Simplicissimus E-Book

Johann Grimmelshausen

• Herausgeber: Dedalus
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

It is a violent and often all-too-realistic picaresque, set in war-torn Europe during the 17th-century Thirty Years War.

Das E-Book Simplicissimus wird angeboten von Dedalus und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:

Leseprobe

Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen

Simplicissimus

Translated and with an introduction by Mike Mitchell

Published in the UK by Dedalus Limited

24-26, St Judith’s Lane, Sawtry, Cambs, PE28 5XE

Email: [email protected]

www.dedalusbooks.com

ISBN 978 1 903517 42 0

Kindle e-book ISBN 978 1 907650 12 3

e-Pub e-book ISBN 978 1 907650 13 0

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Publishing History

First published in Germany in 1668

English translation by S. Goodrich in 1912

Dedalus editions in 1989 and 1995

New translation by Mike Mitchell in 1999

Reprinted in 2005 and 2009

First e-book edition in 2010

The right of Mike Mitchell to be identified as the translator of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Printed in Finland by WS Bookwell

Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A C.I.P. listing for this book is available on request.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Mike Mitchell is one of Dedalus's editorial directors and is responsible for the Dedalus translation programme. His publications include The Dedalus Book of Austrian Fantasy, Peter Hacks: Drama for a Socialist Society and Austria in the World Bibliographical Series. His translation of Rosendorfer's Letters Back to Ancient China won the 1998 Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize after having been shortlisted in previous years for his translations of Stephanie by Herbert Rosendorfer and The Golem by Gustav Meyrink. His translation of Simplicissimus was shortlisted for The Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 1999 and The Other Side by Alfred Kubin in 2000.

He has translated the following books for Dedalus from German: five novels by Gustav Meyrink, three novels by Johann Grimmelshausen, three novels by Herbert Rosendorfer, two novels by Herman Ungar, The Great Bagarozy by Helmut Krausser, The Road to Darkness by Paul Leppin, The Other Side by Alfred Kubin and On the Run by Martin Prinz. From French he has translated for Dedalus two novels by Mercedes Deambrosis and Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach.

Book I

Chapter 1

Describes Simplicius’s rustic origins and upbringing

In these days (which some believe to be the last days) a new sickness has appeared among ordinary people. When those who have been infected by it have scratched together enough money with their sharp practices that they can afford, besides a few coppers in their purse, to dress themselves after the latest absurd fashion with thousands of silk ribbons, or when by some lucky chance they have made a name for themselves, they immediately try to pass themselves off as knights and nobles of ancient lineage. It usually turns out that their grandparents were day-labourers, carters and porters, their cousins muleteers, their brothers tipstaffs and turnkeys, their sisters whores, their mothers bawds, if not witches; in short that their whole ancestry, right down to the thirty-second degree, is as tainted and tarnished as ever Seb Sugar’s gang of thieves in Prague were. Indeed, these new-minted nobles are themselves often as black as if they had been born and bred in Guinea.

I wouldn’t want to be likened to such foolish folk even though, to tell the truth, I have often fancied I must owe my existence to some great lord, or at least a gentleman, since I have a natural inclination to follow the nobleman’s trade, if only I had the necessary capital and equipment.

To be serious, though, it is true that my birth and upbringing can well be compared with that of a prince, if you overlook the one great difference. How can that be? you ask. My Da (for that is the title we give to fathers in the Spessart) had a palace of his own, as good as any man’s, and finer than any king could build with his own hands. Its facade was finished off with clay and its roof, instead of sterile slate, cold lead and red copper, was covered with the straw on which the noble grain grows. And to make a show of his wealth and nobility, my Da did not, as other great lords do, build the wall round his castle out of stones, such as you may find by the roadside or dig out of the ground in barren places, much less out of common brick, which can be moulded and fired in a short time. No, he took oak, that noble and useful tree from which pork sausages and fat hams grow and which takes over a hundred years before it reaches full maturity. Where is the monarch who will follow him in that?

He had his rooms and chambers blackened all over inside with smoke, since that is the most permanent colour in the world and to paint them by that method takes longer than any artist would spend on even the best of his paintings. The wall-hangings were of the most delicate weave in the world, being made by the weaver who, in olden times, dared to challenge Minerva herself to a contest. The windows were dedicated to St Notoglas for the very good reason that he knew that, counting from the hemp or flax seed, the paper with which they were covered took much more time and labour before it was finished than the finest and clearest Murano glass. It was his station in life that led him to believe that things which required much labour to produce were therefore valuable and more costly, and that costly things were best suited to the nobility.

Instead of pages, lackeys and grooms, he had sheep, goats and pigs, each neatly clad in its own livery, which often used to wait upon me in the fields, until I drove them home. His armoury was well stocked with ploughs, hoes, axes, picks, spades and forks for both manure and hay. He practised daily with these weapons; clearing the ground and digging were for him a military exercise, just as they were for the ancient Romans in times of peace. The oxen were the company he commanded, spreading manure was his fortification and ploughing his campaigning, but mucking out the stables was his noble pastime, his jousting. By these means he dominated the whole round world, as far as he could walk, and at every harvest he gathered in rich tribute from it.

All this means nothing to me and I don’t give myself airs because of it, so that no one will have reason to scoff at me along with other would-be nobles from the same background. I consider myself no better than my Da was, whose house was in a merry part of the country, namely over the hills and far away in the Spessart. The fact that I have refrained from going on at great length about my Da’s lineage, race and name is for the sake of brevity. This is not an application for entry to an abbey reserved to the nobility, in which case I would have to swear to my ancestry; it is sufficient for our purposes that you know that I come from the Spessart.

Since, however, it has been made clear that my Da’s household was truly noble, any intelligent person will readily conclude that I enjoyed a corresponding upbringing. And anyone who believes that will not be deceived, for by the age of ten I had already grasped the principles of my Da’s aforementioned noble exercises. However as far as learning was concerned I matched the famous Amphisteides, of whom Suidas reported that he could not count beyond five. The reason was perhaps that my Da, in his high-mindedness, followed the custom of the present age in which people of quality do not bother much with study, or tomfoolery as they call it, because they have other people to do their scribbling for them. But I was an excellent musician on the bagpipes, on which I could play the most beautiful dirges. In religion, however, I do not believe there was another boy of my age in the whole of Christendom who was like me, for I knew nothing of either God or man, heaven or hell, angels or the devil and could not tell the difference between good and evil. As you can well imagine, with such knowledge of theology I lived like our first parents in paradise, who in their innocence knew nothing of illness, death and dying, and even less of the resurrection. What a fine life (though you may say fool’s life) where you didn’t have to bother with medicine! In the same way you can judge my knowledge of law and all other arts and sciences. Indeed, so perfect and complete was my ignorance that it was impossible for me to know that I knew nothing. I repeat: what a fine life it was that I led in those far-off days. But my Da did not want me to enjoy this bliss any longer. He thought it right and proper that, being nobly born, I should live and act according to my nobility, for which reason he began to educate me for higher things and give me harder lessons.

Chapter 2

Describes Simplicius’ first step up the ladder of dignity, containing also praise of shepherds and, in addition, some excellent instruction

He invested me with the most magnificent dignity that could be found, not only in his household, but in the whole world, namely with the office of herdsman. First of all he entrusted his swine to my care, then his goats, and finally his whole herd of sheep. I had to mind them, take them out to pasture and guard them from the wolf with my bagpipes (the sound of which, so Strabo writes, fattens the sheep and lambs in Arabia). I was like David, except that he had a harp instead of bagpipes, and that was no mean beginning. Indeed, it was a portent that with time, and if fortune should favour me, I would become a famous man, for from the earliest days persons of note have been shepherds, as we can read in the Bible of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons. Even Moses had to mind his father-in-law’s sheep before he became leader and law-giver to six hundred thousand Israelites.

And if someone should object that these were holy and godfearing men, not Spessart peasant boys ignorant of God, I would have to agree. Yet why should the innocent that I was be blamed for that? Similar examples could be found among the ancient heathens as well as among the chosen people of God. Among the Romans there were noble families that called themselves the Bubulci, Statilii, Pomponii, Vituli, Vitellii, Annii, Caprae and so on because they had to do with those animals and perhaps even herded them. Romulus and Remus themselves were shepherds; Spartacus, who made the whole power of Rome tremble, was a shepherd. Does not Lucian record in his Dialogo Helenae that Paris, the son of King Priam, and Anchises, father of the Trojan prince Aeneas, were shepherds? And Endymion, renowned for his beauty that warmed even the cold heart of Selene, was he not also a shepherd? So too was the terrible Polyphemus. Even the gods, as Cornutus tells us, were not ashamed of that calling. Apollo kept the cattle of Admetus, King of Thessaly; Mercury, his son Daphnis, Pan and Proteus were all great shepherds, for which reason our foolish poets count them the guardian deities of shepherds. Mesha, King of Moab was a sheepmaster, as one can read in the second book of Kings; Cyrus, the mighty king of the Persians, was not only raised by Mithridates, a shepherd, but kept sheep himself. Gyges was first a herdsman and then became king through the power of a ring and Ismail Shah, a Persian king, also minded sheep in his youth. Philo Judaeus puts the matter very well when he says, in his Life of Moses, the office of herdsman is both a preparation for and the first step in exercising command. For just as the warlike and martial arts are first practised in the hunt, so men who are intended for government receive their first training in the gentle and amiable office of herdsman. My Da must have known this very well, and to this very hour it gives me no small hope I may yet rise to future greatness.

But to return to my own flock, you must know that I was as little acquainted with wolves as I was with my own ignorance, for which reason my father took all the more pains with my instruction. ‘Kidder’, he said, ‘make sure the sheep divent gan too far from each other. An’ keep playin’ yer pipes, so the wolf won’t come an’ harm ‘em. Yon’s a fower-legged rogue and thief that’ll eat up man and beast. If ye divent keep yer eye open, Aw’ll gie ye a right skelpin’.’ To which I answered with similar courtesy, ‘Da, can ye no tell me what this wolf looks laike? Aw’ve nivver seen won yet.’ ‘Ach, ye great donkey’, he replied, ‘ye’ll be a fule all yer laife. I divent ken what’ll become ov ye. Such a big laddie and still ye divent ken what a fower-footed rogue the wolf is, ye great booby.’ He gave me even more instruction, but eventually grew angry and went away muttering to himself, thinking my dim wits could not take his subtle instructions.

Chapter 3

Records the sufferings of a faithful set of pipes

Then I began to play my pipes so well you could have poisoned the toads in the herb garden with it, assuming I would be safe enough from the wolf, which was always uppermost in my mind. And remembering my Ma (which is what a mother is called in the Spessart and on the Vogelsberg), who often used to say she was worried some day the hens might die of my singing, I decided to sing, to make my defence against the wolf even stronger. And I sang a song I had learnt from my Ma herself:

O farmer, whom most men despise,

To you of all, should go the prize.

No one who sees what work you do

Will stint the praise he heaps on you

Where would our present fortunes stand,

If Adam had not tilled the land?

The sire of every noble lord,

He dug the soil for his reward.

Your power encompasses most things;

The harvest fruitful Nature brings,

The produce that sustains our land,

Must first of all go through your hand.

The Emperor, whom Our Lord gives

For our protection, also lives

By your hard work. The soldier, too,

Who does much injury to you.

Meat for our table you provide,

With wine you keep us well supplied;

The earth must feel your plough’s sharp blade

If corn shall grow and bread be made.

A wilderness this earth would be

But for your patient husbandry;

If there were no more farmers left

The countryside would stand bereft.

So you deserve the highest praise

Because you feed us all our days.

God’s blessing falls on all you do

And even Nature smiles on you.

Who ever heard men talk about

A farmer suffering from the gout,

The torment that the wealthy dread,

That strikes so many nobles dead?

Strange in these puffed-up times to see

A man from arrogance so free.

And God, to keep you from pride’s snare,

Gives you your heavy cross to bear.

Even the soldier’s cruel mood

Can serve, in this, to do you good,

When he, lest you to pride incline,

Says, ‘All your worldly goods are mine’.

That was as far I got with my song and no farther for in a flash, or so it seemed, I and my herd of sheep were surrounded by a troop of dragoons who had lost their way in the great forest and been put back on the right track by my singing and shepherd’s cries.

Aha, I thought, these must be the rogues, these must be those four-legged rascals and thieves your Da told you about! For at first I took rider and horse to be one single beast (just as the American indians did the Spanish cavalry) and assumed it must be the wolf. So I resolved to drive these terrible centaurs away, but hardly had I inflated my pipes to do this than one of them grabbed me by the shoulder and threw me so roughly onto a spare farm horse they had stolen in the course of their depredations that I fell off over the other side and landed on my dear bagpipes, which immediately gave out heart-rending squeals, as if trying to move the whole world to pity. But it was no use, even though they spent their last breath bewailing my fall I still had to climb back onto the horse, no matter what my bagpipes sang or said. But what annoyed me most of all was that the soldiers claimed that in falling I had hurt my pipes, and that was why they had set up such a heretical wailing.

My mare took me along at a steady trot, all the way to my Da’s farm. As I rode, bizarre fancies filled my mind, for I imagined that since I was riding on such a beast, the like of which I had never seen before, I too would be changed into one of these iron men. When the transformation did not happen, other foolish notions came into my head. I imagined these strange creatures had come just to help me drive my sheep home, since none of them ate any up, but hurried along together straight to my Da’s farm. Therefore I kept a good look-out for my Da, to see whether he and my Ma would come to meet us and bid us welcome. But I looked in vain, for he and my Ma, together with our Ursula, who was my Da’s only daughter, had slipped out of the back door without waiting for our guests.

Chapter 4

How Simplicius’s home was captured, plundered and destroyed by the soldiers

I would prefer, peace-loving reader, not to take you with these troopers into my Da’s house and farm, since things will be pretty bad there. However, my story demands that I set down for posterity the cruel atrocities that were committed from time to time in our German wars since, as my own example demonstrates, all such evils are visited upon us by the Almighty out of His great love towards us and for our own good. How else would I have learnt that there is a God in Heaven if the soldiers had not destroyed my Da’s house, thus forcing me out into the world where I met other people from whom I learnt so many things? Until that happened I did not know, nor could I even imagine, that there was anyone else in the world apart from my Da, my Ma, myself and the servants, since I had never seen another person, nor any human habitation apart from the scene of my daily comings and goings. But soon afterwards I learnt how men come into this world, and that there will be a time when each of us must leave it again. In form I was human and by name a Christian, but in all other respects I was a brute beast. However, the Almighty took pity on my innocence, and determined to bring me to knowledge of both myself and Himself. And although He had a thousand means of achieving this, it was doubtless deliberate that the one He chose also punished my Da and my Ma, as a warning to others for the ungodly way they had brought me up.

The first thing the troopers did was to stable their horses. Then each went about his own particular task, though they all resulted in slaughter and destruction. Some set about a general butchering, boiling and roasting, so that it looked as if they were going to hold a banquet, while others went through the house from top to bottom like a devouring flame, as if the Golden Fleece were likely to be hidden there; even our secret room was not safe from them. Another group made huge bundles of sheets, clothes and other items, as if they intended to set up a flea market somewhere; anything they were not going to take with them they destroyed. Some stabbed at the hay and straw with their swords, as if they had not had enough sheep and pigs to slaughter already, some emptied the feathers out of the mattresses and eiderdowns and filled the cases with hams and other dried meat and provisions, as if that would make them more comfortable for sleeping on; some smashed the stove and windows, as if they were sure the summer would go on for ever. The plates, cups and jugs of copper and pewter they hammered flat and packed the crumpled pieces away, bedsteads, tables, chairs and benches they burnt, even though there was a good stack of dry wood in the yard, cups and bowls they broke, either because they preferred to eat roast meat straight from the spit, or because they had no intention of having another meal there.

Shameful to report, they handed out such rough treatment to our maid in the stall that she was unable to come out. Our farmhand they gave a drink they called Swedish ale: they bound him and laid him on the ground with a stick holding open his mouth, into which they poured a milking pail full of slurry from the dung heap. By this means they forced him to lead a party to a place where they captured more men and beasts, which they brought back to our farm. Among them were my Da, my Ma and our Ursula.

Then they took the flints out of their pistols, replacing them with the peasants’ thumbs, which they screwed up tight, as if they were extracting confessions from witches before burning them; they put one of the peasants into the oven and lit a fire under him even before he had confessed to any crime; they placed a rope round the neck of another and twisted it tight with a piece of wood so that the blood came spurting out of his mouth, nose and ears. In short, each one of them had his own particular method of torturing the country folk, and each of the country folk his own particular torment to suffer. It seemed to me at the time that my Da was the most fortunate of them, since he laughed out loud as he confessed, while the others cried out in pain. This honour was doubtless due to the fact that he was the householder. They put him down beside a fire, bound him hand and foot, and smeared the soles of his feet with damp salt which our old billy goat licked off, tickling him so that he almost burst his sides laughing. It looked so funny I found myself laughing too, though whether it was to keep him company or because I knew no better I could not say today. Laughing thus, he confessed his guilt and revealed to them the whereabouts of his hidden treasure, which was far richer in gold, pearls and jewels than one would have expected of a simple farmer. What they did to the women, maidservants and girls they had captured I cannot say, as the soldiers did not let me watch them. What I do know is that I heard constant pitiful cries coming from all corners of the farmhouse and I guess that my Ma and our Ursula fared no better than all the rest. While all this suffering was going on I turned the spit and in the afternoon helped water the horses, during which I came across our maid in the stable. She was so tousled and tumbled that I did not recognise her, but in a weak voice she said to me, ‘Run away, lad, or the troopers will take you with them. Make sure you get away, you can see how bad … ’ More she did not manage to say.

Chapter 5

How Simplicius ran off and was frightened by rotten tree-stumps

Now my eyes were opened to my desperate situation, and I began to think of the best way to escape. But where could I go? That question was beyond my simple mind. However, towards evening I did at least succeed in getting away to the woods. But where should I head for now? The forest and its tracks were as little known to me as the route over the frozen Arctic seas from Novaya Zemlya to China. The pitch-dark night did give me some protection, but to my mind, full of dark thoughts as it was, it was still not dark enough, and I hid in a thick bush. There I could hear both the cries of the tortured peasants and the song of the nightingales. The birds ignored the peasants and continued their sweet singing, showing no compassion for them or their misfortunes, and therefore neither did I, but curled up in my bush and fell asleep as if I hadn’t a care in the world.

When the morning star appeared in the east, I could see my Da’s house in flames and no one trying to put them out. I left my hiding place, hoping I might find some of my Da’s servants, but was immediately spotted by five troopers, who shouted to me, ‘Hey, lad, over here or we’ll blast you to smithereens.’ However, I just stood there, rooted to the spot and gaping at the troopers like a cat at a new barn door, because I had no idea what they were on about. They couldn’t get at me because of the marsh between us, which so annoyed them that one of them fired at me with his musket. I had never seen or heard anything like the flames which suddenly shot out and the unexpected bang, which was made even more frightening by the repeated echo. I was struck with terror and immediately fell to the ground. The troopers rode on, presumably thinking I was dead, but I was so petrified with fear that I stayed there, not daring to move, for the rest of the day.

When I was once more shrouded in darkness, I got up and wandered through the forest until I saw a rotten tree-trunk glowing in the distance. This filled me with terror again, so that I turned round on the spot and set off in a different direction until I came across another rotten tree, from which I also ran away. Thus I spent the night running from one rotten tree to another until it was light and the trees lost their frightening look. But that didn’t solve my problems. My heart was still full of fear and dread, my legs full of tiredness, my empty stomach full of hunger, my throat full of thirst, my brain full of foolish fancies and my eyes full of sleep. Nevertheless, I carried on walking, even though I had no idea where I was going. All the while I was getting deeper into the forest and farther from human habitation. In the things I endured in that forest I sensed, though without realising it, the effects of a lack of understanding and knowledge. A brute beast, had it been in my place, would have known better what to do for survival. Yet when I was once again overtaken by darkness, I did at least have the wit to crawl into a hollow tree and spend the night there.

Chapter 6

Is short and so full of piety that Simplicius faints

Hardly had I settled down to sleep than I heard a voice crying, ‘O wondrous love for us ungrateful mortals! O my sole consolation, my hope, my wealth, my God!’ and many other similar exclamations that I could neither understand nor remember.

They were words which might well have comforted and gladdened the heart of any Christian in my situation but such was my simplicity and ignorance, it was all Greek to me. And not only could I not understand what was said, I found it so strange that I was at first filled with terror. But when I heard the speaker say that his hunger would be stilled and his thirst quenched, my empty stomach suggested I should invite myself to the table too. So I summoned up my courage and crept out of the hollow tree to see where the voice was coming from. I saw a tall man with long, grey, unkempt hair falling down round his shoulders and a tangled beard that was shaped almost like a Swiss cheese. His face was yellow and gaunt, but had a kindly look, and his long gown had been mended with more than a thousand different pieces of cloth, often one sewn onto the other. Around his neck and body he had wound a heavy iron chain, like St. William of Aquitaine, and to my eyes looked so fearsome and terrifying that I started to shake like a wet dog. The crucifix, almost six foot long, that he was clasping to his chest, only served to increase my fear, so that I thought this old man must surely be the wolf my Da had told me about not long before. Quaking with fear, I took out my bagpipes, which were the only treasure I had rescued from the troopers. I inflated the sack, tuned up and made a mighty noise to drive away this abominable beast. The hermit was not a little surprised to hear a sudden and unexpected outburst of music in such a wild place, and doubtless thought some fiendish spirit had come to torment him, like St. Anthony, and to disturb his devotions. But he quickly recovered from his shock and started to mock me, calling me the tempter in the hollow tree, where I had gone back to hide. Indeed, he had so far recovered his spirits that he started to scoff at me as the enemy of mankind, saying, ‘Ha, so you are come to tempt the saints without God’s leave’, and much more which I could not understand. His approach filled me with such terror that I fell to the ground in a faint.

Chapter 7

How Simplicius found poor lodgings where he was kindly treated

I do not know what it was that brought me round; what I do know is that when I came to I found that the old man had placed my head on his lap and opened my jerkin. Seeing the hermit so close to me, I set up a hideous screaming, as if he were about to tear the heart out of my body. He said, ‘Be still, my son, I’m not going to hurt you, just be still’, but the more he caressed me and tried to comfort me, the louder I cried out, ‘Oh, you’re going to eat me up! You’re going to eat me up! You’re the wolf, you’re going to eat me up!’

‘Indeed I am not, my son’, he said. ‘Just be still, I’m not going to eat you up.’

It was a long time before I had sufficiently calmed down to accept his invitation to go into his hut with him. The wolf did not live in the hut, but the old man obviously had difficulty keeping it from the door since the cupboard was almost always bare. However, a frugal meal of vegetables and a drink of water filled my belly, and the old man’s friendly manner soothed my distraught mind, so that I was soon myself again. Now I could no longer hide the fact that I was desperately in need of sleep, and the old man left me alone in the hut, since there was only room for one person to stretch out there. Around midnight I was wakened by the following hymn, which I later learnt myself:

Come, voice of night, o nightingale

And let your song, o’er hill and vale,

Its soothing solace bring.

Now other birds have gone to sleep,

Come, come, your tuneful vigil keep,

Your Maker’s praises sing.

And let your voice out loud rejoice.

Of all below

You best can raise a hymn of praise

To Him from whom all blessings flow.

For though the light of day has flown

And we in deepest night are thrown,

Our voices still we raise

To sing of God’s great love and might.

No dark can hinder us, no night,

In our Creator’s praise.

So let your voice out loud rejoice.

Of all below

You best can raise a hymn of praise

To Him from whom all blessings flow.

Now Echo’s answering voice is stirred,

Her sweet reverberant notes are heard

Combining in your song.

She banishes our weariness

And bids us wake that we profess

God’s goodness all night long.

So let your voice out loud rejoice.

Of all below

You best can raise a hymn of praise

To Him from whom all blessings flow.

The stars shine from the sky above,

Proclaiming our Creator’s love

In streams of light outpoured.

The owl, although she cannot sing,

Yet with her screech shows she would bring

Her tribute to the Lord.

So let your voice out loud rejoice.

Of all below

You best can raise a hymn of praise

To Him from whom all blessings flow.

Come, nightingale, we would not be

Idle amid such minstrelsy

Nor sleep the night away.

Come, let the desert woods around

With joyous hymns of praise resound

Until the break of day.

So let your voice out loud rejoice.

Of all below

You best can raise a hymn of praise

To Him from whom all blessings flow.

All the time the hermit was singing this song, I felt as if the nightingale were joining in, as well as the owl and Echo. So sweetly melodious did it seem, that if I had ever heard the morning star and had been able to play its tune on my bagpipes, I would have slipped out of the hut to add my notes to the hermit’s. As it was, I fell asleep and did not wake until the day was well advanced when I saw him standing before me, saying, ‘Up you get, my child. I’ll give you something to eat, then show you the way through the woods so you can get back to where people live and reach the nearest village before dark.’

I asked him, ‘What kind of things are they, ‘people’ and ‘village’?’

He said, ‘What, have you never been to a village, do you not know what people are?’

‘No’, I said, ‘this is the only place I have been. But tell me, what are people, what is a village?’

‘Lord save us!’ said the hermit, ‘you must be simple-minded or crafty,’

‘No’, I said, ‘I’m not Simple Minded, nor Crafty, I’m my Ma and Da’s little lad.’

The hermit was amazed at this. With much sighing and crossing of himself he said, ‘Well, my dear child, I have a mind, God willing, to teach you better.’

He proceeded by question and answer, as is set out in the following chapter.

Chapter 8

How Simplicius demonstrated his excellent qualities through noble discourse

Hermit:What are you called?

Simplicius:I’m called ‘lad’.

Hermit:I can see you’re not a girl, but what did your mother and father call you?

Simplicius:I haven’t got a mother or father,

Hermit:Who gave you that shirt?

Simplicius:My Ma, of course.

Hermit:What does your Ma call you, then?

Simplicius:She called me ‘lad’ – also ‘rascal’, ‘numskull’ and ‘gallows-bird’.

Hermit:And who was your mother’s husband?

Simplicius:No one.

Hermit:Well, who did she sleep with at night?

Simplicius:With my Da.

Hermit:What did your Da call you?

Simplicius:He also called me ‘lad’.

Hermit:What is your Da called?

Simplicius:He’s called ‘Da’.

Hermit:What did your mother call him, then?

Simplicius:‘Da’. Sometimes also ‘Master’.

Hermit:Did she never call him by any other name?

Simplicius:Yes, she did.

Hermit:Well, what was it?

Simplicius:‘Lout’, ‘foul peasant’, ‘drunken sot’ and other things when she was scolding him.

Hermit:You’re an ignorant creature, not knowing your parent’s name, nor even your own!

Simplicius:Huh! You don’t know them either!

Hermit:Can you pray?

Simplicius:Can I do what, pray?

Hermit:I mean do you know the ‘Our Father’?

Simplicius:Yes.

Hermit:Well say it then.

Simplicius:Our father which art heaven, hallowed be name till kingdom come, thy will do heaven and earth, give us trespasses as we give for our trespassers, lead us not in two temptations, deliver us from kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever amen.

Hermit:God help us! Do you know nothing of the Lord God?

Simplicius:Yes, it’s at home on the shelf by the door to our chamber. My Ma brought it back from the fair and stuck it up there.

Hermit:O gracious Lord, only now do I see how great is Your mercy in granting us knowledge of Yourself, since anyone who lacks it is not truly human. O Lord grant that I may so honour Your holy name and be as tireless in my thanks for this grace as You were generous in granting it to me. Listen, Simplicius (for that is the only name I can give you), when you say the Lord’s prayer, this is what you must say: Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And –

Simplicius:And some cheese to go on it, right?

Hermit:Hold your tongue, child, and learn. You need that much more than cheese. You are a numskull, just as your Ma said. A lad like you shouldn’t be interrupting an old man; instead you should hold your tongue, listen and learn. If I only knew where your parents lived, I would take you back to them and tell them how children ought to be brought up.

Simplicius:I don’t know where to go. Our house has been burnt down, my Ma ran away, then came back with our Ursula, and my Da too, and our maid was sick and lying in the stable.

Hermit:Who burnt your house down?

Simplicius:Some iron men came, sitting on things as big as oxen but with no horns. These men slaughtered all our sheep and cows and pigs, and then I ran away and after that our house was on fire.

Hermit:And where was your Da?

Simplicius:The iron men tied him up, then our billy goat came and licked his feet and made him laugh, and he gave those iron men a lot of silver pennies, big ones and small ones, and some pretty yellow ones, too, and other fine, glittering things and pretty strings of little white beads.

Hermit:When did this happen?

Simplicius:Why, when I was supposed to be looking after the sheep. They tried to take my bagpipes away from me as well.

Hermit:And when were you looking after the sheep?

Simplicius:Weren’t you listening? When the iron men came. And then our Ann told me to run away, otherwise the soldiers would take me with them, by that she meant the iron men, and so I ran away and came here.

Hermit:And where do you intend to go now?

Simplicius:I have no idea. I’d like to stay here with you.

Hermit:Letting you stay here would suit neither you nor me. Eat, then I’ll take you to some other people.

Simplicius:Won’t you tell me then what kind of things these ‘people’ are?

Hermit:People are men and women, like you and me, your Da and your Ma and your Ann. When there are many of them together we call them people.

Simplicius:Oh.

Hermit:Now go and eat.

That was our conversation, during which the Hermit kept looking at me and sighing deeply; whether it was because he felt such pity at my simplicity and ignorance, or because of something I only learnt several years later, I do not know.

Chapter 9

How Simplicius was changed from a wild beast into a Christian

I started to eat and stopped chattering, which, however, only lasted until I had appeased my hunger and the old man told me to leave. Then I sought out whatever flattering words my rough peasant tongue could supply, all of which were aimed at getting the hermit to keep me with him. And even though he found my presence irksome and a burden, he decided to allow me to stay with him, more to instruct me in the Christian religion than to avail himself of my services, old though he was. His greatest worry was that a youth of my tender years would not put up with such a hard life for long.

My probationary year was a period of some three weeks. It was in the early spring, when gardeners have to prepare the soil and I had to show my aptitude for that profession. I came through it so well that the Hermit was particularly pleased with me, not just because of the work, which I was used to doing, but because he saw that I was as eager to hear his teaching as my heart, still soft and smooth as a wax tablet, proved quick to embrace it. For that reason he became even more zealous in leading me along the path of goodness. He began his instruction with the fall of Lucifer, then proceeded to the Garden of Eden, and when we had been cast out, along with our first parents, went through the laws of Moses and taught me, through God’s ten commandments and their interpretation (which commandments he said were a true guide to recognising the will of God and leading a holy life, pleasing to God), to distinguish virtue from vice, to do good and spurn evil. Then he came to the gospels and told me about Christ’s birth, suffering, death and resurrection, concluding with Judgment Day, painting a picture of heaven and hell.

All this he set out in sufficient detail without going on for too long, concerned rather to put it in a way I could best understand. He would finish one topic before starting on the next and was so skilful and patient in dealing with me and my questions that he could have found no better way of filling my mind with his knowledge and wisdom. Both his life and his conversation were a constant sermon for me which, with the help of God’s grace, bore fruit in my mind, that was not as stupid and wooden as might have seemed. The result was that in the aforementioned three weeks I not only learnt everything a Christian ought to know, but conceived such love for the teaching that at night I could not get to sleep for thinking about it.

Since then I have often reflected on this and come to the conclusion that Aristotle was correct when, in Book 3 of On the Soul, he compares man’s soul to a blank wax tablet on which all kinds of things can be noted down, and concludes that this was done by the supreme creator so that these smooth tablets should be diligently marked with impressions and exercises and thus brought to completion and perfection; Averroes, commenting on the passage in Book 2 of On the Soul where the philosopher says that the intellect is a potentiality which can only be activated through knowledge, i.e. that the human mind is capable of all things but that nothing can be put into it without diligent exercise, comes to the clear conclusion that this knowledge or exercise leads to the perfection of the soul which, of itself, contains nothing at all. This is confirmed by Cicero in Book 2 of his Tusculan Disputations, where he compares the soul of a person lacking instruction, knowledge and exercise to a field which is naturally fruitful but which, if it is not cultivated and sown, will bring forth no fruit.

All this I proved through my own example. The reason why I so quickly grasped everything the hermit told me was because he found the wax tablet of my soul quite smooth and empty, free of any previous images that would have made it difficult for something else to be impressed upon it. Despite all this, however, I still retained a pure simplicity compared with other men, so that the hermit, neither of us knowing my real name, called me Simplicius.

I also learnt to pray, and when he decided to give in to my determination to stay with him, we built a hut for me similar to his own, out of branches, brushwood and clay. It was like the tents the musketeers build for themselves when campaigning, or, to be more precise, like the clamps farmers make in some places for their turnips and so low I could hardly sit upright in it. My mattress was made of dry leaves and grass and as big as the hut itself, so that I do not know whether to call my abode a hut or a covered bed.

Chapter 10

How he learnt to read and write in the wild woods

The first time I saw the hermit reading the Bible I could not imagine whom he could be having such a secret and, as it seemed to me, earnest conversation with. I could see his lips moving, but no one talking to him, and although I knew nothing about reading and writing, I could tell from his eyes that he was occupied with something in that book. I noted which book it was, and when he put it aside I went to get it and opened it. The first thing my eye lit upon was the opening chapter of the Book of Job with a fine woodcut, beautifully coloured in, at the head. I asked the figures in it strange questions and when I received no answer I said, just as the hermit crept up behind me, ‘You little wretches, have you lost your tongues? Haven’t you just been chatting to my father (that was what I called the hermit) for long enough? I can see you’re driving off that poor Da’s sheep and have set fire to his house. Stop, stop! I’ll put out the fire’, and I stood up to go and fetch some water, for I thought it was needed.

The hermit, whom I didn’t realise was behind me, said, ‘Where are you off to, Simplicius?’

‘Oh, father’, I replied, ‘there are soldiers who have taken some sheep and are going to drive them off. They’ve taken them away from that poor man you were talking to just now. His house is going up in flames as well and if I don’t put them out it will burn down to the ground’, pointing with my finger at what I could see as I spoke.

‘Stay where you are’, said the hermit, ‘there’s no danger.’

‘Are you blind?’ I answered in my rustic manner. ‘You stop them driving the sheep off and I’ll fetch the water.’

‘But’, said the hermit, ‘these pictures are not alive. They have been made to show us things that happened a long time ago.’

‘But how can they not be alive?’ I replied. ‘You were talking to them a moment ago.’

The hermit was forced to laugh, contrary to his habit, and said, ‘My dear child, these pictures cannot speak, but I can tell what they are and what they’re doing from these black lines. This is called reading, and while I was doing it you supposed I was talking to the pictures, but that was not the case.’

‘If I’m a human like you’, I replied, ‘then I ought to be able to tell the same things as you can from the black lines. I don’t follow what you’re saying. Dear father, teach me how to understand this matter.’

At that he said, ‘Very well, my son, I will teach you so that you will be able to talk to these pictures, only it will take time. It will take patience on my part and hard work on yours.’ Then he printed the alphabet for me on pieces of birch bark and when I knew the letters I learnt to spell, then to read and eventually to write, even more clearly than the hermit himself, since I printed everything.

Chapter 11

Concerns food, household goods and other necessary things we must have in this earthly life

I spent about two years in that forest, that is up to the time the hermit died and something over half a year after that. Therefore it seems a good idea to tell the reader, who is often curious to know the least detail, about our way of life there.

For food we had all kinds of garden produce, turnips, cabbages, beans, peas and suchlike, nor did we despise beech nuts or wild apples, pears and cherries. Often we were so hungry we were happy to eat acorns. Our bread – cake might be a better word – we baked in hot ashes from maize we ground up. In the winter we caught birds with snares and gins; in the spring and summer God sent us fledglings from the nests; often we made do with snails and frogs, and we were not averse to fishing with nets and rods since not far from where we lived was a stream full of fish and crayfish, all of which made our diet of coarse vegetables more palatable. Once we caught a young wild pig, which we kept in a pen, fed on acorns and beech mast, fattened up and finally ate, since the hermit said it could be no sin to enjoy things God had created for all the human race for that very purpose. We did not need much salt, and no spices at all, for we did not want to arouse our thirst seeing that we had no cellar. The little salt we needed was given to us by a pastor who lived about fifteen miles away and of whom I shall have much to say later on.

As far as household goods were concerned, I can say that we had enough. We had a spade, a pick, an axe, a hatchet and an iron pot for cooking, which did not actually belong to us, but were borrowed from the pastor mentioned above, and each of us had a worn, blunt knife. These were our property, and that was all. We did not need bowls, plates, spoons, forks, cauldrons, frying pans, a grill, a spit, a salt cellar or other items of crockery and kitchenware, for our pot served as our bowl, and our hands were our forks and spoons. If we wanted to drink, we did it from the spring through a reed, or we dipped our mouths in, like Gideon’s warriors. As for all kinds of cloth – wool, silk, cotton and linen – for bedding, table-cloths and wall-hangings, we had nothing but what we stood up in, since we believed we had enough if we could protect ourselves from rain and frost.

There was no regular order or routine to our doings, apart from on Sundays and feast days, when we set off around midnight so that we could reach the church of the above-mentioned pastor, which lay some way out of the village, early enough to avoid being seen by anyone. While we were waiting for the service to start we sat on the broken organ, from where we could see both the altar and the pulpit. The first time I saw the pastor climb up into the latter, I asked my hermit what he was going to do in that huge tub? After the service we slipped away just as quietly as we had come. And when we reached our home, weary in body and legs, we ate our poor meal with a good appetite. The rest of the time the hermit spent praying or instructing me in holy matters.

On workdays we did whatever needed doing most, depending on the season and the time we had at our disposal. Sometimes we would work in the garden, at others we collected the rich compost from shady spots and out of hollow trees to use instead of dung to improve our garden; we would weave baskets or fish-nets, chop up firewood, fish or do anything to banish idleness. And while we went about all these tasks, the hermit never ceased instructing me in all good things. It was a tough life, and I learnt to endure hunger, thirst, heat, cold and hard work, but above all to know God and to serve Him honestly, which was the most important lesson. And that was all my faithful hermit wanted me to learn, for he thought it was enough for a Christian to reach his goal if he worked hard and prayed hard. And that was why, although I had been well enough taught in religious matters, and understood my Christian belief – and also could speak German as beautifully if it was the spelling book itself speaking – yet I remained a simpleton. When I left the woods I cut such a sorry figure in the world that even the dogs ignored me.

Chapter 12

Reports on a fine way to come to a blessed end and get oneself buried cheaply

One day after about two years, when I was still scarcely accustomed to the hard life of a hermit, my best friend on earth took his pick, gave me the spade and, following his daily habit, led me by the hand into our garden where we used to say our prayers.

‘Now Simplicius, my dear child’, he said, ‘the time has come, praise be to God, for me to depart this life, to pay my debt to nature and leave you behind in the world. And since I can foresee some of the things that will befall you in your life and well know that you will not stay long in this wilderness, I have determined to give you some precepts to strengthen you on the path of virtue on which you have started out. These will be an infallible guide and will lead you, if you live your life according to them, to eternal bliss and you will be found worthy to join the elect, beholding the face of God for all eternity.’

These words flooded my eyes with tears, just as the dam the Swedes constructed flooded the town of Villingen. They were more than I could bear, but I said, ‘Dearest father, are you going to leave me alone in this wild forest? Then shall –’ More I could not say. My heart overflowed with love for my father and this made the torment so sharp I collapsed at his feet, as if dead. He helped me up and comforted me as well as time and the occasion allowed, at the same time reproaching me for my error, asking me if I thought I could oppose the divine order? ‘Do you not know’, he went on, ‘that that is something neither Heaven nor Hell can do? Would you burden this weak body of mine, which is longing for rest? Do you imagine you can force me to stay longer in this vale of tears? No, my son, let me go. All your wailing and sobbing cannot compel me to stay any longer in this place of misery, especially against my will now that God’s express will is calling me away. Instead of indulging in useless crying, follow my last words, which are these: the longer you live, the better you should seek to know yourself, and do not let your heart abandon this practice, even if you should live to be as old as Methuselah. The reason why most men are damned is that they never learn what they are, nor what they can and must be.’

He went on to advise me to avoid bad company, for the harm it could do was more than he could say. And he gave me an example, saying, ‘If you put one drop of Malmsey into a bowl of vinegar, it will immediately turn to vinegar; if, on the other hand, you put a drop of vinegar in Malmsey, it will mingle with the wine. My dearest son’, he said, ‘above all be steadfast, for those who persevere to the end will find eternal bliss. If, however, contrary to my hopes it should happen that human weakness makes you fall, then quickly rise again through sincere repentance.’

That was all the advice this conscientious and pious man gave me. Not because that was all he knew, but firstly because he felt I was too young to be able to take in more on an occasion like this, and secondly because a brief word is more easily remembered than a long speech; and if it is pithy and to the point it does more good by making you think than a long sermon which is easily understood and just as easily forgotten.

The reason this pious man thought these three points – to know yourself, avoid bad company and be steadfast – were essential was doubtless because he practised them himself and found they stood him in good stead. After he had come to know himself, he shunned not only bad company, but the whole world and remained true to that resolve, on which doubtless eternal bliss depends, until the very end, the manner of which I will describe now.

After he had given me this advice, he started to dig his own grave with the mattock. I helped as best I could, doing as he told me, but with no idea what he was aiming at. Then he said, ‘My dear, true and only son (for apart from you I have fathered no other creature to the glory of the Creator), when my soul has gone to its destined abode, it will be your duty to pay your last respects to my body and cover me with the soil we have dug out of this hole.’ At that he took me in his arms, kissed me and pressed me to his breast, much more strongly than would have seemed possible for a man in his condition.