This is my friend Ole, the old tower keeper. He is an interesting person who likes to gossip. He seems to say everything, but in the depths of his heart, there are many things seriously hidden. Yes, his family background is very good. It is said that he is also the young master of a council counselor-he may be. He once studied, worked as an assistant to a teacher and a deputy secretary to a priest. But what's the use? When he lives with the priest, he can use anything in the house at will. At that time, as the saying goes, he was a handsome boy. He wants to polish his boots with real shoe polish, but the priest only allows him to use ordinary oil. They had an argument about it. This said that stingy, that said this vanity. Shoe polish became the source of their hostility, so they broke up.
But what he wants from the priest is also what he wants from the world: he wants real shoe polish, but what he gets is ordinary grease. In this way, he had to leave all the people and become a hermit. But in a big city, the only place to live in seclusion without going hungry is the church tower. So he got in, walked alone and smoked a pipe. He looked down and up, generating some thoughts, telling a set of things he could and could not see, as well as things he saw in books and in his heart.
I often lend him some good books to read: You can tell who you are from the friends you associate with. He said that he didn't like English novels written for people like nannies, and he didn't like French novels, because such things were a mixture of evil wind and rose stalks. No, he likes biographies and books about the wonders of nature. I visit him at least once a year-usually within a few days after the New Year. He always rambles for a while about some of his feelings when the old and new years turn.
I want to talk about my two-day visit to him. I'll try to quote what he said.
My first visit
Among the books I lent Ole recently, there is a book about round stones. This book attracted other interests in particular, and he buried himself in reading it for a while.
"These round stones, they are some ancient relics!" He said. "People pass by them, but they don't think about them at all! This is the case when I walk on fields and beaches. There are quite a few of them there. People walk through the paved stones in the street-this is the oldest relic in ancient times! I have done such a thing myself. Now I pay great respect to every paving stone! I thank you for lending me this book! It attracted my attention, it drove away some of my old ideas and habits, and it made me eager to read more such books.
"The legend about the earth is the most fascinating one! It's terrible that we can't read the first volume of it because it is written in a language we don't understand. We have to understand it from all strata, from round stones and from all the periods of the earth. Only in the sixth volume did real people-Mr. Adam and Ms. Eve-appear. For many readers, they appear a little too late, because readers want to read about them at once. But for me, it doesn't matter at all. This is indeed a legend, a very interesting legend, and we are all in it. We crawled around, but I still stayed where I was; But the earth keeps turning, and it doesn't turn the ocean water over and pour it on our heads. The earth's crust we are standing on hasn't cracked, so let's fall to the center of the earth. The story kept progressing and lasted for millions of years.
"I thank you for this book about boulders. What friends they are! If they can talk, they can tell you more. If a person can occasionally become a trivial thing, it is also quite interesting, especially a person in a high position like me. Think about it, even if we have the best shoe polish, we are just short-lived insect ants on the ant mountain of the earth, although we may be insect ants with medals and positions! In front of these old boulders with millions of years, people are ridiculously young. I read a book on New Year's Eve, and I was so fascinated that I even forgot what I usually did on this night-look at that crazy trip to Jamaica! Hi! You'll never know what this is all about!
"The story of the witch riding a broom is well known-it was on the night of Saint Hans (note: the night of June 23rd). In medieval Europe, Christians sang and danced on this night to commemorate the birthday of Saint Hans (). Hans may be Johnnes. ), the destination is Brocksburg. But we also had crazy trips. This is here and now: a trip to Jamaica on New Year's Eve. All those insignificant male poets, female poets, violinists, news writers and celebrities in the art world-that is, a worthless group of people-sailed to Jamaica on New Year's Eve. They all ride on brushes or quills, because pens are not fit to carry them: they are too stiff. As I have said, I want to see them every New Year's Eve. I can call out many of their names, but it's not worthwhile to get entangled with them because they don't want people to know them? Fly to Jamaica with a quill pen.
"I have a niece. She is a fisherman. She said that she specially supplied swearing words to three prestigious newspapers. She even went to the newspaper office as a guest. She was taken away because she neither had a quill pen nor could ride it. She told me all this herself. About half of what she said is a lie, but this half is enough.
"When she got there, everyone began to sing. Each guest wrote his own song, and each guest sang his own song, because everyone always thought his own song was the best. In fact, they are nearly as bad as one another, with the same tune. Then came a group of chatterboxes. At this time, various bells will ring in turn. So came a bunch of little drummers; They just play drums in the small circle of the family. Others take this opportunity to make friends with each other: these people write articles without their names, that is, they use ordinary grease instead of shoe polish. In addition to the executioner and his page; This page is the most cunning, otherwise no one will notice him. The nice street sweeper came at this moment; He overturned the dustbin and kept saying,' Good, very good, especially good!' While everyone was partying like this, a stalk, a tree, a huge flower, a huge fungus and a complete roof suddenly appeared on the pile of garbage-it was the slider of the distinguished guests (note: the original text was "Slarae? eenstang"。 This is an oiled stick, which is very smooth and difficult to climb or step on. It is a toy to test the ability of climbing or stepping during exercise. ), it picks up all the things they have done to the world in the past year. A kind of fireworks-like spark shoots from it: these are some thoughts and opinions they have published and copied from others; They're all sparks now.
"Now everyone plays a game of' burning incense'; Some young poets play the game of' burning their hearts'. Some humorists tell puns-this is the smallest game. Their witticism caused an echo, as if an empty jar was hitting the door, or the door was hitting a jar full of charcoal ash. This is really interesting!' My niece said. In fact, she also said a lot of very malicious things, but it was very interesting! But I don't want to convey these words, because one should be kind and not always find fault. You can understand that a person who knows the joy there like me naturally likes to watch this crazy flight every New Year's Eve. If someone doesn't come in a certain year, I will definitely find a new person to replace them. But I didn't go to see those guests this year. I slipped away on the boulder, into millions of years ago. I saw these stones moving freely in the northland. Before Noah made the ark, they floated freely on the ice. I saw them fall to the bottom of the sea and then come out on the sandbar. The sandbar emerged from the water and said,' This is Seran Island!' I saw that it first became the residence of many birds I didn't know, and then became the residence of some savage chiefs. I didn't know these savages either. Later, they carved some Ronny scripts with axes. )-this has become history. But I have nothing to do with it. I am almost equal to zero.
"Three or four beautiful meteors have fallen. They shoot a light and lead my thoughts to another route. You probably know what a meteor is, right? Some learned people don't know! I have my opinion about them; My view is from this point: people always privately say thanks and blessings to people who have done good things; This kind of gratitude is often silent, but it does not mean that it is meaningless. I think sunlight will absorb it and then shoot it quietly at the person who does good. If the whole nation expresses this gratitude in the course of time, then this gratitude will form a bouquet and turn into a meteor that falls on the grave of this good man.
"When I see a meteor, especially on New Year's Eve, I feel very happy and know who will get this bouquet of thanks. Recently, a bright star fell to the southwest as a sign of gratitude to many people. Who will it fall on? I think it will undoubtedly land on a cliff in Rensburg Bay. The national flag of Denmark is here, in Schleswig and Lasso (note: Schleswig and Lasso are two sons of a friend of Andersen's; They died in an attack against Germany. ) and their companions' graves. Another one fell on the land: it fell on' Suluo'-it was a flower that fell on the tomb of Holburg, indicating many people's gratitude to him this year-for some beautiful plays he wrote.
"The greatest and happiest thought is to know that a meteor has fallen on our grave. Of course, there will never be a meteor on my grave, nor will there be sunlight to thank me, because I have nothing to thank; I didn't get the real shoe polish, Ole said. I was destined to get ordinary grease in this world.
Second visit
It's New Year, and I climbed the tower again. Ole talked about the things to drink to the passing of the old year and the coming of the new year. So I got a story about cups from him. This story contains profound meaning.
"On New Year's Eve, when the clock strikes twelve, everyone stands up from the table with a full glass of wine and cheers for the New Year. They welcome this year with glasses in their hands; This is a good start for people who like to drink! They started the year by going to bed; This is also a good start for sleepy people! In the course of a year, sleep certainly occupies a very important position; Wine glasses are no exception.
"Do you know what's in the glass? "He asked." Yes, there are health, happiness and revelry in it! There are sorrows and bitter misfortunes. When I count these cups, I certainly count the weight of different people in these cups.
"You know, the first cup is a healthy cup! It has healthy grass growing in it. You put it on the girder, and by the end of the year you can sit in the healthy shade.
"Pick up the second cup! Yes, there is a bird flying out of it. It sings innocent and happy songs to everyone, asking everyone to sing with it: life is beautiful! Let's not always hang our heads! Go forward bravely!
"A little creature with wings appeared in the third cup. He can't be regarded as an angel, because he has the blood of an imp and the character of an imp. He doesn't hurt anyone, just likes to make jokes. He sat behind our ears and whispered some funny things to us. He got into our hearts, warmed it up, made us happy and became a good mind recognized by other minds.
"There is no grass, no birds and no small creatures in the fourth cup; There is only the limit of reason-one can never exceed this limit.
"When you pick up that fifth cup, you will cry. You will have a pleasant emotional impulse, otherwise this impulse will be expressed in other ways. The romantic and dissolute' carnival prince' will pop out of the cup with a bang! He will drag you away, and you will forget your dignity-if you have any dignity. You will forget more things than you should and dare to forget. There is dancing, singing and noise everywhere. The mask dragged you away. The daughters of the devil in silk, with their hair covered and beautiful limbs exposed, came in a bad temper. Avoid them if you can!
"the sixth cup! Yes, Satan himself is sitting in it. He is a well-dressed, talkative, charming and very pleasant person. He can completely understand you and agree with everything you say. He is completely your incarnation! He came with a lantern so as to take you to his home. Once upon a time there was a story about a saint; Someone told him to choose one of the seven sins; He chose what he thought was the least: drunkenness. This sin led him to commit six other sins. The blood of man and the devil is mixed in the sixth cup; At this time, all evil bacteria develop in our bodies. Every bacterium, like mustard seed in the Bible, thrives and grows into a tree, covering the whole world. Most people have only one way: to walk into the furnace again and be recreated.
"This is the story of the cup!" The tower keeper Ole said. "It can be expressed with leather shoes oil or ordinary oil. I used both kinds of oil. "
This is my second visit to Ole. If you want to hear more stories, then your visit has to be-to be continued.
(1859)
This essay was published in the third part of the first volume of New Fairy Tales and Stories published in Copenhagen in 1859. Its writing has the flavor of fable, but its content is bitter irony-another "innovation" of Andersen. Ironically, there were some phenomena in Danish literary and art circles at that time: "Buddies" flatter each other, while the Party condemns fools together.
But "bright stars" will only fall on the graves of people who have done practical things and made contributions to the country, such as Lasso who died for his country, and Holburg, a great playwright who laid the foundation for Danish drama. Those who engage in crooked ways and seek fame and reputation "have only one way."