172
Max Havelaar
stand? You tell nothing but lies only, because you make yourself in the verses a slave of cadence and rhyme. If the first line had ended in cake, you would have asked Mary whether she would go with you to a lake, and so on. You see, therefore, that your proposed voyage was not meant, and that all depends on a tinkling of words without sense. What if Mary should indeed like to undertake this journey? I do not speak now of the uncomfortable mode of conveyance which you propose; but she is, God be praised, too intelligent to long for a country of which you say:—
‘ Da liegt ein rothblühender Garten
Im stillen Mondenschein;
Die Lotosblumen erwarten
Ihr trautes Schwesterlein;
Im stillen Mondenschein;
Die Lotosblumen erwarten
Ihr trautes Schwesterlein;
‘ Die Veilchen kichern und kosen;
Und schau’n nach den Sternen empor;
Heimlich erzählen die Rosen
Sich düftende Märchen in’s Ohr!’[1]
Und schau’n nach den Sternen empor;
Heimlich erzählen die Rosen
Sich düftende Märchen in’s Ohr!’[1]
“What do you intend to do with Mary in that garden in the moonshine? Is that moral, is that proper, is that
- ↑ “ There a red blooming garden is lying
In the moonlight silent and clear;
The lotos-flowers are sighing
For their sister so pretty and dear.“ The violets prattle and titter,
And gaze on the stars high above;
The roses mysteriously twitter
Their fragrant stories of love.”
