The Hermit on the Froschberg
Once he had burned his
mouth on hot soup, now he did not eat soup any more – it might be hot. Then he hardly
went out for a walk any more – it might rain and then his umbrella might leak or,
even worse, the wind might blow it off his hand.
Then one day, when he dared to go out in spite of all his worries, some little devils laid a stick on the street and promptly he fell over it. In that moment one thing was certain to him: the world wished him harm and he had to be prepared for the worst, at any time and everywhere. Maybe .. the world would be evil enough to just vanish while he was sleeping? How could he ever dare to sleep again?
Flops made a plan. Up there, on the Froschberg (the Frog Mountain) he would be safe. The frogs with their relentless "croak croak" would keep him awake. So he locked his house and off he went. Indeed, the frogs always had something to tell each other, and especially one magnificent frog with a sonorous voice never ran short of news. With so much croaking around him he couldn’t even think of sleeping.
But then the magnificent frog with the sonorous voice fell in love, and from then on he only whispered softly into the ear of his adored one. It became quieter on the Froschberg, and Flops became more and more tired, his eye lids became more and more heavy .. and finally he was asleep.
The next morning he woke up very slowly. A ray of sunshine came through his closed eye lids, he felt a ladybug crawling over his nose, and from somewhere he heard a soft "croak croak" that sounded like "good morning". Slowly he opened his eyes. There sat the magnificent frog with the sonorous voice and his adored one. Yes, the world was still there, and he was still there, too, and he felt very alive. "Thank you kindly, and I bid you a good morning, too," he said happily to the two of them, "today it is a good morning indeed, I didn’t have such a good morning in years."
Part 2
Humming cheerfully he went back into town. Since he was hungry, he went into a restaurant and ordered a soup. The landlord wanted to play a trick on him and had the waiter bring a plate of burning hot soup. Well hidden, he watched his guest and was looking forward to the scene that he hoped would follow. But Flops only said in a friendly way, "Thank you for heating the soup so much for me. That way I still have time to go home, refresh myself and get changed, and then I will enjoy my soup even more." Said so and went out.
It began to rain. He quickly opened his umbrella, but a gust of wind almost blew it out of his hand. Trying desperately to keep hold of his umbrella, he didn’t see the other passers-by and boom, that was done it, he had bumped into someone and had fallen. Slowly he got up, brushed his coat and looked up .. into the smiling face of the woman of his dreams. She smiled friendly and said "Nothing happened!" "Oh no, Madam," stuttered Flops, "I beg your pardon. Please, may I invite you for lunch so that you can warm yourself up a bit? Please, it is the least I can do. There is a restaurant. I had already ordered a little something, we can have lunch together and wait until the rain stops." So they went in.
In the meantime the soup was cold. "But dear Sir," said Ol’ Floppy, "how could that have happened to you? Now you must quickly do something to save the reputation of your house. The lady is from far away." And so the landlord had no choice, he had to serve them his most delicious and expensive dishes - "on the house", that went without saying.
