Cihlar & Egeler - The Saint and her Fool

„Come, Rosemarie, let us have some tea.“Rose allows being lead to a chair, though her eyes stay clouded and she tiptoes very softly, as if afraid to wake someone.

The tea is served from ancient, gilded cups. There are no servants; the lordships always serve themselves, which is the custom here. Even after drinking her milk, the child is pale and does not speak a word, but she nibbles at bit at the pastries and the Duke calms down. He tries to appease his young wife a bit with the atmosphere of Castle Schweigen, by telling her about his first time hunting here, with his father and grandfather. Of how they had stayed overnight and never had any encounters with ghosts or spirits of any kind.

„In the evening, we told each other glorious hunting stories of excellent dogs and magnificent horses until late at night. At dawn, the huntsman stood at the door and loudly knocked, until we fell out of the rock-hard beds, still half asleep.“ But the Duchess seems not at all amused.

„All I can perceive in these surroundings is a stuffy odor; it is impossible to dwell here, Fried! Just look at the wallpaper… and these mirrors! Had the ladies here had so little esteem of their appearance that they tolerated such mirrors?”

Little Rose gets up and walks slowly to the door; her steps still so careful as if no one, absolutely no one, should wake up and she timidly asks: „Father, may I now see the room where the little blue man is hanging from the ceiling?“

„What do you mean, Rosemarie?“

„The little man who acts like this,“ and she puts her finger to her lips and smiles, as if to indicate silence.

„There is no such thing here.“

„Please, Father, let us look for it,“ and she pulls him along, always on her toes, gently, silently ... They go through all the rooms. The Duchess stays where she is; she has had more than enough of all the musty, tasteless parlors. She lights a cigarette and sits disgruntled into one of the uncomfortable chairs and sneers at the mirrors. Father and daughter go through all the rooms and the Duke shows his daughter the paintings; all hunting sceneries in old copper-engravings and bad oil paintings of odd looking deer, boars and dogs. Rosemarie keeps looking for the little blue man, but he is not there. Not even in the last room, where the big four-poster bed stands. It has silk curtains, which are covered with the finest floral embroidery. In the silky folds, protected from the light, the faded colors still shine out brightly. Diligent hands must have worked on these for years. Under the splendid canopy is a very wide, almost comfortable looking bed of painted pinewood.

„Look, here I have slept some restless nights with my father. It was very hard – in many ways. Even by only thinking of having to go back to the plagued times of schooling, I sometimes felt tears come to my eyes, even as the big boy I was.”

She nods, then says in a bit mournful tone. „Father, why have they removed the little blue dwarf?”

„Do not be so stubborn, Rosemarie, you hear me; here was never a blue dwarf, as long as I can remember, all has remained unchanged. And woe to the person who changes anything here as long as I live! In Brauneck, surely, there must be innovations, but here in this secluded forest covert, I insist on keeping old traditions,” grumbles the Duke.

„But Father, it was hanging there before we came in.“

„Rosemarie, do not be ridiculous, and who can see through doors? And into which mouse hole should this little man have slipped in to!“

„But it is not here,“ she says, quite miserably.

„And was never there. Who told you about this?”

„No one, but I know.“

„Now I do not wish to hear any more of this,“ says the Duke sternly, „and stop whispering and walking on your toes.“

„But this is a castle of silence.“

„Oh, it has been called „Schweigen” since centuries; it was often loud enough here.“

„Well, don`t you feel ...“

„Rosemarie, you really are misbehaving today! You have been so reasonable for quite a long time now, so that I hoped you had improved your behavior – and now… must you spoil this wonderful excursion?”

The child tries to restrain her emotions; she sidles towards the bed, reaches gingerly for the beautiful curtains, kisses the silk flowers and surreptitiously wipes her tears off. The Duke watches her with his brows creased. After all his hopes; her behavior was just the same as before, and he leaves the room angrily, the child following him on her toes. She turns her pale face back to the bed, looking at the ceiling, as if the blue dwarf would have mercy and suddenly appear on the ceiling and be hanging there, eyes warning, lips smiling, pressing a finger to his lips. But the ceiling remains white. Father is angry and Mama seems to be amused, her mood getting more and more cheerful, the more annoyed he becomes. They leave to return home immediately; the ride back in the closed carriage is in complete silence.

Poor Father, are Rosemarie’s thoughts. He is not truly able to celebrate festivities.

Chapter 9

Father and Mama have left for Berlin and the blue and white flag is put away to hibernate for the winter. The trees begin mourning and shed their colorful leaves, the ravens are shrieking out with perception of the oncoming snow.

Rosemarie learns to sew and has nimble little hands; the needle always seems to find its way to exactly where it belongs. Frau von Hardenstein is amazed at her skills and promises her that she will soon be allowed to create her own Christmas art works. And she knows what she would like to do, she wants to embroider a pillow for the chair in Harro`s salon, with a colorful, floral pattern.

„The cushions on his chair are full of ugly worms.”

„Those are ornaments.” Frau von Hardenstein tries to emend, but Rosemarie insists on the fact that the ornaments do look like worms of all size.

They then hear Harro’s footsteps outside. Oh, how long had he been gone! He seems to be in quite a bad mood.

„Be lenient, my dear Rose, I am intolerable today. Just as an old, surly, growling badger; I actually should apologize for bringing such moodiness into this peaceful dwelling.”

„Harro, has something happened? This weather is so depressing. I suggest we turn the lights on.“ Frau von Hardenstein immediately does so.

It is very cozy in the room with its old Empire furniture. The blue curtains are drawn, the electric light glows in a small crystal glass, on the large table there is a white rose bouquet from the greenhouse.

„Harro, what has dismayed you so?“

„How kind of you to ask me, Mama …yes, I am only waiting for alleviation. Nothing world shattering has happened, other than a stone wall collapsing, almost burying me while resting in my bed. It missed by a stroke of luck, a strong wooden beam held it off from me. Though rubble and bricks did destroy most of my easels, nothing really essential has been damaged.”

„That sounds quite upsetting, Harro; must we worry about you, living in these ruins?”

„No,” he shakes his head and his eyes turn towards little Rose. „Sweetheart,“ he exclaims, „Your sparkling grey eyes have taken on a sorrowful dark color…let us speak of nicer things! We should discuss our next festival, the Feast of the Hazelnuts.”

„I have been to castle Schweigen already, with Father and Mama.“

„Oh, you were there, what a pity! I was so looking forward to showing it to you. How was it? Tell us, little Rose! Did you see the old mirror and the beautiful linden trees? We will go to Schweigen again together when the blooming of the ivy begins which must be soon now. It will be a day full of sunshine and I will summon this for our excursion. Was it nice?„