Anarchistbanjo's World

Madame Bluebeard by Karl Hans Strobl and translated by Joe E Bandel

Thirteenth Chapter
After Schiereisen’s departure, Ruprecht lingered
in a strange state. The strength with which he’d
parried the feints and counter-feints of their verbal
duel deserted him instantly. He took a few steps but
soon collapsed onto a gothic chest, slumping, letting
the bear pelt’s tufts slide through his fingers, staring
blankly ahead.
He was utterly drained, apathetic.
Yet, he felt a wild, churning life within. He was a
vessel where fermentation raged. As a jug knows
nothing of the young wine’s storm, he understood
little of what roiled inside him.
Thoughts stirred in him.
It was a thinking detached from the body, a
foreign force trapped in a tight space, hindered by its
limits, yet bent on breaking free.
Despite this tumult of thoughts, he grew wearier.
At last, he fell asleep, slumped on the gothic chest,
head drooping.
When he awoke, dusk had fallen. He felt slightly
stronger, his thoughts less jumbled, somewhat
ordered. He realized they arose in his aching head,
and he needed to shake off a stupor to grasp their
intent.
To the window! Deep, fierce breaths, a chest full
of evening air! Spring stood ripe and youthful, a
golden crown wreathed in ostrich plumes hovering
over black western forests. Below in the courtyard,
someone spoke—the overseer, two children
scampering around him. A cow lowed, long and
hollow, like a vast, echoing gate opening. The
overseer’s wife stood by the low garden wall, beating
fluffed featherbeds aired before night.
This was bright, jubilant life, untiring despite the
dusk.
And a man had been here, thought a scholar but
surely no such thing—not one whose trade was
learning. His aim was hardly in doubt. But to what
end?
His thoughts now marched neatly, one tethered to
another’s coattails.
No question—he’d meant to reveal himself. Why?
He’d taken trust, seeking an ally. But Ruprecht
wouldn’t join him. The thrill of this dangerous game
wasn’t yet buried in passion’s ashes. The wild torch
still burned, smoldering, sometimes nearly snuffed
when weakness and lethargy descended like a cloud
of numbing gas. Schiereisen was right: Ruprecht was
ill. Something dire crept within him. He’d refused to
admit it, but now it was cowardly to turn away,
pretending nothing was wrong. These states—
narcolepsy, exhaustion, numbing limbs, and above
all, raging headaches—were signs of decay. So too
were the reeling, blind desires that still bound him to
Helmina, without release.
He needed clarity, greater caution.
Ruprecht closed the window and went to dinner.
His legs wobbled before finding the floor. His hands
trembled, lifting fork and knife. He jested lightly with
the children, listening as Helmina spoke of the
upcoming banner consecration.
She’d donated a large sum, earning the role of
banner patroness. Ruprecht disapproved, believing
the money better spent on a charitable or public
cause. The paper factory workers were agitated,
demanding higher wages and affordable housing.
Such displays only stoked their resentment.
Helmina’s pale brow darkened, menacing. “I don’t
understand you,” she said loftily. “I told you my
plans. You raised no objections then. It’s too late
now.”
Ruprecht had no reply. Yes, Helmina had
mentioned it—during one of his blinding headaches,
when he was indifferent to all, unable to stir or form
words. Indeed, he’d made no objections, too
incapacitated.
They lingered together. Helmina was buoyant,
having silenced him. She mocked Schiereisen’s
clumsiness, his bourgeois narrowness, then paused.
“Why are you staring so oddly?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing! I just think… he’s very capable—in
his field.”
“Capability never saved anyone from being dull.
Or comical. Specialists are always dull or comical. I
see with regret you’re becoming a specialist.”
Another lash of her whip, a cruelty Helmina had
lately enjoyed inflicting on the defenseless. Today, he
felt it, noting it on her ledger. For now, better to act
as if he accepted it.
Alone in his bedroom, he locked the door and sank
into his rocking chair to think. A weapon against
Helmina must be forged. He’d left investigations to
Jana, who’d died for it. Ruprecht didn’t know Jana’s
plans, having refused early reports. But one thing was
clear: Jana sought a way into the tower’s lowest
level, after the cellar hole was sealed under Lorenz’s
watch…
No more tonight—the night had come, his strength
spent. Tomorrow, he’d wake tormented by
headaches, limp and spiritless. These nights were
horrific, filled with ghastly dreams and a sense of
bondage. Sleep restored nothing, only drained him.
Schiereisen had spoken oddly of sleep… or the
bed? Yes—it might be wise to inspect the bed he
entrusted himself to.
Ruprecht ensured the shutters were tight, covered
the keyhole with a travel cap hung over the key, and
switched on the bedside electric lamp.
His inspection was thorough, systematic. He could
still muster his nerves for this. Starting at the foot, he
stripped the bedding, opened pillows and blankets,
sifting through feathers. He didn’t know what he
sought, but felt compelled to fulfill a promise to
someone trustworthy.
He shone the lamp into every crevice, traced every
wooden seam, ran his finger along edges, wiping dust
from corners. The light danced over the mahogany’s
polish, spilling between slats to the floor. Another
bed came to mind—the one at Rotbirnbach, where a
corpse lay, beside a dusty rectangle marking its place.
No—Ruprecht wouldn’t fall as Helmina’s victim,
like Kestelli, Jana, or the others.
He searched eagerly, along the sides to the
headboard. His eyes, honed on pampas and Indian
mountains, regained sharpness in the hunt’s fervor.
His fingers glided carefully over the wood, growing
certain he’d find something. Through Schiereisen,
fate had sent him a warning.
Suddenly, his probing finger felt a faint roughness.
He traced up and down. A fine line emerged. Raising
the lamp, he saw a barely perceptible square of seams
in the wood, seemingly resealed but now slightly
gaping—at the headboard, where his crown would
rest when lying on his right side.
Ruprecht drew his pocketknife, wedging the blade
into the seam. The steel bent, the wood creaked. Then
he heard soft, cautious steps in the corridor. Someone
approached along the wall. His senses sharpened. He
thought he heard hands grazing the wall. The sound
was close… Ruprecht doused the light… someone
stood outside the door. Damn it—they were spying
on his sleep, ear pressed to the door! Fine. The
eavesdropper would get their show. Ruprecht clicked
his tongue against his palate, breathing raggedly,
groaning softly, and pushed the headboard, making
the seams creak. Wild West instincts flared—
memories of campfires and hunts. A thrill coursed
through him, deceiving the listener. Let them think
they heard restless sleep, moans from bad dreams. A
small victory after many defeats.
After a while, the eavesdropper retreated. The soft
steps and wall-tapping faded into silence.
Ruprecht waited, then relit his lamp, shielding its
glow from the door. On one wall hung a small
arsenal: rifles, long Arab muskets, scimitars, South
American bolas, the lasso that earned him Police
Commissioner Mirko Bovacs’s gratitude, and
assorted deadly trinkets. Ruprecht chose a hunting
knife with a stag-horn handle and broad, sturdy
blade—perfect for the task.
Ruprecht proceeded with utmost care. After a
quarter-hour, a square piece of the bed’s headboard
slid silently into his hand. He saw it had been sawed
and reglued. The hunting knife continued its work,
splitting the board into its two halves. A scrap of
tissue paper fluttered to the floor. Ruprecht’s heart
pounded steadily. He was himself again, composed.
Calmly, he examined the halves in his hands. Each
had a small hollow carved into it, forming a tiny
cavity that had held the tissue paper. Ruprecht picked
up the paper and unfolded it. Inside was a small grain
of gray substance, an unremarkable mass—nothing
else.
Ruprecht studied it, puzzled. That was all? This
elaborate secret for just this? But what had he
expected to find? A cold shiver ran through him. A
thought flared like a torch. With reverent awe, he
gazed at the gray speck between his fingertips. Didn’t
cosmic riddles cling to this tiny thing? Threads of
grim pasts tied to faint, barely glimpsed futures in
distant times. Here was a symbol of the maxim:
smallest causes, greatest effects. A shorthand for
notions of matter’s immortality, the eternity of force.
And yet—a murder weapon.
Carefully, he placed the speck on a glass ashtray
beside the clock on the dresser. Then he set about
restoring the headboard. He fitted the halves together
and reinserted the panel. No trace remained of its
removal.
Ruprecht washed his hands and, sprawled in his
rocking chair, smoked an Egyptian cigarette. He
watched the blue smoke rings, thinking of nothing. A
deep contentment filled him, a sense of centered
calm. His head ached, but that no longer mattered.
When the cigarette burned out, he crushed the stub
and undressed deliberately.
He slept dreamlessly, deeply, well into the
morning. After dressing, he wrote a letter and packed
his strange find in a small cardboard box. Old Johann
was tasked with taking both to the post office for
registered mail. The letter and box went to
Ruprecht’s childhood friend, the chemist Wetzl.
For now, there was nothing to do but wait.
In quiet Vorderschluder, a storm raged. Fanfares
blared, armies readied for battle. A strike had erupted
among the paper factory workers. Their demands
were rejected by management, and they’d declared
war.
In Vienna, strings of rebellion were pulled. A
newspaper editor had visited, arming the workers
with slogans they needed. Rauß, the rabble-rouser,
rose as deputy leader. He flailed his arms, bellowed,
and, judging by his fierce cries, capital should’ve
vanished by tomorrow, with labor triumphant
everywhere.

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Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers and translated by Joe E Bandel

Frau Lisbeth grasped his hand. “Leave it alone!” she decided. “I
will speak with the Fräulein myself.”
She left him standing there, went across the courtyard and
announced herself. While she waited she considered exactly what she
wanted to say so they would be permitted to leave that very morning.
But she didn’t need to say anything at all. The Fräulein only listened,
heard that he wanted to go without notice, nodded curtly and said that
it was all right.
Frau Lisbeth flew back to her man, embraced and kissed him.
“Only one more night and the bad dream will be over.”
They must pack quickly and he should telephone the Councilor
to the Chamber of Commerce to tell him that he could begin his new
job the next morning. They pulled the old trunk out from under the
bed and her bright enthusiasm infected him. He pulled out his iron
bound chest as well, dusted it off and helped her pack, passing things
to her. He ran into the village to hire a boy to bring a cart for hauling
things away. He laughed and was content for the first time in the
house of ten Brinken.
Then, as he was taking a cook pot from the stove and wrapping it
in newspaper Aloys, the servant, came.
He announced, “The Fräulein wants to go driving.”
Raspe stared at him and didn’t say a word.
“Don’t go!” cried his wife.
He said, “Please inform the Fräulein that as of today I am no
longer–”
He didn’t finish. Alraune ten Brinken stood in the door.
She said, “Matthieu-Maria, I let you go tomorrow. Today you
will go driving with me.”
Then she left and behind her went Raspe.
“Don’t go! Don’t go!” screamed Frau Lisbeth.
He could hear her screams but didn’t know who it was or where
they came from. Frau Lisbeth fell heavily onto the bench. She heard
both of their steps as they crossed the courtyard to the garage. She
heard the iron gate creak open on its hinges, heard the auto as it drove
out onto the street and heard as well the short blast of the horn. That
was the farewell greeting her husband always gave each time he left
for the city. She sat there with both hands on her lap and waited,
waited until they brought him back. Four farmers carried him in on a
mattress and laid him down in the middle of the room among the
trunks and boxes. They undressed him, helped wash him and did as
the doctor commanded. His long white body was full of blood, dust
and dirt.
Frau Lisbeth knelt beside him without words, without tears. The
old coachman came and took the screaming boys away, then the
farmers left and finally the doctor as well. She never asked him, not
with words or with her eyes. She already knew the answer that he
would give.
Once in the middle of the night Raspe woke up and opened his
eyes. He recognized her, asked for some water and she gave him
some to drink.
“It is over,” he said weakly.
She asked, “What happened?”
He shook his head, “I don’t know. The Fräulein said, ‘Faster,
Matthieu-Maria’. I didn’t want to do it. Then she laid her hand on
mine and I felt her through my glove and I did it. That’s all I know.”
He spoke so softly that she had to put her ear next to his mouth
to hear and when he was quiet she whispered.
“Why did you do it?”
Again he moved his lips, “Forgive me Lisbeth! I had to do it.
The Fräulein–”
She looked at him, startled by the hot look in his eyes, and her
tongue suddenly cried out the thought almost before her brain could
even think it.
“You, you love her?”
Then he raised his head the width of a thumb and murmured with
closed eyes, “Yes, yes– I –love driving–with her.”
Those were the last words he spoke. He sank back into a deep
faint and lay like that until the early morning when he passed away.
Frau Lisbeth stood up. She ran to the door and old Froitsheim took
her into his arms.
“My husband is dead,” she said.
The coachman made the sign of the cross and made to go past
her into the room but she held him back.
“Where is the Fräulein?” she asked quickly. “It she alive? Is she
hurt?”
The deep wrinkles in the old face deepened, “Is she alive?–
Whether she even lives! She’s standing over there! Wounded? Not a
scratch. She just got a little dirty!”
He pointed with trembling fingers out into the courtyard. There
stood the slender Fräulein in her boy’s suit, setting her foot into the
laced fingers of a Hussar, swinging up into the saddle.
“She telephoned the cavalry captain,” said the old coachman.
“Told him she had no groom this morning, so the count sent that
fellow over.”
Lisbeth ran across the courtyard.
“He is dead!” she cried. “My man is dead.”
Alraune ten Brinken turned around in the saddle, toyed with the
riding whip.
“Dead,” she said slowly. “Dead. That’s really too bad.”
She lightly struck her horse and walked it up to the gate.
“Fräulein,” screamed Frau Lisbeth. “Fräulein, Fräulein–”
Frau Lisbeth ran to the Privy Councilor overflowing with all her
despair and hatred. The Privy Councilor let her talk until she quieted
down. Then he said that he understood her pain and was not offended
at what she had said. He was also prepared, despite the notice, to pay
three months of her husband’s wages. But she needed to be
reasonable, should be able to see that her husband alone carried the
blame for the regrettable accident.
She ran to the police and they were not even polite to her. They
had seen it coming, they said. Everyone knew that Raspe was the
wildest driver on the entire Rhine. They had done their duty many
times by trying to warn him. She should be ashamed of herself for
trying to lay the blame on the young Fräulein! Had she ever been seen
driving? Yesterday or ever?
Then she ran to an attorney, then a second and a third. But they
were honest people and told her that they could not move forward
with a lawsuit even when she wanted to pay in advance. Oh, certainly,
anything was possible and conceivable, why not? But did she have
any proof? No, none at all. Well then! She should just go quietly back
home. There was nothing that she could do. Even if everything that
she said was true and could be proved–her husband would still carry
the blame. He was a grown man, a skilled and experienced chauffeur,
while the Fräulein was an inexperienced scarcely grown thing–
So she went back home. She buried her husband in the little
cemetery behind the church. She packed all her things and loaded
them onto the cart herself. She took the money the Privy Councilor
had given her, took her boys and left.
A couple of days later a new chauffeur moved into her old living
quarters. He was short, fat and drank a lot. Fräulein ten Brinken didn’t
like him and seldom went driving alone with him. He never got any
speeding tickets and the people said that he was a good driver, much
better than wild Raspe had been.
“Little moth,” said Alraune ten Brinken when Wolf Gontram
stepped into the room one evening.
The beautiful eyes of the youth glowed.
“You are the candle flame,” he said.
Then she spoke, “You will burn your beautiful wings and then
you will lie on the floor like an ugly worm. Be careful Wolf
Gontram.”
He looked at her and shook his head.
“No,” he said. “This is the way I want it.”
And every long evening he flew around the flame. Two others
flew around it as well and got burned. Karl Mohnen was one and the
other was Hans Geroldingen. It was a matter of honor for Dr. Mohnen
to court her.
“A perfect match,” he thought. “Finally, she is the right one!”
And his little ship rushed in with full sails. He was always a little
in love with every woman but now his brain burned under his bald
head, making him foolish, letting him feel for this one girl everything
that he had felt for dozens of other women one after the other back
through the years. Like always he made the assumption that Alraune
ten Brinken felt the same ardent desire toward him, a love that was
boundless, limitless and breathless.
One day he talked to Wolf Gontram about his great new
conquest. He was glad the boy rode out to Lendenich–as his
messenger of love. He had the boy bring many greetings, hand kisses
and small gifts from him. Not just one red rose, that was for
gentlemen. He was both lover and beloved and needed to send more,
flowers, chocolates, petit fours, pralines, and fans, hundreds of little
things and knick-knacks. The small bit of good taste that he did have
and which he had so successfully taught to his ward melted in the
blink of an eye in the flickering fire of his love.
The cavalry captain would often go traveling with him. They had
been friends for many years. Count Geroldingen had once been
nurtured by Dr. Mohnen’s treasures of wisdom just as Wolf Gontram
was now being nurtured. Dr. Mohnen had a vast storehouse and gave
it out by the handfuls, happy to find someone that would make use of
it.
The two of them would go off on adventures together. It was
always the doctor that met the ladies and made their acquaintance.
Later he would introduce the count as his friend and boast about him.
Often enough it was the Hussar officer who finally plucked the ripe
cherries from the tree which Karl Mohnen had discovered.
The first time he had pangs of conscience and considered himself
as low as they came. He tormented himself for a couple of days and
then openly confessed to his friend what he had done. He made
vehement excuses saying the girl had made such advances toward him
that he had no choice but to submit to her. He was glad that it had
happened because now he knew the girl was not worthy of his
friend’s love.
Dr. Mohnen made nothing about it, saying that it didn’t matter to
him at all, that it was completely all right. Then he gave the example
of the Mayan Indians in the Yucatan. It was customary for them to
say, “My wife is also my friend’s wife”.
But Count Geroldingen could tell his friend was sick about it so
the next time a new acquaintance of the doctor preferred him, he
didn’t say anything. Thus it happened over the years that quite a few
of Dr. Mohnen’s women also became the handsome cavalry captain’s
women as well, exactly like in the Yucatan. Only there was this
difference, most of them had never been the doctor’s women at all.
He was the chicari, the beater, that tracked down the game and
drove it out into the open–but the hunter was Hans Geroldingen. Yet
he was quiet about it, had a good heart and didn’t want to hurt his
friend’s feelings. So the beater never noticed when the hunter shot
and held himself up as the most glorious Nimrod on the Rhine.
Dr. Mohnen would often say, “Come along count. I’ve made a
new conquest, a picture beautiful English girl. I picked her up
yesterday at the open air concert and am meeting her tonight on the
banks of the Rhine.”
“But what about Elly?” the cavalry captain would reply.
“Replaced,” declared Karl Mohnen grandly.
It was phenomenal how easily he could exchange his current
flame for a new one. As soon as he found someone new he was
simply done with the old one and didn’t care about her at all. The girls
never made any troubles for him either. In that respect he far
surpassed the Hussar who always had difficulty letting go and even
more difficulty in getting his women to let go of him. For those
reasons it required all the energy and persuasive skill of the doctor to
take him along to meet some new beauty.
This time he said, “You must see her captain. God, I’m so happy
that I have come so lightly through all my adventures and never been
caught. Finally I’ve found the right one! She’s enormously rich,
enormously. His old Excellency has over thirty million, perhaps forty.
Well, what do you say count? His foster daughter is pretty as a picture
and fresh as a blossom on a tree limb! By the way, speaking in strict
confidence, the little bird is already in my net. I have never been so
certain of things!”
“Yes, but what about Fräulein Clara?” returned the cavalry
captain.
“Gone,” declared the doctor. “Just today I wrote her a letter
saying that my work load had become so overwhelming that I simply
had no more time left for her.”

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Chapter 19 Spirit Travel

By the middle of December Tobal felt he had learned twice as much from Crow as he had learned from Rafe and was certain the boy could have soloed any time he wanted to.

He had also been practicing the drills and exercises Crow had instructed him in and was getting steady results. These exercises always stirred up deeply buried and repressed emotions from his past and troubled his dreams with threatening ghostly images. His dreams were vivid and violent. That night, Crow suggested a ritual to face those shadows, preparing Tobal for what was to come. As he persisted with the exercises and meditations his dreaming self became more powerful and he was able to change the outcome of his dreams.

“The shaman must be able to travel in all nine worlds,” Crow told Tobal one evening in the middle of December. Tobal frowned, trying to picture Hel’s dark depths. “But most important is Hel, the underworld, that contains the land of the dead and creatures of the earth. Then there is Alfheim, the spirit world, that is full of wondrous creatures of light and there is Midgard, the real world. The others are also important but these are the most important. The shaman must be able to travel in any of these worlds because he never knows where a missing soul part has been taken. The hardest and most difficult soul retrievals are when the missing pieces are taken to Hel, the land of the dead. Even the most experienced shaman fears this place and will only go there with a protector. The Lord and Lady are my protectors,” he said proudly. “They brought the spirits of my parents out from the land of the dead and allowed them to speak with me.”

“There is something missing in your soul Tobal,” he told him. “That is why you need a soul retrieval. A part of your soul is missing and needs to be brought back before you can become whole and happy.” Crow said, “You were right about no evil within the circle. The Lord and Lady protect it at all times. But they have told me they are growing weaker and not able to protect clansmen as they once were. There is trouble coming soon and I will need to do another soul retrieval besides yours. They said it is very important that I be prepared.”

They did the soul retrieval for Tobal one night earlier that week. Crow made him lie down on the mat and then started drumming in the small teepee. That was all Tobal remembered because he fell asleep. When he awoke Crow was grinning at him and shaking him gently. He was holding a hollow bone in his hand.

“Tobal, wake up,” Crow was shaking him. “I have the missing part of your soul right here and am ready to give it back to you.” He continued, “You left it with someone and they don’t want it anymore. But you do need to give this person a gift in return. It is very important. Do you understand?”

Tobal nodded groggily as he was not yet awake. Then Crow put the hollow bone to his mouth and blew into Tobal’s face and on his chest. A small dust like powder came out of the bone and covered him. He felt a wave of emotion and energy enter into his lungs and heart as tears of joy formed in his eyes. He didn’t know what had happened but something dead inside his heart was rekindled in a blaze of light and happiness. He wondered at the change in himself over the next couple days. He also wondered who and what Crow really meant.

Tobal noticed the medics flying around much more during the winter months as they kept closer tabs on everyone to see they were doing all right. He’d seen air sleds hovering more often, their hum a constant reminder. When Tobal announced at circle that Crow was ready to solo many elders were concerned about his size and age. They almost didn’t allow it. It took the testimony of several medics to confirm the activities of Tobal and Crow during the past two months before the elders agreed. Tobal was shocked at the extent his activities had been monitored. He had suspected some monitoring but never suspected the true extent the medics monitored things. He was gladder than ever that he had not tried going back to the lake.

Anne, Dierdre and Seth were proclaimed ready to solo. The elders were giving the same exhaustive grilling to each of them they had given Crow. In this bitter weather there were no second chances and accidents did happen. There had been one death this past month. A Journeyman had gotten caught in a snow slide and the medics had not been able to rescue him in time. Any type of solo activity was kept to an absolute minimum if possible. The medics especially kept a close eye on the newbies that were soloing during the winter months and encouraged everyone else to partner up and use the buddy system.

The Circle of Elders consisted of Masters and was voluntary. They determined if newbies were ready to solo and mediated any disputes among clansmen. They also awarded chevrons to both Apprentices and to Journeymen.

Ellen had always served on it since Tobal had been there. It had been her support that decided the other elders in favor of letting Crow solo. Of course she knew Crow was Howling Wolf’s grandson from the village but she never mentioned it. Tobal made a special note that he needed to talk with Ellen later that night. He wanted to know if she had found out anything about the rogue attacks.

He saw Sarah bundled in her furs and walked over giving her a big hug and a kiss.

“How are things going?”

“I didn’t realize how cold it gets out here.” She grinned. “I don’t think I’ve really been warm since I left home. We spend a lot of time getting wood for the fire.”

“How is Ben doing?” He laughed. “He’s getting his initiation tonight right?”

“Oh, he’s really doing well,” she grinned excitedly. “He will be initiated tonight and train with me for another month. If he can solo in this weather, he can survive in anything. I think he will be ready to solo next month if he wants to.” Her face got serious. “I wouldn’t force him to solo in this weather if he didn’t want to. I wouldn’t force anyone to solo in weather like this. You have to be part crazy to enjoy being out in weather like this living off the land.”

“It gets easier the longer you are out here,” he comforted her. “Either that or we just get crazier the longer we are out here.” He chuckled, “Perhaps there is some of both.”

Tobal was really proud of how well Sarah had been doing with Ben. She had come a long way from the girl in the antique shop he had once known. She had strength and a confidence that made her very attractive. This had been good for her.

There was a howling wind with blowing snow and no one seemed in any hurry to get into his or her robes. Everyone kept wearing their furs and stayed huddled together close to the fires. Warm spiced drinks were even more popular than the beer was. There was a festive feeling in the air and people were in high spirits.

This was the Yule celebration and the winter solstice celebration of new light coming into the earth and into the spirit. It marked the time when the days started getting longer and carried the promise of spring. It was half way through the winter season and by now a person knew if they were prepared for the winter or not. It was also a time of giving and sharing with others. Cabin fever often made the long winter months difficult and this halfway spot gave everyone relief. As many clansmen as possible tried making it into circle for the Yule celebration and the relief of having other people to talk to.

Zee, Kevin and Wayne’s newbies had each completed their solo and were being congratulated. That made two chevrons for Zee, Kevin and Wayne. He made a point to go over and congratulate them too. Soloing in the middle of the winter was not easy. Many of the Apprentices still had some trouble just surviving and staying warm. This was Tobal’s first winter and he wasn’t finding it that easy himself. Or rather it wasn’t a simple walk in the park like summer had been.

In the winter you really had to work for food and firewood and you had to deal with the long nights cooped up in the teepee, especially if you were by yourself. The loneliness was very hard to deal with.

Wayne had been Char’s teacher. Char came to Yule with her partner. He spent a little time chatting with them but Char was obviously not in a good mood and he soon gave it up and moved on.

The Yule celebration was to be an entire week of feasting and celebration. Since travel was so difficult most clan members elected to stay a few extra days and party. It had become the tradition. Hunters went out and brought enough food to keep the camp in meat. People brought dried herbs and vegetables they had saved for the communal stew pot.

Tobal had brought more honey as a special treat. Some of the medics had somehow managed to find flour and baking supplies. Bread was a welcome change in a diet that had so much meat during the wintertime. They also brought frozen vegetables from somewhere that reminded everyone of the coming spring and lush vegetation.

The newbies that were going to solo were allowed to stay for the first and second day of events but then needed to leave. The first day of the celebration was like a normal Circle day with the initiations and drum circle in the evenings. The second day continued with a talent show in the afternoon and a special Yule Ritual and meditation in the evening. That was when Tobal planned on giving his gifts to his friends before Crow left on his solo. They didn’t have their normal group meditation with Ellen. It was just too chaotic.

The things he and Crow had learned about his parents kept going through his mind circling restlessly. How was it possible they were really alive after all these years? Could he train himself enough so they would be able to talk with him like they did to Crow? He was already getting pretty good at talking with them, at least when he projected to the cave with Crow. But other times it seemed like there was a barrier that prevented the contact.

What about his uncle? Why had his uncle not told him these things? Why had his uncle lied? Was it because of the classified nature of the project or didn’t he really know. It was pretty obvious his uncle didn’t believe anyone was still alive that worked with his parents or he would have agreed to let him go to Old Seattle in the first place.

What did they mean when his parents told Crow they were getting weaker? Were they dying? Is that why the rogue attacks seemed to be increasing? They needed to find the secret meeting place his parents used before they died?

Tobal hoped not. His uncle had said he had closed the program down. Why were his parents still captive?

Questions that just led to more questions and no real answers. They made his head spin. As the night deepened, he first turned to look for Rafe at the beer barrel and brewery.

“You’ve got five chevrons now!” He slapped Dirk on the back and raised a foaming mug in salute. “Soon you are going to make medic and be riding one of those drafty air sleds all over the mountains saving our asses.”

“Next month,” Dirk grinned. “I’ve got it planned. Going to challenge someone I know I can beat. It’s a sure thing.”

“Are you really that sure of beating this person?”

Dirk grinned, “I hope so. I can use a change of life style. Kind of boring making beer all month except when I’m getting beat up. Hey, try some of this hot stuff Rafe and I cooked up. It’s like a spiced grog.” He handed Tobal a wooden bowl full of a hot liquid with floating things in it.

Tobal suspiciously sipped it, “That’s really good! I think I’ll have more when I finish this beer. It’s warm too! This is just what I need right now. Where’s Rafe hanging out? I need to ask him something.”

“He’s in the brew house getting another batch of grog ready.”

“Thanks, I’ll go check on him.”

“There you are!” He called as he stepped inside the warm log building that served as a brewery. Rafe looked like a mad scientist hunched over a steaming bucket of grog he was stirring vigorously. He smiled as he looked up.

“Tobal! What brings you here? Are we out of grog? Did Dirk send you?”

“Not really,” he said. “I’m just trying to get together a meeting between you, Ellen, Crow and myself tonight after circle. I think it’s important and want to get it over with before Crow leaves on his solo. That makes tonight the best time.”

“I can see that,” Rafe nodded. “Sure, I’ll be there. Where are we meeting anyway? It’s cold out there.”

“You getting soft in your old age?” Tobal joked. “You just keep lots of that grog on hand. I was thinking of meeting out by the central fire like we did last time.”

Rafe sighed, “Ok, right after circle then. Did you see Dirk made his fifth chevron?”

“Already congratulated him, how about you?”

“Maybe next time,” Rafe said. “The fights are getting more even. I can’t wait till you get to be a Journeyman and get your butt whipped all the time.” He chuckled.

“Well I’ve got to leave and get hold of Ellen.” He turned toward the door.

“Sure, changing the subject,” Rafe laughed as Tobal went out.

It was mid afternoon and he arranged with both Crow and Ellen to meet immediately after circle by the central fire. Ellen had changed into her robe and was getting ready for circle. She was one of the few non-ritual team members that was going to be wearing a robe. It was so cold most of the others including Tobal were wearing their furs to circle. He asked her about it.

“Oh, I’ll be alright,” she laughed. “I’ll be next to the fire and can keep warm there.”

“Well, I’ll have some extra blankets or furs by me if you get cold,” he told her.

“Thanks Tobal, but I won’t need them really. Especially tonight since I’m so keyed up.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m training to be High Priestess of the Journeyman Circle. It is quite different than this one. Misty will keep doing this one for awhile yet.”

“That’s great,” he grinned. “You will be High Priestess when I become Journeyman. You will probably get to initiate me again.”

She smiled, “we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ve got to get to the circle now though. See you later, ok?”

With that she gave Tobal a hug and he went looking for the girls. More and more he looked forward to the circle time he shared with Fiona and Becca and sometimes Nikki. He had come to think of it as something they did together as friends.

He had noticed the last few months that Fiona was spending a lot of time with Becca. Part of him was sad and upset but part of him was honest enough to realize Becca was a lot different than he had imagined her to be. He had been thinking about her quite a bit these last few days and didn’t really know why. She wasn’t at all what he had expected. She hadn’t shown the vicious, aggressive behavior she had during the disastrous night of the Halloween dance.

Instead, she seemed more aloof, unemotional and withdrawn as if she was hiding some deep secret or misery and keeping it to herself. It was only with Fiona that she seemed to cheer up and laugh about things. Several times he suspected they might be laughing about him but pushed that thought away. He was hoping to get a little time alone with Fiona. But it seemed that was not to be and with good humor he filled his tankard and moved over to sit beside the two girls.

“There any room for me?” He teased.

Fiona and Becca both jumped with delight and took turns giving him a hug and a kiss. Fiona’s hug was delicious and his arms folded around her as their lips met in a kiss that was longer and more passionate than he had been expecting. He took his time thoroughly enjoying it and almost regretfully stepped back.

“My turn,” Becca quipped and stepped up to him with a glint in her green eyes he didn’t recognize. She pulled the hood off and shook her red hair so that it cascaded freely around the fur of her jacket. Then she reached up and pulled his own hood back and ran her fingers through the hair at his temples till her fingers found the back of his neck and pulled his lips down to hers.

It seemed as if the universe had stopped and there was only this one moment frozen in eternity as he breathed her essence into his lungs and heart and breathed his back into her. Almost reflexively his arms tightened around her and crushed her against his body. Their lips fed on each other with a passion that consumed them in a whirlwind of feelings he had never felt before.

He moved first lifting his head up and shifting his grip as he stepped back. Her eyes met his in a soundless plea that he couldn’t answer. He saw the hurt come into her eyes as he moved back and looked away.

“Wow,” he said. “ I need to sit down after all that and I’d better sit between you two so you don’t fight over me.”

Instantly he knew that he had done and said the wrong thing. Both girls instantly went from being glad to see him to cold as death itself. He pulled the hood back up and so did Becca. They sat in frozen silence.

He tried joking and asking about their month but nothing worked. He was actually relieved when Nikki came over to join them. If Nikki noticed that anything was wrong she didn’t mention it and soon all three girls were laughing and telling stories between initiations.

They were however, very curious and envious of his new decorative clothing. He told them Crow had taught him. He opened his fur coat and showed the beautiful beadwork and porcupine needles stitched carefully and decoratively on the comfortable buckskin clothing he was wearing.

“How does Crow know these things?” Becca asked curiously. “I thought you were supposed to be training him. Not him training you?”

The girls laughed and Tobal blushed. “I just got lucky,” he said. “Crow grew up in a village about two hundred miles west of here.” He instantly wished he hadn’t said anything about the village.

“You mean the rogue village?” Nikki asked.

“You really need to talk with Crow about that,” he said. “I’d really like to stay and chat,” he said. “But I’ve got to talk with Rafe and Ellen right now.”

“You are always talking with Rafe or Ellen.” Nikki pouted. “You spend more time talking with them then you do with us. What’s that about anyway? Are you too good for us?”

That last comment had a little bite to it and Fiona and Becca looked at each other. Tobal didn’t like to leave things that way. It just didn’t seem right. He sighed.

“It’s about increased rogue activity,” he said. “I’ll tell you about it later if you are really interested.”

“You promise?” Fiona asked suddenly suspicious. “There’s something going on that you are not telling us. You can’t lie worth a damn Tobal. No one is in danger are they?”

“We don’t really know.” He pleaded. “I’ve got to go. I’ll talk later ok?”

Then he stood up and left before they stopped him or asked if they could come with. He went around to the other side of the fire circle and waited, painfully aware that Nikki, Fiona, and Becca were not leaving the fire circle either. They were going to watch the meeting from across the fire.

Rafe was the first to join and then Crow. Ellen came last. She had changed out of her robe into furs. She smiled at Tobal.

“I almost took you up on that offer.” She said shivering. “I was freezing on one side and roasting on the other side all night. You were right. I should have worn my furs. I didn’t really need the robe.”

She looked at the others, “Are we ready?”

Tobal cleared his throat hesitantly. “We might have a problem.”

All three turned to look at him expectantly.

“Becca, Fiona and Nikki are on to us. They know something is up and want to know about it. They are sitting across the fire from us now.”

Crow, Ellen and Rafe turned and looked across the fire and the three girls smiled and waved at them.

Ellen sighed, “I still don’t think we should tell any more people than we need to about this. This could be very dangerous and I don’t even want you talking to any of the other medics about it. Please?”

Reluctantly they all agreed and turned back toward the issue at hand with Ellen taking the leadership role.

“There are still many tracks around the lake area.” She told them. “I continue to patrol it every other day but never see anyone. I am convinced they know when I am coming because of my med-alert bracelet. They know I am coming and hide.”

“It gets worse,” she said. “There is a growing rumor the rogues are from the primitive village west of here. There is another rumor that the city is planning an attack on the village to make the area safe for all those that are claiming sanctuary.”

“They are planning to attack my village!” Crow demanded. “Why? We have no technology to track people like you say the rogues do. We do not even have med-alert bracelets. I need to leave immediately and warn my grandfather.” He got up to leave but Tobal stopped him.

“You said your grandfather, Howling Wolf has trained you in the ways of the shaman?”

Crow nodded in the affirmative, his dark eyes flashing. “Yes, that is true.”

“Well,” Tobal suggested. “Can you get a spirit message to your grandfather instead so you don’t have to travel there physically?”

Crow pondered the question and Tobal could see he was visibly relaxing. “Yes, I can send a message to him that way. I will do it tonight right after this meeting.”

“Good,” he said. “That means you can use next month to complete your solo. It would be a shame to not finish your solo since you have worked so hard at it.”

“I will ask Grandfather,” Crow said stiffly. “I will do as he suggests. My own parents were massacred and buried in a mass grave. I don’t want my grandfather or my village to suffer the same fate.”

The mention of Howling Wolf jarred something loose inside Tobal’s mind and he tried fitting things together. Howling Wolf just knew too much and was in the center of too many things. He had trained his parents in bi-location and hand-fasted them together. He had built the cairn over the mass grave by the waterfall. He was somehow in contact with Sarah’s father. Perhaps it was Howling Wolf the rogues were interested in and not the village itself.

“Maybe they are interested in Howling Wolf and not the village?”

“That would mean my sister and I would be in even greater danger,” Crow told him.

Rafe said, “We need to know more about the village and the city of Heliopolis. We also need to know more about the sanctuary program.” He looked at Ellen. “Is there anyway you can research some local history on the computer and find out what the official story line is on all this stuff? I’m getting so many versions that my head is going to split.”

Ellen nodded, “That’s a good idea. I’ll see what I can dig up for our next meeting. Now”, she turned to Crow, “Can you fill me in again on what you’ve told Tobal.”

Crow again told the story of the Lord and Lady and the research at the lake. He told of the part his parents and his grandfather had played in it. He also mentioned how the Lord and Lady had taught his grandfather and the others in a secret location to go on special journeys where they would disappear and return at a later time bringing objects back with them. That’s when he floored Ellen and Rafe by saying the Lord and Lady, Tobal’s parents had told him they were still alive and needed their help.

Ellen was visibly shaken and didn’t know what to say. She finally asked how the Lord and Lady spoke to him and questioned him about his experiences. Tobal had forgotten Ellen was training as a High Priestess for the Journeyman degree and was expected to speak with the Lord and Lady. She was obviously having some trouble with the concept that the Lord and Lady were Tobal’s parents and that they were still alive as physical beings, not to mention being held prisoner in the very location the medics used as their home base.

It was shortly after that when she excused herself and the meeting was over. Crow paused, eyes wide with fear, before nodding. He went to warn his grandfather the village might be attacked and he might be in danger. Rafe stayed for a few extra minutes talking with Tobal.

Tobal wondered why Ellen felt none of the Masters could be trusted. It seemed strange since Rafe knew several of them and trusted them. Perhaps it was not the people, Rafe suggested. Perhaps it had something to do with the job of being a medic that made it dangerous to confide in them. Anyway it was a puzzle with no ready answer.

Perhaps Rafe would learn the answer when he became a Master. He was at four chevrons and could get his fifth and sixth any time. Rafe especially would be seeing Ellen on a regular basis at Journeyman circles and could get word from Tobal to her in case of an emergency. On that note they separated and went on to other things.

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Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers and translated by Joe E Bandel

Chapter Nine
Speaks of Alraune’s lovers and what happened to them.
THESE were the five men that loved Alraune ten Brinken:
Karl Mohnen, Hans Geroldingen, Wolf Gontram, Jakob ten
Brinken and Raspe, the chauffeur. The Privy Councilor’s
brown volume speaks of them all and this story of Alraune
must speak of them as well.
Raspe, Matthieu-Maria Raspe, came with the Opel automobile
that Princess Wolkonski gave to Alraune on her seventeenth birthday.
He had served with the Hussars but now he not only had to drive the
car, he had to help the old coachman with the horses as well. He was
married and had two little boys. Lisbeth, his wife, took care of the
laundry in the house of ten Brinken. They lived in the little cottage
near the library right beside the iron-gated entrance to the courtyard.
Matthieu was blonde, big and strong. He understood his work
and used his head as well as his hands. The horses obeyed his touch
just as well as the automobile did. Early one morning he saddled the
Irish mare of his Mistress, stood in the courtyard and waited. The
Fräulein slowly came down the steps from the mansion. She was
dressed as a young boy wearing yellow leather gaiters, a gray riding
suit and a little riding cap to cover her hair.
She did not use the stirrup but had him lace his fingers together,
stepped into them and stayed like that for a short second before
swinging herself up astride the saddle. Then she hit the horse a sharp
blow with the whip so that it reared up and tore out through the open
gate. Mattheiu-Maria had all kinds of trouble mounting his heavy
chestnut gelding and catching up to her.
Brown haired Lisbeth closed the gate behind them. She pressed
her lips together and watched them go–her husband whom she loved
and Fräulein ten Brinken whom she hated.
Somewhere out in the meadow the Fräulein came to a stop,
turned around and let him catch up.
“Where should we ride today, Matthieu-Maria?” she asked.
He said, “Wherever the Fräulein commands.”
Then she tore the mare around and galloped further.
“Jump Nellie!” she cried.
Raspe hated these morning rides no less than his wife did. It was
as if the Fräulein rode alone, as if he were only air, a part of the
landscape, or as if he did not exist at all to his mistress. But then when
she did take the trouble to notice him for even a second he felt still
more annoyed. For then it was certain that she was going to demand
something unusual of him once more.
She stopped at the Rhine and waited quietly until he came up to
her side. He rode as slow as he could, knowing that she had come up
with some new notion and hoped she would forget it by the time he
got there. But she never forgot a notion.
“Matthieu-Maria,” she said, “should we swim across?”
He raised objections knowing ahead of time that it would be
useless.
“The banks on the other side are too steep,” he said. “You can’t
climb back up out of the water, especially right here where the current
is so rapid and–”
He got angry. It was all so pointless, the things his mistress did.
Why should they ride across the Rhine? They would get all wet and
cold. He would be lucky not to come down with a cold from it. It was
all for nothing, once more for nothing. He made up his mind to stay
behind. She could do her foolishness alone. What was it to him? He
had a wife and children–
That was as far as he got before riding into the stream. He
plunged deep into the water with his heavy Mecklenburger and had all
kinds of trouble arriving safely somewhere onto the rocks on the other
side. He shook himself off angrily and swore, then rode out of the
stream at a sharp trot up to his mistress. She gave him a brief sardonic
glance.
“Did you get wet, Matthieu-Maria?”
He remained quiet, insulted and angry. Why did she have to call
him by his forename? Why was she so familiar with him? He was
Raspe, the chauffeur, and not a stable boy. His brain found a dozen
good replies but his lips didn’t speak them.
Another day they rode to the dunes where the Hussars practiced.
That was even more embarrassing to him. Many of the officers and
non-commissioned officers knew him from the time he had served
with the regiment.
The mustached sergeant of the 2nd squadron called out derisively
to him.
“Well Raspe, are you going to ride with us awhile?”
“The devil take that crazy female,” growled Raspe.
But he galloped along at the rear and during the attack rode at the
side of the Fräulein. Then Count Geroldingen, cavalry captain, came
over with his English piebald to chat with the Fräulein. Raspe stayed
back but she spoke loud enough so that he could hear.
“Well count, how do you like my esquire?”
The cavalry captain laughed, “Splendid! Well suited for such a
young prince as yourself!”
Raspe wanted to box his ears, the Fräulein’s as well, and the
sergeant’s, and the entire squadron that was grinning at him. He was
embarrassed and turned red as a schoolboy.
But the afternoons were even worse when he had to go driving
with her in the automobile. He sat in his place behind the wheel
squinting at the door and sighed in relief when someone came out of
the house with her, suppressed a curse when she came out alone.
Often he had his wife find out if she wanted to go driving alone.
Then he would quickly take a few parts out of the machine and lie
under it on his back, greasing and cleaning them as if he were
repairing something.
“We can’t go driving today Fräulein,” he would say.
Then he would smile in satisfaction after she was out of the
garage. One time it didn’t go so well for him. She stayed there in the
garage quietly waiting. She didn’t say anything, but it seemed to him
as if she knew very well what he was up to. Then he slowly bolted
everything back together.
“Ready?” she asked.
He nodded.
“You see,” she said, “how better it goes when I’m here Matthieu-
Maria.”
When he came back from that drive, when his Opel was once
more in the garage and he was setting down to the meal his wife set
out for him, he trembled, he was pale and his eyes stared at nothing.
Lisbeth didn’t ask, she knew what it was about.
“That damned female!” he murmured.
She brought out the blonde, blue eyed boys to him, white in their
fresh pajamas and set one on each knee. Slowly he became happy and
at ease with his laughing children. Then after his boys were in bed, he
sat outside on the stone bench smoking his cigarette, strolled through
the village and through the ancient garden of the Brinkens, talking
things over with his wife.
“No good can come of it,” he said. “She rushes and rushes. No
speed is fast enough for her. Fourteen speeding tickets in three
weeks–”
“You don’t have to pay them,” said Frau Lisbeth.
“No,” he said. “But I am notorious for it. The police take out
their notebooks whenever they see the white car with ‘I.Z.937’ on it!”
He laughed, “Well, they aren’t wrong in taking our number. We
deserve every one of our tickets.”
He quieted, took a wrench out of his pocket and played with it.
His wife pushed her arm under his, took his cap off and stroked back
his tangled hair.
“What does she want anyway?” she asked.
She took pains to make her voice sound innocent and indifferent.
Raspe shook his head, “I don’t know Lisbeth. She is crazy.
That’s what it is and she has some damned way about her that makes
people do what she wants even when they are entirely against it and
know that it is wrong.”
“What did she do today?” his wife asked.
He said, “No more than usual. She can’t stand to see another car
in front of us. She must pass it and even if it has thirty more
horsepower than ours, she wants to catch up to it. ‘Catch it,’ she says
to me and if I hesitate she lightly touches my arm with her hand and I
let loose as if the devil himself were driving the machine.”
He sighed, brushed the cigarette ash off his pants.
“She always sits next to me,” he continued, “and just her sitting
there makes me really upset and nervous. All I can think about is what
kind of foolishness she’s going to make me do this time. Her greatest
joy is jumping the car over obstacles, boards, sand piles and things
like that. I’m no coward, but there should be some purpose to it if you
are going to risk your life every day. ‘Just drive,’ she says. ‘Nothing
will happen to me.’ She is calm when she jumps over a road ditch at
one hundred kilometers/hour. It’s possible that nothing can happen to
her, but some time I’m going to make a mistake, tomorrow or the next
day!”
Lisbeth pressed his hand. “You must simply try to not obey her.
Say ‘No’ when she wants to do something stupid! You are not
permitted to take such chances with your life. It is not fair to us, to me
or the children.”
He looked straight at her, still and calm. “I know that. It’s not
fair to you or even to myself. But you see, that’s just it. I can not say
‘No’ to the Fräulein. Nobody can. Look how young Herr Gontram
runs after her like a puppy dog, look at the way the others are happy
to fulfill all of her foolish notions! Not one of all the people in the
household can endure being around the Fräulein. Yet everyone of
them will do what she wants even if it is stupid or disgusting.”
“That’s not true!” said Lisbeth. ”Froitsheim, the coachman,
won’t, not at all.”
He whistled, “Froitsheim! You’re right. He turns around and
walks away whenever he sees her. But he is almost ninety years old
and hasn’t had any blood in his body for a long time.”
She looked at him in surprise, “Does she stir your blood then,
Matthieu? Is that why you must do what she wants?”
He evaded her eyes and looked down at the ground. But then he
took her hand and looked straight at her.
“Well you see Lisbeth, I don’t know what it is. I’ve often thought
about it, what it really is. When I see her I get so angry that I could
strangle her. When she’s not there I run around full of fear that she
might call me.”
He spit on the ground. “Damn it all!” he cried. “I wish I was rid
of this job! Wish I had never accepted it.”
They talked it over, turning it this way and that, weighing
everything for and against it and finally they came to the conclusion
that he should give his notice. But before doing that he should go into
the city the very next day and look for a new position.
That night Frau Lisbeth slept peacefully for the first time in
months but Matthieu-Maria didn’t sleep at all. He requested a leave of
absence the next morning and went to the job placement office in the
city. He was really lucky. The agent took him to meet with a
Councilor of the Chamber of Commerce that was looking for a
chauffeur and he got the job. He received a higher salary than what he
had been getting, fewer work hours and didn’t have to do anything
with horses.
As they stepped out of the house the agent congratulated him.
But he had a feeling as if there was nothing he should be thankful for,
as if he would never work at this new job.
Still, it made him happy to see his wife’s eyes light up in joy
when he told her.
“In fourteen days,” he said. “If only the time was already gone!”
She shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “Not fourteen days.
Do it tomorrow! You must insist, talk with the Privy Councilor.”
“That won’t do any good,” he replied. “He would inform the
Fräulein and then–”

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Homo Sapiens: In the Maelstrom by Stanislaw Przybyszewski and translated by Joe E Bandel

Falk breathed heavily. 

“Then I heard him cry loudly: Murderer! And in this second I understood that I had committed a hideous crime… In the same moment he stepped toward me, I see his hand stretch out, in time I caught it, and pushed him back with my fist so violently that he staggered and fell. — — Since that time it has come…” 

Falk spoke almost inaudibly. 

Olga was seized by an uncanny feeling. Almost unconsciously she grabbed his both hands, held them tight, pressed and shook them and looked at him with growing fear. 

“Why, why must you be so unhappy?!” 

Falk was suddenly overcome by a feeling that he must throw himself at this woman’s feet, something forced him down with all power, he collected himself with great effort. 

“You, you…” he stammered. 

But suddenly he pulled his hands away and laughed with a short hoarse whistle. 

“Don’t look at me like that. Don’t do it! That touches me so uncannily.” He was seized by a whirl. He spoke quickly and laughed

constantly. 

“There are namely here in the city quite strange places where one can suddenly get temporary attacks of madness… Yes, there, at such a place, I believe it was in the African Cellar, I sat with a friend whom I love to madness… Ha, ha, also an overman! He abducted a painter’s wife here and ran away with her. Since then he has disappeared. I hate him, I hate him, he suddenly cried out. I must not even be with him, he hates me too, yes, now… We sat quite still then and drank. But suddenly our eyes met. Quite by chance. Yes, by chance—and they stuck to each other. I wanted to tear them loose, but it was impossible, our eyes had grown into each other. And then he suddenly begins to scream, in such an animal fear feeling that cold sweat ran over my whole body… There is something in the soul that must not be touched, otherwise the person falls apart… He, he, he… You see, the old man tore it open in my soul and since then it bleeds incessantly… The cursed old man, may the devil take him… He, he: that is something that lies beyond the brain—quite, quite beyond… The greatest, the holiest criminal on earth, Napoleon, yes Napoleon, this great holy criminal got cramps when he had the Duke of Enghien killed… I have illustrious models… I explained that very long and broad to Czerski… Have you ever heard that the Romans carried around such a holy Bacchus heart at the Saturnalia? Whoever got to see it had to die… Ha, ha, ha… the ancients knew it, they knew it very well, and they knew much more than is in your communist manifesto.” 

Suddenly he saw Olga staring at him with unspeakable fear. He became calm instantly. Then he smiled embarrassedly. 

“Yes, you probably have a little fear of me?” He sat down. “Do you perhaps have something to eat? I have eaten nothing today.” 

She got him bread and butter, but he did not touch it. He seemed to sink completely into deep brooding. 

A nameless pity seized Olga with the man she loved so boundlessly with her strong soul. His fever communicated itself to her, a wild whirl began to spin in her soul. It was as if something had sprung open in her, and the hot glow welled out unstoppably. She felt her whole body rear up and jerk in hot shiver. 

She lost her senses, a raging fury seized her, a desire tore at her for this man, she felt that she must now cry out: Here, take me then—take! 

But in the same moment she saw Falk’s eyes staring at her with a strange expression. 

“Olga, I torment you, I will go.” 

She jerked violently: the man seemed to read every thought in her soul. She became so confused that she only stared at him speechlessly. 

But Falk seemed to forget her again already. He fell into his former brooding. 

Suddenly he laughed with a strange laugh. 

“I namely also drove a friend to death; he was my wife’s fiancé, but his death does not touch me in the least. He is as indifferent to me as the Medici Venus to a cow. That probably comes from his death being necessary and having a purpose. By the way, I could kill him a second time now if he came to life again…” 

Hm… Olga, you don’t believe how morbidly brittle my psychic constitution is. Isa held me together for a long time. I namely had a feeling of love for her, so unheard-of strong that my whole soul was filled with it. But then this wonderful synthesis suddenly got a crack, a deep crack through quite strange and disgusting sensations… Well yes… He, he… Don’t you perhaps also have such little worms in your heart?… I read somewhere how a fellow says, when he appears before the almighty judge, then he will be quite astonished at the extent of the sufferings that his noble heart harbors… Ha, ha, ha… Splendidly said, splendidly… 

He was silent. 

Olga supported her head in both hands and looked at him mutely. “Do you perhaps have tea?” 

Then he saw great tears in her eyes, he saw them run silently and unstoppably over her cheeks. 

It looked terrible. The face was as if frozen in pain. Not a muscle twitched. It was for him a feeling of fright and horrible torment. He could not look at it. 

He stood up and went on tiptoe inaudibly out the door. 

A never known feeling of shame choked him. He had never felt it before. 

Only not home, only not home. He repeated it incessantly. 

He ran along the street, then around the corner and suddenly stopped: A huge glass sign in which gas burned inside: “To the Green Nightingale” he read. 

He came into a state of delighted bliss. 

Here he was with Isa on the day he met her… Just sit down for a moment and live through everything once more. 

The town hall clock began to strike. 

It was two o’clock. Then he had time enough to get home. 

He entered.

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Madame Bluebeard by Karl Hans Strobl and translated by Joe E Bandel

Twelfth Chapter
Herr Schiereisen held a delicate web in his hands.
He saw Frau Helmina already ensnared. A thread led
to Vienna. It was necessary to follow it and tie it to
the right end. The matter was gaining weight,
growing beyond the single case. Schiereisen’s keen
instincts sensed something vast.
On his second day in Vienna, he visited Section
Councilor von Zaugg at the Railway Ministry. The
refined, pale, slightly stooped gentleman received
him with unusual animation. “What can you report?”
he asked eagerly. “Have you found something?”
Schiereisen disliked giving accounts before his
material was complete. He asked the councilor to
forgo details and trust that all was progressing well.
“You have faith in me, don’t you?” he smiled.
Zaugg leaned forward in his club chair, inspecting
his fingertips. “I consider you Vienna’s finest
detective,” he said warmly. “If anyone can shed light
on this dark affair, it’s you. I defer to you entirely.”
“I didn’t shave my fine beard and oil my rusty
prehistory knowledge for nothing. Rest assured, your
commission is a matter of honor, and I’ll do
everything to see it through.”
“Thank you! You know, it’s not so much my
brother-in-law’s estate, though I deeply regret the
total loss of my father-in-law’s bequests to my wife.
Above all, I want to know if a crime was committed.
My wife insists on it. She never quite took to this
Frau Helmina with her strange past. I want to give
her certainty to calm her nerves. But I urge you again
to proceed with utmost caution. We don’t want to
tarnish the woman who once bore the name
Dankwardt with a scandal if our suspicions are
unfounded. An exhumation of my brother-in-law’s
body could be arranged, but that’s a last resort, only
if the chain of evidence is otherwise complete…”
Schiereisen accepted a ceremonial Havana of
unusual shape and was dismissed. He set to work at
once, his full acumen engaged. Never had he pursued
a case with such zeal. A personal stake had
emerged—a splendid man was in danger. The work
of avenging justice was also one of rescue.
During this time, Schiereisen did something his
Vorderschluder acquaintances wouldn’t have
expected. He suddenly craved marriage and
approached a renowned matchmaking agency. He
visited the head of “Fortuna,” Herr Anton Sykora,
outlining his wishes: a modest household, a sensible,
not-too-young woman capable of managing it, a few
thousand crowns’ dowry welcome but not essential.
More important was a compatible personality for
emotional harmony. Schiereisen enrolled as Johann
Nähammer, retired bank clerk. Negotiations lasted
over a week, with near-daily visits to Fortuna. When
Sykora was absent, he dealt with the secretary,
showing keen interest in the operation. No match was
found, and after a fortnight, Nähammer left Vienna.
The Kamp valley burst with spring’s jubilation
and sunlit joy when he returned. All was green, the
river roaring between rocky banks. Young birches
leaned dreamily against Gars’s ancient walls like
maidens. Forest beeches stood like bands of youthful
athletes, bright-eyed, sap coursing through their
veins.
Rotrehl greeted his tenant with genuine joy, then
grew grave. “Heard the news? A tragedy at the castle.
The Indian killed himself.”
Schiereisen recoiled. “Killed? The Malay? How
did it happen?”
“Fell somewhere… from the tower or such… old
Johann’s all muddled… can’t make sense of his
story.”
“When—when did it happen?”
“Day before yesterday. The commission’s already
been up.”
“Dead instantly?”
“Stone dead. Nothing to be done…”
The guardian was gone. Schiereisen knew at once
this was no accident. The Malay had stood watchfully
before Ruprecht; he had to be removed.
An hour later, Schiereisen was at the castle,
finding Ruprecht in his study. Herr von Boschan sat
at his desk, arms propped, face buried in his hands.
He didn’t look up as Schiereisen entered. The visitor
approached slowly, stopping behind him. He noticed
a reddened patch on Ruprecht’s bowed head, sparsely
haired, as if disease had caused hair loss.
Ruprecht seemed unaware of anyone’s presence.
A loud throat-clearing startled him; he spun, hand
jerking as if to yank open a half-ajar desk drawer.
“Oh, it’s you… Herr… Schiereisen,” he said, as if
groping for the name.
Schiereisen stood shaken. He saw a weary, slack
face with dull eyes and sagging cheeks. The brow
was furrowed, mouth muscles softened, sunken,
making the nose jut sharply. “My God,” he said,
grasping Ruprecht’s hand, “you look awful. It’s hit
you hard. It’s dreadful…”
Ruprecht nodded slowly, stiffly, as if his neck
tendons resisted his will. “You’ve heard, then!” His
speech, too, had changed—words formed heavily,
emerging haltingly.
“I was told,” Schiereisen said, “but I don’t know
how it happened… He was so devoted to you, poor
man… I’m quite shaken myself… How did you find
him?”
Head drooping, Ruprecht scanned the desk’s
surface. “Yes… found? We found him in the garden,
between the old tower and the… side… the side
wing. Head smashed, limbs broken…”
“Horrible… how could it happen?” Schiereisen
saw Ruprecht’s struggle to answer but couldn’t spare
him now.
“He… fell… plunged down…”
“From where… the tower?”
“Well, from the gallery… There’s a wooden
gallery from the castle to the tower.”
“Oh, I recall seeing it. Your servant fell from
there? But it’s covered. How’s that possible?” No
caution was needed. He could ask bluntly without
Ruprecht noticing. Today, his thoughts were
muddled, clouded by grief, blinding him to his
surroundings. He stood shrouded in a fog of pain,
answering questions from outside with effort.
Perhaps, in this state, a vague fear stirred, a hint of
something terrible.
Ruprecht gathered himself. “How it… was poss…
possible? Simple… Jana broke through… through the
gallery floor… it must’ve been rotten. Hundreds of
years, right?”
“Yes, yes—of course!”
“Maybe he went without… light—without a lamp.
Didn’t see the floor was rotten… and broke
through… easy to understand. The comm…
commission ruled it so.”
“The commission ruled it so? Well, no one’s to
blame, then. But, Herr Baron, could I see the accident
site?”
Ruprecht’s head had sunk to his chest. He lifted it,
meeting Schiereisen’s gaze with dull eyes. “Why see
it? What’s the point?”
Schiereisen let unease flicker in his look. “Well…
such things are awful… but intriguing,” he hedged.
“A man doesn’t shy from a bit of blood.”
“Fine—if you want… let’s go!” Rising, Ruprecht
wavered, pausing as if recalibrating his body’s
balance. He moved clumsily, feet shuffling. “Come,”
he said. “I have the key.”
What had happened to this man? How to explain
this state? It wasn’t just the accident’s effect. A
physical change was evident, a clear weakening.
Schiereisen shuddered. Had they already gotten to
Ruprecht?
It was high time to act. No regard for his client
could hold him back from striking, even if the chain
of evidence wasn’t yet seamless.
“You know,” Schiereisen said, following
Ruprecht, “these are atavistic instincts. Each of us is
a thwarted savage. Interest in accidents stems from
ancient urges. These drives fuel the success of lurid
tabloids, feeding the public images of the latest
murders and atrocities. People savor them with a
pleasant shudder. It’s part of life’s comfort for most.”
That this spiel clashed with the bustling, slightly
awkward culture scholar didn’t faze Schiereisen. He
needed to talk, to numb Ruprecht, to keep him from
thinking.
They climbed to the upper floor, heading to the
side wing. No one crossed their path on corridors or
stairs, as if all life in the castle shunned the accident
site. Through an open window came the river’s
spring song and a wind-borne snippet of a tune from
nearby hills. The castle’s silence grew only darker,
more menacing.
Ruprecht unlocked an iron door, struggling to turn
the key. They entered the gallery. Sunlight pierced
two small, dust-clouded windows on the left; from
the rear, clear light poured through a large hole in the
floor.
“Watch out,” Ruprecht warned. “You must be
careful!”
Schiereisen knelt, crawling closer to the hole. The
gallery’s support beams were worm-eaten but seemed
sturdy enough. The plank floor, despite some
damaged spots, appeared generally sound.
Schiereisen noted decayed, eaten fibers here and
there, but nowhere enough to overcome the healthy
wood’s resistance. The seventh and eighth planks
from the floor were gone, with only splinters clinging
to the beams. They were unmistakably rotten, dusted
with worm meal. Those planks had indeed been
perilously weak.
Suddenly, Ruprecht saw Schiereisen lean far out,
probing a spot on a beam. Schiereisen drew back,
inspecting his fingertip. What clung there was fine
yellowish dust—sawdust, from work on sound wood.
The difference between this dust and the powdery
worm meal of wood ground by beetles was
unmistakable. Schiereisen drew out a paper, carefully
sweeping the sawdust into it, folding it like a small
letter, and slipping it into his notebook.
Ruprecht watched silently.
Schiereisen didn’t leave yet. He examined every
inch of the gallery’s woodwork. In the sunlight, it
gleamed a warm, golden brown beneath its dust.
Schiereisen ran his hand over it, feeling a velvety
softness. Dust flocked under his fingers, leaving
traces of his probing. Then he felt smooth, dust-free
wood. Looking closer, he saw the golden brown
shine brighter, fresher, with a faint gloss. A large
patch was cleared—wiped or washed.

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Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers and translated by Joe E Bandel

This man of the world knew a lot, scarcely less than little Manasse,
but he never acted upon that knowledge or did anything with it.
He had gathered his information just like as a boy he had
collected stamps, because his schoolmates were doing it. Now his
stamp collection lay in a desk drawer someplace. Only when someone
wanted to see a rare stamp did he take it out and flip through it.
“There, Saxony, red!”
Something had attracted him to Wolf Gontram. Perhaps it was
the big black eyes that he had once loved when they belonged to
Wolf’s mother. He loved them as well as he could considering how he
loved five hundred other beautiful eyes as well. Yet the farther back
his relationship with a woman, the greater it now appeared. Today he
felt as if he had once had the most intimate trust of this woman whose
son now worked with him even though he had not once even kissed
her hand.
And so it came about that young Gontram took in all his little
love stories and believed them. Not for one second did he doubt the
doctor’s heroic deeds and solidly held him up as the great seducer that
he so terribly wanted to be himself.
Dr. Mohnen selected his wardrobe, showed him how to tie a
bowtie and made him elegant–as much as he understood elegant–
He gave him books, took him with to the theater and to concerts
in order to always have a grateful audience for his stories. He held
himself to be a man of the world and wanted to make Wolf Gontram
into one as well. And it was no lie that the Gontram youth had him
alone to thank for everything that he became. Dr. Mohnen was the
teacher that was needed, that demanded nothing and always gave day
after day. Minute by minute without even knowing it he fashioned a
new life for Wolf Gontram.
Wolf Gontram was beautiful, everyone in the city could see that
except Karl Mohnen who thought beauty was only possible in tight
association with skirts and to whom everything was beautiful that
wore long hair and nothing else.
But the others saw it. Even when he was going to school old
Gentlemen turned as he went by and squinted after him, officers
glanced at him and turned pale whenever he was around. Many a
well-groomed head with jaded tastes sighed–and quickly suppressed
the hot desire and longing that screamed inside them. But now the
glances came from under veils or grand hats. The beautiful eyes of
women now followed the young man.
“That must be nice!” growled little Manasse as he sat in the park
with the Legal Councilor and his son listening to a concert. “If she
doesn’t turn back around soon her neck will really hurt!”
“Who are you taking about?” asked the Legal Councilor.
“Who? Her Royal Highness!” cried the attorney. “Look over
there Herr Colleague. She’s been staring at your rascal for the last half
hour, craning her neck around to look at him.”
“God, just let her be,” answered the Legal Councilor good-
naturedly.
But little Manasse wouldn’t give up.
“Sit over here Wolf!” he commanded and the young man obeyed
sitting beside him and turning his back to the princess.
Yes, this beauty frightened the little attorney. He felt that it was a
mask and he could hear death laughing behind it just as he believed it
had done for the boy’s mother. And that pained him, tortured him
until he almost hated the young man, even as he had once loved his
mother. This hatred was strange enough, it was a nightmare, a burning
desire that young Gontram’s fate would soon be fulfilled, that it
would happen suddenly–much better today than tomorrow.
Still it was the attorney that tried to liberate the boy from his fate
if he could and did everything possible to help, to smooth his life out
as much as possible. When his Excellency ten Brinken stole his foster
son’s fortune he was beside himself.
“You are a fool! An Idiot!”
He barked at the Legal Councilor. He dearly wanted to nip at his
heels like his poor dead hound, Cyclops, had done and he set down to
the father in smallest detail every way his son had been swindled, one
after the other.
The Privy Councilor had taken over the vineyards and fields that
Wolf had inherited from his aunt and scarcely paid fair market price
for them. Then he had discovered no less than three mineral springs
on those same grounds that he now bottled and profited from.
“We would have never thought of that,” responded the Legal
Councilor quietly.
The little attorney spit in anger. “That doesn’t matter! The
properties are worth six times as much today and the old swindler
didn’t even pay that. He deducted over half of the price for the boy’s
upkeep. It is an obscenity–”
But it made no impression at all on the Legal Councilor. He was
a good man, so full of goodness that he only saw the goodness in
others as well. He was ready to find a bit of it in the lowest criminals
no matter what their crimes. So he thought highly of the Privy
Councilor for hiring the boy to work in his offices. Then he threw in
his trump card. The Privy Councilor himself had told him that he
wanted to remember his son sufficiently in his will.
“Him? Him?” The attorney became bright red with restrained
anger and plucked at the gray stubble of his beard.
“He won’t leave the boy one copper!”
But the Legal Councilor closed the debate, “Besides, a Gontram
has never gone bad as long as the Rhine has flowed.” And in that he
was completely right.
Every evening since Alraune returned Wolf rode out to
Lendenich. Dr. Mohnen procured a horse for him from his friend,
cavalry captain, Count Geroldingen, who placed it at his disposal. His
mentor also had the young man learn dancing and fencing.
“A man of the world must know these things,” he declared and
told of wild rides, triumphant duels and huge successes in ball rooms
even though he himself had never climbed on a horse, never stood in
front of a sword and could scarcely skip to the polka.
Wolf Gontram would bring the count’s horse to the stables and
then walk across the courtyard to the mansion. He always brought one
rose, never more than one. That’s what Dr. Mohnen had taught him.
But it was always the most beautiful rose in the entire city.
Alraune would take his rose and slowly pluck it. Every evening it
went that way. She would fold the petals together in her hands and
then blow them explosively against his forehead and his cheeks. That
was the favor she granted him. He did not demand anything else. He
dreamed of having her–but not once did he act on those dreams and
his unmastered desire circled and filled the room.
Wolf Gontram followed the strange creature that he loved like a
shadow. She called him Wölfchen like she had done as a child.
“Because you are such a big dog,” she declared, “with long
shaggy black hair and very handsome. You also have such deep,
trusting and questioning eyes–that’s why! Because you are not good
for anything Wölfchen, other than to run behind me and carry my
things.”
Then she would call him over to lie down in front of her chair
and she would put her little feet on his breast, stroke him across the
cheeks with her soft doe-skin shoes, then throw them off and poke the
tips of her toes between his lips.
“Kiss, kiss,” and she laughed as he kissed all around the fine silk
stockings that enclosed her feet.
The Privy Councilor squinted at young Gontram with a sour
smile. He was as ugly as the boy was beautiful–He knew that very
well, but he was not afraid that Alraune would fall in love with him. It
was just that his constant presence was uncomfortable to him.
“He doesn’t need to come over here every night,” he grumbled.
“Yes he does!” responded Alraune–so Wölfchen came.
The professor thought, “Very well then, my boy, swallow the
hook!”
So Alraune became mistress of the house of Brinken from the
very first day she came back from school. She was the mistress and
yet remained a stranger, remained an outsider, a thing that would not
grow in this ancient earth, not in this community that had planted
roots and breathed the ancient air.
The servants, the maids, the coachman and the gardener only
called her Fräulein and so did all the people of the village. They
would say, “There goes the Fräulein,” and said it as if she came from
somewhere else and was only visiting. But Wolf Gontram called her
the young Master.
The shrewd Privy Councilor noticed these things at once and it
occurred to him that the people sensed she was different. He wrote in
the leather volume, “and the animals sense it too! The animals–the
horses and the hounds, the slender roe-buck that run around in the
garden and even the little squirrels that scurry through the tops of the
trees.”
Wolf Gonram was their great friend. They raised their heads and
ran up to him when he was near. But they slunk quietly away when
the Fräulein was with him.
Her influence extended only to people thought the professor.
Animals are immune and he counted the farmers and servants among
the animals. They had the same healthy instincts, he reflected, some
instinctive dislike that was half fear.
She can be very happy that she was born into this world now and
not five centuries ago. She would have been accused of being a witch
in a month’s time in this little village of Lendenich–and the Bishop
would have been given a good roast.
This aversion of the people and animals toward Alraune
delighted the old gentleman almost as much as the strange attraction
she exerted on the higher born. He always noted new examples of this
affection and hatred even though he did find exceptions in both
camps.
From the records of the Privy Councilor it shows that he was
convinced there was some factor in Alraune that brought about a
sharp and well-defined influence on her surroundings. The professor
was inclined to gather evidence that would support his hypothesis and
to reject anything that didn’t.
As a result his manuscript was much less a report over the things
she did–than a relating of what others did under her influence. It was
primarily an account of the people that came in contact with her, and
how they played out the life of the creature Alraune.
To the Privy Councilor she was a true phantom, an unreal thing
that had no real life of her own, a shadow creature that reflected the
ultraviolet radiation of others back at them, causing them to do the
things they did.
He doggedly pursued this idea and never really believed that she
was human at all. He even spoke to her as if she were an unreal thing
that he had given a body and form, as if she were a bloodless doll that
he had given a living mask. That flattered his old vanity and was why
Alraune affected his life more than she did any of the others.
So he polished his doll and made her more colorful and beautiful
each day. He allowed her to be mistress and submitted to her wishes
and moods just like the others, but with this difference. He always
believed he had the game in hand, was firmly convinced that
ultimately it was only his individual will that was being reflected back
and expressed through the medium of Alraune.

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Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers and translated by Joe E Bandel

Chapter Eight
Details how Alraune became Mistress of the House of Brinken.
WHEN Alraune once more returned to the house on the
Rhine that was sacred to St. Nepomuk the Privy Councilor
ten Brinken was seventy-six years old. But that was only
calendar age. There was no weakness or even the smallest
amount of pain to remind him of it. He felt warm and sunny in the old
village that was now threatened to be seized by the growing fingers of
the city.
He hung like a fat spider in the strong web of his power as it
extended out in all directions and he felt a light titillation at Alraune’s
home coming. She would be a welcome plaything for his whims and
equally amusing bait that should entice many more stupid flies and
moths into his web.
When Alraune came she didn’t appear that much different to the
old man than she had been as a child. He studied her for a long time
as she sat in front of him in the library and found nothing that
reminded him of her father or her mother.
The young girl was petite, pretty, slender, narrow-chested and
not yet developed. Her figure was like that of a boy’s as were her
quick, somewhat awkward movements. He thought she looked like a
doll, only her head was not a doll’s head at all. Her cheekbones
protruded, her pale thin lips stretched over her little teeth.
But her hair fell rich and full, not red like her mother’s, but
heavy and chestnut brown like that of Frau Josefe Gontram, thought
the Privy Councilor. Then it occurred to him that it had been in that
house where the idea of Alraune first originated.
He squinted over across where she still sat, observing her
critically like a picture, watching her, searching for memories–
Yes, her eyes, they opened wide under saucy thin eyebrows that
arched across her smooth narrow forehead. They looked cool and
derisive and yet at times soft and dreamy, grass green, hard as steel–
like the eyes of his nephew Frank Braun.
The professor shoved out his broad lower lip. That particular
discovery did not please him at all– Then he shrugged his shoulders,
why shouldn’t the youth who had first conceived of her not share this
with her? It was little enough and very dearly bought considering the
round millions that this quiet girl had taken from him–
“You have bright eyes,” he said.
She only nodded.
He continued, “And your hair is beautiful. Wölfchen’s mother
had hair like that.”
Then Alraune said, “I’m going to cut it off.”
The Privy Councilor commanded, “You will not do that, do you
hear?”
But when she came to the evening meal her hair was cut. She
looked like a page, her locks falling in curls around her boy’s head.
“Where is your hair?” he cried at her.
Calmly she said, “Here.”
She showed him a large cardboard box. In it lay the shiny meter
long bundles of hair.
He began, “Why did you cut it off?–Because I forbid it?–Out of
defiance then?”
Alraune smiled, “No, not at all. I would have done it anyway.”
“Then why?” he enquired.
She picked up the box and took out the seven long bundles. Each
one was tied and wrapped with a golden cord and there was a little
card attached to it. There were seven names on these seven cards,
Emma, Marguèrite, Louison, Evelyn, Anna, Maud and Andrea.
“Are those your school friends?” He asked. “You cut your hair
off to send them a keepsake? You foolish child.”
He was angry at this unexpected teenage sentimentalism. It
didn’t appeal to him at all. He had imagined the girl much more
mature and cold-blooded.
She looked straight at him, “No,” she said. “I don’t care about
them at all–only”–she hesitated–
“Only what?” urged the professor.
“Only,” she began again. “Only they should cut their hair off
too!”
“Why should they?” cried the old man.
Then Alraune laughed, “–cut their hair completely off! Much
more than I have, right down to the scalp. I’ll write them that I have
cut my hair right to the scalp–and then they must do it as well!”
“They wouldn’t be that stupid,” he threw back.
“Oh yes they will,” she insisted. “I told them that we should all
cut our hair off and they promised they would if I did it first. But I
forgot all about it and only remembered again when you spoke of my
hair.”
The Privy Councilor laughed at her, “People promise all kinds of
things–but they won’t do them. You alone are the fool.”
Then she raised herself up from her chair and came up close to
the old man.
“Yes they will,” she whispered hotly. “They will do it. They
know very well that I will rip their hair out myself if they don’t–They
are afraid of me, even when I’m not there.”
Stirred up and trembling slightly with emotion she stood there in
front of him.
“Are you that certain they will do it?” he asked.
She answered with conviction, “Yes, absolutely certain.”
Then the same certainty grew in him as well and he didn’t even
wonder why.
“So why did you do it then?” he asked.
In an instant she was transformed. All her strangeness had
disappeared and she was once more just a moody and capricious
child.
“Well,” she laughed shortly and her little hands stroked the full
bundles of hair. “Well, you see–it’s like this. It hurts me, this heavy
hair, and I sometimes get headaches from it. I also know that short
hair looks good on me but it doesn’t look good on them at all. The
senior class of Mademoiselle de Vynteelen will look like a monkey
house! The other students will scream at them and call them fools and
Mademoiselle will scold them. The new Miss and the Fräulein will
scream at them and scold them as well.”
She clapped her hands together laughing brightly with glee.
“Will you help me?” she asked. “How should I send them?”
The Privy Councilor said, “Individually, as samples of no value
and have them registered.”
She nodded, “Alright, that’s what I will do!”
During the evening meal she described to him how the girls
would look without their hair. The tall rangy Evelyn Clifford had thin
straight light blonde hair and full-blooded Louison always wore her
brown hair pinned up turban style. Then there were the two
Rodenberg Countesses, Anna and Andrea. Their long curly locks
encircled their hard bony Westfalen skulls.
“With all their hair gone,” she laughed, “they will look like
Meerkats! Everyone will laugh when they see them.”
They went back to the library. The Privy Councilor helped her
get the things she needed, got her cardboard boxes, twine, sealing wax
and postage stamps. Then he smoked his cigar, chewing half of it
while watching her write her letters, seven little letters to seven girls
in Spa.
The old family crest of the Brinkens was on the top of each
letter, John of Nepomuk, patron Saint and protector against floods,
was in the upper field, below was a silver heron fighting with a
serpent–The heron was the heraldic animal of the Brinkens.
He looked at her and a faint itch crept over his old skin. Old
memories began to grow in him, lustful thoughts of half-grown boys
and girls–She, Alraune, was both a boy and a girl. Moist spittle
dribbled down from his fleshy lips, soaking into the black Havana. He
squinted over at her, eager and full of trembling desire. In that minute
he understood what it was that attracted people to this slender petite
creature like the little fish that swim after the bait and don’t see the
hook.
But he could see the sharp hook very well and thought he knew a
way to avoid the hook and still consume the sweet morsel–
Wolf Gontram worked at the Privy Councilor’s office in the city.
His foster father had taken him out of school after one year and stuck
him in a bank as an apprentice. There he had forgotten everything he
had so laboriously learned at school. He settled into his job and did
just what was demanded of him. Then when his apprenticeship came
to an end he went to the Privy Councilor’s office to work as a
secretary.
It was a strange business, being a secretary for his Excellency.
Karl Mohnen, Ph.D. four times over, was office manager and his old
boss found him useful enough. He still went through life looking for
the right person to get married to. Wherever he went he made new
acquaintances and hung out with the new set. But it never led to
anything. His hair was long gone but his nose was still as good as
always–he was always sniffing around for something, a woman for
himself or a business opportunity for the Privy Councilor–and he was
good at it.
A couple of accountants kept the books in order well enough to
keep things going and there was a room that bore the sign “Legal
Business”. Legal Councilor Gontram and Herr Manasse, who had not
yet been promoted to Legal Councilor, sometimes spent an hour in it.
They took care of the Privy Councilor’s ample lawsuits as they
handsomely multiplied. Manasse took the hopeful ones that would
end in a victory and the old Legal Councilor took the bad ones,
prolonging them and postponing them until finally bringing them to
an acceptable compromise.
Dr. Mohnen had his own office as well. Wolf Gontram sat in this
office as his protégé and he sought to educate the boy in his own way.

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