Summary
Joseph Roth: The Legend of the Holy Drunkard
And the well-dressed gentleman disappeared in the eclipse. He actually experienced a miracle of conversion and decided to accept the life of the most miserable. And that's why he lived under the bridge. But as for the other, he was a drunkard, a heavy drunkard. His name was Andreas. And he lived on cases like many drunkards. It was a long time ago, when he owned two hundred francs. And maybe because of that, which was so long ago, he took out a piece of paper and a piece of pencil in the poor glow of one of the rare lamps under one of the bridges and wrote down the address of little Saint Teresa and the sum of two hundred francs that he owed her from this moment on. Then he began to climb one of the steps leading from the banks of the Seine to the quay. He knew there was an inn somewhere. And he entered that inn, where he began to eat and drink abundantly and spent a lot of money and took with him another bottle, for the night, which he intended to spend under the bridge, as usual. Yes, he also pulled out a newspaper from the wastebasket. But not to read them, but to cover himself with them. Because newspapers keep warm, as all homeless people know.
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