Excerpts from
Alas, How Changed
By Steen Steensen Blicher
"Since I am a useless nitwit, only tolerated because I donīt do any harm - that is to say, direct harm, for sensible people would say that my poetic drivel does indirect harm in more ways than one - and on account of my levity have never been able to acquire a permanent position (once I did nevertheless set my heart on becoming a fire-warden, another time I aspired to the office of bell-ringer, and a third time I contemplated becoming a gravedigger and undertaker, though each time in vain), and since I have nothing particular to do, I have plenty of time to see a bit of the world, and I make as good use of this as I can.
Translated by Paula Hostrup-Jessen
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