Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse Page B

sick boy for the time being.
    Meanwhile Father Anselm had ordered the boy put to bed and was sitting beside him. He had not deemed it advisable to shock him back into consciousness by violent means. The boy looked altogether too sick. Out of his kind, wrinkled face, the old man looked fondly upon the adolescent. Meanwhile he checked his pulse and heartbeat. The boy must have eaten something impossible, a bunch of sorrel, or something equally silly; that kind of thing happened sometimes. The boy’s mouth was closed, so he couldn’t check his tongue. He was fond of Goldmund but had little use for his friend, that precocious, overly young teacher. Now it had come to this. Brother Narcissus surely had something to do with this stupid mishap. Why had this charming, clear-eyed youngster, this dear child of nature, picked the arrogant scholar, the vain grammarian, who valued his Greek more highly than all living creatures of this world!
    When the door opened much later, and the Abbot came in, Father Anselm was still sitting beside the bed, staring into the boy’s face. What a dear, trusting young face this was, and all one could do was to sit beside it, wishing, but probably unable, to help. It might all be due to a colic, of course; he would prescribe hot wine, perhaps some rhubarb. But the longer he looked into the greenish-pale, distorted face, the more his suspicions leaned toward another cause, a much more serious one. Father Anselm was experienced. More than once, in the course of his long life, he had seen men who were possessed. He hesitated to formulate this suspicion even to himself. He would wait and observe. But if this poor boy had really been hexed, he thought grimly, we probably won’t have to look far for the culprit, and he shall not have an easy time of it.
    The Abbot stepped up to the bed, bent over the sick boy, and gently drew back one of the eyelids.
    â€œCan he be roused?” he asked.
    â€œI’d rather wait a bit longer. His heart is sound. We must not let anyone in to see him.”
    â€œIs he in danger?”
    â€œI don’t think so. There aren’t any wounds, no trace of a blow or fall. He is unconscious because of a colic, perhaps. Extreme pain can cause loss of consciousness. If he had been poisoned, he’d be running a fever. No, he’ll come to and go on living.”
    â€œDo you think it could be his soul?”
    â€œI wouldn’t rule that out. Do we know anything? Has he had a shock perhaps? News of someone’s death? A violent dispute, an insult? That would certainly explain it.”
    â€œWe know of nothing. Make sure that no one is allowed to see him. Please stay with him until he comes to. If anything should go wrong, call me, even if it’s in the middle of the night.”
    Before leaving, the old man bent once more over the sick boy. He thought of the boy’s father, of the day this charming blond head had been brought to him, how everyone had taken to him from the start. He, too, had been glad to see him in the cloister. But Narcissus was certainly right in one respect: nothing in the boy recalled his father. Ah, how much worry there was everywhere, how insufficient all our striving! Had he perhaps been neglectful of this poor boy? Was it right that no one in the house knew this pupil as thoroughly as Narcissus? How could he be helped by someone who was still a novice, who had not yet been consecrated, who was not yet a monk, and whose thoughts and ideas all had something unpleasantly superior about them, something almost hostile? God alone knew whether Narcissus too had not been handled wrongly all this time? Was he concealing something evil behind his mask of obedience, hedonism perhaps? Whatever these two young men would some day become would be partly his responsibility.
    It was dark when Goldmund came to. His head felt empty, dizzy. He knew that he was lying in bed, but not where. He didn’t think about that; it didn’t