Immensee and Other Stories by Theodor Storm

Author:Theodor Storm [Storm, Theodor]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781847494597
Publisher: Alma Classics
Published: 2017-06-21T16:18:34+00:00

Curator Carsten

Translated by Frieda M. Voigt

His real name was Carsten Carstens,* and he was the son of a humble citizen, from whom he had inherited a home built by his grandfather. It was in the alley by the harbour and included a small business in woollen goods and such wearing apparel as was customarily used by the seamen of the surrounding islands on their voyages. Since however he was of a somewhat brooding disposition and had, like many a North Friesian, an innate bent towards studying, he had occupied himself since earliest childhood with all sorts of books and writings, thus gradually gaining the reputation among his fellows of a man from whom one could procure reliable counsel in doubtful cases. If as a result of his uncommon reading, as could easily happen, his thoughts strayed off onto a path where his neighbours could not follow him, he encouraged no one to do so; consequently he escaped arousing the suspicions of anyone. So he had become the curator of a number of widows and spinsters, whom the laws of that period still required to get such assistance in all legal matters.

Since it was not his own profit, when he arranged the affairs of others, but the interest he took in the work itself which was uppermost, he differed essentially from other persons who were wont to carry out similar duties, and soon the dying knew of no better man to serve as legal guardian of their children, and the courts of no better executor in bankruptcy or inheritance cases, than Carsten Carstens of the Alley, who under the name of “Curator Carsten” was now universally known as a man of impregnable honour.

In view of the many trusteeships which claimed his time, his small business, to be sure, declined into a side line and was managed almost entirely by an unmarried sister who had remained with him in their parental home.

For the rest, Carsten was a man of few words and of quick decisions, and whenever he encountered a base motive he was inexorable, even at his own expense. Once a so-called “ox-grazer”, who for years had leased a piece of marshland from him at what was then considered a low rent, solemnly declared that he could not afford that price the next year. Later, when this produced no result, he agreed to renew the lease at the old price after all, and when this offer was likewise rejected, he even raised the rent himself. Carsten however told him that he was far from wishing his land to be the cause of reckless damage, and thereupon he leased the property at the original price to another citizen who had previously approached him about the matter.

And yet there had been a period in his life when men shook their heads over him. Not that he had been remiss in any of the affairs entrusted to him; it was because it seemed that he was becoming unreliable in the regulation of his own affairs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.