had happened to me. The benumming frost made me quicken my pace. I heard the distant sound of waters. And a one step more I stood on the icy shore of some ocean. Enumerable 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. And 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 I entertained 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 recruited 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 lead boots on my feet. I fell on my knees in silent gratitude, shedding tears of thankfulness. For now I saw clearly what was to be my future condition, shed out by early sins from all human society. I was offered amends for the privation by nature itself, which I had ever loved. The earth was granted to 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 endeavored with anxious, an unabated industry faithfully to imitate the finished and brilliant model then presented to me, and my vanity has received a check when it led to compare the picture with the original. I rose immediately and took a hasty survey of this new field, where I hoped afterward to reap a rich harvest. I stood on the heights of Tibet, and the sun I had lately be held 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 and repeated visits in all direction. As I gazed on the ancient pyramids and the temples of Egypt, I described in the sandy deserts near thebes of the hundred gates the caves for 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 short rest, continued my pilgrimage. I followed in both the Americas and 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' mountain and sprang over bering straits into Asia. I followed the western coast in its various wind innings, carefully observing which of the neighboring isles was accessible to me. From the peninsula of Malacca, my boots carried me to Sumatra, Java, Bali, 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 northwest passage to Borneo and other islands of the archipelago. At last I sat down at the extreme point of Lombok. My eyes turned toward the southeast, lamenting that I had so soon reached the limits allotted to me and bewailing my fate as a captive in his greated cell. Thus was I shut out from that remarkable country, New Holland, and the islands of the southern ocean so essentially necessary to acknowledge 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 labors condemned to be limited to mere fragments. Ah, come me so. 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 Von Demon'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 his extreme point, my eyes directed to the southeast, I gave away a fresh 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 serve 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 and 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 favoring clouds. As my ill-gotten gold was exhausted, I carried over from Africa some ivory, which is there so plentiful in payment for my purchases, taking care, however, to pick out the smallest teeth in order not to overburden 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, infestigating 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 seabirds 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 and thieves, 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 a drag of my boots, a bear suddenly made his appearance and was stealing toward me around 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 into 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 climbs 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 someone'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. Someone was watching by me. People seemed to be walking from one bed to another. They came beside me and spoke of me as number 12. 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 Schlamil. 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 Schlamil 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 12 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 there were in safekeeping and would be given up to me on my restoration to health. This place was called the Schlamilium. The daily recitation I had heard was an exhortation to pray for Peter Schlamil as the founder and benefactor of this institution. The benevolent looking man whom I had seen by my bedside was Bindel. The beautiful lady in black was Menna. I had been enjoying the advantages of a Schlamilium without being recognized and I learned further that I was in Bindel's native town where he had employed a part of my once unhallowed gold in founding an hospital in my name under his superintendents and that it's unfortunate inmates daily pronounced blessings on me. Menna had become a widow and unhappy lawsuit had deprived a rascal of his life and Menna 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 she stood by the side of number 12's bed with Bindel. 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. Bindel, 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 feel an inward satisfaction in this pain 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 new 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 Mena, 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 I 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 to my botanical case around 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 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 toward 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 Camiso, 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 Ticcius, the rabbi's guestess Pulacilli. 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've have observed and studied our globe and its conformation, its mountains and temperature and the atmosphere in its various changes, the influence 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've 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 its eastern coast. My Historia stirpium planetarum utriusque orbus is an extensive fragment of a flora universalis terai and of a part of my system naturei. 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 manuscript sent to the University of Berlin before my deceased. I have selected thee, my dear Camiso, 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, Camiso, if thou wast live amongst thy fellow creatures, learn to value thy shadow more than gold. If thou wast only live to thyself and thy nobler part, in this thou needest no counsel. End of section 10, chapter five, Peter Schlemiel by Edelbert von Camiso.