Phantastes, A Faerie Romance

For some days my companion-shadow had been less obtrusive than usual;

and such was the reaction of spirits occasioned by the simple mitigation

of torment, that, although I had cause enough besides to be gloomy, I

felt light and comparatively happy. My impression is, that she was quite

aware of the law of appearances that existed between the people of the

place and myself, and had resolved to amuse herself at my expense; for

one evening, after some jesting and raillery, she, somehow or other,

provoked me to attempt to kiss her. But she was well defended from

any assault of the kind.

Her countenance became, of a sudden, absurdly

hideous; the pretty mouth was elongated and otherwise amplified

sufficiently to have allowed of six simultaneous kisses. I started back

in bewildered dismay; she burst into the merriest fit of laughter, and

ran from the room. I soon found that the same undefinable law of change

operated between me and all the other villagers; and that, to feel I was

in pleasant company, it was absolutely necessary for me to discover and

observe the right focal distance between myself and each one with whom

I had to do. This done, all went pleasantly enough. Whether, when I

happened to neglect this precaution, I presented to them an equally

ridiculous appearance, I did not ascertain; but I presume that the

alteration was common to the approximating parties. I was likewise

unable to determine whether I was a necessary party to the production of

this strange transformation, or whether it took place as well, under the

given circumstances, between the inhabitants themselves.