Pictures of Sweden / The Puppet-Showman. (1851) Author: H. C. Andersen Table of Contents / Innehåll | << Previous | Next >>
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The Puppet-Showman.

THERE was an elderly man on the steam-boat, with such a contented face that, if it did not lie, he must be the happiest man on earth. That he indeed said he was: I heard it from his own mouth. He was a Dane, consequently my countryman, and was a travelling theatrical manager. He had the whole corps dramatique with him; they lay in a large chest -- he was a puppet showman. His innate good-humour, said he, had been tried by a polytechnic candidate,[1] and from this experiment on his patience he had

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become completely happy. I did not understand him at the moment, but he soon laid the whole case clearly before me; and here it is.

"It was in Slagelse," said he, "that I gave a representation at the parsonage, and had a brilliant house and a brilliant company of spectators, all young persons, unconfirmed, except a few old ladies. Then there came a person dressed in black, having the appearance of a student: he sat down amongst the others, laughed quite at the proper time, and applauded quite correctly; that was an unusual spectator!

"I was bent on ascertaining who he was, and then I heard that he was a candidate from the polytechnic school, who had been sent out to instruct people in the provinces. At eight o’clock my representation was over; the children were to go early to bed, and one must think of the convenience of the public.

"At nine o’clock the candidate began his lectures and experiments, and now I was one of his auditory.

"It was remarkable to hear and look at!

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The chief part of it went over my head and into the parson’s, as one says. Can it be possible, thought I, that we human beings can find out such things? in tha case, we must also be able to hold out longer, before we are put into the earth. It was merely small miracles that he performed, and yet all as easy as an old stocking -- quite from nature. In the time of Moses and the prophets, such a polytechnic candidate would have been one of the wise men of the land, and in the Middle Ages he would have been burnt. I could not sleep the whole night, and as I gave a representation the next evening, and the candidate was there again, I got into a real merry humour.

"I have heard of an actor, who when playing the lovers’ parts, only thought of one of the spectators; he played for her alone, and forgot all the rest of the house; the polytechnic candidate was my her, my only spectator, for whom I played. And when the performance was over, all the puppets were called forward, and I was invited by the polytechnic candidate to take a glass of wine with him; and he spoke

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about my comedy, and I of his science; and I believe we each derived equal pleasure from the other. But yet I had the advantage, for there was so much in his performance that he could not account for: as for instance, that a piece of iron which falls through a spiral line, becomes magnetic, -- well, how is that? The spirit comes over it, but whence does it come from? it is just as with the human beings of this world, I think; our Lord lets them fall through the spiral line of time, and the spirit comes over them -- and there stands a Napoleon, a Luther, or a similar person.

"’All nature is a series of miracles,’ said the candidate, ’but we are so accustomed to them that we call them things of every-day life.’ And he spoke and he explained, so that it seemed at last as if he lifted my scull, and I honestly confessed, that if I were not an old fellow, I would go directly to the polytechnic school, and learn to examine the world in the summer, although I was one of the happiest of men.

"’One of the happiest!’ said he, and it

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was just as if he tasted it. ’Are you happy?’ "Yes!’ said I, ’I am happy, and I am welcome in all the towns I come to with my company! There is certaialy one wish, that comes now and then like a night-mare, which rides on my good-humour, and that is to be a theatrical manager for a living company -- a company of real men and women.’

"’You wish to have your puppets animated; you would have them become real actors and actresses,’ said he, ’and yourself be the manager? you then think that you would be perfectly happy?’

"Now he did not think so, but I thought so; and we talked for and against; and we were just as near in our opinions as before. But we clinked our glasses together, and the wine was very good; but there was witchcraft in it, or else the short and the long of the story would be -- that I was intoxicated.

"That I was not; my eyes were quite clear; it was as if there was sunshine in the room, and it shone out of the face of the polytechnic candidate, so that I began to think of the

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old gods in my youth, and when they went about in the world. And I told him so, and then he smiled, and I durst have sworn that he was a disguised god, or one of the family! -- And he was so -- my first wish was to be fulfilled: the puppets become living beings and I the manager of men and women. We drank that it should be so! he put all my puppets in the wooden chest, fastened it on my back, and then let me fall through a spiral line. I can still hear how I came down, slap! I lay on the floor, that is quite sure and certain, and the whole company sprang out of the chest. The spirit had come over us all together; all the puppets had become excellent artists -- they said so themselves -- and I was the manager. Everything was in order for the first representation; the whole company must speak with me, and the public also. The female dancer said, that if she did not stand on one leg, the house would be in an uproar: she was master of the whole and would be treated as such.

"She who played the queen, would also be

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treated as a queen when off the stage, or else she should get out of practice, and he who was employed to come in with a letter made himself as important as the first lover. ’For,’ said he, ’the small are of just as much importance as the great, in an artistic whole.’ Then the hero demanded that the whole of his part should only be retorts on making his exit, for these the public applauded; the prima donna would only play in a red light, for that suited her best -- she would not be blue: they were all like flies in a bottle, and I was also in the bottle -- for I was the manager. I lost my breath, my head was quite dizzy! I was as miserable as a man can be; it was a new race of beings I had come amongst; I wished that I had them altogether again in the chest, that I had never been a manager: I told them that they were in fact only puppets, and so they beat me to death. That was my feeling!

"I lay on the bed in my chamber; but how I had come there from the polytechnic candidate, he must know best -- for I do not. The

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moon shone in on the floor where the puppet-chest lay upset, and all the puppets spread about -- great and small, the whole lot. But I was not floored! I sprang out of bed, and threw them all into the chest; some on their heads, and some on their legs; I smacked the lid down and sat myself upon it: it was worth painting, can’t you conceive it? I can! ’Now you shall be there!’ said I, ’and I will never more wish that you may become flesh and blood!’ I was so glad; I was the happiest man alive -- the polytechnic candidate had tried me! I sat in perfect bliss, and fell asleep on the chest; and in the morning -- it was, properly speaking, at noon, for I slept so very long that morning -- I sat there still, happy and edified -- I saw that my previous and only wish had been stupid. I inquired for the polytechnic candidate, but he was gone, like the Greek and Roman gods.

"And from that time I have been the happiest man alive. I am a fortunate manager; my company does not argue with me, neither does the public; they are amused to their heart’s

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content, and I can myself put all my pieces nicely together. I take the best parts out of all sorts of comedies that I choose, and no one troubles himself about it. Pieces that are now despised at the large theatres, but which thirty years ago the public ran to see, and cried over -- those pieces I now make use of. I now present them before the young folks; and the young folks -- they cry just as their fathers and mothers used to do. I give ’Johanna Montfakon’ and ’Dyveke,’ but abbreviated; for the little folks do not like long, twaddling lovestories. They must have it unfortunate -- but it must be brief. Now that I have travelled through Denmark, both to the right and left, I know everybody and am known again. Now I have come to Sweden, and if I am successful and gain much money, I will be a Scandinavian, if the humour hold; and this I tell you, as you are my countryman."

And I, as his countryman, naturally tell it again -- only for the sake of telling it.