diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 1249.txt | 2823 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 1249.zip | bin | 0 -> 41960 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/anthm10z.txt | 2822 |
6 files changed, 5661 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1249.txt b/1249.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfe3129 --- /dev/null +++ b/1249.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2823 @@ +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +#1 in our series by Ayn Rand + +This is version 10z, a comparison of the original files we used +to create versions 10 and 10a. . .which helped us correct a few +errors per chapter in those versions. Those with interest in a +greater understanding of those differences in editing, language +and grammar selections, may find this comparison of value. + + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! +Anthem is still under copyright in Canada. Please do not put it +on Canadian computers. + +Caxton Printers, who used to own the United States copyrights +to Anthem by Ayn Rand, as per an agreement with Pamphleteers, +was VERY kind and VERY open about explaining the copyright of +Anthem, and how it came to be not renewed in the U.S.; and we +would like to add, on their behalf, that their copyrights are +still in force for Anthem in Canada. Neither we nor they are +in a current position to research the possible copyrights for +other countries, so that is possibly still up in the air. It +behooves me, since they have been so forthcoming about this-- +to encourage you to buy the only hardcover edition available. + +You may contact them via: + www.caxtonprinters.com +publish@caxtonprinters.com +800-657-6465 & 208-459-7421 +Fax Line Is: 208-459-7450 +Please tell them you were +sent by Project Gutenberg + + + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Anthem + +by Ayn Rand + +March, 1998 [Etext #1249] + + +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +******This file should be named 1249.txt or 1249.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, anthm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, anthm10a.txt + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we do NOT keep these books +in compliance with any particular paper edition, usually otherwise. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-two text +files per month, or 384 more Etexts in 1998 for a total of 1500+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 150 billion Etexts given away. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only 10% of the present number of computer users. 2001 +should have at least twice as many computer users as that, so it +will require us reaching less than 5% of the users in 2001. + + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext90 through /etext96 +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET INDEX?00.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + + + +What follows is a complete comparison, including the headers. + + + + + +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +#1 in our series by Ayn Rand + +This is version [-10,-] {+10a,+} you may also want to [-try-] {+look at+} version [-10a,-] {+10,+} +with +[-wider margins-] {+narrower margins,+} and slightly different [-wordings.-] {+wording.+} + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! +Anthem is still under copyright in Canada. Please do not put it +on Canadian computers. + +Caxton Printers, who used to own the United States copyrights +to Anthem by Ayn Rand, as per an agreement with Pamphleteers, +was VERY kind and VERY open about explaining the copyright of +Anthem, and how it came to be not renewed in the U.S.; and we +would like to add, on their behalf, that their copyrights are +still in force for Anthem in Canada. Neither we nor they are +in a current position to research the possible copyrights for +other countries, so that is possibly still up in the air. It +behooves me, since they have been so forthcoming about this-- +to encourage you to buy the only hardcover edition available. + +You may contact them via: + www.caxtonprinters.com +publish@caxtonprinters.com +800-657-6465 & 208-459-7421 +Fax Line Is: 208-459-7450 +Please tell them you were +sent by Project Gutenberg + + + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Anthem + +by Ayn Rand + +March, 1998 [Etext #1250] + + +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +[-******This-] +{+*****This+} file should be named [-anthm10.txt-] {+anthm10a.txt+} or [-anthm10.zip******-] {+anthm10a.zip*****+} + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, anthm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, [-anthm10a.txt-] {+anthm10b.txt+} + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we do NOT keep these books +in compliance with any particular paper edition, usually otherwise. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-two text +files per month, or 384 more Etexts in 1998 for a total of 1500+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 150 billion Etexts given away. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only 10% of the present number of computer users. 2001 +should have at least twice as many computer users as that, so it +will require us reaching less than 5% of the users in 2001. + + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext90 through /etext96 +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET INDEX?00.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + + + + +[-ANTHEM + +by Ayn Rand + + + + +PART ONE-] + + + + + +{+Chapter One+} + +It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others +think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It +is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears +but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression +blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The +laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations +bid them so. May we be forgiven! + +But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater +crime, and for this crime there is no name. What punishment +awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has +come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it. + +It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. +Nothing moves in this tunnel save our [-hand-] {+hands+} on the paper. We are +alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word, alone. The laws +say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for +this is the great transgression and the root of all evil. But we +have broken many laws. And now there is nothing here save our one +body, and it is strange to see only two legs stretched on the +ground, and on the wall before us the shadow of our one head. + +The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads +without sound, black and glistening as blood. We stole the candle +from the larder of the Home of the Street Sweepers. We shall be +sentenced to ten years in the Palace of Corrective Detention if +it be discovered. But this matters not. It matters only that the +light is precious and we should not waste it to write when we +need it for that work which is our crime. Nothing matters save +the work, our secret, our evil, our precious work. Still, we must +also write, for--may the [-council-] {+Council+} have mercy upon us!--we wish to +speak for once to no ears but our own. + +Our name is Equality 7-2521, as it is written on the iron +bracelet which all men wear on [-the-] {+their+} left wrists with their names +upon it. We are twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall, and +this is a burden, for there are not many men who are six feet +tall. Ever have the Teachers and the Leaders pointed to us and +frowned and said: "There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, +for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers." But +we cannot change our bones nor our body. + +We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts +which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may +not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us +and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret +fear, that we know and do not resist. + +We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be +alike. Over the portals of the Palace of the World Council, there +are words cut in the marble, which we {+are required to+} repeat to +ourselves whenever we are [-tempted: + + + "WE ARE ONE IN ALL AND ALL IN ONE. + THERE ARE NO MEN BUT ONLY THE GREAT _WE_, + ONE, INDIVISIBLE AND FOREVER."-] {+tempted:--"We are one in all and all in one. + +There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever."--+} + +We repeat this to ourselves, but it helps us not. + +These words were cut long ago. There is green mould in the +grooves of the letters and yellow streaks [-on-] {+in+} the marble, which +come from more years than men could count. And these words are +the truth, for they are written on the Palace of the World +Council, and the World Council is the body of all truth. Thus has +it been ever since the Great Rebirth, and farther back than that +no memory can reach. + +But we must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth, +else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of Corrective +Detention. It is only the Old Ones who whisper about it in the +evenings, in the Home of the Useless. They whisper many strange +things, of the towers which rose to the sky, in those +Unmentionable Times, and of the wagons which moved without +horses, and of the lights which burned without flame. But those +times were evil. And those times passed away, when men saw the +Great Truth which is this: that all men are one and that there is +no will save the will of all men together. + +All men are good and wise. It is only we, Equality 7-2521, we +alone who were born with a curse. For we are not like our +brothers. And as we look back upon our life, we see that it has +ever been thus and that it has brought us step by step to our +last, supreme transgression, our [-crime-] {+crimes+} of crimes hidden here +under the ground. + +We remember the Home of the Infants where we lived till we were +five years old, together with all the children of the City who +had been born in the same year. The sleeping halls there were +white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We +were just like all our brothers then, save for the one +transgression: we fought with our brothers. There are few +offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers, at any age and +for any cause whatsoever. The Council of the Home told us so, and +of all the children of that year, we were locked in the cellar +most often. + +When we were five years old, we were sent to the Home of the +Students, where there are ten wards, for our ten years of +learning. Men must learn till they reach their fifteenth year. +Then they go to work. In the Home of the Students we arose when +the big bell rang in the tower and we went to our beds when it +rang again. Before we removed our garments, we stood in the great +sleeping hall, and we raised our right arms, and we said all +together with the three Teachers at the head: + +"We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are +we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers +who are the State. Amen." + +Then we slept. The sleeping halls were white and clean and bare +of all things save one hundred beds. + +We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those years in the Home of +the Students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. +It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be +born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be +different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to +them. The Teachers told us so, and they frowned when they looked +upon us. + +So we fought against this curse. We tried to forget our lessons, +but we always remembered. We tried not to understand what the [-Teachers-] +{+teachers+} taught, but we always understood it before the Teachers +had spoken. We looked upon Union [-5-3992,-] {+5-3992+} who were a pale boy with +only half a brain, and we tried to say and do as they did, that +we might be like them, like Union 5-3992, but somehow the +Teachers knew that we were not. And we were lashed more often +than all the other children. + +The Teachers were just, for they had been appointed by the +Councils, and the Councils are the [-voice-] {+voices+} of all justice, for +they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes, in the secret +darkness of our heart, we regret that which befell us on our +fifteenth birthday, we know that it was through our own guilt. We +had broken a law, for we had not paid heed to the words of our +Teachers. The Teachers had said to us all: + +"Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do +when you leave the Home of the Students. You shall do +[-that which-] {+what+} the +Council of [-Vocations-] {+Vocation+} shall prescribe for you. For the Council of +Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your +brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little +minds. And if you are not needed by your brother [-man,-] {+men,+} there is no +reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies." + +We knew this well, in the years of our childhood, but our curse +broke our will. We were guilty and we confess it here: we were +guilty of the great Transgression of Preference. We preferred +some work and some lessons to the others. We did not listen well +to the history of all the Councils elected since the Great +Rebirth. But we [-love-] {+loved+} the Science of Things. We wished to know. +We wished to know about all the things which [-make-] {+makes+} the earth +around us. We asked so many questions that the Teachers forbade it. + +We think that there are mysteries in the +[-sky,-] {+sky+} and [-under-] the water and in +the plants which grow. But the Council of Scholars has said that +there are no mysteries, and the Council of Scholars knows all +things. And we learned much from our Teachers. We learned that +the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it, which +causes the day and [-the-] night. We learned the names of all the winds +which blow over the seas and push the sails of our great ships. +We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all ailments. + +We [-love-] {+loved+} the Science of Things. And in the darkness, in the +secret hour, when we awoke in the night and there were no brothers +around us, but only their shapes in the beds and their snores, +we closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and we +stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our brothers see or +hear or guess, and we thought that we wished to be sent to the +Home of the Scholars when our time would come. + +All {+of+} the great modern inventions come from the Home of the +Scholars, such as the newest one, which was found only a hundred +years ago, of how to make candles from wax and string; also, how +to make glass, which is put in our windows to protect us from the +rain. To find these things, the Scholars must study the earth and +learn from the rivers, from the sands, from the winds and the +rocks. And if we went to the Home of the Scholars, we could learn +from these also. We could ask questions of these, for they do not +forbid questions. + +And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us +seek we know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it. It +whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours, +and that we [-can know them +if we try, and that we-] must know them. We ask, why must we know, but it has +no answer to give us. We must know that we may know. + +So we wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars. We wished it +so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night, +and we bit our arm to stop that other pain which we could not +endure. It was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the +morning. For men may wish nothing for themselves. And we were +punished when the Council of Vocations came to give us our life +Mandates which tell those who reach their fifteenth year what +their work is to be for the rest of their days. + +The Council of Vocations came {+in+} on the first day of spring, and +they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteen and all the +Teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of [-vocations-] {+Vocations+} +sat on a high dais, and they had but two words to speak to each +of the Students. They called the Students' names, and when the [-Students-] +{+students+} stepped before them, one after another, the Council +said: "Carpenter" or "Doctor" or "Cook" or "Leader." Then each +Student raised their right arm and said: "The will of our +brothers be done." + +Now if the Council [-has-] said "Carpenter" or "Cook," the Students so +assigned go to [-work,-] {+work+} and [-they-] do not study any further. But if the +Council has said "Leader," then those [-Students-] {+students+} go into the Home +of the Leaders, which is the greatest house in the City, for it +has three stories. And there they study for many years, {+so that +they may become candidates+} and be elected to the City Council and +the State Council and the World Council--by a free and general +vote of all men. But we wished not to be a Leader, even though it +is a great honor. We wished to be a Scholar. + +So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the +Council of Vocations call our name: "Equality 7-2521." We walked +to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at +the {+Council. There were five members of the+} Council, three of the +male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their +faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old. +They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World +Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no +breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that +they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose, +pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which +moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said: +"Street Sweeper." + +We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher +to look upon the faces of the Council, and we were happy. We [-knew-] {+know+} +we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it. We +would accept our Life Mandate, and we would work for our +brothers, gladly and willingly, and we would erase our sin +against them, which they did not know, but we knew. So we were +happy, and proud of ourselves and of our victory over ourselves. +We raised our right arm and we spoke, and our voice was the +clearest, the steadiest voice in the hall that day, and we said: + +"The will of our brothers be done." + +And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council, but their +eyes were as cold {+as+} blue glass buttons. + +So we went into the Home of the Street Sweepers. It is a grey +house on a narrow street. There is a sundial in its courtyard, by +which the Council of the Home can tell the hours of the day and +when to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we all arise from our +beds. [-They-] {+The+} sky is green and cold in our windows to the east. The +shadow on the sundial marks off a half-hour while we dress and +eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there are five long +tables with twenty clay plates and twenty clay cups on each +table. Then we go to work in the streets of the City, with our +brooms and our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high, we +return to the Home and we eat our midday meal, for which +one-half hour is allowed. Then we go to work again. In five +hours, the shadows are blue on the pavements, and the sky is blue +with a deep brightness which is not bright. We come back to have +our dinner, which lasts one hour. Then the bell rings and we walk +in a straight column to one of the City Halls, for the Social +Meeting. Other columns of men arrive from the Homes of the +different Trades. The candles are lit, and the Councils of the +different Homes stand in a pulpit, and they speak to us of our +duties and of our brother men. Then visiting Leaders mount the +pulpit and they read to us the speeches which were made in the +City Council that day, for the City Council represents all men +and all men must know. Then we sing hymns, the Hymn of +Brotherhood, and the Hymn of Equality, and the Hymn of the +Collective Spirit. The sky is a soggy purple when we return to +the Home. Then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to +the City Theatre for three hours of Social Recreation. There a +play is shown upon the stage, with two great choruses from the +Home of the Actors, which speak and answer all together, in two +great voices. The plays are about toil and how good it is. Then +we walk back to the Home [-is-] {+in+} a straight column. The sky is like a +black sieve pierced by silver drops that tremble, ready to burst +through. The moths beat against the street lanterns. We go to our +beds and we sleep, till the bell rings again. The sleeping halls +are white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. + +Thus have we lived each day of four years, until two springs ago +when our crime happened. Thus must all men live until they are +forty. At forty, they are worn out. At forty, they are sent to +the Home of the Useless, where the Old Ones live. The Old Ones do +not work, for the State takes care of them. They sit in the sun +in summer and they sit by the fire in winter. They do not speak +often, for they are weary. The Old Ones know that they are soon +to die. When a miracle happens and some live to be forty-five, +they are the +[-ancient ones,-] {+Ancient Ones,+} and [-the-] children stare at them when +passing by the Home of the Useless. Such is to be our life, as +that of all our brothers and of the brothers who came before us. + +Such would have been our life, had we not committed our crime +which {+has+} changed all things for us. And it was our curse which +drove us to our crime. We had been a good Street Sweeper and like +all our brother Street Sweepers, save for our cursed wish to +know. We looked too long at the stars at night, and at the trees +and the earth. And when we cleaned the yard of the Home of the +Scholars, we gathered the glass vials, the pieces of metal, the +dried bones which they had discarded. We wished to keep these +things and to study them, but we had no place to hide them. So we +carried them to the City Cesspool. And then we made the +discovery. + +It was on a day of the spring before last. We Street Sweepers +work in brigades of three, and we were with Union 5-3992, they of +the [-half brain,-] {+half-brain,+} and with International 4-8818. Now Union 5-3992 +are a sickly lad and sometimes they are stricken with +convulsions, when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white. +But International 4-8818 are different. They are a tall, strong +youth and their eyes are like fireflies, for there is laughter in +their eyes. We cannot look upon International 4-8818 and not +smile in answer. For this they were not liked in the Home of the +Students, as it is not proper to smile without reason. And also +they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they +drew pictures upon the walls, and they were pictures which made +men laugh. But it is only our brothers in the Home of the Artists +who are permitted to draw pictures, so International 4-8818 were +sent to the Home of the Street Sweepers, like ourselves. + +International 4-8818 and we are friends. This is an evil thing to +say, for it is a {+great+} transgression, the great Transgression of +Preference, to love any among men better than the others, since +we must love all men and all men are our friends. So +International 4-8818 and we have never spoken of it. But we know. +We know, when we look into each other's eyes. And when we look +thus without [-words,-] {+works,+} we both know other things also, strange +things for which there are no words, and these things frighten us. + +So on that day of the spring before last, Union 5-3992 were stricken +with convulsions on the edge of the City, near the City Theatre. +We left them to lie in the shade of the Theatre tent and +we went with International 4-8818 to finish our work. We came +together to the great ravine behind the Theatre. It is empty save +for trees and weeds. Beyond the ravine there is a plain, and +beyond the plain there lies the Uncharted Forest, about which men +must not think. + +We were gathering the papers and the rags which the wind had +blown from the Theatre, when we saw an iron bar among the weeds. +It was old and rusted by [-man-] {+many+} rains. We pulled with all our +strength, but we could not move it. So we called International [-4-8818,-] +{+4-8818+} and together we scraped the earth around the bar. Of a +sudden the earth fell in before us, and we saw an old iron grill +over a black hole. + +International 4-8818 stepped back. But we pulled at the grill and +it gave way. And then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a +shaft into a darkness without bottom. + +"We shall go down," we said to International 4-8818. + +"It is forbidden," they answered. + +We said: "The Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot be +forbidden." + +And they answered: "Since the Council does not know of this +hole, there can be no law permitting to enter it. And everything +which is not permitted by law is forbidden." + +But we said: "We shall go, none the less." + +They were frightened, but they stood by and watched us go. + +We hung on the iron rings with our hands and {+our+} feet. We could +see nothing below us. And above us the hole [-open-] upon the sky grew +smaller and smaller, till it came to be the size of a button. But +still we went down. Then our foot touched the ground. We rubbed +our eyes, for we could not see. Then our eyes became used to the +darkness, +[-but-] {+and+} we could not believe what we saw. + +No [-men-] {+man+} known to us could have built this place, nor the men known +to our brothers who lived before us, and yet it was built by men. +It was a great tunnel. Its walls were hard and smooth to the +touch; it felt like stone, but it was not stone. On the ground +there were long thin tracks of iron, but it was not iron; it felt +smooth and cold as glass. We knelt, and we crawled forward, our +hand groping along the iron line to see where it would lead. But +there was an unbroken night ahead. Only the iron tracks glowed +through it, straight and white, calling us to follow. But we +could not follow, for we were losing the puddle of light behind +us. So we turned and we crawled back, our hand on the iron line. +And our heart beat in our fingertips, without reason. And then we knew. + +We knew suddenly that this place was left from the Unmentionable Times. +So it was true, and those Times had been, and all the wonders +of those Times. Hundreds upon hundreds of years ago men knew +secrets which we have lost. And we thought: "This is a foul +place. They are damned who touch the things of the Unmentionable +Times." But our hand which followed the track, as we crawled, +clung to the iron as if it would not leave it, as if the skin of +our hand were thirsty and begging of the metal some secret fluid +beating in its coldness. + +We returned to the earth. International 4-8818 looked upon us and +stepped back. + +"Equality 7-2521," they said, "your face is white." + +But we could not speak and we stood looking upon them. + +They backed away, as if they dared not touch us. Then they +smiled, but it was {+a+} not a gay smile; it was lost and pleading. +But still we could not speak. Then they said: + +"We shall report our find to the City Council and both of us +will be rewarded." + +And then we spoke. Our voice was hard and there was no mercy in +our voice. We said: + +"We shall not report our find to the City Council. We shall not +report it to any men." + +They raised their hands to their ears, for never had they heard +such words as these. + +"International 4-8818," we asked, "will you report us to the +Council and see us lashed to death before your eyes?" + +They stood straight [-all-] of a sudden and they answered: + +"Rather would we die." + +"Then," we said, "keep silent. This place is ours. This place +belongs to us, Equality 7-2521, and to +[-no-] {+not+} other men on earth. +And if ever we surrender it, we shall surrender our life with it +also." + +Then we saw that [-they-] {+the+} eyes of International 4-8818 were full to +the lids with tears {+with tears+} they dared not [-drop. +They-] {+drop, they+} +whispered, and their voice trembled, so that their words lost all +shape: + +"The will of the Council is above all things, for it is the will +of our brothers, which is holy. But if you wish it so, we shall +obey you. Rather shall we be evil with you than good with all our +brothers. May the Council have mercy upon both our hearts!" + +Then we walked away together and back to the Home of the Street +Sweepers. And we walked in silence. + +Thus did it come to pass that each night, when the stars are high +and the Street Sweepers sit in the City Theatre, we, Equality +7-2521, steal out and run through the darkness to our place. It +is easy to leave the Theatre; when the candles are blown [-out-] and the +Actors come onto the stage, no eyes can see us as we crawl under +our seat and under the cloth of the tent. [-Later,-] {+Later+} it is easy to +steal through the shadows and fall in line next to International +4-8818, as the column leaves the Theatre. It is dark in the +streets and there are no men about, for no men may walk through +the City when they have no mission to walk there. Each night, we +run to the ravine, and we remove the stones [-which-] we have piled upon +the iron grill to hide it from [-the-] men. Each night, for three hours, +we are under the earth, alone. + +We have stolen candles from the Home of the Street Sweepers, we +have stolen flints and knives and paper, and we have brought them +to this place. We have stolen glass vials and powders and acids +from the Home of the Scholars. Now we sit in the tunnel for three +hours each night and we study. We melt strange metals, and we mix +acids, and we cut open the bodies of the animals which we find in +the City Cesspool. We have built an oven of the bricks we +gathered in the streets. We burn the wood we find in the ravine. +The fire flickers in the oven and blue shadows dance upon the +walls, and there is no sound of men to disturb us. + +We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offense. Manuscripts +are precious, for our brothers in the Home of the Clerks spend +one year to copy one single script in their clear handwriting. +Manuscripts are rare and they are kept in the Home of the +Scholars. So we sit under the earth and we read the stolen +scripts. Two years have passed since we found this place. And in +these two years we have learned more than we had learned in the +ten years of the Home of the Students. + +We have learned things which are not in the scripts. We have +solved {+the+} secrets of which the Scholars have no knowledge. We +have come to see how great is the unexplored, and many lifetimes +will not bring us to the end of our quest. [-But we +wish no end to our quest.-] We wish nothing, save +to be alone and to learn, and to feel as if with each day our +sight were growing sharper than the hawk's and clearer than rock +crystal. + +Strange are the ways of evil. We are false in the faces of our +brothers. We are defying the will of our Councils. We alone, of +the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are +doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it. The +evil of our crime is not for the human mind to probe. The nature +of our punishment, if it be discovered, is not {+free+} for the human +heart to ponder. Never, not in the memory of the Ancient Ones' +Ancients, never have men done [-that +which-] {+what+} we are doing. + +And yet there is no shame in us and no regret. We say to +ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no +burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart. And it seems to +us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no eyes save those +of the sun. And in our [-heart-- +strange-] {+heart--strange+} are the ways of [-evil!--in-] {+evil!-- +in+} our heart there is the first peace we have known in twenty years. + + + + +[-PART TWO-] + + + +{+Chapter Two+} + +Liberty 5-3000 . . . Liberty five-three thousand . . . Liberty 5-3000 . . . . + +We wish to write this name. We wish to speak it, but we dare not +speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of +women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men. But we +think of one among women, they whose name is Liberty 5-3000, and +we think of no others. + +The women who have been assigned to work the soil live in the +Homes of the Peasants beyond the City. Where the City ends there +is a great road winding off to the north, and we Street Sweepers +must keep this road clean to the first milepost. There is a hedge +along the road, and beyond the hedge lie the fields. The fields +are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us, +with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, +spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come +toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, green +spangles. Women work in the fields, and their white tunics in the +wind are like the wings of sea-gulls beating over the black +soil. + +And there [-is-] {+it+} was that we saw Liberty 5-3000 walking along the +furrows. Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron. +Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, +no kindness and no guilt. Their hair was golden as the sun; their +hair flew in the wind, shining and wild, as if it defied men to +restrain it. They threw seeds from their hand as if they deigned +to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was a beggar under their +feet. + +We stood still; for the first time [-did-] we know fear, and then pain. +And we stood still that we might not spill this pain more +precious than pleasure. + +Then we heard a voice from the others call their name: "Liberty +5-3000," and they turned and walked back. Thus we learned their +name, and we stood watching them go, till their white tunic was +lost in the blue mist. + +And the following day, as we came to the northern road, we kept +our eyes upon Liberty 5-3000 in the field. And each day +thereafter we knew the illness of waiting for our hour on the +northern road. And there we looked at Liberty 5-3000 each day. We +know not whether they looked at us also, but we think they did. + +Then one day they came close to the hedge, and suddenly they +turned to us. They turned in a whirl and the movement of +their body stopped, as if slashed off, as suddenly as it had started. +They stood still as a stone, and they looked straight upon us, +straight [-into-] {+in+} our eyes. There was no smile on their face, and no +welcome. But their face was [-taut,-] {+taught,+} and their eyes were dark. +Then they turned as swiftly, and they walked away from us. + +But the following day, when we came to the road, they smiled. +They smiled to us and for us. And we smiled in answer. Their head +fell back, and their arms fell, as if their arms and their thin +white neck were stricken suddenly with a great lassitude. They +were not looking upon us, but upon the sky. Then they glanced at +us over their shoulder, +[-as-] {+and+} we felt as if a hand had touched our +body, slipping softly from our lips to our feet. + +Every morning thereafter, we greeted each other with our eyes. We +dared not speak. It is a transgression to speak to men of other +Trades, save in groups at the Social Meetings. But once, standing +at the hedge, we raised our hand to our forehead and then moved +it slowly, palm down, toward Liberty 5-3000. Had the others seen +it, they could have guessed nothing, for it looked only as if we +were shading our eyes from the sun. But Liberty 5-3000 saw it and +understood. They raised their hand to their forehead and moved it +as we had. Thus, each day, we greet Liberty 5-3000, and they +answer, and no men can suspect. + +We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second +Transgression of Preference, for we do not think of all our +brothers, as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty +5-3000. We do not know why we think of them. We [-do-] {+don+} not know why, +when we think of them, we feel [-all-] of a sudden that the earth is good +and that it is not a burden to live. + +We do not think of them as Liberty 5-3000 any longer. We have +given them a name in our thoughts. We call them the Golden One. +But it is a sin to give men {+other+} names which distinguish them +from other men. Yet we call them the Golden [-One,-] {+one,+} for they are not +like the others. The Golden One are not like the others. + +And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think +of women, save at the Time of Mating. This is the time each +spring when all the men older than twenty and all the women older +than eighteen are sent for one night to the City Palace of +Mating. And each of the men have one of the women assigned to +them +[-by-] {+buy+} the Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter, +but women never see their children and children never know their +parents. Twice have we been sent to the Palace of Mating, but it +is an ugly and shameful matter, of which we do not like to think. + +We had broken so many laws, and today we have broken one more. [-Today,-] +{+Today+} we spoke to the Golden One. + +The other women were far off in the field, when we stopped at the +hedge by the side of the road. The Golden One were kneeling alone +at the moat which runs through the field. And the drops of water +falling from their hands, as they raised the water to their lips, +were like sparks of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us, +and they did not move, kneeling there, looking at us, and circles +of light played upon their white tunic, from the sun on the water +of the moat, and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their +hand held as frozen in the air. + +Then the Golden One rose and walked to the hedge, as if they had +heard a command in our eyes. The two other Street Sweepers of our +brigade were a hundred paces away down the road. And we thought +that International 4-8818 would not betray us, and Union 5-3992 +would not understand. So we looked straight upon the [-Golden One,-] {+golden one,+} +and we saw the shadows of their lashes on their white cheeks and +the sparks of sun on their lips. And we said: + +"You are beautiful, Liberty 5-3000." + +Their face did not move and they did not avert their eyes. Only +their eyes grew wider, and there was triumph in their eyes, and +it was not triumph over us, but over things we could not guess. + +Then they asked: + +"What is your name?" + +"Equality 7-2521," we answered. + +"You are not one of our brothers, Equality 7-2521, for we do not +wish you to be." + +We cannot say what they meant, for there are no words for their +meaning, but we know it without words and we knew it then. + +"No," we answered, "nor are you one of our sisters." + +"If you see us among scores of women, will you look upon us?" + +"We shall look upon you, Liberty 5-3000, if we see you among all +the women of the earth." + +Then they asked: + +"Are Street Sweepers sent to different parts of the City or do +they always work in the same places?" + +"They always work in the same places," we answered, "and no one +will take this road away from us." + +"Your eyes," they said, "are not like the eyes of any among men." + +And suddenly, without cause for the thought which came to us, we +felt cold, cold to our stomach. + +"How old are you?" we asked. + +They understood our thought, for they lowered their eyes for the +first time. + +"Seventeen," they whispered. + +And we sighed, as if a burden had been taken from us, for we had +been thinking without reason of the Palace of Mating. And we +thought that we would not let the Golden One be sent to the +Palace. How to prevent it, how to bar the will of the Councils, +we knew not, but we knew suddenly that we would. Only we do not +know why such thought came to us, for these ugly matters bear no +relation to us and the Golden One. What relation can they bear? + +Still, without reason, as we stood there by the hedge, we felt +our lips drawn tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our +brother men. And the Golden One saw it and smiled slowly, and +there was in their smile the first sadness we had seen in them. +We think that in the wisdom of women the Golden One had +understood more than we can understand. + +Then three of the sisters in the field appeared, coming toward +the road, so the Golden One walked away from us. They took the +bag of seeds, and they threw the seeds into the furrows of earth +as they walked away. But the seeds flew wildly, for the hand of +the Golden One was trembling. + +Yet as we walked back to the Home of the Street Sweepers, we felt +that we wanted to sing, without reason. So we were reprimanded +tonight, in the dining hall, for without knowing it we had begun +to sing aloud some tune we had never heard. But it is not proper +to sing without reason, save at the Social Meetings. + +"We are singing because we are happy," we answered the one of the +Home Council who reprimanded us. + +"Indeed you are happy," they answered. "How else can men be when +they live for their brothers?" + +And now, sitting here in our tunnel, we wonder about these words. +It is forbidden, not to be happy. For, as it has been explained +to us, men are free and the earth belongs to them; and all things +on earth belong to all men; and the will of all men together is +good for all; and so all men must be happy. + +Yet as we stand at night in the great hall, removing our garments +for sleep, we look upon our brothers and we wonder. The heads of +our brothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull, and +never do they look one another in the eyes. The shoulders of our +brothers are hunched, and their muscles are drawn, as if their +bodies were shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight. And a +word steals into our mind, as we look upon our brothers, and that +word is fear. + +There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and in +the air of the streets. Fear walks through the [-City,-] {+city,+} fear without +name, without shape. All men feel it and none dare to speak. + +We feel it also, when we are in the Home of the Street Sweepers. +But here, in our tunnel, we feel it no longer. The air is pure +under the ground. There is no odor of men. And these three hours +give us strength for our hours above the ground. + +Our body is betraying us, for the Council of the Home looks with +suspicion upon us. It is not good to feel [-too-] {+to+} much joy nor to be +glad that our body lives. For we matter not and it must not +matter to us whether we live or die, which is to be as our +brothers will it. But we, Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living. +If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue. + +Yet our brothers are not like us. All is not well with our +brothers. There are Fraternity 2-5503, a quiet boy with wise, +kind eyes, who cry suddenly, without reason, in the midst of day +or night, and their body shakes with sobs {+so+} they cannot explain. +There are Solidarity 9-6347, who are a bright youth, without fear +in the day; but they scream in their sleep, and they scream: +"Help us! Help us! Help us!" into the night, in a voice which +chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure Solidarity 9-6347. + +And as we all undress at night, in the dim light of [-the-] candles, our +brothers are silent, for they dare not speak the thoughts of +their minds. For all must agree with all, and they cannot know if +their thoughts are the thoughts of all, and so they fear to +speak. And they are glad when {+the+} candles are blown for the +night. But we, Equality 7-2521, look through the window upon the +sky, and there is peace in the sky, and cleanliness, and dignity. +And beyond the City there lies the plain, and beyond the plain, +black upon the black sky, there lies the Uncharted Forest. + +We do not wish to look upon the Uncharted Forest. We do not wish +to think of it. But ever do our eyes return to that black patch +upon the sky. Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, for there is +no power to explore it and no path to lead among its ancient +trees which stand as guards of fearful secrets. It is whispered +that once or twice in a hundred years, one among the men of the +City escape alone and run to the Uncharted Forest, without call +or reason. These men do not return. They perish from hunger and +from the claws of the wild beasts which roam the Forest. But our +Councils say [-that-] this is only a legend. We have heard that there are +many Uncharted Forests over the land, among the Cities. +[-And-] {+and+} it is +whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many cities of +the Unmentionable Times. The trees have swallowed the ruins, and +the bones under the ruins, and all the things which perished. + +And as we look upon the Uncharted Forest far in the night, we +think of the secrets of the Unmentionable Times. And we wonder +how it came to pass that these secrets were lost to the world. We +have heard the legends of the great fighting, in which many men +fought on one side and only a few on the other. These few were +the Evil Ones and they were conquered. Then great fires raged +over the land. And in these fires the Evil Ones were {+burned. And +the fire which is called the Dawn of the Great Rebirth, was the +Script Fire where all the scripts of the Evil Ones were+} burned, +and with them all the words of the Evil Ones. Great mountains of +flame stood in the squares of the Cities for three months. Then +came the Great Rebirth. + +The words of the Evil [-Ones . . .-] {+Ones...+} The words of the Unmentionable [-Times . . .-] +{+Times...+} What are the words which we have lost? + +May the Council have mercy upon us! We had no wish to write such +a question, and we knew [-no-] {+not+} what we were doing till we had +written it. We shall not ask this question and we shall not +think it. We shall not call death upon our head. + +And [-yet . . .-] {+yet...+} And [-yet . . .-] {+yet...+} + +There is some word, one single word which is not in the language +of men, but which [-had-] {+has+} been. And this is the Unspeakable Word, +which no men may speak nor hear. But sometimes, and it is rare, +sometimes, somewhere, one among men find that word. They find it +upon scraps of old manuscripts or cut into the fragments of +ancient stones. But when they speak it they are put to death. +There is no crime punished by death in this world, save this one +crime of speaking the Unspeakable Word. + +We have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the +City. And it was a sight which has stayed with us through the +years, and it haunts us, and follows us, and it gives us no rest. +We were a child then, ten years old. And we stood in the great +square with all the children and all the men of the City, sent to +behold the burning. They brought the Transgressor out into the +square and they led [-them-] {+him+} to the pyre. They had torn out the tongue +of the Transgressor, so that they could speak no longer. The +Transgressor were young and tall. They had hair of gold and eyes +blue as morning. They walked to the pyre, and their step did not +falter. And of all the faces on that square, of all the faces +which shrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them, [-their-] {+theirs+} was +the calmest and [-the-] happiest face. + +As the chains were wound over their body at the stake, and a +flame set to the pyre, the Transgressor looked upon the City. +There was a thin thread of blood running from the corner of their +mouth, but their lips were smiling. And a monstrous thought came +to us then, which has never left us. We had heard of Saints. +There are the Saints of Labor, and the Saints of the Councils, +and the Saints of the Great Rebirth. But we had never seen a +Saint nor what the likeness of a Saint should be. And we thought +then, standing in the square, that the likeness of a Saint was +the face we saw before us in the flames, the face of the +Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word. + +As the flames rose, a thing happened which no eyes saw but ours, +else we would not be living today. Perhaps it had only seemed to +us. But it seemed to us that the eyes of the Transgressor had +chosen us from the crowd and were looking straight upon us. There +was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their +body. There was only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than +{+it+} is fit for human pride to be. And it seemed as if these eyes +were trying to tell us something through the flames, to send into +our eyes some word without sound. And it seemed as if these eyes +were begging us to gather that word and not to let it go from us +and from the earth. But the flames rose and we could not guess +the [-word. . . .-] {+word....+} + +What--even if we have to burn for it like the Saint of the [-Pyre--what-] {+pyre +--what+} is the Unspeakable Word? + + + + +[-PART THREE-] + + + +{+Chapter Three+} + +We, Equality 7-2521, have discovered a new power of nature. And +we have discovered it alone, and we [-alone-] are to know it. + +It is said. Now let us be lashed for it, if we must. The Council +of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and +therefore {+all+} the things which are not known by all do not exist. +But we think that the Council of Scholars is blind. The secrets +of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who +will seek them. We know, for we have found a secret unknown to +all our brothers. + +We know not what this power is nor whence [-is-] {+it+} comes. But we know +its nature, we have watched it and worked with it. We saw it +first two years ago. One night, we were cutting open the body of +a dead frog when we [-saw-] {+say+} its leg jerking. It was dead, yet it +moved. Some power unknown to men was making it move. We could not +understand it. Then, after many tests, we found the answer. The +frog had been hanging on a wire of copper; and it had been the +metal of our knife which had sent +[-the-] {+a+} strange power to the copper +through the brine of the frog's body. We put a piece of copper +and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine, we touched a wire to +them, and there, under our fingers, was a miracle which had never +occurred before, a new miracle and a new power. + +This discovery haunted us. We followed it in preference to all +our studies. We worked with it, we tested [-it-] in more ways than we +can describe, and each step was [-as-] another miracle unveiling before +us. We came to know that we had found the greatest power on +earth. For it defies all the laws known to men. It makes the +needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the Home +of the Scholars; but we had been taught, when still a child, that +the loadstone points to the north and [-that-] this is a law which nothing +can change; yet our new power defies all laws. We found that it +causes lightning, and never have men known what causes lightning. +In thunderstorms, we raised a tall rod of iron by the side of our +hole, and we watched it from below. We have seen the +[-lightning-] {+lightening+} +strike it again and again. And now we know that metal draws the +power of the sky, and that metal can be made to give it forth. + +We have built strange things with this discovery of ours. We used +for it the copper wires which we found here under the ground. We +have walked the length of our tunnel, with a candle lighting the +way. We could go no farther [-that-] {+than+} half a mile, for earth and rock +had fallen at both ends. But we gathered all the things we found +and we brought them to our work place. We found strange boxes +with bars of metal inside, with many cords and strands and coils +of metal. We found wires that led to strange little globes of +glass on the walls; they contained threads of metal thinner than +a spider's web. + +These things help us in our work. We do not understand them, but +we think that the men of the Unmentionable Times had known our +power of the sky, and these things had some relation to it. We do +not know, but we shall learn. We cannot stop now, even though it +frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge. + +No single one can possess greater wisdom [-that-] {+than+} the many Scholars +who are elected by all men for their wisdom. Yet we can. We do. +We have fought against saying it, but now it is said. We do not +care. We forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals +and our wires. So much is still to be learned! So long a road +lies before us, and what care we if we must travel it alone! + + + + +[-PART FOUR-] + + + +{+Chapter Four+} + +Many days passed before we could speak to the Golden One again. +But then came the day when the sky turned white, as if the sun +had burst and spread its flame in the air, and the fields lay +still without breath, and the dust of the road [-was-] {+what+} white in the +glow. So the women of the field were weary, and they tarried over +their work, and they were far from the road when we came. But the +Golden [-One-] {+one+} stood alone at the hedge, waiting. We stopped and we +saw that their eyes, so hard and scornful to the world, were +looking at us [-at-] {+as+} if they would obey any word we might speak. + +And we said: + +"We have [-give-] {+given+} you a name in our thoughts, Liberty 5-3000." + +"What is our name?" they asked. + +"The Golden One." + +"Nor do we call you Equality 7-2521 when we think of you." + +"What name have you given us?" + +They looked straight into our eyes and they held their head high +and they answered: + +"The Unconquered." + +For a long time we could not speak. Then we said: + +"Such thoughts [-as these-] are forbidden, Golden One." + +"But you think such thoughts as these and you wish us to think +them." + +We [-look-] {+looked+} into their {+eyes+} and we could not lie. + +"Yes," we whispered, and they smiled, and then we said: "Our +dearest one, do not obey us." + +They stepped back, and their eyes were wide and still. + +"Speak [-these-] {+those+} words again," they whispered. + +"Which words?" we asked. But they did not answer, and we knew it. + +"Our dearest one," we whispered. + +Never have men said this to women. + +The head of the Golden One bowed slowly, and they stood still +before us, their arms at their sides, the palms of their hands +turned to us, as if their body were delivered in submission to +our eyes. And we could not speak. + +Then they raised their head, and they spoke simply and gently, as +if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own. + +"The day is hot," they said, "and you have worked for many hours +and you must be weary." + +"No," we answered. + +"It is cooler in the fields," they said, "and there is water to +drink. Are you thirsty?" + +[-"Yes,"-] + +{+"Yes,+} we answered, "but we cannot cross the hedge." + +"We shall bring the water to you," they said. + +Then they knelt by the moat, they gathered water in their two +hands, they rose and they held the water out to our lips. + +We do not know if we drank that water. We only knew suddenly that +their hands were empty, but we were still holding our lips to +their hands, and that they knew [-it,-] {+it+} but did not move. + +We raised our head and stepped back. For we did not understand +what had made us do this, and we were afraid to understand it. + +And the Golden One stepped back, and stood looking upon their +hands in wonder. Then the Golden One moved away, even though no +others were coming, and they +[-moved,-] {+moved+} stepping back, as if they +could not turn from us, their arms bent before them, as if they +could not lower their hands. + + + + +[-PART FIVE-] + + + +{+Chapter Five+} + +We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of +the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only. + +We know not what we are saying. Our head is reeling. We look upon +the light which we [-have-] {+had+} made. We shall be forgiven for anything we +say [-tonight.-] {+tonight .+} . . . + +Tonight, after more days and trials than we can count, we +finished building a strange thing, from the remains of the +Unmentionable Times, a box of glass, devised to give forth the +power of the sky of greater strength than we had ever achieved +before. And when we put our wires to this box, when we closed the +current--the wire glowed! It came to life, it turned red, and a +circle of light lay on the stone before us. + +We stood, and we held our head in our hands. We could not +conceive of that which we had created. We had touched no flint, +made no fire. Yet here was light, light that [-come-] {+came+} from nowhere, +light from the heart of metal. + +We blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed us. There was nothing +left around us, nothing save night and a thin thread of flame in +it, as a crack in the wall of a prison. We stretched our hands to +the wire, and we saw our fingers in the red glow. We could not +see our body nor feel it, and in that moment nothing existed save +our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss. + +Then we thought of the meaning of that which lay before us. We +can light our tunnel, and the City, and all the Cities of the +world with nothing save metal and wires. We can give our brothers +a new light, cleaner and brighter than any they have ever known. +The power of the sky can be made to do men's bidding. There are +no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to +grant us anything if we but choose to ask. + +Then we knew what we must do. Our discovery is too great for us +to waste our time in sweeping [-the-] streets. We must not keep our +secret to ourselves, nor buried under the ground. We must bring +it into the sight of all men. We need all our time, we need the +work rooms of the Home of the Scholars, we want the help of our +brother Scholars and their wisdom joined to ours. There is so +much work ahead for all of us, for all the Scholars of the world. + +In a month, the World Council of Scholars is to meet in our City. +It is a great Council, to which the wisest of all lands are +elected, and it meets once a year in the different Cities of the +earth. We shall go to this Council and we shall lay before them, +as our gift, [-this-] {+the+} glass box with the power of the sky. We shall +confess everything to them. They will see, understand and +forgive. For our gift is greater than our transgression. They +will explain it to the Council of Vocations, and we shall be +assigned to the Home of the Scholars. This has never been done +before, but neither has a gift such as ours ever been offered to +men. + +We must wait. We must guard our tunnel as we had never guarded it +before. For should any men save the Scholars learn of our secret, +they would not understand it, nor would they believe us. They would +see nothing, save our crime of working alone, and they would destroy +us and our light. We care not about our body, but our light [-is . . .-] {+is...+} + +Yes, we do care. For the first time [-do-] we {+do+} care about our body. +For this wire is [-as-] a part of our body, as a vein torn from us, +glowing with our blood. Are we {+are+} proud of this thread of metal, +or of our hands which made it, or is there a line to divide these [-two?-] +{+two.+} + +We stretch out our arms. For the first time do we know how strong +our arms are. And a strange thought comes to us: we wonder, for +the first time in our life, what we look like. Men never see +their own faces and never ask their brothers about it, for it is +evil to have concern for their own faces or bodies. But tonight, +for a reason we cannot fathom, we wish it were possible to us to +know the likeness of our own person. + + + + +[-PART SIX-] + + + +{+Chapter Six+} + +We have not written for thirty days. For thirty days we have not +been here, in our tunnel. We had been caught. + +It happened on that night when we wrote last. We forgot, that +night, to watch the sand in the glass which tells us when three +hours have passed and it is time to return to the City Theatre. +When we [-remembered +it,-] {+remembered,+} the sand had run out. + +We hastened to the Theatre. But the big tent stood grey and +silent against the sky. The streets of the City lay before us, +dark and empty. If we went back to hide in our tunnel, we would +be found and our light +[-found-] with us. So we walked to the Home of the +Street Sweepers. + +When the Council of the Home questioned us, we looked upon the +faces of the Council, but there was no curiosity in those faces, +and no anger, and no mercy. So when the oldest of them asked us: +"Where have you been?" we thought of our glass box and of our +light, and we forgot all else. And we answered: + +"We will not tell you." + +The oldest did not question us further. They turned to the two +youngest, and said, and their voice was bored: + +"Take our brother Equality 7-2521 to the Palace of Corrective +Detention. Lash them until they tell." + +So we were taken to the Stone Room under the Palace of Corrective +Detention. This room has no windows and it is empty save for an +iron post. Two men stood by the post, naked but for leather +aprons and leather hoods over their faces. Those who had brought +us departed, leaving us to the two Judges who stood in a corner +of the room. The [-Judges-] {+judges+} were small, thin men, grey and bent. +They gave the signal to the two strong hooded ones. + +They tore [-the-] {+our+} clothes from our body, they threw us down upon our +knees and they tied our hands to the iron post. + +The first blow of the lash felt as if our spine had been cut in +two. The second blow stopped the first, and for a second we felt +nothing, then [-the-] pain struck us in our throat and fire ran in our +lungs without air. But we did not cry out. + +The lash whistled like a singing wind. We tried to count the +blows, but we lost count. We knew that the blows were falling +upon our [-back.-] {+back+} Only we felt nothing upon our back any longer. A +flaming grill kept dancing before our eyes, and we thought of +nothing save that grill, a grill, a grill of red squares, and +then we knew that we were looking at the squares of the iron +grill in the door, and there were also the squares of stone on +the walls, and the squares which the lash was cutting upon our +back, crossing and re-crossing itself in our flesh. + +Then we saw a fist before us. It knocked our chin up, and we saw +the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers, and the Judge +asked: + +"Where have you been?" + +But we jerked our head away, hid our face upon our tied hands, +and bit our lips. + +The lash whistled again. We wondered who was sprinkling burning +coal dust upon the floor, for we saw drops of red twinkling on +the stones around us. + +Then we knew nothing, save two voices snarling steadily, one +after the other, even though we knew they were speaking many +minutes apart: + +"Where have you been where have you been where have you been +where have you been? . . ." + +And our lips moved, but the sound trickled back into our throat, +and the sound was only: + +"The light . . . The light . . . The light. . . ." + +Then we knew nothing. + +We opened our eyes, lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a +cell. We looked upon two hands [-lying-] {+flying+} far before us on the +bricks, and we moved them, and we knew that they were our hands. +But we could not move our body. Then we smiled, for we thought of +the light and that we had not betrayed it. + +We lay in our cell for many days. The door opened twice each day, +once for the men who brought us bread and water, and once for the Judges. +Many Judges came to our cell, first the humblest and then the most +honored Judges of the City. They stood before us in their white togas, +and they asked: + +"Are you ready to speak?" + +But we shook our head, lying before them on the floor. And they departed. + +We counted each day and each night as it passed. Then, tonight, +we knew that we must escape. For tomorrow the World Council of +Scholars is to meet in our City. + +It was easy to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention. +The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about. +There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the +Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were +ordered to be. Our body is healthy and strength returns to it +speedily. We [-lunged +against the door and it gave way. We-] stole through the dark passages, and through the +dark streets, and down into our tunnel. + +We lit the candle and we saw that our place had not been found +and nothing had been touched. And our glass box stood before us +on the cold oven, as we had left it. What matter they now, the +scars upon our back! + +Tomorrow, in the full light of day, we shall take our box, and +leave our tunnel open, and walk through the streets to the Home +of the Scholars. We shall put before them the greatest gift ever +offered to men. We shall tell them the truth. We shall hand to +them, as our confession, these pages we have written. We shall +join our hands to theirs, and we shall work together, with the +power of the sky, for the glory of mankind. Our blessing upon +you, [-or-] {+our+} brothers! Tomorrow, you will take us back into your +fold and we shall be an outcast no longer. Tomorrow we shall be +one of you again. Tomorrow . . . + + + + +[-PART SEVEN-] + + + +{+Chapter Seven+} + +It is dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head, +black against the last gold of the sky. The moss is soft and +warm. We shall sleep on this moss for many nights, till the +beasts of the forest come to tear our body. We have no bed now, +save the moss, and no future, save the beasts. + +We are old now, yet we were young this morning, when we carried +our glass box through the streets of the City to the Home of the +Scholars. No men stopped us, for there were none about [-from-] the Palace +of Corrective Detention, and the others knew nothing. No men +stopped us at the gate. We walked through {+the+} empty passages and +into the great hall where the World Council of Scholars sat in +solemn meeting. + +We saw nothing as we entered, save the sky in the great windows, +blue and glowing. Then we saw the Scholars who sat around a long table; +they were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of [-the-] {+a+} great sky. +There were {+the+} men whose famous names we knew, and others +from distant lands whose names we had not heard. We saw a +great painting on the wall over their heads, of the twenty +illustrious men who had invented the candle. + +All the heads of the Council turned to us as we entered. These +great and wise of the earth did not know what to think of us, and +they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a +miracle. It is true that our tunic was torn and stained with +brown stains which had been blood. We raised our right arm and we +said: + +"Our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World Council +of Scholars!" + +Then Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest of the Council, +spoke and asked: + +"Who are you, our brother? For you do not look like a Scholar." + +"Our name is [-Equality-] {+Equity+} 7-2521," we answered, "and we are a Street +Sweeper of this City." + +Then [-is-] {+it+} was [-as-] if a great wind had stricken the hall, for all the +Scholars spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened. + +"A Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World +Council of Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all +the rules and all the laws!" + +But we knew how to stop them. + +"Our brothers!" we said. "We matter not, nor our transgression. +It is only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for +we are nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift +such as [-had-] {+has+} never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold +the future of mankind in our hands." + +Then they listened. + +We placed our glass box [-upon-] {+on+} the table before them. We spoke of it, +and of our long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape from +the Palace of Corrective Detention. Not a hand moved in that +hall, as we spoke, nor an eye. Then we put the wires to the box, +and they all bent forward and sat still, watching. And we stood +still, our eyes upon the wire. And slowly, slowly as a flush of +blood, a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the wire glowed. + +But terror struck the men of the Council. They leapt to their +feet, they ran from the table, and they stood pressed against the +wall, huddled together, seeking the warmth of one another's +bodies to give them courage. + +We looked upon them and we laughed and said: + +"Fear nothing, our brothers. There is a great power in these +wires, but this power is tamed. It is yours. We give it to you." + +Still they would not move. + +"We give you the power of the sky!" we cried. "We give you the +key to the earth! Take it, and let us be one of you, the humblest +among you. Let us [-all-] work together, and harness this power, and make +it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our candles and our +torches. Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring a new +light to men!" + +But they looked upon us, and suddenly we were afraid. For their +eyes were still, and small, and evil. + +"Our brothers!" we cried. "Have you nothing to say to us?" + +Then Collective 0-0009 moved forward. They moved to the table and +the others followed. + +"Yes," spoke Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to you." + +The sound of their [-voices-] {+voice+} brought silence to the hall and to [-be-] {+the+} +beat of our heart. + +"Yes," said Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to a wretch +who have broken all the laws and who boast of their infamy! How +dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom [-that-] {+than+} the minds +of your brothers? And if the [-Councils-] {+Council+} had decreed that you [-should-] be a +Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater +use to men than in sweeping the streets?" + +"How dared you, gutter cleaner," spoke Fraternity 9-3452, "to +hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of [-the-] one and not +of [-the-] many?" + +"You shall be burned at the stake," said Democracy 4-6998. + +"No, they shall be lashed," said Unanimity 7-3304, "till there is +nothing left under the lashes." + +"No," said Collective 0-0009, "we cannot decide upon this, our +brothers. No such crime has ever been committed, and it is not +for us to judge. Nor for any small Council. We shall deliver this +creature to the World Council itself and let their will be done." + +We looked upon them and we pleaded: + +"Our brothers! You are right. Let the will of the Council be +done upon our body. We do not care. But the light? What will you +do with the light?" + +Collective 0-0009 looked upon us, and they smiled. + +"So you think [-that-] you have found a new power," said Collective +0-0009. "Do {+you think+} all your brothers think that?" + +"No," we answered. + +"What is not thought by all men cannot be true," said Collective +0-0009. + +"You have worked on this alone?" asked International 1-5537. + +[-"Man-] + +{+"Yes," we answered. + +"What is not done collectively cannot be good," said +International 1-5537. + +"Many+} men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new +ideas in the past," said Solidarity 8-1164, "but when the +majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they +abandoned their ideas, as all men must." + +"This box is useless," said Alliance [-6-4349.-] {+6-7349.+} + +"Should it be what they claim of it," said Harmony 9-2642, "then +it would bring ruin to the Department of Candles. The [-andle-] {+Candle+} is a +great boon to mankind, as approved by all men. Therefore it +cannot be destroyed by the whim of one." + +"This would wreck the [-Plans-] {+plans+} of the World Council," said +Unanimity 2-9913, "and without the Plans of the World Council the +sun cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval of +all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number +needed, and to re-fit {+the+} Plans so as to make candles instead of +torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working +in scores of States. We cannot alter the Plans again [-to-] {+so+} soon." + +"And if this should lighten the toil of men," said Similarity +5-0306, "then it is a great evil, for men have no cause to exist +save in toiling for other men." + +Then Collective 0-0009 rose and pointed at our box. + +"This thing," they said, "must be destroyed." + +And all the others cried as one: + +"It must be destroyed!" + +Then we leapt to the table. + +We seized our box, we shoved them aside, and we ran to the +window. We turned and we looked at them for the last time, and a +rage, such as [-it-] is not fit for humans to know, choked our voice in +our throat. + +"You [-fools"-] {+fools!"+} we cried. "You fools! You thrice-damned fools!" + +We swung our fist through the windowpane, and we leapt out in a +ringing rain of glass. + +We fell, but we never let the box fall from our hands. Then we +ran. We ran blindly, and men and houses streaked past us in a +torrent without shape. And the road seemed not to be flat before +us, but as if it were leaping up to meet us, and we waited for +the earth to rise and strike us in the face. But we ran. We knew +not where we were going. We knew only that we must run, run to +the end of the world, to the end of our days. + +Then we knew suddenly that we were lying on a soft earth and that +we had stopped. Trees taller than we had ever seen before stood +over us in {+a+} great silence. Then we knew. We were in the +Uncharted Forest. We had not thought of coming here, but our legs +had carried our wisdom, and our legs had brought us to the +Uncharted Forest against our will. + +Our glass box lay beside us. We crawled to it, we fell upon it, +our face in our arms, and we lay still. + +We lay [-this-] {+thus+} for a long time. Then we rose, we took our [-box and-] {+box, had+} +walked on into the forest. + +It mattered not where we went. We knew that men would not follow +us, for they never [-enter-] {+entered+} the Uncharted Forest. We had nothing +to fear from them. The forest disposes of its own victims. This +gave us no fear either. Only we wished to be [-away,-] away from the City +and [-from-] the air that touches upon the air of the City. So we walked +on, our box in our arms, our heart empty. + +We are doomed. Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them +alone. And we have heard of the corruption to be found in +solitude. We have torn ourselves from the truth which is our +brother men, and there is no road back for us, and no redemption. + +We know these things, but we do not care. We care for nothing on +earth. We are tired. + +Only the glass box in our arms is like a living heart that gives +us strength. We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this +box for the good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake. +It is above all our brothers to us, and its truth above their +truth. Why wonder about this? We {+have not many days to live. We+} +are walking to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among the great, +silent trees. There is not a thing behind us to regret. + +Then a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only. We thought +of the Golden One. We thought of the Golden One whom we shall +never see again. Then the pain passed. It is best. We are one of +the Damned. It is best if the Golden [-One-] {+one+} forget our name and the +body which bore that name. + + + + +[-PART EIGHT-] + + + +{+Chapter Eight+} + +It has been a day of wonder, this, our first day in the forest. + +We awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face. We wanted +to leap to our feet, as we have had to leap {+to our feet+} every +morning of our life, but we remembered suddenly that no bell had +rung and that there was no bell to ring anywhere. We lay on our +back, we threw our arms out, and we looked up at the sky. The +leaves had edges of silver that trembled and rippled like a river +of green and fire flowing high above us. + +We did not wish to move. We thought suddenly that we could lie +thus as long as we wished, and we laughed aloud at the thought. +We could also rise, or run, or leap, or fall down again. We were +thinking that these were [-thoughts-] {+things+} without sense, but before we knew [-it-] +{+it,+} our body had risen in one leap. Our arms stretched out of +their own will, and our body whirled and whirled, till it raised +a wind to rustle through the leaves of the bushes. Then our hands +seized a branch and swung us high into a tree, with no aim save +the wonder of learning the strength of our body. The branch +snapped under us and we fell upon the moss that was soft as a +cushion. Then our body, losing all sense, rolled over and over on +the moss, dry leaves in our tunic, in our hair, in our face. And +we heard suddenly that we were laughing, laughing aloud, laughing +as if there were no power left in us save laughter. + +Then we took our glass box, and we went [-on-] into the forest. We went +on, cutting through the branches, and it was as if we were +swimming through a sea of leaves, with the bushes as waves rising +and falling and rising around us, and flinging their green sprays +high to the treetops. The trees parted before us, calling us +forward. The forest seemed to welcome us. We went on, without +thought, without care, with nothing to [-feel-] {+fell+} save the song of our +body. + +We stopped when we felt hunger. We saw birds in the tree +branches, and flying from under our footsteps. We picked a stone +and we sent [-is-] {+it+} as an arrow at a bird. It fell before us. We made +a fire, we cooked the bird, and we ate it, and no meal had ever +tasted better to us. And we thought suddenly that there was a +great satisfaction to be found in the food which we need and +obtain by our own hand. And we wished to {+be+} hungry again and +soon, that we might know again this strange new pride in eating. + +Then we walked on. And we came to a stream which lay as a streak +of glass among the trees. It lay so still that we saw no water +but only a cut in the earth, in which the trees grew down, +upturned, and the sky [-lay-] at the bottom. We knelt by the stream and +we bent down to drink. And then we stopped. For, upon the blue of +the sky below us, we saw our own face for the first time. + +We sat still and we held our breath. For our face and our body +were beautiful. Our face was not like the faces of our brothers, +for we felt [-not-] {+no+} pity when [-looking-] {+we looked+} upon it. Our body was not like +the bodies of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin +and hard and strong. And we thought that we could trust this +being who looked upon us from the stream, and that we had nothing +to fear +[-with-] {+from+} this being. + +We walked on till the sun had set. When the shadows gathered +among the trees, we stopped in a hollow between the roots, where +we shall sleep tonight. And suddenly, for the first time this +day, we remembered that we are the Damned. We remembered it, and +we laughed. + +We are writing this on the paper we had hidden in our tunic +together with the written pages we had brought for the World +Council of Scholars, but never given to them. We have much to +speak of to ourselves, and we hope we shall find the words for it +in the days to come. Now, we cannot speak, for we cannot +understand. + + + + +[-PART NINE-] + + + +{+Chapter Nine+} + +We have not written for many days. We did not wish to speak. For +we needed no words to remember that which has happened to us. + +It was on our second day in the forest that we heard steps behind +us. We hid in the bushes, and we waited. The steps came closer. +And then we saw the fold of a white tunic among the trees, and a +gleam of gold. + +We leapt forward, we ran to them, and we stood looking upon the +Golden One. + +They saw us, and their hands closed into fists, and the fists +pulled their arms down, as if they wished their arms to hold +them, while their body swayed. And they could not speak. + +We dared not come too close to them. We asked, and our voice +trembled: + +"How [-did you-] come {+you+} to be here, Golden One?" + +{+But they whispered only:+} + +"We have found you. . . ." + +"How [-did you-] come {+you+} to be in the forest?" we asked. + +They raised their head, and there was a great pride in their +voice; they answered: + +"We have followed you." + +Then we could not speak, and they said: + +"We heard that you had gone to the Uncharted Forest, for the +whole City is speaking of it. So on the night of the day when we +heard it, we ran away from the Home of the Peasants. We found the +marks of your feet across the plain where no men walk. So we +followed them, and we went into the forest, and we followed +the path where the branches were broken by your body." + +Their white tunic was torn, and the branches had cut the skin of +their arms, but they spoke as if they had never taken notice of +it, nor of weariness, nor of fear. + +"We have followed you," they said, "and we shall follow you +wherever you go. If danger threatens you, we shall face it also. +If it be death, we shall die with you. You are damned, and we +wish to share your damnation." + +They looked upon us, and their voice was low, but there was +bitterness and triumph in their [-voice.-] {+voice:+} + +"Your eyes are as a flame, but our brothers have neither hope nor +fire. Your mouth is cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and +humble. Your head is high, but our brothers cringe. You walk, but +our brothers crawl. We wish to be damned with you, rather than [-pleased-] {+be +blessed+} with all our brothers. Do as you please with us, but do +not send us away from you." + +Then they knelt, and bowed their golden head before us. + +We had never thought of that which we did. We bent to raise the +Golden One to their feet, but when we touched them, it was as if +madness had stricken us. We seized their body and we pressed our +lips to theirs. The Golden One breathed once, and their breath +was a moan, and then their arms closed around us. + +We stood together for a long time. And we were frightened that we +had lived for twenty-one years and had never known what joy is +possible to men. + +Then we said: + +"Our dearest one. Fear nothing of the forest. There is no danger +in solitude. We have no need of our brothers. Let us forget their +good and our evil, let us forget all things save that we are +together and that there is joy [-as a bond-] between us. Give us your hand. +Look ahead. It is our own world, Golden One, a strange, unknown +world, but our own." + +Then we walked on into the forest, their hand in ours. + +And that night we knew that to hold the body of [-women-] {+a woman+} in our +arms is neither ugly nor shameful, but the one ecstasy granted to +the race of men. + +We have walked for many days. The forest has no end, and we seek +no end. But each day added to the chain of days between us and +the City is like an added blessing. + +We have made a bow and many arrows. We can kill more birds than +we need for our food; we find water and fruit in the forest. At +night, we choose a clearing, and we build a ring of fires around +it. We sleep in the midst of that ring, and the beasts dare not attack us. +We can see their eyes, green and yellow as coals, watching us +from the tree branches beyond. The fires [-smoulder-] {+smolder+} as a crown +of jewels around us, and smoke stands still in the air, in +columns made blue by the moonlight. We sleep together in the +midst of the ring, the arms of the Golden One around us, their +head upon our breast. + +Some day, we shall stop and build a house, when we shall have +gone far enough. But we do not have to hasten. The days before us +are without end, like the forest. + +We cannot understand this new life which we have found, yet it +seems so clear and so simple. When questions come to puzzle us, +we walk faster, then turn and forget all things as we watch the +Golden One following. The shadows of leaves fall upon their arms, +as they spread the branches apart, but their shoulders are in the +sun. The skin of their arms is like a blue [-mist.-] {+mist,+} but their +shoulders are white and glowing, as if the light fell not from +above, but rose from under their skin. We watch the leaf which +has fallen upon their shoulder, and it lies at the curve of their +neck, and a drop of dew glistens upon it like a jewel. They +approach us, and they stop, laughing, knowing what we think, and +they wait obediently, without questions, till it pleases us to +turn and go on. + +We go on and we bless the earth under our feet. But questions +come to us again, as we walk in silence. If that which we have +found is the corruption of solitude, then what can men wish for +save corruption? If this is the great evil of being alone, then +what is good and what is evil? + +Everything which comes from the many is good. Everything which +comes from one is evil. +[-This have-] {+Thus+} we {+have+} been taught with our first +breath. We have broken the law, but we have never doubted it. Yet +now, as we walk [-through-] the forest, we are learning to doubt. + +There is no life for men, save in useful toil for the good of [-all-] +their brothers. But we lived not, when we toiled for our +brothers, we were only weary. There is no joy for men, save the +joy shared with all their brothers. But the only things which +taught us joy were the power [-we-] created in our wires, and the Golden +One. And both these joys belong to us alone, they come from us +alone, they bear no relation to [-all-] our brothers, and they do not +concern our brothers in any way. Thus do we wonder. + +There is some error, one frightful error, in the thinking of men. +What is that error? We do not know, but the knowledge struggles +within us, struggles to be born. + +Today, the Golden One stopped suddenly and said: + +"We love you." + +But {+then+} they frowned and shook their head and looked at us +helplessly. + +"No," they whispered, "that is not what we wished to say." + +They were silent, then they spoke slowly, and their words were +halting, like the words of a child learning to speak for the +first time: + +"We are one . . . alone . . . and only . . . and we love you who +are one . . . alone . . . and only." + +We looked into each other's eyes and we knew that the breath of a +miracle had touched us, and fled, and left us groping vainly. + +And we felt torn, torn for some word we could not find. + + + + +[-PART TEN-] + + + +{+Chapter Ten+} + +We are sitting at a table and we are writing this upon paper +made thousands of years ago. The light is dim, and we cannot see +the Golden One, only one lock of gold on the pillow of an ancient +bed. This is our home. + +We came upon it today, at sunrise. For many days we [-had-] {+have+} been +crossing a chain of mountains. The forest rose among cliffs, and +whenever we walked out upon a barren stretch of rock we saw great +peaks before us in the west, and to the north of us, and to the +south, as far as our eyes could see. The peaks were red and +brown, with the green streaks of forests as veins upon them, with +blue mists as veils over their heads. We had never heard of these +mountains, nor seen them marked on any map. The Uncharted Forest +has protected them from the Cities and from the men of the +Cities. + +We climbed paths where the wild goat dared not follow. Stones +rolled from under our feet, and we heard them striking the rocks +below, farther and farther down, and the mountains rang with each +stroke, and long after the strokes had died. But we went on, for +we knew that no men would ever follow our track nor reach us +here. + +Then today, at sunrise, we saw a white flame among the trees, +high on a sheer peak before us. We thought that it was a fire and +{+we+} stopped. But the flame [-was-] {+as+} unmoving, yet blinding as liquid +metal. So we climbed toward it through the rocks. And there, +before us, on a broad summit, with the mountains rising behind +it, stood a house such as we had never seen, and the white fire +came from the sun on the glass of its windows. + +The house had two stories and a strange roof flat as a floor. +There was more window than wall upon its walls, and the windows +went on straight around [-the-] corners, though how this [-kept the-] house {+kept+} +standing we could not guess. The walls were hard and smooth, of +that stone unlike stone which we had seen in our tunnel. + +We both knew it without words: this house was left from +the Unmentionable Times. The trees had protected it from time +and weather, and from men who have less pity than time and weather. +We turned to the Golden One and we asked: + +"Are you afraid?" + +But they shook their head. So we walked to the door, and we threw +it open, and we stepped together into the house of the +Unmentionable Times. + +We shall need the days and the years ahead, to look, to [-learn,-] {+learn+} and +to understand the things of this house. Today, we could only look +and try to believe the sight of our eyes. We pulled the heavy +curtains from the windows and we saw that the rooms were small, +and we thought that not more than twelve men could have lived +here. We thought it strange that [-men-] {+man+} had been permitted to build +a house for only twelve. + +Never had we seen rooms so full of light. The sunrays danced upon +colors, colors, {+and+} more colors [-that-] {+than+} we thought possible, we who +had seen no houses save the white ones, the brown ones and the +grey. There were great pieces of glass on the walls, but it was +not glass, for when we looked upon it we saw our own bodies and +all the things behind us, as on the face of a lake. There were +strange things which we had never seen and the use of which we do +not know. And there were globes of glass everywhere, in each +room, the globes with the metal cobwebs inside, such as we had +seen in our tunnel. + +We found the sleeping hall and we stood in awe upon its +threshold. For it was a small room and there were only two beds +in it. We found no other beds in the house, and then we knew that +only two had lived here, and this passes understanding. What kind +of world did they have, the men of the Unmentionable Times? + +We found garments, and the Golden One gasped at the sight of +them. For they were not white tunics, nor white togas; they were +of all colors, no two of them alike. Some crumbled to dust as we +touched +[-them. But-] {+them, but+} others were of heavier cloth, and they felt +soft and new in our fingers. + +We found a room with walls made of shelves, which held rows of +manuscripts, from the floor to the ceiling. Never had we seen +such a number of them, nor of such strange shape. They were not +soft and rolled, they had hard shells of cloth and leather; and +the letters on their pages were [-so-] small and so even that we +wondered at the men who had such handwriting. We glanced through +the pages, and we saw that they were written in our language, but +we found many words which we could not understand. Tomorrow, we +shall begin to read these scripts. + +When we had seen all the rooms of the house, we looked at the +Golden One and we both knew the thought in our minds. + +"We shall never leave this house," we said, "nor let it be taken +from us. This is our home and the end of our journey. This is your house, +Golden One, and ours, and it belongs to no other men whatever +as far as the earth may stretch. We shall not share it with others, +as we share not our joy with them, nor our love, nor our hunger. +So be it to the end of our days." + +"Your will be done," they said. + +Then we went out to gather wood for the great hearth of our home. +We brought water from the stream which runs among the trees under +our windows. We killed a mountain goat, and we brought its flesh +to be cooked in a strange copper pot we found in a place of +wonders, which must have been the cooking room of the house. + +We did this work alone, for no words of ours could take the +Golden One away from the big glass which is not glass. They stood +before it and they looked and looked upon their own body. + +When the sun sank beyond the mountains, the Golden One fell +asleep on the floor, amidst jewels, and bottles of crystal, and +flowers of silk. We lifted the Golden One in our arms and we +carried them to a bed, their head falling softly upon our +shoulder. Then we lit a candle, and we brought paper from the +room of the manuscripts, and we sat by the window, for we knew +that we could not sleep tonight. + +And now we look upon the earth and sky. This spread of naked rock +and peaks and moonlight is like a world ready to be born, a world +that waits. It seems to us it asks a sign from us, a spark, a +first commandment. We cannot know what word we are to give, nor +what great deed this earth expects to witness. We know it waits. +It seems to say it has great gifts to lay before [-us, but it wishes a greater gift for-] us. We are to +speak. We are to give its goal, its highest meaning to all this +glowing space of rock and sky. + +We look ahead, we beg our heart for guidance in answering this +call no voice has spoken, yet we have heard. We look upon our +hands. We see the dust of centuries, the dust which hid [-the-] great +secrets and perhaps great evils. And yet it stirs no fear within +our heart, but only silent reverence and pity. + +May knowledge come to us! What is [-the-] {+this+} secret our heart has +understood and yet will not reveal to us, although it seems to +beat as if it were endeavoring to tell it? + + + + +[-PART ELEVEN-] + + + +{+Chapter Eleven+} + +I am. I think. I will. + +My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . +This earth of [-mine.-] {+mine .+} . . . + +What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer. + +I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head +and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end +of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. +I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for +being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant +and the sanction. + +It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty +to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my +ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and +the [-judgement-] {+judgment+} of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the +truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is +the only edict I must respect. + +Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are +false, but only three are holy: "I will it!" + +Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding +star and the loadstone which point the way. They point +[-on-] {+in+} but one +direction. They point to me. + +I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the +universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know +not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me +on earth. And my happiness needs no [-nigher-] {+higher+} aim to vindicate it. +My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is +its own goal. It is its own purpose. + +Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. +I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. +I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on +their altars. + +I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine +to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before! + +I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune +of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to +the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my +treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of +these is freedom. + +I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I +ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no +man's soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet. + +I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of +them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must +do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without +reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I +honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned. + +I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. +And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love +and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our +hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the +temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his +temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with +others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold. + +For the word "We" must never be spoken, save by one's choice and +as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within +man's soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils +on earth, the root of man's torture by men, and [-of-] an unspeakable lie. + +The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens +to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and +that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the +word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which +the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal +the wisdom of the sages. + +What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? +What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is +my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and [-the-] impotent, are +my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to [-agree-] {+agree,+} and to +obey? + +But I am done with this creed of corruption. + +I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of +plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. + +And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the +earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, +this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. + +This god, this one word: + +"I." + + + + +[-PART TWELVE-] + + + +{+Chapter Twelve+} + +It was when I read the first of the books I found in my house +that I saw the word "I." And when I understood this word, the +book fell from my hands, and I wept, I who had never known tears. +I wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind. + +I understood the blessed thing which I had called my curse. I +understood why the best in me had been my sins and my +transgressions; and why I had never felt guilt in my sins. I +understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the +spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him. + +I read {+many+} books for many days. Then I called the Golden One, +and I told her what I had read and what I had learned. She looked +at me and the first words she spoke were: + +"I love you." + +Then I said: + +"My dearest one, it is not proper for men to be without names. +There was a time when each man had a name of his own to +distinguish him from all other men. So let us choose our names. I +have read of a man who lived many thousands of years ago, and of +all the names in these books, his is the one I wish to bear. He +took the light of the gods and [-he-] brought it to men, and he taught +men to be gods. And he suffered for his deed as all bearers of +light must suffer. His name was Prometheus." + +"It shall be your name," said the Golden One. + +"And I have read of a goddess," I said, "who was the mother of +the earth and of all the gods. Her name was Gaea. Let this be +your name, my Golden One, for you are to be the mother of a new +kind of gods." + +"It shall be my name," said the Golden One. + +Now I look ahead. My future is clear before me. The Saint of the +pyre had seen the future when he chose me as his heir, as the +heir of all the saints and all the martyrs who came before him +and who died for the same cause, for the same word, no matter +what name they gave to their cause and their truth. + +I shall live here, in my own house. I shall take my food from the +earth by the toil of my own hands. I shall learn many secrets +from my books. Through the years ahead, I shall rebuild the +achievements of the past, and open the way to carry them further, +the achievements which are open to me, but closed forever to my +brothers, for their minds are shackled to the weakest and dullest [-ones-] +among them. + +I have learned that [-my-] {+the+} power of the sky was known to men long +ago; they called it Electricity. It was the power that moved +their greatest inventions. It lit this house with light [-which-] {+that+} came +from those globes of glass on the walls. I have found the engine +which produced this light. I shall learn how to repair it and how +to make it work again. I shall learn how to use the wires which +carry this power. Then I shall build a barrier of wires around my +home, and across the paths which lead to my home; a barrier light +as a cobweb, more impassable [-that-] {+than+} a wall of granite; a barrier my +brothers will never be able to cross. For they have nothing to +fight me with, save the brute force of their numbers. I have my +mind. + +Then here, on this mountaintop, with the world below me and +nothing above me but the sun, I shall live my own truth. Gaea is +pregnant with my child. [-Our son +will be raised as a man.-] He will be taught to say "I" and to bear +the pride of it. He will be taught to walk straight [-and-] on his own +feet. He will be taught reverence for his own spirit. + +When I shall have read all the books and learned my new way, when +my home will be ready and my earth tilled, I shall steal one day, +for the last time, into the cursed City of my birth. I shall call +to me my friend who has no name save International 4-8818, and +all those like him, Fraternity 2-5503, who cries without reason, +and Solidarity [-9-6347-] {+8-6347+} who calls for help in the night, and a few +others. I shall call to me all the men and the women whose spirit +has not been killed within them and who suffer under the yoke of +their brothers. They will follow me and I shall lead them to my +fortress. And here, in this uncharted wilderness, I and they, my +chosen friends, my fellow-builders, shall write the first chapter +in the new history of man. + +These are the {+last+} things before me. And as I stand here at the +door of glory, I look behind me for the last time. I look upon +the history of men, which I have learned from the books, and I +wonder. It was a long story, and the spirit which moved it was +the spirit of man's freedom. But what is freedom? Freedom from +what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, +save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. +That is freedom. That and nothing else. + +At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their +chains. [-The-] {+Then+} he was enslaved by the kings. But he broke their +chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. +But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a +man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take +away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right +of man, and there is no right on earth above this right. And he +stood on the threshold of [-the-] freedom for which the blood of the +centuries behind him had been spilled. + +But then he gave up all he had won, and fell lower than his +savage beginning. + +What brought it to pass? What disaster took their reason away +from men? What whip lashed them to their knees in shame and +submission? The worship of the word "We." + +When men accepted that worship, the structure {+of centuries +collapsed about them, the structure+} whose every beam had come +from the thought of some one man, each in his day down the ages, +from the depth of some one spirit, such [-spirit-] as {+spirit+} existed but for +its own sake. Those men who [-survived-] {+survived-+} those eager to obey, eager +to live for one another, since they had nothing else to vindicate [-them--those-] +{+them- those+} men could neither carry on, nor preserve what they +had received. Thus did all thought, all science, all wisdom +perish on earth. Thus did [-men---] {+men-+} men with nothing to offer save +their great [-number-- +lost-] {+numbers- lose+} the steel towers, the flying ships, the +power wires, all the things they had not created and could never +keep. Perhaps, later, some men had been born with the mind and +the courage to recover these things which were lost; perhaps +these men came before the Councils of Scholars. They [-were-] answered as +I have been [-answered---] {+answered-+} and for the same reasons. + +But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years +of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were +going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I +wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word [-"I"-] {+"I,"+} +could give it up and not know what they {+had+} lost. But such has been +the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, +and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them. + +Perhaps, in those days, there were a few among men, a few of +clear sight and clean soul, who refused to surrender that word. +What agony must have been theirs before that which they saw +coming and could not stop! Perhaps they cried out in protest and +in warning. But men paid no heed to their warning. And they, [-these-] +{+those+} few, fought a hopeless battle, and they perished with their +banners smeared by their own blood. And they chose to perish, for +they knew. To them, I send my salute across the centuries, and my pity. + +[-Their-] + +{+Theirs+} is the banner in my hand. And I wish I had the power to +tell them that the despair of their hearts was not to be final, +and their night was not without hope. For the battle they lost +can never be lost. For that which they died to save can never +perish. Through all the darkness, through all the shame of which +men are capable, the spirit of man will remain alive on this +earth. It may sleep, but it will awaken. It may wear chains, but +it will break through. And man will go on. Man, not men. + +[-Here-] + +{+Here,+} on this mountain, I and my sons and my chosen friends shall +build our new land and our fort. And it will become as the heart +of the earth, lost and hidden at first, but beating, beating +louder each day. And word of it will reach every corner of the +earth. And the roads of the world will become as veins which will +carry the best of the world's blood to my threshold. And all my +brothers, and the Councils of my brothers, will hear of it, but +they will be impotent against me. And the day will come when I +shall break [-all-] the chains of the earth, and raze the cities of the +enslaved, and my home will become the capital of a world where +each man will be free to exist for his own sake. + +For the coming of that day [-shall-] I {+shall+} fight, I and my sons and my +chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his +life. For his honor. + +And here, over the portals of my fort, I shall cut in the stone +the word which is to be my beacon and my banner. The word which +will not die, should we all perish in battle. The word which can +never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the +meaning and the glory. + +The sacred word: + +EGO + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand + diff --git a/1249.zip b/1249.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..23f4029 --- /dev/null +++ b/1249.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0998308 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #1249 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1249) diff --git a/old/anthm10z.txt b/old/anthm10z.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8d4489 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/anthm10z.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2822 @@ +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +#1 in our series by Ayn Rand + +This is version 10z, a comparison of the original files we used +to create versions 10 and 10a. . .which helped us correct a few +errors per chapter in those versions. Those with interest in a +greater understanding of those differences in editing, language +and grammar selections, may find this comparison of value.
+ + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! +Anthem is still under copyright in Canada. Please do not put it +on Canadian computers. + +Caxton Printers, who used to own the United States copyrights +to Anthem by Ayn Rand, as per an agreement with Pamphleteers, +was VERY kind and VERY open about explaining the copyright of +Anthem, and how it came to be not renewed in the U.S.; and we +would like to add, on their behalf, that their copyrights are +still in force for Anthem in Canada. Neither we nor they are +in a current position to research the possible copyrights for +other countries, so that is possibly still up in the air. It +behooves me, since they have been so forthcoming about this-- +to encourage you to buy the only hardcover edition available. + +You may contact them via: + www.caxtonprinters.com +publish@caxtonprinters.com +800-657-6465 & 208-459-7421 +Fax Line Is: 208-459-7450 +Please tell them you were +sent by Project Gutenberg + + + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Anthem + +by Ayn Rand + +March, 1998 [Etext #1249] + + +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +******This file should be named anthm10.txt or anthm10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, anthm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, anthm10a.txt + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we do NOT keep these books +in compliance with any particular paper edition, usually otherwise. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-two text +files per month, or 384 more Etexts in 1998 for a total of 1500+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 150 billion Etexts given away. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only 10% of the present number of computer users. 2001 +should have at least twice as many computer users as that, so it +will require us reaching less than 5% of the users in 2001. + + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext90 through /etext96 +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET INDEX?00.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + + + +What follows is a complete comparison, including the headers. + + + + + +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +#1 in our series by Ayn Rand + +This is version [-10,-] {+10a,+} you may also want to [-try-] {+look at+} version [-10a,-] {+10,+} +with +[-wider margins-] {+narrower margins,+} and slightly different [-wordings.-] {+wording.+} + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! +Anthem is still under copyright in Canada. Please do not put it +on Canadian computers. + +Caxton Printers, who used to own the United States copyrights +to Anthem by Ayn Rand, as per an agreement with Pamphleteers, +was VERY kind and VERY open about explaining the copyright of +Anthem, and how it came to be not renewed in the U.S.; and we +would like to add, on their behalf, that their copyrights are +still in force for Anthem in Canada. Neither we nor they are +in a current position to research the possible copyrights for +other countries, so that is possibly still up in the air. It +behooves me, since they have been so forthcoming about this-- +to encourage you to buy the only hardcover edition available. + +You may contact them via: + www.caxtonprinters.com +publish@caxtonprinters.com +800-657-6465 & 208-459-7421 +Fax Line Is: 208-459-7450 +Please tell them you were +sent by Project Gutenberg + + + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Anthem + +by Ayn Rand + +March, 1998 [Etext #1250] + + +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand******* +[-******This-] +{+*****This+} file should be named [-anthm10.txt-] {+anthm10a.txt+} or [-anthm10.zip******-] {+anthm10a.zip*****+} + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, anthm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, [-anthm10a.txt-] {+anthm10b.txt+} + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we do NOT keep these books +in compliance with any particular paper edition, usually otherwise. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-two text +files per month, or 384 more Etexts in 1998 for a total of 1500+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 150 billion Etexts given away. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only 10% of the present number of computer users. 2001 +should have at least twice as many computer users as that, so it +will require us reaching less than 5% of the users in 2001. + + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext90 through /etext96 +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET INDEX?00.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers. + + + + + +[-ANTHEM + +by Ayn Rand + + + + +PART ONE-] + + + + + +{+Chapter One+} + +It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others +think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It +is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears +but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression +blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The +laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations +bid them so. May we be forgiven! + +But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater +crime, and for this crime there is no name. What punishment +awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has +come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it. + +It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. +Nothing moves in this tunnel save our [-hand-] {+hands+} on the paper. We are +alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word, alone. The laws +say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for +this is the great transgression and the root of all evil. But we +have broken many laws. And now there is nothing here save our one +body, and it is strange to see only two legs stretched on the +ground, and on the wall before us the shadow of our one head. + +The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads +without sound, black and glistening as blood. We stole the candle +from the larder of the Home of the Street Sweepers. We shall be +sentenced to ten years in the Palace of Corrective Detention if +it be discovered. But this matters not. It matters only that the +light is precious and we should not waste it to write when we +need it for that work which is our crime. Nothing matters save +the work, our secret, our evil, our precious work. Still, we must +also write, for--may the [-council-] {+Council+} have mercy upon us!--we wish to +speak for once to no ears but our own. + +Our name is Equality 7-2521, as it is written on the iron +bracelet which all men wear on [-the-] {+their+} left wrists with their names +upon it. We are twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall, and +this is a burden, for there are not many men who are six feet +tall. Ever have the Teachers and the Leaders pointed to us and +frowned and said: "There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, +for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers." But +we cannot change our bones nor our body. + +We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts +which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may +not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us +and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret +fear, that we know and do not resist. + +We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be +alike. Over the portals of the Palace of the World Council, there +are words cut in the marble, which we {+are required to+} repeat to +ourselves whenever we are [-tempted: + + + "WE ARE ONE IN ALL AND ALL IN ONE. + THERE ARE NO MEN BUT ONLY THE GREAT _WE_, + ONE, INDIVISIBLE AND FOREVER."-] {+tempted:--"We are one in all and all in one. + +There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever."--+} + +We repeat this to ourselves, but it helps us not. + +These words were cut long ago. There is green mould in the +grooves of the letters and yellow streaks [-on-] {+in+} the marble, which +come from more years than men could count. And these words are +the truth, for they are written on the Palace of the World +Council, and the World Council is the body of all truth. Thus has +it been ever since the Great Rebirth, and farther back than that +no memory can reach. + +But we must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth, +else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of Corrective +Detention. It is only the Old Ones who whisper about it in the +evenings, in the Home of the Useless. They whisper many strange +things, of the towers which rose to the sky, in those +Unmentionable Times, and of the wagons which moved without +horses, and of the lights which burned without flame. But those +times were evil. And those times passed away, when men saw the +Great Truth which is this: that all men are one and that there is +no will save the will of all men together. + +All men are good and wise. It is only we, Equality 7-2521, we +alone who were born with a curse. For we are not like our +brothers. And as we look back upon our life, we see that it has +ever been thus and that it has brought us step by step to our +last, supreme transgression, our [-crime-] {+crimes+} of crimes hidden here +under the ground. + +We remember the Home of the Infants where we lived till we were +five years old, together with all the children of the City who +had been born in the same year. The sleeping halls there were +white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. We +were just like all our brothers then, save for the one +transgression: we fought with our brothers. There are few +offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers, at any age and +for any cause whatsoever. The Council of the Home told us so, and +of all the children of that year, we were locked in the cellar +most often. + +When we were five years old, we were sent to the Home of the +Students, where there are ten wards, for our ten years of +learning. Men must learn till they reach their fifteenth year. +Then they go to work. In the Home of the Students we arose when +the big bell rang in the tower and we went to our beds when it +rang again. Before we removed our garments, we stood in the great +sleeping hall, and we raised our right arms, and we said all +together with the three Teachers at the head: + +"We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are +we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers +who are the State. Amen." + +Then we slept. The sleeping halls were white and clean and bare +of all things save one hundred beds. + +We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those years in the Home of +the Students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. +It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be +born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be +different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to +them. The Teachers told us so, and they frowned when they looked +upon us. + +So we fought against this curse. We tried to forget our lessons, +but we always remembered. We tried not to understand what the [-Teachers-] +{+teachers+} taught, but we always understood it before the Teachers +had spoken. We looked upon Union [-5-3992,-] {+5-3992+} who were a pale boy with +only half a brain, and we tried to say and do as they did, that +we might be like them, like Union 5-3992, but somehow the +Teachers knew that we were not. And we were lashed more often +than all the other children. + +The Teachers were just, for they had been appointed by the +Councils, and the Councils are the [-voice-] {+voices+} of all justice, for +they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes, in the secret +darkness of our heart, we regret that which befell us on our +fifteenth birthday, we know that it was through our own guilt. We +had broken a law, for we had not paid heed to the words of our +Teachers. The Teachers had said to us all: + +"Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do +when you leave the Home of the Students. You shall do +[-that which-] {+what+} the +Council of [-Vocations-] {+Vocation+} shall prescribe for you. For the Council of +Vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your +brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little +minds. And if you are not needed by your brother [-man,-] {+men,+} there is no +reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies." + +We knew this well, in the years of our childhood, but our curse +broke our will. We were guilty and we confess it here: we were +guilty of the great Transgression of Preference. We preferred +some work and some lessons to the others. We did not listen well +to the history of all the Councils elected since the Great +Rebirth. But we [-love-] {+loved+} the Science of Things. We wished to know. +We wished to know about all the things which [-make-] {+makes+} the earth +around us. We asked so many questions that the Teachers forbade it. + +We think that there are mysteries in the +[-sky,-] {+sky+} and [-under-] the water and in +the plants which grow. But the Council of Scholars has said that +there are no mysteries, and the Council of Scholars knows all +things. And we learned much from our Teachers. We learned that +the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it, which +causes the day and [-the-] night. We learned the names of all the winds +which blow over the seas and push the sails of our great ships. +We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all ailments. + +We [-love-] {+loved+} the Science of Things. And in the darkness, in the +secret hour, when we awoke in the night and there were no brothers +around us, but only their shapes in the beds and their snores, +we closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and we +stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our brothers see or +hear or guess, and we thought that we wished to be sent to the +Home of the Scholars when our time would come. + +All {+of+} the great modern inventions come from the Home of the +Scholars, such as the newest one, which was found only a hundred +years ago, of how to make candles from wax and string; also, how +to make glass, which is put in our windows to protect us from the +rain. To find these things, the Scholars must study the earth and +learn from the rivers, from the sands, from the winds and the +rocks. And if we went to the Home of the Scholars, we could learn +from these also. We could ask questions of these, for they do not +forbid questions. + +And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us +seek we know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it. It +whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours, +and that we [-can know them +if we try, and that we-] must know them. We ask, why must we know, but it has +no answer to give us. We must know that we may know. + +So we wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars. We wished it +so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night, +and we bit our arm to stop that other pain which we could not +endure. It was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the +morning. For men may wish nothing for themselves. And we were +punished when the Council of Vocations came to give us our life +Mandates which tell those who reach their fifteenth year what +their work is to be for the rest of their days. + +The Council of Vocations came {+in+} on the first day of spring, and +they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteen and all the +Teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of [-vocations-] {+Vocations+} +sat on a high dais, and they had but two words to speak to each +of the Students. They called the Students' names, and when the [-Students-] +{+students+} stepped before them, one after another, the Council +said: "Carpenter" or "Doctor" or "Cook" or "Leader." Then each +Student raised their right arm and said: "The will of our +brothers be done." + +Now if the Council [-has-] said "Carpenter" or "Cook," the Students so +assigned go to [-work,-] {+work+} and [-they-] do not study any further. But if the +Council has said "Leader," then those [-Students-] {+students+} go into the Home +of the Leaders, which is the greatest house in the City, for it +has three stories. And there they study for many years, {+so that +they may become candidates+} and be elected to the City Council and +the State Council and the World Council--by a free and general +vote of all men. But we wished not to be a Leader, even though it +is a great honor. We wished to be a Scholar. + +So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the +Council of Vocations call our name: "Equality 7-2521." We walked +to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at +the {+Council. There were five members of the+} Council, three of the +male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their +faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old. +They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World +Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no +breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that +they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose, +pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which +moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said: +"Street Sweeper." + +We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher +to look upon the faces of the Council, and we were happy. We [-knew-] {+know+} +we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it. We +would accept our Life Mandate, and we would work for our +brothers, gladly and willingly, and we would erase our sin +against them, which they did not know, but we knew. So we were +happy, and proud of ourselves and of our victory over ourselves. +We raised our right arm and we spoke, and our voice was the +clearest, the steadiest voice in the hall that day, and we said: + +"The will of our brothers be done." + +And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council, but their +eyes were as cold {+as+} blue glass buttons. + +So we went into the Home of the Street Sweepers. It is a grey +house on a narrow street. There is a sundial in its courtyard, by +which the Council of the Home can tell the hours of the day and +when to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we all arise from our +beds. [-They-] {+The+} sky is green and cold in our windows to the east. The +shadow on the sundial marks off a half-hour while we dress and +eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there are five long +tables with twenty clay plates and twenty clay cups on each +table. Then we go to work in the streets of the City, with our +brooms and our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high, we +return to the Home and we eat our midday meal, for which +one-half hour is allowed. Then we go to work again. In five +hours, the shadows are blue on the pavements, and the sky is blue +with a deep brightness which is not bright. We come back to have +our dinner, which lasts one hour. Then the bell rings and we walk +in a straight column to one of the City Halls, for the Social +Meeting. Other columns of men arrive from the Homes of the +different Trades. The candles are lit, and the Councils of the +different Homes stand in a pulpit, and they speak to us of our +duties and of our brother men. Then visiting Leaders mount the +pulpit and they read to us the speeches which were made in the +City Council that day, for the City Council represents all men +and all men must know. Then we sing hymns, the Hymn of +Brotherhood, and the Hymn of Equality, and the Hymn of the +Collective Spirit. The sky is a soggy purple when we return to +the Home. Then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to +the City Theatre for three hours of Social Recreation. There a +play is shown upon the stage, with two great choruses from the +Home of the Actors, which speak and answer all together, in two +great voices. The plays are about toil and how good it is. Then +we walk back to the Home [-is-] {+in+} a straight column. The sky is like a +black sieve pierced by silver drops that tremble, ready to burst +through. The moths beat against the street lanterns. We go to our +beds and we sleep, till the bell rings again. The sleeping halls +are white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds. + +Thus have we lived each day of four years, until two springs ago +when our crime happened. Thus must all men live until they are +forty. At forty, they are worn out. At forty, they are sent to +the Home of the Useless, where the Old Ones live. The Old Ones do +not work, for the State takes care of them. They sit in the sun +in summer and they sit by the fire in winter. They do not speak +often, for they are weary. The Old Ones know that they are soon +to die. When a miracle happens and some live to be forty-five, +they are the +[-ancient ones,-] {+Ancient Ones,+} and [-the-] children stare at them when +passing by the Home of the Useless. Such is to be our life, as +that of all our brothers and of the brothers who came before us. + +Such would have been our life, had we not committed our crime +which {+has+} changed all things for us. And it was our curse which +drove us to our crime. We had been a good Street Sweeper and like +all our brother Street Sweepers, save for our cursed wish to +know. We looked too long at the stars at night, and at the trees +and the earth. And when we cleaned the yard of the Home of the +Scholars, we gathered the glass vials, the pieces of metal, the +dried bones which they had discarded. We wished to keep these +things and to study them, but we had no place to hide them. So we +carried them to the City Cesspool. And then we made the +discovery. + +It was on a day of the spring before last. We Street Sweepers +work in brigades of three, and we were with Union 5-3992, they of +the [-half brain,-] {+half-brain,+} and with International 4-8818. Now Union 5-3992 +are a sickly lad and sometimes they are stricken with +convulsions, when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white. +But International 4-8818 are different. They are a tall, strong +youth and their eyes are like fireflies, for there is laughter in +their eyes. We cannot look upon International 4-8818 and not +smile in answer. For this they were not liked in the Home of the +Students, as it is not proper to smile without reason. And also +they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they +drew pictures upon the walls, and they were pictures which made +men laugh. But it is only our brothers in the Home of the Artists +who are permitted to draw pictures, so International 4-8818 were +sent to the Home of the Street Sweepers, like ourselves. + +International 4-8818 and we are friends. This is an evil thing to +say, for it is a {+great+} transgression, the great Transgression of +Preference, to love any among men better than the others, since +we must love all men and all men are our friends. So +International 4-8818 and we have never spoken of it. But we know. +We know, when we look into each other's eyes. And when we look +thus without [-words,-] {+works,+} we both know other things also, strange +things for which there are no words, and these things frighten us. + +So on that day of the spring before last, Union 5-3992 were stricken +with convulsions on the edge of the City, near the City Theatre. +We left them to lie in the shade of the Theatre tent and +we went with International 4-8818 to finish our work. We came +together to the great ravine behind the Theatre. It is empty save +for trees and weeds. Beyond the ravine there is a plain, and +beyond the plain there lies the Uncharted Forest, about which men +must not think. + +We were gathering the papers and the rags which the wind had +blown from the Theatre, when we saw an iron bar among the weeds. +It was old and rusted by [-man-] {+many+} rains. We pulled with all our +strength, but we could not move it. So we called International [-4-8818,-] +{+4-8818+} and together we scraped the earth around the bar. Of a +sudden the earth fell in before us, and we saw an old iron grill +over a black hole. + +International 4-8818 stepped back. But we pulled at the grill and +it gave way. And then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a +shaft into a darkness without bottom. + +"We shall go down," we said to International 4-8818. + +"It is forbidden," they answered. + +We said: "The Council does not know of this hole, so it cannot be +forbidden." + +And they answered: "Since the Council does not know of this +hole, there can be no law permitting to enter it. And everything +which is not permitted by law is forbidden." + +But we said: "We shall go, none the less." + +They were frightened, but they stood by and watched us go. + +We hung on the iron rings with our hands and {+our+} feet. We could +see nothing below us. And above us the hole [-open-] upon the sky grew +smaller and smaller, till it came to be the size of a button. But +still we went down. Then our foot touched the ground. We rubbed +our eyes, for we could not see. Then our eyes became used to the +darkness, +[-but-] {+and+} we could not believe what we saw. + +No [-men-] {+man+} known to us could have built this place, nor the men known +to our brothers who lived before us, and yet it was built by men. +It was a great tunnel. Its walls were hard and smooth to the +touch; it felt like stone, but it was not stone. On the ground +there were long thin tracks of iron, but it was not iron; it felt +smooth and cold as glass. We knelt, and we crawled forward, our +hand groping along the iron line to see where it would lead. But +there was an unbroken night ahead. Only the iron tracks glowed +through it, straight and white, calling us to follow. But we +could not follow, for we were losing the puddle of light behind +us. So we turned and we crawled back, our hand on the iron line. +And our heart beat in our fingertips, without reason. And then we knew. + +We knew suddenly that this place was left from the Unmentionable Times. +So it was true, and those Times had been, and all the wonders +of those Times. Hundreds upon hundreds of years ago men knew +secrets which we have lost. And we thought: "This is a foul +place. They are damned who touch the things of the Unmentionable +Times." But our hand which followed the track, as we crawled, +clung to the iron as if it would not leave it, as if the skin of +our hand were thirsty and begging of the metal some secret fluid +beating in its coldness. + +We returned to the earth. International 4-8818 looked upon us and +stepped back. + +"Equality 7-2521," they said, "your face is white." + +But we could not speak and we stood looking upon them. + +They backed away, as if they dared not touch us. Then they +smiled, but it was {+a+} not a gay smile; it was lost and pleading. +But still we could not speak. Then they said: + +"We shall report our find to the City Council and both of us +will be rewarded." + +And then we spoke. Our voice was hard and there was no mercy in +our voice. We said: + +"We shall not report our find to the City Council. We shall not +report it to any men." + +They raised their hands to their ears, for never had they heard +such words as these. + +"International 4-8818," we asked, "will you report us to the +Council and see us lashed to death before your eyes?" + +They stood straight [-all-] of a sudden and they answered: + +"Rather would we die." + +"Then," we said, "keep silent. This place is ours. This place +belongs to us, Equality 7-2521, and to +[-no-] {+not+} other men on earth. +And if ever we surrender it, we shall surrender our life with it +also." + +Then we saw that [-they-] {+the+} eyes of International 4-8818 were full to +the lids with tears {+with tears+} they dared not [-drop. +They-] {+drop, they+} +whispered, and their voice trembled, so that their words lost all +shape: + +"The will of the Council is above all things, for it is the will +of our brothers, which is holy. But if you wish it so, we shall +obey you. Rather shall we be evil with you than good with all our +brothers. May the Council have mercy upon both our hearts!" + +Then we walked away together and back to the Home of the Street +Sweepers. And we walked in silence. + +Thus did it come to pass that each night, when the stars are high +and the Street Sweepers sit in the City Theatre, we, Equality +7-2521, steal out and run through the darkness to our place. It +is easy to leave the Theatre; when the candles are blown [-out-] and the +Actors come onto the stage, no eyes can see us as we crawl under +our seat and under the cloth of the tent. [-Later,-] {+Later+} it is easy to +steal through the shadows and fall in line next to International +4-8818, as the column leaves the Theatre. It is dark in the +streets and there are no men about, for no men may walk through +the City when they have no mission to walk there. Each night, we +run to the ravine, and we remove the stones [-which-] we have piled upon +the iron grill to hide it from [-the-] men. Each night, for three hours, +we are under the earth, alone. + +We have stolen candles from the Home of the Street Sweepers, we +have stolen flints and knives and paper, and we have brought them +to this place. We have stolen glass vials and powders and acids +from the Home of the Scholars. Now we sit in the tunnel for three +hours each night and we study. We melt strange metals, and we mix +acids, and we cut open the bodies of the animals which we find in +the City Cesspool. We have built an oven of the bricks we +gathered in the streets. We burn the wood we find in the ravine. +The fire flickers in the oven and blue shadows dance upon the +walls, and there is no sound of men to disturb us. + +We have stolen manuscripts. This is a great offense. Manuscripts +are precious, for our brothers in the Home of the Clerks spend +one year to copy one single script in their clear handwriting. +Manuscripts are rare and they are kept in the Home of the +Scholars. So we sit under the earth and we read the stolen +scripts. Two years have passed since we found this place. And in +these two years we have learned more than we had learned in the +ten years of the Home of the Students. + +We have learned things which are not in the scripts. We have +solved {+the+} secrets of which the Scholars have no knowledge. We +have come to see how great is the unexplored, and many lifetimes +will not bring us to the end of our quest. [-But we +wish no end to our quest.-] We wish nothing, save +to be alone and to learn, and to feel as if with each day our +sight were growing sharper than the hawk's and clearer than rock +crystal. + +Strange are the ways of evil. We are false in the faces of our +brothers. We are defying the will of our Councils. We alone, of +the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are +doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it. The +evil of our crime is not for the human mind to probe. The nature +of our punishment, if it be discovered, is not {+free+} for the human +heart to ponder. Never, not in the memory of the Ancient Ones' +Ancients, never have men done [-that +which-] {+what+} we are doing. + +And yet there is no shame in us and no regret. We say to +ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no +burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart. And it seems to +us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no eyes save those +of the sun. And in our [-heart-- +strange-] {+heart--strange+} are the ways of [-evil!--in-] {+evil!-- +in+} our heart there is the first peace we have known in twenty years. + + + + +[-PART TWO-] + + + +{+Chapter Two+} + +Liberty 5-3000 . . . Liberty five-three thousand . . . Liberty 5-3000 . . . . + +We wish to write this name. We wish to speak it, but we dare not +speak it above a whisper. For men are forbidden to take notice of +women, and women are forbidden to take notice of men. But we +think of one among women, they whose name is Liberty 5-3000, and +we think of no others. + +The women who have been assigned to work the soil live in the +Homes of the Peasants beyond the City. Where the City ends there +is a great road winding off to the north, and we Street Sweepers +must keep this road clean to the first milepost. There is a hedge +along the road, and beyond the hedge lie the fields. The fields +are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us, +with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, +spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come +toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, green +spangles. Women work in the fields, and their white tunics in the +wind are like the wings of sea-gulls beating over the black +soil. + +And there [-is-] {+it+} was that we saw Liberty 5-3000 walking along the +furrows. Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron. +Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, +no kindness and no guilt. Their hair was golden as the sun; their +hair flew in the wind, shining and wild, as if it defied men to +restrain it. They threw seeds from their hand as if they deigned +to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was a beggar under their +feet. + +We stood still; for the first time [-did-] we know fear, and then pain. +And we stood still that we might not spill this pain more +precious than pleasure. + +Then we heard a voice from the others call their name: "Liberty +5-3000," and they turned and walked back. Thus we learned their +name, and we stood watching them go, till their white tunic was +lost in the blue mist. + +And the following day, as we came to the northern road, we kept +our eyes upon Liberty 5-3000 in the field. And each day +thereafter we knew the illness of waiting for our hour on the +northern road. And there we looked at Liberty 5-3000 each day. We +know not whether they looked at us also, but we think they did. + +Then one day they came close to the hedge, and suddenly they +turned to us. They turned in a whirl and the movement of +their body stopped, as if slashed off, as suddenly as it had started. +They stood still as a stone, and they looked straight upon us, +straight [-into-] {+in+} our eyes. There was no smile on their face, and no +welcome. But their face was [-taut,-] {+taught,+} and their eyes were dark. +Then they turned as swiftly, and they walked away from us. + +But the following day, when we came to the road, they smiled. +They smiled to us and for us. And we smiled in answer. Their head +fell back, and their arms fell, as if their arms and their thin +white neck were stricken suddenly with a great lassitude. They +were not looking upon us, but upon the sky. Then they glanced at +us over their shoulder, +[-as-] {+and+} we felt as if a hand had touched our +body, slipping softly from our lips to our feet. + +Every morning thereafter, we greeted each other with our eyes. We +dared not speak. It is a transgression to speak to men of other +Trades, save in groups at the Social Meetings. But once, standing +at the hedge, we raised our hand to our forehead and then moved +it slowly, palm down, toward Liberty 5-3000. Had the others seen +it, they could have guessed nothing, for it looked only as if we +were shading our eyes from the sun. But Liberty 5-3000 saw it and +understood. They raised their hand to their forehead and moved it +as we had. Thus, each day, we greet Liberty 5-3000, and they +answer, and no men can suspect. + +We do not wonder at this new sin of ours. It is our second +Transgression of Preference, for we do not think of all our +brothers, as we must, but only of one, and their name is Liberty +5-3000. We do not know why we think of them. We [-do-] {+don+} not know why, +when we think of them, we feel [-all-] of a sudden that the earth is good +and that it is not a burden to live. + +We do not think of them as Liberty 5-3000 any longer. We have +given them a name in our thoughts. We call them the Golden One. +But it is a sin to give men {+other+} names which distinguish them +from other men. Yet we call them the Golden [-One,-] {+one,+} for they are not +like the others. The Golden One are not like the others. + +And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think +of women, save at the Time of Mating. This is the time each +spring when all the men older than twenty and all the women older +than eighteen are sent for one night to the City Palace of +Mating. And each of the men have one of the women assigned to +them +[-by-] {+buy+} the Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter, +but women never see their children and children never know their +parents. Twice have we been sent to the Palace of Mating, but it +is an ugly and shameful matter, of which we do not like to think. + +We had broken so many laws, and today we have broken one more. [-Today,-] +{+Today+} we spoke to the Golden One. + +The other women were far off in the field, when we stopped at the +hedge by the side of the road. The Golden One were kneeling alone +at the moat which runs through the field. And the drops of water +falling from their hands, as they raised the water to their lips, +were like sparks of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us, +and they did not move, kneeling there, looking at us, and circles +of light played upon their white tunic, from the sun on the water +of the moat, and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their +hand held as frozen in the air. + +Then the Golden One rose and walked to the hedge, as if they had +heard a command in our eyes. The two other Street Sweepers of our +brigade were a hundred paces away down the road. And we thought +that International 4-8818 would not betray us, and Union 5-3992 +would not understand. So we looked straight upon the [-Golden One,-] {+golden one,+} +and we saw the shadows of their lashes on their white cheeks and +the sparks of sun on their lips. And we said: + +"You are beautiful, Liberty 5-3000." + +Their face did not move and they did not avert their eyes. Only +their eyes grew wider, and there was triumph in their eyes, and +it was not triumph over us, but over things we could not guess. + +Then they asked: + +"What is your name?" + +"Equality 7-2521," we answered. + +"You are not one of our brothers, Equality 7-2521, for we do not +wish you to be." + +We cannot say what they meant, for there are no words for their +meaning, but we know it without words and we knew it then. + +"No," we answered, "nor are you one of our sisters." + +"If you see us among scores of women, will you look upon us?" + +"We shall look upon you, Liberty 5-3000, if we see you among all +the women of the earth." + +Then they asked: + +"Are Street Sweepers sent to different parts of the City or do +they always work in the same places?" + +"They always work in the same places," we answered, "and no one +will take this road away from us." + +"Your eyes," they said, "are not like the eyes of any among men." + +And suddenly, without cause for the thought which came to us, we +felt cold, cold to our stomach. + +"How old are you?" we asked. + +They understood our thought, for they lowered their eyes for the +first time. + +"Seventeen," they whispered. + +And we sighed, as if a burden had been taken from us, for we had +been thinking without reason of the Palace of Mating. And we +thought that we would not let the Golden One be sent to the +Palace. How to prevent it, how to bar the will of the Councils, +we knew not, but we knew suddenly that we would. Only we do not +know why such thought came to us, for these ugly matters bear no +relation to us and the Golden One. What relation can they bear? + +Still, without reason, as we stood there by the hedge, we felt +our lips drawn tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our +brother men. And the Golden One saw it and smiled slowly, and +there was in their smile the first sadness we had seen in them. +We think that in the wisdom of women the Golden One had +understood more than we can understand. + +Then three of the sisters in the field appeared, coming toward +the road, so the Golden One walked away from us. They took the +bag of seeds, and they threw the seeds into the furrows of earth +as they walked away. But the seeds flew wildly, for the hand of +the Golden One was trembling. + +Yet as we walked back to the Home of the Street Sweepers, we felt +that we wanted to sing, without reason. So we were reprimanded +tonight, in the dining hall, for without knowing it we had begun +to sing aloud some tune we had never heard. But it is not proper +to sing without reason, save at the Social Meetings. + +"We are singing because we are happy," we answered the one of the +Home Council who reprimanded us. + +"Indeed you are happy," they answered. "How else can men be when +they live for their brothers?" + +And now, sitting here in our tunnel, we wonder about these words. +It is forbidden, not to be happy. For, as it has been explained +to us, men are free and the earth belongs to them; and all things +on earth belong to all men; and the will of all men together is +good for all; and so all men must be happy. + +Yet as we stand at night in the great hall, removing our garments +for sleep, we look upon our brothers and we wonder. The heads of +our brothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull, and +never do they look one another in the eyes. The shoulders of our +brothers are hunched, and their muscles are drawn, as if their +bodies were shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight. And a +word steals into our mind, as we look upon our brothers, and that +word is fear. + +There is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls, and in +the air of the streets. Fear walks through the [-City,-] {+city,+} fear without +name, without shape. All men feel it and none dare to speak. + +We feel it also, when we are in the Home of the Street Sweepers. +But here, in our tunnel, we feel it no longer. The air is pure +under the ground. There is no odor of men. And these three hours +give us strength for our hours above the ground. + +Our body is betraying us, for the Council of the Home looks with +suspicion upon us. It is not good to feel [-too-] {+to+} much joy nor to be +glad that our body lives. For we matter not and it must not +matter to us whether we live or die, which is to be as our +brothers will it. But we, Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living. +If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue. + +Yet our brothers are not like us. All is not well with our +brothers. There are Fraternity 2-5503, a quiet boy with wise, +kind eyes, who cry suddenly, without reason, in the midst of day +or night, and their body shakes with sobs {+so+} they cannot explain. +There are Solidarity 9-6347, who are a bright youth, without fear +in the day; but they scream in their sleep, and they scream: +"Help us! Help us! Help us!" into the night, in a voice which +chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure Solidarity 9-6347. + +And as we all undress at night, in the dim light of [-the-] candles, our +brothers are silent, for they dare not speak the thoughts of +their minds. For all must agree with all, and they cannot know if +their thoughts are the thoughts of all, and so they fear to +speak. And they are glad when {+the+} candles are blown for the +night. But we, Equality 7-2521, look through the window upon the +sky, and there is peace in the sky, and cleanliness, and dignity. +And beyond the City there lies the plain, and beyond the plain, +black upon the black sky, there lies the Uncharted Forest. + +We do not wish to look upon the Uncharted Forest. We do not wish +to think of it. But ever do our eyes return to that black patch +upon the sky. Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, for there is +no power to explore it and no path to lead among its ancient +trees which stand as guards of fearful secrets. It is whispered +that once or twice in a hundred years, one among the men of the +City escape alone and run to the Uncharted Forest, without call +or reason. These men do not return. They perish from hunger and +from the claws of the wild beasts which roam the Forest. But our +Councils say [-that-] this is only a legend. We have heard that there are +many Uncharted Forests over the land, among the Cities. +[-And-] {+and+} it is +whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many cities of +the Unmentionable Times. The trees have swallowed the ruins, and +the bones under the ruins, and all the things which perished. + +And as we look upon the Uncharted Forest far in the night, we +think of the secrets of the Unmentionable Times. And we wonder +how it came to pass that these secrets were lost to the world. We +have heard the legends of the great fighting, in which many men +fought on one side and only a few on the other. These few were +the Evil Ones and they were conquered. Then great fires raged +over the land. And in these fires the Evil Ones were {+burned. And +the fire which is called the Dawn of the Great Rebirth, was the +Script Fire where all the scripts of the Evil Ones were+} burned, +and with them all the words of the Evil Ones. Great mountains of +flame stood in the squares of the Cities for three months. Then +came the Great Rebirth. + +The words of the Evil [-Ones . . .-] {+Ones...+} The words of the Unmentionable [-Times . . .-] +{+Times...+} What are the words which we have lost? + +May the Council have mercy upon us! We had no wish to write such +a question, and we knew [-no-] {+not+} what we were doing till we had +written it. We shall not ask this question and we shall not +think it. We shall not call death upon our head. + +And [-yet . . .-] {+yet...+} And [-yet . . .-] {+yet...+} + +There is some word, one single word which is not in the language +of men, but which [-had-] {+has+} been. And this is the Unspeakable Word, +which no men may speak nor hear. But sometimes, and it is rare, +sometimes, somewhere, one among men find that word. They find it +upon scraps of old manuscripts or cut into the fragments of +ancient stones. But when they speak it they are put to death. +There is no crime punished by death in this world, save this one +crime of speaking the Unspeakable Word. + +We have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the +City. And it was a sight which has stayed with us through the +years, and it haunts us, and follows us, and it gives us no rest. +We were a child then, ten years old. And we stood in the great +square with all the children and all the men of the City, sent to +behold the burning. They brought the Transgressor out into the +square and they led [-them-] {+him+} to the pyre. They had torn out the tongue +of the Transgressor, so that they could speak no longer. The +Transgressor were young and tall. They had hair of gold and eyes +blue as morning. They walked to the pyre, and their step did not +falter. And of all the faces on that square, of all the faces +which shrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them, [-their-] {+theirs+} was +the calmest and [-the-] happiest face. + +As the chains were wound over their body at the stake, and a +flame set to the pyre, the Transgressor looked upon the City. +There was a thin thread of blood running from the corner of their +mouth, but their lips were smiling. And a monstrous thought came +to us then, which has never left us. We had heard of Saints. +There are the Saints of Labor, and the Saints of the Councils, +and the Saints of the Great Rebirth. But we had never seen a +Saint nor what the likeness of a Saint should be. And we thought +then, standing in the square, that the likeness of a Saint was +the face we saw before us in the flames, the face of the +Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word. + +As the flames rose, a thing happened which no eyes saw but ours, +else we would not be living today. Perhaps it had only seemed to +us. But it seemed to us that the eyes of the Transgressor had +chosen us from the crowd and were looking straight upon us. There +was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their +body. There was only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than +{+it+} is fit for human pride to be. And it seemed as if these eyes +were trying to tell us something through the flames, to send into +our eyes some word without sound. And it seemed as if these eyes +were begging us to gather that word and not to let it go from us +and from the earth. But the flames rose and we could not guess +the [-word. . . .-] {+word....+} + +What--even if we have to burn for it like the Saint of the [-Pyre--what-] {+pyre +--what+} is the Unspeakable Word? + + + + +[-PART THREE-] + + + +{+Chapter Three+} + +We, Equality 7-2521, have discovered a new power of nature. And +we have discovered it alone, and we [-alone-] are to know it. + +It is said. Now let us be lashed for it, if we must. The Council +of Scholars has said that we all know the things which exist and +therefore {+all+} the things which are not known by all do not exist. +But we think that the Council of Scholars is blind. The secrets +of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who +will seek them. We know, for we have found a secret unknown to +all our brothers. + +We know not what this power is nor whence [-is-] {+it+} comes. But we know +its nature, we have watched it and worked with it. We saw it +first two years ago. One night, we were cutting open the body of +a dead frog when we [-saw-] {+say+} its leg jerking. It was dead, yet it +moved. Some power unknown to men was making it move. We could not +understand it. Then, after many tests, we found the answer. The +frog had been hanging on a wire of copper; and it had been the +metal of our knife which had sent +[-the-] {+a+} strange power to the copper +through the brine of the frog's body. We put a piece of copper +and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine, we touched a wire to +them, and there, under our fingers, was a miracle which had never +occurred before, a new miracle and a new power. + +This discovery haunted us. We followed it in preference to all +our studies. We worked with it, we tested [-it-] in more ways than we +can describe, and each step was [-as-] another miracle unveiling before +us. We came to know that we had found the greatest power on +earth. For it defies all the laws known to men. It makes the +needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the Home +of the Scholars; but we had been taught, when still a child, that +the loadstone points to the north and [-that-] this is a law which nothing +can change; yet our new power defies all laws. We found that it +causes lightning, and never have men known what causes lightning. +In thunderstorms, we raised a tall rod of iron by the side of our +hole, and we watched it from below. We have seen the +[-lightning-] {+lightening+} +strike it again and again. And now we know that metal draws the +power of the sky, and that metal can be made to give it forth. + +We have built strange things with this discovery of ours. We used +for it the copper wires which we found here under the ground. We +have walked the length of our tunnel, with a candle lighting the +way. We could go no farther [-that-] {+than+} half a mile, for earth and rock +had fallen at both ends. But we gathered all the things we found +and we brought them to our work place. We found strange boxes +with bars of metal inside, with many cords and strands and coils +of metal. We found wires that led to strange little globes of +glass on the walls; they contained threads of metal thinner than +a spider's web. + +These things help us in our work. We do not understand them, but +we think that the men of the Unmentionable Times had known our +power of the sky, and these things had some relation to it. We do +not know, but we shall learn. We cannot stop now, even though it +frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge. + +No single one can possess greater wisdom [-that-] {+than+} the many Scholars +who are elected by all men for their wisdom. Yet we can. We do. +We have fought against saying it, but now it is said. We do not +care. We forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals +and our wires. So much is still to be learned! So long a road +lies before us, and what care we if we must travel it alone! + + + + +[-PART FOUR-] + + + +{+Chapter Four+} + +Many days passed before we could speak to the Golden One again. +But then came the day when the sky turned white, as if the sun +had burst and spread its flame in the air, and the fields lay +still without breath, and the dust of the road [-was-] {+what+} white in the +glow. So the women of the field were weary, and they tarried over +their work, and they were far from the road when we came. But the +Golden [-One-] {+one+} stood alone at the hedge, waiting. We stopped and we +saw that their eyes, so hard and scornful to the world, were +looking at us [-at-] {+as+} if they would obey any word we might speak. + +And we said: + +"We have [-give-] {+given+} you a name in our thoughts, Liberty 5-3000." + +"What is our name?" they asked. + +"The Golden One." + +"Nor do we call you Equality 7-2521 when we think of you." + +"What name have you given us?" + +They looked straight into our eyes and they held their head high +and they answered: + +"The Unconquered." + +For a long time we could not speak. Then we said: + +"Such thoughts [-as these-] are forbidden, Golden One." + +"But you think such thoughts as these and you wish us to think +them." + +We [-look-] {+looked+} into their {+eyes+} and we could not lie. + +"Yes," we whispered, and they smiled, and then we said: "Our +dearest one, do not obey us." + +They stepped back, and their eyes were wide and still. + +"Speak [-these-] {+those+} words again," they whispered. + +"Which words?" we asked. But they did not answer, and we knew it. + +"Our dearest one," we whispered. + +Never have men said this to women. + +The head of the Golden One bowed slowly, and they stood still +before us, their arms at their sides, the palms of their hands +turned to us, as if their body were delivered in submission to +our eyes. And we could not speak. + +Then they raised their head, and they spoke simply and gently, as +if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own. + +"The day is hot," they said, "and you have worked for many hours +and you must be weary." + +"No," we answered. + +"It is cooler in the fields," they said, "and there is water to +drink. Are you thirsty?" + +[-"Yes,"-] + +{+"Yes,+} we answered, "but we cannot cross the hedge." + +"We shall bring the water to you," they said. + +Then they knelt by the moat, they gathered water in their two +hands, they rose and they held the water out to our lips. + +We do not know if we drank that water. We only knew suddenly that +their hands were empty, but we were still holding our lips to +their hands, and that they knew [-it,-] {+it+} but did not move. + +We raised our head and stepped back. For we did not understand +what had made us do this, and we were afraid to understand it. + +And the Golden One stepped back, and stood looking upon their +hands in wonder. Then the Golden One moved away, even though no +others were coming, and they +[-moved,-] {+moved+} stepping back, as if they +could not turn from us, their arms bent before them, as if they +could not lower their hands. + + + + +[-PART FIVE-] + + + +{+Chapter Five+} + +We made it. We created it. We brought it forth from the night of +the ages. We alone. Our hands. Our mind. Ours alone and only. + +We know not what we are saying. Our head is reeling. We look upon +the light which we [-have-] {+had+} made. We shall be forgiven for anything we +say [-tonight.-] {+tonight .+} . . . + +Tonight, after more days and trials than we can count, we +finished building a strange thing, from the remains of the +Unmentionable Times, a box of glass, devised to give forth the +power of the sky of greater strength than we had ever achieved +before. And when we put our wires to this box, when we closed the +current--the wire glowed! It came to life, it turned red, and a +circle of light lay on the stone before us. + +We stood, and we held our head in our hands. We could not +conceive of that which we had created. We had touched no flint, +made no fire. Yet here was light, light that [-come-] {+came+} from nowhere, +light from the heart of metal. + +We blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed us. There was nothing +left around us, nothing save night and a thin thread of flame in +it, as a crack in the wall of a prison. We stretched our hands to +the wire, and we saw our fingers in the red glow. We could not +see our body nor feel it, and in that moment nothing existed save +our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss. + +Then we thought of the meaning of that which lay before us. We +can light our tunnel, and the City, and all the Cities of the +world with nothing save metal and wires. We can give our brothers +a new light, cleaner and brighter than any they have ever known. +The power of the sky can be made to do men's bidding. There are +no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to +grant us anything if we but choose to ask. + +Then we knew what we must do. Our discovery is too great for us +to waste our time in sweeping [-the-] streets. We must not keep our +secret to ourselves, nor buried under the ground. We must bring +it into the sight of all men. We need all our time, we need the +work rooms of the Home of the Scholars, we want the help of our +brother Scholars and their wisdom joined to ours. There is so +much work ahead for all of us, for all the Scholars of the world. + +In a month, the World Council of Scholars is to meet in our City. +It is a great Council, to which the wisest of all lands are +elected, and it meets once a year in the different Cities of the +earth. We shall go to this Council and we shall lay before them, +as our gift, [-this-] {+the+} glass box with the power of the sky. We shall +confess everything to them. They will see, understand and +forgive. For our gift is greater than our transgression. They +will explain it to the Council of Vocations, and we shall be +assigned to the Home of the Scholars. This has never been done +before, but neither has a gift such as ours ever been offered to +men. + +We must wait. We must guard our tunnel as we had never guarded it +before. For should any men save the Scholars learn of our secret, +they would not understand it, nor would they believe us. They would +see nothing, save our crime of working alone, and they would destroy +us and our light. We care not about our body, but our light [-is . . .-] {+is...+} + +Yes, we do care. For the first time [-do-] we {+do+} care about our body. +For this wire is [-as-] a part of our body, as a vein torn from us, +glowing with our blood. Are we {+are+} proud of this thread of metal, +or of our hands which made it, or is there a line to divide these [-two?-] +{+two.+} + +We stretch out our arms. For the first time do we know how strong +our arms are. And a strange thought comes to us: we wonder, for +the first time in our life, what we look like. Men never see +their own faces and never ask their brothers about it, for it is +evil to have concern for their own faces or bodies. But tonight, +for a reason we cannot fathom, we wish it were possible to us to +know the likeness of our own person. + + + + +[-PART SIX-] + + + +{+Chapter Six+} + +We have not written for thirty days. For thirty days we have not +been here, in our tunnel. We had been caught. + +It happened on that night when we wrote last. We forgot, that +night, to watch the sand in the glass which tells us when three +hours have passed and it is time to return to the City Theatre. +When we [-remembered +it,-] {+remembered,+} the sand had run out. + +We hastened to the Theatre. But the big tent stood grey and +silent against the sky. The streets of the City lay before us, +dark and empty. If we went back to hide in our tunnel, we would +be found and our light +[-found-] with us. So we walked to the Home of the +Street Sweepers. + +When the Council of the Home questioned us, we looked upon the +faces of the Council, but there was no curiosity in those faces, +and no anger, and no mercy. So when the oldest of them asked us: +"Where have you been?" we thought of our glass box and of our +light, and we forgot all else. And we answered: + +"We will not tell you." + +The oldest did not question us further. They turned to the two +youngest, and said, and their voice was bored: + +"Take our brother Equality 7-2521 to the Palace of Corrective +Detention. Lash them until they tell." + +So we were taken to the Stone Room under the Palace of Corrective +Detention. This room has no windows and it is empty save for an +iron post. Two men stood by the post, naked but for leather +aprons and leather hoods over their faces. Those who had brought +us departed, leaving us to the two Judges who stood in a corner +of the room. The [-Judges-] {+judges+} were small, thin men, grey and bent. +They gave the signal to the two strong hooded ones. + +They tore [-the-] {+our+} clothes from our body, they threw us down upon our +knees and they tied our hands to the iron post. + +The first blow of the lash felt as if our spine had been cut in +two. The second blow stopped the first, and for a second we felt +nothing, then [-the-] pain struck us in our throat and fire ran in our +lungs without air. But we did not cry out. + +The lash whistled like a singing wind. We tried to count the +blows, but we lost count. We knew that the blows were falling +upon our [-back.-] {+back+} Only we felt nothing upon our back any longer. A +flaming grill kept dancing before our eyes, and we thought of +nothing save that grill, a grill, a grill of red squares, and +then we knew that we were looking at the squares of the iron +grill in the door, and there were also the squares of stone on +the walls, and the squares which the lash was cutting upon our +back, crossing and re-crossing itself in our flesh. + +Then we saw a fist before us. It knocked our chin up, and we saw +the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers, and the Judge +asked: + +"Where have you been?" + +But we jerked our head away, hid our face upon our tied hands, +and bit our lips. + +The lash whistled again. We wondered who was sprinkling burning +coal dust upon the floor, for we saw drops of red twinkling on +the stones around us. + +Then we knew nothing, save two voices snarling steadily, one +after the other, even though we knew they were speaking many +minutes apart: + +"Where have you been where have you been where have you been +where have you been? . . ." + +And our lips moved, but the sound trickled back into our throat, +and the sound was only: + +"The light . . . The light . . . The light. . . ." + +Then we knew nothing. + +We opened our eyes, lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a +cell. We looked upon two hands [-lying-] {+flying+} far before us on the +bricks, and we moved them, and we knew that they were our hands. +But we could not move our body. Then we smiled, for we thought of +the light and that we had not betrayed it. + +We lay in our cell for many days. The door opened twice each day, +once for the men who brought us bread and water, and once for the Judges. +Many Judges came to our cell, first the humblest and then the most +honored Judges of the City. They stood before us in their white togas, +and they asked: + +"Are you ready to speak?" + +But we shook our head, lying before them on the floor. And they departed. + +We counted each day and each night as it passed. Then, tonight, +we knew that we must escape. For tomorrow the World Council of +Scholars is to meet in our City. + +It was easy to escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention. +The locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about. +There is no reason to have guards, for men have never defied the +Councils so far as to escape from whatever place they were +ordered to be. Our body is healthy and strength returns to it +speedily. We [-lunged +against the door and it gave way. We-] stole through the dark passages, and through the +dark streets, and down into our tunnel. + +We lit the candle and we saw that our place had not been found +and nothing had been touched. And our glass box stood before us +on the cold oven, as we had left it. What matter they now, the +scars upon our back! + +Tomorrow, in the full light of day, we shall take our box, and +leave our tunnel open, and walk through the streets to the Home +of the Scholars. We shall put before them the greatest gift ever +offered to men. We shall tell them the truth. We shall hand to +them, as our confession, these pages we have written. We shall +join our hands to theirs, and we shall work together, with the +power of the sky, for the glory of mankind. Our blessing upon +you, [-or-] {+our+} brothers! Tomorrow, you will take us back into your +fold and we shall be an outcast no longer. Tomorrow we shall be +one of you again. Tomorrow . . . + + + + +[-PART SEVEN-] + + + +{+Chapter Seven+} + +It is dark here in the forest. The leaves rustle over our head, +black against the last gold of the sky. The moss is soft and +warm. We shall sleep on this moss for many nights, till the +beasts of the forest come to tear our body. We have no bed now, +save the moss, and no future, save the beasts. + +We are old now, yet we were young this morning, when we carried +our glass box through the streets of the City to the Home of the +Scholars. No men stopped us, for there were none about [-from-] the Palace +of Corrective Detention, and the others knew nothing. No men +stopped us at the gate. We walked through {+the+} empty passages and +into the great hall where the World Council of Scholars sat in +solemn meeting. + +We saw nothing as we entered, save the sky in the great windows, +blue and glowing. Then we saw the Scholars who sat around a long table; +they were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of [-the-] {+a+} great sky. +There were {+the+} men whose famous names we knew, and others +from distant lands whose names we had not heard. We saw a +great painting on the wall over their heads, of the twenty +illustrious men who had invented the candle. + +All the heads of the Council turned to us as we entered. These +great and wise of the earth did not know what to think of us, and +they looked upon us with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a +miracle. It is true that our tunic was torn and stained with +brown stains which had been blood. We raised our right arm and we +said: + +"Our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World Council +of Scholars!" + +Then Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest of the Council, +spoke and asked: + +"Who are you, our brother? For you do not look like a Scholar." + +"Our name is [-Equality-] {+Equity+} 7-2521," we answered, "and we are a Street +Sweeper of this City." + +Then [-is-] {+it+} was [-as-] if a great wind had stricken the hall, for all the +Scholars spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened. + +"A Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World +Council of Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all +the rules and all the laws!" + +But we knew how to stop them. + +"Our brothers!" we said. "We matter not, nor our transgression. +It is only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for +we are nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift +such as [-had-] {+has+} never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold +the future of mankind in our hands." + +Then they listened. + +We placed our glass box [-upon-] {+on+} the table before them. We spoke of it, +and of our long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape from +the Palace of Corrective Detention. Not a hand moved in that +hall, as we spoke, nor an eye. Then we put the wires to the box, +and they all bent forward and sat still, watching. And we stood +still, our eyes upon the wire. And slowly, slowly as a flush of +blood, a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the wire glowed. + +But terror struck the men of the Council. They leapt to their +feet, they ran from the table, and they stood pressed against the +wall, huddled together, seeking the warmth of one another's +bodies to give them courage. + +We looked upon them and we laughed and said: + +"Fear nothing, our brothers. There is a great power in these +wires, but this power is tamed. It is yours. We give it to you." + +Still they would not move. + +"We give you the power of the sky!" we cried. "We give you the +key to the earth! Take it, and let us be one of you, the humblest +among you. Let us [-all-] work together, and harness this power, and make +it ease the toil of men. Let us throw away our candles and our +torches. Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring a new +light to men!" + +But they looked upon us, and suddenly we were afraid. For their +eyes were still, and small, and evil. + +"Our brothers!" we cried. "Have you nothing to say to us?" + +Then Collective 0-0009 moved forward. They moved to the table and +the others followed. + +"Yes," spoke Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to you." + +The sound of their [-voices-] {+voice+} brought silence to the hall and to [-be-] {+the+} +beat of our heart. + +"Yes," said Collective 0-0009, "we have much to say to a wretch +who have broken all the laws and who boast of their infamy! How +dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom [-that-] {+than+} the minds +of your brothers? And if the [-Councils-] {+Council+} had decreed that you [-should-] be a +Street Sweeper, how dared you think that you could be of greater +use to men than in sweeping the streets?" + +"How dared you, gutter cleaner," spoke Fraternity 9-3452, "to +hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of [-the-] one and not +of [-the-] many?" + +"You shall be burned at the stake," said Democracy 4-6998. + +"No, they shall be lashed," said Unanimity 7-3304, "till there is +nothing left under the lashes." + +"No," said Collective 0-0009, "we cannot decide upon this, our +brothers. No such crime has ever been committed, and it is not +for us to judge. Nor for any small Council. We shall deliver this +creature to the World Council itself and let their will be done." + +We looked upon them and we pleaded: + +"Our brothers! You are right. Let the will of the Council be +done upon our body. We do not care. But the light? What will you +do with the light?" + +Collective 0-0009 looked upon us, and they smiled. + +"So you think [-that-] you have found a new power," said Collective +0-0009. "Do {+you think+} all your brothers think that?" + +"No," we answered. + +"What is not thought by all men cannot be true," said Collective +0-0009. + +"You have worked on this alone?" asked International 1-5537. + +[-"Man-] + +{+"Yes," we answered. + +"What is not done collectively cannot be good," said +International 1-5537. + +"Many+} men in the Homes of the Scholars have had strange new +ideas in the past," said Solidarity 8-1164, "but when the +majority of their brother Scholars voted against them, they +abandoned their ideas, as all men must." + +"This box is useless," said Alliance [-6-4349.-] {+6-7349.+} + +"Should it be what they claim of it," said Harmony 9-2642, "then +it would bring ruin to the Department of Candles. The [-andle-] {+Candle+} is a +great boon to mankind, as approved by all men. Therefore it +cannot be destroyed by the whim of one." + +"This would wreck the [-Plans-] {+plans+} of the World Council," said +Unanimity 2-9913, "and without the Plans of the World Council the +sun cannot rise. It took fifty years to secure the approval of +all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number +needed, and to re-fit {+the+} Plans so as to make candles instead of +torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working +in scores of States. We cannot alter the Plans again [-to-] {+so+} soon." + +"And if this should lighten the toil of men," said Similarity +5-0306, "then it is a great evil, for men have no cause to exist +save in toiling for other men." + +Then Collective 0-0009 rose and pointed at our box. + +"This thing," they said, "must be destroyed." + +And all the others cried as one: + +"It must be destroyed!" + +Then we leapt to the table. + +We seized our box, we shoved them aside, and we ran to the +window. We turned and we looked at them for the last time, and a +rage, such as [-it-] is not fit for humans to know, choked our voice in +our throat. + +"You [-fools"-] {+fools!"+} we cried. "You fools! You thrice-damned fools!" + +We swung our fist through the windowpane, and we leapt out in a +ringing rain of glass. + +We fell, but we never let the box fall from our hands. Then we +ran. We ran blindly, and men and houses streaked past us in a +torrent without shape. And the road seemed not to be flat before +us, but as if it were leaping up to meet us, and we waited for +the earth to rise and strike us in the face. But we ran. We knew +not where we were going. We knew only that we must run, run to +the end of the world, to the end of our days. + +Then we knew suddenly that we were lying on a soft earth and that +we had stopped. Trees taller than we had ever seen before stood +over us in {+a+} great silence. Then we knew. We were in the +Uncharted Forest. We had not thought of coming here, but our legs +had carried our wisdom, and our legs had brought us to the +Uncharted Forest against our will. + +Our glass box lay beside us. We crawled to it, we fell upon it, +our face in our arms, and we lay still. + +We lay [-this-] {+thus+} for a long time. Then we rose, we took our [-box and-] {+box, had+} +walked on into the forest. + +It mattered not where we went. We knew that men would not follow +us, for they never [-enter-] {+entered+} the Uncharted Forest. We had nothing +to fear from them. The forest disposes of its own victims. This +gave us no fear either. Only we wished to be [-away,-] away from the City +and [-from-] the air that touches upon the air of the City. So we walked +on, our box in our arms, our heart empty. + +We are doomed. Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them +alone. And we have heard of the corruption to be found in +solitude. We have torn ourselves from the truth which is our +brother men, and there is no road back for us, and no redemption. + +We know these things, but we do not care. We care for nothing on +earth. We are tired. + +Only the glass box in our arms is like a living heart that gives +us strength. We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this +box for the good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake. +It is above all our brothers to us, and its truth above their +truth. Why wonder about this? We {+have not many days to live. We+} +are walking to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among the great, +silent trees. There is not a thing behind us to regret. + +Then a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only. We thought +of the Golden One. We thought of the Golden One whom we shall +never see again. Then the pain passed. It is best. We are one of +the Damned. It is best if the Golden [-One-] {+one+} forget our name and the +body which bore that name. + + + + +[-PART EIGHT-] + + + +{+Chapter Eight+} + +It has been a day of wonder, this, our first day in the forest. + +We awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face. We wanted +to leap to our feet, as we have had to leap {+to our feet+} every +morning of our life, but we remembered suddenly that no bell had +rung and that there was no bell to ring anywhere. We lay on our +back, we threw our arms out, and we looked up at the sky. The +leaves had edges of silver that trembled and rippled like a river +of green and fire flowing high above us. + +We did not wish to move. We thought suddenly that we could lie +thus as long as we wished, and we laughed aloud at the thought. +We could also rise, or run, or leap, or fall down again. We were +thinking that these were [-thoughts-] {+things+} without sense, but before we knew [-it-] +{+it,+} our body had risen in one leap. Our arms stretched out of +their own will, and our body whirled and whirled, till it raised +a wind to rustle through the leaves of the bushes. Then our hands +seized a branch and swung us high into a tree, with no aim save +the wonder of learning the strength of our body. The branch +snapped under us and we fell upon the moss that was soft as a +cushion. Then our body, losing all sense, rolled over and over on +the moss, dry leaves in our tunic, in our hair, in our face. And +we heard suddenly that we were laughing, laughing aloud, laughing +as if there were no power left in us save laughter. + +Then we took our glass box, and we went [-on-] into the forest. We went +on, cutting through the branches, and it was as if we were +swimming through a sea of leaves, with the bushes as waves rising +and falling and rising around us, and flinging their green sprays +high to the treetops. The trees parted before us, calling us +forward. The forest seemed to welcome us. We went on, without +thought, without care, with nothing to [-feel-] {+fell+} save the song of our +body. + +We stopped when we felt hunger. We saw birds in the tree +branches, and flying from under our footsteps. We picked a stone +and we sent [-is-] {+it+} as an arrow at a bird. It fell before us. We made +a fire, we cooked the bird, and we ate it, and no meal had ever +tasted better to us. And we thought suddenly that there was a +great satisfaction to be found in the food which we need and +obtain by our own hand. And we wished to {+be+} hungry again and +soon, that we might know again this strange new pride in eating. + +Then we walked on. And we came to a stream which lay as a streak +of glass among the trees. It lay so still that we saw no water +but only a cut in the earth, in which the trees grew down, +upturned, and the sky [-lay-] at the bottom. We knelt by the stream and +we bent down to drink. And then we stopped. For, upon the blue of +the sky below us, we saw our own face for the first time. + +We sat still and we held our breath. For our face and our body +were beautiful. Our face was not like the faces of our brothers, +for we felt [-not-] {+no+} pity when [-looking-] {+we looked+} upon it. Our body was not like +the bodies of our brothers, for our limbs were straight and thin +and hard and strong. And we thought that we could trust this +being who looked upon us from the stream, and that we had nothing +to fear +[-with-] {+from+} this being. + +We walked on till the sun had set. When the shadows gathered +among the trees, we stopped in a hollow between the roots, where +we shall sleep tonight. And suddenly, for the first time this +day, we remembered that we are the Damned. We remembered it, and +we laughed. + +We are writing this on the paper we had hidden in our tunic +together with the written pages we had brought for the World +Council of Scholars, but never given to them. We have much to +speak of to ourselves, and we hope we shall find the words for it +in the days to come. Now, we cannot speak, for we cannot +understand. + + + + +[-PART NINE-] + + + +{+Chapter Nine+} + +We have not written for many days. We did not wish to speak. For +we needed no words to remember that which has happened to us. + +It was on our second day in the forest that we heard steps behind +us. We hid in the bushes, and we waited. The steps came closer. +And then we saw the fold of a white tunic among the trees, and a +gleam of gold. + +We leapt forward, we ran to them, and we stood looking upon the +Golden One. + +They saw us, and their hands closed into fists, and the fists +pulled their arms down, as if they wished their arms to hold +them, while their body swayed. And they could not speak. + +We dared not come too close to them. We asked, and our voice +trembled: + +"How [-did you-] come {+you+} to be here, Golden One?" + +{+But they whispered only:+} + +"We have found you. . . ." + +"How [-did you-] come {+you+} to be in the forest?" we asked. + +They raised their head, and there was a great pride in their +voice; they answered: + +"We have followed you." + +Then we could not speak, and they said: + +"We heard that you had gone to the Uncharted Forest, for the +whole City is speaking of it. So on the night of the day when we +heard it, we ran away from the Home of the Peasants. We found the +marks of your feet across the plain where no men walk. So we +followed them, and we went into the forest, and we followed +the path where the branches were broken by your body." + +Their white tunic was torn, and the branches had cut the skin of +their arms, but they spoke as if they had never taken notice of +it, nor of weariness, nor of fear. + +"We have followed you," they said, "and we shall follow you +wherever you go. If danger threatens you, we shall face it also. +If it be death, we shall die with you. You are damned, and we +wish to share your damnation." + +They looked upon us, and their voice was low, but there was +bitterness and triumph in their [-voice.-] {+voice:+} + +"Your eyes are as a flame, but our brothers have neither hope nor +fire. Your mouth is cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and +humble. Your head is high, but our brothers cringe. You walk, but +our brothers crawl. We wish to be damned with you, rather than [-pleased-] {+be +blessed+} with all our brothers. Do as you please with us, but do +not send us away from you." + +Then they knelt, and bowed their golden head before us. + +We had never thought of that which we did. We bent to raise the +Golden One to their feet, but when we touched them, it was as if +madness had stricken us. We seized their body and we pressed our +lips to theirs. The Golden One breathed once, and their breath +was a moan, and then their arms closed around us. + +We stood together for a long time. And we were frightened that we +had lived for twenty-one years and had never known what joy is +possible to men. + +Then we said: + +"Our dearest one. Fear nothing of the forest. There is no danger +in solitude. We have no need of our brothers. Let us forget their +good and our evil, let us forget all things save that we are +together and that there is joy [-as a bond-] between us. Give us your hand. +Look ahead. It is our own world, Golden One, a strange, unknown +world, but our own." + +Then we walked on into the forest, their hand in ours. + +And that night we knew that to hold the body of [-women-] {+a woman+} in our +arms is neither ugly nor shameful, but the one ecstasy granted to +the race of men. + +We have walked for many days. The forest has no end, and we seek +no end. But each day added to the chain of days between us and +the City is like an added blessing. + +We have made a bow and many arrows. We can kill more birds than +we need for our food; we find water and fruit in the forest. At +night, we choose a clearing, and we build a ring of fires around +it. We sleep in the midst of that ring, and the beasts dare not attack us. +We can see their eyes, green and yellow as coals, watching us +from the tree branches beyond. The fires [-smoulder-] {+smolder+} as a crown +of jewels around us, and smoke stands still in the air, in +columns made blue by the moonlight. We sleep together in the +midst of the ring, the arms of the Golden One around us, their +head upon our breast. + +Some day, we shall stop and build a house, when we shall have +gone far enough. But we do not have to hasten. The days before us +are without end, like the forest. + +We cannot understand this new life which we have found, yet it +seems so clear and so simple. When questions come to puzzle us, +we walk faster, then turn and forget all things as we watch the +Golden One following. The shadows of leaves fall upon their arms, +as they spread the branches apart, but their shoulders are in the +sun. The skin of their arms is like a blue [-mist.-] {+mist,+} but their +shoulders are white and glowing, as if the light fell not from +above, but rose from under their skin. We watch the leaf which +has fallen upon their shoulder, and it lies at the curve of their +neck, and a drop of dew glistens upon it like a jewel. They +approach us, and they stop, laughing, knowing what we think, and +they wait obediently, without questions, till it pleases us to +turn and go on. + +We go on and we bless the earth under our feet. But questions +come to us again, as we walk in silence. If that which we have +found is the corruption of solitude, then what can men wish for +save corruption? If this is the great evil of being alone, then +what is good and what is evil? + +Everything which comes from the many is good. Everything which +comes from one is evil. +[-This have-] {+Thus+} we {+have+} been taught with our first +breath. We have broken the law, but we have never doubted it. Yet +now, as we walk [-through-] the forest, we are learning to doubt. + +There is no life for men, save in useful toil for the good of [-all-] +their brothers. But we lived not, when we toiled for our +brothers, we were only weary. There is no joy for men, save the +joy shared with all their brothers. But the only things which +taught us joy were the power [-we-] created in our wires, and the Golden +One. And both these joys belong to us alone, they come from us +alone, they bear no relation to [-all-] our brothers, and they do not +concern our brothers in any way. Thus do we wonder. + +There is some error, one frightful error, in the thinking of men. +What is that error? We do not know, but the knowledge struggles +within us, struggles to be born. + +Today, the Golden One stopped suddenly and said: + +"We love you." + +But {+then+} they frowned and shook their head and looked at us +helplessly. + +"No," they whispered, "that is not what we wished to say." + +They were silent, then they spoke slowly, and their words were +halting, like the words of a child learning to speak for the +first time: + +"We are one . . . alone . . . and only . . . and we love you who +are one . . . alone . . . and only." + +We looked into each other's eyes and we knew that the breath of a +miracle had touched us, and fled, and left us groping vainly. + +And we felt torn, torn for some word we could not find. + + + + +[-PART TEN-] + + + +{+Chapter Ten+} + +We are sitting at a table and we are writing this upon paper +made thousands of years ago. The light is dim, and we cannot see +the Golden One, only one lock of gold on the pillow of an ancient +bed. This is our home. + +We came upon it today, at sunrise. For many days we [-had-] {+have+} been +crossing a chain of mountains. The forest rose among cliffs, and +whenever we walked out upon a barren stretch of rock we saw great +peaks before us in the west, and to the north of us, and to the +south, as far as our eyes could see. The peaks were red and +brown, with the green streaks of forests as veins upon them, with +blue mists as veils over their heads. We had never heard of these +mountains, nor seen them marked on any map. The Uncharted Forest +has protected them from the Cities and from the men of the +Cities. + +We climbed paths where the wild goat dared not follow. Stones +rolled from under our feet, and we heard them striking the rocks +below, farther and farther down, and the mountains rang with each +stroke, and long after the strokes had died. But we went on, for +we knew that no men would ever follow our track nor reach us +here. + +Then today, at sunrise, we saw a white flame among the trees, +high on a sheer peak before us. We thought that it was a fire and +{+we+} stopped. But the flame [-was-] {+as+} unmoving, yet blinding as liquid +metal. So we climbed toward it through the rocks. And there, +before us, on a broad summit, with the mountains rising behind +it, stood a house such as we had never seen, and the white fire +came from the sun on the glass of its windows. + +The house had two stories and a strange roof flat as a floor. +There was more window than wall upon its walls, and the windows +went on straight around [-the-] corners, though how this [-kept the-] house {+kept+} +standing we could not guess. The walls were hard and smooth, of +that stone unlike stone which we had seen in our tunnel. + +We both knew it without words: this house was left from +the Unmentionable Times. The trees had protected it from time +and weather, and from men who have less pity than time and weather. +We turned to the Golden One and we asked: + +"Are you afraid?" + +But they shook their head. So we walked to the door, and we threw +it open, and we stepped together into the house of the +Unmentionable Times. + +We shall need the days and the years ahead, to look, to [-learn,-] {+learn+} and +to understand the things of this house. Today, we could only look +and try to believe the sight of our eyes. We pulled the heavy +curtains from the windows and we saw that the rooms were small, +and we thought that not more than twelve men could have lived +here. We thought it strange that [-men-] {+man+} had been permitted to build +a house for only twelve. + +Never had we seen rooms so full of light. The sunrays danced upon +colors, colors, {+and+} more colors [-that-] {+than+} we thought possible, we who +had seen no houses save the white ones, the brown ones and the +grey. There were great pieces of glass on the walls, but it was +not glass, for when we looked upon it we saw our own bodies and +all the things behind us, as on the face of a lake. There were +strange things which we had never seen and the use of which we do +not know. And there were globes of glass everywhere, in each +room, the globes with the metal cobwebs inside, such as we had +seen in our tunnel. + +We found the sleeping hall and we stood in awe upon its +threshold. For it was a small room and there were only two beds +in it. We found no other beds in the house, and then we knew that +only two had lived here, and this passes understanding. What kind +of world did they have, the men of the Unmentionable Times? + +We found garments, and the Golden One gasped at the sight of +them. For they were not white tunics, nor white togas; they were +of all colors, no two of them alike. Some crumbled to dust as we +touched +[-them. But-] {+them, but+} others were of heavier cloth, and they felt +soft and new in our fingers. + +We found a room with walls made of shelves, which held rows of +manuscripts, from the floor to the ceiling. Never had we seen +such a number of them, nor of such strange shape. They were not +soft and rolled, they had hard shells of cloth and leather; and +the letters on their pages were [-so-] small and so even that we +wondered at the men who had such handwriting. We glanced through +the pages, and we saw that they were written in our language, but +we found many words which we could not understand. Tomorrow, we +shall begin to read these scripts. + +When we had seen all the rooms of the house, we looked at the +Golden One and we both knew the thought in our minds. + +"We shall never leave this house," we said, "nor let it be taken +from us. This is our home and the end of our journey. This is your house, +Golden One, and ours, and it belongs to no other men whatever +as far as the earth may stretch. We shall not share it with others, +as we share not our joy with them, nor our love, nor our hunger. +So be it to the end of our days." + +"Your will be done," they said. + +Then we went out to gather wood for the great hearth of our home. +We brought water from the stream which runs among the trees under +our windows. We killed a mountain goat, and we brought its flesh +to be cooked in a strange copper pot we found in a place of +wonders, which must have been the cooking room of the house. + +We did this work alone, for no words of ours could take the +Golden One away from the big glass which is not glass. They stood +before it and they looked and looked upon their own body. + +When the sun sank beyond the mountains, the Golden One fell +asleep on the floor, amidst jewels, and bottles of crystal, and +flowers of silk. We lifted the Golden One in our arms and we +carried them to a bed, their head falling softly upon our +shoulder. Then we lit a candle, and we brought paper from the +room of the manuscripts, and we sat by the window, for we knew +that we could not sleep tonight. + +And now we look upon the earth and sky. This spread of naked rock +and peaks and moonlight is like a world ready to be born, a world +that waits. It seems to us it asks a sign from us, a spark, a +first commandment. We cannot know what word we are to give, nor +what great deed this earth expects to witness. We know it waits. +It seems to say it has great gifts to lay before [-us, but it wishes a greater gift for-] us. We are to +speak. We are to give its goal, its highest meaning to all this +glowing space of rock and sky. + +We look ahead, we beg our heart for guidance in answering this +call no voice has spoken, yet we have heard. We look upon our +hands. We see the dust of centuries, the dust which hid [-the-] great +secrets and perhaps great evils. And yet it stirs no fear within +our heart, but only silent reverence and pity. + +May knowledge come to us! What is [-the-] {+this+} secret our heart has +understood and yet will not reveal to us, although it seems to +beat as if it were endeavoring to tell it? + + + + +[-PART ELEVEN-] + + + +{+Chapter Eleven+} + +I am. I think. I will. + +My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . +This earth of [-mine.-] {+mine .+} . . . + +What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer. + +I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head +and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end +of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. +I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for +being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant +and the sanction. + +It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty +to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my +ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and +the [-judgement-] {+judgment+} of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the +truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is +the only edict I must respect. + +Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are +false, but only three are holy: "I will it!" + +Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding +star and the loadstone which point the way. They point +[-on-] {+in+} but one +direction. They point to me. + +I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the +universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know +not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me +on earth. And my happiness needs no [-nigher-] {+higher+} aim to vindicate it. +My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is +its own goal. It is its own purpose. + +Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. +I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. +I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on +their altars. + +I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine +to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before! + +I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune +of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to +the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my +treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of +these is freedom. + +I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I +ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no +man's soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet. + +I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of +them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must +do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without +reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I +honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned. + +I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. +And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love +and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our +hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the +temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his +temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with +others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold. + +For the word "We" must never be spoken, save by one's choice and +as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within +man's soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils +on earth, the root of man's torture by men, and [-of-] an unspeakable lie. + +The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens +to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and +that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the +word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which +the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal +the wisdom of the sages. + +What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? +What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is +my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and [-the-] impotent, are +my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to [-agree-] {+agree,+} and to +obey? + +But I am done with this creed of corruption. + +I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of +plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. + +And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the +earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, +this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. + +This god, this one word: + +"I." + + + + +[-PART TWELVE-] + + + +{+Chapter Twelve+} + +It was when I read the first of the books I found in my house +that I saw the word "I." And when I understood this word, the +book fell from my hands, and I wept, I who had never known tears. +I wept in deliverance and in pity for all mankind. + +I understood the blessed thing which I had called my curse. I +understood why the best in me had been my sins and my +transgressions; and why I had never felt guilt in my sins. I +understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the +spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him. + +I read {+many+} books for many days. Then I called the Golden One, +and I told her what I had read and what I had learned. She looked +at me and the first words she spoke were: + +"I love you." + +Then I said: + +"My dearest one, it is not proper for men to be without names. +There was a time when each man had a name of his own to +distinguish him from all other men. So let us choose our names. I +have read of a man who lived many thousands of years ago, and of +all the names in these books, his is the one I wish to bear. He +took the light of the gods and [-he-] brought it to men, and he taught +men to be gods. And he suffered for his deed as all bearers of +light must suffer. His name was Prometheus." + +"It shall be your name," said the Golden One. + +"And I have read of a goddess," I said, "who was the mother of +the earth and of all the gods. Her name was Gaea. Let this be +your name, my Golden One, for you are to be the mother of a new +kind of gods." + +"It shall be my name," said the Golden One. + +Now I look ahead. My future is clear before me. The Saint of the +pyre had seen the future when he chose me as his heir, as the +heir of all the saints and all the martyrs who came before him +and who died for the same cause, for the same word, no matter +what name they gave to their cause and their truth. + +I shall live here, in my own house. I shall take my food from the +earth by the toil of my own hands. I shall learn many secrets +from my books. Through the years ahead, I shall rebuild the +achievements of the past, and open the way to carry them further, +the achievements which are open to me, but closed forever to my +brothers, for their minds are shackled to the weakest and dullest [-ones-] +among them. + +I have learned that [-my-] {+the+} power of the sky was known to men long +ago; they called it Electricity. It was the power that moved +their greatest inventions. It lit this house with light [-which-] {+that+} came +from those globes of glass on the walls. I have found the engine +which produced this light. I shall learn how to repair it and how +to make it work again. I shall learn how to use the wires which +carry this power. Then I shall build a barrier of wires around my +home, and across the paths which lead to my home; a barrier light +as a cobweb, more impassable [-that-] {+than+} a wall of granite; a barrier my +brothers will never be able to cross. For they have nothing to +fight me with, save the brute force of their numbers. I have my +mind. + +Then here, on this mountaintop, with the world below me and +nothing above me but the sun, I shall live my own truth. Gaea is +pregnant with my child. [-Our son +will be raised as a man.-] He will be taught to say "I" and to bear +the pride of it. He will be taught to walk straight [-and-] on his own +feet. He will be taught reverence for his own spirit. + +When I shall have read all the books and learned my new way, when +my home will be ready and my earth tilled, I shall steal one day, +for the last time, into the cursed City of my birth. I shall call +to me my friend who has no name save International 4-8818, and +all those like him, Fraternity 2-5503, who cries without reason, +and Solidarity [-9-6347-] {+8-6347+} who calls for help in the night, and a few +others. I shall call to me all the men and the women whose spirit +has not been killed within them and who suffer under the yoke of +their brothers. They will follow me and I shall lead them to my +fortress. And here, in this uncharted wilderness, I and they, my +chosen friends, my fellow-builders, shall write the first chapter +in the new history of man. + +These are the {+last+} things before me. And as I stand here at the +door of glory, I look behind me for the last time. I look upon +the history of men, which I have learned from the books, and I +wonder. It was a long story, and the spirit which moved it was +the spirit of man's freedom. But what is freedom? Freedom from +what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, +save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. +That is freedom. That and nothing else. + +At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their +chains. [-The-] {+Then+} he was enslaved by the kings. But he broke their +chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. +But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a +man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take +away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right +of man, and there is no right on earth above this right. And he +stood on the threshold of [-the-] freedom for which the blood of the +centuries behind him had been spilled. + +But then he gave up all he had won, and fell lower than his +savage beginning. + +What brought it to pass? What disaster took their reason away +from men? What whip lashed them to their knees in shame and +submission? The worship of the word "We." + +When men accepted that worship, the structure {+of centuries +collapsed about them, the structure+} whose every beam had come +from the thought of some one man, each in his day down the ages, +from the depth of some one spirit, such [-spirit-] as {+spirit+} existed but for +its own sake. Those men who [-survived-] {+survived-+} those eager to obey, eager +to live for one another, since they had nothing else to vindicate [-them--those-] +{+them- those+} men could neither carry on, nor preserve what they +had received. Thus did all thought, all science, all wisdom +perish on earth. Thus did [-men---] {+men-+} men with nothing to offer save +their great [-number-- +lost-] {+numbers- lose+} the steel towers, the flying ships, the +power wires, all the things they had not created and could never +keep. Perhaps, later, some men had been born with the mind and +the courage to recover these things which were lost; perhaps +these men came before the Councils of Scholars. They [-were-] answered as +I have been [-answered---] {+answered-+} and for the same reasons. + +But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years +of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were +going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I +wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word [-"I"-] {+"I,"+} +could give it up and not know what they {+had+} lost. But such has been +the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, +and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them. + +Perhaps, in those days, there were a few among men, a few of +clear sight and clean soul, who refused to surrender that word. +What agony must have been theirs before that which they saw +coming and could not stop! Perhaps they cried out in protest and +in warning. But men paid no heed to their warning. And they, [-these-] +{+those+} few, fought a hopeless battle, and they perished with their +banners smeared by their own blood. And they chose to perish, for +they knew. To them, I send my salute across the centuries, and my pity. + +[-Their-] + +{+Theirs+} is the banner in my hand. And I wish I had the power to +tell them that the despair of their hearts was not to be final, +and their night was not without hope. For the battle they lost +can never be lost. For that which they died to save can never +perish. Through all the darkness, through all the shame of which +men are capable, the spirit of man will remain alive on this +earth. It may sleep, but it will awaken. It may wear chains, but +it will break through. And man will go on. Man, not men. + +[-Here-] + +{+Here,+} on this mountain, I and my sons and my chosen friends shall +build our new land and our fort. And it will become as the heart +of the earth, lost and hidden at first, but beating, beating +louder each day. And word of it will reach every corner of the +earth. And the roads of the world will become as veins which will +carry the best of the world's blood to my threshold. And all my +brothers, and the Councils of my brothers, will hear of it, but +they will be impotent against me. And the day will come when I +shall break [-all-] the chains of the earth, and raze the cities of the +enslaved, and my home will become the capital of a world where +each man will be free to exist for his own sake. + +For the coming of that day [-shall-] I {+shall+} fight, I and my sons and my +chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his +life. For his honor. + +And here, over the portals of my fort, I shall cut in the stone +the word which is to be my beacon and my banner. The word which +will not die, should we all perish in battle. The word which can +never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the +meaning and the glory. + +The sacred word: + +EGO + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Anthem, by Ayn Rand + |