Affe #231

About Affe mit Waffe Deprecated

Nathanael Affmann had always had a strict upbringing. Not only did he learn to speak properly since he was a small apeling who could barely stand on his two legs, but he was also able to read and write before he could even climb a tree. In addition, his parents attached great importance to his receiving lessons in poetry, painting, music, and etiquette. His mother always told him that if he didn't behave, the Sand Monkey would get him. The Sand Monkey was a wicked primate who came to mischievous apelings and would throw handfuls of sand in their eyes. Then he would put their eyes in a pouch and carry them to the crescent moon to feed his own family up there. The offspring of the sand monkey had hooked beaks like owls so they could pick up the eyes of naughty apelings.

After this frightening story, Nathanael made sure to always behave in a socially compliant manner and was highly praised for his attitude, especially by the ladies of the monkey society. As a testament to his acquired "wisdom and virtue" and his "sense of art," he also encouraged other monkeys to become educated. However, this was mostly acknowledged with a lot of head shaking. His friends had far better things to do than recite poetry and practice dance steps – climbing trees and playing pranks was far more entertaining. Then, when Nathanael tried to convince other monkeys to eat bananas with cutlery because he thought it was much more elegant, he became increasingly lonely.

This unusual habit was the first of many that led to much talk about his personality. Another reason was his penchant for strange music – preferably self-produced. He misinterpreted the many looks he received during his performances as admiration and summed up that of all the arts he was particularly drawn to this one because many apes liked his musicality. This was acknowledged with even more incredulous shaking of the head. His passion for music began when, as a little apeling, Nathanael proudly reported that he could play two octaves on the fortepiano thanks to his extended fingers. After this, his teacher encouraged him to sing, and when Nathanael confessed that he did not have a good voice, his teacher explained that a good, natural voice contradicted the true art of singing instead of being useful. That might be true to an extent, but another problem was that Nathanael never followed the scores and found reading music superfluous. Instead of singing the melody intended by the composer, he experimented with all sorts of what he felt were virtuoso singing styles befitting a genius. He was convinced that no techniques were required. With time, Nathanael was used to all the monkeys running away when he started singing. Of course, these primate philistines could not assess his abilities. He was all the more astonished that one day a monkey lady stopped next to him in the tree habitat to listen to his sounds. Nathanael was pleased that he finally had an audience appreciating his skills. So, he sang all afternoon until late at night just for them – and drove all the remaining tree dwellers and birds out of this part of the forest.

The next day he made the decision to introduce himself personally to his listener. When he asked, he was met with confusion, and his neighbor eventually showed Nathanael a life-size mechanical monkey lady he was working on – an automaton with lifeless eyes. Realizing that his only listener was not a real living being was a shock, in his anger Nathanael almost destroyed the workshop and the automat – until his neighbor threw him down the tree.

Sad and doubting the meaningfulness of his actions, Nathanael was overcome by the longing for the earlier carefree life as an apeling, when he could still climb around in the trees all day without thinking about posture and etiquette. But then he was ashamed of this thought and strove again for culture and wisdom in order to "attain the inner peace and comfort that only the highest culture could produce, as it arose from inner resourcefulness and association with wise, educated primates".

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