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Adalbert Stifter Books

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Indian Summer

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Witiko

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The Bachelors

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“He watched the villagers at their work and tried to get to know their ways: how they made their stores and divided them for consumption, how they bred their animals and made tools for the field, plows, harrows, rakes, shovels, as well as weapons, tubs, baskets and the like. He watched them making repairs and improving their houses with saws, hammers, and axes, or bringing wood to their homes by the easier method of using sleighs, or satisfying the other necessities of life in their few trades.”

WorkPeasantsFarming Tools
Book:Witiko
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“As it is with humanity’s ascent, so it is with its decline. Declining peoples first lose their sense of moderation. They strive for isolated particulars, they fling themselves shortsightedly on narrow and trifling things, they raise the conditional above the universal; then they pursue pleasure and sensuality, they seek to gratify their hatred and envy of their neighbor, their art depicts what is one-sided what is valid from one perspective only”

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Author:Adalbert Stifter
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“How strange it was, I thought, that when the tiny though thousandfold beauties of the Earth disappeared and the immeasurable beauty of outer space rose in the distant quiet splendor of light, man and the greatest number of other creatures were supposed to be asleep! Was it because we were only permitted to catch a fleeting glimpse of those great bodies and then only in the mysterious time of a dream world, those great bodies about which man had only the slightest knowledge but perhaps one day would be permitted to examine more closely? Or was it permitted for the great majority of people to gaze at the starry firmament only in brief, sleepless moments so that the splendor wouldn't become mundane, so that the greatness wouldn't be diminished?”

ScienceStarsNatureSpaceWonderAstronomyNight Sky
Book:Indian Summer
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“Hugo thought that it simply could not be otherwise; he would surely somewhere see that beautiful, beloved face that he had daily seen for so long! But he did not see it. After his search had gone on for some months, after winter had already cast its snowflakes and its blanket of ice over the city, he gave up his efforts. He sat in his room and held his lovely, weary head in both his hands.”

LoveLongingThe Ancient Seal
Book:Tales of Old Vienna and Other Prose
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“Great beauty and youth capture our attention, excite a deep pleasure; however, why shouldn't our souls gaze at a countenance over which the years have passed? Isn't there a story there, one unknown, full of pain or beauty, which pours its reflection into the features, a story we can read with some compassion or at least get a slight hint of its meaning? The young point toward the future; the old tell of a past.”

AgePastBeautyYouthFutureOld Age
Book:Indian Summer
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“Men often came to visit in the evening when the fire was burning in the hearth. Occasionally came Peter Laurenz the blacksmith, Paul Joachim the mason, Adam the linen weaver, Zacharias the tavern keeper, Mathias, Norbert, Jakob, and others. When there was a spinning bee at Witiko's house, maidens and weavers came with their spinning wheels to take part; some young men and youths also showed up such as Phillip the stirrup maker, Maz Albrecht, rosy cheeked Urban, Laurenz the blacksmith's cousin, Veit Gregor, Lambert the drummer, Wolfgang, Andreas, Augustin the piper and several others. At times the maidens sang, then the youths, then together or alternating stanzas. They always went home at the ninth hour.”

SingingSpinningMaidens
Book:Witiko
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“It so happened I was barefoot, as was often the case, and had pants on which had grown too short over time. Suddenly he looked up at me from his work and said: "Would you like to have your feet greased?" I had always held the man to be a great marvel and felt honoured by his familiarity and so stretched both my feet out to him. He dipped his spoon into the bung-hole, brought it over and drew a long streak down each of my feet. The liquid spread out nicely over the skin, had an exceptionally clear, golden brown colour and wafted its pleasent resinous odour up to me. It gradually spread across and down the curves of my feet.”

FeetGreaseGranite
Book:Tales of Old Vienna and Other Prose
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“For as I looked down to see what sort of people were about, I caught sight of a strange couple. A man of rather advanced years, judging by his back which was turned towards me, dressed in a thin, yellow swanskin jacket, pale blue trousers, heavy shoes and a little round hat, as he walked down the street. He was leading a girl, dressed no less oddly than himself in a brown cope which was draped about her shoulders almost like a toga. But the girl had so large a head, enough to startle anyone, that it kept causing people to stare at it. Both of them went their way at a moderate pace; but both were so clumsy and awkward that it was immediately evident they were not used to Vienna and that they were incapable of behaving like other folk.”

ViennaStrange CoupleTourmaline
Book:Tales of Old Vienna and Other Prose
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