The Riesebusch Inn is a low, one-story country inn in the Duchy of Oldenburg, set beside wooded grounds and tiered paths. In a family outing there, a shared meal and leisurely walk bring Tony Buddenbrook and Alois Permaneder into closer company; the visit also exposes a social slight that helps fix Tony’s decision about her future.

Setting and Approach

The inn stood beyond a bridge over the Au River, with a level lawn, sandy paths, and rustic flower beds on one side and an amphitheatre of woods behind it. Root-and-rock steps climbed through the trees to successive levels, where white wooden tables, benches, and chairs offered places to sit among the foliage. The Buddenbrooks arrived by carriage with Permaneder, Erika, and Ida Jungmann, joining other families who had come for food and drink.

Permaneder had been introduced to Elisabeth Buddenbrook’s family in Lübeck, and the outing gave him an occasion to spend time with them outside the home. The consul Thomas Buddenbrook described the innkeeper, Dieckmann, as a friend and praised the local crabs, fresh Baltic shrimps, and gingerbread. Elisabeth arranged for the party to have lunch at a table on the second level of the terraces, rather than too high up; Thomas joked that their guest was difficult to please, but Permaneder said simple food and drink would suit him.

The Visit

Before lunch, the party walked through the woods to a spring. Elisabeth brought a collapsible silver cup, and they drank from a stone basin below the source. Permaneder insisted that Tony taste his drink first, then talked attentively with Elisabeth, Thomas, Gerda, Tony, and Erika. The walk and ensuing meal brought him into the family’s ordinary conversation, rather than leaving him merely a visitor under formal scrutiny.

Back at their second-level table, Gerda expressed regret that Permaneder would be leaving so soon, remarking that the group was becoming better acquainted and that dialect misunderstandings had grown less frequent. She even praised Tony’s command of his characteristic farewell. The party did not discuss the future directly. Instead, they lingered over the food, while Permaneder smoked dark cigars and drank beer, and conversation turned to recent political events. Erika later returned from an excursion with Ida carrying daisies and other flowers in her pockets; her reminder that they still needed to buy gingerbread prompted the group to leave for the village.

Social Encounter and Significance

The outing also brought the Buddenbrooks near the Hagenströms, who were dining at the inn with their families. The two groups did not exchange greetings until the Buddenbrooks began climbing the steps. Elisabeth gave a distracted nod, Thomas offered a cool gesture of politeness, and Gerda bowed formally. Permaneder, by contrast, called out a hearty greeting. Tony answered with a visibly elevated, distant manner, and the encounter made her decision irrevocable. She later complained to Thomas that Julie Möllendorpf had barely greeted them; Thomas replied that Tony had not been especially accommodating either, and advised her not to let the slight upset her.

The inn thus serves as more than a picturesque stop on a country excursion. Its shared tables and paths place a developing family acquaintance alongside a contest over recognition and manners. Permaneder’s ease in greeting the Hagenströms contrasts with the Buddenbrooks’ restrained formality, while Tony’s reaction turns a brief social encounter into a decisive moment in her personal course.