The Shadow

In the hot lands, the sun burns really hard! People there become as brown as mahogany, and in the very hottest places they even become black like tar. A learned man from a cold country had come to these hot lands. He thought he could go out and run around just like at home, but he soon found out he was wrong.

He and all sensible people had to stay indoors. The window shutters and doors were closed all day long. It looked as if the whole house was asleep, or as if no one was home.

The narrow street with the tall houses was built in such a way that the sun shone there from morning till evening. It was truly unbearable.

The learned man from the cold lands was a young man and seemed clever. He sat in a room that felt like a glowing oven. It made him become quite thin, and even his shadow shrank, because the sun affected it too. It was only towards evening, when the sun went down, that they began to feel better again.

In warm lands, every window has a balcony, and people come out on all the balconies in the street. Everyone needs fresh air, even if they are used to being mahogany brown! It was lively up and down the street. Tailors, shoemakers, and all kinds of people moved out into the street.

Chairs and tables were brought out, and candles were lit. Yes, over a thousand lights were burning. People talked and sang, walked along, church bells rang, and donkeys went dingle-dingle-dong because they had bells too. Street boys screamed and hooted, shouted and shot off firecrackers and bangers.

There were funeral processions with psalms and hymns, and the noise of carriages driving and company arriving. Yes, it was certainly lively enough down in the street. Only in the single house opposite the one where the learned foreigner lived, it was quite still.

And yet someone lived there, because there were flowers in the balcony. They grew so well in the sun's heat, and that could only happen if they were watered. Someone must water them, so someone must be there.

The door opposite was also opened late in the evening, but it was dark inside, at least in the front room. Further in, one could hear the sound of music. The learned foreigner thought it was wonderful.

But maybe he only imagined it, because he found everything wonderful out there in the warm lands, if only there had been no sun. The stranger's landlord said he didn't know who had taken the house opposite. No one was seen around, and as for the music, he found it extremely tiresome.

"It's as if someone sits there playing a piece he can't master, always the same piece. 'I will master it!' he says, but he never does, no matter how long he plays."

One night the stranger woke up. He slept with the balcony doors open. The curtain before them was lifted by the wind, and he thought he saw a strange glow coming from the opposite neighbor's house.

All the flowers shone like flames in the most beautiful colors, and in the middle of the flowers stood a slender, graceful maiden. It was as if she also shone. The light hurt his eyes. He opened his eyes wide. Yes, he was wide awake.

With one leap he was on the floor. He crept softly behind the curtain, but the maiden was gone. The flowers no longer shone, but there they stood, fresh and blooming as ever. The door was ajar, and far inside, the music sounded so soft and delightful that one could melt away in sweet thoughts.

Yet it was like enchantment. Who lived there? Where was the real entrance? The whole ground floor was a row of shops, and people couldn't always be running through them.

One evening the stranger sat out on the balcony. The light burned in the room behind him, and so it was natural that his shadow fell on the opposite neighbor's wall. Yes, it sat directly opposite, between the flowers on the balcony. When the stranger moved, the shadow also moved, because that's what shadows always do.

"I think my shadow is the only living thing one sees over there," said the learned man. "See how nicely it sits between the flowers. The door is half open. Now the shadow should be clever and go into the room, look around, and then come back and tell me what it saw. Come now! Be useful and do me a service," he said jokingly. "Have the kindness to step in. Now! Are you going?" And then he nodded to the shadow, and the shadow nodded back. "Well then, go! But don't stay away!"

The stranger stood up, and his shadow on the opposite neighbor's balcony also stood up. The stranger turned around, and the shadow also turned around. Yes! If anyone had paid attention, they would have seen quite clearly that the shadow went in through the half-open balcony door of the opposite neighbor, just as the stranger went into his own room and let the long curtain fall behind him.

The next morning, the learned man went out to drink coffee and read the newspapers.

"What is this?" he said as he came out into the sunshine. "I have no shadow! So it actually went away last night and hasn't come back. That is really annoying!"

This upset him, not so much because the shadow was gone, but because he knew there was a story about a man without a shadow. Everyone back home in the cold lands knew that story, and if the learned man went there and told his story, they would say he was just imitating it, and he didn't need to do that. So he decided not to talk about it at all. That was wise.

In the evening, he went out on the balcony again. He had placed the light directly behind him, because he knew that a shadow always needs its master for a screen, but he couldn't lure it back. He made himself small, he made himself tall, but no shadow came. He said, "Hem, hem," but it was no use.

It was annoying, but in warm lands everything grows quickly. After eight days, he noticed with great joy that a new shadow appeared in the sunshine. In the course of three weeks, he had a very decent shadow. When he set out for his home in the northern lands, the shadow grew more and more during the journey, until finally it was so long and large that it was more than enough.

The learned man then went home, and he wrote books about what is true in the world, about what is good, and about what is beautiful. Days and years passed. Yes, many years passed away.

One evening, as he sat in his room, there was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in!" he said, but no one came in. So he opened the door, and in front of him stood an extremely thin man. He felt quite strange. But the man was very finely dressed. He must be a gentleman.

"Whom do I have the honor of speaking to?" asked the learned man.

"Yes, I thought so," said the fine man. "I thought you wouldn't recognize me. I have gotten so much body. I even have flesh and clothes. You certainly never expected to see me so well off. Don't you know your old shadow? You probably thought I would never return.

Things have gone well for me since I was last with you. I have become very well off in every way. Shall I buy my freedom from service? If so, I can do it." And then he rattled a whole bunch of valuable seals hanging from his watch, and he put his hand into the thick gold chain he wore around his neck.

And oh, how his fingers glittered with diamond rings! And all were pure gems.

"No, I can't get over my surprise!" said the learned man. "What does all this mean?"

"Something common, isn't it?" said the shadow. "But you yourself do not belong to the common order. And I, as you know well, have followed in your footsteps since childhood. As soon as you found I was capable of going out alone in the world, I went my own way.

I am in the most brilliant circumstances, but a kind of desire came over me to see you once more before you die. You will die, I suppose? I also wished to see this land again. You know we always love our native land. I know you have gotten another shadow again.

Do I have anything to pay to it or to you? If so, please tell me what it is."

"No, is it really you?" said the learned man. "This is most remarkable. I never imagined that one's old shadow could come back as a man."

"Tell me what I have to pay," said the shadow, "because I don't like to be in any kind of debt."

"How can you talk like that?" said the learned man. "What debt is there to talk about? Make yourself as free as anyone else. I am very glad to hear of your good fortune. Sit down, old friend, and tell me a little about how things have gone with you, and what you saw at our opposite neighbor's house in the warm lands."

"Yes, I will tell you everything," said the shadow, and sat down. "But then you must also promise me that wherever you meet me, you will never tell anyone in town that I have been your shadow. I intend to get engaged, because I can provide for more than one family."

"Don't worry about that," said the learned man. "I won't tell anyone who you really are. Here is my hand. I promise it, and a man's word is his bond."

"A word is a shadow," said the shadow, "and as such it must speak."

It was really astonishing how much of a man the shadow had become. It was dressed entirely in black, of the very finest cloth. It had polished leather boots and a hat that could be folded together so it was just a brim and a crown. Not to mention what we already know: seals, gold chain, and diamond rings. Yes, the shadow was well dressed, and that was exactly what made it seem like a real man.

"Now I will tell you my adventures," said the shadow, and then he sat down, with his polished boots, as heavily as he could on the arm of the learned man's new shadow, which lay like a poodle dog at his feet. This was perhaps arrogance. The shadow on the ground kept so still and quiet that it could hear everything that was said. It wanted to know how it could set itself free and work its way up to become its own master.

"Do you know who lived in our opposite neighbor's house?" said the shadow. "It was the most charming of all beings. It was Poesy! I was there for three weeks, and that is as good as living for three thousand years and reading everything that has ever been composed and written. That is what I say, and it is true. I have seen everything and I know everything!"

"Poesy!" cried the learned man. "Yes, yes, she often lives alone in big cities! Poesy! Yes, I have seen her, just for a single short moment, but I fell asleep! She stood on the balcony and shone like the Northern Lights. Go on, go on! You were on the balcony and went through the doorway, and then—"

"Then I was in the anteroom," said the shadow. "You always sat and looked over at the anteroom. There was no light, just a kind of twilight. But one door stood open directly opposite the other through a long row of rooms and halls, and there it was lit up. I would have been completely destroyed if I had gone over to the maiden. But I was cautious. I took time to think, and that is what one must always do."

"And what did you see then?" asked the learned man.

"I saw everything, and I will tell you all. But it is not pride on my part. As a free man, with the knowledge I have, not to mention my position in life and my excellent circumstances, I certainly wish that you would say 'you' to me instead of 'thou.'"

"I beg your pardon," said the learned man. "It is an old habit of mine. You are perfectly right, and I will remember it. But now you must tell me everything you saw!"

"Everything!" said the shadow. "Because I saw everything, and I know everything!"

"What did it look like in the farthest hall?" asked the learned man. "Was it like in a fresh forest? Was it like in a holy church? Were the halls like the starry sky when we stand on high mountains?"

"Everything was there!" said the shadow. "I did not go all the way in. I stayed in the front room, in the twilight, but I stood there quite well. I saw everything, and I know everything! I have been in the anteroom at the court of Poesy."

"But what did you see? Did all the gods of old times pass through the great halls? Did the old heroes fight there? Did sweet children play there and tell their dreams?"

"I tell you, I was there, and you can imagine that I saw everything there was to see. If you had come over there, you would not have become a man. But I did! Besides, I learned to know my inner nature, my innate qualities, my relationship with Poesy.

When I was with you, I didn't think about that. But always, you know it well, when the sun rose and when the sun went down, I became so strangely big. In the moonlight, I was almost more distinct than you yourself. At that time, I didn't understand my nature.

It was revealed to me in the anteroom! I became a man! I came out fully grown. But you were no longer in the warm lands. As a man, I was ashamed to go around as I did. I needed boots, clothes, all the human covering that makes a man noticeable.

I took my way—I tell it to you, but you mustn't put it in any book—I took my way to the cake woman. I hid behind her. The woman didn't know how much she was hiding. I went out first in the evening. I ran about the streets in the moonlight.

I made myself long up the walls—it tickles the back so delightfully! I ran up and down, peeped into the highest windows, into the halls, and onto the roofs. I peeped in where no one else could peep, and I saw what no one else saw, what no one else should see!

This is, in fact, a base world! I wouldn't want to be a man if it weren't now accepted and regarded as something to be! I saw the most unimaginable things with women, with men, with parents, and with the sweet, matchless children.

I saw," said the shadow, "what no human being must know, but what they would all willingly know—what is bad in their neighbor. If I had written a newspaper, it would have been read! But I wrote directly to the persons themselves, and there was consternation in every town I came to.

They were so afraid of me, and yet they were so fond of me. The professors made a professor of me. The tailors gave me new clothes—I am well furnished. The master of the mint struck new coins for me, and the women said I was so handsome.

And so I became the man I am. And now I bid you farewell. Here is my card. I live on the sunny side of the street and am always at home in rainy weather!" And then the shadow left.

"That was most extraordinary!" said the learned man.

Years and days passed. Then the shadow came again.

"How is it going?" said the shadow.

"Alas!" said the learned man. "I write about the true, the good, and the beautiful, but no one cares to hear such things. I am quite desperate because I take it so much to heart!"

"But I don't!" said the shadow. "I am getting fat, and that is what one wants to become! You don't understand the world. You will become ill from it. You must travel! I will take a trip this summer. Will you come with me? I would like a traveling companion. Will you come with me as my shadow? It would be a great pleasure for me to have you with me. I will pay the travel expenses!"

"No, this is too much!" said the learned man.

"It is just how you take it!" said the shadow. "Traveling will do you good. Will you be my shadow? You will have everything free on the journey!"

"No, that is too bad!" said the learned man.

"But that is just how the world is!" said the shadow, "and so it will be!" And then it left again.

The learned man was not in the best state. Grief and torment followed him. What he said about the true, the good, and the beautiful was to most people like roses to a cow. Finally, he became quite ill.

"You really look like a shadow!" his friends said to him. And the learned man trembled when he thought about it.

"You must go to a spa!" said the shadow, who came to visit him. "There is nothing else for it! I will take you with me for old times' sake. I will pay the travel expenses, and you will write the descriptions, and they can be a little amusing for me on the way. I will go to a spa. My beard doesn't grow as it should—that is also a sickness, and one must have a beard! Now be wise and accept the offer. We will travel as comrades!"

And so they traveled. The shadow was the master, and the master was the shadow. They drove together, they rode and walked together, side by side, in front and behind, depending on the sun. The shadow always made sure to keep itself in the master's place. The learned man didn't think much about it. He was a very kind-hearted man, especially mild and friendly. One day he said to the shadow, "Since we have now become companions and have grown up together from childhood, shouldn't we drink to each other as equals, using 'thou' with each other? It is more familiar."

"You are right," said the shadow, who was now the real master. "It is said very straightforwardly and with good intentions. You, as a learned man, certainly know how strange nature is. Some people cannot bear to touch gray paper, or they become ill.

Others shiver in every limb if you rub a pane of glass with a nail. I have just such a feeling when I hear you say 'thou' to me. I feel as if I am pressed down to the earth in my first situation with you.

You see, it is a feeling, not pride. I cannot allow you to say 'thou' to me, but I will willingly say 'thou' to you. So it is half done."

So the shadow said 'thou' to its former master.

"This is rather too bad," thought the learned man, "that I must say 'you' and he says 'thou' to me." But he had to put up with it.

They came to a spa where there were many strangers. Among them was a princess who was troubled with seeing too well. That was very alarming!

She immediately noticed that the stranger who had just arrived was quite different from all the others. "He came here to get his beard to grow, they say, but I see the real cause: he cannot cast a shadow."

She became curious, so she started a conversation directly with the strange gentleman on their walks. As a king's daughter, she didn't need to stand on ceremony. She said, "Your problem is that you cannot cast a shadow?"

"Your Royal Highness must be improving considerably," said the shadow. "I know your problem is that you see too clearly, but it has decreased. You are cured. I just happen to have a very unusual shadow! Do you see that person who always goes with me?

Other people have an ordinary shadow, but I don't like what is common to everyone. We give our servants finer clothes than we ourselves wear, and so I have had my shadow turned into a man. Yes, you see, I have even given him a shadow.

It is somewhat expensive, but I like to have something special for myself!"

"What!" thought the princess. "Am I really cured? These baths are the best in the world! In our time, water has wonderful powers. But I won't leave the place, because now it is becoming amusing here. I like that stranger very much. I hope his beard doesn't grow, because then he would leave us!"

In the evening, the princess and the shadow danced together in the large ballroom. She was light, but he was even lighter. She had never had such a dance partner. She told him which country she came from, and he knew it. He had been there, but she wasn't at home then.

He had peeped in at the windows, above and below. He had seen both this and that, so he could answer the princess and make insinuations that astonished her. He must be the wisest man in the whole world! She felt such respect for what he knew!

When they danced again, she fell in love with him. The shadow could notice because she almost pierced him with her eyes. They danced once more together. She was about to declare herself, but she was cautious.

She thought of her country and kingdom, and the many people she would have to rule over.

"He is a wise man," she said to herself. "That is good. And he dances delightfully—that is also good. But does he have solid knowledge? That is just as important! He must be tested."

So she gradually began to question him about the most difficult things she could think of, things she herself couldn't answer. The shadow made a strange face.

"You cannot answer these questions?" said the princess.

"They belong to my childhood learning," said the shadow. "I think my shadow by the door there can answer them!"

"Your shadow!" said the princess. "That would indeed be marvelous!"

"I won't say for certain that he can," said the shadow, "but I think so. He has now followed me for so many years and listened to my conversation. I think it is possible. But Your Royal Highness will permit me to note that he is so proud of passing himself off as a man that when he is to be in a proper mood—and he must be to answer well—he must be treated just like a man."

"Oh, I like that!" said the princess.

So she went to the learned man by the door and spoke to him about the sun and the moon and about people inside and outside the world. He answered with wisdom and prudence.

"What a man that must be who has such a wise shadow!" she thought. "It will be a real blessing for my people and my kingdom if I choose him as my husband. I will do it!"

They soon agreed, the princess and the shadow. But no one was to know about it until she arrived in her own kingdom.

"No one, not even my shadow!" said the shadow, and he had his own thoughts about that.

Now they were in the country where the princess ruled when she was at home.

"Listen, my good friend," said the shadow to the learned man. "I have now become as happy and mighty as anyone can be. I will therefore do something special for you. You shall always live with me in the palace, ride with me in my royal carriage, and have ten thousand pounds a year.

But you must submit to being called 'shadow' by everyone. You must not say that you have ever been a man. And once a year, when I sit on the balcony in the sunshine, you must lie at my feet, as a shadow should do.

I must tell you: I am going to marry the king's daughter, and the wedding will take place this evening!"

"No, this is going too far!" said the learned man. "I will not have it! I will not do it! It is deceiving the whole country and the princess too! I will tell everything! That I am a man, and that you are a shadow—you are only dressed up!"

"No one will believe it!" said the shadow. "Be reasonable, or I will call the guard!"

"I will go directly to the princess!" said the learned man.

"But I will go first!" said the shadow. "And you will go to prison!" And so he did. The sentinels obeyed the man whom they knew the king's daughter was going to marry.

"You are trembling!" said the princess when the shadow came into her chamber. "Has anything happened? You must not be unwell this evening, now that we are to celebrate our wedding."

"I have lived through the most cruel thing anyone can experience!" said the shadow. "Just imagine—yes, it is true—such a poor shadow-skull cannot bear much. Just think: my shadow has gone mad. He thinks he is a man, and that I—now just think—that I am his shadow!"

"It is terrible!" said the princess. "But he is confined, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is. I am afraid he will never recover."

"Poor shadow!" said the princess. "He is very unfortunate. It would be a real act of charity to free him from the little life he has. And when I think properly about it, I believe it will be necessary to do away with him quietly."

"It is certainly hard," said the shadow, "because he was a faithful servant!" And then he gave a sort of sigh.

"You are a noble character!" said the princess.

The whole city was illuminated that evening. The cannons went off with a boom! boom! The soldiers presented arms. That was a wedding! The princess and the shadow went out onto the balcony to show themselves and receive another cheer!

The learned man heard nothing of all this, because they had taken his life.