Pictor's Metamorphoses by Hermann Hesse Read Free Book Online Page B

into these last days of August. And we know that tomorrow or the day after, somewhere or other, leaves will have already turned red and lie on the roads. In these hours you silently watch the slow turning of the Wheel of Time, and you feel yourself slowly and sadly being carried along with it … carried off somewhere … to that place where the red leaves lie.”
    They all fell silent, listening now to the sounds of the golden evening sky and the colorful landscape. Lulu began to hum very softly; gradually the melody went from a half-whisper to full-voiced singing.
    The young men listened in silent rapture. The soft, sweet tones of her noble voice seemed to come from the very depths of the blessed evening, like dreams from the bosom of the slumbering earth.
    From the clear expanse of sky,
    Peace and harmony gently fall;
    As do joy and suffering, all
    Like sweet songs, sweetly die.
    With this stanza the evening song was done. Then Ludwig Ugel, who lay on the grass at the feet of the others, began to sing:
    O fountain in the forest, O Silverspring most clear,
    Down to the white chapel, through secret channels, steer!
    There on the mossy steps the Virgin Mary is.
    Call to her softly, murmur, tell her of my distress.
    Hush, speak gently, tell her, tell her of my need:
    My mouth is red with sin, and oh with singing red.
    Carry to her this lily, a pure white offering
    So that she may forgive me my red life and my sins.
    Perhaps her gracious smile will shine upon your face,
    And from the pure white flower a sweet scent will arise:
    Drinking in love and sunlight be all the singer’s sins,
    And only by her gracious kiss may Song’s red mouth be cleansed.
    And then Hermann Lauscher sang one of his songs:
    The summer nods its weary head,
    Sees its pale image in the lake.
    Weary, dust-covered, still I tread
    The broad, shady road I must take.
    Weary, dust-covered, onward I tread;
    Behind me my youth stands still.
    Its shapely limbs, its lovely head
    Will not bend to my will.
    Meantime, the sun had set, suffusing the sky with red hues. The overcautious junior barrister was about to remind everyone it was time to be getting home, when once again the lovely Lulu began to sing:
    Many a towering city,
    Many a stern fortress
    Stand in the realm of my father,
    The King called Sorrowless.
    And should a knight of valor
    Pledge troth and deliver me,
    To half my father’s kingdom
    Heir he would rightly be.
    Now they all got up and slowly started back down the glowing mountain. On the other side of the summit of high Mount Teck, a late strip of sunlight gleamed and failed.
    â€œWhere did you learn that song?” Karl Hamelt asked the lovely Lulu.
    â€œI really can’t remember,” she said. “I think it’s a folksong.” And she quickened her pace, suddenly seized by a fear of getting home too late and incurring the wrath of the innkeeper’s wife.
    â€œWe won’t let that happen,” Erich Tänzer cried out. “In any event, I’ve been meaning to give Frau Müller a piece of my mind, to tell her exactly…”
    â€œNo, not that!” the lovely Lulu interrupted him. “Things will only get worse for me if you do! I’m just a poor orphan who must bear whatever burdens others place on me.”
    â€œOh, Fräulein Lulu,” said the barrister, “I wish you were a princess and that I could save you.”
    â€œNo,” cried the aesthete Lauscher, “you really are a princess. It’s we who are not ‘knight’ enough to save you. But what’s preventing us? I’ll do it today. I’ll take that damned Frau Müller by the throat…”
    â€œHush! Hush!” Lulu cried beseechingly. “Leave me to suffer my fate alone! I’m only sorry I’m not free to enjoy the rest of this lovely evening.”
    Little more was said as they quickly neared the town. There Lulu returned to the Crown alone; the others watched her