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BETTINA. Ihl
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
«> ^ In One Of Our Late Numbers We Gave ...
by rambling about night and day ; till it so happened , one fine _. afternoonthat she and her friend found themselves lost in a forest .
, It was long * after sunset , and darkness began to gather around them . Then the moon roseand they knew that it was eleven o'clock . This
was Bettina ' s hour ; , now her real life began . Sitting down upon a fallen tree , she began to laugh aloud , and far and near the air
rang with her voice . Her companion , more timid than herself , besought her with tears not to frighten her , but Bettina was in her
element and knew no pity . She sang , clapped her hands and accosted moon and stars , with which she claimed fellowship . At
last they succeeded in reaching a hill , from -which they looked down a lainwhere at some distance twinkled the lights of a
villa upon ge or p town , . Thither they bent their steps . Crossing fields and lanes , jumping over brooks and hedges , they finally reached
their goal . But alas ! a high wall encircled the place , and the gate was closed as is the custom with German towns . They
, examined both lock and gate , and at last on one side , between the lank arid the wallthey discovered a hole , apparently large enough
for p a fairy like Bettina , to slip through . She threw down her cloak , drew in her breathand succeeded in scrambling into the enchanted
, town . Deep silence reigned . The gate was double bolted , but Bettina knew how to remove this obstacle . She found a stone and
began to hammer the bolts backward . The gate gave -way and her friend walked in . They wandered through the lonely streets ,
knocked at doors and window shutters , but gained admittance nowhere . At last In the _g-able of a house a window opened .
A little man , holding a burning piece of pinewood in his hand , peeped out . His long white beard showed him to be an
unbaptized member o £ society , and his voice confirmed the suspicion . " We are Kurg ' aste from Schlangenbad and have lost our way .
"We want a guide to take us back , " said the two damsels ; upon which the patriarch pointed out the opposite house as that of the
watchman . They knocked : for a long while no answer . Suddenly the ground beneath their very feet seemed to yawn , giving
forth a giant wrapped in a large brown fur cloak , and wearing a beaver the tail of which hung down his back . Grasping a
huge large for tree cap a , mere in his staff hand 1 ) , he says forthwith Bettina trotted , a huge them tree out , ( of for the it gate was too up
and down hill without , stopping till they arrived at Schlangenbad . Should any of our readers wish to become better acquainted with _,
this epoch of Bettina ' s life than our space admits , we refer them to the above-mentioned correspondence , published under the title of
"Die Guilder ode " and " Clemens Brentano ' s Bliithenkranz . " We must now proceed to notice her acquaintance and intercourse
with Frau Rath and Goethe . In our biography of Frau Hath , we have already mentioned the way in which Bettina tried to take the
matron ' s heart by storm . She happened to be in a peculiarly
excitable condition of mind . Her friend , Fr ' aulein von Gimderqde ,
Bettina. Ihl
BETTINA . _Ihl
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1859, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051859/page/13/
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