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The Cautious Dreamer     (Der vorsichtige Träumer)     1808

In the small town of Witlisbach in the canton of Bern, a stranger once stayed overnight, and when he wanted to go to bed and had stripped down to his shirt, he took a pair of slippers out of his bundle, put them on, tied them to his feet with his garters, and lay down in bed.

Another traveller who was spending the night in the same room said to him, ‘My good friend, why are you doing that?’ The first man replied, ‘Out of caution. Once, I stepped on a piece of broken glass in my sleep. It caused me such pain that I would never want to sleep barefoot again.’