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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/1555-0.txt b/1555-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..603c535 --- /dev/null +++ b/1555-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,965 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Passion in the Desert, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Passion in the Desert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ernest Dowson + +Release Date: December, 1998 [Etext #1555] +Posting Date: February 26, 2010 +Last Updated: November 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +A PASSION IN THE DESERT + + +By Honore De Balzac + + + +Translated by Ernest Dowson + + + + + +A PASSION IN THE DESERT + + +“The whole show is dreadful,” she cried coming out of the menagerie of +M. Martin. She had just been looking at that daring speculator “working +with his hyena,”--to speak in the style of the programme. + +“By what means,” she continued, “can he have tamed these animals to such +a point as to be certain of their affection for----” + +“What seems to you a problem,” said I, interrupting, “is really quite +natural.” + +“Oh!” she cried, letting an incredulous smile wander over her lips. + +“You think that beasts are wholly without passions?” I asked her. “Quite +the reverse; we can communicate to them all the vices arising in our own +state of civilization.” + +She looked at me with an air of astonishment. + +“But,” I continued, “the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like you, +I did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself next to an +old soldier with the right leg amputated, who had come in with me. His +face had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads, stamped with +the seal of warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon are written. +Besides, he had that frank, good-humored expression which always +impresses me favorably. He was without doubt one of those troopers +who are surprised at nothing, who find matter for laughter in +the contortions of a dying comrade, who bury or plunder him quite +light-heartedly, who stand intrepidly in the way of bullets;--in fact, +one of those men who waste no time in deliberation, and would not +hesitate to make friends with the devil himself. After looking very +attentively at the proprietor of the menagerie getting out of his box, +my companion pursed up his lips with an air of mockery and contempt, +with that peculiar and expressive twist which superior people assume to +show they are not taken in. Then, when I was expatiating on the courage +of M. Martin, he smiled, shook his head knowingly, and said, ‘Well +known.’ + +“‘How “well known”?’ I said. ‘If you would only explain me the mystery, +I should be vastly obliged.’ + +“After a few minutes, during which we made acquaintance, we went to dine +at the first restauranteur’s whose shop caught our eye. At dessert a +bottle of champagne completely refreshed and brightened up the memories +of this odd old soldier. He told me his story, and I saw that he was +right when he exclaimed, ‘Well known.’” + +When she got home, she teased me to that extent, was so charming, +and made so many promises, that I consented to communicate to her the +confidences of the old soldier. Next day she received the following +episode of an epic which one might call “The French in Egypt.” + + + +During the expedition in Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal +soldier fell into the hands of the Maugrabins, and was taken by these +Arabs into the deserts beyond the falls of the Nile. + +In order to place a sufficient distance between themselves and the +French army, the Maugrabins made forced marches, and only halted when +night was upon them. They camped round a well overshadowed by palm trees +under which they had previously concealed a store of provisions. Not +surmising that the notion of flight would occur to their prisoner, they +contented themselves with binding his hands, and after eating a few +dates, and giving provender to their horses, went to sleep. + +When the brave Provencal saw that his enemies were no longer watching +him, he made use of his teeth to steal a scimiter, fixed the blade +between his knees, and cut the cords which prevented him from using his +hands; in a moment he was free. He at once seized a rifle and a dagger, +then taking the precautions to provide himself with a sack of dried +dates, oats, and powder and shot, and to fasten a scimiter to his waist, +he leaped on to a horse, and spurred on vigorously in the direction +where he thought to find the French army. So impatient was he to see +a bivouac again that he pressed on the already tired courser at such +speed, that its flanks were lacerated with his spurs, and at last the +poor animal died, leaving the Frenchman alone in the desert. After +walking some time in the sand with all the courage of an escaped +convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the day had already ended. +In spite of the beauty of an Oriental sky at night, he felt he had not +strength enough to go on. Fortunately he had been able to find a small +hill, on the summit of which a few palm trees shot up into the air; it +was their verdure seen from afar which had brought hope and consolation +to his heart. His fatigue was so great that he lay down upon a rock +of granite, capriciously cut out like a camp-bed; there he fell asleep +without taking any precaution to defend himself while he slept. He had +made the sacrifice of his life. His last thought was one of regret. He +repented having left the Maugrabins, whose nomadic life seemed to smile +upon him now that he was far from them and without help. He was awakened +by the sun, whose pitiless rays fell with all their force on the granite +and produced an intolerable heat--for he had had the stupidity to place +himself adversely to the shadow thrown by the verdant majestic heads +of the palm trees. He looked at the solitary trees and shuddered--they +reminded him of the graceful shafts crowned with foliage which +characterize the Saracen columns in the cathedral of Arles. + +But when, after counting the palm trees, he cast his eyes around +him, the most horrible despair was infused into his soul. Before him +stretched an ocean without limit. The dark sand of the desert spread +further than eye could reach in every direction, and glittered +like steel struck with bright light. It might have been a sea of +looking-glass, or lakes melted together in a mirror. A fiery vapor +carried up in surging waves made a perpetual whirlwind over the +quivering land. The sky was lit with an Oriental splendor of +insupportable purity, leaving naught for the imagination to desire. +Heaven and earth were on fire. + +The silence was awful in its wild and terrible majesty. Infinity, +immensity, closed in upon the soul from every side. Not a cloud in the +sky, not a breath in the air, not a flaw on the bosom of the sand, ever +moving in diminutive waves; the horizon ended as at sea on a clear day, +with one line of light, definite as the cut of a sword. + +The Provencal threw his arms round the trunk of one of the palm trees, +as though it were the body of a friend, and then, in the shelter of the +thin, straight shadow that the palm cast upon the granite, he wept. Then +sitting down he remained as he was, contemplating with profound sadness +the implacable scene, which was all he had to look upon. He cried aloud, +to measure the solitude. His voice, lost in the hollows of the hill, +sounded faintly, and aroused no echo--the echo was in his own heart. The +Provencal was twenty-two years old:--he loaded his carbine. + +“There’ll be time enough,” he said to himself, laying on the ground the +weapon which alone could bring him deliverance. + +Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue expanse +of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France--he smelled with delight the +gutters of Paris--he remembered the towns through which he had passed, +the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his life. His +Southern fancy soon showed him the stones of his beloved Provence, +in the play of the heat which undulated above the wide expanse of the +desert. Realizing the danger of this cruel mirage, he went down the +opposite side of the hill to that by which he had come up the day +before. The remains of a rug showed that this place of refuge had at one +time been inhabited; at a short distance he saw some palm trees full +of dates. Then the instinct which binds us to life awoke again in +his heart. He hoped to live long enough to await the passing of some +Maugrabins, or perhaps he might hear the sound of cannon; for at this +time Bonaparte was traversing Egypt. + +This thought gave him new life. The palm tree seemed to bend with the +weight of the ripe fruit. He shook some of it down. When he tasted this +unhoped-for manna, he felt sure that the palms had been cultivated by a +former inhabitant--the savory, fresh meat of the dates were proof of +the care of his predecessor. He passed suddenly from dark despair to an +almost insane joy. He went up again to the top of the hill, and spent +the rest of the day in cutting down one of the sterile palm trees, which +the night before had served him for shelter. A vague memory made him +think of the animals of the desert; and in case they might come to drink +at the spring, visible from the base of the rocks but lost further down, +he resolved to guard himself from their visits by placing a barrier at +the entrance of his hermitage. + +In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being +devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces, +though he succeeded in cutting it down. At eventide the king of the +desert fell; the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh +in the solitude; the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some voice +predicting woe. + +But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore +off from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are +its poetic adornment, and used them to mend the mat on which he was to +sleep. + +Fatigued by the heat and his work, he fell asleep under the red curtains +of his wet cave. + +In the middle of the night his sleep was troubled by an extraordinary +noise; he sat up, and the deep silence around allowed him to distinguish +the alternative accents of a respiration whose savage energy could not +belong to a human creature. + +A profound terror, increased still further by the darkness, the silence, +and his waking images, froze his heart within him. He almost felt +his hair stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost +he perceived through the shadow two faint yellow lights. At first he +attributed these lights to the reflections of his own pupils, but soon +the vivid brilliance of the night aided him gradually to distinguish the +objects around him in the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying but +two steps from him. Was it a lion, a tiger, or a crocodile? + +The Provencal was not sufficiently educated to know under what species +his enemy ought to be classed; but his fright was all the greater, as +his ignorance led him to imagine all terrors at once; he endured a cruel +torture, noting every variation of the breathing close to him without +daring to make the slightest movement. An odor, pungent like that of +a fox, but more penetrating, more profound,--so to speak,--filled the +cave, and when the Provencal became sensible of this, his terror reached +its height, for he could no longer doubt the proximity of a terrible +companion, whose royal dwelling served him for a shelter. + +Presently the reflection of the moon descending on the horizon lit up +the den, rendering gradually visible and resplendent the spotted skin of +a panther. + +This lion of Egypt slept, curled up like a big dog, the peaceful +possessor of a sumptuous niche at the gate of an hotel; its eyes opened +for a moment and closed again; its face was turned towards the man. A +thousand confused thoughts passed through the Frenchman’s mind; first he +thought of killing it with a bullet from his gun, but he saw there was +not enough distance between them for him to take proper aim--the shot +would miss the mark. And if it were to wake!--the thought made his limbs +rigid. He listened to his own heart beating in the midst of the silence, +and cursed the too violent pulsations which the flow of blood brought +on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed him time to think of +some means of escape. + +Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the +head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair +compelled him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die +for CERTAIN, he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and +made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him +long to wait. + +He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with +blood. + +“She’s had a good dinner,” he thought, without troubling himself as to +whether her feast might have been on human flesh. “She won’t be hungry +when she gets up.” + +It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white; +many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her feet; +her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings; the overpart +of her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and soft, had the +characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which distinguish the +panther from every other feline species. + +This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful +as that of a cat lying on a cushion. Her blood-stained paws, nervous and +well armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon them, +and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like threads of +silver. + +If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless have +admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of vivid +color which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then his sight +was troubled by her sinister appearance. + +The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce the +effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on the +nightingale. + +For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this +danger, though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon +charged with shell. Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to his +soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth on +his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their body to +the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, resolved to +play his part with honor to the last. + +“The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps,” he +said; so considering himself as good as dead already, he waited bravely, +with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy. + +When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she +put out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of +cramp. At last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her teeth +and pointed tongue, rough as a file. + +“A regular petite maitresse,” thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll +herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the blood which +stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated +gestures full of prettiness. “All right, make a little toilet,” the +Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his gaiety with his +courage; “we’ll say good morning to each other presently;” and he seized +the small, short dagger which he had taken from the Maugrabins. + +At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked at +him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their +insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the animal walked +towards him. But he looked at her caressingly, staring into her eyes in +order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close to him; then with +a movement both gentle and amorous, as though he were caressing the most +beautiful of women, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the +head to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae which divided the +panther’s yellow back. The animal waved her tail voluptuously, and her +eyes grew gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman accomplished +this interesting flattery, she gave forth one of those purrings by which +cats express their pleasure; but this murmur issued from a throat so +powerful and so deep that it resounded through the cave like the +last vibrations of an organ in a church. The man, understanding the +importance of his caresses, redoubled them in such a way as to surprise +and stupefy his imperious courtesan. When he felt sure of having +extinguished the ferocity of his capricious companion, whose hunger had +so fortunately been satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the +cave; the panther let him go out, but when he had reached the summit of +the hill she sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to +twig, and rubbed herself against his legs, putting up her back after the +manner of all the race of cats. Then regarding her guest with eyes +whose glare had softened a little, she gave vent to that wild cry which +naturalists compare to the grating of a saw. + +“She is exacting,” said the Frenchman, smilingly. + +He was bold enough to play with her ears; he caressed her belly +and scratched her head as hard as he could. When he saw that he was +successful, he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, watching +for the right moment to kill her, but the hardness of her bones made him +tremble for his success. + +The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave; she +lifted her head, stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by +the tranquility of her attitude. It suddenly occurred to the soldier +that to kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in +the throat. + +He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied no doubt, laid herself +gracefully at his feet, and cast up at him glances in which, in spite +of their natural fierceness, was mingled confusedly a kind of good will. +The poor Provencal ate his dates, leaning against one of the palm +trees, and casting his eyes alternately on the desert in quest of some +liberator and on his terrible companion to watch her uncertain clemency. + +The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell, and every +time that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust. + +She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence. However, this +examination was favorable to him, for when he had finished his meager +meal she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue, brushing off +with marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases. + +“Ah, but when she’s really hungry!” thought the Frenchman. In spite +of the shudder this thought caused him, the soldier began to measure +curiously the proportions of the panther, certainly one of the most +splendid specimens of its race. She was three feet high and four feet +long without counting her tail; this powerful weapon, rounded like +a cudgel, was nearly three feet long. The head, large as that of a +lioness, was distinguished by a rare expression of refinement. The cold +cruelty of a tiger was dominant, it was true, but there was also a vague +resemblance to the face of a sensual woman. Indeed, the face of this +solitary queen had something of the gaiety of a drunken Nero: she had +satiated herself with blood, and she wanted to play. + +The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, and the panther left him +free, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less like +a faithful dog than a big Angora cat, observing everything and every +movement of her master. + +When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the remains of his horse; +the panther had dragged the carcass all that way; about two thirds of it +had been devoured already. The sight reassured him. + +It was easy to explain the panther’s absence, and the respect she had +had for him while he slept. The first piece of good luck emboldened him +to tempt the future, and he conceived the wild hope of continuing on +good terms with the panther during the entire day, neglecting no means +of taming her, and remaining in her good graces. + +He returned to her, and had the unspeakable joy of seeing her wag her +tail with an almost imperceptible movement at his approach. He sat down +then, without fear, by her side, and they began to play together; he +took her paws and muzzle, pulled her ears, rolled her over on her back, +stroked her warm, delicate flanks. She let him do what ever he liked, +and when he began to stroke the hair on her feet she drew her claws in +carefully. + +The man, keeping the dagger in one hand, thought to plunge it into the +belly of the too confiding panther, but he was afraid that he would be +immediately strangled in her last convulsive struggle; besides, he felt +in his heart a sort of remorse which bid him respect a creature that +had done him no harm. He seemed to have found a friend, in a boundless +desert; half unconsciously he thought of his first sweetheart, whom +he had nicknamed “Mignonne” by way of contrast, because she was so +atrociously jealous that all the time of their love he was in fear of +the knife with which she had always threatened him. + +This memory of his early days suggested to him the idea of making the +young panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with less +terror her swiftness, suppleness, and softness. Toward the end of the +day he had familiarized himself with his perilous position; he now +almost liked the painfulness of it. At last his companion had got into +the habit of looking up at him whenever he cried in a falsetto voice, +“Mignonne.” + +At the setting of the sun Mignonne gave, several times running, +a profound melancholy cry. “She’s been well brought up,” said the +lighthearted soldier; “she says her prayers.” But this mental joke only +occurred to him when he noticed what a pacific attitude his companion +remained in. “Come, ma petite blonde, I’ll let you go to bed first,” + he said to her, counting on the activity of his own legs to run away as +quickly as possible, directly she was asleep, and seek another shelter +for the night. + +The soldier waited with impatience the hour of his flight, and when +it had arrived he walked vigorously in the direction of the Nile; but +hardly had he made a quarter of a league in the sand when he heard the +panther bounding after him, crying with that saw-like cry more dreadful +even than the sound of her leaping. + +“Ah!” he said, “then she’s taken a fancy to me, she has never met anyone +before, and it is really quite flattering to have her first love.” That +instant the man fell into one of those movable quicksands so terrible +to travelers and from which it is impossible to save oneself. Feeling +himself caught, he gave a shriek of alarm; the panther seized him with +her teeth by the collar, and, springing vigorously backwards, drew him +as if by magic out of the whirling sand. + +“Ah, Mignonne!” cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically; +“we’re bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!” and he +retraced his steps. + +From that time the desert seemed inhabited. It contained a being to +whom the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by him, +though he could not explain to himself the reason for their strange +friendship. Great as was the soldier’s desire to stay upon guard, he +slept. + +On awakening he could not find Mignonne; he mounted the hill, and in the +distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these animals, +who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the vertebral +column. Mignonne arrived, her jaws covered with blood; she received the +wonted caress of her companion, showing with much purring how happy it +made her. Her eyes, full of languor, turned still more gently than the +day before toward the Provencal, who talked to her as one would to a +tame animal. + +“Ah! mademoiselle, you are a nice girl, aren’t you? Just look at that! +So we like to be made much of, don’t we? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? +So you have been eating some Arab or other, have you? That doesn’t +matter. They’re animals just the same as you are; but don’t you take to +eating Frenchmen, or I shan’t like you any longer.” + +She played like a dog with its master, letting herself be rolled over, +knocked about, and stroked, alternately; sometimes she herself would +provoke the soldier, putting up her paw with a soliciting gesture. + +Some days passed in this manner. This companionship permitted the +Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert; now that he +had a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and +plenty to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began +to be diversified. + +Solitude revealed to him all her secrets, and enveloped him in her +delights. He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights +unknown to the world. He knew what it was to tremble when he heard over +his head the hiss of a bird’s wing, so rarely did they pass, or when +he saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one into +another. He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon the +ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and rapid +in their change. He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling at its +wonderful pomp; then, after having reveled in the sight of a hurricane +over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists and +death-bearing clouds, he would welcome the night with joy, for then fell +the healthful freshness of the stars, and he listened to imaginary +music in the skies. Then solitude taught him to unroll the treasures +of dreams. He passed whole hours in remembering mere nothings, and +comparing his present life with his past. + +At last he grew passionately fond of the panther; for some sort of +affection was a necessity. + +Whether it was that his will powerfully projected had modified the +character of his companion, or whether, because she found abundant food +in her predatory excursions in the desert, she respected the man’s life, +he began to fear for it no longer, seeing her so well tamed. + +He devoted the greater part of his time to sleep, but he was obliged to +watch like a spider in its web that the moment of his deliverance might +not escape him, if anyone should pass the line marked by the horizon. He +had sacrificed his shirt to make a flag with, which he hung at the top +of a palm tree, whose foliage he had torn off. Taught by necessity, he +found the means of keeping it spread out, by fastening it with little +sticks; for the wind might not be blowing at the moment when the passing +traveler was looking through the desert. + +It was during the long hours, when he had abandoned hope, that he amused +himself with the panther. He had come to learn the different inflections +of her voice, the expressions of her eyes; he had studied the capricious +patterns of all the rosettes which marked the gold of her robe. Mignonne +was not even angry when he took hold of the tuft at the end of her tail +to count her rings, those graceful ornaments which glittered in the +sun like jewelry. It gave him pleasure to contemplate the supple, fine +outlines of her form, the whiteness of her belly, the graceful pose of +her head. But it was especially when she was playing that he felt most +pleasure in looking at her; the agility and youthful lightness of her +movements were a continual surprise to him; he wondered at the supple +way in which she jumped and climbed, washed herself and arranged her +fur, crouched down and prepared to spring. However rapid her spring +might be, however slippery the stone she was on, she would always stop +short at the word “Mignonne.” + +One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through +the air. The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after +waiting a moment the deserted sultana growled deeply. + +“My goodness! I do believe she’s jealous,” he cried, seeing her eyes +become hard again; “the soul of Virginie has passed into her body; +that’s certain.” + +The eagle disappeared into the air, while the soldier admired the curved +contour of the panther. + +But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a +woman! the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints of +faint white which marked her flanks. + +The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, +these russet markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable +attraction. + +The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of +meaning; the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her head; +her eyes flashed like lightning--then she shut them tightly. + +“She has a soul,” he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of +the sands, golden like them, white like them, solitary and burning like +them. + + + +“Well,” she said, “I have read your plea in favor of beasts; but how did +two so well adapted to understand each other end?” + +“Ah, well! you see, they ended as all great passions do end--by a +misunderstanding. For some reason ONE suspects the other of treason; +they don’t come to an explanation through pride, and quarrel and part +from sheer obstinacy.” + +“Yet sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is +enough--but anyhow go on with your story.” + +“It’s horribly difficult, but you will understand, after what the old +villain told me over his champagne. He said--‘I don’t know if I hurt +her, but she turned round, as if enraged, and with her sharp teeth +caught hold of my leg--gently, I daresay; but I, thinking she would +devour me, plunged my dagger into her throat. She rolled over, giving +a cry that froze my heart; and I saw her dying, still looking at me +without anger. I would have given all the world--my cross even, which I +had not got then--to have brought her to life again. It was as though I +had murdered a real person; and the soldiers who had seen my flag, and +were come to my assistance, found me in tears.’ + +“‘Well sir,’ he said, after a moment of silence, ‘since then I have +been in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France; I’ve certainly +carried my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything +like the desert. Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!’ + +“‘What did you feel there?’ I asked him. + +“‘Oh! that can’t be described, young man! Besides, I am not always +regretting my palm trees and my panther. I should have to be very +melancholy for that. In the desert, you see, there is everything and +nothing.’ + +“‘Yes, but explain----’ + +“‘Well,’ he said, with an impatient gesture, ‘it is God without +mankind.’” + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Passion in the Desert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1555-0.txt or 1555-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/1555/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Passion in the Desert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ernest Dowson + +Release Date: February 26, 2010 [EBook #1555] +Last Updated: April 3, 2013 +Last Updated: November 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + A PASSION IN THE DESERT + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Ernest Dowson + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + A PASSION IN THE DESERT + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + “The whole show is dreadful,” she cried coming out of the menagerie of M. + Martin. She had just been looking at that daring speculator “working with + his hyena,”—to speak in the style of the programme. + </p> + <p> + “By what means,” she continued, “can he have tamed these animals to such a + point as to be certain of their affection for——” + </p> + <p> + “What seems to you a problem,” said I, interrupting, “is really quite + natural.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” she cried, letting an incredulous smile wander over her lips. + </p> + <p> + “You think that beasts are wholly without passions?” I asked her. “Quite + the reverse; we can communicate to them all the vices arising in our own + state of civilization.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me with an air of astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “But,” I continued, “the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like you, I + did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself next to an old + soldier with the right leg amputated, who had come in with me. His face + had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads, stamped with the seal of + warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon are written. Besides, he had + that frank, good-humored expression which always impresses me favorably. + He was without doubt one of those troopers who are surprised at nothing, + who find matter for laughter in the contortions of a dying comrade, who + bury or plunder him quite light-heartedly, who stand intrepidly in the way + of bullets;—in fact, one of those men who waste no time in + deliberation, and would not hesitate to make friends with the devil + himself. After looking very attentively at the proprietor of the menagerie + getting out of his box, my companion pursed up his lips with an air of + mockery and contempt, with that peculiar and expressive twist which + superior people assume to show they are not taken in. Then, when I was + expatiating on the courage of M. Martin, he smiled, shook his head + knowingly, and said, ‘Well known.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘How “well known”?’ I said. ‘If you would only explain me the mystery, I + should be vastly obliged.’ + </p> + <p> + “After a few minutes, during which we made acquaintance, we went to dine + at the first restauranteur’s whose shop caught our eye. At dessert a + bottle of champagne completely refreshed and brightened up the memories of + this odd old soldier. He told me his story, and I saw that he was right + when he exclaimed, ‘Well known.’” + </p> + <p> + When she got home, she teased me to that extent, was so charming, and made + so many promises, that I consented to communicate to her the confidences + of the old soldier. Next day she received the following episode of an epic + which one might call “The French in Egypt.” + </p> + <p> + During the expedition in Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal + soldier fell into the hands of the Maugrabins, and was taken by these + Arabs into the deserts beyond the falls of the Nile. + </p> + <p> + In order to place a sufficient distance between themselves and the French + army, the Maugrabins made forced marches, and only halted when night was + upon them. They camped round a well overshadowed by palm trees under which + they had previously concealed a store of provisions. Not surmising that + the notion of flight would occur to their prisoner, they contented + themselves with binding his hands, and after eating a few dates, and + giving provender to their horses, went to sleep. + </p> + <p> + When the brave Provencal saw that his enemies were no longer watching him, + he made use of his teeth to steal a scimiter, fixed the blade between his + knees, and cut the cords which prevented him from using his hands; in a + moment he was free. He at once seized a rifle and a dagger, then taking + the precautions to provide himself with a sack of dried dates, oats, and + powder and shot, and to fasten a scimiter to his waist, he leaped on to a + horse, and spurred on vigorously in the direction where he thought to find + the French army. So impatient was he to see a bivouac again that he + pressed on the already tired courser at such speed, that its flanks were + lacerated with his spurs, and at last the poor animal died, leaving the + Frenchman alone in the desert. After walking some time in the sand with + all the courage of an escaped convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as + the day had already ended. In spite of the beauty of an Oriental sky at + night, he felt he had not strength enough to go on. Fortunately he had + been able to find a small hill, on the summit of which a few palm trees + shot up into the air; it was their verdure seen from afar which had + brought hope and consolation to his heart. His fatigue was so great that + he lay down upon a rock of granite, capriciously cut out like a camp-bed; + there he fell asleep without taking any precaution to defend himself while + he slept. He had made the sacrifice of his life. His last thought was one + of regret. He repented having left the Maugrabins, whose nomadic life + seemed to smile upon him now that he was far from them and without help. + He was awakened by the sun, whose pitiless rays fell with all their force + on the granite and produced an intolerable heat—for he had had the + stupidity to place himself adversely to the shadow thrown by the verdant + majestic heads of the palm trees. He looked at the solitary trees and + shuddered—they reminded him of the graceful shafts crowned with + foliage which characterize the Saracen columns in the cathedral of Arles. + </p> + <p> + But when, after counting the palm trees, he cast his eyes around him, the + most horrible despair was infused into his soul. Before him stretched an + ocean without limit. The dark sand of the desert spread further than eye + could reach in every direction, and glittered like steel struck with + bright light. It might have been a sea of looking-glass, or lakes melted + together in a mirror. A fiery vapor carried up in surging waves made a + perpetual whirlwind over the quivering land. The sky was lit with an + Oriental splendor of insupportable purity, leaving naught for the + imagination to desire. Heaven and earth were on fire. + </p> + <p> + The silence was awful in its wild and terrible majesty. Infinity, + immensity, closed in upon the soul from every side. Not a cloud in the + sky, not a breath in the air, not a flaw on the bosom of the sand, ever + moving in diminutive waves; the horizon ended as at sea on a clear day, + with one line of light, definite as the cut of a sword. + </p> + <p> + The Provencal threw his arms round the trunk of one of the palm trees, as + though it were the body of a friend, and then, in the shelter of the thin, + straight shadow that the palm cast upon the granite, he wept. Then sitting + down he remained as he was, contemplating with profound sadness the + implacable scene, which was all he had to look upon. He cried aloud, to + measure the solitude. His voice, lost in the hollows of the hill, sounded + faintly, and aroused no echo—the echo was in his own heart. The + Provencal was twenty-two years old:—he loaded his carbine. + </p> + <p> + “There’ll be time enough,” he said to himself, laying on the ground the + weapon which alone could bring him deliverance. + </p> + <p> + Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue expanse of + the sky, the soldier dreamed of France—he smelled with delight the + gutters of Paris—he remembered the towns through which he had + passed, the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his life. + His Southern fancy soon showed him the stones of his beloved Provence, in + the play of the heat which undulated above the wide expanse of the desert. + Realizing the danger of this cruel mirage, he went down the opposite side + of the hill to that by which he had come up the day before. The remains of + a rug showed that this place of refuge had at one time been inhabited; at + a short distance he saw some palm trees full of dates. Then the instinct + which binds us to life awoke again in his heart. He hoped to live long + enough to await the passing of some Maugrabins, or perhaps he might hear + the sound of cannon; for at this time Bonaparte was traversing Egypt. + </p> + <p> + This thought gave him new life. The palm tree seemed to bend with the + weight of the ripe fruit. He shook some of it down. When he tasted this + unhoped-for manna, he felt sure that the palms had been cultivated by a + former inhabitant—the savory, fresh meat of the dates were proof of + the care of his predecessor. He passed suddenly from dark despair to an + almost insane joy. He went up again to the top of the hill, and spent the + rest of the day in cutting down one of the sterile palm trees, which the + night before had served him for shelter. A vague memory made him think of + the animals of the desert; and in case they might come to drink at the + spring, visible from the base of the rocks but lost further down, he + resolved to guard himself from their visits by placing a barrier at the + entrance of his hermitage. + </p> + <p> + In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being + devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces, though + he succeeded in cutting it down. At eventide the king of the desert fell; + the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh in the solitude; + the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some voice predicting woe. + </p> + <p> + But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore off + from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are its poetic + adornment, and used them to mend the mat on which he was to sleep. + </p> + <p> + Fatigued by the heat and his work, he fell asleep under the red curtains + of his wet cave. + </p> + <p> + In the middle of the night his sleep was troubled by an extraordinary + noise; he sat up, and the deep silence around allowed him to distinguish + the alternative accents of a respiration whose savage energy could not + belong to a human creature. + </p> + <p> + A profound terror, increased still further by the darkness, the silence, + and his waking images, froze his heart within him. He almost felt his hair + stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost he perceived + through the shadow two faint yellow lights. At first he attributed these + lights to the reflections of his own pupils, but soon the vivid brilliance + of the night aided him gradually to distinguish the objects around him in + the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying but two steps from him. Was it + a lion, a tiger, or a crocodile? + </p> + <p> + The Provencal was not sufficiently educated to know under what species his + enemy ought to be classed; but his fright was all the greater, as his + ignorance led him to imagine all terrors at once; he endured a cruel + torture, noting every variation of the breathing close to him without + daring to make the slightest movement. An odor, pungent like that of a + fox, but more penetrating, more profound,—so to speak,—filled + the cave, and when the Provencal became sensible of this, his terror + reached its height, for he could no longer doubt the proximity of a + terrible companion, whose royal dwelling served him for a shelter. + </p> + <p> + Presently the reflection of the moon descending on the horizon lit up the + den, rendering gradually visible and resplendent the spotted skin of a + panther. + </p> + <p> + This lion of Egypt slept, curled up like a big dog, the peaceful possessor + of a sumptuous niche at the gate of an hotel; its eyes opened for a moment + and closed again; its face was turned towards the man. A thousand confused + thoughts passed through the Frenchman’s mind; first he thought of killing + it with a bullet from his gun, but he saw there was not enough distance + between them for him to take proper aim—the shot would miss the + mark. And if it were to wake!—the thought made his limbs rigid. He + listened to his own heart beating in the midst of the silence, and cursed + the too violent pulsations which the flow of blood brought on, fearing to + disturb that sleep which allowed him time to think of some means of + escape. + </p> + <p> + Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the head of + his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair compelled + him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die for CERTAIN, + he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and made up his mind + to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him long to wait. + </p> + <p> + He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with + blood. + </p> + <p> + “She’s had a good dinner,” he thought, without troubling himself as to + whether her feast might have been on human flesh. “She won’t be hungry + when she gets up.” + </p> + <p> + It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white; + many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her feet; + her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings; the overpart of + her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and soft, had the + characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which distinguish the + panther from every other feline species. + </p> + <p> + This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful as + that of a cat lying on a cushion. Her blood-stained paws, nervous and well + armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon them, and + from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like threads of silver. + </p> + <p> + If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless have + admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of vivid color + which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then his sight was + troubled by her sinister appearance. + </p> + <p> + The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce the + effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on the + nightingale. + </p> + <p> + For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this danger, + though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon charged with + shell. Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to his soul and + sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth on his brow. + Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their body to the smiter, + so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, resolved to play his part + with honor to the last. + </p> + <p> + “The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps,” he + said; so considering himself as good as dead already, he waited bravely, + with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy. + </p> + <p> + When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she put + out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of cramp. At + last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her teeth and pointed + tongue, rough as a file. + </p> + <p> + “A regular petite maitresse,” thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll + herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the blood which + stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated + gestures full of prettiness. “All right, make a little toilet,” the + Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his gaiety with his + courage; “we’ll say good morning to each other presently;” and he seized + the small, short dagger which he had taken from the Maugrabins. + </p> + <p> + At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked at + him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their + insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the animal walked + towards him. But he looked at her caressingly, staring into her eyes in + order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close to him; then with a + movement both gentle and amorous, as though he were caressing the most + beautiful of women, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the head + to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae which divided the panther’s + yellow back. The animal waved her tail voluptuously, and her eyes grew + gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman accomplished this + interesting flattery, she gave forth one of those purrings by which cats + express their pleasure; but this murmur issued from a throat so powerful + and so deep that it resounded through the cave like the last vibrations of + an organ in a church. The man, understanding the importance of his + caresses, redoubled them in such a way as to surprise and stupefy his + imperious courtesan. When he felt sure of having extinguished the ferocity + of his capricious companion, whose hunger had so fortunately been + satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the cave; the panther let + him go out, but when he had reached the summit of the hill she sprang with + the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig, and rubbed herself + against his legs, putting up her back after the manner of all the race of + cats. Then regarding her guest with eyes whose glare had softened a + little, she gave vent to that wild cry which naturalists compare to the + grating of a saw. + </p> + <p> + “She is exacting,” said the Frenchman, smilingly. + </p> + <p> + He was bold enough to play with her ears; he caressed her belly and + scratched her head as hard as he could. When he saw that he was + successful, he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, watching + for the right moment to kill her, but the hardness of her bones made him + tremble for his success. + </p> + <p> + The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave; she lifted + her head, stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by the + tranquility of her attitude. It suddenly occurred to the soldier that to + kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in the throat. + </p> + <p> + He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied no doubt, laid herself + gracefully at his feet, and cast up at him glances in which, in spite of + their natural fierceness, was mingled confusedly a kind of good will. The + poor Provencal ate his dates, leaning against one of the palm trees, and + casting his eyes alternately on the desert in quest of some liberator and + on his terrible companion to watch her uncertain clemency. + </p> + <p> + The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell, and every time + that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust. + </p> + <p> + She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence. However, this + examination was favorable to him, for when he had finished his meager meal + she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue, brushing off with + marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but when she’s really hungry!” thought the Frenchman. In spite of the + shudder this thought caused him, the soldier began to measure curiously + the proportions of the panther, certainly one of the most splendid + specimens of its race. She was three feet high and four feet long without + counting her tail; this powerful weapon, rounded like a cudgel, was nearly + three feet long. The head, large as that of a lioness, was distinguished + by a rare expression of refinement. The cold cruelty of a tiger was + dominant, it was true, but there was also a vague resemblance to the face + of a sensual woman. Indeed, the face of this solitary queen had something + of the gaiety of a drunken Nero: she had satiated herself with blood, and + she wanted to play. + </p> + <p> + The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, and the panther left him + free, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less like a + faithful dog than a big Angora cat, observing everything and every + movement of her master. + </p> + <p> + When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the remains of his horse; + the panther had dragged the carcass all that way; about two thirds of it + had been devoured already. The sight reassured him. + </p> + <p> + It was easy to explain the panther’s absence, and the respect she had had + for him while he slept. The first piece of good luck emboldened him to + tempt the future, and he conceived the wild hope of continuing on good + terms with the panther during the entire day, neglecting no means of + taming her, and remaining in her good graces. + </p> + <p> + He returned to her, and had the unspeakable joy of seeing her wag her tail + with an almost imperceptible movement at his approach. He sat down then, + without fear, by her side, and they began to play together; he took her + paws and muzzle, pulled her ears, rolled her over on her back, stroked her + warm, delicate flanks. She let him do what ever he liked, and when he + began to stroke the hair on her feet she drew her claws in carefully. + </p> + <p> + The man, keeping the dagger in one hand, thought to plunge it into the + belly of the too confiding panther, but he was afraid that he would be + immediately strangled in her last convulsive struggle; besides, he felt in + his heart a sort of remorse which bid him respect a creature that had done + him no harm. He seemed to have found a friend, in a boundless desert; half + unconsciously he thought of his first sweetheart, whom he had nicknamed + “Mignonne” by way of contrast, because she was so atrociously jealous that + all the time of their love he was in fear of the knife with which she had + always threatened him. + </p> + <p> + This memory of his early days suggested to him the idea of making the + young panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with less + terror her swiftness, suppleness, and softness. Toward the end of the day + he had familiarized himself with his perilous position; he now almost + liked the painfulness of it. At last his companion had got into the habit + of looking up at him whenever he cried in a falsetto voice, “Mignonne.” + </p> + <p> + At the setting of the sun Mignonne gave, several times running, a profound + melancholy cry. “She’s been well brought up,” said the lighthearted + soldier; “she says her prayers.” But this mental joke only occurred to him + when he noticed what a pacific attitude his companion remained in. “Come, + ma petite blonde, I’ll let you go to bed first,” he said to her, counting + on the activity of his own legs to run away as quickly as possible, + directly she was asleep, and seek another shelter for the night. + </p> + <p> + The soldier waited with impatience the hour of his flight, and when it had + arrived he walked vigorously in the direction of the Nile; but hardly had + he made a quarter of a league in the sand when he heard the panther + bounding after him, crying with that saw-like cry more dreadful even than + the sound of her leaping. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” he said, “then she’s taken a fancy to me, she has never met anyone + before, and it is really quite flattering to have her first love.” That + instant the man fell into one of those movable quicksands so terrible to + travelers and from which it is impossible to save oneself. Feeling himself + caught, he gave a shriek of alarm; the panther seized him with her teeth + by the collar, and, springing vigorously backwards, drew him as if by + magic out of the whirling sand. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, Mignonne!” cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically; “we’re + bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!” and he retraced his + steps. + </p> + <p> + From that time the desert seemed inhabited. It contained a being to whom + the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by him, though + he could not explain to himself the reason for their strange friendship. + Great as was the soldier’s desire to stay upon guard, he slept. + </p> + <p> + On awakening he could not find Mignonne; he mounted the hill, and in the + distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these animals, + who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the vertebral + column. Mignonne arrived, her jaws covered with blood; she received the + wonted caress of her companion, showing with much purring how happy it + made her. Her eyes, full of languor, turned still more gently than the day + before toward the Provencal, who talked to her as one would to a tame + animal. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! mademoiselle, you are a nice girl, aren’t you? Just look at that! So + we like to be made much of, don’t we? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? So + you have been eating some Arab or other, have you? That doesn’t matter. + They’re animals just the same as you are; but don’t you take to eating + Frenchmen, or I shan’t like you any longer.” + </p> + <p> + She played like a dog with its master, letting herself be rolled over, + knocked about, and stroked, alternately; sometimes she herself would + provoke the soldier, putting up her paw with a soliciting gesture. + </p> + <p> + Some days passed in this manner. This companionship permitted the + Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert; now that he had + a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and plenty + to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began to be + diversified. + </p> + <p> + Solitude revealed to him all her secrets, and enveloped him in her + delights. He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights + unknown to the world. He knew what it was to tremble when he heard over + his head the hiss of a bird’s wing, so rarely did they pass, or when he + saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one into + another. He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon the + ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and rapid in + their change. He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling at its + wonderful pomp; then, after having reveled in the sight of a hurricane + over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists and + death-bearing clouds, he would welcome the night with joy, for then fell + the healthful freshness of the stars, and he listened to imaginary music + in the skies. Then solitude taught him to unroll the treasures of dreams. + He passed whole hours in remembering mere nothings, and comparing his + present life with his past. + </p> + <p> + At last he grew passionately fond of the panther; for some sort of + affection was a necessity. + </p> + <p> + Whether it was that his will powerfully projected had modified the + character of his companion, or whether, because she found abundant food in + her predatory excursions in the desert, she respected the man’s life, he + began to fear for it no longer, seeing her so well tamed. + </p> + <p> + He devoted the greater part of his time to sleep, but he was obliged to + watch like a spider in its web that the moment of his deliverance might + not escape him, if anyone should pass the line marked by the horizon. He + had sacrificed his shirt to make a flag with, which he hung at the top of + a palm tree, whose foliage he had torn off. Taught by necessity, he found + the means of keeping it spread out, by fastening it with little sticks; + for the wind might not be blowing at the moment when the passing traveler + was looking through the desert. + </p> + <p> + It was during the long hours, when he had abandoned hope, that he amused + himself with the panther. He had come to learn the different inflections + of her voice, the expressions of her eyes; he had studied the capricious + patterns of all the rosettes which marked the gold of her robe. Mignonne + was not even angry when he took hold of the tuft at the end of her tail to + count her rings, those graceful ornaments which glittered in the sun like + jewelry. It gave him pleasure to contemplate the supple, fine outlines of + her form, the whiteness of her belly, the graceful pose of her head. But + it was especially when she was playing that he felt most pleasure in + looking at her; the agility and youthful lightness of her movements were a + continual surprise to him; he wondered at the supple way in which she + jumped and climbed, washed herself and arranged her fur, crouched down and + prepared to spring. However rapid her spring might be, however slippery + the stone she was on, she would always stop short at the word “Mignonne.” + </p> + <p> + One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through the air. + The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after waiting a + moment the deserted sultana growled deeply. + </p> + <p> + “My goodness! I do believe she’s jealous,” he cried, seeing her eyes + become hard again; “the soul of Virginie has passed into her body; that’s + certain.” + </p> + <p> + The eagle disappeared into the air, while the soldier admired the curved + contour of the panther. + </p> + <p> + But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a + woman! the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints of + faint white which marked her flanks. + </p> + <p> + The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, these russet + markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable attraction. + </p> + <p> + The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of meaning; + the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her head; her eyes + flashed like lightning—then she shut them tightly. + </p> + <p> + “She has a soul,” he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of the + sands, golden like them, white like them, solitary and burning like them. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said, “I have read your plea in favor of beasts; but how did + two so well adapted to understand each other end?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, well! you see, they ended as all great passions do end—by a + misunderstanding. For some reason ONE suspects the other of treason; they + don’t come to an explanation through pride, and quarrel and part from + sheer obstinacy.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is enough—but + anyhow go on with your story.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s horribly difficult, but you will understand, after what the old + villain told me over his champagne. He said—‘I don’t know if I hurt + her, but she turned round, as if enraged, and with her sharp teeth caught + hold of my leg—gently, I daresay; but I, thinking she would devour + me, plunged my dagger into her throat. She rolled over, giving a cry that + froze my heart; and I saw her dying, still looking at me without anger. I + would have given all the world—my cross even, which I had not got + then—to have brought her to life again. It was as though I had + murdered a real person; and the soldiers who had seen my flag, and were + come to my assistance, found me in tears.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well sir,’ he said, after a moment of silence, ‘since then I have been + in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France; I’ve certainly carried + my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything like the + desert. Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘What did you feel there?’ I asked him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! that can’t be described, young man! Besides, I am not always + regretting my palm trees and my panther. I should have to be very + melancholy for that. In the desert, you see, there is everything and + nothing.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, but explain——’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well,’ he said, with an impatient gesture, ‘it is God without mankind.’” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Passion in the Desert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1555-h.htm or 1555-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/1555/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Passion in the Desert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ernest Dowson + +Release Date: December, 1998 [Etext #1555] +Posting Date: February 26, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +A PASSION IN THE DESERT + + +By Honore De Balzac + + + +Translated by Ernest Dowson + + + + + +A PASSION IN THE DESERT + + +"The whole show is dreadful," she cried coming out of the menagerie of +M. Martin. She had just been looking at that daring speculator "working +with his hyena,"--to speak in the style of the programme. + +"By what means," she continued, "can he have tamed these animals to such +a point as to be certain of their affection for----" + +"What seems to you a problem," said I, interrupting, "is really quite +natural." + +"Oh!" she cried, letting an incredulous smile wander over her lips. + +"You think that beasts are wholly without passions?" I asked her. "Quite +the reverse; we can communicate to them all the vices arising in our own +state of civilization." + +She looked at me with an air of astonishment. + +"But," I continued, "the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like you, +I did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself next to an +old soldier with the right leg amputated, who had come in with me. His +face had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads, stamped with +the seal of warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon are written. +Besides, he had that frank, good-humored expression which always +impresses me favorably. He was without doubt one of those troopers +who are surprised at nothing, who find matter for laughter in +the contortions of a dying comrade, who bury or plunder him quite +light-heartedly, who stand intrepidly in the way of bullets;--in fact, +one of those men who waste no time in deliberation, and would not +hesitate to make friends with the devil himself. After looking very +attentively at the proprietor of the menagerie getting out of his box, +my companion pursed up his lips with an air of mockery and contempt, +with that peculiar and expressive twist which superior people assume to +show they are not taken in. Then, when I was expatiating on the courage +of M. Martin, he smiled, shook his head knowingly, and said, 'Well +known.' + +"'How "well known"?' I said. 'If you would only explain me the mystery, +I should be vastly obliged.' + +"After a few minutes, during which we made acquaintance, we went to dine +at the first restauranteur's whose shop caught our eye. At dessert a +bottle of champagne completely refreshed and brightened up the memories +of this odd old soldier. He told me his story, and I saw that he was +right when he exclaimed, 'Well known.'" + +When she got home, she teased me to that extent, was so charming, +and made so many promises, that I consented to communicate to her the +confidences of the old soldier. Next day she received the following +episode of an epic which one might call "The French in Egypt." + + + +During the expedition in Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal +soldier fell into the hands of the Maugrabins, and was taken by these +Arabs into the deserts beyond the falls of the Nile. + +In order to place a sufficient distance between themselves and the +French army, the Maugrabins made forced marches, and only halted when +night was upon them. They camped round a well overshadowed by palm trees +under which they had previously concealed a store of provisions. Not +surmising that the notion of flight would occur to their prisoner, they +contented themselves with binding his hands, and after eating a few +dates, and giving provender to their horses, went to sleep. + +When the brave Provencal saw that his enemies were no longer watching +him, he made use of his teeth to steal a scimiter, fixed the blade +between his knees, and cut the cords which prevented him from using his +hands; in a moment he was free. He at once seized a rifle and a dagger, +then taking the precautions to provide himself with a sack of dried +dates, oats, and powder and shot, and to fasten a scimiter to his waist, +he leaped on to a horse, and spurred on vigorously in the direction +where he thought to find the French army. So impatient was he to see +a bivouac again that he pressed on the already tired courser at such +speed, that its flanks were lacerated with his spurs, and at last the +poor animal died, leaving the Frenchman alone in the desert. After +walking some time in the sand with all the courage of an escaped +convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the day had already ended. +In spite of the beauty of an Oriental sky at night, he felt he had not +strength enough to go on. Fortunately he had been able to find a small +hill, on the summit of which a few palm trees shot up into the air; it +was their verdure seen from afar which had brought hope and consolation +to his heart. His fatigue was so great that he lay down upon a rock +of granite, capriciously cut out like a camp-bed; there he fell asleep +without taking any precaution to defend himself while he slept. He had +made the sacrifice of his life. His last thought was one of regret. He +repented having left the Maugrabins, whose nomadic life seemed to smile +upon him now that he was far from them and without help. He was awakened +by the sun, whose pitiless rays fell with all their force on the granite +and produced an intolerable heat--for he had had the stupidity to place +himself adversely to the shadow thrown by the verdant majestic heads +of the palm trees. He looked at the solitary trees and shuddered--they +reminded him of the graceful shafts crowned with foliage which +characterize the Saracen columns in the cathedral of Arles. + +But when, after counting the palm trees, he cast his eyes around +him, the most horrible despair was infused into his soul. Before him +stretched an ocean without limit. The dark sand of the desert spread +further than eye could reach in every direction, and glittered +like steel struck with bright light. It might have been a sea of +looking-glass, or lakes melted together in a mirror. A fiery vapor +carried up in surging waves made a perpetual whirlwind over the +quivering land. The sky was lit with an Oriental splendor of +insupportable purity, leaving naught for the imagination to desire. +Heaven and earth were on fire. + +The silence was awful in its wild and terrible majesty. Infinity, +immensity, closed in upon the soul from every side. Not a cloud in the +sky, not a breath in the air, not a flaw on the bosom of the sand, ever +moving in diminutive waves; the horizon ended as at sea on a clear day, +with one line of light, definite as the cut of a sword. + +The Provencal threw his arms round the trunk of one of the palm trees, +as though it were the body of a friend, and then, in the shelter of the +thin, straight shadow that the palm cast upon the granite, he wept. Then +sitting down he remained as he was, contemplating with profound sadness +the implacable scene, which was all he had to look upon. He cried aloud, +to measure the solitude. His voice, lost in the hollows of the hill, +sounded faintly, and aroused no echo--the echo was in his own heart. The +Provencal was twenty-two years old:--he loaded his carbine. + +"There'll be time enough," he said to himself, laying on the ground the +weapon which alone could bring him deliverance. + +Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue expanse +of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France--he smelled with delight the +gutters of Paris--he remembered the towns through which he had passed, +the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his life. His +Southern fancy soon showed him the stones of his beloved Provence, +in the play of the heat which undulated above the wide expanse of the +desert. Realizing the danger of this cruel mirage, he went down the +opposite side of the hill to that by which he had come up the day +before. The remains of a rug showed that this place of refuge had at one +time been inhabited; at a short distance he saw some palm trees full +of dates. Then the instinct which binds us to life awoke again in +his heart. He hoped to live long enough to await the passing of some +Maugrabins, or perhaps he might hear the sound of cannon; for at this +time Bonaparte was traversing Egypt. + +This thought gave him new life. The palm tree seemed to bend with the +weight of the ripe fruit. He shook some of it down. When he tasted this +unhoped-for manna, he felt sure that the palms had been cultivated by a +former inhabitant--the savory, fresh meat of the dates were proof of +the care of his predecessor. He passed suddenly from dark despair to an +almost insane joy. He went up again to the top of the hill, and spent +the rest of the day in cutting down one of the sterile palm trees, which +the night before had served him for shelter. A vague memory made him +think of the animals of the desert; and in case they might come to drink +at the spring, visible from the base of the rocks but lost further down, +he resolved to guard himself from their visits by placing a barrier at +the entrance of his hermitage. + +In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being +devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces, +though he succeeded in cutting it down. At eventide the king of the +desert fell; the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh +in the solitude; the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some voice +predicting woe. + +But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore +off from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are +its poetic adornment, and used them to mend the mat on which he was to +sleep. + +Fatigued by the heat and his work, he fell asleep under the red curtains +of his wet cave. + +In the middle of the night his sleep was troubled by an extraordinary +noise; he sat up, and the deep silence around allowed him to distinguish +the alternative accents of a respiration whose savage energy could not +belong to a human creature. + +A profound terror, increased still further by the darkness, the silence, +and his waking images, froze his heart within him. He almost felt +his hair stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost +he perceived through the shadow two faint yellow lights. At first he +attributed these lights to the reflections of his own pupils, but soon +the vivid brilliance of the night aided him gradually to distinguish the +objects around him in the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying but +two steps from him. Was it a lion, a tiger, or a crocodile? + +The Provencal was not sufficiently educated to know under what species +his enemy ought to be classed; but his fright was all the greater, as +his ignorance led him to imagine all terrors at once; he endured a cruel +torture, noting every variation of the breathing close to him without +daring to make the slightest movement. An odor, pungent like that of +a fox, but more penetrating, more profound,--so to speak,--filled the +cave, and when the Provencal became sensible of this, his terror reached +its height, for he could no longer doubt the proximity of a terrible +companion, whose royal dwelling served him for a shelter. + +Presently the reflection of the moon descending on the horizon lit up +the den, rendering gradually visible and resplendent the spotted skin of +a panther. + +This lion of Egypt slept, curled up like a big dog, the peaceful +possessor of a sumptuous niche at the gate of an hotel; its eyes opened +for a moment and closed again; its face was turned towards the man. A +thousand confused thoughts passed through the Frenchman's mind; first he +thought of killing it with a bullet from his gun, but he saw there was +not enough distance between them for him to take proper aim--the shot +would miss the mark. And if it were to wake!--the thought made his limbs +rigid. He listened to his own heart beating in the midst of the silence, +and cursed the too violent pulsations which the flow of blood brought +on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed him time to think of +some means of escape. + +Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the +head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair +compelled him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die +for CERTAIN, he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and +made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him +long to wait. + +He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with +blood. + +"She's had a good dinner," he thought, without troubling himself as to +whether her feast might have been on human flesh. "She won't be hungry +when she gets up." + +It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white; +many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her feet; +her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings; the overpart +of her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and soft, had the +characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which distinguish the +panther from every other feline species. + +This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful +as that of a cat lying on a cushion. Her blood-stained paws, nervous and +well armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon them, +and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like threads of +silver. + +If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless have +admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of vivid +color which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then his sight +was troubled by her sinister appearance. + +The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce the +effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on the +nightingale. + +For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this +danger, though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon +charged with shell. Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to his +soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth on +his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their body to +the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, resolved to +play his part with honor to the last. + +"The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps," he +said; so considering himself as good as dead already, he waited bravely, +with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy. + +When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she +put out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of +cramp. At last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her teeth +and pointed tongue, rough as a file. + +"A regular petite maitresse," thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll +herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the blood which +stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated +gestures full of prettiness. "All right, make a little toilet," the +Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his gaiety with his +courage; "we'll say good morning to each other presently;" and he seized +the small, short dagger which he had taken from the Maugrabins. + +At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked at +him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their +insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the animal walked +towards him. But he looked at her caressingly, staring into her eyes in +order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close to him; then with +a movement both gentle and amorous, as though he were caressing the most +beautiful of women, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the +head to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae which divided the +panther's yellow back. The animal waved her tail voluptuously, and her +eyes grew gentle; and when for the third time the Frenchman accomplished +this interesting flattery, she gave forth one of those purrings by which +cats express their pleasure; but this murmur issued from a throat so +powerful and so deep that it resounded through the cave like the +last vibrations of an organ in a church. The man, understanding the +importance of his caresses, redoubled them in such a way as to surprise +and stupefy his imperious courtesan. When he felt sure of having +extinguished the ferocity of his capricious companion, whose hunger had +so fortunately been satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the +cave; the panther let him go out, but when he had reached the summit of +the hill she sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to +twig, and rubbed herself against his legs, putting up her back after the +manner of all the race of cats. Then regarding her guest with eyes +whose glare had softened a little, she gave vent to that wild cry which +naturalists compare to the grating of a saw. + +"She is exacting," said the Frenchman, smilingly. + +He was bold enough to play with her ears; he caressed her belly +and scratched her head as hard as he could. When he saw that he was +successful, he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, watching +for the right moment to kill her, but the hardness of her bones made him +tremble for his success. + +The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave; she +lifted her head, stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by +the tranquility of her attitude. It suddenly occurred to the soldier +that to kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in +the throat. + +He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied no doubt, laid herself +gracefully at his feet, and cast up at him glances in which, in spite +of their natural fierceness, was mingled confusedly a kind of good will. +The poor Provencal ate his dates, leaning against one of the palm +trees, and casting his eyes alternately on the desert in quest of some +liberator and on his terrible companion to watch her uncertain clemency. + +The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell, and every +time that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust. + +She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence. However, this +examination was favorable to him, for when he had finished his meager +meal she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue, brushing off +with marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases. + +"Ah, but when she's really hungry!" thought the Frenchman. In spite +of the shudder this thought caused him, the soldier began to measure +curiously the proportions of the panther, certainly one of the most +splendid specimens of its race. She was three feet high and four feet +long without counting her tail; this powerful weapon, rounded like +a cudgel, was nearly three feet long. The head, large as that of a +lioness, was distinguished by a rare expression of refinement. The cold +cruelty of a tiger was dominant, it was true, but there was also a vague +resemblance to the face of a sensual woman. Indeed, the face of this +solitary queen had something of the gaiety of a drunken Nero: she had +satiated herself with blood, and she wanted to play. + +The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, and the panther left him +free, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less like +a faithful dog than a big Angora cat, observing everything and every +movement of her master. + +When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the remains of his horse; +the panther had dragged the carcass all that way; about two thirds of it +had been devoured already. The sight reassured him. + +It was easy to explain the panther's absence, and the respect she had +had for him while he slept. The first piece of good luck emboldened him +to tempt the future, and he conceived the wild hope of continuing on +good terms with the panther during the entire day, neglecting no means +of taming her, and remaining in her good graces. + +He returned to her, and had the unspeakable joy of seeing her wag her +tail with an almost imperceptible movement at his approach. He sat down +then, without fear, by her side, and they began to play together; he +took her paws and muzzle, pulled her ears, rolled her over on her back, +stroked her warm, delicate flanks. She let him do what ever he liked, +and when he began to stroke the hair on her feet she drew her claws in +carefully. + +The man, keeping the dagger in one hand, thought to plunge it into the +belly of the too confiding panther, but he was afraid that he would be +immediately strangled in her last convulsive struggle; besides, he felt +in his heart a sort of remorse which bid him respect a creature that +had done him no harm. He seemed to have found a friend, in a boundless +desert; half unconsciously he thought of his first sweetheart, whom +he had nicknamed "Mignonne" by way of contrast, because she was so +atrociously jealous that all the time of their love he was in fear of +the knife with which she had always threatened him. + +This memory of his early days suggested to him the idea of making the +young panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with less +terror her swiftness, suppleness, and softness. Toward the end of the +day he had familiarized himself with his perilous position; he now +almost liked the painfulness of it. At last his companion had got into +the habit of looking up at him whenever he cried in a falsetto voice, +"Mignonne." + +At the setting of the sun Mignonne gave, several times running, +a profound melancholy cry. "She's been well brought up," said the +lighthearted soldier; "she says her prayers." But this mental joke only +occurred to him when he noticed what a pacific attitude his companion +remained in. "Come, ma petite blonde, I'll let you go to bed first," +he said to her, counting on the activity of his own legs to run away as +quickly as possible, directly she was asleep, and seek another shelter +for the night. + +The soldier waited with impatience the hour of his flight, and when +it had arrived he walked vigorously in the direction of the Nile; but +hardly had he made a quarter of a league in the sand when he heard the +panther bounding after him, crying with that saw-like cry more dreadful +even than the sound of her leaping. + +"Ah!" he said, "then she's taken a fancy to me, she has never met anyone +before, and it is really quite flattering to have her first love." That +instant the man fell into one of those movable quicksands so terrible +to travelers and from which it is impossible to save oneself. Feeling +himself caught, he gave a shriek of alarm; the panther seized him with +her teeth by the collar, and, springing vigorously backwards, drew him +as if by magic out of the whirling sand. + +"Ah, Mignonne!" cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically; +"we're bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!" and he +retraced his steps. + +From that time the desert seemed inhabited. It contained a being to +whom the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by him, +though he could not explain to himself the reason for their strange +friendship. Great as was the soldier's desire to stay upon guard, he +slept. + +On awakening he could not find Mignonne; he mounted the hill, and in the +distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these animals, +who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the vertebral +column. Mignonne arrived, her jaws covered with blood; she received the +wonted caress of her companion, showing with much purring how happy it +made her. Her eyes, full of languor, turned still more gently than the +day before toward the Provencal, who talked to her as one would to a +tame animal. + +"Ah! mademoiselle, you are a nice girl, aren't you? Just look at that! +So we like to be made much of, don't we? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? +So you have been eating some Arab or other, have you? That doesn't +matter. They're animals just the same as you are; but don't you take to +eating Frenchmen, or I shan't like you any longer." + +She played like a dog with its master, letting herself be rolled over, +knocked about, and stroked, alternately; sometimes she herself would +provoke the soldier, putting up her paw with a soliciting gesture. + +Some days passed in this manner. This companionship permitted the +Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert; now that he +had a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and +plenty to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began +to be diversified. + +Solitude revealed to him all her secrets, and enveloped him in her +delights. He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights +unknown to the world. He knew what it was to tremble when he heard over +his head the hiss of a bird's wing, so rarely did they pass, or when +he saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one into +another. He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon the +ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and rapid +in their change. He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling at its +wonderful pomp; then, after having reveled in the sight of a hurricane +over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists and +death-bearing clouds, he would welcome the night with joy, for then fell +the healthful freshness of the stars, and he listened to imaginary +music in the skies. Then solitude taught him to unroll the treasures +of dreams. He passed whole hours in remembering mere nothings, and +comparing his present life with his past. + +At last he grew passionately fond of the panther; for some sort of +affection was a necessity. + +Whether it was that his will powerfully projected had modified the +character of his companion, or whether, because she found abundant food +in her predatory excursions in the desert, she respected the man's life, +he began to fear for it no longer, seeing her so well tamed. + +He devoted the greater part of his time to sleep, but he was obliged to +watch like a spider in its web that the moment of his deliverance might +not escape him, if anyone should pass the line marked by the horizon. He +had sacrificed his shirt to make a flag with, which he hung at the top +of a palm tree, whose foliage he had torn off. Taught by necessity, he +found the means of keeping it spread out, by fastening it with little +sticks; for the wind might not be blowing at the moment when the passing +traveler was looking through the desert. + +It was during the long hours, when he had abandoned hope, that he amused +himself with the panther. He had come to learn the different inflections +of her voice, the expressions of her eyes; he had studied the capricious +patterns of all the rosettes which marked the gold of her robe. Mignonne +was not even angry when he took hold of the tuft at the end of her tail +to count her rings, those graceful ornaments which glittered in the +sun like jewelry. It gave him pleasure to contemplate the supple, fine +outlines of her form, the whiteness of her belly, the graceful pose of +her head. But it was especially when she was playing that he felt most +pleasure in looking at her; the agility and youthful lightness of her +movements were a continual surprise to him; he wondered at the supple +way in which she jumped and climbed, washed herself and arranged her +fur, crouched down and prepared to spring. However rapid her spring +might be, however slippery the stone she was on, she would always stop +short at the word "Mignonne." + +One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through +the air. The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after +waiting a moment the deserted sultana growled deeply. + +"My goodness! I do believe she's jealous," he cried, seeing her eyes +become hard again; "the soul of Virginie has passed into her body; +that's certain." + +The eagle disappeared into the air, while the soldier admired the curved +contour of the panther. + +But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a +woman! the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints of +faint white which marked her flanks. + +The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, +these russet markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable +attraction. + +The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of +meaning; the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her head; +her eyes flashed like lightning--then she shut them tightly. + +"She has a soul," he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of +the sands, golden like them, white like them, solitary and burning like +them. + + + +"Well," she said, "I have read your plea in favor of beasts; but how did +two so well adapted to understand each other end?" + +"Ah, well! you see, they ended as all great passions do end--by a +misunderstanding. For some reason ONE suspects the other of treason; +they don't come to an explanation through pride, and quarrel and part +from sheer obstinacy." + +"Yet sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is +enough--but anyhow go on with your story." + +"It's horribly difficult, but you will understand, after what the old +villain told me over his champagne. He said--'I don't know if I hurt +her, but she turned round, as if enraged, and with her sharp teeth +caught hold of my leg--gently, I daresay; but I, thinking she would +devour me, plunged my dagger into her throat. She rolled over, giving +a cry that froze my heart; and I saw her dying, still looking at me +without anger. I would have given all the world--my cross even, which I +had not got then--to have brought her to life again. It was as though I +had murdered a real person; and the soldiers who had seen my flag, and +were come to my assistance, found me in tears.' + +"'Well sir,' he said, after a moment of silence, 'since then I have +been in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France; I've certainly +carried my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything +like the desert. Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!' + +"'What did you feel there?' I asked him. + +"'Oh! that can't be described, young man! Besides, I am not always +regretting my palm trees and my panther. I should have to be very +melancholy for that. In the desert, you see, there is everything and +nothing.' + +"'Yes, but explain----' + +"'Well,' he said, with an impatient gesture, 'it is God without +mankind.'" + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Passion in the Desert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1555.txt or 1555.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/1555/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: A Passion in the Desert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ernest Dowson + +Release Date: May 30, 2005 [EBook #1555] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + + + + + + A PASSION IN THE DESERT + + BY + + HONORE DE BALZAC + + + + Translated by + Ernest Dowson + + + +"The whole show is dreadful," she cried coming out of the menagerie of +M. Martin. She had just been looking at that daring speculator +"working with his hyena,"--to speak in the style of the programme. + +"By what means," she continued, "can he have tamed these animals to +such a point as to be certain of their affection for----" + +"What seems to you a problem," said I, interrupting, "is really quite +natural." + +"Oh!" she cried, letting an incredulous smile wander over her lips. + +"You think that beasts are wholly without passions?" I asked her. +"Quite the reverse; we can communicate to them all the vices arising +in our own state of civilization." + +She looked at me with an air of astonishment. + +"But," I continued, "the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like +you, I did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself +next to an old soldier with the right leg amputated, who had come in +with me. His face had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads, +stamped with the seal of warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon +are written. Besides, he had that frank, good-humored expression which +always impresses me favorably. He was without doubt one of those +troopers who are surprised at nothing, who find matter for laughter in +the contortions of a dying comrade, who bury or plunder him quite +light-heartedly, who stand intrepidly in the way of bullets;--in fact, +one of those men who waste no time in deliberation, and would not +hesitate to make friends with the devil himself. After looking very +attentively at the proprietor of the menagerie getting out of his box, +my companion pursed up his lips with an air of mockery and contempt, +with that peculiar and expressive twist which superior people assume +to show they are not taken in. Then, when I was expatiating on the +courage of M. Martin, he smiled, shook his head knowingly, and said, +'Well known.' + +"'How "well known"?' I said. 'If you would only explain me the +mystery, I should be vastly obliged.' + +"After a few minutes, during which we made acquaintance, we went to +dine at the first restauranteur's whose shop caught our eye. At +dessert a bottle of champagne completely refreshed and brightened up +the memories of this odd old soldier. He told me his story, and I saw +that he was right when he exclaimed, 'Well known.'" + +When she got home, she teased me to that extent, was so charming, and +made so many promises, that I consented to communicate to her the +confidences of the old soldier. Next day she received the following +episode of an epic which one might call "The French in Egypt." + + + +During the expedition in Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal +soldier fell into the hands of the Maugrabins, and was taken by these +Arabs into the deserts beyond the falls of the Nile. + +In order to place a sufficient distance between themselves and the +French army, the Maugrabins made forced marches, and only halted when +night was upon them. They camped round a well overshadowed by palm +trees under which they had previously concealed a store of provisions. +Not surmising that the notion of flight would occur to their prisoner, +they contented themselves with binding his hands, and after eating a +few dates, and giving provender to their horses, went to sleep. + +When the brave Provencal saw that his enemies were no longer watching +him, he made use of his teeth to steal a scimiter, fixed the blade +between his knees, and cut the cords which prevented him from using +his hands; in a moment he was free. He at once seized a rifle and a +dagger, then taking the precautions to provide himself with a sack of +dried dates, oats, and powder and shot, and to fasten a scimiter to +his waist, he leaped on to a horse, and spurred on vigorously in the +direction where he thought to find the French army. So impatient was +he to see a bivouac again that he pressed on the already tired courser +at such speed, that its flanks were lacerated with his spurs, and at +last the poor animal died, leaving the Frenchman alone in the desert. +After walking some time in the sand with all the courage of an escaped +convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the day had already +ended. In spite of the beauty of an Oriental sky at night, he felt he +had not strength enough to go on. Fortunately he had been able to find +a small hill, on the summit of which a few palm trees shot up into the +air; it was their verdure seen from afar which had brought hope and +consolation to his heart. His fatigue was so great that he lay down +upon a rock of granite, capriciously cut out like a camp-bed; there he +fell asleep without taking any precaution to defend himself while he +slept. He had made the sacrifice of his life. His last thought was one +of regret. He repented having left the Maugrabins, whose nomadic life +seemed to smile upon him now that he was far from them and without +help. He was awakened by the sun, whose pitiless rays fell with all +their force on the granite and produced an intolerable heat--for he +had had the stupidity to place himself adversely to the shadow thrown +by the verdant majestic heads of the palm trees. He looked at the +solitary trees and shuddered--they reminded him of the graceful shafts +crowned with foliage which characterize the Saracen columns in the +cathedral of Arles. + +But when, after counting the palm trees, he cast his eyes around him, +the most horrible despair was infused into his soul. Before him +stretched an ocean without limit. The dark sand of the desert spread +further than eye could reach in every direction, and glittered like +steel struck with bright light. It might have been a sea of +looking-glass, or lakes melted together in a mirror. A fiery vapor +carried up in surging waves made a perpetual whirlwind over the +quivering land. The sky was lit with an Oriental splendor of +insupportable purity, leaving naught for the imagination to desire. +Heaven and earth were on fire. + +The silence was awful in its wild and terrible majesty. Infinity, +immensity, closed in upon the soul from every side. Not a cloud in the +sky, not a breath in the air, not a flaw on the bosom of the sand, +ever moving in diminutive waves; the horizon ended as at sea on a +clear day, with one line of light, definite as the cut of a sword. + +The Provencal threw his arms round the trunk of one of the palm trees, +as though it were the body of a friend, and then, in the shelter of +the thin, straight shadow that the palm cast upon the granite, he +wept. Then sitting down he remained as he was, contemplating with +profound sadness the implacable scene, which was all he had to look +upon. He cried aloud, to measure the solitude. His voice, lost in the +hollows of the hill, sounded faintly, and aroused no echo--the echo +was in his own heart. The Provencal was twenty-two years old:--he +loaded his carbine. + +"There'll be time enough," he said to himself, laying on the ground +the weapon which alone could bring him deliverance. + +Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue +expanse of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France--he smelled with +delight the gutters of Paris--he remembered the towns through which he +had passed, the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his +life. His Southern fancy soon showed him the stones of his beloved +Provence, in the play of the heat which undulated above the wide +expanse of the desert. Realizing the danger of this cruel mirage, he +went down the opposite side of the hill to that by which he had come +up the day before. The remains of a rug showed that this place of +refuge had at one time been inhabited; at a short distance he saw some +palm trees full of dates. Then the instinct which binds us to life +awoke again in his heart. He hoped to live long enough to await the +passing of some Maugrabins, or perhaps he might hear the sound of +cannon; for at this time Bonaparte was traversing Egypt. + +This thought gave him new life. The palm tree seemed to bend with the +weight of the ripe fruit. He shook some of it down. When he tasted +this unhoped-for manna, he felt sure that the palms had been +cultivated by a former inhabitant--the savory, fresh meat of the dates +were proof of the care of his predecessor. He passed suddenly from +dark despair to an almost insane joy. He went up again to the top of +the hill, and spent the rest of the day in cutting down one of the +sterile palm trees, which the night before had served him for shelter. +A vague memory made him think of the animals of the desert; and in +case they might come to drink at the spring, visible from the base of +the rocks but lost further down, he resolved to guard himself from +their visits by placing a barrier at the entrance of his hermitage. + +In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being +devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces, +though he succeeded in cutting it down. At eventide the king of the +desert fell; the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh +in the solitude; the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some +voice predicting woe. + +But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore +off from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are its +poetic adornment, and used them to mend the mat on which he was to +sleep. + +Fatigued by the heat and his work, he fell asleep under the red +curtains of his wet cave. + +In the middle of the night his sleep was troubled by an extraordinary +noise; he sat up, and the deep silence around allowed him to +distinguish the alternative accents of a respiration whose savage +energy could not belong to a human creature. + +A profound terror, increased still further by the darkness, the +silence, and his waking images, froze his heart within him. He almost +felt his hair stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost +he perceived through the shadow two faint yellow lights. At first he +attributed these lights to the reflections of his own pupils, but soon +the vivid brilliance of the night aided him gradually to distinguish +the objects around him in the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying +but two steps from him. Was it a lion, a tiger, or a crocodile? + +The Provencal was not sufficiently educated to know under what species +his enemy ought to be classed; but his fright was all the greater, as +his ignorance led him to imagine all terrors at once; he endured a +cruel torture, noting every variation of the breathing close to him +without daring to make the slightest movement. An odor, pungent like +that of a fox, but more penetrating, more profound,--so to speak, +--filled the cave, and when the Provencal became sensible of this, his +terror reached its height, for he could no longer doubt the proximity +of a terrible companion, whose royal dwelling served him for a +shelter. + +Presently the reflection of the moon descending on the horizon lit up +the den, rendering gradually visible and resplendent the spotted skin +of a panther. + +This lion of Egypt slept, curled up like a big dog, the peaceful +possessor of a sumptuous niche at the gate of an hotel; its eyes +opened for a moment and closed again; its face was turned towards the +man. A thousand confused thoughts passed through the Frenchman's mind; +first he thought of killing it with a bullet from his gun, but he saw +there was not enough distance between them for him to take proper aim +--the shot would miss the mark. And if it were to wake!--the thought +made his limbs rigid. He listened to his own heart beating in the +midst of the silence, and cursed the too violent pulsations which the +flow of blood brought on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed +him time to think of some means of escape. + +Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the +head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair +compelled him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die +for CERTAIN, he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and +made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him +long to wait. + +He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with +blood. + +"She's had a good dinner," he thought, without troubling himself as to +whether her feast might have been on human flesh. "She won't be hungry +when she gets up." + +It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white; +many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her +feet; her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings; the +overpart of her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and +soft, had the characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which +distinguish the panther from every other feline species. + +This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful +as that of a cat lying on a cushion. Her blood-stained paws, nervous +and well armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon +them, and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like +threads of silver. + +If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless +have admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of +vivid color which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then +his sight was troubled by her sinister appearance. + +The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce +the effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on +the nightingale. + +For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this +danger, though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon +charged with shell. Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to +his soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth +on his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their +body to the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, +resolved to play his part with honor to the last. + +"The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps," he +said; so considering himself as good as dead already, he waited +bravely, with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy. + +When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she +put out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of +cramp. At last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her +teeth and pointed tongue, rough as a file. + +"A regular petite maitresse," thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll +herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the blood +which stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with +reiterated gestures full of prettiness. "All right, make a little +toilet," the Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his +gaiety with his courage; "we'll say good morning to each other +presently;" and he seized the small, short dagger which he had taken +from the Maugrabins. + +At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked +at him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and +their insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the +animal walked towards him. But he looked at her caressingly, staring +into her eyes in order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close +to him; then with a movement both gentle and amorous, as though he +were caressing the most beautiful of women, he passed his hand over +her whole body, from the head to the tail, scratching the flexible +vertebrae which divided the panther's yellow back. The animal waved +her tail voluptuously, and her eyes grew gentle; and when for the +third time the Frenchman accomplished this interesting flattery, she +gave forth one of those purrings by which cats express their pleasure; +but this murmur issued from a throat so powerful and so deep that it +resounded through the cave like the last vibrations of an organ in a +church. The man, understanding the importance of his caresses, +redoubled them in such a way as to surprise and stupefy his imperious +courtesan. When he felt sure of having extinguished the ferocity of +his capricious companion, whose hunger had so fortunately been +satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the cave; the panther +let him go out, but when he had reached the summit of the hill she +sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig, and +rubbed herself against his legs, putting up her back after the manner +of all the race of cats. Then regarding her guest with eyes whose +glare had softened a little, she gave vent to that wild cry which +naturalists compare to the grating of a saw. + +"She is exacting," said the Frenchman, smilingly. + +He was bold enough to play with her ears; he caressed her belly and +scratched her head as hard as he could. When he saw that he was +successful, he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, +watching for the right moment to kill her, but the hardness of her +bones made him tremble for his success. + +The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave; she +lifted her head, stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by +the tranquility of her attitude. It suddenly occurred to the soldier +that to kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in +the throat. + +He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied no doubt, laid +herself gracefully at his feet, and cast up at him glances in which, +in spite of their natural fierceness, was mingled confusedly a kind of +good will. The poor Provencal ate his dates, leaning against one of +the palm trees, and casting his eyes alternately on the desert in +quest of some liberator and on his terrible companion to watch her +uncertain clemency. + +The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell, and every +time that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust. + +She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence. However, this +examination was favorable to him, for when he had finished his meager +meal she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue, brushing off +with marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases. + +"Ah, but when she's really hungry!" thought the Frenchman. In spite of +the shudder this thought caused him, the soldier began to measure +curiously the proportions of the panther, certainly one of the most +splendid specimens of its race. She was three feet high and four feet +long without counting her tail; this powerful weapon, rounded like a +cudgel, was nearly three feet long. The head, large as that of a +lioness, was distinguished by a rare expression of refinement. The +cold cruelty of a tiger was dominant, it was true, but there was also +a vague resemblance to the face of a sensual woman. Indeed, the face +of this solitary queen had something of the gaiety of a drunken Nero: +she had satiated herself with blood, and she wanted to play. + +The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, and the panther left +him free, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less +like a faithful dog than a big Angora cat, observing everything and +every movement of her master. + +When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the remains of his +horse; the panther had dragged the carcass all that way; about two +thirds of it had been devoured already. The sight reassured him. + +It was easy to explain the panther's absence, and the respect she had +had for him while he slept. The first piece of good luck emboldened +him to tempt the future, and he conceived the wild hope of continuing +on good terms with the panther during the entire day, neglecting no +means of taming her, and remaining in her good graces. + +He returned to her, and had the unspeakable joy of seeing her wag her +tail with an almost imperceptible movement at his approach. He sat +down then, without fear, by her side, and they began to play together; +he took her paws and muzzle, pulled her ears, rolled her over on her +back, stroked her warm, delicate flanks. She let him do what ever he +liked, and when he began to stroke the hair on her feet she drew her +claws in carefully. + +The man, keeping the dagger in one hand, thought to plunge it into the +belly of the too confiding panther, but he was afraid that he would be +immediately strangled in her last convulsive struggle; besides, he +felt in his heart a sort of remorse which bid him respect a creature +that had done him no harm. He seemed to have found a friend, in a +boundless desert; half unconsciously he thought of his first +sweetheart, whom he had nicknamed "Mignonne" by way of contrast, +because she was so atrociously jealous that all the time of their love +he was in fear of the knife with which she had always threatened him. + +This memory of his early days suggested to him the idea of making the +young panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with +less terror her swiftness, suppleness, and softness. Toward the end of +the day he had familiarized himself with his perilous position; he now +almost liked the painfulness of it. At last his companion had got into +the habit of looking up at him whenever he cried in a falsetto voice, +"Mignonne." + +At the setting of the sun Mignonne gave, several times running, a +profound melancholy cry. "She's been well brought up," said the +lighthearted soldier; "she says her prayers." But this mental joke +only occurred to him when he noticed what a pacific attitude his +companion remained in. "Come, ma petite blonde, I'll let you go to bed +first," he said to her, counting on the activity of his own legs to +run away as quickly as possible, directly she was asleep, and seek +another shelter for the night. + +The soldier waited with impatience the hour of his flight, and when it +had arrived he walked vigorously in the direction of the Nile; but +hardly had he made a quarter of a league in the sand when he heard the +panther bounding after him, crying with that saw-like cry more +dreadful even than the sound of her leaping. + +"Ah!" he said, "then she's taken a fancy to me, she has never met +anyone before, and it is really quite flattering to have her first +love." That instant the man fell into one of those movable quicksands +so terrible to travelers and from which it is impossible to save +oneself. Feeling himself caught, he gave a shriek of alarm; the +panther seized him with her teeth by the collar, and, springing +vigorously backwards, drew him as if by magic out of the whirling +sand. + +"Ah, Mignonne!" cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically; +"we're bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!" and he +retraced his steps. + +From that time the desert seemed inhabited. It contained a being to +whom the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by +him, though he could not explain to himself the reason for their +strange friendship. Great as was the soldier's desire to stay upon +guard, he slept. + +On awakening he could not find Mignonne; he mounted the hill, and in +the distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these +animals, who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the +vertebral column. Mignonne arrived, her jaws covered with blood; she +received the wonted caress of her companion, showing with much purring +how happy it made her. Her eyes, full of languor, turned still more +gently than the day before toward the Provencal, who talked to her as +one would to a tame animal. + +"Ah! mademoiselle, you are a nice girl, aren't you? Just look at that! +So we like to be made much of, don't we? Aren't you ashamed of +yourself? So you have been eating some Arab or other, have you? That +doesn't matter. They're animals just the same as you are; but don't +you take to eating Frenchmen, or I shan't like you any longer." + +She played like a dog with its master, letting herself be rolled over, +knocked about, and stroked, alternately; sometimes she herself would +provoke the soldier, putting up her paw with a soliciting gesture. + +Some days passed in this manner. This companionship permitted the +Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert; now that he +had a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and +plenty to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began +to be diversified. + +Solitude revealed to him all her secrets, and enveloped him in her +delights. He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights +unknown to the world. He knew what it was to tremble when he heard +over his head the hiss of a bird's wing, so rarely did they pass, or +when he saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one +into another. He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon +the ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and +rapid in their change. He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling +at its wonderful pomp; then, after having reveled in the sight of a +hurricane over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists +and death-bearing clouds, he would welcome the night with joy, for +then fell the healthful freshness of the stars, and he listened to +imaginary music in the skies. Then solitude taught him to unroll the +treasures of dreams. He passed whole hours in remembering mere +nothings, and comparing his present life with his past. + +At last he grew passionately fond of the panther; for some sort of +affection was a necessity. + +Whether it was that his will powerfully projected had modified the +character of his companion, or whether, because she found abundant +food in her predatory excursions in the desert, she respected the +man's life, he began to fear for it no longer, seeing her so well +tamed. + +He devoted the greater part of his time to sleep, but he was obliged +to watch like a spider in its web that the moment of his deliverance +might not escape him, if anyone should pass the line marked by the +horizon. He had sacrificed his shirt to make a flag with, which he +hung at the top of a palm tree, whose foliage he had torn off. Taught +by necessity, he found the means of keeping it spread out, by +fastening it with little sticks; for the wind might not be blowing at +the moment when the passing traveler was looking through the desert. + +It was during the long hours, when he had abandoned hope, that he +amused himself with the panther. He had come to learn the different +inflections of her voice, the expressions of her eyes; he had studied +the capricious patterns of all the rosettes which marked the gold of +her robe. Mignonne was not even angry when he took hold of the tuft at +the end of her tail to count her rings, those graceful ornaments which +glittered in the sun like jewelry. It gave him pleasure to contemplate +the supple, fine outlines of her form, the whiteness of her belly, the +graceful pose of her head. But it was especially when she was playing +that he felt most pleasure in looking at her; the agility and youthful +lightness of her movements were a continual surprise to him; he +wondered at the supple way in which she jumped and climbed, washed +herself and arranged her fur, crouched down and prepared to spring. +However rapid her spring might be, however slippery the stone she was +on, she would always stop short at the word "Mignonne." + +One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through the +air. The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after +waiting a moment the deserted sultana growled deeply. + +"My goodness! I do believe she's jealous," he cried, seeing her eyes +become hard again; "the soul of Virginie has passed into her body; +that's certain." + +The eagle disappeared into the air, while the soldier admired the +curved contour of the panther. + +But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a +woman! the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints +of faint white which marked her flanks. + +The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, these +russet markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable +attraction. + +The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of +meaning; the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her +head; her eyes flashed like lightning--then she shut them tightly. + +"She has a soul," he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of +the sands, golden like them, white like them, solitary and burning +like them. + + + +"Well," she said, "I have read your plea in favor of beasts; but how +did two so well adapted to understand each other end?" + +"Ah, well! you see, they ended as all great passions do end--by a +misunderstanding. For some reason ONE suspects the other of treason; +they don't come to an explanation through pride, and quarrel and part +from sheer obstinacy." + +"Yet sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is enough +--but anyhow go on with your story." + +"It's horribly difficult, but you will understand, after what the old +villain told me over his champagne. He said--'I don't know if I hurt +her, but she turned round, as if enraged, and with her sharp teeth +caught hold of my leg--gently, I daresay; but I, thinking she would +devour me, plunged my dagger into her throat. She rolled over, giving +a cry that froze my heart; and I saw her dying, still looking at me +without anger. I would have given all the world--my cross even, which +I had not got then--to have brought her to life again. It was as +though I had murdered a real person; and the soldiers who had seen my +flag, and were come to my assistance, found me in tears.' + +"'Well sir,' he said, after a moment of silence, 'since then I have +been in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France; I've certainly +carried my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything +like the desert. Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!' + +"'What did you feel there?' I asked him. + +"'Oh! that can't be described, young man! Besides, I am not always +regretting my palm trees and my panther. I should have to be very +melancholy for that. In the desert, you see, there is everything and +nothing.' + +"'Yes, but explain----' + +"'Well,' he said, with an impatient gesture, 'it is God without +mankind.'" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Passion in the Desert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PASSION IN THE DESERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1555.txt or 1555.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/1555/ + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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She had just been looking at that daring speculator +"working with his hyena,"--to speak in the style of the programme. + +"By what means," she continued, "can he have tamed these animals to +such a point as to be certain of their affection for----" + +"What seems to you a problem," said I, interrupting, "is really quite +natural." + +"Oh!" she cried, letting an incredulous smile wander over her lips. + +"You think that beasts are wholly without passions?" I asked her. +"Quite the reverse; we can communicate to them all the vices arising +in our own state of civilization." + +She looked at me with an air of astonishment. + +"But," I continued, "the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like +you, I did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself +next to an old soldier with the right leg amputated, who had come in +with me. His face had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads, +stamped with the seal of warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon +are written. Besides, he had that frank, good-humored expression which +always impresses me favorably. He was without doubt one of those +troopers who are surprised at nothing, who find matter for laughter in +the contortions of a dying comrade, who bury or plunder him quite +light-heartedly, who stand intrepidly in the way of bullets;--in fact, +one of those men who waste no time in deliberation, and would not +hesitate to make friends with the devil himself. After looking very +attentively at the proprietor of the menagerie getting out of his box, +my companion pursed up his lips with an air of mockery and contempt, +with that peculiar and expressive twist which superior people assume +to show they are not taken in. Then, when I was expatiating on the +courage of M. Martin, he smiled, shook his head knowingly, and said, +'Well known.' + +" 'How "well known"?' I said. 'If you would only explain me the +mystery, I should be vastly obliged.' + +"After a few minutes, during which we made acquaintance, we went to +dine at the first restauranteur's whose shop caught our eye. At +dessert a bottle of champagne completely refreshed and brightened up +the memories of this odd old soldier. He told me his story, and I saw +that he was right when he exclaimed, 'Well known.' " + +When she got home, she teased me to that extent, was so charming, and +made so many promises, that I consented to communicate to her the +confidences of the old soldier. Next day she received the following +episode of an epic which one might call "The French in Egypt." + + + +During the expedition in Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal +soldier fell into the hands of the Maugrabins, and was taken by these +Arabs into the deserts beyond the falls of the Nile. + +In order to place a sufficient distance between themselves and the +French army, the Maugrabins made forced marches, and only halted when +night was upon them. They camped round a well overshadowed by palm +trees under which they had previously concealed a store of provisions. +Not surmising that the notion of flight would occur to their prisoner, +they contented themselves with binding his hands, and after eating a +few dates, and giving provender to their horses, went to sleep. + +When the brave Provencal saw that his enemies were no longer watching +him, he made use of his teeth to steal a scimiter, fixed the blade +between his knees, and cut the cords which prevented him from using +his hands; in a moment he was free. He at once seized a rifle and a +dagger, then taking the precautions to provide himself with a sack of +dried dates, oats, and powder and shot, and to fasten a scimiter to +his waist, he leaped on to a horse, and spurred on vigorously in the +direction where he thought to find the French army. So impatient was +he to see a bivouac again that he pressed on the already tired courser +at such speed, that its flanks were lacerated with his spurs, and at +last the poor animal died, leaving the Frenchman alone in the desert. +After walking some time in the sand with all the courage of an escaped +convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the day had already +ended. In spite of the beauty of an Oriental sky at night, he felt he +had not strength enough to go on. Fortunately he had been able to find +a small hill, on the summit of which a few palm trees shot up into the +air; it was their verdure seen from afar which had brought hope and +consolation to his heart. His fatigue was so great that he lay down +upon a rock of granite, capriciously cut out like a camp-bed; there he +fell asleep without taking any precaution to defend himself while he +slept. He had made the sacrifice of his life. His last thought was one +of regret. He repented having left the Maugrabins, whose nomadic life +seemed to smile upon him now that he was far from them and without +help. He was awakened by the sun, whose pitiless rays fell with all +their force on the granite and produced an intolerable heat--for he +had had the stupidity to place himself adversely to the shadow thrown +by the verdant majestic heads of the palm trees. He looked at the +solitary trees and shuddered--they reminded him of the graceful shafts +crowned with foliage which characterize the Saracen columns in the +cathedral of Arles. + +But when, after counting the palm trees, he cast his eyes around him, +the most horrible despair was infused into his soul. Before him +stretched an ocean without limit. The dark sand of the desert spread +further than eye could reach in every direction, and glittered like +steel struck with bright light. It might have been a sea of looking- +glass, or lakes melted together in a mirror. A fiery vapor carried up +in surging waves made a perpetual whirlwind over the quivering land. +The sky was lit with an Oriental splendor of insupportable purity, +leaving naught for the imagination to desire. Heaven and earth were on +fire. + +The silence was awful in its wild and terrible majesty. Infinity, +immensity, closed in upon the soul from every side. Not a cloud in the +sky, not a breath in the air, not a flaw on the bosom of the sand, +ever moving in diminutive waves; the horizon ended as at sea on a +clear day, with one line of light, definite as the cut of a sword. + +The Provencal threw his arms round the trunk of one of the palm trees, +as though it were the body of a friend, and then, in the shelter of +the thin, straight shadow that the palm cast upon the granite, he +wept. Then sitting down he remained as he was, contemplating with +profound sadness the implacable scene, which was all he had to look +upon. He cried aloud, to measure the solitude. His voice, lost in the +hollows of the hill, sounded faintly, and aroused no echo--the echo +was in his own heart. The Provencal was twenty-two years old:--he +loaded his carbine. + +"There'll be time enough," he said to himself, laying on the ground +the weapon which alone could bring him deliverance. + +Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue +expanse of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France--he smelled with +delight the gutters of Paris--he remembered the towns through which he +had passed, the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his +life. His Southern fancy soon showed him the stones of his beloved +Provence, in the play of the heat which undulated above the wide +expanse of the desert. Realizing the danger of this cruel mirage, he +went down the opposite side of the hill to that by which he had come +up the day before. The remains of a rug showed that this place of +refuge had at one time been inhabited; at a short distance he saw some +palm trees full of dates. Then the instinct which binds us to life +awoke again in his heart. He hoped to live long enough to await the +passing of some Maugrabins, or perhaps he might hear the sound of +cannon; for at this time Bonaparte was traversing Egypt. + +This thought gave him new life. The palm tree seemed to bend with the +weight of the ripe fruit. He shook some of it down. When he tasted +this unhoped-for manna, he felt sure that the palms had been +cultivated by a former inhabitant--the savory, fresh meat of the dates +were proof of the care of his predecessor. He passed suddenly from +dark despair to an almost insane joy. He went up again to the top of +the hill, and spent the rest of the day in cutting down one of the +sterile palm trees, which the night before had served him for shelter. +A vague memory made him think of the animals of the desert; and in +case they might come to drink at the spring, visible from the base of +the rocks but lost further down, he resolved to guard himself from +their visits by placing a barrier at the entrance of his hermitage. + +In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being +devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces, +though he succeeded in cutting it down. At eventide the king of the +desert fell; the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh +in the solitude; the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some +voice predicting woe. + +But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore +off from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are its +poetic adornment, and used them to mend the mat on which he was to +sleep. + +Fatigued by the heat and his work, he fell asleep under the red +curtains of his wet cave. + +In the middle of the night his sleep was troubled by an extraordinary +noise; he sat up, and the deep silence around allowed him to +distinguish the alternative accents of a respiration whose savage +energy could not belong to a human creature. + +A profound terror, increased still further by the darkness, the +silence, and his waking images, froze his heart within him. He almost +felt his hair stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost +he perceived through the shadow two faint yellow lights. At first he +attributed these lights to the reflections of his own pupils, but soon +the vivid brilliance of the night aided him gradually to distinguish +the objects around him in the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying +but two steps from him. Was it a lion, a tiger, or a crocodile? + +The Provencal was not sufficiently educated to know under what species +his enemy ought to be classed; but his fright was all the greater, as +his ignorance led him to imagine all terrors at once; he endured a +cruel torture, noting every variation of the breathing close to him +without daring to make the slightest movement. An odor, pungent like +that of a fox, but more penetrating, more profound,--so to speak,-- +filled the cave, and when the Provencal became sensible of this, his +terror reached its height, for he could no longer doubt the proximity +of a terrible companion, whose royal dwelling served him for a +shelter. + +Presently the reflection of the moon descending on the horizon lit up +the den, rendering gradually visible and resplendent the spotted skin +of a panther. + +This lion of Egypt slept, curled up like a big dog, the peaceful +possessor of a sumptuous niche at the gate of an hotel; its eyes +opened for a moment and closed again; its face was turned towards the +man. A thousand confused thoughts passed through the Frenchman's mind; +first he thought of killing it with a bullet from his gun, but he saw +there was not enough distance between them for him to take proper aim +--the shot would miss the mark. And if it were to wake!--the thought +made his limbs rigid. He listened to his own heart beating in the +midst of the silence, and cursed the too violent pulsations which the +flow of blood brought on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed +him time to think of some means of escape. + +Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the +head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair +compelled him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die +for CERTAIN, he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and +made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him +long to wait. + +He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with +blood. + +"She's had a good dinner," he thought, without troubling himself as to +whether her feast might have been on human flesh. "She won't be hungry +when she gets up." + +It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white; +many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her +feet; her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings; the +overpart of her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and +soft, had the characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which +distinguish the panther from every other feline species. + +This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful +as that of a cat lying on a cushion. Her blood-stained paws, nervous +and well armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon +them, and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like +threads of silver. + +If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless +have admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of +vivid color which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then +his sight was troubled by her sinister appearance. + +The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce +the effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on +the nightingale. + +For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this +danger, though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon +charged with shell. Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to +his soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth +on his brow. Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their +body to the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, +resolved to play his part with honor to the last. + +"The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps," he +said; so considering himself as good as dead already, he waited +bravely, with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy. + +When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she +put out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of +cramp. At last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her +teeth and pointed tongue, rough as a file. + +"A regular petite maitresse," thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll +herself about so softly and coquettishly. She licked off the blood +which stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with +reiterated gestures full of prettiness. "All right, make a little +toilet," the Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his +gaiety with his courage; "we'll say good morning to each other +presently;" and he seized the small, short dagger which he had taken +from the Maugrabins. + +At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked +at him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and +their insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the +animal walked towards him. But he looked at her caressingly, staring +into her eyes in order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close +to him; then with a movement both gentle and amorous, as though he +were caressing the most beautiful of women, he passed his hand over +her whole body, from the head to the tail, scratching the flexible +vertebrae which divided the panther's yellow back. The animal waved +her tail voluptuously, and her eyes grew gentle; and when for the +third time the Frenchman accomplished this interesting flattery, she +gave forth one of those purrings by which cats express their pleasure; +but this murmur issued from a throat so powerful and so deep that it +resounded through the cave like the last vibrations of an organ in a +church. The man, understanding the importance of his caresses, +redoubled them in such a way as to surprise and stupefy his imperious +courtesan. When he felt sure of having extinguished the ferocity of +his capricious companion, whose hunger had so fortunately been +satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the cave; the panther +let him go out, but when he had reached the summit of the hill she +sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig, and +rubbed herself against his legs, putting up her back after the manner +of all the race of cats. Then regarding her guest with eyes whose +glare had softened a little, she gave vent to that wild cry which +naturalists compare to the grating of a saw. + +"She is exacting," said the Frenchman, smilingly. + +He was bold enough to play with her ears; he caressed her belly and +scratched her head as hard as he could. When he saw that he was +successful, he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, +watching for the right moment to kill her, but the hardness of her +bones made him tremble for his success. + +The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave; she +lifted her head, stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by +the tranquility of her attitude. It suddenly occurred to the soldier +that to kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in +the throat. + +He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied no doubt, laid +herself gracefully at his feet, and cast up at him glances in which, +in spite of their natural fierceness, was mingled confusedly a kind of +good will. The poor Provencal ate his dates, leaning against one of +the palm trees, and casting his eyes alternately on the desert in +quest of some liberator and on his terrible companion to watch her +uncertain clemency. + +The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell, and every +time that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust. + +She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence. However, this +examination was favorable to him, for when he had finished his meager +meal she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue, brushing off +with marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases. + +"Ah, but when she's really hungry!" thought the Frenchman. In spite of +the shudder this thought caused him, the soldier began to measure +curiously the proportions of the panther, certainly one of the most +splendid specimens of its race. She was three feet high and four feet +long without counting her tail; this powerful weapon, rounded like a +cudgel, was nearly three feet long. The head, large as that of a +lioness, was distinguished by a rare expression of refinement. The +cold cruelty of a tiger was dominant, it was true, but there was also +a vague resemblance to the face of a sensual woman. Indeed, the face +of this solitary queen had something of the gaiety of a drunken Nero: +she had satiated herself with blood, and she wanted to play. + +The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, and the panther left +him free, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less +like a faithful dog than a big Angora cat, observing everything and +every movement of her master. + +When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the remains of his +horse; the panther had dragged the carcass all that way; about two +thirds of it had been devoured already. The sight reassured him. + +It was easy to explain the panther's absence, and the respect she had +had for him while he slept. The first piece of good luck emboldened +him to tempt the future, and he conceived the wild hope of continuing +on good terms with the panther during the entire day, neglecting no +means of taming her, and remaining in her good graces. + +He returned to her, and had the unspeakable joy of seeing her wag her +tail with an almost imperceptible movement at his approach. He sat +down then, without fear, by her side, and they began to play together; +he took her paws and muzzle, pulled her ears, rolled her over on her +back, stroked her warm, delicate flanks. She let him do what ever he +liked, and when he began to stroke the hair on her feet she drew her +claws in carefully. + +The man, keeping the dagger in one hand, thought to plunge it into the +belly of the too confiding panther, but he was afraid that he would be +immediately strangled in her last convulsive struggle; besides, he +felt in his heart a sort of remorse which bid him respect a creature +that had done him no harm. He seemed to have found a friend, in a +boundless desert; half unconsciously he thought of his first +sweetheart, whom he had nicknamed "Mignonne" by way of contrast, +because she was so atrociously jealous that all the time of their love +he was in fear of the knife with which she had always threatened him. + +This memory of his early days suggested to him the idea of making the +young panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with +less terror her swiftness, suppleness, and softness. Toward the end of +the day he had familiarized himself with his perilous position; he now +almost liked the painfulness of it. At last his companion had got into +the habit of looking up at him whenever he cried in a falsetto voice, +"Mignonne." + +At the setting of the sun Mignonne gave, several times running, a +profound melancholy cry. "She's been well brought up," said the +lighthearted soldier; "she says her prayers." But this mental joke +only occurred to him when he noticed what a pacific attitude his +companion remained in. "Come, ma petite blonde, I'll let you go to bed +first," he said to her, counting on the activity of his own legs to +run away as quickly as possible, directly she was asleep, and seek +another shelter for the night. + +The soldier waited with impatience the hour of his flight, and when it +had arrived he walked vigorously in the direction of the Nile; but +hardly had he made a quarter of a league in the sand when he heard the +panther bounding after him, crying with that saw-like cry more +dreadful even than the sound of her leaping. + +"Ah!" he said, "then she's taken a fancy to me, she has never met +anyone before, and it is really quite flattering to have her first +love." That instant the man fell into one of those movable quicksands +so terrible to travelers and from which it is impossible to save +oneself. Feeling himself caught, he gave a shriek of alarm; the +panther seized him with her teeth by the collar, and, springing +vigorously backwards, drew him as if by magic out of the whirling +sand. + +"Ah, Mignonne!" cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically; +"we're bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!" and he +retraced his steps. + +From that time the desert seemed inhabited. It contained a being to +whom the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by +him, though he could not explain to himself the reason for their +strange friendship. Great as was the soldier's desire to stay upon +guard, he slept. + +On awakening he could not find Mignonne; he mounted the hill, and in +the distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these +animals, who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the +vertebral column. Mignonne arrived, her jaws covered with blood; she +received the wonted caress of her companion, showing with much purring +how happy it made her. Her eyes, full of languor, turned still more +gently than the day before toward the Provencal, who talked to her as +one would to a tame animal. + +"Ah! mademoiselle, you are a nice girl, aren't you? Just look at that! +So we like to be made much of, don't we? Aren't you ashamed of +yourself? So you have been eating some Arab or other, have you? That +doesn't matter. They're animals just the same as you are; but don't +you take to eating Frenchmen, or I shan't like you any longer." + +She played like a dog with its master, letting herself be rolled over, +knocked about, and stroked, alternately; sometimes she herself would +provoke the soldier, putting up her paw with a soliciting gesture. + +Some days passed in this manner. This companionship permitted the +Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert; now that he +had a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and +plenty to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began +to be diversified. + +Solitude revealed to him all her secrets, and enveloped him in her +delights. He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights +unknown to the world. He knew what it was to tremble when he heard +over his head the hiss of a bird's wing, so rarely did they pass, or +when he saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one +into another. He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon +the ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and +rapid in their change. He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling +at its wonderful pomp; then, after having reveled in the sight of a +hurricane over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists +and death-bearing clouds, he would welcome the night with joy, for +then fell the healthful freshness of the stars, and he listened to +imaginary music in the skies. Then solitude taught him to unroll the +treasures of dreams. He passed whole hours in remembering mere +nothings, and comparing his present life with his past. + +At last he grew passionately fond of the panther; for some sort of +affection was a necessity. + +Whether it was that his will powerfully projected had modified the +character of his companion, or whether, because she found abundant +food in her predatory excursions in the desert, she respected the +man's life, he began to fear for it no longer, seeing her so well +tamed. + +He devoted the greater part of his time to sleep, but he was obliged +to watch like a spider in its web that the moment of his deliverance +might not escape him, if anyone should pass the line marked by the +horizon. He had sacrificed his shirt to make a flag with, which he +hung at the top of a palm tree, whose foliage he had torn off. Taught +by necessity, he found the means of keeping it spread out, by +fastening it with little sticks; for the wind might not be blowing at +the moment when the passing traveler was looking through the desert. + +It was during the long hours, when he had abandoned hope, that he +amused himself with the panther. He had come to learn the different +inflections of her voice, the expressions of her eyes; he had studied +the capricious patterns of all the rosettes which marked the gold of +her robe. Mignonne was not even angry when he took hold of the tuft at +the end of her tail to count her rings, those graceful ornaments which +glittered in the sun like jewelry. It gave him pleasure to contemplate +the supple, fine outlines of her form, the whiteness of her belly, the +graceful pose of her head. But it was especially when she was playing +that he felt most pleasure in looking at her; the agility and youthful +lightness of her movements were a continual surprise to him; he +wondered at the supple way in which she jumped and climbed, washed +herself and arranged her fur, crouched down and prepared to spring. +However rapid her spring might be, however slippery the stone she was +on, she would always stop short at the word "Mignonne." + +One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through the +air. The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after +waiting a moment the deserted sultana growled deeply. + +"My goodness! I do believe she's jealous," he cried, seeing her eyes +become hard again; "the soul of Virginie has passed into her body; +that's certain." + +The eagle disappeared into the air, while the soldier admired the +curved contour of the panther. + +But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a +woman! the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints +of faint white which marked her flanks. + +The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, these +russet markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable +attraction. + +The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of +meaning; the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her +head; her eyes flashed like lightning--then she shut them tightly. + +"She has a soul," he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of +the sands, golden like them, white like them, solitary and burning +like them. + + + +"Well," she said, "I have read your plea in favor of beasts; but how +did two so well adapted to understand each other end?" + +"Ah, well! you see, they ended as all great passions do end--by a +misunderstanding. For some reason ONE suspects the other of treason; +they don't come to an explanation through pride, and quarrel and part +from sheer obstinacy." + +"Yet sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is enough-- +but anyhow go on with your story." + +"It's horribly difficult, but you will understand, after what the old +villain told me over his champagne. He said--'I don't know if I hurt +her, but she turned round, as if enraged, and with her sharp teeth +caught hold of my leg--gently, I daresay; but I, thinking she would +devour me, plunged my dagger into her throat. She rolled over, giving +a cry that froze my heart; and I saw her dying, still looking at me +without anger. I would have given all the world--my cross even, which +I had not got then--to have brought her to life again. It was as +though I had murdered a real person; and the soldiers who had seen my +flag, and were come to my assistance, found me in tears.' + +" 'Well sir,' he said, after a moment of silence, 'since then I have +been in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France; I've certainly +carried my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything +like the desert. Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!' + +" 'What did you feel there?' I asked him. + +"'Oh! that can't be described, young man! Besides, I am not always +regretting my palm trees and my panther. I should have to be very +melancholy for that. In the desert, you see, there is everything and +nothing.' + +" 'Yes, but explain----' + +" 'Well,' he said, with an impatient gesture, 'it is God without +mankind.' " + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Passion in the Desert by Balzac + diff --git a/old/apitd10.zip b/old/apitd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26e89e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/apitd10.zip |