Seite 1: Das stumme Buch (The dumb book)





An der Landstraße im Walde lag ein einsamer Bauernhof. Man mußte mitten durch den Hofraum hindurch. Da schien die Sonne, alle Fenster standen offen. Leben und Emsigkeit herrschte innen. Aber im Hofe, in einer Laube aus blühendem Flieder, stand ein offener Sarg. Der Tote war hier hinausgesetzt worden, denn am Vormittag sollte er begraben werden. Niemand stand und blickte voll Trauer auf den Toten, niemand weinte um ihn. Sein Gesicht war von einem weißen Tuche bedeckt und unter seinem Kopfe lag ein großes dickes Buch, dessen Blätter jedes ein ganzer Bogen aus grauem Papier waren. Und zwischen jedem lagen, verborgen und vergessen, verwelkte Blumen, ein ganzes Herbarium, das an verschiedenen Orten zusammengesucht war. Das sollte mit ins Grab, das hatte er selbst verlangt. An jede Blume knüpfte sich ein Kapitel seines Lebens.

In the high-road which led through a wood stood a solitary farm-house; the road, in fact, ran right through its yard. The sun was shining and all the windows were open; within the house people were very busy. In the yard, in an arbour formed by lilac bushes in full bloom, stood an open coffin; thither they had carried a dead man, who was to be buried that very afternoon. Nobody shed a tear over him; his face was covered over with a white cloth, under his head they had placed a large thick book, the leaves of which consisted of folded sheets of blotting-paper, and withered flowers lay between them; it was the herbarium which he had gathered in various places and was to be buried with him, according to his own wish. Every one of the flowers in it was connected with some chapter of his life.

Vokabular
die Landstraße = road
der Bauernhof = farm
der Hof = yard
die Laube = bower
der Sarg = coffin
die Trauer = sorrow, grief
verborgen = hidden
verwelkte Blumen = withered flowers
das Herbarium = collection of plants
das Grab = grave
knüpfen an = to link to something






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