The rich man sat at
the head of the table, glad to do the honours to his friend who was
seated at his right hand. So they ate and drank, and were merry.
'Then the stranger said to the chamberlain of King Herod: "Riches
and splendour like thine are nowhere to be found in my country." And
he praised his greatness, and called him happy above all men on
earth.
'Well, the rich man took an apple from a golden vessel. The apple
was large, and red, and pleasant to the eye. Then said be: "Behold,
this apple hath rested on gold, and its form is very beautiful." And
he presented it to the stranger, the friend of his youth. The
stranger cut the apple in two; and behold, in the middle of it there
was a worm!
'Then the stranger looked at the chamberlain; and the chamberlain
bent his eyes on the ground and sighed.'
There it ends. Now I say, one sees there an abyss of platitude open,
and the German nature swimming calmly about in it, which seems in
some way or other to have its entry screened off for the English
nature. The English story leads with a direct issue into practical
life: a narrow and dry practical life, certainly, but yet enough to
supply a plain motive for the story; the German story leads simply
nowhere except into bathos. Shall we say that the Norman talent for
affairs saves us here, or the Celtic perceptive instinct? one of them
it must be, surely.
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