Did I not
write that thy plaint had never reached the ear of thy sovereign?
write that thy plaint had never reached the ear of thy sovereign?
Warner - World's Best Literature - v15 - Kab to Les
Then raising his voice, he wound up
with — “Make no bones about it; take the brutes and march, or
I'll turn the dogs loose and make matters smooth in no time. ”
The dealer's heart beat hard against his doublet, impelling
him to roll the pot-bellied scoundrel in the mud, that he might
grind his brazen face under his heel. He was not yet satisfied,
however; the balance wavered, for his sense of justice, delicate
as a jeweler's scale, weighed right and wrong to the uttermost
atom. Nevertheless, he gulped down both wrath and railing
together, and — passing his fingers through the tangled manes of
the poor creatures — he asked with softened voice for what fault
his groom had been dismissed the castle. The castellan answered,
because the fellow had given himself airs in the stable-yard: had
objected to a necessary change of stables, and had insisted that
the steeds of two noblemen who came a visit to the castle
should pass the night on the high-road, while his horses were
snugly housed within.
on
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Kohlhaas would have given the value of the horses to have
had his man at hand, to compare his tale with that of the brag-
gart castellan.
He stood there in a brown study, mechanically
disentangling each hair, when suddenly the scene changed, and
Lord Wenzel of Tronka dashed in hot from the chase, followed
by a cavalcade of knights, hounds, and horse-boys. The dogs set
up so fierce a howl when they caught sight of the stranger that
they were hardly silenced by the whips of the knights. My
lord reined in and asked what the matter might be; where.
upon the castellan took up his parable, and — while maliciously
distorting the facts — began complaining of the uproar the dealer
had made because his horses had been put to work a little on
the farm, adding with scornful glee that the fellow had even
refused to acknowledge them as his own.
“Those, most noble lord, are not my horses,” broke in Kohl-
haas. « Those are not the horses I left here worth thirty gold
florins apiece. I demand back my steeds sound and well-condi-
tioned. ”
My lord paled before his glance; but recovering, sprang from
the saddle and said, “If the cursed rogue won't take 'em as they
are, he may leave 'em! Hey, Hans! hey, Gunther! he cried,
as he beat the dust out of his breeches, "get up some wine, you
lazy Oafs;” and then ascended the stairs with the whole party.
Kohlhaas said he would rather call a knacker and leave the
pair to rot on a dunghill than take them to Kohlhaasenbrück
as they were; and there he left them without once looking back,
and swinging himself into the saddle, he took the road with a
parting assurance that he would soon find a way to get justice
done.
He had already struck spurs for Dresden, when the thought
of the accusation that had been brought against his groom at the
castle made him draw rein and ride at a foot-pace: and he had
not gone half a mile before it grew upon him so much that he
turned his horse's head and made for Kohlhaasenbrück, minded
first to hear his servant's account of the matter; for experience
whispered in his ear that he knew the world too well to expect
perfection in anybody. He reflected that possibly the man had
gone wrong somehow, and in that case it would be better to
put up with the loss as a proper consequence of his folly; but
another voice, as loud as, but more emphatic than, that of expe-
rience, kept saying to him that if the thing should prove to be a
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planned trick, it was his duty to strive with his whole strength
for redress of his own wrong and for the future security of oth-
ers. As he rode along and heard at every wayside inn of the
villanies constantly practiced against those whose ill fate led them
by the Castle of Tronka, this latter thought absorbed him more
and more fully, so as almost to shut out entirely that noble doubt
which still prompted hesitation.
On arriving at Kohlhaasenbrück, he had no sooner embraced
his faithful wife and kissed the crowing children that clung around
him, than he inquired after his groom Herse, asking whether
anything had been seen of him.
Mercy on us! ” his wife cried: "only think, it's but a fort-
night since he came back to us in a fearful plight, with scarcely
a sound place in his body, and hardly able to draw breath for
his wounds; we got him to bed and there he lay spitting blood:
and when we inquired the why and wherefore, he told us a story
of which none of us could make head or tail;— how he had been
left at Castle Tronka with some horses, had been shamefully mal-
treated and compelled to fly the place; that the nags were still
there, for they would not let him lay a finger upon them. ”
"Indeed? ” said Kohlhaas, laying aside his mantle; "and is he
all right again now ? ”
«He spits blood yet,” she answered; but he is getting
stronger. I was just going to send a man to the castle to look
after the horses till you came,- for I knew Herse too well to
doubt his word, especially as he has so much to show for it, and
I could not think for a moment that he had done anything with
his charge, - but the poor fellow begged and prayed me not to
risk any one in that den of thieves, saying it was better to lose
the horses altogether than sacrifice a life for them. ”
Is he in bed still ? asked Kohlhaas, leisurely divesting him-
self of his neckcloth.
“No: he manages now to get about the yard a bit in the day-
time," she answered. «You will see that the man has not lied:
not a day passes but we hear of some wanton outrage or other
on those whose way lies by Castle Tronka, and this is one of
them. ”
"I must inquire further before I agree with you,” Kohlhaas
replied. «Go, Lizzy: bring him here if he's up. ”
He sat down in his arm-chair; while his wife, delighted with
calmness she so little expected, made haste to fetch the groom.
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"Now tell me, pray,” said Kohlhaas, when his wife re-entered
with the man, “what mischief you were up to at the castle.
I have reason to be not over well pleased with you. ”
The servant's pallid face flushed hotly at these words, and he
remained silent for a moment.
“You are right, master,” he said at last: «for as Providence
would have it, I had a tinder-box with me with which I was
going to burn out the thieves; but just as I was striking the
flint, I heard the cry of a child within, and threw the match into
the Elbe. May God's lightning blast them, methought: 'tis his
business, not mine. ”
Kohlhaas looked at him with amazement, and said, “But tell
me, how did you manage to get turned out of the castle ? »
"All on account of a foolish trick of mine,” the man answered,
wiping the sweat from his brow; “but it's no use crying over
spilt milk.
I would not have the horses racked to death at field-
work; I said they were too young, and had never been trained
to go in the traces. ”
Kohlhaas, concealing his confusion as he might, corrected him
in this, reminding him that they had been awhile in harness last
spring, and added:- “As you were a sort of guest at the castle,
it was your duty to do what lay in your power to satisfy them,
and you might well have lent a helping hand when they were
hard pressed to get in the harvest. ”
« That is just what I did, master,” Herse answered. ( When
I saw what wry faces they made, I thought after all it would not
kill the nags; and so, on the third morning, I harnessed them
and brought in three loads of wheat. ”
Kohlhaas, whose heart was in his mouth, looked down and
said, “I heard no account of that, Herse;" but the latter assured
him it was true.
«What they took in such bad part was that I wouldn't put
the horses in again at midday before they had had their feed;
and besides that, I wouldn't listen to the castellan and the stew-
ard, who wished me to give up the nags to them, and pocket for
myself the money you gave me for their expenses. I turned my
back on them and told them they might go further afield. ”
« But this,” said Kohlhaas, was not the reason
drove you from the castle ? ”
“God forbid! ” the man cried, "I did worse.
two knights came on a visit, and when I found their horses in
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the stable, and mine tethered to the rail outside, I asked the
castellan where I should house them: he pointed to a pig-sty, a
filthy hovel of mud and wattles, built up against the inner wall. ”
“You mean," broke in Kohlhaas, “that it was a stable in such
a wretched condition that it looked more like a pig-sty. ”
“It was a pig-sty, master! ” Herse answered; “nothing more
and nothing less. I could hardly stand upright in it, and the
pigs ran in and out between my legs. ”
"Perhaps,” said Kohlhaas, "there was no room elsewhere;
and of course, a knight's steed has a right to be the better
housed. ”
« The stable was a trifle small,” the groom answered, lowering
his voice; "there were altogether seven knights at the castle:
but if you had been master there, you would have made room
by packing the steeds a little closer. I said I should go into the
village and hire a stable; but the steward said he would not let
the nags out of his sight, and bade me on my life not attempt
to move them from the yard. ”
“Well,” said Kohlhaas, “what did you do then? ”
"As the steward told me the two knights were only passing
visitors, and would be gone in the morning, I led the horses into
the pig-sty; but the next day went by and they were still there,
and the day following I heard that the gentlemen thought of
staying several weeks. ”
"I daresay,” said Kohlhaas, "the pig-sty wasn't so bad as you
fancied it was when you first put your nose in. ”
That's true,” the man answered: “when I had swept it out and
put it to rights a bit, it was so-so, and I gave the girl a groschen
to shift for the pigs elsewhere. I managed to let the nags stand
upright in the daytime by taking off the loose boards, and of a
night, you know, I put them on again: the poor things stuck
their necks through the roof like a pair of geese, and looked
about for home or some other place where they would be better
off. ”
"Well now,” said Kohlhaas, “why on earth did they drive you
from the castle ? »
"Master, I'll tell you plainly,” the groom answered: “because
they would be rid of me; for so long as I was by they couldn't
have their will with the brutes and worry 'em to death. In
the servants' hall, the court-yard, and everywhere, they made wry
faces at me; and as I took no heed, but let them twist their jaws
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out of joint if they chose, they picked a quarrel with me on pur-
pose and drove me out. ”
“But why ? ” said Kohlhaas; “they must have had some cause
for what they did. ”
“Of course they had, master," answered Herse, “and a most
righteous one too. On the second evening of their stay in the
pig-sty the horses were in a pretty pickle; so I mounted one and
was taking them to the pond, when just as I got through the gate
and was turning into the road, I heard a great noise from the
servants' hall, and out marched castellan, steward, dogs, and
servants all together, yelling and shouting like mad. Stop the
scoundrel! ' cried one; Have at the thief! ' shrieked another: and
when the gate-keeper placed himself in my path, I asked him
and the wild pack that came howling around me, what the
devil was up? 'Up! ' roared the castellan, seizing my horse's
bridle: 'where are you taking those brutes, you rascal ? ' and with
that he gripped me by the throat. I replied, Why, in the name
of all that's holy, to the pond of course. Do you think that
I-? ' 'To the pond, eh ? ' the fellow cried: "I'll teach you, you
thief, to go swimming along the road to Kohlhaasenbrück! ' and
thereupon he and the steward, with a savage wrench, tore me
from the saddle, and I measured my whole length in the mud.
I got up cursing them body and soul.
I had left harness and
horse-cloths and a bundle of linen of my own in the stable, but
they did not mind that; and while the steward led the horses
back, the castellan and servants laid on me with whips and cudg-
els, and beat me till I fell half dead beneath the archway. When
I came to myself a bit and called out, “You thieving dogs, what
have you done with my horses ? ) the castellan shouted, Out of
the place with you! ' and calling the hounds by name, he set a
round dozen of them yelping and tearing at me.
I broke a pale
or something from the fence, and laid three of them dead at my
feet; but just as I was giving way from loss of blood and the
fearful agony, a shrill whistle called the hounds back into the
court-yard, the wings of the gates flew to, the bolts were drawn,
and I sank down fainting on the high-road. ”
Kohlhaas, who had grown very pale, said with a kind of
forced humor, “I fancy after all, Herse, it wasn't so much against
the grain with thee to leave the place ; » and seeing that his
servant remained silent, with downcast look and Aushed face he
continued, “Come, let's have the truth : methinks the pig-sty didn't
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
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suit you; you had a sneaking preference for the stable here at
home ? "
“Damnation ! » cried Herse. “Why, the harness-cloths and
linen are there in the sty now: don't you think if I had wanted
to run for it, I would have brought with me the three rix-florins
I hid behind the manger wrapped in a red silk handkerchief?
By God! to hear you talk so makes me long to have in my hand
again the tinder-box I threw away. ”
“Never mind that," answered the dealer: "I am not against
thee; look here, I believe word for word all that you've said, and
I'd take the sacrament on each syllable; I am sorry too that you
have had such hard measure in my service. Come, get you to
bed, Herse; ask for a bottle of wine and make yourself easy, for
I will undertake to procure you justice. ”
He rose from his seat, and going to his desk, made out a
list of the articles left behind by the groom in the sty, specify-
ing their value and adding the man's estimate of the expenses
attendant on his illness; this done, he gave him his hand and
dismissed him to his rest.
He talked over the whole matter with his wife Elizabeth, and
made no secret of his intention to strain every nerve to obtain
full redress; and when he had put the matter in a clear light,
he was overjoyed to find that she heartily agreed with him. She
said indeed that some day, perhaps, travelers less gifted with
forbearance than he might happen upon the castle; that it was
a good work before God and man to put a speedy end to such
villainies; and that she herself would know where to find the
costs of the suit if her husband would take immediate action.
Kohlhaas told her she was his own brave wife, and together with
the children they passed that day and the next in the quiet
enjoyment of their love; but on the following morning --hay-
ing dispatched all necessary business - he started for Dresden to
bring his case before the tribunals.
[Kohlhaas seeks to obtain redress by every means known to the law, and
patiently awaits its slow process. After many disappointments, he discovers
that the real impediment is Baron Tronka's interest at court; and his lawyer
refuses to compromise his own position further by conducting the dealer's
case. Unwilling to dwell longer in a land which denies to its inhabitants the
protection of its laws, Kohlhaas sells his house and farm to one of his neigh-
bors. His wife, however, with tearful entreaties induces him to allow her to
make a last appeal to the Elector himself. ]
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snail's pace.
Kohlhaas had already proved that his wife possessed foresight
and determination alike; he inquired what plan she had formed
as to her conduct. With downcast eyes and blushing cheeks she
replied that the castellan of the electoral palace, when on duty
years ago in Schwerin, had known and wooed her; true, he was
now married and the father of a family, but she had reason
to believe he had not quite forgotten her: indeed, she thought
her husband had better content himself with simple trust, as she
hoped to turn to account several matters of which it would take
too long to tell. Kohlhaas was radiant with joy; he kissed his
wife, and told her to do as she would, and that she only needed
to be received by the castellan's wife to have at any moment the
opportunity she sought. He then had the brown geldings put in;
and commending her to the care of his faithful groom Sternbald,
he handed the petition into the carriage and bade them God-
speed.
Of all the unsuccessful efforts he had made to further his
cause, this turned out the most disastrous. A few days later on
he saw Stern bald enter the yard on foot, leading the horses at a
Kohlhaas rushed out, pale as death, and found his
wife lying in the carriage and suffering greatly from a bruise on
the right breast. From the man he could get no plain account
of what had happened: but it appeared that the castellan was
not at home when they arrived, and that they had been obliged
to take up their quarters in the neighborhood of the palace,
whence next morning Elizabeth started, leaving orders for Stern-
bald to stay and tend the horses; and he had seen nothing
more of her till the evening, when she was brought back in the
condition he saw. He had heard that she had pushed her way
boldly towards the presence of his Highness, and that one of the
guards, impelled only by rude zeal for his master, had — without
order -- struck her with the shaft of his lance.
Sternbald had been told by the people who bore her unconscious
to the inn; for she had not as yet been able to speak since, for
the blood that gushed from her mouth. The petition, it seemed,
had been afterwards taken from her by one of the knights in
attendance. Sternbald wanted to saddle a horse and ride back
with the news at once; but in spite of all the surgeon could
urge, she had insisted upon being taken back immediately to
her husband, and had forbidden them to give him any warning.
Kohlhaas got her to bed: the journey had completely broken her
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strength, and her whole frame quivered every time she drew
breath; but still he contrived to keep life in her for the space of
several days.
They tried in vain to bring her to herself, that they might
get out the truth of what had befallen: but she lay there with
eyes fixed and glassy and spoke no word; only in the presence
of death did she recover consciousness. A Lutheran clergyman
(to which rising sect she, following her husband's example, had
adhered) had called; and sitting by her bedside, was reading with
loud and solemn voice a chapter in the Bible, when she suddenly
raised her head, and throwing upon him a glance of sad mean-
ing, took the book from his hands as though she would not have
it read, and passing her fingers through it, began searching leaf
by leaf until at last she found what she wanted. With a sign to
Kohlhaas, who sat by the bed, she pointed to the verse, "Love
your enemies — do good to those that hate you;” she pressed his
hand, and with a long look of passionate love she passed away.
Kohlhaas thought, “If I forgive Lord Wenzel, so may not
God forgive me! ” He bent over the corpse and kissed it, bath-
ing the face with a torrent of tears; then, closing the eyes of her
he loved, he quitted the room. With the advance of the hundred
florins which he had already received from the farmer on his
Dresden property, he prepared for Elizabeth's interment on a
scale rather befitting a princess than the wife of a simple trader:
he had an oak coffin made, studded with massive brass nails
and bound with the same metal, and therein he placed a silken
cushion with tassels of silver and gold thread; the grave was
eight yards deep, walled within with masonry: and he himself
overlooked the work, standing on the brink with his youngest
infant on his arm. When the day of the funeral came round,
the body was robed in pure white and placed in the chief room
covered with a black pall.
The minister had just finished an eloquent address beside the
coffin, when Kohlhaas received the royal answer to the petition
which the dead woman had borne: it was to the effect that he
should fetch his horses from Castle Tronka, and not trouble the
State any further in the matter on pain of instant imprisonment.
When the grave had been filled in and the cross planted thereon,
he dismissed those who had been present to render the last
offices, and returned home. Once more he threw himself on his
knees beside the bed of the departed, and then betook himself to
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the business of revenge.
He sat down and drew up a decree,
wherein, by virtue of the authority native to him, he condemned
Lord Wenzel of Tronka to present himself, with the horses which
had been reduced to such evil plight in his fields, within three
days at Kohlhaasenbrück, there to serve in person about them
till they should be restored to their former condition: this decree
he dispatched to the castle by a mounted messenger, with in-
structions to deliver it and then make the best of his way back
without losing a moment.
When the three days' grace had elapsed without anything hav-
ing been seen or heard of the horses, he summoned Herse and
explained to him the commands he had laid upon Lord Wenzel
as to the tending of the animals, and inquired whether Herse
had a mind to strike spurs with him for the castle and haul his
lordship thence by force; he further asked whether, when they
had taken him and set him to work in the stables at Kohlhaasen-
brück, Herse felt able and willing to correct with a cut of his
whip any occasional tendency to laziness. When Herse caught
the import of his words, he shouted, “This very day, if you will,
master. "
He swore he would plait a thong ten strands thick to
teach the rascal how to use the curry-comb.
Kohlhaas said no more, but went and gave up possession of
the house, dispatching the children ere evening beyond the front-
ier to the care of his relations in Schwerin: and when night fell
he gathered his servants together, seven in number, each true as
steel, and bound to him for life and death; he armed and mounted
them, and with them sallied forth towards Castle Tronka.
At dusk of the third day, he and his little band rode beneath
the walls. The toll collector and the gate-keeper were standing
talking together under the archway when the eight dashed in,
overthrowing them in their course; they spurred into the church-
yard, and while some set fire to the sheds and other woodwork,
Herse made his way up the winding staircase to the castellan's
He found his man playing cards with the steward
partly undressed — and fell upon the twain, cut and thrust, spar-
ing nothing. At the same time Kohlhaas 'sped to the great hall
of the castle. His coming was like the judgment of God.
lord was just stirring the laughter of a knot of young friends by
a recital of the summons the horse-dealer had served upon him;
but while reading it he caught the harsh tones of his enemy in
the court below. Pallid as a corpse, he threw down the paper,
rooms.
- both
My
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and warning all present to look to their lives, vanished from the
place. Kohlhaas, being confronted at the door by a certain Sir
Hans of Tronka, seized him by the throat and hurled him into a
corner, spattering his brains upon the walls; while his servants
made short work of the rest, who had armed themselves, by
securing them or forcing them to flight. But the dealer sought
Lord Wenzel in vain: no one had seen him, and finding that the
terrified prisoners could tell nothing, he burst open with a kick
the doors leading to the inner apartments, and sword in hand
essayed every possible hiding-place,-still in vain, however. At
last he came down, cursing, into the court-yard, and gave orders
to set a guard at every point by which he might escape.
Meanwhile smoke and flame broke forth on every side; the
fire, leaping from the sheds, had seized first upon the main build-
ing and then upon the wings. Sternbald and three more were
tearing everything that hand could move, and piling it for booty
in the yard. With loud shouts they greeted Herse when he
thrust his head from the window above, and hurled down the
dead bodies of the castellan and steward with those of their
wives and children. As Kohlhaas was descending the staircase,
an old rheumatic housekeeper of my lord's threw herself at his
feet whining for mercy; he asked where her master was, and she
replied with cracked and trembling voice that she thought he
had taken refuge in the chapel. Kohlhaas called two of his
men, for lack of keys broke in the door with axe and crowbar,
and overturning bench and altar, was maddened with the discov-
ery that his victim had fled.
Just as Kohlhaas was sallying from the chapel, it chanced that
a lad belonging to the castle came running to try and save his
lordship's chargers, which were stabled in a vast stone building
now threatened by the flames. Kohlhaas, who had just caught
sight of his two geldings, stopped him, and pointing to the
thatched shed in which they were secured, asked why he did not
bring them out; the lad replied that the place was on fire, and
taking the key, attempted to open the door of the stable. Kohl-
haas knocked him aside, and snatching the key savagely from
the door, threw it over the wall; then, amid the ruthless laughter
of his men, he so belabored the lad with the flat of his sword
that he was fain to rush into the burning shed and unloose the
brutes. He had barely seized their halters when the roof fell in,
and his face was corpse-like when he struggled forth out of the
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
smoke into the yard. Kohlhaas no longer heeded him, and turned
his back upon him once and again; but the lad followed to where
he was standing with several of his servants, and when at last he
faced him and asked what he should now do with the horses,
Kohlhaas lifted his foot and launched at him so savage a kick
that had it taken him, it must have been his death. Then with
out deigning another syllable he mounted his brown steed, and
leaving his men to their unholy business, rode beneath the arch-
way and there awaited the dawn of day.
[Kohlhaas pursues Baron Tronka to the convent where he has taken refuge;
his band of malcontents increases; he forms a military organization, burns
villages, and terrorizes the entire country. The regular troops are called
out against him, and are defeated. Kohlhaas lays siege to Leipsic. At this
point Luther interposes with a proclamation against Kohlhaas, and the men
are shaken in their allegiance to their intrepid leader. He resolves to have
an interview with Luther, that he may convince him of the absolute justice of
his cause.
As a price is set upon his head, it is a perilous undertaking, and
he must go disguised. ]
Kohlhaas assumed the dress of a Thuringian peasant, and
summoning several of his most reliable men, he placed Stern bald
in command of the party assembled at Lützen; explaining that
business of importance called him to Wittenberg, and that
attack need be feared within three days, he then took his depart-
ure, promising to return within that time. Under an assumed
name, he took up his quarters in a little inn at Wittenberg, and
at nightfall — carrying beneath his cloak a pair of pistols which
he had captured at Castle Tronka - he made his way to Luther's
residence.
The doctor was sitting at his desk, engaged with a heap of
books and manuscripts; but seeing a stranger push open
door, enter, and then carefully bolt it behind him, he inquired
who he was, and what was his business.
With a half-fearful
consciousness of the terror he was causing, the man advanced,
and doffing his hat respectfully, said, “I am Michael Kohlhaas,
the horse-dealer. ”
Luther sprang from his chair and cried, «Get thee
hence, thou villain! thy breath is the plague, and the sight of
thee perdition. ” He was pushing past the table to where a bell
stood, when Kohlhaas, without stirring from the spot, drew a
pistol and said, “Most reverend sir, touch but that bell, and
this shall lay me dead at your feet: be seated and lend me
the
(C
from
your
## p. 8685 (#297) ###########################################
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8685
ear. Were you among the angels whose psalms you are inditing,
you would not be safer than with me. "
Luther resumed his seat and asked, “What would you with
me ? »
Kohlhaas replied, “I come to disprove your accusation that I
am an unjust man. In your epistle you declare that those in
authority wot not of my cause. Go to, then: procure me
safe-conduct to Dresden, and I will lay my suit before them in
a
person. ”
(
1934
中国有
G
These words at once puzzled the doctor and somewhat al-
layed his fears. “Godless and terrible evil-doer! ” he cried, “who
gave thee the right to set thyself up a judge and fall upon the
lord of Tronka ? Foiled at the castle, by whose authority didst
thou dare to carry fire and sword into the heart of the commu-
nity that shields him ? »
Kohlhaas answered, “By no one, most reverend sir, was this
authority granted to me: I was deceived and misled by infor-
mation I received from Dresden. The war I wage against the
community is a crime, if, as you have pledged your word, I was
never cast out from its midst. »
«Cast out! ” Luther exclaimed: « what mad idea hath seized
thee? Who could have cast thee out from the community in
which thou wast bred ? Nay, canst quote me one — be he who
he might — as long as nations have been on earth, who has thus
been cast out ? »
Kohlhaas answered, clenching his fist, “I call him an out-
cast to whom the protection of the law is denied. I need that
protection in the peaceful exercise of my calling; for that, and
that alone, I and mine seek security in the bosom of a
munity, and whoso denies it to me casts me out to the savages
of the wilderness, and — who will dispute it ? — himself places in
my hands the club that serves for my own defense. ”
“Who denied thee the protection of the law ?
Did I not
write that thy plaint had never reached the ear of thy sovereign?
If his ministers bring not forward the suits that are preferred,
or abuse his hallowed name without his knowledge, who but God
can call him to account for the choice of such servants? and art
thou – thou God-abandoned man of wrath — art thou empowered
to bring him to justice therefore ? ”
“Go to! » Kohlhaas answered. "If my sovereign has not cast
me out, I will return once more to the community he protects.
L
com-
>
-
## p. 8686 (#298) ###########################################
8686
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
Again I say, procure me a safe-conduct to Dresden, and I will
disband the force now gathered before Lützen, and will depart
to urge the suit that was rejected by the tribunal of my coun.
»
try. ”
((
»
(
Luther sat fretfully tossing about the papers that lay on his
desk, and remained silent. The high ground this marvelous man
took in dealing with the State was not to his taste. Recalling to
mind the judicial decision which was forwarded from Kohlhaasen-
brück to Lord Wenzel, he inquired what Kohlhaas was minded
to demand from the tribunal at Dresden. The dealer answered:
“Chastisement of the nobleman, according to the letter of the
law; restoration of the horses to their former condition; and com-
pensation for the losses which my servant Herse, who fell at
Mühlberg, sustained through the violence practiced on us. ” »
“Compensation for losses ! ” cried Luther. “Hast gotten thee
thousands on thousands from Jew and Christian by bills and
mortgages to further thy wild, fanciful revenge? Wilt thou add
these to thy account when the day of reckoning comes ? ”
«God forbid ! » Kohlhaas returned: house and land, the wealth
I possessed, are gone; these I ask not back, nay not even the
cost I was at to bury my wife. Herse's old mother will produce
a note of the expenses of his illness, and a list of the articles her
son lost at Castle Tronka; and the government may refer to an
expert the assessment of the damages I suffered by the delay in
the sale of the horses. ”
« Mad and terrible man,” exclaimed Luther, «thou art be-
yond all comprehension;" and with steadily fixed gaze continued,
when thy sword hath already gotten thee the most fearful ven-
geance on the head of this man, what impels thee to demand a
judgment against him, which, when it falls at length, will be but
dust in the balance ? »
A tear rolled down Kohlhaas's cheek as he answered,
reverend sir, this thing has cost me my wife; Kohlhaas would
show the world that she did not perish in an unjust cause.
Give me my will in this matter and let the voice of justice be
heard. All else that may be in dispute between us I yield to
your decision. ”
"If matters be as public report states," answered Luther, thy
demand is just; and hadst thou referred thy claim to the decision
of thy sovereign before assuming the business of revenge, I doubt
not that - item by item - it would have been granted thee. But
-
C
»
Most
>
## p. 8687 (#299) ###########################################
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8687
DRAR
11!
consider well: had it not been better thou hadst forgiven Lord
Wenzel for the sake of Him who saved thee, and hadst taken
the brutes by the halters and ridden them home, wretched and
famine-stricken as they were, to fatten in thine own stables at
Kohlhaasenbrück ? »
Kohlhaas walked to the window and answered, “Maybe; may-
be; yet perchance not. Had I known they would have been fed
on my wife's heart's blood, maybe, reverend sir, I would have
acted as you say, and not spared a bushel or two of oats. But
now they have cost me so dear, let things have their course; be
the judgment given that is my right, and let Lord Wenzel get
me my nags into condition. "
Luther again applied himself to his papers. For a while he
was lost in thought, but at last turned to Kohlhaas and said that
he would essay to mediate between him and the Elector. He
begged him to suspend all further operations with the force at
Lützen; adding that if his Highness granted the safe-conduct,
it would be made known by public proclamation.
Kohlhaas
bent down to kiss his hand, but he waved him away and con-
tinued: -
“Whether the Elector will let mercy take the place of justice,
I know not. I have heard that he has already assembled an
army to assail you in your quarters; but be that as it may, rest
assured that if I fail the fault will not be mine. "
The dealer answered that his intercession sufficed to remove
every doubt.
Luther saluted him with another wave of the
hand, and was returning to his labors, when Kohlhaas sank on
his knees before him and preferred yet one other humble re-
quest. He had been accustomed all his life to partake of the
Lord's Supper at Whitsuntide, but had this year neglected the
duty on account of his present enterprise: would the reverend
doctor, he asked, receive his confession and thereafter dispense
unto him the holy sacrament? Luther darted an inquiring glance
upon him, and after a moment's reflection, said:-
“Yes, Kohlhaas, it shall be so; but remember that He of
whose body thou wouldst partake forgave his enemies. Art thou
prepared,” he added, marking intently the dealer's emotion, «art
thou prepared in like manner to forgive the man who did thee
wrong? And wilt thou then hie thee to Castle Tronka and lead
thence thy horses to be fed in their own stables at Kohlhaasen-
IP
»
1
brück? ”
## p. 8688 (#300) ###########################################
8688
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
»
Most reverend sir,” Kohlhaas answered with mantling color,
grasping the doctor's hand, why ask this now? The Lord him-
self forgave not all his enemies. I am content to forgive my
two liege lords, the Electors, the castellan and the steward, the
noble lords Hinz and Kunz, and all else who have wronged me
in this matter; but Lord Wenzel I must needs compel to bring
my horses into condition. ”
With a look of deep displeasure Luther turned his back upon
him and rang the bell. An amanuensis made his way with a
light across the antechamber, while Kohlhaas, much moved, re-
mained in the same position, with his kerchief to his eyes; but
observing that Luther was again busy writing, and hearing the
vain attempts of the man to unclose the bolted door, he rose and
opened it for him. Luther, with a side glance at the stranger,
bade the amanuensis light him out; the man seemed much puz-
zled at the presence of the unknown visitor, but took the house
key from a nail and waited at the half-open door. Kohlhaas, with
his hat between his hands, spoke once more with deep emotion:
«Most reverend sir,” he said, “I cannot then hope to partake of
that which I desired! I cannot be reconciled to-! »
Luther broke in hastily, “To thy Savior ? no: to thy sover-
eign, perhaps. I have promised I will do what in me lies.
Thereupon he signed to his attendant to comply with his
orders without delay. Kohlhaas pressed his hands upon his breast
with a look of bitter agony, and following the man down-stairs
vanished into the night.
[Luther procures the safe-conduct, a general amnesty is granted, and
Kohlhaas disbands his troop. Upon his return to Kohlhaasenbrück, the dealer
buys back his old home and awaits the promised restoration of his horses ;
but through the machinations of his enemies at court he is treacherously
arrested, charged with murder, and condemned to death. The Elector wishes
to pardon him; but the Emperor bimself insists upon the execution of the
sentence, since Kohlhaas has offended against imperial law by waging civil
war. Reluctantly the Elector pronounces the sentence. ]
Arrived at the place of death, he found the Elector of Brand-
enburg present on horseback, with his retinue, among whom he
observed Lord Henry of Geusau, and a vast concourse of people
.
On the Elector's right was Francis Müller, the imperial advocate,
bearing a copy of the judicial sentence; on his left, his own rep-
resentative, Anthony Zäuner, with the judgment of the Dresden
tribunal; and in the centre of the ring formed by the crowd
## p. 8689 (#301) ###########################################
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8689
1
there stood a herald bearing a bundle of linen, and holding by
their bridles a pair of noble, sleek-coated, prancing steeds. Lord
Henry, it seems, had pressed the suit against Lord Wenzel of
Tronka point by point with unsparing rigor, and with such suc-
cess that the horses had been withdrawn from the knacker's and
been restored to honor by the ceremony of waving a flag over
their heads; after which they had been intrusted to the noble-
man's servants to be brought into condition: this accomplished,
they were delivered over to Zäuner in the market-place at Dres-
den in presence of a special commission. And so it was that,
when Kohlhaas made his way to the rising ground followed by
the guard, the Elector thus addressed him. "At length, Kohlhaas,
the day has come when full justice shall be meted out to thee:
behold, here I deliver unto thee all of which thou wast by
violence deprived at Castle Tronka, and all that I, as thy sov-
ereign, was bound to recover for thee; here I restore unto thee
thy horses, the neckcloth, money, and linen, nay,-even the
expenses of the illness of thy servant Herse, who fell at Mühl.
berg. Art thou content with me ? »
Kohlhaas set down his children beside him, and began to
read the judgment which was handed to him at a sign from the
lord chancellor. When he came to an article which condemned
Lord Wenzel to two years' imprisonment, carried away by the full-
ness of his satisfaction he crossed his hands upon his breast, and
fell upon his knees before the Elector. Rising to his feet, he
laid his hand upon his head and declared to the chancellor that
his highest desire on earth was accomplished. Stepping up to
the horses, he did not conceal his delight, - patting their arched
and rounded necks; from them he turned again to the Lord of
Geusau, and told him cheerily that he intended them for his two
sons, Henry and Leopold. The chancellor bent towards him
from his saddle and promised, in the Elector's name, that his
last wishes should be solemnly regarded; he bade him, further,
to dispose as he pleased of the articles contained in the bundle.
Kohlhaas at once called Herse's aged mother, whom he had seen
in the crowd, and saying, “There, good mother, these belong
to you,” handed her the things, with the sum he had himself
received as compensation, for the support and comfort of her
declining years.
The Elector then spake: -“Kohlhaas the horse-dealer, now
that thou hast thus received full satisfaction for the wrong done
XV-544
## p. 8690 (#302) ###########################################
8690
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
unto thee, prepare thyself to atone to his Imperial Majesty,
whose representative is here present, for thine own outrages
against the peace of his realm. ”
Kohlhaas took off his hat and threw it on the ground, and
said, "I am ready! ”
He pressed his little ones each tenderly to his breast, and
confided them to his friend the farmer; and while the latter
silently but tearfully withdrew from the scene, he walked up to
the block with unwavering step,
and immediately after,
his head fell beneath the axe of the executioner.
Here ends the story of Kohlhaas. Amid the lamentations of
the people his body was placed in a coffin; and as the bearers
were about to carry it out to a church-yard in the suburbs, the
Elector called for the sons of the departed and dubbed them
knights, telling the chancellor he would have them brought up
among his own pages.
Broken in body and mind, the Elector of Saxony soon after
appeared in his capital; and the rest of the story the reader may
find in the chronicles of his time.
In the last century, several hearty, sturdy descendants of
Kohlhaas were still to be found in Mecklenburg.
## p. 8690 (#303) ###########################################
1
14
## p. 8690 (#304) ###########################################
F. KLOPSTOCK.
2x
## p. 8690 (#305) ###########################################
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## p. 8690 (#306) ###########################################
## p. 8691 (#307) ###########################################
8691
FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK*
**
(1724-1803)
BY KUNO FRANCKE
Twas in 1748, the same year in which Frederick the Great,
in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, achieved his first political
triumph, that Friedrich Klopstock, in the first three cantos
of his Messias,' sounded that morning call of joyous idealism and
exalted individualism which was to be the dominant note of the best
in all modern German literature. The magic spell which the name
of Klopstock exercised upon all aspiring minds of the middle of the
eighteenth century has been vividly described by Goethe, in Werther's
account of the thunder-storm which he and Lotte observed together.
“In the distance the thunder was dying away; a glorious rain fell
gently upon the land, and the most refreshing perfume arose to us
out of the fullness of the warm air. She stood leaning upon her
elbow; her glance penetrated the distance, she looked heavenward
and upon me; I saw her eyes fill with tears; she laid her hand upon
mine, and said — Klopstock! ! I at once remembered the beautiful ode
Die Frühlingsfeier' (The Spring Festival) which was in her mind,
and lost myself in the torrent of emotions which rushed over me
with this name. ”
On the other hand, Schiller has well expressed the limitations of
Klopstock's genius, when in trying to define his place among modern
poets he says: “His sphere is always the realm of ideas, and he
makes everything lead up to the infinite. One might say that he
robs everything that he touches of its body in order to turn it into
spi rit, whereas other poets seek to clothe the spiritual with a body. ”
It is undoubtedly this lack of plastic power, this inability to create
living, palpable beings, which prevented Klopstock from attaining the
high artistic ideal which his first great effusions seemed to prophesy.
The older he grew, the more he withdrew from the actual world, the
more he surrounded himself with the halo of superhuman experiences,
the more he insisted on describing the indescribable and expressing
the inexpressible; until at last the same man whose first youthful
*A portion of this sketch is drawn from the author's work, (Social Forces
in German Literature,' by the kind permission of its publishers, Messrs. Henry
Holt & Co. of New York.
## p. 8692 (#308) ###########################################
8692
FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK
utterances had set free mighty forces of popular passion, was intelli-
gible only to a few adepts initiated into the mysteries of his artificial,
esoteric language.
And yet it is easy to see that it was precisely through this exag-
gerated and overstrained spirituality that Klopstock achieved the
greatest of his work. He would never have produced the marvelous
impression upon his contemporaries which he did produce, had he
attempted to present life as it is. That task had been done by the
realistic comedy and novel of the seventeenth century.
What was
needed at Klopstock's time was a higher view of human existence,
the kindling of larger emotions, the pointing out of loftier aims. A
man was needed who should give utterance to that religious idealism,
which, though buried under the ruins of popular independence, was
nevertheless the one vital principle of Protestantism not yet extinct;
a man who, through an exalted conception of nationality, should in-
spire his generation with a new faith in Germany's political future;
a man who, by virtue of his own genuine sympathy with all that is
human in the noblest sense, and through his unwavering belief in the
high destiny of mankind, should usher in a new era of enlightened
cosmopolitanism. It was Klopstock's spirituality which enabled him
to assume this threefold leadership; and the immeasurable services
rendered by him in this capacity to the cause of religion, fatherland,
and humanity, may well make us forget the artistic shortcomings by
which they were accompanied.
Klopstock led German literature from the narrow circle of private
emotions and purposes to which the absolutism of the seventeenth
century had come near confining it, into the broad realm of universal
sympathy. He was the first great freeman since the days of Luther.
He did not, like Haller, content himself with the sight of an inde-
pendent but provincial and primitive life, as afforded by the rural
communities of Switzerland. He did not, like Gellert, turn away from
the oppressed and helpless condition of the German people to a
weakly, exaggerated cultivation of himself. He addressed himself to
the whole nation; nay, to all mankind. And by appealing to all that
is grand and noble; by calling forth those passions and emotions
which link the human to the divine; by awakening the poor down-
trodden souls of men who thus far had known themselves only as
the subjects of princes to the consciousness of their moral and spir-
itual citizenship,- he became the prophet of that invisible republic
which now for nearly a century and a half has been the ideal coun-
terpart in German life of a stern monarchical reality.
From the asthetic point of view, Klopstock is above all a master
of musical expression. His odes — in which he celebrates nature,
friendship, freedom, fatherland -remind us of Richard Wagner in
## p. 8693 (#309) ###########################################
FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK
8693
-
the boldness of their rhythmic effects and in their irresistible appeal
to passionate emotion. Even his great religious epic 'Der Messias )
(The Messiah) is not so much an epic as a high-pitched musical
composition. Reality of events, clearness of motive, naturalness of
character, directness of style, — these are things for which in most
parts of the poem we look in vain. Throughout its twenty cantos
we constantly circle between heaven, hell, and earth, without at
any given moment seeming to know where we are; and instead of
straightforward action we often must be satisfied with a portentous
glance, an effusive prayer, or a mysterious sigh. But these defects
of the Messiah' as an epic poem are offset by an extraordinary
wealth of lyric motives. Indeed, the narrative part of the poem
should be looked upon merely as the recitative element of an ora-
torio, connecting those passages with each other in which the com-
position rises to its height,— the arias and choruses. Nearly every
important speech in the Messiah) is a lyric song, and at least one
entire canto — the twentieth — is given over to choral effects: from
beginning to end this canto is a succession of crowds of jubilant souls
thronging about the Redeemer, as he slowly pursues his triumphal
path through the heavens, until at last he ascends the throne and
sits at the right hand of the Father. It would be hard to imagine
a more impressive finale than this bursting of the universe into a
mighty hymn of praise echoing from star to star, and embracing the
voices of all zones and ages; and it is indeed strange that a poet
who was capable of such visions as these should have been taken to
task by modern critics for not having confined himself more closely
to the representation of actual conditions.
Klopstock was a true liberator. He was the first among modern
German poets who drew his inspiration from the depth of a heart
beating for all humanity.
with — “Make no bones about it; take the brutes and march, or
I'll turn the dogs loose and make matters smooth in no time. ”
The dealer's heart beat hard against his doublet, impelling
him to roll the pot-bellied scoundrel in the mud, that he might
grind his brazen face under his heel. He was not yet satisfied,
however; the balance wavered, for his sense of justice, delicate
as a jeweler's scale, weighed right and wrong to the uttermost
atom. Nevertheless, he gulped down both wrath and railing
together, and — passing his fingers through the tangled manes of
the poor creatures — he asked with softened voice for what fault
his groom had been dismissed the castle. The castellan answered,
because the fellow had given himself airs in the stable-yard: had
objected to a necessary change of stables, and had insisted that
the steeds of two noblemen who came a visit to the castle
should pass the night on the high-road, while his horses were
snugly housed within.
on
XV-543
## p. 8674 (#286) ###########################################
8674
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
1
1
1
Kohlhaas would have given the value of the horses to have
had his man at hand, to compare his tale with that of the brag-
gart castellan.
He stood there in a brown study, mechanically
disentangling each hair, when suddenly the scene changed, and
Lord Wenzel of Tronka dashed in hot from the chase, followed
by a cavalcade of knights, hounds, and horse-boys. The dogs set
up so fierce a howl when they caught sight of the stranger that
they were hardly silenced by the whips of the knights. My
lord reined in and asked what the matter might be; where.
upon the castellan took up his parable, and — while maliciously
distorting the facts — began complaining of the uproar the dealer
had made because his horses had been put to work a little on
the farm, adding with scornful glee that the fellow had even
refused to acknowledge them as his own.
“Those, most noble lord, are not my horses,” broke in Kohl-
haas. « Those are not the horses I left here worth thirty gold
florins apiece. I demand back my steeds sound and well-condi-
tioned. ”
My lord paled before his glance; but recovering, sprang from
the saddle and said, “If the cursed rogue won't take 'em as they
are, he may leave 'em! Hey, Hans! hey, Gunther! he cried,
as he beat the dust out of his breeches, "get up some wine, you
lazy Oafs;” and then ascended the stairs with the whole party.
Kohlhaas said he would rather call a knacker and leave the
pair to rot on a dunghill than take them to Kohlhaasenbrück
as they were; and there he left them without once looking back,
and swinging himself into the saddle, he took the road with a
parting assurance that he would soon find a way to get justice
done.
He had already struck spurs for Dresden, when the thought
of the accusation that had been brought against his groom at the
castle made him draw rein and ride at a foot-pace: and he had
not gone half a mile before it grew upon him so much that he
turned his horse's head and made for Kohlhaasenbrück, minded
first to hear his servant's account of the matter; for experience
whispered in his ear that he knew the world too well to expect
perfection in anybody. He reflected that possibly the man had
gone wrong somehow, and in that case it would be better to
put up with the loss as a proper consequence of his folly; but
another voice, as loud as, but more emphatic than, that of expe-
rience, kept saying to him that if the thing should prove to be a
2
»
4
1
111
## p. 8675 (#287) ###########################################
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8675
Potteet
(
planned trick, it was his duty to strive with his whole strength
for redress of his own wrong and for the future security of oth-
ers. As he rode along and heard at every wayside inn of the
villanies constantly practiced against those whose ill fate led them
by the Castle of Tronka, this latter thought absorbed him more
and more fully, so as almost to shut out entirely that noble doubt
which still prompted hesitation.
On arriving at Kohlhaasenbrück, he had no sooner embraced
his faithful wife and kissed the crowing children that clung around
him, than he inquired after his groom Herse, asking whether
anything had been seen of him.
Mercy on us! ” his wife cried: "only think, it's but a fort-
night since he came back to us in a fearful plight, with scarcely
a sound place in his body, and hardly able to draw breath for
his wounds; we got him to bed and there he lay spitting blood:
and when we inquired the why and wherefore, he told us a story
of which none of us could make head or tail;— how he had been
left at Castle Tronka with some horses, had been shamefully mal-
treated and compelled to fly the place; that the nags were still
there, for they would not let him lay a finger upon them. ”
"Indeed? ” said Kohlhaas, laying aside his mantle; "and is he
all right again now ? ”
«He spits blood yet,” she answered; but he is getting
stronger. I was just going to send a man to the castle to look
after the horses till you came,- for I knew Herse too well to
doubt his word, especially as he has so much to show for it, and
I could not think for a moment that he had done anything with
his charge, - but the poor fellow begged and prayed me not to
risk any one in that den of thieves, saying it was better to lose
the horses altogether than sacrifice a life for them. ”
Is he in bed still ? asked Kohlhaas, leisurely divesting him-
self of his neckcloth.
“No: he manages now to get about the yard a bit in the day-
time," she answered. «You will see that the man has not lied:
not a day passes but we hear of some wanton outrage or other
on those whose way lies by Castle Tronka, and this is one of
them. ”
"I must inquire further before I agree with you,” Kohlhaas
replied. «Go, Lizzy: bring him here if he's up. ”
He sat down in his arm-chair; while his wife, delighted with
calmness she so little expected, made haste to fetch the groom.
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"Now tell me, pray,” said Kohlhaas, when his wife re-entered
with the man, “what mischief you were up to at the castle.
I have reason to be not over well pleased with you. ”
The servant's pallid face flushed hotly at these words, and he
remained silent for a moment.
“You are right, master,” he said at last: «for as Providence
would have it, I had a tinder-box with me with which I was
going to burn out the thieves; but just as I was striking the
flint, I heard the cry of a child within, and threw the match into
the Elbe. May God's lightning blast them, methought: 'tis his
business, not mine. ”
Kohlhaas looked at him with amazement, and said, “But tell
me, how did you manage to get turned out of the castle ? »
"All on account of a foolish trick of mine,” the man answered,
wiping the sweat from his brow; “but it's no use crying over
spilt milk.
I would not have the horses racked to death at field-
work; I said they were too young, and had never been trained
to go in the traces. ”
Kohlhaas, concealing his confusion as he might, corrected him
in this, reminding him that they had been awhile in harness last
spring, and added:- “As you were a sort of guest at the castle,
it was your duty to do what lay in your power to satisfy them,
and you might well have lent a helping hand when they were
hard pressed to get in the harvest. ”
« That is just what I did, master,” Herse answered. ( When
I saw what wry faces they made, I thought after all it would not
kill the nags; and so, on the third morning, I harnessed them
and brought in three loads of wheat. ”
Kohlhaas, whose heart was in his mouth, looked down and
said, “I heard no account of that, Herse;" but the latter assured
him it was true.
«What they took in such bad part was that I wouldn't put
the horses in again at midday before they had had their feed;
and besides that, I wouldn't listen to the castellan and the stew-
ard, who wished me to give up the nags to them, and pocket for
myself the money you gave me for their expenses. I turned my
back on them and told them they might go further afield. ”
« But this,” said Kohlhaas, was not the reason
drove you from the castle ? ”
“God forbid! ” the man cried, "I did worse.
two knights came on a visit, and when I found their horses in
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the stable, and mine tethered to the rail outside, I asked the
castellan where I should house them: he pointed to a pig-sty, a
filthy hovel of mud and wattles, built up against the inner wall. ”
“You mean," broke in Kohlhaas, “that it was a stable in such
a wretched condition that it looked more like a pig-sty. ”
“It was a pig-sty, master! ” Herse answered; “nothing more
and nothing less. I could hardly stand upright in it, and the
pigs ran in and out between my legs. ”
"Perhaps,” said Kohlhaas, "there was no room elsewhere;
and of course, a knight's steed has a right to be the better
housed. ”
« The stable was a trifle small,” the groom answered, lowering
his voice; "there were altogether seven knights at the castle:
but if you had been master there, you would have made room
by packing the steeds a little closer. I said I should go into the
village and hire a stable; but the steward said he would not let
the nags out of his sight, and bade me on my life not attempt
to move them from the yard. ”
“Well,” said Kohlhaas, “what did you do then? ”
"As the steward told me the two knights were only passing
visitors, and would be gone in the morning, I led the horses into
the pig-sty; but the next day went by and they were still there,
and the day following I heard that the gentlemen thought of
staying several weeks. ”
"I daresay,” said Kohlhaas, "the pig-sty wasn't so bad as you
fancied it was when you first put your nose in. ”
That's true,” the man answered: “when I had swept it out and
put it to rights a bit, it was so-so, and I gave the girl a groschen
to shift for the pigs elsewhere. I managed to let the nags stand
upright in the daytime by taking off the loose boards, and of a
night, you know, I put them on again: the poor things stuck
their necks through the roof like a pair of geese, and looked
about for home or some other place where they would be better
off. ”
"Well now,” said Kohlhaas, “why on earth did they drive you
from the castle ? »
"Master, I'll tell you plainly,” the groom answered: “because
they would be rid of me; for so long as I was by they couldn't
have their will with the brutes and worry 'em to death. In
the servants' hall, the court-yard, and everywhere, they made wry
faces at me; and as I took no heed, but let them twist their jaws
st
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out of joint if they chose, they picked a quarrel with me on pur-
pose and drove me out. ”
“But why ? ” said Kohlhaas; “they must have had some cause
for what they did. ”
“Of course they had, master," answered Herse, “and a most
righteous one too. On the second evening of their stay in the
pig-sty the horses were in a pretty pickle; so I mounted one and
was taking them to the pond, when just as I got through the gate
and was turning into the road, I heard a great noise from the
servants' hall, and out marched castellan, steward, dogs, and
servants all together, yelling and shouting like mad. Stop the
scoundrel! ' cried one; Have at the thief! ' shrieked another: and
when the gate-keeper placed himself in my path, I asked him
and the wild pack that came howling around me, what the
devil was up? 'Up! ' roared the castellan, seizing my horse's
bridle: 'where are you taking those brutes, you rascal ? ' and with
that he gripped me by the throat. I replied, Why, in the name
of all that's holy, to the pond of course. Do you think that
I-? ' 'To the pond, eh ? ' the fellow cried: "I'll teach you, you
thief, to go swimming along the road to Kohlhaasenbrück! ' and
thereupon he and the steward, with a savage wrench, tore me
from the saddle, and I measured my whole length in the mud.
I got up cursing them body and soul.
I had left harness and
horse-cloths and a bundle of linen of my own in the stable, but
they did not mind that; and while the steward led the horses
back, the castellan and servants laid on me with whips and cudg-
els, and beat me till I fell half dead beneath the archway. When
I came to myself a bit and called out, “You thieving dogs, what
have you done with my horses ? ) the castellan shouted, Out of
the place with you! ' and calling the hounds by name, he set a
round dozen of them yelping and tearing at me.
I broke a pale
or something from the fence, and laid three of them dead at my
feet; but just as I was giving way from loss of blood and the
fearful agony, a shrill whistle called the hounds back into the
court-yard, the wings of the gates flew to, the bolts were drawn,
and I sank down fainting on the high-road. ”
Kohlhaas, who had grown very pale, said with a kind of
forced humor, “I fancy after all, Herse, it wasn't so much against
the grain with thee to leave the place ; » and seeing that his
servant remained silent, with downcast look and Aushed face he
continued, “Come, let's have the truth : methinks the pig-sty didn't
1
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8679
suit you; you had a sneaking preference for the stable here at
home ? "
“Damnation ! » cried Herse. “Why, the harness-cloths and
linen are there in the sty now: don't you think if I had wanted
to run for it, I would have brought with me the three rix-florins
I hid behind the manger wrapped in a red silk handkerchief?
By God! to hear you talk so makes me long to have in my hand
again the tinder-box I threw away. ”
“Never mind that," answered the dealer: "I am not against
thee; look here, I believe word for word all that you've said, and
I'd take the sacrament on each syllable; I am sorry too that you
have had such hard measure in my service. Come, get you to
bed, Herse; ask for a bottle of wine and make yourself easy, for
I will undertake to procure you justice. ”
He rose from his seat, and going to his desk, made out a
list of the articles left behind by the groom in the sty, specify-
ing their value and adding the man's estimate of the expenses
attendant on his illness; this done, he gave him his hand and
dismissed him to his rest.
He talked over the whole matter with his wife Elizabeth, and
made no secret of his intention to strain every nerve to obtain
full redress; and when he had put the matter in a clear light,
he was overjoyed to find that she heartily agreed with him. She
said indeed that some day, perhaps, travelers less gifted with
forbearance than he might happen upon the castle; that it was
a good work before God and man to put a speedy end to such
villainies; and that she herself would know where to find the
costs of the suit if her husband would take immediate action.
Kohlhaas told her she was his own brave wife, and together with
the children they passed that day and the next in the quiet
enjoyment of their love; but on the following morning --hay-
ing dispatched all necessary business - he started for Dresden to
bring his case before the tribunals.
[Kohlhaas seeks to obtain redress by every means known to the law, and
patiently awaits its slow process. After many disappointments, he discovers
that the real impediment is Baron Tronka's interest at court; and his lawyer
refuses to compromise his own position further by conducting the dealer's
case. Unwilling to dwell longer in a land which denies to its inhabitants the
protection of its laws, Kohlhaas sells his house and farm to one of his neigh-
bors. His wife, however, with tearful entreaties induces him to allow her to
make a last appeal to the Elector himself. ]
## p. 8680 (#292) ###########################################
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snail's pace.
Kohlhaas had already proved that his wife possessed foresight
and determination alike; he inquired what plan she had formed
as to her conduct. With downcast eyes and blushing cheeks she
replied that the castellan of the electoral palace, when on duty
years ago in Schwerin, had known and wooed her; true, he was
now married and the father of a family, but she had reason
to believe he had not quite forgotten her: indeed, she thought
her husband had better content himself with simple trust, as she
hoped to turn to account several matters of which it would take
too long to tell. Kohlhaas was radiant with joy; he kissed his
wife, and told her to do as she would, and that she only needed
to be received by the castellan's wife to have at any moment the
opportunity she sought. He then had the brown geldings put in;
and commending her to the care of his faithful groom Sternbald,
he handed the petition into the carriage and bade them God-
speed.
Of all the unsuccessful efforts he had made to further his
cause, this turned out the most disastrous. A few days later on
he saw Stern bald enter the yard on foot, leading the horses at a
Kohlhaas rushed out, pale as death, and found his
wife lying in the carriage and suffering greatly from a bruise on
the right breast. From the man he could get no plain account
of what had happened: but it appeared that the castellan was
not at home when they arrived, and that they had been obliged
to take up their quarters in the neighborhood of the palace,
whence next morning Elizabeth started, leaving orders for Stern-
bald to stay and tend the horses; and he had seen nothing
more of her till the evening, when she was brought back in the
condition he saw. He had heard that she had pushed her way
boldly towards the presence of his Highness, and that one of the
guards, impelled only by rude zeal for his master, had — without
order -- struck her with the shaft of his lance.
Sternbald had been told by the people who bore her unconscious
to the inn; for she had not as yet been able to speak since, for
the blood that gushed from her mouth. The petition, it seemed,
had been afterwards taken from her by one of the knights in
attendance. Sternbald wanted to saddle a horse and ride back
with the news at once; but in spite of all the surgeon could
urge, she had insisted upon being taken back immediately to
her husband, and had forbidden them to give him any warning.
Kohlhaas got her to bed: the journey had completely broken her
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strength, and her whole frame quivered every time she drew
breath; but still he contrived to keep life in her for the space of
several days.
They tried in vain to bring her to herself, that they might
get out the truth of what had befallen: but she lay there with
eyes fixed and glassy and spoke no word; only in the presence
of death did she recover consciousness. A Lutheran clergyman
(to which rising sect she, following her husband's example, had
adhered) had called; and sitting by her bedside, was reading with
loud and solemn voice a chapter in the Bible, when she suddenly
raised her head, and throwing upon him a glance of sad mean-
ing, took the book from his hands as though she would not have
it read, and passing her fingers through it, began searching leaf
by leaf until at last she found what she wanted. With a sign to
Kohlhaas, who sat by the bed, she pointed to the verse, "Love
your enemies — do good to those that hate you;” she pressed his
hand, and with a long look of passionate love she passed away.
Kohlhaas thought, “If I forgive Lord Wenzel, so may not
God forgive me! ” He bent over the corpse and kissed it, bath-
ing the face with a torrent of tears; then, closing the eyes of her
he loved, he quitted the room. With the advance of the hundred
florins which he had already received from the farmer on his
Dresden property, he prepared for Elizabeth's interment on a
scale rather befitting a princess than the wife of a simple trader:
he had an oak coffin made, studded with massive brass nails
and bound with the same metal, and therein he placed a silken
cushion with tassels of silver and gold thread; the grave was
eight yards deep, walled within with masonry: and he himself
overlooked the work, standing on the brink with his youngest
infant on his arm. When the day of the funeral came round,
the body was robed in pure white and placed in the chief room
covered with a black pall.
The minister had just finished an eloquent address beside the
coffin, when Kohlhaas received the royal answer to the petition
which the dead woman had borne: it was to the effect that he
should fetch his horses from Castle Tronka, and not trouble the
State any further in the matter on pain of instant imprisonment.
When the grave had been filled in and the cross planted thereon,
he dismissed those who had been present to render the last
offices, and returned home. Once more he threw himself on his
knees beside the bed of the departed, and then betook himself to
a
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
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the business of revenge.
He sat down and drew up a decree,
wherein, by virtue of the authority native to him, he condemned
Lord Wenzel of Tronka to present himself, with the horses which
had been reduced to such evil plight in his fields, within three
days at Kohlhaasenbrück, there to serve in person about them
till they should be restored to their former condition: this decree
he dispatched to the castle by a mounted messenger, with in-
structions to deliver it and then make the best of his way back
without losing a moment.
When the three days' grace had elapsed without anything hav-
ing been seen or heard of the horses, he summoned Herse and
explained to him the commands he had laid upon Lord Wenzel
as to the tending of the animals, and inquired whether Herse
had a mind to strike spurs with him for the castle and haul his
lordship thence by force; he further asked whether, when they
had taken him and set him to work in the stables at Kohlhaasen-
brück, Herse felt able and willing to correct with a cut of his
whip any occasional tendency to laziness. When Herse caught
the import of his words, he shouted, “This very day, if you will,
master. "
He swore he would plait a thong ten strands thick to
teach the rascal how to use the curry-comb.
Kohlhaas said no more, but went and gave up possession of
the house, dispatching the children ere evening beyond the front-
ier to the care of his relations in Schwerin: and when night fell
he gathered his servants together, seven in number, each true as
steel, and bound to him for life and death; he armed and mounted
them, and with them sallied forth towards Castle Tronka.
At dusk of the third day, he and his little band rode beneath
the walls. The toll collector and the gate-keeper were standing
talking together under the archway when the eight dashed in,
overthrowing them in their course; they spurred into the church-
yard, and while some set fire to the sheds and other woodwork,
Herse made his way up the winding staircase to the castellan's
He found his man playing cards with the steward
partly undressed — and fell upon the twain, cut and thrust, spar-
ing nothing. At the same time Kohlhaas 'sped to the great hall
of the castle. His coming was like the judgment of God.
lord was just stirring the laughter of a knot of young friends by
a recital of the summons the horse-dealer had served upon him;
but while reading it he caught the harsh tones of his enemy in
the court below. Pallid as a corpse, he threw down the paper,
rooms.
- both
My
## p. 8683 (#295) ###########################################
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8683
and warning all present to look to their lives, vanished from the
place. Kohlhaas, being confronted at the door by a certain Sir
Hans of Tronka, seized him by the throat and hurled him into a
corner, spattering his brains upon the walls; while his servants
made short work of the rest, who had armed themselves, by
securing them or forcing them to flight. But the dealer sought
Lord Wenzel in vain: no one had seen him, and finding that the
terrified prisoners could tell nothing, he burst open with a kick
the doors leading to the inner apartments, and sword in hand
essayed every possible hiding-place,-still in vain, however. At
last he came down, cursing, into the court-yard, and gave orders
to set a guard at every point by which he might escape.
Meanwhile smoke and flame broke forth on every side; the
fire, leaping from the sheds, had seized first upon the main build-
ing and then upon the wings. Sternbald and three more were
tearing everything that hand could move, and piling it for booty
in the yard. With loud shouts they greeted Herse when he
thrust his head from the window above, and hurled down the
dead bodies of the castellan and steward with those of their
wives and children. As Kohlhaas was descending the staircase,
an old rheumatic housekeeper of my lord's threw herself at his
feet whining for mercy; he asked where her master was, and she
replied with cracked and trembling voice that she thought he
had taken refuge in the chapel. Kohlhaas called two of his
men, for lack of keys broke in the door with axe and crowbar,
and overturning bench and altar, was maddened with the discov-
ery that his victim had fled.
Just as Kohlhaas was sallying from the chapel, it chanced that
a lad belonging to the castle came running to try and save his
lordship's chargers, which were stabled in a vast stone building
now threatened by the flames. Kohlhaas, who had just caught
sight of his two geldings, stopped him, and pointing to the
thatched shed in which they were secured, asked why he did not
bring them out; the lad replied that the place was on fire, and
taking the key, attempted to open the door of the stable. Kohl-
haas knocked him aside, and snatching the key savagely from
the door, threw it over the wall; then, amid the ruthless laughter
of his men, he so belabored the lad with the flat of his sword
that he was fain to rush into the burning shed and unloose the
brutes. He had barely seized their halters when the roof fell in,
and his face was corpse-like when he struggled forth out of the
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
smoke into the yard. Kohlhaas no longer heeded him, and turned
his back upon him once and again; but the lad followed to where
he was standing with several of his servants, and when at last he
faced him and asked what he should now do with the horses,
Kohlhaas lifted his foot and launched at him so savage a kick
that had it taken him, it must have been his death. Then with
out deigning another syllable he mounted his brown steed, and
leaving his men to their unholy business, rode beneath the arch-
way and there awaited the dawn of day.
[Kohlhaas pursues Baron Tronka to the convent where he has taken refuge;
his band of malcontents increases; he forms a military organization, burns
villages, and terrorizes the entire country. The regular troops are called
out against him, and are defeated. Kohlhaas lays siege to Leipsic. At this
point Luther interposes with a proclamation against Kohlhaas, and the men
are shaken in their allegiance to their intrepid leader. He resolves to have
an interview with Luther, that he may convince him of the absolute justice of
his cause.
As a price is set upon his head, it is a perilous undertaking, and
he must go disguised. ]
Kohlhaas assumed the dress of a Thuringian peasant, and
summoning several of his most reliable men, he placed Stern bald
in command of the party assembled at Lützen; explaining that
business of importance called him to Wittenberg, and that
attack need be feared within three days, he then took his depart-
ure, promising to return within that time. Under an assumed
name, he took up his quarters in a little inn at Wittenberg, and
at nightfall — carrying beneath his cloak a pair of pistols which
he had captured at Castle Tronka - he made his way to Luther's
residence.
The doctor was sitting at his desk, engaged with a heap of
books and manuscripts; but seeing a stranger push open
door, enter, and then carefully bolt it behind him, he inquired
who he was, and what was his business.
With a half-fearful
consciousness of the terror he was causing, the man advanced,
and doffing his hat respectfully, said, “I am Michael Kohlhaas,
the horse-dealer. ”
Luther sprang from his chair and cried, «Get thee
hence, thou villain! thy breath is the plague, and the sight of
thee perdition. ” He was pushing past the table to where a bell
stood, when Kohlhaas, without stirring from the spot, drew a
pistol and said, “Most reverend sir, touch but that bell, and
this shall lay me dead at your feet: be seated and lend me
the
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
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ear. Were you among the angels whose psalms you are inditing,
you would not be safer than with me. "
Luther resumed his seat and asked, “What would you with
me ? »
Kohlhaas replied, “I come to disprove your accusation that I
am an unjust man. In your epistle you declare that those in
authority wot not of my cause. Go to, then: procure me
safe-conduct to Dresden, and I will lay my suit before them in
a
person. ”
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These words at once puzzled the doctor and somewhat al-
layed his fears. “Godless and terrible evil-doer! ” he cried, “who
gave thee the right to set thyself up a judge and fall upon the
lord of Tronka ? Foiled at the castle, by whose authority didst
thou dare to carry fire and sword into the heart of the commu-
nity that shields him ? »
Kohlhaas answered, “By no one, most reverend sir, was this
authority granted to me: I was deceived and misled by infor-
mation I received from Dresden. The war I wage against the
community is a crime, if, as you have pledged your word, I was
never cast out from its midst. »
«Cast out! ” Luther exclaimed: « what mad idea hath seized
thee? Who could have cast thee out from the community in
which thou wast bred ? Nay, canst quote me one — be he who
he might — as long as nations have been on earth, who has thus
been cast out ? »
Kohlhaas answered, clenching his fist, “I call him an out-
cast to whom the protection of the law is denied. I need that
protection in the peaceful exercise of my calling; for that, and
that alone, I and mine seek security in the bosom of a
munity, and whoso denies it to me casts me out to the savages
of the wilderness, and — who will dispute it ? — himself places in
my hands the club that serves for my own defense. ”
“Who denied thee the protection of the law ?
Did I not
write that thy plaint had never reached the ear of thy sovereign?
If his ministers bring not forward the suits that are preferred,
or abuse his hallowed name without his knowledge, who but God
can call him to account for the choice of such servants? and art
thou – thou God-abandoned man of wrath — art thou empowered
to bring him to justice therefore ? ”
“Go to! » Kohlhaas answered. "If my sovereign has not cast
me out, I will return once more to the community he protects.
L
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
Again I say, procure me a safe-conduct to Dresden, and I will
disband the force now gathered before Lützen, and will depart
to urge the suit that was rejected by the tribunal of my coun.
»
try. ”
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Luther sat fretfully tossing about the papers that lay on his
desk, and remained silent. The high ground this marvelous man
took in dealing with the State was not to his taste. Recalling to
mind the judicial decision which was forwarded from Kohlhaasen-
brück to Lord Wenzel, he inquired what Kohlhaas was minded
to demand from the tribunal at Dresden. The dealer answered:
“Chastisement of the nobleman, according to the letter of the
law; restoration of the horses to their former condition; and com-
pensation for the losses which my servant Herse, who fell at
Mühlberg, sustained through the violence practiced on us. ” »
“Compensation for losses ! ” cried Luther. “Hast gotten thee
thousands on thousands from Jew and Christian by bills and
mortgages to further thy wild, fanciful revenge? Wilt thou add
these to thy account when the day of reckoning comes ? ”
«God forbid ! » Kohlhaas returned: house and land, the wealth
I possessed, are gone; these I ask not back, nay not even the
cost I was at to bury my wife. Herse's old mother will produce
a note of the expenses of his illness, and a list of the articles her
son lost at Castle Tronka; and the government may refer to an
expert the assessment of the damages I suffered by the delay in
the sale of the horses. ”
« Mad and terrible man,” exclaimed Luther, «thou art be-
yond all comprehension;" and with steadily fixed gaze continued,
when thy sword hath already gotten thee the most fearful ven-
geance on the head of this man, what impels thee to demand a
judgment against him, which, when it falls at length, will be but
dust in the balance ? »
A tear rolled down Kohlhaas's cheek as he answered,
reverend sir, this thing has cost me my wife; Kohlhaas would
show the world that she did not perish in an unjust cause.
Give me my will in this matter and let the voice of justice be
heard. All else that may be in dispute between us I yield to
your decision. ”
"If matters be as public report states," answered Luther, thy
demand is just; and hadst thou referred thy claim to the decision
of thy sovereign before assuming the business of revenge, I doubt
not that - item by item - it would have been granted thee. But
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HEINRICH VON KLEIST
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consider well: had it not been better thou hadst forgiven Lord
Wenzel for the sake of Him who saved thee, and hadst taken
the brutes by the halters and ridden them home, wretched and
famine-stricken as they were, to fatten in thine own stables at
Kohlhaasenbrück ? »
Kohlhaas walked to the window and answered, “Maybe; may-
be; yet perchance not. Had I known they would have been fed
on my wife's heart's blood, maybe, reverend sir, I would have
acted as you say, and not spared a bushel or two of oats. But
now they have cost me so dear, let things have their course; be
the judgment given that is my right, and let Lord Wenzel get
me my nags into condition. "
Luther again applied himself to his papers. For a while he
was lost in thought, but at last turned to Kohlhaas and said that
he would essay to mediate between him and the Elector. He
begged him to suspend all further operations with the force at
Lützen; adding that if his Highness granted the safe-conduct,
it would be made known by public proclamation.
Kohlhaas
bent down to kiss his hand, but he waved him away and con-
tinued: -
“Whether the Elector will let mercy take the place of justice,
I know not. I have heard that he has already assembled an
army to assail you in your quarters; but be that as it may, rest
assured that if I fail the fault will not be mine. "
The dealer answered that his intercession sufficed to remove
every doubt.
Luther saluted him with another wave of the
hand, and was returning to his labors, when Kohlhaas sank on
his knees before him and preferred yet one other humble re-
quest. He had been accustomed all his life to partake of the
Lord's Supper at Whitsuntide, but had this year neglected the
duty on account of his present enterprise: would the reverend
doctor, he asked, receive his confession and thereafter dispense
unto him the holy sacrament? Luther darted an inquiring glance
upon him, and after a moment's reflection, said:-
“Yes, Kohlhaas, it shall be so; but remember that He of
whose body thou wouldst partake forgave his enemies. Art thou
prepared,” he added, marking intently the dealer's emotion, «art
thou prepared in like manner to forgive the man who did thee
wrong? And wilt thou then hie thee to Castle Tronka and lead
thence thy horses to be fed in their own stables at Kohlhaasen-
IP
»
1
brück? ”
## p. 8688 (#300) ###########################################
8688
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
»
Most reverend sir,” Kohlhaas answered with mantling color,
grasping the doctor's hand, why ask this now? The Lord him-
self forgave not all his enemies. I am content to forgive my
two liege lords, the Electors, the castellan and the steward, the
noble lords Hinz and Kunz, and all else who have wronged me
in this matter; but Lord Wenzel I must needs compel to bring
my horses into condition. ”
With a look of deep displeasure Luther turned his back upon
him and rang the bell. An amanuensis made his way with a
light across the antechamber, while Kohlhaas, much moved, re-
mained in the same position, with his kerchief to his eyes; but
observing that Luther was again busy writing, and hearing the
vain attempts of the man to unclose the bolted door, he rose and
opened it for him. Luther, with a side glance at the stranger,
bade the amanuensis light him out; the man seemed much puz-
zled at the presence of the unknown visitor, but took the house
key from a nail and waited at the half-open door. Kohlhaas, with
his hat between his hands, spoke once more with deep emotion:
«Most reverend sir,” he said, “I cannot then hope to partake of
that which I desired! I cannot be reconciled to-! »
Luther broke in hastily, “To thy Savior ? no: to thy sover-
eign, perhaps. I have promised I will do what in me lies.
Thereupon he signed to his attendant to comply with his
orders without delay. Kohlhaas pressed his hands upon his breast
with a look of bitter agony, and following the man down-stairs
vanished into the night.
[Luther procures the safe-conduct, a general amnesty is granted, and
Kohlhaas disbands his troop. Upon his return to Kohlhaasenbrück, the dealer
buys back his old home and awaits the promised restoration of his horses ;
but through the machinations of his enemies at court he is treacherously
arrested, charged with murder, and condemned to death. The Elector wishes
to pardon him; but the Emperor bimself insists upon the execution of the
sentence, since Kohlhaas has offended against imperial law by waging civil
war. Reluctantly the Elector pronounces the sentence. ]
Arrived at the place of death, he found the Elector of Brand-
enburg present on horseback, with his retinue, among whom he
observed Lord Henry of Geusau, and a vast concourse of people
.
On the Elector's right was Francis Müller, the imperial advocate,
bearing a copy of the judicial sentence; on his left, his own rep-
resentative, Anthony Zäuner, with the judgment of the Dresden
tribunal; and in the centre of the ring formed by the crowd
## p. 8689 (#301) ###########################################
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
8689
1
there stood a herald bearing a bundle of linen, and holding by
their bridles a pair of noble, sleek-coated, prancing steeds. Lord
Henry, it seems, had pressed the suit against Lord Wenzel of
Tronka point by point with unsparing rigor, and with such suc-
cess that the horses had been withdrawn from the knacker's and
been restored to honor by the ceremony of waving a flag over
their heads; after which they had been intrusted to the noble-
man's servants to be brought into condition: this accomplished,
they were delivered over to Zäuner in the market-place at Dres-
den in presence of a special commission. And so it was that,
when Kohlhaas made his way to the rising ground followed by
the guard, the Elector thus addressed him. "At length, Kohlhaas,
the day has come when full justice shall be meted out to thee:
behold, here I deliver unto thee all of which thou wast by
violence deprived at Castle Tronka, and all that I, as thy sov-
ereign, was bound to recover for thee; here I restore unto thee
thy horses, the neckcloth, money, and linen, nay,-even the
expenses of the illness of thy servant Herse, who fell at Mühl.
berg. Art thou content with me ? »
Kohlhaas set down his children beside him, and began to
read the judgment which was handed to him at a sign from the
lord chancellor. When he came to an article which condemned
Lord Wenzel to two years' imprisonment, carried away by the full-
ness of his satisfaction he crossed his hands upon his breast, and
fell upon his knees before the Elector. Rising to his feet, he
laid his hand upon his head and declared to the chancellor that
his highest desire on earth was accomplished. Stepping up to
the horses, he did not conceal his delight, - patting their arched
and rounded necks; from them he turned again to the Lord of
Geusau, and told him cheerily that he intended them for his two
sons, Henry and Leopold. The chancellor bent towards him
from his saddle and promised, in the Elector's name, that his
last wishes should be solemnly regarded; he bade him, further,
to dispose as he pleased of the articles contained in the bundle.
Kohlhaas at once called Herse's aged mother, whom he had seen
in the crowd, and saying, “There, good mother, these belong
to you,” handed her the things, with the sum he had himself
received as compensation, for the support and comfort of her
declining years.
The Elector then spake: -“Kohlhaas the horse-dealer, now
that thou hast thus received full satisfaction for the wrong done
XV-544
## p. 8690 (#302) ###########################################
8690
HEINRICH VON KLEIST
unto thee, prepare thyself to atone to his Imperial Majesty,
whose representative is here present, for thine own outrages
against the peace of his realm. ”
Kohlhaas took off his hat and threw it on the ground, and
said, "I am ready! ”
He pressed his little ones each tenderly to his breast, and
confided them to his friend the farmer; and while the latter
silently but tearfully withdrew from the scene, he walked up to
the block with unwavering step,
and immediately after,
his head fell beneath the axe of the executioner.
Here ends the story of Kohlhaas. Amid the lamentations of
the people his body was placed in a coffin; and as the bearers
were about to carry it out to a church-yard in the suburbs, the
Elector called for the sons of the departed and dubbed them
knights, telling the chancellor he would have them brought up
among his own pages.
Broken in body and mind, the Elector of Saxony soon after
appeared in his capital; and the rest of the story the reader may
find in the chronicles of his time.
In the last century, several hearty, sturdy descendants of
Kohlhaas were still to be found in Mecklenburg.
## p. 8690 (#303) ###########################################
1
14
## p. 8690 (#304) ###########################################
F. KLOPSTOCK.
2x
## p. 8690 (#305) ###########################################
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## p. 8690 (#306) ###########################################
## p. 8691 (#307) ###########################################
8691
FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK*
**
(1724-1803)
BY KUNO FRANCKE
Twas in 1748, the same year in which Frederick the Great,
in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, achieved his first political
triumph, that Friedrich Klopstock, in the first three cantos
of his Messias,' sounded that morning call of joyous idealism and
exalted individualism which was to be the dominant note of the best
in all modern German literature. The magic spell which the name
of Klopstock exercised upon all aspiring minds of the middle of the
eighteenth century has been vividly described by Goethe, in Werther's
account of the thunder-storm which he and Lotte observed together.
“In the distance the thunder was dying away; a glorious rain fell
gently upon the land, and the most refreshing perfume arose to us
out of the fullness of the warm air. She stood leaning upon her
elbow; her glance penetrated the distance, she looked heavenward
and upon me; I saw her eyes fill with tears; she laid her hand upon
mine, and said — Klopstock! ! I at once remembered the beautiful ode
Die Frühlingsfeier' (The Spring Festival) which was in her mind,
and lost myself in the torrent of emotions which rushed over me
with this name. ”
On the other hand, Schiller has well expressed the limitations of
Klopstock's genius, when in trying to define his place among modern
poets he says: “His sphere is always the realm of ideas, and he
makes everything lead up to the infinite. One might say that he
robs everything that he touches of its body in order to turn it into
spi rit, whereas other poets seek to clothe the spiritual with a body. ”
It is undoubtedly this lack of plastic power, this inability to create
living, palpable beings, which prevented Klopstock from attaining the
high artistic ideal which his first great effusions seemed to prophesy.
The older he grew, the more he withdrew from the actual world, the
more he surrounded himself with the halo of superhuman experiences,
the more he insisted on describing the indescribable and expressing
the inexpressible; until at last the same man whose first youthful
*A portion of this sketch is drawn from the author's work, (Social Forces
in German Literature,' by the kind permission of its publishers, Messrs. Henry
Holt & Co. of New York.
## p. 8692 (#308) ###########################################
8692
FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK
utterances had set free mighty forces of popular passion, was intelli-
gible only to a few adepts initiated into the mysteries of his artificial,
esoteric language.
And yet it is easy to see that it was precisely through this exag-
gerated and overstrained spirituality that Klopstock achieved the
greatest of his work. He would never have produced the marvelous
impression upon his contemporaries which he did produce, had he
attempted to present life as it is. That task had been done by the
realistic comedy and novel of the seventeenth century.
What was
needed at Klopstock's time was a higher view of human existence,
the kindling of larger emotions, the pointing out of loftier aims. A
man was needed who should give utterance to that religious idealism,
which, though buried under the ruins of popular independence, was
nevertheless the one vital principle of Protestantism not yet extinct;
a man who, through an exalted conception of nationality, should in-
spire his generation with a new faith in Germany's political future;
a man who, by virtue of his own genuine sympathy with all that is
human in the noblest sense, and through his unwavering belief in the
high destiny of mankind, should usher in a new era of enlightened
cosmopolitanism. It was Klopstock's spirituality which enabled him
to assume this threefold leadership; and the immeasurable services
rendered by him in this capacity to the cause of religion, fatherland,
and humanity, may well make us forget the artistic shortcomings by
which they were accompanied.
Klopstock led German literature from the narrow circle of private
emotions and purposes to which the absolutism of the seventeenth
century had come near confining it, into the broad realm of universal
sympathy. He was the first great freeman since the days of Luther.
He did not, like Haller, content himself with the sight of an inde-
pendent but provincial and primitive life, as afforded by the rural
communities of Switzerland. He did not, like Gellert, turn away from
the oppressed and helpless condition of the German people to a
weakly, exaggerated cultivation of himself. He addressed himself to
the whole nation; nay, to all mankind. And by appealing to all that
is grand and noble; by calling forth those passions and emotions
which link the human to the divine; by awakening the poor down-
trodden souls of men who thus far had known themselves only as
the subjects of princes to the consciousness of their moral and spir-
itual citizenship,- he became the prophet of that invisible republic
which now for nearly a century and a half has been the ideal coun-
terpart in German life of a stern monarchical reality.
From the asthetic point of view, Klopstock is above all a master
of musical expression. His odes — in which he celebrates nature,
friendship, freedom, fatherland -remind us of Richard Wagner in
## p. 8693 (#309) ###########################################
FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK
8693
-
the boldness of their rhythmic effects and in their irresistible appeal
to passionate emotion. Even his great religious epic 'Der Messias )
(The Messiah) is not so much an epic as a high-pitched musical
composition. Reality of events, clearness of motive, naturalness of
character, directness of style, — these are things for which in most
parts of the poem we look in vain. Throughout its twenty cantos
we constantly circle between heaven, hell, and earth, without at
any given moment seeming to know where we are; and instead of
straightforward action we often must be satisfied with a portentous
glance, an effusive prayer, or a mysterious sigh. But these defects
of the Messiah' as an epic poem are offset by an extraordinary
wealth of lyric motives. Indeed, the narrative part of the poem
should be looked upon merely as the recitative element of an ora-
torio, connecting those passages with each other in which the com-
position rises to its height,— the arias and choruses. Nearly every
important speech in the Messiah) is a lyric song, and at least one
entire canto — the twentieth — is given over to choral effects: from
beginning to end this canto is a succession of crowds of jubilant souls
thronging about the Redeemer, as he slowly pursues his triumphal
path through the heavens, until at last he ascends the throne and
sits at the right hand of the Father. It would be hard to imagine
a more impressive finale than this bursting of the universe into a
mighty hymn of praise echoing from star to star, and embracing the
voices of all zones and ages; and it is indeed strange that a poet
who was capable of such visions as these should have been taken to
task by modern critics for not having confined himself more closely
to the representation of actual conditions.
Klopstock was a true liberator. He was the first among modern
German poets who drew his inspiration from the depth of a heart
beating for all humanity.
