Walter Benjamin - Radio Benjamin

COAL PETER ( in a drowsy voice ): The tall pine’s dwelling place, the tall pine’s dwelling place — if I only knew the rest.

The music comes to an end. After a short pause, we hear six chimes.

ANNOUNCER: Here I am again, back in the Black Forest mill, together with Coal Peter. It’s six o’clock. I bet Coal Peter slept the whole night in the back of a cart and it won’t be so easy to wake him. Coal Peter is snoring. Faint music grows slowly stronger. We hear one or two verses sung.

COAL PETER ( very drowsy ): Huh, a music box for an alarm clock. I would like to wake up to lovely music every morning, like a prince. But no, it’s coming from outside: apprentice craftsmen! They’re certainly up early.

We hear singing:

I stood upon the brightest place,

I gazed upon the plain,

And then — oh then — I saw that face,

I never saw again. 6

COAL PETER: Hey, you there! Encore, encore! Sing it again!

The music fades away and the singing becomes fainter.

Well, they don’t care much for me. And they’re gone, beyond the hills.

( More quietly and wistfully .) How did it go again? ( Humming quietly to the same melody .) Oh then — I saw that face, oh then — I saw that face — so then, “face,” that’s the rhyme. Face for place, now Little Glass Man, let’s have our little chat again.

He whistles a little to himself.

ANNOUNCER: What’s your hurry, Mr. Peter Munk? I had just been hopelessly wondering how to get you back on your feet and on your way home. And suddenly here you are, racing by in such haste.

COAL PETER ( in a hurry ): Let me go, Mr. Announcer, let me go. I just remembered my rhyme—

ANNOUNCER: Rhyme? What sort of rhyme?

COAL PETER: Shh, I’m on a mission. I can’t say another word. You’ll find out soon enough. Goodbye, Mr. Announcer!

ANNOUNCER: What an odd bird. ( Calling after him. ) Just steer clear of Dutch Michael! Bye, Peter!

COAL PETER: So, here’s the tall pine. Now pay attention Peter, here we go:

Keeper of wealth in the forest of pine,

Hundreds of years are surely thine,

Thine is the tall pine’s dwelling place,

Those born on Sunday see thy face. 7

LITTLE GLASS MAN: You didn’t get it quite right, but since it’s you, Coal Peter, I’ll let it slide. Did you run into that rascal, Dutch Michael?

COAL PETER: Indeed I did, Keeper of Wealth, and I was terribly scared. I’ve come to ask your advice. Things aren’t going well for me, they’re not easy. A coal burner won’t get very far, and being young, I thought, perhaps I could make more of myself. I often look at others and think how far they’ve gotten in such a short time — I need only mention Ezekiel and the Dance Hall King, who are rolling in the dough.

LITTLE GLASS MAN: Don’t talk to me about them, Peter! What good does it do them, if for a few years they appear to be happy yet afterwards are just as unhappy? Don’t scorn your trade; your father and grandfather were honorable men, and they plied the same trade, Peter Munk! I do hope it’s not laziness that brings you to me.

COAL PETER: No, not laziness. Mr. Keeper of Wealth in the Forest of Pine, I know very well that laziness is at the root of all vice; but you can’t hold it against me if another rank pleases me more than my own. A coal burner is regarded as very lowly in this world, while the glass blowers and the raftsmen and the clockmakers are held in high esteem.

LITTLE GLASS MAN: Pride goeth before a fall. You humans are a curious race! You’re hardly ever satisfied with the condition into which you were born and raised. What’s it all about? If you are a glassmaker, you would rather be a lumber merchant, and if you are a lumber merchant, you covet the forester’s duties or the magistrate’s residence. But so be it! If you promise to work hard, Peter, I will help you to attain something better. I grant three wishes to every Sunday’s Child who knows how to find me. But be careful. With every wish I knock my glass pipe on this pine tree. The first two are free; the third I can refuse, if it’s foolish. So wish for something now, Peter, but make it something good and useful.

COAL PETER: Hooray! You are a splendid Little Glass Man, and rightly do they call you the Keeper of Wealth; you do control a wealth of treasures. I shall wish what my heart desires. My first wish is that I be able to dance better than the Dance Hall King and always bring twice as much money to the tavern as he does. Knocking of the pipe.

LITTLE GLASS MAN: You fool! What a pathetic wish this is, to be able to dance well and have money for gambling! Aren’t you ashamed, dumb Peter, to cheat yourself out of your own happiness like this? What good does it do you and your poor mother, if you dance well? What good is your money if it’s squandered at the tavern, like that of the miserable Dance Hall King? Afterwards you’ll have nothing left for the rest of the week and you’ll suffer want just as before. I will give you one more wish freely; but be careful to make a more reasonable wish!

COAL PETER ( after some hesitation ): Well, then, I wish for the most beautiful and richest glass factory in the entire Black Forest with all its trappings and the money to run it.

LITTLE GLASS MAN: Nothing else, Peter? Nothing else?

COAL PETER: Well, you could add a horse and a small carriage.

LITTLE GLASS MAN: Oh, you stupid Coal Peter! ( The pipe shatters .) Horse? Carriage? Brains, I tell you — it’s brains, common sense and good judgment you should have wished for, not a horse and carriage. Now, don’t be so sad, we will see to it that it doesn’t cause you any harm; after all, the second wish wasn’t entirely foolish. A good glass factory feeds its owner and workmen; if only you had added brains and good judgment to it, horses and carriages would have come into the bargain.

COAL PETER: But, Mr. Keeper of Wealth, I do have one wish left. I could wish for brains if you think I am in such need of them.

LITTLE GLASS MAN: No way! You will encounter many difficulties, and so, be glad you still have one wish left. Now go home! Here are two thousand guldens — and that’s it — don’t come back to ask me for more money; I’d hang you from the highest pine tree! That’s how I’ve been handling things ever since I came to live in the forest. Three days ago, old Winkfritz died; he had that big glass factory in the lower forest. Go there early tomorrow morning and make a fair bid! Comport yourself well, be diligent, and I will come visit you now and again to advise and assist you, because you didn’t ask for any brains. But, I say this to you in earnest, your first wish was evil. Beware of the taverns, Peter! They’ve never done anyone any good.

COAL PETER: He’s gone? He can really smoke, that Keeper of Wealth. The smoke’s so thick, I can hardly see him. ( He sniffs .) I must say, though, it is a pleasant blend.

Gong.

ANNOUNCER: Yes, well then, where were we? You children have just listened in on the conversation between our good Peter Munk and our little Keeper of Wealth. You heard the foolish wishes Peter made, and how the Little Glass Man disappeared in a cloud of good Dutch tobacco smoke. Now let’s see what comes next. ( He rustles some papers .) Where is that next installment? ( Louder rustling. )

LITTLE GLASS MAN ( whispering ): What’s going on? Why aren’t we continuing with the play?

ANNOUNCER ( whispering ): I have no idea what to do next, Mr. Keeper of Wealth. Fancy that! The forest wind must have blown away some of the pages; now we’re in a jam. I have no idea how we will ever find our place again.