Delphi Collected Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe \(Illustrated\) pdfdrive com

CHAPTER V.

If  our  friends  had  frequently  enjoyed  a  good  and  merry  hour  together  while

within  four  walls,  they  were  naturally  much  gayer  here,  where  the  freedom  of

the sky and the beauty of the place seemed, as it were, to purify the feelings of

every  one.  All  felt  nearer  to  each  other:  all  wished  that  they  might  pass  their

whole  lives  in  so  pleasant  an  abode.  They  envied  hunters,  charcoal-men,  and

wood-cutters,    —    people  whom  their  calling  constantly  retains  in  such  happy

places,    —    but  prized,  above  all,  the  delicious  economy  of  a  band  of  gypsies.

They  envied  these  wonderful  companions,  entitled  to  enjoy  in  blissful  idleness

all the adventurous charms of nature: they rejoiced at being in some degree like

them.

Meanwhile  the  women  had  begun  to  boil  potatoes,  and  to  unwrap  and  get

ready the victuals brought along with them. Some pots were standing by the fire.

The  party  had  placed  themselves  in  groups,  under  the  trees  and  bushes.  Their

singular apparel, their various weapons, gave them a foreign aspect. The horses

were eating their provender at a side. Could one have concealed the coaches, the

look of this little horde would have been romantic, even to complete illusion.

Wilhelm enjoyed a pleasure he had never felt before. He could now imagine

his  present  company  to  be  a  wandering  colony,  and  himself  the  leader  of  it.  In

this character he talked with those around him, and figured out the fantasy of the

moment as poetically as he could. The feelings of the party rose in cheerfulness:

they ate and drank and made merry, and repeatedly declared that they had never

passed more pleasant moments.

Their contentment had not long gone on increasing, till activity awoke among

the younger part of them. Wilhelm and Laertes seized their rapiers, and began to

practise on this occasion with theatrical intentions. They undertook to represent

the  duel  in  which  Hamlet  and  his  adversary  find  so  tragical  an  end.  Both  were

persuaded,  that,  in  this  powerful  scene,  it  was  not  enough  merely  to  keep

pushing  awkwardly  hither  and  thither,  as  it  is  generally  exhibited  in  theatres:

they were in hopes to show by example how, in presenting it, a worthy spectacle

might also be afforded to the critic in the art of fencing. The rest made a circle

round them. Both fought with skill and ardor. The interest of the spectators rose

higher every pass.

But all at once, in the nearest bush, a shot went off, and immediately another;

and the party flew  asunder in terror.  Next moment armed men  were to be seen

pressing  forward  to  the  spot  where  the  horses  were  eating  their  fodder,  not  far

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from the coaches that were packed with luggage.

A universal scream proceeded from the women: our heroes threw away their

rapiers,  seized  their  pistols,  and  ran  towards  the  robbers;  demanding,  with

violent threats, the meaning of such conduct.

This  question  being  answered  laconically,  with  a  couple  of  musket-shots,

Wilhelm fired his pistol at a crisp-headed knave, who had got upon the top of the

coach, and was cutting the cords of the package. Rightly hit, this artist instantly

came  tumbling  down;  nor  had  Laertes  missed.  Both,  encouraged  by  success,

drew  their  side-arms;  when  a  number  of  the  plundering  party  rushed  out  upon

them,  with  curses  and  loud  bellowing,  fired  a  few  shots  at  them,  and  fronted

their  impetuosity  with  glittering  sabres.  Our  young  heroes  made  a  bold

resistance.  They  called  upon  their  other  comrades,  and  endeavored  to  excite

them to a general resistance. But, erelong, Wilhelm lost the sight of day, and the

consciousness  of  what  was  passing.  Stupefied  by  a  shot  that  wounded  him

between  the  breast  and  the  left  arm,  by  a  stroke  that  split  his  hat  in  two,  and

almost penetrated to his brain, he sank down, and only by the narratives of others

came afterwards to understand the luckless end of this adventure.

On again opening his eyes, he found himself in the strangest posture. The first

thing that pierced the dimness, which yet swam before his vision, was Philina’s

face  bent  down  over  his.  He  felt  weak,  and,  making  a  movement  to  rise,

discovered that he was in Philina’s lap; into which, indeed, he again sank down.

She was sitting on the sward. She had softly pressed towards her the head of the

fallen  young  man,  and  made  for  him  an  easy  couch,  as  far  as  in  her  power.

Mignon  was  kneeling  with  dishevelled  and  bloody  hair  at  his  feet,  which  she

embraced with many tears.

On  noticing  his  bloody  clothes,  Wilhelm  asked,  in  a  broken  voice,  where  he

was, and what had happened to him and the rest. Philina begged him to be quiet:

the  others,  she  said,  were  all  in  safety,  and  none  but  he  and  Laertes  wounded.

Further she would tell him nothing, but earnestly entreated him to keep still, as

his wounds had been but slightly and hastily bound. He stretched out his hand to

Mignon, and inquired about the bloody locks of the child, who he supposed was

also wounded.

For the sake of quietness, Philina let him know that this true-hearted creature,

seeing her friend wounded, and in the hurry of the instant being able to think of

nothing which would stanch the blood, had taken her own hair, that was flowing

round her head, and tried to stop the wounds with it, but had soon been obliged

to give up the vain attempt; that afterwards they had bound him with moss and

dry mushrooms, Philina giving up her neckerchief for that purpose.

---

Wilhelm noticed that Philina was sitting with her back against her own trunk,

which still looked firmly locked and quite uninjured. He inquired if the rest also

had  been  so  lucky  as  to  save  their  goods.  She  answered  with  a  shrug  of  the

shoulders,  and  a  look  over  the  green,  where  broken  chests,  and  coffers  beaten

into  fragments,  and  knapsacks  ripped  up,  and  a  multitude  of  little  wares,  lay

scattered  all  round.  No  person  was  to  be  seen  in  the  place,  this  strange  group

thus being alone in the solitude.

Inquiring further, our friend learned more and more particulars. The rest of the

men,  it  appeared,  who,  at  all  events,  might  still  have  made  resistance,  were

struck with terror, and soon overpowered. Some fled, some looked with horror at

the  accident.  The  drivers,  for  the  sake  of  their  cattle,  had  held  out  more

obstinately;  but  they,  too,  were  at  last  thrown  down  and  tied;  after  which,  in  a

few  minutes,  every  thing  was  thoroughly  ransacked,  and  the  booty  carried  off.

The hapless travellers, their fear of death being over, had begun to mourn their

loss; had hastened with the greatest speed to the neighboring village, taking with

them  Laertes,  whose  wounds  were  slight,  and  carrying  off  but  a  very  few

fragments  of  their  property.  The  harper,  having  placed  his  damaged  instrument

against  a  tree,  had  proceeded  in  their  company  to  the  place,  to  seek  a  surgeon,

and  return  with  his  utmost  rapidity  to  help  his  benefactor,  whom  he  had  left

apparently upon the brink of death.

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