Josephine the Songstress

If she had any real enemies-as she says-then they could simply stand back and observe the battle without even having to lift a finger, then it would just be an amusement. But she doesn't have a single enemy and even if it is true that there may be a few of us contrarians who object to this or that, that we do have a few minor criticisms, all the same there's certainly no one who enjoys entering into this particular fray with her. Indeed, we steer clear of the whole topic since in respect to this our position is simply as firm as ice, nobody wants to be a judge in such a frigid matter, we're hardly ever to be found putting our-selves into such a position. And even if as regards this matter such a cold judgment is all that can be expected, nonetheless the very idea that our folk would relate to itself in such a cold manner, this precludes the possibility of anyone finding any joy in stating what's obvious. What we're dealing with here-and no matter from which side you might look at it, whether from Josephine's petition or if it should be from our side of denial-in either case it's not really the matter itself that's at issue but, more so, the basic idea that our folk might cut itself apart from itself and throw up such an impenetrable wall and, indeed, all the more impenetrable when you consider that Josephine is one of us, that we relate to her as a father and, indeed, as more than a father, as someone who is humbly taking care of its tender fledgling. Now, if there were to be one individual rather than the whole of our folk placed in such a position one might very well come to the belief that such a father figure would simply start giving in to all of Josephine's demands so that finally, after having allowed her far more than ever would be justified, finally a limit would have to appear all on its own, that by always saying "yes" to her unreason-able requests, by always allowing her more and more rope with which she might hang herself, well, sooner or later she'd reach the far end of her tether and the matter would become as clear as day; in short: that by giving in in such an exorbitant manner the final refusal would be sped up and it would then resound with a short, crisp finality that couldn't be mistaken. Now, certainly, this isn't an accurate portrayal of how this relation is structured, our folk hasn't any need of such clever tactics and, beyond this, our respect for Josephine is long-standing and couldn't be any more earnest and, moreover, Josephine's request is so blatantly black and white that any child you might ask wouldn't have the least bit of hesitation in telling you what the outcome would be; but in spite of all of this it may well be that Josephine already has a grasp of this matter, that she has a clear premonition of all of this and that this simply plays into it, leaving a bitter aftertaste on top of the indignity of our refusal. But, be this as it may, whether she has such a premonition or not, this doesn't instill any fear into her or keep her from plunging into this battle.