Yes, hang yourselves with your beards, shaggy
bears that you are!" Here he burst into tears and, in a maudlin,
falsetto voice, sobbed out, "Am I to drink water like a wretched fish?
Is that loving your neighbor? Am I not a man and a skilled surgeon?
Ah, I am beside myself today; my heart is full of pity, and of love
for my fellow-creatures." And then, finding that all was quiet in the
house, he began to walk away. When he saw me, he came plunging toward
me with outstretched arms. I thought the fellow was about to embrace
me, and sprang aside, letting him stumble on in the darkness, where I
heard him discoursing to himself for some time.
All sorts of fancies filled my brain. The girl who had given me the
rose was young, pretty, and rich. I could make my fortune before one
could turn round. And sheep and pigs, turkeys, and fat geese stuffed
with apples--verily, I seemed to see the Porter strutting up to me:
"Seize your luck, Receiver, seize your luck! 'Marry young, you're
never wrong;' take home your bride, live in the country, and live
well." Plunged in these philosophical reflections, I sat me down on
a stone, for, since I had no money, I did not venture to knock at
the inn. The moon shone brilliantly, the forests on the mountain-side
murmured in the still night; now and then a dog barked in the village
which lay farther down the valley, buried, as it were, beneath foliage
and moonlight.
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