The Weeping Wife
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Der Alte trat in seine Hütte, die an dem Berge angebauet war, und fand sein Weib in der größten Betrübniß. Sie saß am Feuer und weinte und konnte sich nicht zufrieden geben. Wie unglücklich bin ich, rief sie aus, wollt’ ich dich heute doch nicht fortlassen! – Was gibt es denn? fragte der Alte ganz ruhig.
The old man stepped into his hut, which was built against the mountain, and found his wife in the greatest distress. She sat by the fire and wept and could not calm herself. How unhappy I am, she cried out, if only I had not let you go today! What is the matter, then? asked the old man quite calmly.
The old man reaches his hut and finds his wife in tears by the fire.
<p>The scene drops from the grand underground to a kitchen. The hut is built against the mountain, so the old man's home sits at the seam between the rock he has just walked through and the daylight world. Inside, his wife weeps by the fire and cannot calm herself, and her first words are a reproach: if only she had kept him home today. He asks what the matter is, ganz ruhig, quite calmly.</p><p>The undercurrent is the marriage itself as a pairing of temperaments. She relives the day's upset before she can report it; he waits for the facts. The concrete detail is that calm set directly against her sobbing in a single line of dialogue. The steadiness belongs to the man who carries the lamp, and the tale means us to notice.</p>
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