“That I was not; my eyes were quite clear; it was as if there was sunshine in the room, and it shone out of the face of the polytechnic candidate, so that I began to think of the old gods in my youth, and when they went about in the world.  And I told him so, and then he smiled, and I durst have sworn that he was a disguised god, or one of the family!—­And he was so—­my first wish was to be fulfilled:  the puppets become living beings and I the manager of men and women.  We drank that it should be so! he put all my puppets in the wooden chest, fastened it on my back, and then let me fall through a spiral line.  I can still hear how I came down, slap!  I lay on the floor, that is quite sure and certain, and the whole company sprang out of the chest.  The spirit had come over us all together; all the puppets had become excellent artists—­they said so themselves—­and I was the manager.  Everything was in order for the first representation; the whole company must speak with me, and the public also.  The female dancer said, that if she did not stand on one leg, the house would be in an uproar:  she was master of the whole and would be treated as such.

“She who played the queen, would also be treated as a queen when off the stage, or else she should get out of practice, and he who was employed to come in with a letter made himself as important as the first lover.  ‘For,’ said he, ’the small are of just as much importance as the great, in an artistic whole.’  Then the hero demanded that the whole of his part should only be retorts on making his exit, for these the public applauded; the prima donna would only play in a red light, for that suited her best—­she would not be blue:  they were all like flies in a bottle, and I was also in the bottle—­for I was the manager.  I lost my breath, my head was quite dizzy!  I was as miserable as a man can be; it was a new race of beings I had come amongst; I wished that I had them altogether again in the chest, that I had never been a manager:  I told them that they were in fact only puppets, and so they beat me to death.  That was my feeling!

“I lay on the bed in my chamber; but how I had come there from the polytechnic candidate, he must know best—­for I do not.  The moon shone in on the floor where the puppet-chest lay upset, and all the puppets spread about—­great and small, the whole lot.  But I was not floored!  I sprang out of bed, and threw them all into the chest; some on their heads, and some on their legs; I smacked the lid down and sat myself upon it:  it was worth painting, can’t you conceive it?  I can!  ’Now you shall be there!’ said I, ’and I will never more wish that you may become flesh and blood!’ I was so glad; I was the happiest man alive—­the polytechnic candidate had tried me!  I sat in perfect bliss, and fell asleep on the chest; and in the morning—­it was, properly speaking, at noon, for I slept so very long that morning—­I sat there still, happy and edified—­I saw that my previous and only wish had been stupid.  I inquired for the polytechnic candidate, but he was gone, like the Greek and Roman gods.