 1. 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 blueish distances of the mountains. The village lies right in the center of a rather broad valley which has about the shape of a longish circle. Besides the church it contains a school, a town hall, 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. In the valley and along the mountain sides many other huts and cots are scattered as is very often the case in mountain regions. These habitations belong to the parish and school district and pay tribute to the artisans we mentioned by purchasing their wares. Still other more distant huts belong to the village but are so deeply ensconced in the recesses of the mountains that one cannot see them at all from the valley. Those who live in them rarely come down to their fellow parishioners and in winter frequently must keep their dead until after the snows have melted away in order to give them a burial. The greatest personage whom the villagers get to see in the course of the year is the priest. They greatly honor him and usually he himself through a longer sojourn becomes so accustomed to the solitude of the valley that he not unwillingly stays and simply lives on there. At least it has not happened in the memory of man that the priest of the village had been a man hankering to get away or unworthy of his vocation. No roads lead through the valley. People use their double track cart paths upon which they bring in the products of their fields in carts drawn by one horse. Hence few people come into the valley. Among them sometimes a solitary pedestrian who is a lover of nature and dwells for some little time in the upper room of the inn and admires the mountains. Or perhaps a painter who sketches the small pointed spire of the church and the beautiful summits of the rocky peaks. For this reason the villagers form a world by themselves. They all know each other by name and there are several histories down from the time of grandfather and great grandfather. They all mourn when one of them dies. Know what name the newborn will receive. They have a language differing from that of the plains. They have their quarrels which they settle among themselves. They assist one another and flock together when something extraordinary has happened. They are conservative and things are left to remain as they were. Whenever a stone drops out of a wall the same stone is put back again. The new houses are built like the old ones. The dilapidated roofs are repaired with the same kind of shingles. And if there happen to be brindled cows on a farm calves of the same color are raised always so that the color stays on the farm. To the south of the village one sees a snow mountain which seems to lift up its shining peaks right above the roofs of the houses. Yet it is not quite so near. Summer and winter it dominates the valley with its beatling crags and snowy sides. Being the most remarkable object in the landscape this mountain is of main interest to the inhabitants and has become the central feature of many a story. There is not a young man or greybeard in the village but can tell of the crags and crests of the mountain, of its crevasses and caves, of its torrents and screes, whether now he knows it from his own experience or from hearsay. The mountain is the boast of the villagers as if it were a work of theirs. And one is not so sure however high one may esteem the plain spokenness and reputation for truth telling of the natives whether they do not fib now and then to the honor and glory of their mountain. Besides being the wonder of the valley the mountain affords actual profit for whenever a company of tourists arrives to ascend the mountain the natives serve as guides and to have been a guide to have experienced this or that to know this or that spot is a distinction everyone likes to gain for himself. The mountain often is the object of their conversation at the inn when they sit together and tell of their feats and wonderful experiences nor do they omit to relate what this or that traveler had said and what reward they had received from him for their labor. Furthermore the snowy sides of the mountain feed a lake among its heavily forested recesses from which a merry brook runs through the valley drives the sawmill and the flowermill cleanses the village and waters the cattle the forests of the mountain furnished timber and form a bulwark against the avalanches the annual history of the mountain is as follows in winter the two pinnacles of its summit which they call horns are snow white and when visible on bright days tower up into the blackish blue of the sky in dazzling splendor and all its shoulders are white too and all slopes even the perpendicular precipices called walls by the natives are covered with white frost delicately laid on or with thin ice adhering to them like varnish so that the whole mass looms up like an enchanted castle from out of the hoary gray of the forests which lie spread out heavily about its base in summer when the sun and warm winds melt the snow from their steep sides the peaks soar up black into the sky and have only beautiful veins and specks of white on their flanks as the natives say but the fact is the peaks are of a delicate distant blue and what they call veins and specks is not white but has the lovely milk blue color of distant snow against the darker blue of the rocks when the weather is hot the more elevated slopes about the peaks do not lose their covering of eternal snow on the contrary it then gleams with double resplendence down upon the green of the trees in the valley but the winter snow is melted off their lower parts then becomes visible the bluish or greenish iridescence of the glaciers which are buried and gleamed down upon the valley below at the edge of this iridescence there where it seems from the distance like a fringe of gems a nearer view reveals confused masses of wild and monstrous boulders slabs and fragments piled up in chaotic fashion in very hot and long summers the ice fields are denuded even in the higher regions and then a much greater amount of blue green glacier ice glances down into the valley many knobs and depressions are laid bare which one otherwise sees only covered with white the muddy edge of the ice comes to view with its deposit of rocks silt and slime and far greater volumes of water than usual rush into the valley this continues until it gradually becomes autumn again the waters grow less and one day a gray continuous gentle rain spreads over all the valley then after the mists have dispersed about the summits the mountain is seen to have draped itself again in its soft robe of snow and all crags cones and pinnacles are vested in white thus it goes on year after year with but slight divergences and thus it will go on so long as nature remains the same and there is snow upon the heights and people live in the valleys but to the natives these changes seem great they pay much attention to them and calculate the progress of the seasons by them the ascent of the mountain is made from our valley one follows a fine road which leads south to another valley over a so-called neck neck they call a moderately high mountain ridge which connects two mountain ranges of considerable magnitude and over which one can pass from one valley to another between the mountains the neck which connects our snow mountain with another great mountain mass is altogether covered with pine forests at its greatest elevation where the road begins gradually to descend into the valley beyond there stands a post erected to commemorate a calamity once upon a time a baker carrying bread and a basket slung around his neck was found dead on that spot they painted a picture of the dead baker with his basket and the pine trees round about and beneath it an explanation with a request for prayer from the passerby and this picture they fastened to a wooden post painted red and erected it at the spot where the accident occurred at this post then when leaves the road and continues along the ridge of the neck instead of crossing it and descending into the valley beyond there is an opening among the pine trees at that spot as if there were a road between them in fact a path is sometimes made in that direction which then serves to bring down timber from the higher regions but which is afterward overgrown again with grass proceeding along this way which gently ascends one arrives at last at a bare treeless region it is barren heath where grows nothing but heather mosses and lichens it grows ever steeper the further one ascends but one always follows a gully resembling a rounded out ditch which is convenient as one cannot then miss one's way in this extensive treeless monotonous region after a while rocks as large as churches rise out of the grassy soil between whose walls one climbs up still farther then there are again bleak ridges with hardly any vegetation which reach up into the thinner air of higher altitudes and lead straight to the ice at both sides of this path steep ledges plunge down and by this natural causeway the snow mountain is joined to the neck in order to surmount the ice one skirts it for some distance where it is surrounded by rock walls until one comes to the old hard snow which bridges the crevasses and at most seasons of the year bears the weight of the climber from the highest point of this snow field two peaks tower up of which the one is higher and therefore the summit of the mountain these pinnacles are very hard to climb as they are surrounded by a chasm of varying width the Bergschrunt which one must leap over and as their precipitous escarpments afford but small footholds most of the tourists climbing the mountain content themselves with reaching the Bergschrunt and from there enjoy the panorama those who mean to climb to the top must use climbing irons ropes and iron spikes besides this mountain there are still others south of the valley but none as high even if the snow begins to lie on them early in the fall and stays till late in the spring mid summer always removes it and then the rocks gleam pleasantly in the sunlight and the forests at their base have their soft green intersected by the broad blue shadows of these peaks which are so beautiful that one never tires of looking at them on the opposite northern eastern and western sides of the valley the mountains rise in long ridges and are of lower elevation scattered fields and meadows climb up along their sides till rather high up and above them one sees clearings chalets and the like until at their edge they are silhouetted against the sky with their delicately serrated forest which is indicative of their inconsiderable height whereas the mountains towards the south though also magnificently wooded cut off the shining horizon with entirely smooth lines when one stands about in the center of the valley it would seem as if there were no way out or into the basin but people who have often been in the mountains are familiar with this illusion the fact is diverse roads lead through the folds of the mountains to the plains to the north some of them with hardly your eyes and to the south where the valley seems shut in by precipitous mountain walls a road leads over the neck mentioned above the village is called gashite and the snow mountain looking down upon it gars end of section one section two of rock crystal by adelbart schtifter this labor vox recording is in the public domain section two on the other side of the neck there lies a valley by far more beautiful and fertile than that of gashite at its entrance there lies a country town of considerable size named millsdorf which has several industrial enterprises and carries on almost urban trade and business its inhabitants are much more well to do than those of gashite and although only three hours away which for these labor loving mountaineers used to great distances is only a bagatelle yet manners and customs are so different in the two valleys and even their external appearance is so unlike that one might suppose a great number of miles lay between this is of common occurrence in the mountains and do not only to the more or less favored position of the valleys but also to the spirit of the natives who by reason of their differing occupations are inclined this way or that but in this they all agree that they adhere to established customs and the usages of their forefathers lightly bear the absence of great traffic cling to their native valley with an extraordinary love in fact can hardly live out of it months i a whole year may pass without a native of gashite setting foot into the valley beyond and visiting the town of millsdorf the same is true of the people of millsdorf although they have more intercourse with the country beyond and hence live in less seclusion than the villagers of gashite a road which might be called a high road leads through the length of their valley and many a traveler passes through it without suspecting in the least that to the north of him on the other side of the snow mountain towering high above him there is another valley with many scattered houses and the village with its pointed church tower among the trades of the village which supply the necessities of the valley is that of the shoemaker indispensable indeed to man accepting in his most primitive condition but the natives are so high raised above that condition that they stand in need of very good and durable foot gear for the mountains the shoemaker is the only one of his trade in the valley with one in considerable exception his house stands on the public square of gashite where most of the larger dwellings are situated and its gray walls white window frames and green shutters face the four linden trees on the ground floor are the workshop the workman's room a larger and a smaller sitting room the shop and then the kitchen and pantry the first story or more properly the attic space contains the upper room which is also the best room in it there stand two beds of state beautifully polished clothes presses there is a china closet with dishes a table with inlaid work upholstered easy chairs a strongbox for the savings furthermore they're hang on the walls pictures of saints two handsome watches being prizes won in shooting matches and finally there are some rifles both for target firing and hunting with all the necessary paraphernalia carefully hung up in a special case with a glass door added to the shoemaker's house there is a smaller house built exactly like it and though separated from it by an arched gateway belonging to it like part of a hole it has only one large room with some closets its purpose is to serve the owner of the larger house as habitation for the remainder of his days after having left the property to his son or successor there to dwell with his wife until both are dead and the little house stands empty again and is ready for another occupant to the rear of the shoemaker's house are stable and barn for every dweller in the valley carries on farming along with his regular occupation and makes a good living from it behind these buildings finally is the garden which is lacking to none of the better houses of g'shite and from which the villagers obtain their vegetables their fruit and the flowers necessary for festive occasions and as quite commonly in the mountains apiculture is pursued also in the gardens of g'shite the small exception alluded to and the only competitor of the shoemaker is a man of the same trade old tabias who is not a real rival though because he only cobbles and is kept quite busy with that nor would he ever think of competing with the gentleman shoemaker of the township especially as the latter frequently provides him gratuitously with leather cuttings sole strips and the like in summertime old tabias sits under a clump of elder bushes at the end of the village and works away all about him are shoes and lace boots all of them however gray muddy and torn there are no high boots because these are not worn in the village and its surroundings only two personages own such boots the priest and the school teacher both of whom have their new work and repairing done by the shoemaker in winter old tabias sits in his cot behind the elder bushes and has it comfortably warm because wood is not dear in g'shite before entering into possession of his house the shoemaker had been a shammy poacher in fact had not exactly been a model in youth so the people of g'shite said in school he had always been one of the brightest scholars afterwards he had learned his father's trade and had gone on his journeymen wanderings finally returning to the village instead of wearing a black hat as befits a tradesman and as his father had done all his life he put on a green one decorated it with all the feathers obtainable and strutted around in the very shortest homespun coat to be found in all the valley whereas his father always had worn a coat of dark even black cloth with very long tails to indicate his station as tradesmen the young shoemaker was to be seen on all dancing floors and bowling alleys whenever anyone gave him a piece of good advice he merely whistled he attended all shooting matches in the neighborhood with his target rifle and often brought back a prize which he considered a great victory the prize generally consisted of coins artistically set to win them he frequently had to spend more coins of the same value than the prize was worth especially as he was very generous with his money he also participated in all the chases of the surrounding country and won a name as a marksman sometimes however he issued a loan with his double barreled gun and climbing irons and once it is said returned with an ugly wound in his head in millsdorf there lived a dire who carried on a very notable industry his works lay right at the entrance of the town at the side toward g'sheit he employed many people and even worked with machines which was an unheard of thing in the valley besides he did extensive farming the shoemaker frequently crossed the mountain to win the daughter of this wealthy dire because of her beauty but also because of her modesty and domesticity she was praised far and near nevertheless the shoemaker it is said attracted her attention the dire did not permit him to enter his house and whereas his beautiful daughter had even before that never attended public places and merry makings and was rarely to be seen outside the house of her parents now she became even more retiring in her habits and was to be seen only in church in her garden or at home sometime after the death of his parents by which the paternal house which he inhabited all alone became his the shoemaker became an altogether different man boisterous as he had been before he now sat in his shop and hammered away day and night boastingly he set a prize on it that there was no one who could make better shoes and foot gear he took none but the best workmen and kept after them when they worked in order that they should do as he told them and really he accomplished his desire so that not only the whole village of g'sheit which for the most part had got its shoes from neighboring valleys had their work done by him but the whole valley also and finally he had some customers even from millsdorf and other valleys even down into the plains his fame spread so that a good many who intended to climb in the mountains had their shoes made by him for that purpose he ordered his house very neatly and in his shop the shoes lace boots and high boots shown upon their several shelves and when on sundays the whole population of the valley came into the village gathering under the four linden trees of the square people liked to go over to the shoemaker's shop and look through the panes to watch the customers on account of the love he bore to the mountains even now he devoted his best endeavor to the making of mountain lace shoes in the inn he used to say that there was no one who could show him anyone else's mountain boots that could compare with his own they don't know he was accustomed to add and they have never learned it in all their life how such a shoe is to be made so that the firmament of the nails shall fit well on the soles and contain the proper amount of iron so as to render the shoe hard on the outside so that no flint however sharp can be felt through and so that on its inside fits the foot as snug and soft as a glove the shoemaker had a large ledger made for himself in which he entered all goods he had manufactured adding the names of those who had furnished the materials and of those who had bought the finished goods together with a brief remark about the quality of the product foot gear of the same kind bore their continuous numbers and the book lay in the large drawer of his shop even if the beautiful daughter of the mills dwarf dire did not take a step outside her parents home and even though she visited neither friends nor relatives yet the shoemaker of g'shite knew how to arrange it so that she saw him from afar when she walked to church when she was in her garden and when she looked out upon the meadows from the windows of her room on account of this unceasing spying the dire's wife by dint of her long and persevering prayers had brought it about that her obstinate husband yielded and that the shoemaker as he had in fact become a better man led the beautiful and wealthy mills dwarf girl home to g'shite as his wife however the dire was a man who meant to have his own way the right sort of man he said ought to ply his trade in a manner to prosper and ought therefore to be able to maintain his wife children himself and his servants to keep house and home in good condition and yet save a goodly amount which savings were after all the main aids to honor and dignity in the world therefore he said his daughter would receive nothing from home but an excellent outfit all else it was and remained the duty of the husband to provide the dying works and mills dwarf and the farming he carried on were a dignified and honorable business by themselves which had to exist for their own sake all property belonging to them had to serve as capital for which reason he would not give away any part of them but when he the dire and his wife were deceased then both the die works and the farm and mills dwarf would fall to their only daughter the shoemaker's wife in g'shite and she and her husband could do with the property what they pleased they would inherit it however only if worthy of inheriting it if unworthy it would go to their children and if there were none to other relatives with the exception of the lawful portion neither did the shoemaker demand anything but proudly gave the dire to understand that he had cared but for his beautiful daughter and that he was able to maintain her as she had been maintained at home and when she was his wife he gave her clothes not only finer than those the women of g'shite and the g'shite valley owned but also then she had ever worn at home and as to food and drink he insisted on having it better and her treatment more considerate than she had enjoyed in her own father's house moreover in order to show his independence of his father-in-law he bought more and more ground with his savings so that he came to own a goodly property end of section two section three of rock crystal by adalbert schtifter this libra vox recording is in the public domain now the natives of g'shite rarely leave their village as has been remarked hardly even traveling to mills dwarf from which they are separated by customs as well as by mountain ridges besides it never happens that a man leaves his valley to settle in a neighboring one though settlements at greater distances do take place neither does a woman or a girl like to emigrate from one valley into another except in the rather rare cases when she follows her love and as wife joins her husband in another valley so it happened that the dire's daughter from mills dwarf was ever considered a stranger by all the people of g'shite even after she had become the shoemaker's wife and although they never did her any ill i even loved her on account of her beautiful ways yet they always seemed to keep their distance or if you will showed marked consideration for her and never became intimate or treated her as their equal as men and women of g'shite did men and women of their own valley thus matters stood and remained and were not mended by the better dress and the lighter domestic duties of the shoemaker's wife at the end of the first year she had borne to her husband a son and several years afterward a daughter she believed however that he did not love his children as she thought he ought to and as she knew she loved them herself for his face was mostly serious and he was chiefly concerned with his work he rarely fondled or played with the children and always spoke seriously to them as one does to adults with regard to food and clothes and other material things his care for them was above reproach at first the dyer's wife frequently came over to g'shite and the young couple and their turn visited mills dwarf on occasion of country fairs and other festivities but when the children came the circumstances were altered if mothers love their children and long for them this is frequently and to a much higher degree the case with grandmothers they occasionally long for their grandchildren with an intensity that borders on morbidness the dyer's wife very frequently came over to g'shite now in order to see the children and to bring them presents then she would depart again after giving them kindly advice but when her age and health did not any longer permit of these frequent journeys and the dyer for this reason objected to them they be thought themselves of another plan they changed about and now the children visited their grandmother frequently the mother herself took them over in their carriage at other times they were bundled up warmly and driven over the neck under the care of a servant girl but when they were a little older they went to mills dwarf on foot either in the company of their mother or of some servant indeed when the boy had become strong clever and self-reliant they let him travel the well-known road over the neck by himself and when the weather was specially beautiful and he begged them they permitted his little sister to accompany him this is customary in g'shite as the people are hearty pedestrians and because parents especially a man like the shoemaker like to see their children able to take care of themselves thus it happened that the two children made their way over the pass more frequently than all the other villagers together and in as much as their mother had always been treated as half a stranger in g'shite the children by this circumstance grew up to be strangers children to the village folks they hardly were g'shite children but belonged half to mills dwarf the boy konrad had already something of the earnest ways of his father and the girl susanna named so after her mother or sana for brevity had great faith in his knowledge understanding and strength and unquestioningly followed where he led just as her mother absolutely trusted her husband whom she credited with all possible insight and ability on beautiful mornings one could see the children walk southward through the valley and traverse the meadows toward the point where the forest of the neck looks down on them they would enter the forest gain the height on the road and before noon come to the open meadows on the side toward mills dwarf konrad then showed sana the pastures that belonged to grandfather then they walked through his fields in which he explained to her the various kinds of grain then they saw the long cloths wave in the wind and blow into antique shapes as they hung to dry on poles under the eaves then they heard the noises of the fullery and of the tannery which the dire had built by the brook then they rounded a corner of the fields and very soon entered the garden of the dire's establishment by the back gate where they were received by grandmother she always had a presentiment when the children were coming looked out of the windows and recognized them from afar whenever sana's red kerchief shone brightly in the sun she led the children through the laundry and the press into the living room and had them sit down not letting them take off their neck cloths or coats lest they should catch cold and then kept them for dinner after the meal they were allowed to go into the open and play and to walk about in the house of their grandparents or do whatever else they cared to provided it was not improper or forbidden the dire who always ate with them questioned them about school and impressed upon them what they ought to learn in the afternoon they were urged by their grandmother to depart even before it was time so that they should in no case reach home too late although the dire had given his daughter no dowry and had vowed not to give away anything of his fortune before his death his wife did not hold herself so strictly bound she not only frequently made the children presents of pieces of money sometimes of considerable value but also invariably tied two bundles for them to carry in which there were things she believed were necessary or would give the children pleasure and even if the same things were to be found in the shoemaker's house and as good as one might wish yet grandmother made presents of them in her joy of giving and the children carried them home as something especially fine thus it happened that the children on the day before Christmas unwittingly carried home the presents well sealed and packed in pasteboard boxes which were intended for them as their Christmas presents the very same night grandmothers pressing the children to go before it was time so that they should not get home late had only the effect that they carried on the way now here now there they liked to sit by the hazelwoods on the neck and open nuts with stones or if there were no nuts they played with leaves or pegs or the soft brown cones that dropped from the branches of fir trees in the beginning of spring sometimes conrad told his little sister stories or when arrived at the red memorial post would lead her a short distance up the side road and tell her that here one could get on the snow mountain that up there were great rocks and stones that the shammy gambled and great birds circled about up there he often led her out beyond the forest when they would look at the dry grass and the small bushes of the heather but then he returned with her invariably bringing her home before twilight which always earned him praise one winter on the morning before christmas when the first dawn had passed into day a thin dry veil was spread over the whole sky so that one could see the low and distant sun only as an indistinct red spot moreover the air that day was mild almost genial and absolute calm reigned in the entire valley as well as in the heavens as was indicated by the unchanging and immobile forms of the clouds so the shoemaker's wife said to her children as today is pleasant and it has not rained for a long time and the roads are hard and his father gave you permission yesterday if the weather continued fine you may go to visit grandmother in mills-dorf but ask father once more the children who were still standing there in their little nightgowns ran into the adjoining room where their father was speaking with a customer and asked him again for his permission because it was such a fine day it was given and they ran back to their mother the shoemaker's wife now dressed the children carefully or rather she dressed the little girl in snug fitting warm dresses for the boy began to dress himself and was finished long before his mother had the little girl straightened out when they were both ready she said now conrad be nice and careful as i let your little sister go with you you must leave betimes and not remain standing anywhere and when you have eaten at grandmothers you must return at once and come home for the days are very short now and the sun sets very soon yes i know mother said conrad and take good care of sauna that she does not fall or get overheated yes mother well then god bless you now go to father and tell him you are leaving the boy slung a bag of calfskin artfully sewed by his father about his shoulders by a strap and the children went into the adjoining room to say farewell to their father soon they issued again and merrily skipped along the village street after their mother had once more made the sign of the cross over them quickly they passed over the square and along the rows of houses and finally between the railings of the orchards out into the open the sun already stood above the wooded heights that were woven through with milky wisps of cloud and its dim reddish disc proceeded along with them through the leafless branches of the crab apple trees there was no snow in the whole valley but the higher mountains that had been glistening with it for many weeks already were thoroughly covered the lower ridges however remained snowless and silent in the mantle of their pine forest and the fallow red of their bare branches the ground was not frozen yet and would have been entirely dry after the long dry period that had been prevailing if the cold of the season had not covered it with a film of moisture this did not render the ground slippery however but rather firm and resilient so that the children made good progress the scanty grass still standing on the meadows and especially along the ditches in them bore the colors of autumn there was no frost on the ground and a closer inspection did not reveal any dew either which signifies rain according to the country people toward the edge of the meadows there was a mountain brook over which led a high narrow wooden bridge the children walked over it and looked down there was hardly any water in the brook only a thin streak of intensely blue color wound through the dry white pebbles of its stony bed and both the small amount and the color of the water indicated that cold was prevailing in the greater altitudes for this rendered the soil on the mountains dry so that it did not make the water of the brook turbid and hardened the ice so that it could give off but a few clear drops from the bridge the children passed through the valleys in the hills and came closer and closer to the woods finally they reached the edge of the woods and walked on through them when they had climbed up into the higher woodlands of the neck the long furrows of the road were no longer soft as had been the case in the valley but were firm not from dryness but as the children soon perceived because they were frozen over in some places the frost had rendered them so hard that they could bear the weight of their bodies from now on they did not persist any longer in the slippery path beside the road but in the ruts as children will trying whether this or that furrow would carry them when after an hour's time they had arrived at the height of the neck the ground was so hard that their steps resounded on it and the clods were hard like stones arrived at the location of the memorial post sauna was the first to notice that it stood no longer there they went up to the spot and saw that the round red painted post which carried the picture was lying in the dry grass which stood there like thin straw and concealed the fallen post from view they could not understand to be sure why it had toppled over whether it had been knocked down or fallen of itself but they did see that the wood was much decayed at the place where it emerged from the ground and that the post might therefore easily have fallen of itself since it was lying there however they were pleased that they could get a closer look at the picture and the inscription than they had ever had before when they had examined all the basket with the rolls the whitish hands of the baker his closed eyes his gray coat and the pine trees surrounding him and when they had spelt out and read aloud the inscription they proceeded on their way after another hour the dark forest on either side receded scattered trees some of them isolated oaks others birches and clumps of bushes received them and accompanied them onward and after a short while the children were running down through the meadows of the valley of millsdorf although this valley is not as high by far as the valley of gashite and so much warmer that they could begin harvesting two weeks earlier than in gashite the ground was frozen here too and when the children had come to the tannery and the fulling mill of their grandfather pretty little cakes of ice were lying on the road where it was frequently spattered by drops from the wheels that is usually a great pleasure for children end of section three section four of rock crystal by adalbert shifter this the provox recording is in the public domain grandmother had seen them coming and gone to meet them she took sauna by her cold little hands and led her into the room she made them take off their heavy outer garments ordered more wood to be put in the stove and asked them what had happened on the way over when they had told her she said that's nice and good and i'm very glad that you have come again but today you must be off early the day is short and it is growing colder only this morning there was no frost in millsdorf not in gashite either said the boy there you see on that account you must hurry so that you will not grow too cold in the evening said grandmother then she asked how mother was and how father was and whether anything particular had happened in gashite after having questioned them she devoted herself to the preparation of dinner made sure that it would be ready at an earlier time than usual and herself prepared tidbits for the children which she knew would give them pleasure then the master dire was called covers were set on the table for the children as for grown-up people and then they ate with grandfather and grandmother and the latter helped them to particularly good things after the meal she stroked saunas cheeks which had grown quite red meanwhile thereupon she went busily to and fro packing the boys knapsack till it was full and besides stuffed all kinds of things into his pockets also in saunas little pockets she put all manner of things she gave each a piece of bread to eat on the way and in the knapsack she said there were two more pieces of wheat bread in case they should grow too hungry for mother i have given you some well-roasted coffee she said and in the little bottle that is stoppered and tightly wrapped up there is also some black coffee better than mother usually makes over at your house just let her taste it it is a veritable medicine tonic so strong that one swallow of it will warm up the stomach so that the body will not grow cold on the coldest of winter days the other things in the pasteboard box and those that are wrapped up in paper in the knapsack you are to bring home without touching after having talked with the children a little while longer she made them go take good care saunas she said that you don't get chilled you mustn't get overheated and don't you run up along the meadows and under the trees probably there will be some wind toward evening and then you must walk more slowly greet father and mother and wish them a right merry christmas grandmother kissed both children on their cheeks and pushed them through the door nevertheless she herself went along accompanied them through the garden let them out by the back gate closed it behind them and went back into the house the children walked past the cakes of ice beside grandfather's mill passed through the fields of millsdorf and turned upward toward the meadows when they were passing along the heights whereas has been said stood scattered trees and clumps of bushes there fell quite slowly some few snowflakes dc sauna said the boy i had thought right away that we would have snow do you remember when we left home how the sun was a bloody red like the lamp hanging at the holy sepulcher and now nothing is to be seen of it anymore only the gray mist is above the treetops that always means snow the children walked on more gladly and sauna was happy whenever she caught a falling flake on the dark sleeves of her coat and the flake stayed there a long time before melting when they had finally arrived at the outermost edge of the millsdorf heights where the road enters the dark pines of the neck the solid front of the forest was already prettily sprinkled by the flakes falling ever more thickly they now entered the dense forest which extended over the longest part of the journey still ahead of them from the edge of the forest the ground continues to rise up to the point where one reaches the red memorial post when the road leads downward toward the valley of in fact the slope of the forest from the millsdorf side is so steep that the road does not gain the height by a straight line but climbs up in long serpentines from west to east and from east to west the whole length of the road up to the post and down to the meadows of the shite leads through tall dense woods without a clearing which grow less heavy as one comes down on the level again and issues from them near the meadows of the valley of gashite indeed the neck though being only a small ridge connecting two great mountain masses and yet large enough to appear a considerable mountain itself if it were placed in the plain the first observation the children made when entering the woods was that the frozen ground appeared gray as though powdered with flour and that the beards of the dry grass stalks standing here and there between the trees by the roadside were weighted down with snowflakes while on the many green twigs of the pines and furs opening up like hands there sat little white flames is it snowing at home too i wonder asked sana of course answered the boy it is growing colder too and you will see that the whole pond is frozen over by tomorrow yes conrad said the girl she hastened her steps to keep up with the boy striding along they now continued steadily up along the serpentines now from west to east and again from east to west the wind predicted by grandmother did not come on the contrary the air was so still that not a branch or twig was moving in fact it seemed warmer in the forest as in general loose bodies with air spaces between such as a forest are in winter the snowflakes descended ever more copiously so that the ground was altogether white already and the woods began to appear dappled with gray while snow lay on the garments of the children both were overjoyed they stepped upon the soft down and looked for places where there was a thicker layer of it in order to tread on them and make it appear as if they were waiting in it already they did not shake off the snow from their clothes a great stillness had set in there was nothing to be seen of any bird although some do flit to and fro through the forest in winter time and the children on their way to millsdorf had even heard some twitter the whole forest seemed deserted as theirs were the only tracks and the snow in front of them was untrodd and immaculate they understood that they were the only ones crossing the neck that day they proceeded onward now approaching now leaving the trees where there was dense undergrowth they could see the snow lying upon it their joy was still growing for the flakes descended ever more densely and after a short time they needed no longer to search for places to wait in the snow for it was so thick already that they felt it soft under their souls and up around their shoes and when all was so silent and peaceful it seemed to them that they could hear the swish of the snow falling upon the needles shall we see the post today asked the girl because it has fallen down you know and then the snow will fall on it and the red color will be white we shall be able to see it though for that matter replied the boy even if the snow falls upon it and it becomes white all over we're bound to see it because it is a thick post and because it has the black iron cross on its top which will surely stick out yes Conrad meanwhile as they had proceeded still farther the snowfall had become so dense that they could see only the very nearest trees no hardness of the road not to mention its ruts was to be felt the road was everywhere equally soft with snow and was in fact recognizable only as an even white band running on through the forest on all the branches there lay already the beautiful white covering the children now walked in the middle of the road screwing the snow with their little feet and proceeding more slowly as the walking became more tiresome the boy pulled up his jacket about his throat so that no snow should fall in his neck and pulled down his hat so as to be more protected he also fastened his little sister's neckerchief which her mother had given her to wear over her shoulders pulling it forward over her forehead so that formed a roof the wind predicted by grandmother still had not come on the other hand the snowfall gradually became so dense that not even the nearest trees were to be recognized but stood there like misty sacks the children went on they drew up their shoulders and walked on sauna took hold of the strap by which conrad had his calf skin bags fastened about his shoulders and thus they proceeded on their way they still had not reached the post the boy was not sure about the time because the sun was not shining and all was a monotonous gray shall we reach the post soon asked the girl i don't know said the boy i can't see the trees today and recognize the way because it is so white we shall not see the post at all perhaps because there's so much snow that it will be covered up and scarcely a blade of grass or an arm of the black cross will show but never mind we just continue on our road and the road goes between the trees and when it gets to the spot where the post stands it will go down and we shall keep on it and when it comes out of the trees we are already on the meadows of g'shite then comes the path and then we shall not be far from home yes conrad said the girl end of section four section five of rock crystal by otterbert schdifter this libra vox recording is in the public domain they proceeded along their road which still let upward the footprints they left behind them did not remain visible long for the extraordinary volume of the descending snow soon covered them up the snow no longer wrestled and falling upon the needles but hurriedly and peacefully added itself to the snow already there the children gathered their garments still more tightly about them in order to keep the steadily falling snow from coming in on all sides they walked on very fast and still the road led upward after a long time they still had not reached the height on which the post was supposed to be and from where the road was to descend toward g'shite finally the children came to a region where there were no more trees i see no more trees said sauna perhaps the road is so broad that we cannot see them on account of the snow answered the boy yes conrad said the girl after a while the boy remained standing and said i don't see any trees now myself we must have got out of the woods and also the road keeps on rising let us stand still a while and look about perhaps we may see something but they perceived nothing they saw the sky only through a dim space just as in a hail storm gloomy fringes hang down over the white or greenish swollen clouds thus it was here and the noiseless falling continued on the ground they saw only a round spot of white and nothing else do you know sauna said the boy we are on the dry grass i often led you up to in summer where we used to sit and look at the pasture land that leads up gradually and where the beautiful herbs grow we shall now at once go down there on the right yes conrad the day is short as grandmother said and as you well know yourself and so we must hurry yes conrad said the girl wait a little and i will fix you a little better replied the boy he took off his hat and put it on sauna's head and fastened it with both ribbons under her chin the kerchief she had worn protected her too little while on his head there was such a mass of dense curls that the snow could fall on it for a long time before the wet and cold would penetrate then he took off his little fur jacket and drew it over her little arms about his own shoulders and arms which now showed the bare shirt he tied the little kerchief sauna had worn over her chest and the larger one she had had over her shoulders that was enough for himself he thought and if he only stepped briskly he should not be cold he took the little girl by her hand so they marched on the girl with her docile little eyes looked out into the monotonous gray roundabout and gladly followed him only her little hurrying feet could not keep up with his for he was striding onward like one who wanted to decide a matter once for all thus they proceeded with the unremitting energy children and animals have as they do not realize how far their strength will carry them and when their supply of it will give out but as they went on they did not notice whether they were going down or up they had turned down to the right at once but they came again to places that led up often they encountered steep places which they were forced to avoid and a trench in which they continued led them about in a curve they climbed heights which grew ever steeper as they proceeded and what they thought led downward was level ground or it was a depression or the way went on in an even stretch where are we i wonder conrad asked the girl i don't know he answered if i only could see something with my eyes he continued that i could take my direction from but there was nothing about them but the blinding white white everywhere which drew an ever narrowing circle about them passing beyond it into a luminous mist descending in bands which consumed and concealed all objects beyond until there was nothing but the unceasingly descending snow wait sana said the boy let us stand still for a moment and listen perhaps we might hear a sound from the valley a dog or a bell or the mill or a shout something we must hear and then we shall know which way to go so they remained standing but they heard nothing they remained standing a little longer but nothing came not a single sound not the faintest noise beside their own breath i in the absolute stillness they thought they could hear the snow as it fell on their eyelashes the prediction of grandmother had still not come true no wind had arisen in fact what is rare in those regions not a breath of air was stirring after having waited for a long time they went on again never mind sana said the boy don't be afraid just follow me and i shall lead you down yet if only it would stop snowing the little girl was not faint hearted but lifted her little feet as well as she could and followed him he led her on in the white bright living opaque space after a time they saw rocks darkling and indistinct they loomed up out of the white opaque light as the children approached they almost bumped against them they rose up like walls and were quite perpendicular so that scarcely a flake of snow could settle on them sana sana he said there are the rocks just let us keep on let us keep on they went on had to enter in between the rocks and push on at their base the rocks would let them escape neither to left nor right and led them on in a narrow path after a while the children lost sight of them they got away from the rocks as unexpectedly as they had got among them again nothing surrounded them but white no more dark forms interposed they moved in what seemed a great brightness and yet could not see three feet ahead everything being as it were enveloped in a white darkness and as there were no shadows no opinion about the size of objects was possible the children did not know whether they were to descend or ascend until some steep slope compelled their feet to climb my eyes smart said sana don't look on the snow answered the boy but into the clouds mine have heard a long time already but it does not matter but it does not matter because i must watch our way but don't be afraid i shall lead you safely down to gushite yes conrad they went on but where so ever they turned whichever way they turned there never showed a chance to descend on either side steep aclivities hemmed them in and also made them constantly ascend whenever they turned downward the slopes proved so precipitous that they were compelled to retreat frequently they met obstacles and often had to avoid steep slopes they began to notice that whenever their feet sank in through the new snow they no longer felt the rocky soil underneath but something else which seemed like older frozen snow but still they pushed onward and marched fast and perseveringly whenever they made a halt everything was still unspeakably still when they resumed their march they heard the shuffling of their feet and nothing else for the veils of heaven descended without a sound and so abundantly that one might have seen the snow grow the children themselves were covered with it so that they did not contrast with the general whiteness and would have lost each other from sight had they been separated but a few feet a comfort it was that the snow was as dry as sand so that it did not adhere to their boots and stockings or cling and wet them at last they approached some other objects they were gigantic fragments lying in wild confusion and covered with snow sifting everywhere into the chasms between them the children almost touched them before seeing them they went up to them to examine what they were it was ice nothing but ice there were snow covered slabs on whose lateral edges the smooth green ice became visible there were hillocks that looked like heaped up foam but whose inward-looking crevices had a dull sheen and luster as if bars and beams of gems had been flung palmel their rows rounded hummocks that were entirely enveloped in snow slabs and other forms that stood inclined or in a perpendicular position towering as high as houses or the church of g'shite in some cavities were hollowed out through which one could insert an arm a head a body a whole big wagon full of hay all these were jumbled together and tilted so that they frequently formed roofs or eaves whose edges the snow overlaid and over which it reached down like long white paws nay even a monstrous black boulder as large as a house lay stranded among the blocks of ice and stood on end so that no snow could stick to its sides and even larger ones which one saw only later were fast in the ice and skirted the glacier like a wall of debris there must have been very much water here because there's so much ice remarked sana no that did not come from any water replied her brother that is the ice of the mountain which is always on it because that is the way things are yes conrad said sana we have come to the ice now said the boy we are on the mountain you know sana that one sees so white in the sunshine from our garden now keep in mind what i shall tell you do you remember how often we used to sit in the garden in the afternoon how beautiful it was how the bees hummed about us how the linden trees smelled sweet and how the sun shone down on us yes conrad i remember and then we also used to see the mountain we saw how blue it was as blue as the sky we saw the snow that is up there even when we had summer weather when it was hot and the grain ripened yes conrad and below it where the snow stopped one sees all sorts of colors if one looks close green blue and whitish that is the ice but it only looks so small from below because it is so very far away father said the ice will not go away before the end of the world and then i also often saw that there was blue color below the ice and thought it was stones or soil and pasture land and then come the woods and they go down farther and farther and there are some boulders in them too and then come meadows that are already green and then the green of the leafy woods and then our meadowlands and fields in the valley of gashite do you see now sana as we are at the ice we shall go down over the blue color and through the forest in which are the boulders and then over the pasture land and through the green leafy forest and then we shall be in the valley of gashite and easily find our way to the village yes conrad said the girl the children now entered upon the glacier where it was accessible they were like wee little pricks wandering among the huge masses as they were peering in under the overhanging slabs moved as it were by an instinct to seek some shelter they arrived at a trench broad and deeply furrowed which came right out of the ice it looked like the bed of some torrent now dried up and everywhere covered with fresh snow at the spot where it emerged from the ice there yawned a vault of ice beautifully arched above it the children continued in the trench and entering the vault went in farther and farther it was quite dry and there was smooth ice under their feet all the cavern however was blue bluer than anything else in the world more profoundly and more beautifully blue than the sky as blue as as your glass through which a bright glow is diffused there were more or less heavy flutings icicles hung down pointed and tufted and the passage led inward still farther they knew not how far but they did not go on it would also have been pleasant to stay in this grotto it was warm and no snow could come in but it was so fearfully blue that the children took fright and ran out again they went on a while in the trench and then clambered over its side they passed along the ice as far as it was possible to edge through that chaos of fragments and boulders we shall now have to pass over this and then we shall run down away from the ice said conrad yes said and clung to him end of section five section six of rock crystal by adalbert stifter this libra vox recording is in the public domain from the ice they took a direction downward over the snow which was to lead them into the valley but they were not to get far another river of ice traversed the soft snow like a gigantic wall bulging up and towering aloft and as it were reaching out with its arms to the right and the left it was covered by snow on top but at its sides there were gleams of blue and green and drab and black eye even of yellow and red they could now see two larger distances as the enormous and unceasing snowfall had abated somewhat and was only as heavy as on ordinary snowy days with the audacity of ignorance they clambered up on the ice in order to cross the interposing tongue of the glacier and to descend farther behind it they thrust their little bodies into every opening they put their feet on every projection covered by a white snow hood whether ice or rock they aided their progress with their hands they crept where they could not walk and with their light bodies worked themselves up until they had finally gained the top of the wall they had intended to climb down its other side there was no other side as far as the eyes of the children reached there was only ice hummicks slabs and spires of ice rose about them all covered with snow instead of being a wall which one might surmount and which would be followed by an expanse of snow as they had thought new walls of ice lifted up out of the glacier shattered and fissured and variegated with innumerable blue sinuous lines and behind them were other walls of the same nature and behind them others again until the falling snow veiled the distance with its gray sana we cannot make our way here said the boy no answered his sister then we will turn back and try to get down somewhere else yes conrad the children now tried to climb down from the ice wall where they had clambered up but they did not succeed there was ice all about them as if they had mistaken the direction from which they had come they turned hither and thither and were not able to extricate themselves from the ice it was as if they were entangled in it at last when the boy followed the direction they had as he thought come they reached more scattered boulders but they were also larger and more awe-inspiring as is usually the case at the edge of the glacier creeping and clambering the children managed to issue from the ice at the rim of the glacier there were enormous boulders piled in huge heaps such as the children had never yet seen many were covered all over with snow others showed their slanting undersides which were very smooth and finely polished as if they had been shoved along on them many were inclined toward one another like huts and roofs many lay upon another like mighty clods not far from where the children stood several boulders were inclined together and over them lay broad slabs like a roof the little house they thus formed was open in front but protected in the rear and on both sides the interior was dry as not a single snowflake had drifted in the children were very glad that they were no longer in the ice but stood on the ground again but meanwhile it had been growing dark sana said the boy we shall not be able to go down today because it has become night because we might fall or even drop into some pit we will go in under those stones where it is so dry and warm and where we will wait the sun will soon rise again and then we shall run down from the mountain don't cry please don't cry and I shall give you all the things to eat which grandmother has given us to take along the little girl did not weep after they had entered under the stone roof where they could not only sit comfortably but also stand and walk about she seated herself close to him and kept very quiet mother will not be angry said Conrad we shall tell her of the heavy snow that has kept us and she will say nothing father will not either and if we grow cold why then we must slap our hands to our bodies as the woodcutters did and then we shall grow warm again yes Conrad said the girl sana was not at all so inconsolable because they could not run down the mountain and get home as he might have thought for the immense exertion of whose severity the children hardly had any conception made the very sitting down seemed sweet to them unspeakably sweet and they did not resist but now hunger asserted itself imperiously almost at the same time both took their pieces of bread from their pockets and began to eat they ate also the other things such as little pieces of cake almonds raisins and other trifles which grandmother had put into their pockets sana now we must clean the snow from our clothes said the boy so that we shall not become wet yes Conrad replied sana the children went before their little house Conrad first brushed off his little sister he grasped the corners of her coat and shook them took off the hat he had put on her head empty did of snow and wiped off the snow that remained in it then he rid himself as best he could of the snow that lay on him at that time it had entirely stopped snowing the children could not feel one flake descending they returned into their stone hut and sat down getting up had showed them how tired they really were and they were glad to sit down again Conrad laid down the calfskin bag which he had strapped on his shoulders he took out the cloth in which grandmother had wrapped a pasteboard box and several paper packages and put it about his shoulders for greater warmth he also took the two pieces of wheat bread out of his wallet and gave sana both the child ate them most eagerly a part of them however she gave back to Conrad as she saw he was not eating anything he accepted it and ate it from that time on the children merely sat and looked as far as the eye could reach in the twilight there was nothing but snow whose minute crystals began to scintillate in a strange manner as if they had absorbed the light of day and were emitting it again now night fell with the rapidity usual in high altitudes soon it was dark all about only the snow continued to glimmer faintly not only had it stopped snowing but the clouds began to grow thin and to part for the children saw the gleam of a star as the snow really emitted light as it were and the clouds no longer hung down from the sky they could see from their cave how the snowy hillocks round about were sharply outlined against the dark sky the cave was warmer than it had been at any other place during the day and so the children rested clinging closely to each other and even forgot to be afraid of the darkness soon the stars multiplied they gleamed forth now here now there until it seemed that there was not a single cloud left in the whole sky this was the moment when people in the valleys are accustomed to light their candles at first only one is kindled in order to make light in the room or possibly only a pine splinter or the fire is burning in the hearth and all windows of human habitations grow bright and shed luster into the snowy night but all the more tonight christmas evening when many more lights are kindled in order to shine full upon the presence for the children which lay upon the tables or hung on the trees innumerable candles were lit for in nearly every house every cot every room there were children for whom the christ child had brought presents which had to be shown by the light of candles the boy had thought one could very quickly come down from the mountain and yet not a single one of the lights burning that night in the valley shown up to them they saw nothing but the pale snow and the dark sky all else was rendered invisible by the distance at this hour the children in all valleys were receiving their christmas presents these two alone sat up there by the edge of the glacier and the finest presents meant for them on this day lay in little sealed packages in the calfskin bag in the rear of the cave the snow clouds had sunk below the mountains on all sides and a vault entirely dark blue almost black full of densely clustered burning stars extended above the children and through the midst of them was woven a shimmering broad milky band which they had indeed seen also below in the valley but never so distinctly the night was advancing the children did not know that the stars changed their position and moved toward the west else they might have recognized the hour of night by their progress new stars came and the old ones disappeared but they believed them to be always the same it grew somewhat brighter about the children by the radiance of the stars but they saw no valley no known places but everywhere white only white only some dark peak some dark knob became visible looming up out of the shimmering waste the moon was nowhere to be seen in the heavens perhaps it had said early with the sun or it had not yet risen after a long time the boy said sana you must not sleep for do you remember what father said that if one sleeps in the mountains one will freeze to death as the old hunter slept and sat four months dead on that stone and no one had known where he was no i shall not sleep said the little girl feebly conrad had shaken her by a corner of her coat in order to make her listen to his words then there was silence again after a little while the boy felt a soft pressure against his arm which became ever heavier sana had fallen asleep and had sunk over toward him sana don't sleep please don't sleep he said no she mumbled drowsy i shall not sleep he moved farther away from her in order to make her move she toppled over and would have continued sleeping on the ground he took hold of her shoulder and shook her as he moved a little more he noticed that he was feeling cold himself and that his arm had grown numb he was frightened and jumped up he seized his sister shook her more vigorously and said sana get up a little we want to stand up a little so that we shall feel better i am not cold conrad she answered yes indeed you are sana get up he cried my fur jacket is warm she said i shall help you up he said no she replied and lay still then something else occurred to the boy grandmother had said just one little mouthful of it will warm the stomach so that one's body will not be cold on the cold winter day he reached for his little calfskin knapsack opened it and groped around in it until he found the little flask into which grandmother had put the black coffee for mother he took away the wrappings from the bottle and with some exertion uncorked it then he bent down to sana and said here's the coffee the grandmother sends mother taste a little of it it will make you feel warm mother would give it to us if she knew what we needed it for the little girl who was by nature inclined to be passive answered i am not cold just take a little urged the boy and then you may go to sleep again this expectation tempted sana and she mastered herself so far that she took a swallow of the liquor then the boy drank a little too the exceedingly strong extract took effect at once and all the more powerfully as the children had never in their life tasted coffee instead of going to sleep sana became more active and acknowledged that she was cold but that she felt nice and warm inside and that the warmth was already passing into her hands and feet the children even spoke a while together in this fashion they drank ever more of the liquor in spite of its bitter taste as the effect of it began to die away and roused their nerves to a fever heat which was able to counteract their utter weariness it had become midnight meanwhile as they still were so young and because on every christmas eve in the excess of their joy they went to bed very late and only after being overcome by sleep they never had heard the midnight tolling and never the organ of the church when holy mass was being celebrated although they lived close by at this moment of the holy night all bells were being rung the bells of millsdorf were ringing the bells of g'sheit were ringing and behind the mountain there was still another church whose three bells were peeling brightly in the distant lands outside the valley there were innumerable churches and bells and all of them were ringing at this moment from village to village the wave of sound traveled from one village to another one could hear the peel through the bare branches of the trees but up to the children there came not a sound nothing was heard there for nothing was to be announced here in the winding valleys the lights of lanterns gleamed along the mountain slopes and from many a farm came the sound of the farm bell to rouse the hands but far less could all this be seen and heard up here only the stars gleamed and calmly twinkled and shone end of section six section seven of rock crystal by adalbert schtifter this libra vox recording is in the public domain even though conrad kept before his mind the fate of the huntsman who was frozen to death and even though the children had almost emptied the bottle of black coffee which necessarily would bring on a corresponding relaxation afterwards they would not have been able to conquer their desire for sleep whose seductive sweetness outweighs all arguments against it had not nature itself in all its grandeur assisted them and in its own depths awakened a force which was able to cope with sleep in the enormous stillness that reigned about them a silence in which no snow crystal seemed to move the children heard three times the bursting of the ice that which seems the most rigid of all things and yet is most flexible and alive the glacier had produced these sounds thrice they heard behind them a crash terrific as if the earth were rent asunder a sound that ramified through the ice in all directions and seemed to penetrate all its veins the children remained sitting open eyed and looked out upon the stars their eyes also were kept busy as the children sat there a pale light began to blossom forth on the sky before them among the stars and extended a flat arc through them it had a greenish tinge which gradually worked downward but the arc became ever brighter until the stars paled in it it sent a luminosity also into other regions of the heavens which shed greenish beams softly and actively among the stars then sheaves a very colored light stood in burning radiance on the height of the arc like the spikes of a crown mildly it flowed through the neighboring regions of the heavens it flashed and showered softly and in gentle vibrations extended through vast spaces whether now the electric matter of the atmosphere had become so tense by the unexampled fall of snow that it resulted in this silent splendid efflorescence of light or whether some other cause of unfathomable nature may be assigned as reason for the phenomenon however that be gradually the light grew weaker and weaker first the sheaves died down until by unnoticeable degrees it grew ever less and there was nothing in the heavens but the thousands upon thousands of simple stars the children never exchanged a word but remained sitting and gazed open eyed into the heavens nothing particular happened afterward the stars gleamed and shone and twinkled only an occasional shooting star traversed them at last after the stars had shown alone for a long time and nothing had been seen of the moon something else happened the sky began to grow brighter slowly but recognizably brighter its color became visible the faintest stars disappeared and the others were not clustered so densely any longer finally also the bigger stars faded away and the snow on the heights became more distinct now one region of the heavens grew yellow and a strip of cloud floating in it was inflamed to a glowing line all things became clearly visible and the remote snow hills assumed sharp outlines sana day is breaking said the boy yes conrad answered the girl after it grows just a bit brighter we shall go out of the cave and run down from the mountain it grew brighter no star was visible any longer and all things stood out clear in the dawn well then let us go said the boy yes let us go answered sana the children arose and tried their limbs which only now felt their tiredness although they had not slept the morning had reinvigorated them the boy slung the calfskin bag around his shoulder and fastened sana's fur jacket about her then he led her out of the cave as they had believed it would be an easy matter to run down from the mountain they had not thought of eating and had not searched the bag to see whether it contained any wheat bread or other eatables the sky being clear conrad had wanted to look down from the mountain into the valleys in order to recognize the valley of gashite and descend to it but he saw no valleys whatever he seemed not to stand on any mountain from which one can look down but in some strange curious country in which there were only unknown objects today they saw awful rocks stand up out of the snow at some distance which they had not seen the day before they saw the glacier they saw hummocks and slanting snow fields and behind these either the sky or the blue peak of some very distant mountain above the edge of the snowy horizon at this moment the sun arose a gigantic bloody red disc emerged above the white horizon and immediately the snow about the children blushed as if it had been strewn with millions of roses the knobs and pinnacles of the mountain cast very long and greenish shadows along the snow sana we shall go on here until we come to the edge of the mountain and can look down said the boy they went farther into the snow in the clear night it had become still drier and easily yielded to their steps they waited stoutly on their limbs became even more elastic and strong as they proceeded but they came to no edge and could not look down snow field succeeded snow field and at the edge of each always shown the sky they continued nevertheless before they knew it they were on the glacier again they did not know how the ice had got there but they felt the ground smooth underfoot and although there were not such awful boulders as in the moraine where they had passed the night yet they were aware of the glacier being underneath them they saw the blocks growing ever larger and coming ever nearer forcing them to clamber again yet they kept on in the same direction again they were clambering up some boulders again they stood on the glacier only today in the bright sunlight could they see what it was like it was enormously large and beyond it again black rocks soared aloft wave heaved behind wave as it were the snowy ice was crushed raised up swollen as if it pressed onward and were flowing toward the children in the white of it they perceived innumerable advancing wavy blue lines between those regions where the icy masses rose up as if shattered against each other there were lines like paths and these were strips of firm ice or places where the blocks of ice had not been screwed up very much the children followed these paths as they intended to cross part of the glacier at least in order to get to the edge of the mountain and at last have a glimpse down they said not a word the girl followed in the footsteps of the boy the place where they had meant to cross grew ever broader it seemed giving up their direction they began to retreat where they could not walk they broke with their hands through the masses of snow which often gave way before their eyes revealing the intense blue avacra vast where all had been pure white before but they did not mind this and labored on until they again emerged from the ice somewhere sana said the boy we shall not go into the ice again at all because we cannot make our way in it and because we cannot look down into our valley anyway we want to go down from the mountain in a straight line we must come into some valley and there we shall tell people that we are from kashite and they will show us the way home yes conrad said the girl so they began to descend on the snow in the direction which its slope offered them the boy led the little girl by her hand however after having descended some distance the slope no longer followed that direction and the snow field rose again the children therefore changed their direction and descended toward a shallow basin but there they struck ice again so they climbed up along the side of the basin in order to seek a way down in some other direction a slope led them downward but that gradually became so steep that they could scarcely keep a footing and feared lest they should slide down so they retraced their steps upward to find some other way down after having clambered up the snow field a long time and then continuing along an even ridge they found it to be as before either the snow sloped so steeply that they would have fallen or it ascended so that they feared it would lead to the very peak of the mountain and thus it continued to be then they had the idea of finding the direction from which they had come and of descending to the red post as it is not snowing and the sky is bright thought the boy they should be able after all to see the spot where the post ought to be and to descend down from it to Gashite the boy told his little sister his thought and she followed him but the way down to the neck was not to be found however clear the sun shone however beautifully the snowy heights stood there and the fields of snow lay there yet they could not recognize the places over which they had come the day before yesterday all had been veiled by the immense snowfall so they had scarcely seen a couple of feet ahead of them and then all had been a mingled white and gray they had seen only the rocks along and between which they had passed but today also they had seen many rocks and they all resembled those they had seen the day before today they left fresh tracks behind them in the snow yesterday all tracks had been obliterated by the falling snow neither could they gather from the aspect of things which way they had to return to the neck since all places looked alike snow and snow again but on they marched and hoped to succeed in the end they avoided the declivities and did not attempt to climb steep slopes today also they frequently stood still to listen but they heard nothing not the slightest sound neither was anything to be seen except the dazzling snow from which emerged here and there black peaks and ribs of rock at last the boy thought he saw a flame skipping over a far away snow slope it bobbed up and dipped down again now they saw it and then again they did not they remained standing instead vastly gazed in that direction the flame kept on skipping up and down and seemed to be approaching for they saw it grow bigger and skipping more plainly it did not disappear so often and for so long a time as before after a while they heard in the still blue air faintly very faintly something like the long note of a shepherd's horn as if from instinct both children shouted aloud a little while and they heard the sound again they shouted again and remained standing on the same spot the flame also came nearer the sound was heard for the third time and this time more plainly the children answered again by shouting loudly after some time they also recognized that it was no flame they had seen but a red flag which was being swung at the same time the shepherd's horn resounded closer to them and the children made reply sonna cried the boy there come people from kishite i know the flag it is the red flag that the stranger gentleman planted on the peak when he had climbed the guards with the young hunter so that the reverend father could see it with his spyglass and that was to be the sign that they had reached the top and the stranger gentleman gave him the flag afterward as a present you were a real small child then yes conrad after a while the children could also see the people near the flag like little black dots that seem to move the call of the horn came again and again ever nearer each time the children made answer finally they saw on the snow slope opposite them several men with the flag in their midst coast down on their alpenstocks when they had come closer the children recognized them it was the shepherd philip with his horn his two sons the young hunter and several men of kishite god be blessed cried philip why here you are the whole mountain is full of people let one of you run down at once to the cedar alp chalet and ring the bell that they down below may hear that we have found them and one must climb the krebstein and plant the flag there so that they in the valley may see it and fire off the mortars so that the people searching in the mill store forest may hear it and that they may kindle the smudge fires in kishite and all those on the mountain may come down to the cedar alp chalet this is a christmas for you i shall climb down to the chalet one said and i shall carry the flag to krebstein said another and we will get the children down to the cedar alp chalet as well as we can if god help us said philip one of philip's sons made his way downward and the other went his way with the flag the hunter took the little girl by her hand and the shepherd philip the boy the others helped as they could thus they started out they turned this way and that now they followed one direction now they took the opposite course now they climbed up now down always through snow and the surroundings seemed to remain the same on very steep inclines they fastened climbing irons to their feet and carried the children finally after a long time they heard the ringing of a little bell that sounded up to them soft and thin which was the first sign the lower regions sent to them again they must really have descended quite far for now they saw a snowy bluish peak lift up its head to a great height above them the bell however which they had heard was that of the cedar alp chalet which was being rung because there the meeting was to be as they proceeded farther they also heard in the still atmosphere the faint report of the mortars which were fired at the side of the flag and still later they saw thin columns of smoke rising into the still air when they after a little while descended a gentle slope they caught sight of the cedar alp chalet they approached in the hut a fire was burning the mother of the children was there and with a terrible cry she sank in the snow as she saw her children coming with the hunter then she ran up looked them all over wanted to give them something to eat wanted to warm them and bed them in the hay that was there but soon she convinced herself that the children were more stimulated by their rescue than she had thought and only required some warm food and a little rest both of which they now obtained when after some time of rest another group of men descended the snow slope while the little bell continued tolling the children themselves ran out to see who they were it was the shoemaker the former mountaineer with alpin stock and climbing irons accompanied by friends and comrades Sebastian here they are cried the woman he however remained speechless shaking with emotion and then ran up to her then his lips moved as if he wanted to say something but he said nothing caught the children in his embrace and held them long there upon he turned to his wife embraced her and cried sauna sauna after a while he picked up his hat which had fallen on the snow and stepped among the men as if to speak but he only said neighbors and friends I thank you after waiting a while until the children had recovered from their excitement he said if we are all together we may start in God's name we are not all together yet I believe said the shepherd Philip but those who are still missing will know from the smoke that we have found the children and we'll go home when they find the chalet empty all got ready to depart the cedar alp chalet is not so very far from Gershite from whose windows one can in summertime very well see the green pasture on which stands the gray hut with its small belfry but below it there is a perpendicular wall with the descents of many fathoms which one could climb in summer with the help of climbing irons but which was not to be scaled in winter they were therefore compelled to go by way of the neck in order to get down to Gershite on their way they came to the cedar meadow which is still nearer to Gershite so that from it one could see the windows in the village as they were crossing these meadows the bell of the Gershite church sounded up to them bright and clear announcing the holy transubstantiation on account of the general commotion that obtained in Gershite that morning the celebration of the high mass had been deferred as the priest thought the children would soon be found finally however as still no news came the holy mass had to be celebrated when they heard the bell announcing the holy transubstantiation all those crossing the cedar meadow sank upon their knees in the snow and prayed when the tolling had ceased they arose and marched on the shoemaker was carrying his little girl for the most part and made her tell him all when they were descending toward the forest of the neck they saw tracks which he declared came not from shoes of his make the explanation soon came attracted probably by the many voices they heard another body of men joined them it was the dire ash gray in the face from fright descending at the head of his workmen apprentices and several men of millsdorf they climbed over the glacier and the crevasses without knowing it the shoemaker shouted to his father-in-law there they are there they are praised be the lord answered the dire i knew already that they had been on the mountain when your messenger came to us in the night and we had searched through the whole forest with lanterns and had not found anything and then when it dawned i observed that on the road which leads on the left up toward the snow mountain on the spot where the post stands that there were some twigs and stalk were broken off as children like to do on their way and then i knew it and then they could not get away because they walked in the hollow and then between the rocks onto the ridge which is so steep on either side that they could not get down they just had to ascend after making this observation i sent a message to the shite but the woodcutter michael who carried it told us at his return when he joined us up there near the ice that you had found them already in and so we came down again yes said michael i told you so because the red flag is hung out on the krebstein and this was the sign agreed upon in the shite and i told you that they all would come down this way as one cannot climb down the precipice and kneel down and thank god on your knees my son-in-law continued the dire that there was no wind a hundred years will pass before there will be another such fall of snow that will come down straight like wet cords hanging from a pole if there had been any wind the children would have perished yes let us thank god let us thank god said the shoemaker the dire who since the marriage of his daughter had never been in g'shite decided to accompany the men to the village when they approached the red post where the side road began they saw the sleigh waiting for them which the shoemaker had ordered there whatever the outcome they let mother and children get into it covered them well up in the rugs and furs provided for them and let them ride ahead to g'shite the others followed and arrived in g'shite by afternoon those who still were on the mountain and had only learned through the smoke that the signal for returning had been given gradually also found their way into the valley the last to appear in the evening was the son of the shepherd philip who had carried the red flag to the krebstein and planted it there in g'shite there was also grandmother waiting for them who had driven across the neck never never she cried will i permit the children to cross the neck in winter the children were confused by all this commotion they received something more to eat and were put to bed then late in the evening when they had recovered somewhat and some neighbors and friends had assembled in the living room and were talking about the event their mother came into the sleeping room as she sat by saunas bed and caressed her the little girl said mother last night when we sat on the mountain i saw the holy christ child oh my dear darling child answered her mother he sent you some presents too and you shall get them right soon the pasteboard boxes had been unpacked and the candles lit and now the door into the living room was opened and from their beds the children could behold their belated brightly gleaming friendly christmas tree notwithstanding their utter fatigue they wanted to be dressed partly so that they could go into the room they received their presents admired them and finally fell asleep over them in the inn at g'shite it was more lively than ever this evening all who had not been to church were there and the others too each related what he had seen and heard what he had done or advised and the experiences and dangers he had gone through a special stress was laid on how everything could have been done differently and better this occurrence made an epic in the history of g'shite it furnished material for conversation for a long time and for many years to come people will speak about it on bright days when the mountain is seen with a special clearness or when they tell strangers of the memorable events connected with it only from this day on the children were really felt to belong to the village and were not any longer regarded as strangers in it but as natives whom the people had fetched down to them from the mountain their mother sauna also now was a native of g'shite the children however will not forget the mountain and will look up to it more attentively when they are in the garden when as in the past the sun is shining beautifully and the linden tree is sending forth its fragrance when the bees are humming and the mountain looks down upon them beautifully blue like the soft sky end of section seven end of rock crystal by adalbert schtifter translated by lee hollander recording by carol pelster