Der Dumme hat's Glück | 16 May 1896
Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.), 16 May 1896. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045081/1896-05-16/ed-1/seq-12/>
The following article is a translation of Mark Twain's short story “Luck” which was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1891 (83:495, 407-409).
Key to annotations on German translations of Mark Twain's original texts
| Transcription | English Translation / Original Text |
|---|---|
| (Aus dem „Neuen Wiener Tageblatt.“) | {(From the "Neues Wiener Tageblatt")} |
| Der Dumme hat's Glück. | Luck {is with the fools} |
| Skizze von Mark Twain. | {Sketch} By Mark Twain |
| <[Note — This is not a fancy sketch. I got it from a clergyman who was an instructor at Woolwich forty years ago, and who vouched for its truth. - M. T.]> | |
| Es war in London. | It was at a banquet in London |
| Man gab ein Bankett zu Ehren des Trägers eines der ausgezeichnetsten militärischen Namen England's. Aus verschiedenen Rücksichten will ich Namen und Titel des Gefeierten nicht nennen und heiße ihn Generallieutenant Lord Arthur Scoresby, Großkreuz des Bath-Ordens etc. etc. Welch' ein Zauber liegt in einem berühmten Namen! Da saß leibhaftig der Mann, von dem ich seit dreißig Jahren tausendmal hörte, seit dem Tage, da sein Name im Krim-Krieg urplötzlich bis an die Sterne schoß, um gefeiert zu bleiben für alle Zeiten. | in honor of one of the <two or three conspicuously> illustrious English military names <of this generation>. For reasons which will presently appear [translated as " "], I will withhold his real name and titles, and call him Lieutenant-General Lord Arthur Scoresby, Y.C., K.C.B., etc., etc., etc. What a fascination there is in a renowned name! There sat the man, in actual flesh, whom I head heard so many thousands of times since that day, thirty years before, when his name shot suddenly to the zenith [translated as "up to the stars"] from a Crimean battle-field, to remain forever celebrated. <It was food and drink to me to look, and look at that demigod; scanning, searching, noting: the quietness, the reserve, the noble gravity of his countenance; the simple honesty that expressed itself all over him; the sweet unconsciousness of his greatness - unconsciousness of the hundreds of admiring eyes fastened upon him, unconsciousness of the deep, loving, sincere worship welling out of the breasts of those people and flowing toward him.> |
| Der Geistliche zu meiner Linken war ein alter, guter Bekannter von mir. Gegenwärtig Priester, hat er die erste Hälfte seines Lebens in Feld und Bivouak verbracht. Er war Lehrer an der Militärschule zu Woolwich. In einem Augenblicke, da ich mich umwandte, sah ich einen merkwürdigen Glanz seine Augen erhellen, er lehnte sich zurück und flüsterte mir, auf den Helden des Abends weisend, zu: „Im Vertrauen - er ist ein absoluter Dummkopf.“ | The clergyman at my left was an old acquaintance of mine - clergyman now, but had spent the first half of his life in the camp and field, and as an instructor in the military school at Woolwich. Just at the moment I have been talking about, a veiled and singular light glimmered in his eyes, and he leaned down and muttered confidentially to me - indicating the hero of the banquet with a gesture: “Privately – he is an absolute fool.” |
| Dieses Verdikt war eine ungeheure Ueberraschung für mich. Von zwei Dingen war ich fest überzeugt: daß der Priester ein Mann von strengster Wahrheitsliebe und daß seine Beurtheilung der Menschen stets eine milde war. Daher wußte ich nun, ohne zu zweifeln oder zu fragen, daß die Welt wirklich im Irrthum war über diesen Helden: er war ein Dummkopf. | This verdict was a great surprise to me. <If its subject had been Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon, my astonishment could not have been greater.> Two things I was well aware of: that the Reverend was a man of strict veracity, and that his judgment of men was good. Therefore I knew, beyond doubt or question, that the world was mistaken about this hero: he was a fool. <So I meant to find out, at a convenient moment, how the Reverend, all solitary and alone, had discovered the secret.> |
| Einige Tage später ergab sich die Gelegenheit für den Reverend, mir im vertraulichen Beisammensein das Geheimniß zu enthüllen. Er erzählte: „Vor ungefähr vierzig Jahren war ich Lehrer an der Militär-Akademie in Woolwich. Hier war ich bei der Vorprüfung des jungen Scoresby zu gegen. Alle Schüler antworteten nett und vernünftig, während dieser absolut nicht das Geringste wußte. Er war ersichtlich gut, freundlich, liebenswürdig und harmlos. | Some days later the opportunity came, and this is what the Reverend told me {in confidence}: About forty years ago I was an instructor in the military academy at Woolwich. I was present <in one of the sections> when young Scoresby underwent his preliminary examination. <I was touched to the quick with pity; for> the rest of the class answered up brightly and handsomely, while he <- why, dear me, he> didn’t know anything, so to speak. He was evidently good, and sweet, and lovable, and guileless; <and so it was exceedingly painful to see him stand there, as serene as a graven image, and deliver himself of answers which were veritably miraculous for stupidity and ignorance.> |
| All' mein Mitleid wurde rege. Ich sagte mir: der junge Mann muß selbstverständlich fallen, wenn er wieder zur Prüfung kommt; ich will daher einen einfachen Akt der Barmherzigkeit üben, indem ich seinen Fall so leicht mache, als nur möglich. Ich nahm ihn bei Seite und fand, daß er Etwas von Julius Cäsar wußte; da ihm sonst absolut Nichts bekannt war. drillte ich ihm gleich einem Galeeren-Sklaven einige Fragen über Cäsar ein, wie dieselben gebräuchlich waren. Sie werden mir nicht glauben, 'daß er damit am Prüsungstage glänzend bestand und noch Lob erntete auf Kosten Anderer, die tausendmal mehr wußten. Er war eben nichts Anderes gefragt worden, als ich ihm eingedrillt hatte. Für mich gab es eine ganze Woche keinen Schlaf. Mein Gewissen quälte mich Tag und Nacht. Was ich gethan .hatte, es geschah nur aus Mitleid und einzig und allein um des armen Burschen Fall zu mildern auf ein solches Resultat habe ich niemals gerechnet. Ich fühlte mich schuldig und elend. Einem Holzkopf habe ich zu einer glänzenden und überaus verantwortlichen Laufbahn verholfen; bei der allerersten Gelegenheit muß er sich und seine Untergebenen unbedingt ruiniren. | All the compassion in me was aroused in his behalf. I said to myself, when he comes to be examined again, he will be flung over, of course; so it will be simply a harmless act of charity to ease his fall as much as I can. I took him aside, and found that he knew a little of Caesar’s history; and as he didn’t know anything else, I went to work and drilled him like a galley-slave on a certain line of stock questions concerning Caesar which I knew would be used. If you’ll believe me, he went through with flying colours on examination day! <He went through on that purely superficial “cram,”> and got compliments, too, while others, who knew a thousand times more than he, got plucked. <By some strangely lucky accident - an accident not likely to happen twice in a century -> he was asked no question outside of the narrow limits of his drill. <It was stupefying. Well, although through his course I stood by him, with something of the sentiment which a mother feels for a crippled child; and he always saved himself - just by miracle, apparently. Now of course the thing that would expose him and kill him at last was mathematics. I resolved to make his death as easy as I could; so I drilled him and crammed him, and crammed him and drilled him, just on the line of questions which the examiner would be most likely to use, and then launched him on his fate. Well, sir, try to conceive of the result: to my consternation, he took the first prize! And with it he got a perfect ovation in the way of compliments. Sleep! There was no more sleep for me for a week.> My conscience tortured me day and night. What I had done I had done purely through charity, and only to ease the poor youth’s fall - I never had dreamed of any such preposterous result as the thing that had happened. I felt <as> guilty and miserable <as the creator of Frankenstein>. Here was a wooden-head whom I had put in the way of <glittering> promotions and <prodigious> responsibilities, <and but one thing could happen:> he and his responsibilities would all go to ruin together at the first opportunity. |
| Der Krim-Krieg brach aus. Ich sagte zu mir: Frieden können wir nicht haben, da ist wenigstens eine Aussicht für diesen Dummian, ehrenvoll zu sterben, bevor er entdeckt wird. Ich erwartete ein Erdbeben. Es kam in der That und machte mich erzittern. Das Amtblatt brachte seine Ernennung zum Capitän in einem der ausmarschirenden Regimenter. Bessere Männer mußten im Dienste alt u. grau werden, ehe sie diesen Rang erklommen. Und wer hätte wohl vorausgesetzt, daß sie selbst eine solche Last der Verantwortlichkeit auf die Schultern dieses unreifen Burschen häufen würden. Ich würde schon hoch erstaunt gewesen sein, hätte man ihn zum Gefreiten gemacht, aber zum Hauptman - bedenken Sie. | The Crimean war had just broken out. Of course there had to be a war, I said to myself: we couldn’t have peace and give this donkey a chance to die before he is found out. I waited for the earthquake. It came. And it made me reel when it did come. He was actually gazetted to a captaincy in a marching regiment! Better men grow old and gray in the service before they climb to a sublimity like that. And who could ever have foreseen that they would go and put such a load of responsibility on such green and inadequate shoulders? I could just barely have stood it [translated as "I would have been absolutely astonished"] if they had made him a cornet; but a captain - think of it! |
| Ich glaubte, mein Haar werde über Nacht weiß werden. | I thought my hair would turn white. |
| Denken Sie, was ich that, ich, der ich Ruhe und Beschaulichkeit so sehr liebe. Ich sagte zu mir: Du bist dem Lande für den Mann verantwortlich, Du mußt mit ihm gehen und das Land so weit als möglich gegen ihn schützen. So raffte ich denn seufzend, mein kleines, mühselig erarbeitetes und erspartes Kapital zusammen, kaufte mir eine Cornetstelle und wir zogen in's Feld. | Consider what I did - I who so loved repose and inaction. I said to myself, I am responsible to the country for this, and I must go along with him and protect the country against him as far as I can. So I took my poor little capital that I had saved up through years of work and grinding economy, and went with a sigh and bought a cornetcy in his regiment, and away we went to the field. |
| Und da Theurer, es war haarsträubend. Er machte Fehler? O, er hatte nie etwas Anderes gemacht. Aber Sie müssen wissen, Niemand war in des Burschen Geheimniß eingeweiht, Jedermann beurtheilte ihn falsch und daher auch seine Handlungsweise; seine idiotenhaften Böcke hielt man für Eingebungen eines genialen Geistes. | And there - oh dear, it was awful. Blunders? - why, he never did anything but blunder. But, you see, nobody was in the fellow’s secret - everybody had him focussed wrong, and necessarily misinterpreted his performance every time - consequently they took his idiotic blunders for inspirations of genius; <they did honestly! His mildest blunders were enough to make a man in his right mind cry; and they did make me cry - and rage and rave too, privately. And the thing that kept me always in a sweat of apprehension was the fact that every fresh blunder he made increased the lustre of his reputation! I kept saying to myself, he’ll get so high that when discovery does finally come it will be like the sun falling out of the sky.> |
| Er stieg von Grad zu Grad, über die todten Leiber seiner Vorgesetzten. Als zuletzt im heißesten Moment der Schlacht von *** unser Oberst fiel, da stockte mein Herzschlag, denn Scoresby war der nächste im Range. | He went right along up, from grade to grade, over the dead bodies of his superiors, until at last, in the hottest moment of the battle of **** down went our colonel, and my heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby was next in rank! <Now for it, said I; we’ll all land in Sheol in ten minutes, sure.> |
| Es war ein harter Kampf; unser Regiment hatte eine Position von einschneidendster Wichtigkeit für die alliirten Heere. Ein Versehen mußte deren Niederlage herbeiführen. In diesem kritischen Augenblick fällt es dem unsterblichen Narren an unserer Spitze ein, sein Regiment von seinem Platze zu detachiren und einen Angriff auf den nächsten Hügel anzubefehlen, wo keine Spur von einem Feinde war! „Ich gehe," dachte ich, „das ist wenigstens das Ende.“ Und wir marschirten in der That und hatten den Gipfel des Hügels überschritten, ehe unsere wahnsinnige Bewegung entdeckt und aufgehalten wurde. | The battle was awfully hot; <the allies were steadily giving way all over the field.> Our regiment occupied a position that was vital {to the allied armies}; a blunder now must be destruction. At this critical moment, what does this immortal fool do but detach the regiment from its place and order a charge over a neighboring hill where there wasn’t a suggestion of an enemy! “There you go!” I said to myself; “this is the end at last.” And away we did go, and were over the shoulder of the hill before the insane movement could be discovered and stopped. |
| Und was fanden wir? Eine unvermuthete russische Armee als Reserve. Und was ereignete sich? Wir wurden vernichtet? ? ... In neunundneunzig von hundert Fällen wäre das geschehen. Doch uns keineswegs; die Russen glaubten, die ganze englische Armee folge und ihr Spiel sei entdeckt u. durchkreuzt. Daß ein einzelnes Regiment in diesem Augenblicke hier debouchiren wolle, war unmöglich, fluchtartig traten sie daher den Rückzug an u. wir nach; sie selbst durchbrachen das bisher unüberwindliche russische Centrum und die bisherige ungünstige Lage der Verbündeten verwandelte sich in einen schnellen und glänzenden Sieg. Den Marschall Canrobert erfaßte zunächst ein Schwindel, dann staunende Bewunderung und Entzücken. Er sandte seinen Adjutanten um Scoresby, den er umarmte und auf dem Schlachtfeld, im Angesichte zweier Armeen dekorirte. | And what did we find? An entire and unsuspected Russian army in reserve! And what happened? We were eaten up? That is necessarily what would have happened in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But no; those Russians argued that <no single regiment would come browsing around there at such a time.> It must be the entire English army, and that the <sly> Russian game was detected and blocked {that a single regiment would want to attack at this moment was impossible}; so they turned tail, <and away they went, pell-mell, over the hill and down into the field, in wild confusion,> and we after them; they themselves broke the solid Russian centre in the field, <and tore through, and in no time there was the most tremendous rout you ever saw,> and the defeat [translated as "the precarious situation"] of the allies was turned into a sweeping and splendid victory! Marshal Canrobert looked on, dizzy with astonishment, admiration, and delight; and sent {his adjutant} right off for Scoresby, and hugged him, and decorated him on the field, in presence of all the armies [translated as "two armies"]! |
| Und worin bestand diesmal Scoresby's Fehler? Darin, daß er seine rechte Hand mit der linken verwechselte, das war Alles. Der Befehl lautete, zur Unterstützung des rechten Flügels zurückfallen; anstatt dessen ging er links vorwärts. Aber der Name, den er an diesem Tage als wunderbares militärisches Genie sich erworben, erfüllt die Welt mit seinem Glanze. Sein Ruhm wird nicht verblassen, so lange es eine Weltgeschichte giebt. | And what was Scoresby’s blunder that time? Merely the mistaking his right hand for his left - that was all. An order had come to him to fall back and support our right; and instead he fell forward and went over the hill to the left. But the name he won that day as a marvellous military genius filled the world with his glory, and that glory will never fade while history books last. |
| Er ist so gut, so nett, so liebens würdig und so bescheiden, wie ein Mann nur überhaupt sein kann; aber er ist zu dumm, um unter Dach zu gehen, wenn es regnet. Dagegen giebt es keine Einwendung. Er ist der auserlesenste Esel aus der Welt; und vor einer halben Stunde wußte dies Niemand außer ihm selbst und mir. Tag für Tag und Jahr für Jahr verfolgt ihn ein phänomenales erstaunliches Glück. Er war ein glänzender Soldat in allen unseren Feldzügen während einer ganzen Generation; sein ganzes militärisches Leben setzt sich aus Schnitzern zusammen und er hat keinen begangen, ohne dafür Ritter oder Baronet, oder Lord u. dgl. zu werden. Sehen Sie seine Brust, eingehüllt in Dekorationen - und alle zusammen liefern den besten Beweis, daß das Beste, was einem Menschen auf der Welt bescheert werden kann, darin besteht, im Zeichen des „Schweins“ geboren zu werden. | He is just as good and sweet and lovable and unpretending as a man can be, but he doesn’t know enough to come in when it rains. Now that is absolutely true. He is the supremest ass in the universe; and until half an hour ago nobody knew it but himself and me. He has been pursued, day by day and year by year, by a most phenomenal and astonishing luckiness. He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for half a [translated as "an entire"] generation; he has littered his military life with blunders, and yet has never committed one that didn’t make him a knight or a baronet or a lord or something. Look at his breast; why, he is just clothed in domestic and foreign decorations. Well, sir, every one of them is the record of some shouting stupidity or other; and, taken together, they are proof that the very best thing in all this world that can befall a man is to be born lucky [translated as "to be born under the sign of the "pig""]. <I say again, as I said at the banquet, Scoresby is an absolute fool.> |