Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/165

Rh indeed! As if there shouldn't be more light! Thus one must know how to manage these bookworms.'

"Whenever we met she had some new complaint against her master, but for the whole world she would not have left him. Once he caused her a great deal of anxiety. While he was out walking he met a friend who was on his way to the Riesengebirge mountains. He asked her master to accompany him, saying that they would return soon, and he started just as he was. Susannah waited and waited, but the master didn't come; the night approached, he was nowhere to be seen. She came to our house frightened, crying, and we had all we could do to quiet her. The next morning she found out how he went away; then she scolded and carried on at a terrible rate. He came back about the sixth day, and she had been getting dinner and supper for him all that time. When he returned she came over to our house saying: 'When I began to scold him he only said: "Well, well, don't make such a fuss! I went out for a walk and thought I'd stop to see the Snow Cap, so I could not return immediately."

"Once she brought us several books, saying that her master had written them, and asked us to read them. My husband was a good reader, so he read, but did not understand them at all; he also knew how to make verses, but we did not understand those either,—it was all too learned. Susannah however, said: 'Well, that pays, to rack his brains over what nobody can understand!' But the people of the town spoke very highly of him some declaring that his wisdom was beyond comprehension."