The Beggarwoman of Locarno by Heinrich von Kleist

My translation is based on the German original (Sembdner 2: 196-98) with extensive reference to the English versions provided by Constantine (Selected Writings 351-53) and Luke and Reeves (The Marquise 214-16).

1. At the foot of the Alps near Locarno in Upper Italy, there was an old castle, the property of a Marquis; as you go southward from St. Gotthard, you see it lying now in ruins. In one of its tall and spacious rooms, on a bundle of straw that had been thrown down for her, an old, sick woman who had come begging (bettelnd) to the door was once given a bed (gebettet) by the mistress of the house out of pity.

2. Returning from the hunt, the Marquis happened to enter the room (zufällig in das Zimmertrat) where he customarily kept his guns, and he angrily ordered the woman to get up from the corner where she was lying and move behind the stove. As/Because (Da) she rose, the old woman slipped on the polished floor with her crutch and severely injured her back; as a consequence of which she did stand up, though with unspeakable difficulty, and went across the room as she had been told, but behind the stove, moaning and groaning, she sank down and died.

3. Some years later, finding himself in difficult financial circumstances (bedenkliche Vermögensumstände) owing to war and bad harvests, the Marquis was visited by a Florentine knight who wanted to buy the castle on account of its fine position. Extremely anxious to bring the business to a successful conclusion, the Marquis gave instructions to his wife to prepare the above-mentioned room, now beautifully furnished, for their guest.

4. But imagine their horror when the knight came into their room pale and distracted in the middle of the night, solemnly assuring them that his room was haunted (daß es in dem Zimmer spuke), for something invisible to the eye had risen up from the corner with a sound as if it had been lying on straw, and slowly and feebly, but with distinct steps, crossed the room and sank down moaning and groaning behind the stove.

5. Horrified, although not knowing why, the Marquis laughed at the nobleman with forced merriment and said he would immediately get up and keep him company in the haunted room for the rest of the night to calm him down. But the knight pleaded (bat) to be allowed to spend the rest of the night in another room, and when morning came, he ordered his horses to be brought around, bade farewell, and departed.

6. Unfortunately for the Marquis, this incident (Vorfall) created a great sensation, frightening away several would-be buyers; and when the rumor strangely and mysteriously arose among his own servants that queer things were happening in the room at the midnight hour, he determined to dispel the matter by investigating it himself that same night.

7. So he had his bed (Bett) moved into the room at twilight and sleeplessly waited for the middle of the night to come. To his horror, as the clock chimed the witching hour (mit dem Schlage der Geisterstunde) he became aware of the mysterious noise; it sounded as if a person (Mensch) rose up from rustling straw, crossed the room, and sank down sighing and groaning behind the stove. The next morning when he came downstairs, his wife asked what he had learned; he looked around with a nervous and troubled glance, and after locking the door, assured her that the rumor was true. The Marquise was more terrified than ever before in her life, and begged him to make a levelheaded investigation with her before the rumor grew.

8. Accompanied by a loyal servant, they spent the following night in the room and heard the same ghostly noises; and only the pressing need to get rid of the castle at any cost enabled the Marquise to smother the terror which she felt and in the presence of the servant put the noise down to some unimportant and accidental (gleichgültige und zufällige) cause that could easily be discovered.

9. On the evening of the third day, both of them went upstairs to the guestroom with beating hearts, anxious to get at the cause of the disturbance (um der Sache auf den Grund zu kommen). There they found the watchdog, who happened (fand sich zufällig der Haushund) to have been let off his leash, standing at the door of the room. They took him with them into the room without giving any particular reason, both perhaps unconsciously wishing to have another living being in the room besides themselves. About eleven o'clock, the two of them sit down, one on each bed—two candles on the table, the Marquise fully dressed, the Marquis with the dagger and pistol he had taken from the cupboard beside him; and while they entertain one another as best as they can by carrying on a conversation, the dog lies down in the middle of the room, his head on his paws, and falls asleep.

10. At the instant of midnight, the horrible sound can be heard again; someone (jemand) human eyes cannot see rises up in the corner of the room on crutches; one hears the straw rustling beneath him; and at the first step—tap, tap—the dog wakes up, pricks up his ears, rises growling and barking from the floor, and moves backwards towards the stove, exactly as if somebody were making straight for him. At this sight, the Marquise, her hair rising, rushes from the room. The Marquis, who had snatched up his dagger, calls “Who’s there?” but receives no reply, while like a madwoman, she orders the coach to be brought out, determined to drive off to town at once. But before she can gather a few things together and get them out the door, she notices the castle going up in flames all around her.

11. Overcome with horror and tired of life, the Marquis had taken a candle and set fire to the wooden paneling all around him. In vain, she sent people in to rescue the wretched man; he had already found his end in the most dreadful manner possible; and his white bones, gathered together by his people, still lie in that corner of the room from which he once ordered the beggarwoman of Locarno to stand up.