journey shall be paid.”
“It appears to me very absurd,” said the learned man.
“But it is the way of the world,” replied the shadow, “and always will
be.” Then he went away.
Everything went wrong with the learned man. Sorrow and trouble
pursued him, and what he said about the good, the beautiful, and the true,
was of as much value to most people as a nutmeg would be to a cow. At
length he fell ill. “You really look like a shadow,” people said to him, and
then a cold shudder would pass over him, for he had his own thoughts on
the subject.
“You really ought to go to some watering-place,” said the shadow on his
next visit. “There is no other chance for you. I will take you with me, for
the sake of old acquaintance. I will pay the expenses of your journey, and
you shall write a description of it to amuse us by the way. I should like to go
to a watering-place; my beard does not grow as it ought, which is from
weakness, and I must have a beard. Now do be sensible and accept my
proposal; we shall travel as intimate friends.”
And at last they started together. The shadow was master now, and the
master became the shadow. They drove together, and rode and walked in
company with each other, side by side, or one in front and the other behind,
according to the position of the sun. The shadow always knew when to take
the place of honor, but the learned man took no notice of it, for he had a
good heart, and was exceedingly mild and friendly.
One day the master said to the shadow, “We have grown up together from
our childhood, and now that we have become travelling companions, shall
we not drink to our good fellowship, and say thee and thou to each other?”
“What you say is very straightforward and kindly meant,” said the
shadow, who was now really master. “I will be equally kind and
straightforward. You are a learned man, and know how wonderful human
nature is. There are some men who cannot endure the smell of brown paper;
it makes them ill. Others will feel a shuddering sensation to their very
