Jack Hildreth on the Nile
By Karl Friedrich May
LIFE is an interesting thing under all circumstances, and men are worth studying whether they be savage or civilized. There was something born in me, however, which prevented me from being a mere spectator of life; like the small boy in “Helen’s Babies,” I liked to “see the wheels go round,” it is true, but it was not possible to keep from giving them a shove at the same time.
When I came back from the West I had no definite plan of life, and after six months of inaction, I began to get restless. I had no desire to return to the West, for with Winnetou, my adopted Apache brother, dead, there was little attraction to me in the scenes we had roamed together.
Having once followed the star of empire in a westerly direction, I began to think of the East; I wanted, as Rudyard Kipling says, to hear “the desert talk.”
I broached the subject to my uncle, whose heir I was to be, and whose name I bore, he being John Hildreth and I Jack Hildreth, and found he had no objection to my having a few more of what the Germans call “wander years.”
Uncle John had a friend who, opportunely, had some business interests in Cairo, which he wanted to be looked after by a person in whom he could confide, so, armed with this reason for setting forth, I started for Egypt, with the understanding that, after I had done the errand on which I had been sent, I was to be free to go whither I willed.
“The Triumphant, “EL Kahireh,” the “Gate of the East” — these are titles the Egyptian gives the principal city of his land. Though the first of these is no longer appropriate, the last two, in perfect justice, belong to Cairo; it certainly is the gate of the East. It has been overrun with Europeans, however, and the French especially have set their mark upon it. Shepherd’s Hotel, the New Hotel, the Hotel d’Orient, the Hotel du Nil, the Hotel des Ambassadeurs, and countless other inns, cafes, and restaurants provide the traveler with everything he is used to at home, but at a cost that would require an English milord to meet a personage one is likely to be mistaken for if he comes decently clad, and with an English accent.
Genre: Fiction And Literature | Adventure
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Karl Friedrich May
Karl Friedrich May (25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the American Old West, the Orient, the Middle East, Latin America, China, and Germany. He also wrote poetry, a play, and composed music. He was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Many of his works were adapted for film, theatre, audio dramas, and comics. Later in his career, May turned to philosophical and spiritual genres. He is one of the best-selling German writers of all time, with about 200,000,000 copies sold worldwide.
Early life
May was the fifth child of a poor family of weavers in Ernstthal, Schönburgische Rezessherrschaften (then part of the Kingdom of Saxony). He had 13 siblings, of whom nine died in infancy. His parents were Heinrich August May and Wilhelmine Christiane Weise. During his school years, he received instruction in music and composition. At age twelve, May was making money at a skittle alley, where he was exposed to rough language.
Delinquency
In 1856, May commenced teacher training in Waldenburg, but in 1859 was expelled for stealing six candles. After an appeal, he was allowed to continue in Plauen. Shortly after graduation, when his roommate accused him of stealing a watch, May was jailed in Chemnitz for six weeks and his license to teach was revoked. After this, May worked with little success as a private tutor, an author of tales, a composer, and a public speaker. For four years, from 1865 to 1869, May was jailed in the workhouse at Osterstein Castle, Zwickau. With good behavior, May became an administrator of the prison library, which gave him the chance to read widely. He made a list of the works he planned to write (Repertorium C. May.)
On his release, May continued his life of crime, impersonating various characters (policemen, doctors, etc.) and spinning fantastic tales as a method of fraud. He was arrested, but when he was transported to a crime scene during a judicial investigation, he escaped and fled to Bohemia, where he was detained for vagrancy. For another four years, from 1870 to 1874, May was jailed in Waldheim, Saxony. There he met a Catholic Catechist, Johannes Kochta, who assisted May.
Karl Friedrich May
