The Giant Becomes a Sundial
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Gerade ging er auf die Thüre des Himmels zu, als auf einmal in der Mitte des Hofes auf dem Boden festgehalten wurde. Er stand als eine kolossale mächtige Bildsäule, von röthlich glänzendem Steine, da, und sein Schatten zeigte die Stunden, die in einem Kreis auf dem Boden um ihn her, nicht in Zahlen, sondern in edlen und bedeutenden Bildern, eingelegt waren.
He was walking straight toward the door of heaven, when all at once, in the middle of the courtyard, he was held fast on the ground. He stood there as a colossal, mighty statue of reddish gleaming stone, and his shadow showed the hours, which were inlaid in a circle on the ground around him, not in numbers but in noble and meaningful images.
The giant, striding toward the temple door, is stopped in the courtyard and fixed as a statue whose shadow tells the hours.
<p>The giant has been the tale's loose cannon: harmless in himself, dangerous when his shadow pushes and bullies. Striding straight for the temple door, he is held fast in the middle of the courtyard and petrified, a colossal statue of reddish gleaming stone, and his one power, the shadow, is turned into a clock. This is Goethe's habitual move with brute force: find it a use.</p><p>The undercurrent sits in the hour-marks. They are inlaid in a circle around him nicht in Zahlen, sondern in edlen und bedeutenden Bildern, in noble and meaningful images rather than numbers; the new order measures its time by meaning. The figure that once blocked the way to the temple now stands in its courtyard as the instrument by which the community keeps its day.</p>
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