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Authors: Johann Grimmelshausen
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could be taken in, the pastor whose village had recently been burnt and plundered, who was also under arrest, wanted to see what the commotion was. When he looked out of the window and saw me he shouted out in a very loud voice, ‘Is that you, Simplicius?’ When I heard him and saw him I couldn’t stop myself from stretching out my hands towards him and crying, ‘O father! O father! O father!’ He asked me what I had done. I replied that I didn’t know; they had presumably brought me here because I had run away from the forest. When, however, he heard from those standing around that I was thought to be a spy, he asked them not to proceed further against me until he had explained my case to the governor. This, he said, would help set both of us free and prevent the governor from harming us wrongfully, since he knew me better than any man alive.
Chapter 21
How fickle fortune smiled on Simplicius
He was allowed to go to the governor, and over half an hour later I was fetched and taken to the servants’ hall, where two tailors, a cobbler with shoes, a shopkeeper with hats and stockings and another with various articles of clothing were already waiting to clothe me as quickly as possible. They took off my coat, chains and all, and my hair shirt, so that the tailors could take my measurements. After that a barber appeared with lather and fragrant soaps, but just as he was about to demonstrate his art on me there came a counter order which alarmed me very much: I was to put my clothes back on again. However, the intention was not as bad as I feared. A painter came with all his equipment, with red lead and vermilion for my eyelids, lake, indigo and vermilion for my coral lips, gamboge, ochre and yellow lead for my white teeth, which I was baring, so hungry I was, lamp-black, charcoal and raw umber for my golden hair, white lead for my terrible eyes and many other pigments for my weather-stained coat. He also brought a whole handful of brushes.
This man started to study me, to sketch in an outline, to lay a ground, to put his head on one side in order to compare his work with my figure: now he changed my eyes, now my hair, added a quick touch to my nostrils, in short corrected everything he had not got right at first, until he had a model as true to nature as Simplicius was. Only then was the barber allowed to set about me with his soap and lather. He washed my head and must have spent an hour and a half on my hair, finally trimming it after the current fashion, for I had more than enough. After that he put me in a bathtub and washed the three or four years of dirt off my starved, emaciated body. No sooner had he finished than they brought me a white shirt, shoes and stockings, together with a turn-down collar, hat and feather; the breeches were beautifully decorated and trimmed all over with gold lace. All that was missing was the jerkin, but the tailors were working on that at top speed. The cook appeared with a bowl of meaty broth, the maid with a drink. So there sat my lord Simplicius, like a young count, splendidly turned out. I tucked in heartily even though I had no idea what they intended to do with me. I had not yet heard the phrase, ‘the condemned man ate a hearty supper’, so that tasting this first meal seemed more sweet and pleasant to me than I can express. Indeed, I scarcely think I have ever in my life felt more intense pleasure than at that meal.
When the jerkin was ready I put it on, but in my new clothes I cut such a poor figure that it looked as if the tailors had dressed a fence post. They had been told to make the clothes too large, in the hope that I would quickly put on weight, which, with the good food, I did, visibly. My forest garments, together with the chains and other pieces, were put in the art collection with the rare objects and antiquities, and my life-size portrait placed beside them.
After supper his lordship was given a bed the like of which he had never before slept in,
Chapter 21
How fickle fortune smiled on Simplicius
He was allowed to go to the governor, and over half an hour later I was fetched and taken to the servants’ hall, where two tailors, a cobbler with shoes, a shopkeeper with hats and stockings and another with various articles of clothing were already waiting to clothe me as quickly as possible. They took off my coat, chains and all, and my hair shirt, so that the tailors could take my measurements. After that a barber appeared with lather and fragrant soaps, but just as he was about to demonstrate his art on me there came a counter order which alarmed me very much: I was to put my clothes back on again. However, the intention was not as bad as I feared. A painter came with all his equipment, with red lead and vermilion for my eyelids, lake, indigo and vermilion for my coral lips, gamboge, ochre and yellow lead for my white teeth, which I was baring, so hungry I was, lamp-black, charcoal and raw umber for my golden hair, white lead for my terrible eyes and many other pigments for my weather-stained coat. He also brought a whole handful of brushes.
This man started to study me, to sketch in an outline, to lay a ground, to put his head on one side in order to compare his work with my figure: now he changed my eyes, now my hair, added a quick touch to my nostrils, in short corrected everything he had not got right at first, until he had a model as true to nature as Simplicius was. Only then was the barber allowed to set about me with his soap and lather. He washed my head and must have spent an hour and a half on my hair, finally trimming it after the current fashion, for I had more than enough. After that he put me in a bathtub and washed the three or four years of dirt off my starved, emaciated body. No sooner had he finished than they brought me a white shirt, shoes and stockings, together with a turn-down collar, hat and feather; the breeches were beautifully decorated and trimmed all over with gold lace. All that was missing was the jerkin, but the tailors were working on that at top speed. The cook appeared with a bowl of meaty broth, the maid with a drink. So there sat my lord Simplicius, like a young count, splendidly turned out. I tucked in heartily even though I had no idea what they intended to do with me. I had not yet heard the phrase, ‘the condemned man ate a hearty supper’, so that tasting this first meal seemed more sweet and pleasant to me than I can express. Indeed, I scarcely think I have ever in my life felt more intense pleasure than at that meal.
When the jerkin was ready I put it on, but in my new clothes I cut such a poor figure that it looked as if the tailors had dressed a fence post. They had been told to make the clothes too large, in the hope that I would quickly put on weight, which, with the good food, I did, visibly. My forest garments, together with the chains and other pieces, were put in the art collection with the rare objects and antiquities, and my life-size portrait placed beside them.
After supper his lordship was given a bed the like of which he had never before slept in,
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