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Er reiste;
er war mitten in der Schweiz aber mit acht
Anderen in einer Postkutsche zusammengepackt.
Er hatte Kopfschmerzen, einen steifen Nacken,
und das Blut machte seine Beine schwer
und geschwollen, so dass ihn die Stiefel
zwickten. Er schwebte in einem Zustande
zwischen Wachen und Schlafen. In seiner
rechten Tasche hatte er einen Kreditbrief,
in der linken seinen Pass, und in einem
kleinen Lederbeutel auf der Brust waren
einige Goldstücke eingenäht.
Jeder Traum endete damit, das eines oder
das andere dieser Kostbarkeiten verloren
sei. Deshalb fuhr er jeden Augenblick empor,
und die erste Bewegung, die seine Hand
machte, war ein Dreieck von rechts nach
links und zur Brust hinauf, um zu fühlen,
ob sie noch da waren oder nicht. Regenschirme,
Stöcke und Hüte schaukelten im
Netz über seinem Kopfe und verhinderten
so ziemlich die Aussicht, die großartig
war. Er schielte danach, während sein
Herz sang, was ein Dichter, den wir kennen,
auch schon gesungen hat, als er in der
Schweiz war, er hat es aber bis jetzt nicht
drucken lassen:
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In a moment he found himself in Switzerland , closely packed with eight others in the diligence. His head ached, his back was stiff, and the blood had ceased to circulate, so that his feet were swelled and pinched by his boots. He wavered in a condition between sleeping and waking. In his right-hand pocket he had a letter of credit; in his left-hand pocket was his passport; and a few louis d'ors were sewn into a little leather bag which he carried in his breast-pocket. Whenever he dozed, he dreamed that he had lost one or another of these possessions; then he would awake with a start, and the first movements of his hand formed a triangle from his right-hand pocket to his breast and from his breast to his left-hand pocket, to feel whether they were all safe. Umbrellas, sticks, and hats swung in the net before him, and almost obstructed the prospect, which was really very imposing; and as he glanced at it, his memory recalled the words of one poet at least, who has sung of Switzerland, and whose poems have not yet been printed: |