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YOUNG, UNEMPLOYED CLERK NAMED W ENZEL, IN SEARCH OF AN APPROPRIATE POSITION AND HEREBY TAKE THE LIBERTY OF ASKING POLITELY IF PERHAPS IN YOUR AIRY, BRIGHT, FRIENDLY OFFICES THERE MIGHT BE SUCH A THING AS AN OPENING. K NOWING THAT YOUR ESTEEMED FIRM IS LARGE, OLD, PROUD, AND RICH, I CAN’T HELP BUT THINK THAT YOU MUST HAVE SOME EASY, PLEASANT, ATTRACTIVE LITTLE SPOT INTO WHICH I , AS INTO A SORT OF WARM CUBBYHOLE, MIGHT SLIP UNNOTICED. I AM ESPECIALLY WELL SUITED, IF YOU MUST KNOW, TO OCCUPY EXACTLY SUCH A SOFT, WARM HIDING PLACE AS IT WERE, FOR MY NATURE IS DELICATE, AND MY ENTIRE BEING IS THAT OF A QUIET, MANNERLY, AND ABSENT-MINDED CHILD, EAGER TO ENJOY THE HAPPY CONSCIOUSNESS THAT OTHERS THINK IT DEMANDS LITTLE, WANTING ONLY TO BE PERMITTED TO TAKE TEMPORARY POSSESSION OF SOME INSIGNIFICANT CORNER OF THE WORLD WHERE, IN ITS SMALL WAY, IT MAY PROVE ITSELF USEFUL AND COME TO FEEL SOME VAGUE SENSE OF SATISFACTION. A SWEET, QUIET, TINY PLACE IN THE SHADE HAS BEEN MY LIFE’S CONSISTENT AND NOBLE DREAM FROM EARLY YOUTH, AND IF THE ILLUSIONS WHICH I NOW ENTERTAIN WITH REGARD TO YOUR WEALTHY FIRM ARE NOW GROWN SO STRONG THAT I MIGHT HOPE FOR THE DELIGHTFUL LIVING FULFILLMENT OF MY OLD YET ETERNALLY RENEWED DREAM, YOU WILL FIND IN ME THE MOST DEVOTED SERVANT POSSIBLE, WHOSE CONSCIENCE WILLNOT REST UNTIL EACH OF THE TRIVIAL OBLIGATIONS YOU LAY UPON HIM IS COMPLETED PRECISELY AND PUNCTUALLY. P LEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I CANNOT TAKE ON SIGNIFICANT OR DIFFICULT RESPONSIBILITIES, AND DUTIES OF A WIDE-RANGING NATURE WOULD TAX MY BRAIN UNDULY. I AM NOT ESPECIALLY INTELLIGENT—BUT MORE IMPORTANT, I PREFER NOT TO CALL ON MY INTELLIGENCE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I AM, AS IT WERE, MORE A DREAMER THAN A THINKER, MORE A ZERO THAN AN ACHIEVER, MORE STUPID THAN CLEVER. B UT SURELY IN THE MANY BRANCHES OF YOUR IMMENSE INSTITUTION, IN WHICH I IMAGINE VAST COMPLEXES OF UNOCCUPIED DESKS, THERE EXISTS SOME SORT OF WORK THAT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WHILE DAYDREAMING. I AM, TO SAY IT OPENLY, A C HINESE, A PERSON WHO PREFERS THINGS TO WEAR A SMALL, MODEST, UNFRIGHTENING ASPECT OF LOVELY SWEETNESS, AND TO WHOM ALL THINGS LARGE OR OVERLY DEMANDING APPEAR HORRIBLE AND TERRIFYING. I KNOW ONLY ONE NEED—TO FEEL SECURE ENOUGH SO THAT I MAY SAFELY THANK G OD EACH DAY FOR THIS DEAR, BLESSED EXISTENCE. I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED THE DESIRE TO SHINE PUBLICLY. T HE DESERTS OF A FRICA COULD NOT BE MORE FOREIGN TO ME. M Y HANDWRITING, AS YOU CAN SEE, IS QUITE FLUID AND DELICATE, AND YOU DON’T NEED TO IMAGINE ME AS BEING COMPLETELY WITHOUT INTELLECT. M Y MIND IS QUITE CLEAR; IT MERELY HESITATES TO TAKE HOLD OF TOO MANY THINGS AT ONCE—ABHORS IT, IN FACT. I AM HONEST, BUT I RECOGNIZE JUST HOW LITTLE THAT MEANS IN THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN, AND HEREWITH, ESTEEMED S IRS, I WILL CLOSE, IN ORDER TO AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE, FAITHFULLY DROWNING IN DEVOTION AND REVERENCE,
    â€”W ENZEL

    The path circled around the monument and led downhill. He followed it down a few stone steps to a sort of pit where a spring was indicated by a pipe sticking out of a crumbling brick culvert, and took a drink. At eye level he saw something like a hand sticking out of the leaf mold and debris. There was a bronze statue of a man, Robert Walser he supposed, lying facedown at full length with its left hand stretched toward the spring. The model was young, with a high forehead and full lips, and was depicted fully clothed, in a crudely patched tweed suit with army boots and a Tyrolean hat. The eyes were cut deep to look intelligent and expressive, while the smile seemed deliberately weak and silly. The face was creased with premature wrinkles as from suffering and worry and bad food. There was no signature and the statue did not appear to have been touched in a long time. A tree root had grown around a trailing shoelace, and the statue was tilted awkwardly as though it might eventually fall into the spring. Yigal gave it a good hard push to make sure it was still bolted down, and