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Show 69 "And get sick all over again from the stale air and the smell of incense? What you need is fresh air and openness. Come, we will go together." He led me along the Ritterstrasse to the North Gate as though he were the one who had lived in Hamelin for years and knew exactly where he was going. Past the city walls the fields were waving with barley and rye. Here and there a few cows or horses stood tethered, their heads lowered to graze on the fresh summer grass. We wound our way around the high hills and the low-lying vales, and the farther we walked the clearer my head felt. My spirits began to lift with gladness because it seemed that I was going to have a whole day alone with Gast, the two of us together. It would have been even more perfect if the sun had shone, but the dampness in the air made clover and wildflower scent hover closely around us - we stirred their fragrance with each step we took. From time to time Gast would stop to pick the head off a flower and put it in a leather pouch which he wore tied around his waist beneath his long shirt. I was ashamed to bring it up, but after a while my curiosity got the best of me and I asked, "Are those petals you're picking the" same as you gave me last night?" "No, vihat I gave you grows far away from here. I am sorry it made you sick - you must have drunk more wine than I realized." He said nothing more about it and I was glad. The path we were taking wound through thicker and thicker growth until we were in forest land. Dim, misty greenness surrounded us, |
