幸运的套鞋

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        　　"But 'tis the air which enables thee to breathe," said the poet's voice.
        　　Close by stood a boy who dashed his stick into a wet ditch. The drops of water
        　　splashed up to the green leafy roof, and the clerk thought of the million of
        　　ephemera which in a single drop were thrown up to a height, that was as great
        　　doubtless for their size, as for us if we were to be hurled above the clouds.
        　　While he thought of this and of the whole metamorphosis he had undergone, he
        　　smiled and said, "I sleep and dream; but it is wonderful how one can dream so
        　　naturally, and know besides so exactly that it is but a dream. If only
        　　to-morrow on awaking, I could again call all to mind so vividly! I seem in
        　　unusually good spirits; my perception of things is clear, I feel as light and
        　　cheerful as though I were in heaven; but I know for a certainty, that if
        　　to-morrow a dim remembrance of it should swim before my mind, it will then
        　　seem nothing but stupid nonsense, as I have often experienced
        　　already--especially before I enlisted under the banner of the police, for that
        　　dispels like a whirlwind all the visions of an unfettered imagination. All we
        　　hear or say in a dream that is fair and beautiful is like the gold of the
        　　subterranean spirits; it is rich and splendid when it is given us, but viewed
        　　by daylight we find only withered leaves. Alas!" he sighed quite sorrowful,
        　　and gazed at the chirping birds that hopped contentedly from branch to branch,
        　　"they are much better off than I! To fly must be a heavenly art; and happy do
        　　I prize that creature in which it is innate. Yes! Could I exchange my nature
        　　with any other creature, I fain would be such a happy little lark!"
        　　He had hardly uttered these hasty words when the skirts and sleeves of his
        　　coat folded themselves together into wings; the clothes became feathers, and
        　　the galoshes claws. He observed it perfectly, and laughed in his heart. "Now
        　　then, there is no doubt that I am dreaming; but I never before was aware of
        　　such mad freaks as these." And up he flew into the green roof and sang; but in
        　　the song there was no poetry, for the spirit of the poet was gone. The Shoes,
        　　as is the case with anybody who does what he has to do properly, could only
        　　attend to one thing at a time. He wanted to be a poet, and he was one; he now
        　　wished to be a merry chirping bird: but when he was metamorphosed into one,
        　　the former peculiarities ceased immediately. "It is really pleasant enough,"
        　　said he: "the whole day long I sit in the office amid the driest law-papers,
        　　and at night I fly in my dream as a lark in the gardens of Fredericksburg; one
            
            

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        　　might really write a very pretty comedy upon it." He now fluttered down into
        　　the grass, turned his head gracefully on every side, and with his bill pecked
        　　the pliant blades of grass, which, in comparison to his present size, seemed
        　　as majestic as the palm-branches of northern Africa.
        　　Unfortunately the pleasure lasted but a moment. Presently black night
        　　overshadowed our enthusiast, who had so entirely missed his part of
        　　copying-clerk at a police-office; some vast object seemed to be thrown over
        　　him. It was a large oil-skin cap, which a sailor-boy of the quay had thrown
        　　over the struggling bird; a coarse hand sought its way carefully in under the
        　　broad rim, and seized the clerk over the back and wings. In the first moment
        　　of fear, he called, indeed, as loud as he could--"You impudent little
        　　blackguard! I am a copying-clerk at the police-office; and you know you cannot
        　　insult any belonging to the constabulary force without a chastisement.
        　　Besides, you good-for-nothing rascal, it is strictly forbidden to catch birds
        　　in the royal gardens of Fredericksburg; but your blue uniform betrays where
        　　you come from." This fine tirade sounded, however, to the ungodly sailor-boy
        　　like a mere "Pippi-pi." He gave the noisy bird a knock on his beak, and walked
        　　on.
        　　He was soon met by two schoolboys of the upper class--that is to say as
        　　individuals, for with regard to learning they were in the lowest class in the
        　　school; and they bought the stupid bird. So the copying-clerk came to
        　　Copenhagen as guest, or rather as prisoner in a family living in Gother
        　　Street.
        　　"'Tis well that I'm dreaming," said the clerk, "or I really should get angry.
        　　First I was a poet; now sold for a few pence as a lark; no doubt it was that
        　　accursed poetical nature which has metamorphosed me into such a poor harmless
        　　little creature. It is really pitiable, particularly when one gets into the
        　　hands of a little blackguard, perfect in all sorts of cruelty to animals: all
        　　I should like to know is, how the story will end."
        　　The two schoolboys, the proprietors now of the transformed clerk, carried him
        　　into an elegant room. A stout stately dame received them with a smile; but she
        　　expressed much dissatisfaction that a common field-bird, as she called the
        　　lark, should appear in such high society. For to-day, however, she would allow
        　　it; and they must shut him in the empty cage that was standing in the window.
        　　"Perhaps he will amuse my good Polly," added the lady, looking with a
        　　benignant smile at a large green parrot that swung himself backwards and
        　　forwards most comfortably in his ring, inside a magnificent brass-wired cage.
            
            

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        　　"To-day is Polly's birthday," said she with stupid simplicity: "and the little
        　　brown field-bird must wish him joy."
        　　Mr. Polly uttered not a syllable in reply, but swung to and fro with dignified
        　　condescension; while a pretty canary, as yellow as gold, that had lately been
        　　brought from his sunny fragrant home, began to sing aloud.
        　　"Noisy creature! Will you be quiet!" screamed the lady of the house, covering
        　　the cage with an embroidered white pocket handkerchief.
        　　"Chirp, chirp!" sighed he. "That was a dreadful snowstorm"; and he sighed
        　　again, and was silent.
        　　The copying-clerk, or, as the lady said, the brown field-bird, was put into a
        　　small cage, close to the Canary, and not far from "my good Polly." The only
        　　human sounds that the Parrot could bawl out were, "Come, let us be men!"
        　　Everything else that he said was as unintelligible to everybody as the
        　　chirping of the Canary, except to the clerk, who was now a bird too: he
        　　understood his companion perfectly.
        　　"I flew about beneath the green palms and the blossoming almond-trees," sang
        　　the Canary; "I flew around, with my brothers and sisters, over the beautiful
        　　flowers, and over the glassy lakes, where the bright water-plants nodded to me
        　　from below. There, too, I saw many splendidly-dressed paroquets, that told the
        　　drollest stories, and the wildest fairy tales without end."
        　　"Oh! those were uncouth birds," answered the Parrot. "They had no education,
        　　and talked of whatever came into their head.
        　　"If my mistress and all her friends can laugh at what I say, so may you too,
        　　I should think. It is a great fault to have no taste for what is witty or
        　　amusing--come, let us be men."
        　　"Ah, you have no remembrance of love for the charming maidens that danced
        　　beneath the outspread tents beside the bright fragrant flowers? Do you no
        　　longer remember the sweet fruits, and the cooling juice in the wild plants of
        　　our never-to-be-forgotten home?" said the former inhabitant of the Canary
        　　Isles, continuing his dithyrambic.
        　　"Oh, yes," said the Parrot; "but I am far better off here. I am well fed, and
        　　get friendly treatment. I know I am a clever fellow; and that is all I care
        　　about. Come, let us be men. You are of a poetical nature, as it is called--I,
        　　on the contrary, possess profound knowledge and inexhaustible wit. You have
        　　genius; but clear-sighted, calm discretion does not take such lofty flights,
        　　and utter such high natural tones. For this they have covered you over--they
        　　never do the like to me; for I cost more. Besides, they are afraid of my beak;
            
            

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        　　and I have always a witty answer at hand. Come, let us be men!"
        　　"O warm spicy land of my birth," sang the Canary bird; "I will sing of thy
        　　dark-green bowers, of the calm bays where the pendent boughs kiss the surface
        　　of the water; I will sing of the rejoicing of all my brothers and sisters
        　　where the cactus grows in wanton luxuriance."
        　　"Spare us your elegiac tones," said the Parrot giggling. "Rather speak of
        　　something at which one may laugh heartily. Laughing is an infallible sign of
        　　the highest degree of mental development. Can a dog, or a horse laugh? No, but
        　　they can cry. The gift of laughing was given to man alone. Ha! ha! ha!"
        　　screamed Polly, and added his stereotype witticism. "Come, let us be men!"
        　　"Poor little Danish grey-bird," said the Canary; "you have been caught too. It
        　　is, no doubt, cold enough in your woods, but there at least is the breath of
        　　liberty; therefore fly away. In the hurry they have forgotten to shut your
        　　cage, and the upper window is open. Fly, my friend; fly away. Farewell!"
        　　Instinctively the Clerk obeyed; with a few strokes of his wings he was out of
        　　the cage; but at the same moment the door, which was only ajar, and which led
        　　to the next room, began to creak, and supple and creeping came the large
        　　tomcat into the room, and began to pursue him. The frightened Canary fluttered
        　　about in his cage; the Parrot flapped his wings, and cried, "Come, let us be
        　　men!" The Clerk felt a mortal fright, and flew through the window, far away
        　　over the houses and streets. At last he was forced to rest a little.
        　　The neighboring house had a something familiar about it; a window stood open;
        　　he flew in; it was his own room. He perched upon the table.
        　　"Come, let us be men!" said he, involuntarily imitating the chatter of the
        　　Parrot, and at the same moment he was again a copying-clerk; but he was
        　　sitting in the middle of the table.
        　　"Heaven help me!" cried he. "How did I get up here--and so buried in sleep,
        　　too? After all, that was a very unpleasant, disagreeable dream that haunted
        　　me! The whole story is nothing but silly, stupid nonsense!"
        　　VI. The Best That the Galoshes Gave
        　　The following day, early in the morning, while the Clerk was still in bed,
        　　someone knocked at his door. It was his neighbor, a young Divine, who lived on
        　　the same floor. He walked in.
        　　"Lend me your Galoshes," said he; "it is so wet in the garden, though the sun
        　　is shining most invitingly. I should like to go out a little."
        　　He got the Galoshes, and he was soon below in a little duodecimo garden, where
            
            

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        　　between two immense walls a plumtree and an apple-tree were standing. Even
        　　such a little garden as this was considered in the metropolis of Copenhagen as
        　　a great luxury.
        　　The young man wandered up and down the narrow paths, as well as the prescribed
        　　limits would allow; the clock struck six; without was heard the horn of a
        　　post-boy.
        　　"To travel! to travel!" exclaimed he, overcome by most painful and passionate
        　　remembrances. "That is the happiest thing in the world! That is the highest
        　　aim of all my wishes! Then at last would the agonizing restlessness be
        　　allayed, which destroys my existence! But it must be far, far away! I would
        　　behold magnificent Switzerland; I would travel to Italy, and--"
        　　It was a good thing that the power of the Galoshes worked as instantaneously
        　　as lightning in a powder-magazine would do, otherwise the poor man with his
        　　overstrained wishes would have travelled about the world too much for himself
        　　as well as for us. In short, he was travelling. He was in the middle of
        　　Switzerland, but packed up with eight other passengers in the inside of an
        　　eternally-creaking diligence; his head ached till it almost split, his weary
        　　neck could hardly bear the heavy load, and his feet, pinched by his torturing
        　　boots, were terribly swollen. He was in an intermediate state between sleeping
        　　and waking; at variance with himself, with his company, with the country, and
        　　with the government. In his right pocket he had his letter of credit, in the
        　　left, his passport, and in a small leathern purse some double louis d'or,
        　　carefully sewn up in the bosom of his waistcoat. Every dream proclaimed that
        　　one or the other of these valuables was lost; wherefore he started up as in a
        　　fever; and the first movement which his hand made, described a magic triangle
        　　from the right pocket to the left, and then up towards the bosom, to feel if
        　　he had them all safe or not. From the roof inside the carriage, umbrellas,
        　　walking-sticks, hats, and sundry other articles were depending, and hindered
        　　the view, which was particularly imposing. He now endeavored as well as he was
        　　able to dispel his gloom, which was caused by outward chance circumstances
        　　merely, and on the bosom of nature imbibe the milk of purest human enjoyment.
        　　Grand, solemn, and dark was the whole landscape around. The gigantic
        　　pine-forests, on the pointed crags, seemed almost like little tufts of
        　　heather, colored by the surrounding clouds. It began to snow, a cold wind blew
        　　and roared as though it were seeking a bride.
        　　"Augh!" sighed he, "were we only on the other side the Alps, then we should
            
            

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        　　have summer, and I could get my letters of credit cashed. The anxiety I feel
        　　about them prevents me enjoying Switzerland. Were I but on the other side!"
        　　And so saying he was on the other side in Italy, between Florence and Rome.
        　　Lake Thracymene, illumined by the evening sun, lay like flaming gold between
        　　the dark-blue mountain-ridges; here, where Hannibal defeated Flaminius, the
        　　rivers now held each other in their green embraces; lovely, half-naked
        　　children tended a herd of black swine, beneath a group of fragrant
        　　laurel-trees, hard by the road-side. Could we render this inimitable picture
        　　properly, then would everybody exclaim, "Beautiful, unparalleled Italy!" But
        　　neither the young Divine said so, nor anyone of his grumbling companions in
        　　the coach of the vetturino.
        　　The poisonous flies and gnats swarmed around by thousands; in vain one waved
        　　myrtle-branches about like mad; the audacious insect population did not cease
        　　to sting; nor was there a single person in the well-crammed carriage whose
        　　face was not swollen and sore from their ravenous bites. The poor horses,
        　　tortured almost to death, suffered most from this truly Egyptian plague; the
        　　flies alighted upon them in large disgusting swarms; and if the coachman got
        　　down and scraped them off, hardly a minute elapsed before they were there
        　　again. The sun now set: a freezing cold, though of short duration pervaded the
        　　whole creation; it was like a horrid gust coming from a burial-vault on a warm
        　　summer's day--but all around the mountains retained that wonderful green tone
        　　which we see in some old pictures, and which, should we not have seen a
        　　similar play of color in the South, we declare at once to be unnatural. It was
        　　a glorious prospect; but the stomach was empty, the body tired; all that the
        　　heart cared and longed for was good night-quarters; yet how would they be? For
        　　these one looked much more anxiously than for the charms of nature, which
        　　every where were so profusely displayed.
        　　The road led through an olive-grove, and here the solitary inn was situated.
        　　Ten or twelve crippled-beggars had encamped outside. The healthiest of them
        　　resembled, to use an expression of Marryat's, "Hunger's eldest son when he had
        　　come of age"; the others were either blind, had withered legs and crept about
        　　on their hands, or withered arms and fingerless hands. It was the most
        　　wretched misery, dragged from among the filthiest rags. "Excellenza,
        　　miserabili!" sighed they, thrusting forth their deformed limbs to view. Even
        　　the hostess, with bare feet, uncombed hair, and dressed in a garment of
        　　doubtful color, received the guests grumblingly. The doors were fastened with
            
            

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        　　a loop of string; the floor of the rooms presented a stone paving half torn
        　　up; bats fluttered wildly about the ceiling; and as to the smell
        　　therein--no--that was beyond description.
        　　"You had better lay the cloth below in the stable," said one of the
        　　travellers; "there, at all events, one knows what one is breathing."
        　　The windows were quickly opened, to let in a little fresh air. Quicker,
        　　however, than the breeze, the withered, sallow arms of the beggars were thrust
        　　in, accompanied by the eternal whine of "Miserabili, miserabili, excellenza!"
        　　On the walls were displayed innumerable inscriptions, written in nearly every
        　　language of Europe, some in verse, some in prose, most of them not very
        　　laudatory of "bella Italia."
        　　The meal was served. It consisted of a soup of salted water, seasoned with
        　　pepper and rancid oil. The last ingredient played a very prominent part in the
        　　salad; stale eggs and roasted cocks'-combs furnished the grand dish of the
        　　repast; the wine even was not without a disgusting taste--it was like a
        　　medicinal draught.
        　　At night the boxes and other effects of the passengers were placed against the
        　　rickety doors. One of the travellers kept watch while the others slept. The
        　　sentry was our young Divine. How close it was in the chamber! The heat
        　　oppressive to suffocation--the gnats hummed and stung unceasingly--the
        　　"miserabili" without whined and moaned in their sleep.
        　　"Travelling would be agreeable enough," said he groaning, "if one only had no
        　　body, or could send it to rest while the spirit went on its pilgrimage
        　　unhindered, whither the voice within might call it. Wherever I go, I am
        　　pursued by a longing that is insatiable--that I cannot explain to myself, and
        　　that tears my very heart. I want something better than what is but what is
        　　fled in an instant. But what is it, and where is it to be found? Yet, I know
        　　in reality what it is I wish for. Oh! most happy were I, could I but reach one
        　　aim--could but reach the happiest of all!"
        　　And as he spoke the word he was again in his home; the long white curtains
        　　hung down from the windows, and in the middle of the floor stood the black
        　　coffin; in it he lay in the sleep of death. His wish was fulfilled--the body
        　　rested, while the spirit went unhindered on its pilgrimage. "Let no one deem
        　　himself happy before his end," were the words of Solon; and here was a new and
        　　brilliant proof of the wisdom of the old apothegm.
        　　Every corpse is a sphynx of immortality; here too on the black coffin the
        　　sphynx gave us no answer to what he who lay within had written two days
            
            

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        　　before:
        　　"O mighty Death! thy silence teaches nought,
        　　  Thou leadest only to the near grave's brink;
        　　 Is broken now the ladder of my thoughts?
        　　Do I instead of mounting only sink?
        　　Our heaviest grief the world oft seeth not,
        　　 Our sorest pain we hide from stranger eyes:
        　　 And for the sufferer there is nothing left
        　　But the green mound that o'er the coffin lies."
        　　Two figures were moving in the chamber. We knew them both; it was the fairy of
        　　Care, and the emissary of Fortune. They both bent over the corpse.
        　　"Do you now see," said Care, "what happiness your Galoshes have brought to
        　　mankind?"
        　　"To him, at least, who slumbers here, they have brought an imperishable
        　　blessing," answered the other.
        　　"Ah no!" replied Care. "He took his departure himself; he was not called away.
        　　His mental powers here below were not strong enough to reach the treasures
        　　lying beyond this life, and which his destiny ordained he should obtain. I
        　　will now confer a benefit on him."
        　　And she took the Galoshes from his feet; his sleep of death was ended; and he
        　　who had been thus called back again to life arose from his dread couch in all
        　　the vigor of youth. Care vanished, and with her the Galoshes. She has no doubt
        　　taken them for herself, to keep them to all eternity.
        　　
        　　幸运的套鞋
        　　
        　　１．开端
        　　　　在哥本哈根东街离皇家新市场①不远的一幢房子里，有人开了一个盛大的晚会，因为如果一个人想被回请的话，他自己也得偶尔请请客才成呀。有一半的客人已经坐在桌子旁玩扑克牌，另一半的客人们却在等待女主人布置下一步的消遣："唔，我们现在想点什么来玩玩吧！"他们的晚会只发展到这个地步，他们尽可能地聊天。在许多话题中间，他们忽然谈到"中世纪"这个题目上来。有人认为那个时代比我们这个时代要好得多。是的，司法官克那卜热烈地赞成这个意见，女主人也马上随声附和。他们两人竭力地反对奥尔斯德特在《年鉴》上发表的一篇论古代和近代的文章。
        　　　　①这是哥本哈根市中心的一个大广场，非常热闹。
        　　　　这篇文章基本上称赞现代。但司法官却认为汉斯①王朝是一个最可爱、最幸福的时代。
        　　　　①汉斯（Ｈａｎｓ，１４５５-１５１３）是丹麦的国王，１４８１年兼做瑞典的国王。
        　　　　谈话既然走向两个极端，除了有人送来一份内容不值一读的报纸以外，没有什么东西打断它——我们暂且到放外套、手杖、雨伞和套鞋的前房去看一下吧。这儿坐着两个女仆人——一个年轻，一个年老。你很可能以为她们是来接她们的女主人——一位老小姐或一位寡妇——回家的。不过，假如你仔细看一下的话，你马上会发现她们并不是普通的佣人：她们的手很娇嫩，行动举止很大方。她们的确是这样；她们的衣服的式样也很特别。她们原来是两个仙女。年轻的这个并不是幸运女神本人，而是替女神传送幸运小礼物的一个女仆。年长的那个的外表非常庄严——她是忧虑女神。无论做什么事情，她总是亲自出马，因为只有这样她才放心。
            
            

entwo

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        　　　　她们谈着她们这天到一些什么地方去过。幸运女神的女仆只做了几件不太重要的事情，例如：她从一阵骤雨中救出了一顶崭新的女帽，使一个老实人从一个地位很高的糊涂蛋那里得到一声问候，以及其他类似的事情。不过她马上就要做的一件事情却很不平常。
        　　　　"我还得告诉你，"她说，"今天是我的生日。为了庆祝这个日子，我奉命把一双幸运的套鞋送到人间去。这双套鞋有一种特性：凡是穿着它的人马上就可以到他最喜欢的地方和时代里去，他对于时间或地方所作的一切希望，都能得到满足；因此下边的凡人也可以得到一次幸福！"
        　　　　"请相信我，"忧虑女神说，"他一定会感到苦恼。当他一脱下这双套鞋时，他一定会说谢天谢地！"
        　　　　"你这是说的什么话？"对方说。"我现在要把这双套鞋放在门口。谁要是错穿了它，就会变得幸福！"
        　　　　这就是她们的对话。
        　　２．司法官的遭遇
        　　　　时间已经不早了。醉心于汉斯的朝代的司法官克那卜想要回家去。事情凑巧得很：他没有穿上自己的套鞋，而穿上了幸运的套鞋。他向东街走去。不过，这双套鞋的魔力使他回到３００年前国王汉斯的朝代里去了，因此他的脚就踩着了街上的泥泞和水坑，因为在那个时代里，街道是没有铺石的。
        　　　　"这真是可怕——脏极了！"司法官说。"所有的铺道全不见了，路灯也没有了！"
        　　　　月亮出来还没有多久，空气也相当沉闷，因此周围的一切东西都变成漆黑一团。在最近的一个街角里，有一盏灯在圣母像面前照着，不过灯光可以说是有名无实：他只有走到灯下面去才能注意到它，才能看见抱着孩子的圣母画像。
        　　　　"这可能是一个美术馆，"他想，"而人们却忘记把它的招牌拿进去。"
        　　　　有一两个人穿着那个时代的服装在他身边走过去了。
        　　　　"他们的样子真有些古怪，"他说。"他们一定是刚刚参加过一个化装跳舞会。"
        　　　　这时忽然有一阵鼓声和笛声飘来，也有火把在闪耀着。司法官停下步子，看到一个奇怪的游行行列走过去了，前面一整排鼓手，熟练地敲着鼓。后面跟着来的是一群拿着长弓和横弓的卫士。行列的带队人是一位教会的首长。惊奇的司法官不禁要问，这场面究竟是为了什么，这个人究竟是谁？
        　　　　"这是西兰①的主教！"
        　　　　①丹麦全国分做三大区，西兰（Ｓｊａｅｌｌａｎｄ）是其中的一区。
        　　　　"老天爷！主教有什么了不起的事儿要这样做？"司法官叹了一口气，摇了摇头。这不可能是主教！
            
            

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        　　　　司法官思索着这个问题，眼睛也不向左右看；他一直走过东街，走到高桥广场。通到宫前广场的那座桥已经不见了，他只模糊地看到一条很长的溪流。最后他遇见两个人，坐在一条船里。
        　　　　"您先生是不是摆渡到霍尔姆去？"他们问。
        　　　　"到霍尔姆去？"司法官说。他完全不知道他在一个什么时代里走路。"我要到克利斯仙码头、到小市场去呀！"
        　　　　那两个人呆呆地望着他。
        　　　　"请告诉我桥在什么地方？"他说。"这儿连路灯也没有，真是说不过去。而且遍地泥泞，使人觉得好像是在沼泽地里走路似的！"
        　　　　的确他跟这两个船夫越谈越糊涂。
        　　　　"我不懂得你们波尔霍尔姆的土话！"他最后生气地说，而且还把背掉向他们。他找不到那座桥，甚至连桥栏杆也没有了。
        　　　　"这里的情形太不像话！"他说。他从来没有想到他的时代会像今晚这样悲惨。
        　　　　"我想我还是叫一辆马车吧！"他想，可是马车到什么地方去了呢？——一辆也看不见。"我看我还是回到皇家新市场去吧，那儿停着许多马车；不然的话，我恐怕永远走不到克利斯仙码头了。"
        　　　　现在他向东街走去。当他快要走完的时候，月亮忽然出来了。
        　　　　"我的天，他们在这儿搭了一个什么架子？"他看到东门的时候说。东门在那时代恰恰是在东街的尽头。
        　　　　最后他找到一个门。穿过这个门，他就来到我们的新市场，不过那时它是一片广大的草地，草地上有几簇灌木丛，还有一条很宽的运河或溪流在中间流过去。对面岸上有几座不像样的木栅，它们是专为荷兰来的船长们搭起来的，因此这地方也叫做荷兰草地。
        　　　　"要么我现在看到了大家所谓的虚无乡，要么我大概是喝醉了，"司法官叹了口气说。"这到底是什么呢？这到底是什么呢？"
        　　　　他往回走，心中想自己一定是病了。他在街上一边走，一边更仔细地看看街上的房子。这大多数都是木房子，有许多还盖着草顶。
        　　　　"不成，我病了！"他叹了一口气。"我不过只喝了一杯混合酒！不过这已经够使我醉了；此外拿热鲑鱼给我们下酒也的确太糟糕。我要向女主人——事务官的太太抗议！不过，假如我回去，把实际情况告诉他们，那也有点可笑，而且他们有没有起床还是问题。"
        　　　　他寻找这家公馆，可是没有办法找到。
        　　　　"这真可怕极了！"他叫起来。"我连东街都不认识了。一个店铺也没有。我只能看到一些可怜的破屋子，好像我是在罗斯基尔特或林斯德特一样！哎呀，我病了！这没有什么隐瞒的必要。可是事务官的公馆在什么地方呢？它已经完全变了样子；不过里面还有人没睡。哎呀，我是病了！"