I could not make any inquiries, for I did not know the name of the
Square. At last it began to be very sultry; the sun's rays darted down
upon the pavement like burning arrows, people crept into their houses,
the blinds everywhere were closed, and the street became once more
silent and dead. I threw myself down in despair in front of a fine,
large house with a balcony resting upon pillars and affording a deep
shade, and surveyed, first the quiet city, which looked absolutely
weird in its sudden noonday solitude, and anon the deep blue,
perfectly cloudless sky, until, tired out, I fell asleep. I dreamed
that I was lying in a lonely green meadow near my native village; a
warm summer rain was falling and glittering in the sun, which was just
setting behind the mountains, and whenever the raindrops fell upon the
grass they turned into beautiful, bright flowers, so that I was soon
covered with them.
What was my astonishment when I awoke to find a quantity of beautiful,
fresh flowers lying upon me and beside me! I sprang up, but could see
nothing unusual, except that in the house above me there was a window
filled with fragrant shrubs and flowers, behind which a parrot talked
and screamed incessantly. I picked up the scattered flowers, tied them
together, and stuck the nosegay in my button-hole. Then I began to
discourse with the parrot; it amused me to see him get up and down in
his gilded cage with all sorts of odd twists and turns of his head,
and always stepping awkwardly over his own toes.
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