Then he exclaimed in his despair "O Serpentina! Serpentina!
save me from this agony of Hell!" And it was as if faint sighs
breathed around him, which spread like green transparent elder-leaves
over the glass; the clanging ceased; the dazzling, perplexing glitter
was gone, and he breathed more freely.
"Have not I myself solely to blame for my misery? Ah! Have not I
sinned against thee, thou kind, beloved Serpentina? Have not I raised
vile doubts of thee? Have not I lost my faith, and, with it, all,
all that was to make me so blessed? Ah! Thou wilt now never, never
be mine; for me the Golden Pot is lost, and I shall not behold its
wonders any more. Ah, but once could I see thee, but once hear thy
gentle sweet voice, thou lovely Serpentina!"
So wailed the student Anselmus, caught with deep piercing sorrow; then
spoke a voice close by him: "What the devil ails you Herr Studiosus?
What makes you lament so, out of all compass and measure?"
The student Anselmus now noticed that on the same shelf with him were
five other bottles, in which he perceived three Cross Church Scholars,
and two Law Clerks.
"Ah, gentlemen, my fellows in misery," cried he, "how is it possible
for you to be so calm, nay so happy, as I read in your cheerful looks?
You are sitting here corked up in glass bottles, as well as I, and
cannot move a finger, nay, not think a reasonable thought but there
rises such a murder-tumult of clanging and droning and in your head
itself a tumbling and rumbling enough to drive one mad.
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