Dame Care by Hermann Sudermann

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"'Dear heart, dost thou know how forsaken I dwell?
Oh, take me, poor maiden, o'er moor and o'er fell,
But give, give me love!'
When of her company wearied at last,
He said, 'Pretty rogue we've a pleasant time passed,
So hast thou had love!"

"'And of my love art thou weary, dear heart?
So will I stay by thee, nor evermore part,
For I long for thy love.'
But heartily laughed the knight bold and gay;
He saddled his horse and he rode far away,
And left her in sorrow to love.

"And when the time had passed sadly away,
In sorrow her son saw the light of the day,
An offspring of love.
She carried him out in the night on the heath;
'With a kiss, thou poor child, will I do thee to death--
I will kill thee with love."

"'Do to me, judge, what you will,' then she cried.
'Forsaken am I of the whole world so wide,
And left without love.'
She mounted the scaffold in bridal array,
And said 'Take me hence, thou good God, I pray,
And I long sore for love!'"

Then his two sisters came to his mind, and he had a feeling as if his
mother had known all and forgiven all beforehand.

And directly after stood written, in big letters, this title:

THE FAIRY TALE OF DAME CARE.

There was once a mother, to whom the good God had given a son, but she was
so poor and lonely that she had nobody who could stand godmother to him.
And she sighed, and said, "Where shall I get a godmother from?" Then one
evening at dusk there came a woman to her house who was dressed in gray and
had a gray veil over her head. She said, "I will be your son's godmother,
and I will take care that he grows up a good man and does not let you
starve; but you must give me his soul."

Then his mother trembled, and said, "Who are you?"

"I am Dame Care," answered the gray woman; and the mother wept; but as she
suffered much from hunger, she gave the woman her son's soul and she was
his godmother.

And her son grew up and worked hard to procure her bread. But as he had no
soul, he had no joy and no youth, and often he looked at his mother with
reproachful eyes, as if he would ask,

"Mother, where is my soul?"

Then the mother grew sad and went out to find him a soul.

She asked the stars in the sky, "Will you give me a soul?" But they said,
"He is too low for that."

And she asked the flowers on the heath; they said, "He is too ugly."

And she asked the birds in the trees; they said, "He is too sad."

And she asked the high trees; they said, "He is too humble."

And she asked the clever serpents, but they said, "He is too stupid."

Then she went away weeping. And in the wood she met a young and beautiful
princess surrounded by her court.

And because she saw the mother weeping she descended from her horse and
took her to the castle, which was all built of gold and precious stones.

There she asked, "Tell me why you weep?" And the mother told the princess
of her grief that she could not procure her son a soul nor joy and youth.

Then said the princess, "I cannot see anybody weep; I will tell you
something--I will give him my soul."

Then the mother fell down before her and kissed her hands.

"But," said the princess, "I will not do it for nothing; he must ask me
for it." Then the mother went to her son, but Dame Care had laid her gray
veil over his head, so that he was blind and could not see the princess.

And the mother pleaded, "Dear Dame Care, set him free."

But Care smiled--and whoever saw her smile was forced to weep--and she
said, "He must free himself."

"How can he do that?" asked the mother.

"He must sacrifice to me all that he loves," said Dame Care.

Then the mother grieved very much, and lay down and died. But the princess
waits for her suitor to this very day.

* * * * *

"Mother, mother!" he cried, and sank down on the grave.

"Come," said Elsbeth, struggling with her tears as she laid her hand on his
shoulder; "let mother be, she is at peace; and she shall not harm us any
more--your wicked Dame Care!"

NOTES.

L TRANSLATION OF THE DEDICATION:

TO MY PARENTS.

FOR THE 26TH OF NOVEMBER.

Dame Care, the deep gray-veiled dame,
You know her, dear parents, not only by name;
She came, His thirty years to-day,
And into strange countries she followed your way.
As the November day, sad and dreary and dull,
Lay on the heath in a leaden lull,
And in the willow-trees the wind
Whistled your wedding-dance, rough and unkind.

And when, after hours without any rest,
In Littau's forest you found a nest,
And trembling stood at the threshold so bare,
She entered with you, gray Dame Care,
And waving her arms she blessed the two,
The home you entered, the house and you,
And blessed those two, who, without harm,
Still slept in creation's shielding arm.

The empty cradle that time did mark
Stands under the staircase in the dark,
Indulging in long deserved rest,
As four times it saw a new little guest.
Then when sun sunk, and all round slept,
From some dark corner a shadow crept,
And staggered dumbly and grew and rose,
And crept with stretched arms to the cradle close.

NOTES.

And what Dame Care then promised to you,
Life has so faithfully made it true
In sighs and weeping and ever and aye,
In troubles of weary working-day,
In pain of so many a sleepless night,
With need and torment ever in sight.

And you are gray, your strength grew lame,
But ever still the deep-veiled Dame
Walks with fixed eyes and blessing hand
All through the poor house, to pass without end
From the tables so poor to the chests so bare.
From threshold to threshold, and blows in the glare
Of the flame on the hearth, and ever and aye
Rivets the weary day to the day.
O dearest parents, don't cease to strive,
And as you had work and cares all your life,
A life so hard and a life so long,
So will at last from Heaven descend
A day of rest when care has an end.

We boys are young, and we can strive,
Our courage is still fresh in life.
We know how to fight with care and need,
And where luck's flower is blooming so sweet.
Soon we return, and when we are there,
We laughingly turn her out, gray Dame Care.

* * * * *

II. DU (_Thou_) AND SIR (_You_), pages 68, 115, 116: References to the
German use of the former pronoun to denote greater intimacy than the latter
implies.

III. AUGUST, page 143: Name of the chief clown in the Berlin Circus.

IV. POLTERABEND, page 275; Evening before the wedding. In some parts of
Germany it is customary for the friends of the bride to bring old china or
glass, which they smash before her door.

THE END.

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