2. Lucky Hans

“You aren’t lying, old man, are you?” Ludwig asked sternly.

“Why should I lie? I can eat it while you watch.” And Hans, scooping it up with a spoon, swallowed a large piece of thick dough with appetite.

Everyone looked at him as if he were swallowing a live snake.

“Would anyone like to try?”

No one dared.

But the distrust was broken. Everyone again began to discuss this extraordinary event, envying the happy Hans.

Wives and children, worried about the long absence of husbands and fathers, sought them out and soon filled the whole room. By midnight, the whole fishing village knew about the extraordinary news. The conversations continued on until the morning. And early in the morning, even before sunrise, a real pilgrimage reached the old lighthouse. Everyone wanted to look at the wonderful “eternal bread” and how much it grew overnight. Fritz and Ludwig had been guarding the jar all night; they witnessed that the dough really “came up” like a sponge and filled the entire jar.

Fritz was the first to try the dough and confirmed that it was very tasty and satisfying.

Never before had the lighthouse seen so many people. Now there was an ongoing meeting taking place here. The fishermen could not come to terms with the idea that only Hans possessed such a treasure. After long discussions, they decided to send a deputation to Professor Breuer, to ask him about the bread and ask him to give this bread to everyone. Fritz and Ludwig were elected deputies, as was Otto Weismann, the local teacher, being the most literate and well-read person in the village. Hans asked to take him with them so that he could justify himself to the professor.

Professor Breuer was a scientist of world renown. His works in the field of biochemistry, striking in their boldness, aroused controversy and at the same time the liveliest interest among scientists in Europe and America. A few years ago, being an old but still very vigorous man, he unexpectedly left lecturing at the University of Berlin and retired “to rest”, as he said, chose a place far from the center as his residence and built himself a small house on Fair Island. He told his closest friends that he was moving away from “worldly fuss” to engage in laboratory experiments on the solution of a problem of world importance, he did not tell anyone of the nature of this endeavor.

“In our universities,” he told his friends with some bitterness, “one can only work according to a template. Every revolutionary scientific thought arouses alarm and apprehension. Students, laboratory assistants, associate professors, correspondents, the rector, and even representatives of the church are watching you. Just try to revolutionize science under such conditions! You will be ridiculed, drowned in intrigue before you achieve any result. But there I am free. No one will know about my mistakes; my ultimate success will speak for itself.

And he “left the hustle and bustle”, ending all communication, even correspondence with the outside world.