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Gjellerup, Karl Adolph: Minna (detaljer)

Portre of Gjellerup, Karl Adolph

Minna (detaljer) (Danish)

FØRSTE BOG

I

Semestret ved Polytechnicum havde været temmelig anstrengende, og det begyndte at blive utaalelig hedt i Dresden, hvor jeg desuden boede i en af Altstadts mindre Gader, der vel var renlig og net, men ikke just synderlig luftig. Jeg følte ofte en hjemlig Længsel efter det danske Sund. Hvor smukke end Aftenerne ved Elben vare, saa bragte de dog kun ringe Afkjøling, og naar man endnu mellem ni og ti slæbte sig op paa den Brühlske Terrasse og gispede efter en Luftning, viste Thermometret endnu sine fem-sexogtyve Grader Reaumur. Dette var for saa vidt trøstende, som det godtgjorde, at man havde en utvivlsom Menneskeret til at svede, og at det var en undskyldelig Extravagance, hvis man nød en Portion Is udenfor Cafféen, hvor der var behageligt at sidde mellem Søilerne og høre Brudstykker af Concerten i »Wienergarten« hinsides Floden.
Det var paa en saadan Aften, at jeg fattede den dristige Beslutning at ligge paa Landet i den nærforestaaende Sommerferie. Mig selv forekom denne Beslutning i alt Fald temmelig dristig, da jeg baade var nødsaget og vant til at leve meget økonomisk. Jeg var strax paa det Rene med, at jeg maatte ud i Sachsisk Schweiz, og den sidste Bid Is var endnu ikke smeltet i Munden paa mig, da jeg havde bestemt míg for det lille Rathen, som havde efterladt et lokkende idyllisk Indtryk hos mig, skjøndt jeg, i Lighed med de fleste Reisende, kun havde seet det i Forbigaaende og tilmed ved Skumringstid, paa Nedveien fra Bastei.
Et Par Dage senere steg jeg, henimod Middag, ud ved den lille Station og gik mellem Frugttræshaverne ned til Færgen. Elben bugter sig her om et frodigt Agerland, der efterhaanden hæver sig i jævne Bakker, mørke af Granskov, hvorover enkelte Klippeblokke rage op, medens det løber fladt ud mod Floden. Her breder Øvre-Rathen sig med velhavende spredte Bøndergaarde, og et løst Væv af Frugttræskroner spænder sig over Kornmarkerne og de grønne Enge. Den hinsidige Bred er een stor Bjergbue, med en eneste Gjennembrydning midtveis, den lille Dal, hvor det uanselige Nedre-Rathen er klemt inde, og næsten kun præsenterer sig med de to Gjæstgivergaarde, den nøgne ny og den overgroede gamle, hver paa sin Side af Bækken, som blinkende munder ud i den store forbiglidende Flod. Tilvenstre for denne Dal hæver sig Basteis blaagraa, lodrette Klipper, som nedad skjules af Naaleskov og Bøgeløv, og derefter lyser Rækken af de store Sandstensbrud, de smukkeste i hele Landet; de danne dèr enkeltstaaende gulige Væggeflader, af hvilke nogle ere flere hundrede Fod høie. Til den anden Side af Rathen derimod strække de sig som en vedvarende Gjennemskjæring af Bakkedraget, og oppe over dets Skovbølger seiler Lilienstein som et uhyre Pantserskib.



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Minna (detail) (English)

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

The Term at the Polytechnic had been rather tiring. Dresden had begun to grow unbearably hot, and, to make matters worse, I was living at the time in one of the smaller streets of the " old city," which was not exactly airy, though clean and well-kept. I often felt a home-sick longing for the Danish " Sund." The evenings by the Elbe, though beautiful, brought hardly any refreshing coolness, and the thermometer still showed some eighty-eight degrees, even as late as between nine and ten p.m., when I dragged myself, gasping for a breath of air, up the steps of old Brühl's famous terrace. In a way it was consoling, as it proved that I had an undoubted right to feel hot, and that it was an excusable luxury to take an ice-cream outside the Café Torniamenti, while I sat between the columns and listened to snatches of the concert in the " Wienergarten," on the opposite side of the river.
It was on such an evening that I made the bold decision to go into the country during the approaching summer holidays. To myself, at any rate, this decision appeared rather daring, as I was both obliged and accustomed to live very economically. The thought occurred to me that I would go to Saxon-Switzerland, and the last morsel of ice-cream had not melted in my mouth when I had decidel upon the little hamlet of Rathen. Dear, tiny nook that it was, it had left upon me the impression of a rarely tender idyll, though, like most travellers, I had only seen it in passing, and then in the twilight, when coming down from the Bastei.
Towards noon, a few days later, I alighted at the little railway station, and walked past the fruit gardens down to the ferry. In this part the Elbe goes winding round cultivated land, which gradually rises into undulating country, dark with pine woods and overhung by rocks, while gently sloping down towards the river. Here lies Upper-Rathen with its substantial, if somewhat scattered farms, and a thin network of fruit trees spreads over the cornfields and green meadows. The opposite side is one long chain of mountains with but a single break in the middle, a small valley disclosing the unimportant village of Lower-Rathen, of which scarcely anything is to be seen but the two inns – the bare new one, and the overgrown old one – lying one on each side of the brook which runs sparkling into the river as it glides swiftly by. To the left of this valley rise the bluish-grey towering rocks of the Bastei, covered down towards the base with woods of pine and beech ; these are succeeded by shining sandstone quarries, the most beautiful in the whole country, a series of lofty, yellow walls, some of which rise to a height of several hundred feet. In contrast to these, the quarries on the farther side of the village lie along the base of the hills like one unbroken wall of rock, above which rolls a sea of forests with Lilienstein floating therein – a gigantic man-of-war.



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