HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

^Fntrotiuction*
whom he conquers the world, and Rothschild
Avere to say: ' ^Moses Lump, ask
of me what favour you will, and it shall
be granted you;' — Doctor, I am convinced,
]\roses Lump would quietly
answer: ' Snuff me those candles !' and
Rothschild the Great would exclaim
with admiration: ' If I were not Rothschild,
I would be Moses Lump.' "
There Heine shows us his own people
by its comic side; in the poem of the
Princess Sabbath he shows it to us by a
more serious side. The Princess Sabbath,
"the tranquil Princess, pearl and
flower of all beauty, fair as the Queen
of Sheba, Solomon's bosom friend, that
blue stocking from Ethiopia, who
wanted to shine by her esprit, and with
her wise riddles made herself in the
long run a bore" (with Heine the sarcastic
turn is never far off), this princess
has for her betrothed a prince
whom sorcery has transformed into
an animal of lower race, the Prince Israel.
" A dog with the desires of a dog, he
wallows all the week long in the filth
and refuse of life, amidst the jeers of
the boys in the street.
"But every Friday evening, at the
twilight hour, suddenly the magic
passes off, and the dog becomes once
more a human being.
"A man with the feelings of a man,
with head and heart raised aloft, in
festal garb, in almost clean garb, he
enters the halls of his Father.