BRUNO SCHULZ
79
streng th of hi s knees and, stimy floating away in to numbness, sto le
ano th er sho rt spell o f fortifyin g sleep between one round of wrestling
and ano th er. So they fo ughl: Wha t for? For their good name? For God?
For a contract? T hey g rappl ed in mo rta l swea t to their las t ounce o f
streng th whil e th e waves o f sleep carri ed th em away in to ever more
di stant and stranger areas of the night.
IV
The next day my fa ther wa lked with a slight limp. His face was
radi ant. At dawn a spl endid phrase for hi s letter had come to him, a
formul a ti o n he had been tryin g in va in to find fo r man y days and
ni ghts. We never saw the bl ack-bearded gentl eman aga in . H e left befo re
day brea k with his trunk and bundl es, without taking leave of us. Tha t
was the las t ni ght o f the dead season. From tha t summer ni ght onwards
seven long yea rs of prosperity began for the shop .
- T ranslated from the Po lish
by Celina Wieniewska
