elt when not in use. Dippold
in his account of the Nibelung tale speaks of the _Tarn kappe_ or magic
_cap_ of darkness which _renders the wearer invisible._ But the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ speaks of the "cape of darkness" and Heath's
_Dictionary_ gives cap first, but calls _Tarn kappe_ "hiding cape." In
either case invisibility was obtained.--TRANSLATOR.]

ANNA (1836)

BY FRIEDRICH HEBBEL

TRANSLATED BY FRANCES H. KING

"Mild the air, and heaven blue,
Fragrant flowers full of dew,
And at even dance and play,
That is quite too much, I say."

Anna, the young servant maid, was gaily singing this song one bright
Sunday morning, while busily engaged in washing up the kitchen and dairy
crockery. At that moment Baron Eichenthal, in whose service she had been
for the last six months, passed by, wearing a green damask
dressing-gown. He was a decrepit young man, full of spleen and whims.
"What's the meaning of this yodelling!" he demanded haughtily, pausing
in front of her--"You know that I cannot bear frivolity."

Anna blushed violently: she remembered that her severe master would have
been very pleased to find her frivolous a few evenings ago in the
summerhouse. A sharp retort was on the tip of her tongue, but forcibly
suppressing it, she started to take up a white porcelain soup-tureen,
and, in a violent struggle with her natural fearlessness, let it fall to
the ground. The valuable dish broke and the Baron, who had already taken
a few steps forward, turned around, his face flaming with anger.

"What!" he exclaimed loudly, and strode up to the girl, "would you cool
your temper on my mother's kitchen crockery, you little sneak, because
your stubborn spirit will not allow you to accept a well-merited reproof
quietly, as becomes you?" And with that, scolding and storming, he gave
her, right and left, box after box on the ear, while she, stunned, gazed
at him, like a child, bereft of speech, indeed almost of her senses,
still holding the handle of the tureen in one hand, and involuntarily
pressing the other against her breast.

She was first aroused from this state, which bordered on a swoon, by the
mocking laughter of the chamber-maid Frederika, who, more easy going
than she, gladly allowed the Baron to trifle wantonly with her and pinch
her cheeks or play with her curls. The insolent wench looked at her
derisively, and called out, "That will give you a good appetite for the
kermess, Miss Prude."

Th