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FeaturesMarch 2005 The difficult justice of Melville & Kleist On the “issues of justice, especially social justice and law” in Billy Budd and Michael Kohlhaas. There is an old Venetian folk story about a peasant who searched and searched for a just person to be his newborn child’s godfather. At last he met up with the Lord. “I need to baptize this little child, but I want a just person for his godfather,” he said. “Are you just?” Embarrassed, the Lord hesitated in his reply: “Well, you see, to tell the truth, not really.” “Then you can’t be my boy’s godfather,” the peasant said and went on till he encountered Our Lady. She too when asked if she were just, blushed, and said she couldn’t in good conscience claim so much. Finally the father encountered a lady dressed in black. “Yes, I believe I am a just person,” was her answer. The infant’s parents were overjoyed and the baptism duly took place with feasting and merrymaking. When the last guest had departed, the Signora Godmother invited the father into her palazzo and cond ... This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchaseSubscribe to TNC (Print and Online editions) Subscribe to TNC (Online only) This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 23 March 2005, on page 24 Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-difficult-justice-of-Melville---Kleist-1275
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