Anne of Green Gables /Chapter XXVI
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KAPITEL XXVI


DER GESCHICHTENCLUB WIRD GEGRÜNDET


Der Nachwuchs von Avonlea hatte Mühe, sich wieder an ein alltägliches Dasein zu gewöhnen. Vor allen für Anne schienen die Dinge nach dem Pokal voll Erregung, an dem sie wochenlang genippt hatte, beängstigend schal, abgestanden und unnütz. Konnte sie zu den früheren, ruhigen Vergnügungen dieser weit entfernten Tage vor dem Konzert zurückkehren? Zuerst, wie sie Diana erzählte, dachte sie wirklich nicht, dass sie es könnte.

"Ich bin absolut sicher, Diana, dass das Leben niemals wieder ganz genauso sein kann, wie es in diesen alten Zeiten war", sagte sie traurig, als ob sie sich auf einen Zeitraum von wenigstens fünfzig Jahren beziehen würde. "Vielleicht werde ich mich nach einer Weile daran gewöhnen, aber ich fürchte, Konzerte verderben Menschen für das Alltagsleben. Ich vermute, das ist der Grund, warum Marilla gegen sie ist. Marilla ist so eine vernünftige Frau. Es muss viel besser sein, vernünftig zu sein; aber immerhin glaube ich nicht, dass ich tatsächlich eine vernünftige Person sein wollte, weil sie so unromantisch sind. Mrs. Lynde sagt, es bestände keine Gefahr, dass ich jemals eine würde, aber man weiß nie. Ich fühle gerade jetzt, dass ich erwachsen werde könnte, um sogar vernünftig zu sein. Aber vielleicht ist das nur, weil ich müde bin. Ich konnte letzte Nacht einfach nicht so lange schlafen. Ich lag einfach wach und stellte mir das Konzert immer und immer wieder vor. Das ist eine grandiose Sache bei solchen Angelegenheiten - es ist so herrlich, darauf zurückzublicken."

Aber irgendwann rutschte die Schule von Avonlea in ihre alte Spur und ging ihren alten Interessen nach. Auf alle Fälle hinterließ das Konzert Spuren. Ruby Gillis und Emma, die sich über die Rangfolge ihrer Bühnenplätze gestritten hatten, saßen nicht länger am selben Pult und eine verheißungsvolle dreijährige Freundschaft war zerbrochen. Josie Pye und Julia Bell sprachen drei Monate nicht miteinander, weil Josie Pye Bessie Wright erzählt hatte, dass Julia Bells Verbeugung, als sie aufstand, um vorzutragen, sie an den zuckenden Kopf eines Huhns denken ließ, und Bessie erzählte es Julia weiter Keiner der Sloanes würde etwas mit den Bells zu tun haben wollen, weil die Bells erklärt hatten, dass die Sloanes zu viele Programmpunkte gehabt hätten und die Sloanes hatten erwidert, die Bells wären unfähig gewesen, das Wenige, das sie zu tun hatten, angemessen zu erledigen. Schließlich stritt Charlie Sloane mit Moody Spurgeon MacPherson, weil Moody Spurgeon gesagt hatte, dass Anne Shirley sich wegen ihrer Vorträge aufspielte, und Moody Spurgeon wurde es "gezeigt", folglich würde Ella May, Moody Spurgeons Schwester, den Rest des Winters nicht mit Anne Shirley "sprechen". Mit Ausnahme dieser unbedeutenden Spannungen ging die Arbeit in Miss Stacys kleinem Königreich mit Regelmäßigkeit und einem problemlosen Verlauf weiter.

Die Winterwochen verflogen. Es war ein ungewöhnlich milder Winter mit so wenig Schnee, dass Anne und Diana fast jeden Tag über den Birkenpfad zur Schule gegen konnten. An Annes Geburtstag trippelten sie ihn leichtfüßig herunter, hielten Augen und Ohren inmitten ihres ganzen Geplappers wachsam offen, weil Miss Stacy ihnen gesagt hatte, dass sie bald einen Aufsatz über einen "Winterspaziergang im Wald" schreiben müssten und es empfahl sich, aufmerksam zu sein.

"Denk dir nur, Diana, ich bin heute dreizehn Jahre alt", bemerkte Anne mit ehrfurchtsvoller Stimme. "Ich kann kaum begreifen, dass ich im Teenageralter bin. Als ich heute Morgen aufwachte, schien mir, dass alles anders sein müsse. Du bist seit einem Monat dreizehn, daher nehme ich an, es kommt dir nicht wie eine Neuartigkeit vor wie mir. Es lässt das Leben so viel interessanter erscheinen. In zwei weiteren Jahren werde ich ganz erwachsen sein. Es ist ein großer Trost zu denken, dass ich dann in der Lage sein werde, hochtrabende Worte zu benutzen, ohne dafür ausgelacht zu werden."

"Ruby Gilli sagt, sie meint, sie werde einen Verehrer haben, sobald sie fünfzehn ist", sagte Diana.

"Ruby Gillis denkt an nichts anderes als an Verehrer", sagte Anne verächtlich. "She's actually delighted when any one writes her name up in a take-notice for all she pretends to be so mad. Aber ich fürchte, das ist ein liebloser Beitrag. Mrs. Allan sagt, wir sollten nie lieblose Reden führen; aber sie rutschen einem so oft gedankenlos heraus, oder? Ich kann einfach nicht über Josie Pye ohne eine lieblose Bemerkung reden, daher erwähne ich sie überhaupt nicht. Du hast das vielleicht bemerkt. Ich versuche, Mrs. Allan so ähnlich wie nur möglich zu sein, weil ich sie für perfekt halte. Mr. Allan denkt das ebenfalls. Mrs. Lynde sagt, er verehrt wirklich den Boden, den sie betritt und sie hält es für einen Pfarrer nicht richtig, einem sterblichen Wesen so viel Zuneigung zu geben. Aber andererseits, Diana, sogar Pfarrer sind menschlich und haben ihre schlechten Angewohnheiten, genau wie jeder andere auch. Ich führte letzten Sonntagnachmittag eine sehr interessante Unterhaltung mit Mrs. Allan über schlechte Angewohnheiten Es gibt nur wenige Dinge, die angemessen sind, um am Sonntag darüber zu sprechen, und das ist eins davon. Meine schlechte Angewohnheit ist, zu viel zu fantasieren und meine Pflichten zu vergessen. Ich bemühe mich sehr stark, das zu überwinden und nun, da ich dreizehn bin, werde ich vielleicht bessere Fortschritte machen."

"In vier Jahren werden wir unsere Haare hochstecken können", sagte Diana. "Alice Bell ist erst sechzehn und sie trägt ihre hochgesteckt, aber ich finde das lächerlich, ich werde warten, bis ich siebzehn bin."

Wenn ich Alice Bells krumme Nase hätte", sagte Anne bestimmt, "würde ich es nicht tun - aber da!" Ich werde nicht sagen, was ich sagen wollte, weil es extrem lieblos war. Außerdem habe ich sie mit meiner eigenen Nase verglichen und das ist Eitelkeit. Ich fürchte, ich denke zuviel über meine Nase nach, seit ich vor langer Zeit dieses Kompliment darüber gehört habe. Es ist wirklich ein großer Trost für mich. Oh, Diana sieh mal, da ist ein Kaninchen. Daran können wir uns für unseren Waldaufsatz erinnern. Ich meine wirklich, dass die Wälder im Winter genauso herrlich sind, wie im Sommer. Sie sind so weiß und still, als ob sie schlafen würden und hübsche Träume hätten."

"Es wird mir nichts ausmachen, diesen Aufsatz zu schreiben, wenn seine Zeit kommt", seufzte Diana. "Ich kann es schaffen, über Wälder zu schreiben, aber der, den wir am Montag abgeben, ist schrecklich. Die Idee von Miss Stacy, uns zu sagen, wir sollen uns selbst eine Geschichte ausdenken!"

"Warum, es ist so einfach wie Zwinkern", sagte Anne.

"Es ist für dich einfach, weil du eine Vorstellungskraft hast", erwiderte Diana," aber was würdest du tun, wenn du ohne geboren worden wärst? Ich nehme an, du bist fertig mit deinem Aufsatz?"

Anne nickte und versuchte heftig, nicht selbstgerecht und selbstgefällig auszusehen und scheiterte kläglich.

"Ich habe ihn letzten Montagabend geschrieben. Er heißt 'Der neidische Gegner; oder, Im Tod nicht getrennt.' Ich habe es Marilla vorgelesen und sie sagte, es sei dummes Zeug. Dann habe ich es Matthew vorgelesen und er sagte, es sei ausgezeichnet. Das ist die Art von Kritik, die ich mag. Es ist eine traurige, süße Geschichte. Ich heulte genau wie ein Kind, während ich sie schrieb. Es handelt von zwei wunderschönen Jungfern namens Cordelia Montmorency und Geraldine Seymour, die in demselben Ort lebten und einander ergeben verbunden waren. Cordelia war eine majestätische Brünette mit einer Krone aus Mitternachtshaar und dunkel aufblitzenden Augen. Geraldine war eine königliche Blondine mit Haaren wie gesponnenes Gold und samtig lilafarbenen Augen."

"Ich habe noch nie jemanden mit lilafarbenen Augen gesehen", sagte Diana unsicher.

"Ich auch nicht. Ich habe sie mir nur vorgestellt. Ich wollte etwas Ungewöhnliches. Geraldine hatte auch eine alabasterfarbene Stirn. Ich habe herausgefunden, was eine alabasterfarbene Stirn ist. Das ist einer der Vorteile, wenn man dreizehn ist. Du weißt so viel mehr als zu der Zeit, als du erst zwölf warst."

"Also was wurde aus Cordelia und Geraldine?" fragte Diana, die anfing, sich mehr für ihr Schicksal zu interessieren.

"Sie wuchsen Seite an Seite zu Schönheiten heran, bis sie sechzehn waren. Dann kam Bertram DeVere in ihren Heimatort und verliebte sich in die blonde Geraldine. Er rettete ihr Leben, als ihr Pferd mit ihr in einer Kutsche durchging und sie wurde in seinen Armen ohnmächtig und er trug sie drei Meilen nach Hause; weil die Kutsche zertrümmert war, verstehst du? Ich fand es ziemlich schwierig, mir das Vorhaben vorzustellen, weil ich keine Erfahrung hatte, wonach ich mich richten konnte. Ich fragte Ruby Gillis, ob sie irgendwas darüber wisse, wie Männer einen Heiratsantrag machen, weil ich dachte, sie würde wahrscheinlich bei diesem Thema kompetent sein, wo sie so viele verheiratete Schwestern hat. Rudy erzählte mir, dass sie sich in der Speisekammer im Flur versteckt hatte, als Malcom Andrew um die Hand ihrer Schwester Susan anhielt. Sie sagte, Malcom erzählte Susan, dass sein Vater ihm die Farm auf seinen Namen überschrieben habe und dann sagte er: ' Was sagst du dazu, Schnuckelchen, wenn wir diesen Herbst in den Hafen der Ehe einlaufen?' Und Susan sagte ' ja - nein -ich weiß nicht - lass mich überlegen', und da waren sie im Nu verlobt. Aber ich meinte nicht, dass diese Art von einem Vorschlag sehr romantisch war und so musste ich mir das letztendlich so gut ausdenken, wie ich konnte. Ich machte es sehr blumig und poetisch und Bertram ging auf seine Knie, obwohl Ruby Gillis sagt, dass es heutzutage nicht mehr üblich ist. Geraldine nahm ihn in einer eine Seite langen Rede an. Ich kann dir sagen, ich habe keinen Aufwand gescheut für diese Rede. Ich habe es fünfmal umgeschrieben und ich betrachte es als mein Meisterstück. Bertram gab ihr einen Diamantring und eine rubinrote Halskette und teilte ihr mit, sie würden auf ihrer Hochzeitsreise nach Europa gehen, da er unermesslich reich war. Aber dann begannen leider Schatten ihren Weg zu verdunkeln. Cordelia war heimlich in Bertram verliebt, und als Geraldine ihr von ihrer Verlobung erzählte, war sie einfach wütend, besonders als sie die Halskette und den Diamantring sah. All ihre Zuneigung für Geraldine wandte sich in bitteren Hass und sie schwörte, dass sie nie Bertram heiraten würde. Aber sie gab vor, wie immer Geraldines Freundin zu sein. Eines Abends standen sie auf einer Brücke über einem rauschenden, turbulenten Strom und Cordelia, die dachte, sie wären allein, stieß Geraldine mit einem wilden, spöttischen 'Ha, ha, ha 'über den Rand. Aber Bertram sah alles und tauchte sofort in den Strom und rief: " Ich werde dich retten, meine einzigartige Geraldine." Aber leider hatte er vergessen, dass er nicht schwimmen konnte, und sie ertranken beide, jeweils an den Arm des anderen geklammert. Ihre Körper wurden bald danach ans Ufer gespült. Sie wurden in einem Grab beerdigt und ihre Beerdigung war sehr imposant, Diana. Es ist so sehr viel romantischer, eine Geschichte mit einer Beerdigung zu beenden als mit einer Hochzeit. Was Cordelia betrifft, sie wurde wahnsinnig vor Reue und wurde in eine Irrenanstalt gesperrt. Ich dachte, dass das eine poetische Vergeltung für ihr Verbrechen war."

" Wie wunderschön!" seufzte Diana, die zu Matthews Gruppe von Kritikern gehörte. "Ich verstehe nicht, wie du dir solch aufregende Dinge ausdenken kannst, Anne. Ich wünschte, meine Vorstellungskraft wäre so gut wie deine."

"Es wäre so, wenn du es nur pflegen würdest", sagte Anne aufmunternd. "Ich habe mir gerade einen Plan ausgedacht, Diana. Du und ich, lass uns einen eigenen Geschichtenklub gründen und zur Übung Geschichten schreiben. Ich helfe dir weiter, bis du sie selbst schreiben kannst. Du solltest deine Vorstellungskraft kultivieren, weißt du. Miss Stacy sagt das. Wir müssen nur den richtigen Weg nehmen. Ich erzählte ihr über den 'Geisterwald', aber sie sagte, wir gingen dabei den falschen Weg."

So entstand der Geschichtenklub. Er war zuerst auf Diana und Anne beschränkt, aber schon bald wurde er erweitert, um Jane Andrews, Ruby Gillis und ein oder zwei andere einzuschließen, deren Vorstellungskraft kulitviert werden musste. Jungen wurden in ihm nicht zugelassen - obwohl Ruby Gillis der Meinung war, dass deren Eintritt es aufregender machen würde - und jedes Mitglied musste eine Geschichte in der Woche schreiben.

"Es ist extrem interessant", erzählte Anne Marilla. "Jedes Mädchen muss seine Geschichte laut vorlesen und dann besprechen wir sie. Wir werden sie alle in Ehren halten und lassen sie unsere Nachkommen lesen. Jeder schreibt unter einem Künstlernamen. Meiner ist Rosamond Montmorency. Alle Mädchen machen es ziemlich gut. Ruby Gillis ist ziemlich gefühlsbetont. Sie packt zu viel Liebeswerben in ihre Geschichten und du weißt ja, zu viel ist schlimmer als zu wenig. Jane nimmt davon nie etwas, sie sagt, sie würde sich albern fühlen, wenn sie es vorlesen müsste. Janes Geschichten sind überaus vernünftig. Dann Diana; sie steckt zu viele Mörder in ihre. Sie sagt, die meiste Zeit wüsste sie nicht, was sie mit den Leuten tun solle, deshalb bringt sie alle um, um sie loszuwerden. Meistens muss ich ihnen sagen, was sie schreiben sollen, aber das ist nicht schwer, weil ich Millionen von Ideen habe."

"Ich denke, diese Geschichten-Schreiben-Angelegenheit ist die verrückteste bis jetzt", spottete Marilla. "Du wirst eine Menge Unfug in deinen Kopf packen und Zeit verschwenden, die für deinen Unterricht verwendet werden sollte. Geschichten lesen ist schlimm genug, aber sie zu schreiben ist schlimmer.

"Aber wir sind so umsichtig, in alle eine Moral reinzubringen, Marilla, " erklärte Anne. "Ich habe darauf bestanden. Alle guten Menschen werden belohnt und alle schlechten werden angemessen bestraft. Ich bin sicher, dass dies einen wohltuenden Effekt haben muss. Die Moral ist die große Sache. Mr. Allan sagt das. Ich las ihm und Mrs. Allan eine meiner Geschichten vor und sie beide stimmten zu, dass die Moral exzellent war. Sie lachten nur an den falschen Stellen. Ich mag es lieber, wenn Leute weinen. Jane und Ruby weinen fast immer, wenn ich zu den rührenden Stellen komme. Diana schrieb ihrer Tante Josephine über unseren Club und ihre Tante Josephine schrieb zurück, dass wir ihr einige unserer Geschichten zuschicken sollen. Also kopierten wir vier unserer besten Geschichten und verschickten sie. Miss Josephine Barry schrieb zurück, dass sie in ihrem Leben niemals etwas so Amüsantes gelesen hätte. Das hat uns verwirrt, weil die Geschichten alle sehr Mitleid erregend waren und fast jeder starb. Aber ich bin froh, dass Miss Barry sie mochte. Es zeigt, dass unser Club etwas Gutes in der Welt tut. Mrs. Allan sagt, das soll bei allem unser Ziel sein. Ich versuche wirklich, es zu meinem Ziel zu machen, aber ich vergesse es so oft, wenn ich mich amüsiere. Ich hoffe, dass ich ein bisschen wie Mrs. Allan werde, wenn ich erwachsen bin. Glaubst du, dass es eine Chance dafür gibt, Marilla?"

" Ich sollte nicht sagen, dass es da eine große Übereinstimmung gab", war Marillas ermutigende Antwort. "Ich bin sicher, Mrs. Allan war nie solch ein dummes, vergessliches, kleines Mädchen wie du es bist."

"Nein, sie war auch nicht immer so gut, wie sie es jetzt ist", sagte Anne ernst. "Sie sagte es mir selbst - das heißt, sie sagte, dass sie ein furchtbarer Unfuggeist war und immer in Schwierigkeiten geriet. Ich fühlte mich so ermutigt, als ich das hörte. Ist es sehr böse von mir, Marilla, mich ermutigt zu fühlen, wenn ich höre, dass andere Menschen schlecht und boshaft gewesen sind? Mrs Lynde sagt, es ist. Mrs Lynde sagt, sie fühlt sich immer geschockt, wenn sie von jemanden hört, der jemals unartig war, egal wie klein sie waren. Mrs. Lynde sagt, dass sie einmal einen Minister gestehen hörte, dass er als Junge eine Erdbeertorte aus der Speisekammer seiner Tante stahl, und sie nie wieder Respekt vor diesem Minister hatte. Nun, ich hätte das nicht so empfunden. Ich hätte gedacht, es war wirklich edel von ihm, es zu gestehen und ich hätte gedacht, was für eine ermutigende Sache es für kleine Jungen, die freche Sachen tun und es nun bedauern , es heutzutage wäre, zu wissen, dass sie möglicherweise heranwachsen können, um trotzdem Minister zu sein. So würde ich es empfinden, Marilla."

"Was ich jetzt empfinde, Anne", sagte Marilla, "dass es höchste Zeit ist, dass du das Geschirr wäschst. Du hast eine halbe Stunde länger gebraucht als du mit all deinem Geschnatter solltest. Lerne, erst zu arbeiten und danach zu reden."
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CHAPTER XXVI.
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THE STORY CLUB IS FORMED.
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Junior Avonlea found it hard to settle down to humdrum existence again.
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At first, as she told Diana, she did not really think she could.
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I suppose that is why Marilla disapproves of them.
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Marilla is such a sensible woman.
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Mrs. Lynde says there is no danger of my ever being one, but you can never tell.
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I feel just now that I may grow up to be sensible yet.
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But perhaps that is only because I'm tired.
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I simply couldn't sleep last night for ever so long.
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I just lay awake and imagined the concert over and over again.
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That's one splendid thing about such affairs—it's so lovely to look back to them."
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To be sure, the concert left traces.
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The winter weeks slipped by.
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"Just think, Diana, I'm thirteen years old to-day," remarked Anne in an awed voice.
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"I can scarcely realize that I'm in my teens.
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When I woke this morning it seemed to me that everything must be different.
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It makes life seem so much more interesting.
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In two more years I'll be really grown up.
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"Ruby Gillis says she means to have a beau as soon as she's fifteen," said Diana.
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"Ruby Gillis thinks of nothing but beaus," said Anne disdainfully.
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But I'm afraid that is an uncharitable speech.
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You may have noticed that.
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Mr. Allan thinks so too.
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My besetting sin is imagining too much and forgetting my duties.
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"In four more years we'll be able to put our hair up," said Diana.
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If I had Alice Bell's crooked nose," said Anne decidedly, "I wouldn't—but there!
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I won't say what I was going to because it was extremely uncharitable.
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Besides, I was comparing it with my own nose and that's vanity.
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It really is a great comfort to me.
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Oh, Diana, look, there's a rabbit.
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That's something to remember for our woods composition.
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I really think the woods are just as lovely in winter as in summer.
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They're so white and still, as if they were asleep and dreaming pretty dreams."
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"I won't mind writing that composition when its time comes," sighed Diana.
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The idea of Miss Stacy telling us to write a story out of our own heads!"
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"Why, it's as easy as wink," said Anne.
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I suppose you have your composition all done?"
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Anne nodded, trying hard not to look virtuously complacent and failing miserably.
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"I wrote it last Monday evening.
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It's called 'The Jealous Rival; or, in Death Not Divided.'
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I read it to Marilla and she said it was stuff and nonsense.
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Then I read it to Matthew and he said it was fine.
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That is the kind of critic I like.
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It's a sad, sweet story.
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I just cried like a child while I was writing it.
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Geraldine was a queenly blonde with hair like spun gold and velvety purple eyes."
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"I never saw anybody with purple eyes," said Diana dubiously.
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"Neither did I. I just imagined them.
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I wanted something out of the common.
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Geraldine had an alabaster brow, too.
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I've found out what an alabaster brow is.
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That is one of the advantages of being thirteen.
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You know so much more than you did when you were only twelve."
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"Well, what became of Cordelia and Geraldine?"
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asked Diana, who was beginning to feel rather interested in their fate.
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"They grew in beauty side by side until they were sixteen.
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I found it rather hard to imagine the proposal because I had no experience to go by.
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Geraldine accepted him in a speech a page long.
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I can tell you I took a lot of trouble with that speech.
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I rewrote it five times and I look upon it as my masterpiece.
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But then, alas, shadows began to darken over their path.
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But she pretended to be Geraldine's friend the same as ever.
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Their bodies were washed ashore soon afterwards.
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They were buried in the one grave and their funeral was most imposing, Diana.
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It's so much more romantic to end a story up with a funeral than a wedding.
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As for Cordelia, she went insane with remorse and was shut up in a lunatic asylum.
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I thought that was a poetical retribution for her crime."
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"How perfectly lovely!"
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sighed Diana, who belonged to Matthew's school of critics.
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"I don't see how you can make up such thrilling things out of your own head, Anne.
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I wish my imagination was as good as yours."
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"It would be if you'd only cultivate it," said Anne cheeringly.
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"I've just thought of a plan, Diana.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 119
Let you and I have a story club all our own and write stories for practice.
2 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 120
I'll help you along until you can do them by yourself.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 121
You ought to cultivate your imagination, you know.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 122
Miss Stacy says so.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 123
Only we must take the right way.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 124
unit 125
This was how the story club came into existence.
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 128
"It's extremely interesting," Anne told Marilla.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 129
"Each girl has to read her story out loud and then we talk it over.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 130
We are going to keep them all sacredly and have them to read to our descendants.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 131
We each write under a nom-de-plume.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 132
Mine is Rosamond Montmorency.
1 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 133
All the girls do pretty well.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 134
Ruby Gillis is rather sentimental.
1 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 137
Jane's stories are extremely sensible.
1 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 138
Then Diana puts too many murders into hers.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 141
"I think this story-writing business is the foolishest yet," scoffed Marilla.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 143
Reading stories is bad enough but writing them is worse."
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 144
But we're so careful to put a moral into them all, Marilla," explained Anne.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 145
"I insist upon that.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 146
All the good people are rewarded and all the bad ones are suitably punished.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 147
I'm sure that must have a wholesome effect.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 148
The moral is the great thing.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 149
Mr. Allan says so.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 151
Only they laughed in the wrong places.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 152
I like it better when people cry.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 153
Jane and Ruby almost always cry when I come to the pathetic parts.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 155
So we copied out four of our very best and sent them.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 156
unit 158
But I'm glad Miss Barry liked them.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 159
It shows our club is doing some good in the world.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 160
Mrs. Allan says that ought to be our object in everything.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 161
I do really try to make it my object but I forget so often when I'm having fun.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 162
I hope I shall be a little like Mrs. Allan when I grow up.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 163
Do you think there is any prospect of it, Marilla?"
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 164
"I shouldn't say there was a great deal," was Marilla's encouraging answer.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 165
"I'm sure Mrs. Allan was never such a silly, forgetful little girl as you are."
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 166
"No; but she wasn't always so good as she is now either," said Anne seriously.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 168
I felt so encouraged when I heard that.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 170
Mrs. Lynde says it is.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 173
Now, I wouldn't have felt that way.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 175
That's how I'd feel, Marilla."
3 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 177
You've taken half an hour longer than you should with all your chattering.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago
unit 178
Learn to work first and talk afterwards."
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 7 years ago

Update: Thank to Gaby and her watching the movie, we now know that:
1. Anne only use the formal form ("Sie") at the start, but later (we agreed for Chapter XI) she will say "du" to Marilla and Matthew, and the formal form with everybody else but her classmates. Marilla and Rachel are friends and they use "du".
2. She likes overstatements and superlatives.
3. We need to translate "green gables" as it is done in the movie.

Anne of Green Gables (1908)

Written for all ages, it has been considered a children's novel since the mid-twentieth century. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town. Since publication, Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages. It has been adapted as film, made-for-television movies, and animated and live-action television series. — Excerpted from Anne of Green Gables (1908) on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables_(1908)

by gaelle044 7 years ago

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE STORY CLUB IS FORMED.

Junior Avonlea found it hard to settle down to humdrum existence again. To Anne in particular things seemed fearfully flat, stale, and unprofitable after the goblet of excitement she had been sipping for weeks. Could she go back to the former quiet pleasures of those far-away days before the concert? At first, as she told Diana, she did not really think she could.

"I'm positively certain, Diana, that life can never be quite the same again as it was in those olden days," she said mournfully, as if referring to a period of at least fifty years back. "Perhaps after awhile I'll get used to it, but I'm afraid concerts spoil people for every-day life. I suppose that is why Marilla disapproves of them. Marilla is such a sensible woman. It must be a great deal better to be sensible; but still, I don't believe I'd really want to be a sensible person, because they are so unromantic. Mrs. Lynde says there is no danger of my ever being one, but you can never tell. I feel just now that I may grow up to be sensible yet. But perhaps that is only because I'm tired. I simply couldn't sleep last night for ever so long. I just lay awake and imagined the concert over and over again. That's one splendid thing about such affairs—it's so lovely to look back to them."

Eventually, however, Avonlea school slipped back into its old groove and took up its old interests. To be sure, the concert left traces. Ruby Gillis and Emma White, who had quarrelled over a point of precedence in their platform seats, no longer sat at the same desk, and a promising friendship of three years was broken up. Josie Pye and Julia Bell did not "speak" for three months, because Josie Pye had told Bessie Wright that Julia Bell's bow when she got up to recite made her think of a chicken jerking its head, and Bessie told Julia. None of the Sloanes would have any dealings with the Bells, because the Bells had declared that the Sloanes had too much to do in the programme, and the Sloanes had retorted that the Bells were not capable of doing the little they had to do properly. Finally, Charlie Sloane fought Moody Spurgeon MacPherson, because Moody Spurgeon had said that Anne Shirley put on airs about her recitations, and Moody Spurgeon was "licked;" consequently Moody Spurgeon's sister, Ella May, would not "speak" to Anne Shirley all the rest of the winter. With the exception of these trifling frictions, work in Miss Stacy's little kingdom went on with regularity and smoothness.

The winter weeks slipped by. It was an unusually mild winter, with so little snow that Anne and Diana could go to school nearly every day by way of the Birch Path. On Anne's birthday they were tripping lightly down it, keeping eyes and ears alert amid all their chatter, for Miss Stacy had told them that they must soon write a composition on "A Winter's Walk in the Woods," and it behooved them to be observant.

"Just think, Diana, I'm thirteen years old to-day," remarked Anne in an awed voice. "I can scarcely realize that I'm in my teens. When I woke this morning it seemed to me that everything must be different. You've been thirteen for a month, so I suppose it doesn't seem such a novelty to you as it does to me. It makes life seem so much more interesting. In two more years I'll be really grown up. It's a great comfort to think that I'll be able to use big words then without being laughed at."

"Ruby Gillis says she means to have a beau as soon as she's fifteen," said Diana.

"Ruby Gillis thinks of nothing but beaus," said Anne disdainfully. "She's actually delighted when any one writes her name up in a take-notice for all she pretends to be so mad. But I'm afraid that is an uncharitable speech. Mrs. Allan says we should never make uncharitable speeches; but they do slip out so often before you think, don't they? I simply can't talk about Josie Pye without making an uncharitable speech, so I never mention her at all. You may have noticed that. I'm trying to be as much like Mrs. Allan as I possibly can, for I think she's perfect. Mr. Allan thinks so too. Mrs. Lynde says he just worships the ground she treads on and she doesn't really think it right for a minister to set his affections so much on a mortal being. But then, Diana, even ministers are human and have their besetting sins just like everybody else. I had such an interesting talk with Mrs. Allan about besetting sins last Sunday afternoon. There are just a few things it's proper to talk about on Sundays and that is one of them. My besetting sin is imagining too much and forgetting my duties. I'm striving very hard to overcome it and now that I'm really thirteen perhaps I'll get on better."

"In four more years we'll be able to put our hair up," said Diana. "Alice Bell is only sixteen and she is wearing hers up, but I think that's ridiculous, I shall wait until I'm seventeen."

If I had Alice Bell's crooked nose," said Anne decidedly, "I wouldn't—but there! I won't say what I was going to because it was extremely uncharitable. Besides, I was comparing it with my own nose and that's vanity. I'm afraid I think too much about my nose ever since I heard that compliment about it long ago. It really is a great comfort to me. Oh, Diana, look, there's a rabbit. That's something to remember for our woods composition. I really think the woods are just as lovely in winter as in summer. They're so white and still, as if they were asleep and dreaming pretty dreams."

"I won't mind writing that composition when its time comes," sighed Diana. "I can manage to write about the woods, but the one we're to hand in Monday is terrible. The idea of Miss Stacy telling us to write a story out of our own heads!"

"Why, it's as easy as wink," said Anne.

"It's easy for you because you have an imagination," retorted Diana, "but what would you do if you had been born without one? I suppose you have your composition all done?"

Anne nodded, trying hard not to look virtuously complacent and failing miserably.

"I wrote it last Monday evening. It's called 'The Jealous Rival; or, in Death Not Divided.' I read it to Marilla and she said it was stuff and nonsense. Then I read it to Matthew and he said it was fine. That is the kind of critic I like. It's a sad, sweet story. I just cried like a child while I was writing it. It's about two beautiful maidens called Cordelia Montmorency and Geraldine Seymour who lived in the same village and were devotedly attached to each other. Cordelia was a regal brunette with a coronet of midnight hair and duskly flashing eyes. Geraldine was a queenly blonde with hair like spun gold and velvety purple eyes."

"I never saw anybody with purple eyes," said Diana dubiously.

"Neither did I. I just imagined them. I wanted something out of the common. Geraldine had an alabaster brow, too. I've found out what an alabaster brow is. That is one of the advantages of being thirteen. You know so much more than you did when you were only twelve."

"Well, what became of Cordelia and Geraldine?" asked Diana, who was beginning to feel rather interested in their fate.

"They grew in beauty side by side until they were sixteen. Then Bertram DeVere came to their native village and fell in love with the fair Geraldine. He saved her life when her horse ran away with her in a carriage, and she fainted in his arms and he carried her home three miles; because, you understand, the carriage was all smashed up. I found it rather hard to imagine the proposal because I had no experience to go by. I asked Ruby Gillis if she knew anything about how men proposed because I thought she'd likely be an authority on the subject, having so many sisters married. Ruby told me she was hid in the hall pantry when Malcolm Andrews proposed to her sister Susan. She said Malcolm told Susan that his dad had given him the farm in his own name and then said, 'What do you say, darling pet, if we get hitched this fall?' And Susan said, 'Yes—no—I don't know—let me see,'—and there they were, engaged as quick as that. But I didn't think that sort of a proposal was a very romantic one, so in the end I had to imagine it out as well as I could. I made it very flowery and poetical and Bertram went on his knees, although Ruby Gillis says it isn't done nowadays. Geraldine accepted him in a speech a page long. I can tell you I took a lot of trouble with that speech. I rewrote it five times and I look upon it as my masterpiece. Bertram gave her a diamond ring and a ruby necklace and told her they would go to Europe for a wedding tour, for he was immensely wealthy. But then, alas, shadows began to darken over their path. Cordelia was secretly in love with Bertram herself and when Geraldine told her about the engagement she was simply furious, especially when she saw the necklace and the diamond ring. All her affection for Geraldine turned to bitter hate and she vowed that she should never marry Bertram. But she pretended to be Geraldine's friend the same as ever. One evening they were standing on the bridge over a rushing turbulent stream and Cordelia, thinking they were alone, pushed Geraldine over the brink with a wild, mocking, 'Ha, ha, ha.' But Bertram saw it all and he at once plunged into the current, exclaiming, 'I wall save thee, my peerless Geraldine.' But alas, he had forgotten he couldn't swim, and they were both drowned, clasped in each other's arms. Their bodies were washed ashore soon afterwards. They were buried in the one grave and their funeral was most imposing, Diana. It's so much more romantic to end a story up with a funeral than a wedding. As for Cordelia, she went insane with remorse and was shut up in a lunatic asylum. I thought that was a poetical retribution for her crime."

"How perfectly lovely!" sighed Diana, who belonged to Matthew's school of critics. "I don't see how you can make up such thrilling things out of your own head, Anne. I wish my imagination was as good as yours."

"It would be if you'd only cultivate it," said Anne cheeringly. "I've just thought of a plan, Diana. Let you and I have a story club all our own and write stories for practice. I'll help you along until you can do them by yourself. You ought to cultivate your imagination, you know. Miss Stacy says so. Only we must take the right way. I told her about the Haunted Wood, but she said we went the wrong way about it in that."

This was how the story club came into existence. It was limited to Diana and Anne at first, but soon it was extended to include Jane Andrews and Ruby Gillis and one or two others who felt that their imaginations needed cultivating. No boys were allowed in it—although Ruby Gillis opined that their admission would make it more exciting—and each member had to produce one story a week.

"It's extremely interesting," Anne told Marilla. "Each girl has to read her story out loud and then we talk it over. We are going to keep them all sacredly and have them to read to our descendants. We each write under a nom-de-plume. Mine is Rosamond Montmorency. All the girls do pretty well. Ruby Gillis is rather sentimental. She puts too much love-making into her stories and you know too much is worse than too little. Jane never puts any because she says it makes her feel so silly when she has to read it out loud. Jane's stories are extremely sensible. Then Diana puts too many murders into hers. She says most of the time she doesn't know what to do with the people so she kills them off to get rid of them. I mostly always have to tell them what to write about, but that isn't hard for I've millions of ideas."

"I think this story-writing business is the foolishest yet," scoffed Marilla. "You'll get a pack of nonsense into your heads and waste time that should be put on your lessons. Reading stories is bad enough but writing them is worse."

But we're so careful to put a moral into them all, Marilla," explained Anne. "I insist upon that. All the good people are rewarded and all the bad ones are suitably punished. I'm sure that must have a wholesome effect. The moral is the great thing. Mr. Allan says so. I read one of my stories to him and Mrs. Allan and they both agreed that the moral was excellent. Only they laughed in the wrong places. I like it better when people cry. Jane and Ruby almost always cry when I come to the pathetic parts. Diana wrote her Aunt Josephine about our club and her Aunt Josephine wrote back that we were to send her some of our stories. So we copied out four of our very best and sent them. Miss Josephine Barry wrote back that she had never read anything so amusing in her life. That kind of puzzled us because the stories were all very pathetic and almost everybody died. But I'm glad Miss Barry liked them. It shows our club is doing some good in the world. Mrs. Allan says that ought to be our object in everything. I do really try to make it my object but I forget so often when I'm having fun. I hope I shall be a little like Mrs. Allan when I grow up. Do you think there is any prospect of it, Marilla?"

"I shouldn't say there was a great deal," was Marilla's encouraging answer. "I'm sure Mrs. Allan was never such a silly, forgetful little girl as you are."

"No; but she wasn't always so good as she is now either," said Anne seriously. "She told me so herself—that is, she said she was a dreadful mischief when she was a girl and was always getting into scrapes. I felt so encouraged when I heard that. Is it very wicked of me, Marilla, to feel encouraged when I hear that other people have been bad and mischievous? Mrs. Lynde says it is. Mrs. Lynde says she always feels shocked when she hears of any one ever having been naughty, no matter how small they were. Mrs. Lynde says she once heard a minister confess that when he was a boy he stole a strawberry tart out of his aunt's pantry and she never had any respect for that minister again. Now, I wouldn't have felt that way. I'd have thought that it was real noble of him to confess it, and I'd have thought what an encouraging thing it would be for small boys nowadays who do naughty things and are sorry for them to know that perhaps they may grow up to be ministers in spite of it. That's how I'd feel, Marilla."

"The way I feel at present, Anne," said Marilla, "is that it's high time you had those dishes washed. You've taken half an hour longer than you should with all your chattering. Learn to work first and talk afterwards."