women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible. 36 35 In fact he declared it was of no use to work on his farm: it was 36 the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. His fences were 36 continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray, or get among the cabbages; weeds were 36 sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere else; the rain always made 36 a point of setting in just as he had some out-door work to do; so that though his patrimonial estate had dwindled away under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more left than a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst-conditioned farm in the neighbourhood. His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin 7 begotten in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits with the old clothes of his father. He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's cast off galligaskins, which he had much ado 38 to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather. Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions 39, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least = 95) Die Partikel as wird in manchen Verbindungen anscheinend pleonastisch gebraucht, insofern die Bezugnahme auf ein zweites Glied der Vergleichung ferner liegt; so in as then, as yet; as for, as to quantum ad, quod attinet ad, frz. quant à was anbetrifft; vergl. das deutsche als in Verbindung mit heute, gestern, morgen etc. Häufig durch Voranstellung des durch as to eingeleiteten zu übersetzen, so hier: „Aber seine häusliche Pflicht zu thun und seine Besitzung in Ordnung zu halten war ihm unmöglich". 36) Indirecte Rede, abhängig von he declared, deutsch durch den Conjunctiv zu übersetzen. 37) urchin (fr. hérisson v. lat. erinaceus) Igel, dann Kobold, in Bezug auf mythologische Vorstellungen von neckischen Geistern in Gestalt von Igeln. 38) adò (0: u zu sprechen) Treiben, Lärm, Mühe, Beschwerde von do mit dem Präfix a, vergl. das dtsch. Gethue". 99) of foolish, w.-oil. disp. ist qualitativer Genetiv zu mortals. thought or trouble 40, and would rather starve on 11 a penny than work for a pound. If left to himself, he would have whistled life away in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness 42, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence. Rip had but one way of replying to all lectures of the kind, and that by frequent use had grown into a habit. He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing. This, however, always provoked a fresh volley from his wife; so that he was fain to draw off his forces, and take to the outside of the house 48 the only side which, in truth, belongs to a hen-pecked husband. Rip's sole domestic adherent was his dog Wolf, who was as much hen-pecked as his master; for Dame Van Winkle regarded them as companions in idleness, and even looked upon Wolf with an evil eye, as the cause of his master's going so often astray. True it is, in all points of spirit befitting an honourable dog 44, he was as courageous an animal as ever scoured the woods but what courage can withstand the ever- during and all-besetting terrors of a woman's tongue? The moment Wolf entered 45 the house his crest fell, his tail dropped to the ground or curled between his legs, he sneaked about with a gallows air, casting many a sidelong glance at Dame Van Winkle, and at the least flourish of a broomstick or ladle, he would fly to the door with yelping precipitation. 40) whichever can be got etc. wörtl. welches von beiden etc., besser deutsch:,,je nachdem sie eins oder das andere mit geringerem Kopfzerbrechen oder geringerer Mühe bekommen können". 41) to starve (d. dtsch. sterben) on vor Hunger sterben bei; nach Analogie von to live on. 42) to keep intransitiv, synonym mit to continue, mit folgend. Part. Präs. durch das Adverb fortwährend zu übersetzen (vergl. das griech. diatɛleiv c. part.), hier noch verstärkt durch continually. To din (verwandt mit thunder) betäuben, übertäuben, gewöhnlich transitiv, z. B. to din the ears with cries; hier intransitiv. Smart u. Webster führen das Verb bloss als transitiv auf. ,,Seine Frau lag ihm beständig mit Vorwürfen über seine Trägheit etc. in den Ohren“. 48) to take hier intransitiv s. Zuflucht nehmen, sich flüchten; mit Nachahmung des Wortspiels: sich mit der Aussenseite des Hauses begnügen, der einzigen Seite etc. = 44) Ueberall, wo es galt, den Muth zu zeigen, der einem ehrenhaften Hunde geziemt. 45) Wolf entered: unbezeichneter Temporalsatz; gewöhnlich wird solch ein Temporalsatz durch that, auch durch when eingeleitet. Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on: a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use. For a long while he used to console himself, when driven from home 6, by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village; which held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of His Majesty George the Third. Here they used to sit in the shade, during a long lazy summer's day, talking listlessly 48 over village gossip, or telling endless sleepy stories about nothing. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound discussions 49 that sometimes took place, when by chance an old newspaper fell into their hands from some passing traveller. How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out 50 by Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper51 learned little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic 52 word in the dictionary; and how sagely they would deliberate upon public events some months after they had taken place. The opinions of this junto 53 were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning when he was driven from home. = 46) Verkürzter Temporalsatz = = 48) Die Bedeutungen von listless knüpfen sich an die beiden Stämme listen zuhören und list lust, Lust, daher not listening, not attending, indifferent to what is passing unaufmerksam u. indifferent, uninterested, languid, weary, indolent = verdrossen, langweilig. 49),,Mancher (eigentl. jeder beliebige) Staatsmann würde Geld darum gegeben haben, die tiefsinnigen Erörterungen mit anhören zu können". Der Infinit. des Perf. in Bez. auf das it would have been des Hauptsatzes. 50) to drawl (zu to draueln, tändeln, zögern) schleppenden Tone lesen draw, ndl. drâlen u. druilen zögern, ndd. schleppend ziehen, schleppend reden, im to utter in a slow, lengthened tone. 51) dapper flink, gewandt, nett (ndl. dapper, nhd. tapfer zu slav. dobr gut). 52) spr. gigantic, das erste g = dsch (genauer d mit dem Laute des franz. j.) 58) junto (span. junta v. lat. iunctus v. iungere). Vergl. Smart: ,,In the original Spanish, Junta, a congress or council in a good sense; as an English word, a set of men joined for a purpose not deemed praiseworthy, a cabal. In America wird das Wort auch im guten Sinne gebraucht; vergl. Webster: A select council or assembly, which deliberates in secret on any affair of government, also etwa das deutsche Geheimer Staatsrath. Hier natürlich ironisch: Staatsrath. till night, just moving sufficiently to avoid the sun and keep 54 in the shade of a large tree; so that the neighbours could tell the hour by his movements as accurately as by a sun-dial. It is true he was rarely heard to speak, but smoked his pipe incessantly. His adherents, however, (for every great man has his adherents,) perfectly understood him, and knew how to gather his opinions. When anything that was read or related displeased him, he was observed to smoke his pipe vehemently, and send forth short, frequent, and angry whiffs 55, but when pleased 56, he would inhale the smoke slowly and tranquilly, and emit it in light and placid clouds; and sometimes, taking the pipe from his mouth, and letting the fragrant vapour curl about his nose, would gravely nod his head in token of perfect approbation. From even this stronghold the unlucky Rip was at length routed 57 by his termagant wife, who would suddenly break in upon the tranquillity of the assemblage, and call the members all to naught58; nor was that august 59 personage, Nicholas Vedder himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness. Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative, to escape from the labour of the farm and clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand 60 and stroll away = bleiben. 54) to keep hier intransitiv, synonym mit to continue 55) to send forth whiffs deutsch etwa: Dampfwolken fortblasen, aufsteigen lassen. 56) Verkürzter Temporalsatz = when he was pleased. 57) to rout (v. lat. ruptus zu rumpere, vergl. das franz. déroute) in Unordnung, Verwirrung bringen, werfen, verjagen. 58) to call to naught = ausschelten; vergl. Shakspere, Venus and Adonis, v. 995:,,It was not she that called him (death) all to naught", wozu Delius bemerkt: all-to-naught ganz und gar nichtsnutzig: nicht sie war es, die den Tod vorher ausgescholten, nichts Gutes an ihm gelassen hatte. all-to ist mit naught zu einem Compositum zu verbinden". Naught oder nought, ags. nâ-viht, vergl. das dtsch. nicht, ahd. niwiht nichts. Vergl. to set at naught to treat as of no account; to slight; to despise; to revile. 59) augúst gross, hehr, erhaben, mit dem Ton auf der letzten, während der Monatsname august auf der ersten betont ist. 60) Man beachte das Fehlen des Artikels vor gun und hand. Das Fehlen des Artikels vor den Gliedmassen des Leibes ist den germanischen und romanischen Sprachen gemeinsam, vergl. Fuss fassen, tenir, faire tête, to shake hands, to give fingers, to clap hands, to set foot etc. Das Fehlen des Artikels vor gun erklärt sich aus Vereinigung des Zeitworts (to take) mit dem Substantiv (gun) zu einem einheitlichen Begriff, wodurch ein Verbalbegriff umschrieben wird, so jedoch, dass bei ihnen nicht der einzelne Akt, welcher oft der into the woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution. ,,Poor Wolf," he would say,,,thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it but never mind, my lad, whilst I live, thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee!" Wolf would wag his tail, look wistfully in his master's face, and if dogs can feel pity, I verily believe he reciprocated the sentiment with all his heart. In a long ramble of the kind on a fine autumnal day, Rip had unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill mountains. He was after 62 his favourite sport of squirrel-shooting, and the still solitudes had echoed and reechoed with the reports of his gun. Panting and fatigued, he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll, covered with mountain herbage, that crowned the brow of a precipice. From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the lower country for 63 many a mile of rich woodland. He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course 64, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping 65 on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands. On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun. For some time Rip lay musing on this scene evening was gradually advancing; the mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys; he saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, and he heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame Van Winkle. als solcher am Substantiv durch einen Artikel bezeichnet werden könnte, in Betracht kommt, sondern das Object der Thätigkeit im Allgemeinen. Vergl. Mätzner, Engl. Gr. III, p. 211. 61) vergl. S. 13, Anm. 35. 62) to be after s. th. ganz wie das deutsche hinter etwas her sein, einer Sache nachgehen. 68) Man beachte die Anwendung des for zur Bezeichnung der objectiven Erstreckung auf eine räumliche Ausdehnung; vergl. Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel I, 26: Broad on the left before him lay, For many a mile, the Roman way. 64) to move on one's course. — dahinströmen, dahinfliessen. 65) to sleep to lie still and silent, vergl. Merch. of Venice V, 1: How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! |