diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/pngwn10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/pngwn10.txt | 8849 |
1 files changed, 8849 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/pngwn10.txt b/old/pngwn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0281247 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pngwn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8849 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Penguin Island, by Anatole France + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Penguin Island + +by Anatole France + +October, 1999 [Etext #1930] + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Penguin Island, by Anatole France +******This file should be named pngwn10.txt or pngwn10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, pngwn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pngwn10a.txt + + +Scanned by Aaron Cannon of Paradise, California + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-six text +files per month, or 432 more Etexts in 1999 for a total of 2000+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 200 billion Etexts given away this year. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only ~5% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding; currently our funding is mostly +from Michael Hart's salary at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an +assortment of sporadic gifts; this salary is only good for a few +more years, so we are looking for something to replace it, as we +don't want Project Gutenberg to be so dependent on one person. + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails. . .try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + +****** + +To access Project Gutenberg etexts, use any Web browser +to view http://promo.net/pg. This site lists Etexts by +author and by title, and includes information about how +to get involved with Project Gutenberg. You could also +download our past Newsletters, or subscribe here. This +is one of our major sites, please email hart@pobox.com, +for a more complete list of our various sites. + +To go directly to the etext collections, use FTP or any +Web browser to visit a Project Gutenberg mirror (mirror +sites are available on 7 continents; mirrors are listed +at http://promo.net/pg). + +Mac users, do NOT point and click, typing works better. + +Example FTP session: + +ftp sunsite.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + +*** + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** + +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Scanned by Aaron Cannon of Paradise, California + + + + + +PENGUIN ISLAND + +by ANATOLE FRANCE + + + + +CONTENTS + +BOOK I. THE BEGINNINGS +BOOK II. THE ANCIENT TIMES +BOOK III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE +BOOK IV. MODERN TIMES: TRINCO +BOOK V. MODERN TIMES: CHATILLON +BOOK VI. MODERN TIMES +BOOK VII. MODERN TIMES +BOOK VIII. FUTURE TIMES + + + + +BOOK I. THE BEGINNINGS + +I. LIFE OF SAINT MAEL + +Mael, a scion of a royal family of Cambria, was sent in his ninth year to the +Abbey of Yvern so that he might there study both sacred and profane learning. +At the age of fourteen he renounced his patrimony and took a vow to serve the +Lord. His time was divided, according to the rule, between the singing of +hymns, the study of grammar, and the meditation of eternal truths. + +A celestial perfume soon disclosed the virtues of the monk throughout the +cloister, and when the blessed Gal, the Abbot of Yvern, departed from this +world into the next, young Mael succeeded him in the government of the +monastery. He established therein a school, an infirmary, a guest-house, a +forge, work-shops of all kinds, and sheds for building ships, and he compelled +the monks to till the lands in the neighbourhood. With his own hands he +cultivated the garden of the Abbey, he worked in metals, he instructed the +novices, and his life was gently gliding along like a stream that reflects the +heaven and fertilizes the fields. + +At the close of the day this servant of God was accustomed to seat himself on +the cliff, in the place that is to-day still called St. Mael's chair. At his +feet the rocks bristling with green seaweed and tawny wrack seemed like black +dragons as they faced the foam of the waves with their monstrous breasts. He +watched the sun descending into the ocean like a red Host whose glorious blood +gave a purple tone to the clouds and to the summits of the waves. And the holy +man saw in this the image of the mystery of the Cross, by which the divine +blood has clothed the earth with a royal purple. In the offing a line of dark +blue marked the shores of the island of Gad, where St. Bridget, who had been +given the veil by St. Malo, ruled over a convent of women. + +Now Bridget, knowing the merits of the venerable Mael, begged from him some +work of his hands as a rich present. Mael cast a hand-bell of bronze for her +and, when it was finished, he blessed it and threw it into the sea. And the +bell went ringing towards the coast of Gad, where St. Bridget, warned by the +sound of the bell upon the waves, received it piously, and carried it in +solemn procession with singing of psalms into the chapel of the convent. + +Thus the holy Mael advanced from virtue to virtue. He had already passed +through two-thirds of the way of life, and he hoped peacefully to reach his +terrestrial end in the midst of his spiritual brethren, when he knew by a +certain sign that the Divine wisdom had decided otherwise, and that the Lord +was calling him to less peaceful but not less meritorious labours. + + + +II. THE APOSTOLICAL VOCATION OF SAINT MAEL + +One day as he walked in meditation to the furthest point of a tranquil beach, +for which rocks jutting out into the sea formed a rugged dam, he saw a trough +of stone which floated like a boat upon the waters. + +It was in a vessel similar to this that St. Guirec, the great St. Columba, and +so many holy men from Scotland and from Ireland had gone forth to evangelize +Armorica. More recently still, St. Avoye having come from England, ascended +the river Auray in a mortar made of rose-coloured granite into which children +were afterwards placed in order to make them strong; St. Vouga passed from +Hibernia to Cornwall on a rock whose fragments, preserved at Penmarch, will +cure of fever such pilgrims as place these splinters on their heads. St. +Samson entered the Bay of St. Michael's Mount in a granite vessel which will +one day be called St. Samson's basin. It is because of these facts that when +he saw the stone trough the holy Mael understood that the Lord intended him +for the apostolate of the pagans who still peopled the coast and the Breton +islands. + +He handed his ashen staff to the holy Budoc, thus investing him with the +government of the monastery. Then, furnished with bread, a barrel of fresh +water, and the book of the Holy Gospels, he entered the stone trough which +carried him gently to the island of Hoedic. + +This island is perpetually buffeted by the winds. In it some poor men fished +among the clefts of the rocks and labouriously cultivated vegetables in +gardens full of sand and pebbles that were sheltered from the wind by walls of +barren stone and hedges of tamarisk. A beautiful fig-tree raised itself in a +hollow of the island and thrust forth its branches far and wide. The +inhabitants of the island used to worship it. + +And the holy Mael said to them: "You worship this tree because it is +beautiful. Therefore you are capable of feeling beauty. Now I come to reveal +to you the hidden beauty." And he taught them the Gospel. And after having +instructed them, he baptized them with salt and water. + +The islands of Morbihan were more numerous in those times than they are +to-day. For since then many have been swallowed up by the sea. St. Mael +evangelized sixty of them. Then in his granite trough he ascended the river +Auray. And after sailing for three hours he landed before a Roman house. A +thin column of smoke went up from the roof. The holy man crossed the threshold +on which there was a mosaic representing a dog with its hind legs outstretched +and its lips drawn back. He was welcomed by an old couple, Marcus Combabus and +Valeria Moerens, who lived there on the products of their lands. There was a +portico round the interior court the columns of which were painted red, half +their height upwards from the base. A fountain made of shells stood against +the wall and under the portico there rose an altar with a niche in which the +master of the house had placed some little idols made of baked earth and +whitened with whitewash. Some represented winged children, others Apollo or +Mercury, and several were in the form of a naked woman twisting her hair. But +the holy Mael, observing those figures, discovered among them the image of a +young mother holding a child upon her knees. + +Immediately pointing to that image he said: + +"That is the Virgin, the mother of God. The poet Virgil foretold her in +Sibylline verses before she was born and, in angelical tones he sang Jam redit +et virgo. Throughout heathendom prophetic figures of her have been made, like +that which you, O Marcus, have placed upon this altar. And without doubt it is +she who has protected your modest household. Thus it is that those who +faithfully observe the natural law prepare themselves for the knowledge of +revealed truths." + +Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, having been instructed by this speech, +were converted to the Christian faith. They received baptism together with +their young freedwoman, Caelia Avitella, who was dearer to them than the light +of their eyes. All their tenants renounced paganism and were baptized on the +same day. + +Marcus Combabus, Valeria Moerens, and Caelia Avitella led thenceforth a life +full of merit. They died in the Lord and were admitted into the canon of the +saints. + +For thirty-seven years longer the blessed Mael evangelized the pagans of the +inner lands. He built two hundred and eighteen chapels and seventy-four +abbeys. + +Now on a certain day in the city of Vannes, when he was preaching the Gospel, +he learned that the monks of Yvern had in his absence declined from the rule +of St. Gal. Immediately, with the zeal of a hen who gathers her brood, he +repaired to his erring children. He was then towards the end of his +ninety-seventh year; his figure was bent, but his arms were still strong, and +his speech was poured forth abundantly like winter snow in the depths of the +valleys. + +Abbot Budoc restored the ashen staff to St. Mael and informed him of the +unhappy state into which the Abbey had fallen. The monks were in disagreement +as to the date an which the festival of Easter ought to be celebrated. Some +held for the Roman calendar, others for the Greek calendar, and the horrors of +a chronological schism distracted the monastery. + +There also prevailed another cause of disorder. The nuns of the island of Gad, +sadly fallen from their former virtue, continually came in boats to the coast +of Yvern. The monks received them in the guesthouse and from this there arose +scandals which filled pious souls with desolation. + +Having finished his faithful report, Abbot Budoc concluded in these terms: + +"Since the coming of these nuns the innocence and peace of the monks are at an +end." + +"I readily believe it," answered the blessed Mael. "For woman is a cleverly +constructed snare by which we are taken even before we suspect the trap. Alas! +the delightful attraction of these creatures is exerted with even greater +force from a distance than when they are close at hand. The less they satisfy +desire the more they inspire it. This is the reason why a poet wrote this +verse to one of them: + +When present I avoid thee, but when away I find thee. + +Thus we see, my son, that the blandishments of carnal love have more power +over hermits and monks than over men who live in the world. All through my +life the demon of lust has tempted me in various ways, but his strongest +temptations did not come to me from meeting a woman, however beautiful and +fragrant she was. They came to me from the image of an absent woman. Even now, +though full of days and approaching my ninety-eighth year, I am often led by +the Enemy to sin against chastity, at least in thought. At night when I am +cold in my bed and my frozen old bones rattle together with a dull sound I +hear voices reciting the second verse of the third Book of the Kings: +'Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the +king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish +him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat,' and +the devil shows me a girl in the bloom of youth who says to me: 'I am thy +Abishag; I am thy Shunamite. Make, O my lord, room for me in thy couch.' + +"Believe me," added the old man, "it is only by the special aid of Heaven that +a monk can keep his chastity in act and in intention." + +Applying himself immediately to restore innocence and peace to the monastery, +he corrected the calendar according to the calculations of chronology and +astronomy and he compelled all the monks to accept his decision; he sent the +women who had declined from St. Bridget's rule back to their convent; but far +from driving them away brutally, he caused them to be led to their boat with +singing of psalms and litanies. + +"Let us respect in them," he said, "the daughters of Bridget and the betrothed +of the Lord. Let us beware lest we imitate the Pharisees who affect to despise +sinners. The sin of these women and not their persons should be abased, and +they should be made ashamed of what they have done and not of what they are, +for they are all creatures of God." + +And the holy man exhorted his monks to obey faithfully the rule of their +order. + +"When it does not yield to the rudder," said he to them, "the ship yields to +the rock." + + + +III. THE TEMPTATION OF SAINT MAEL + +The blessed Mael had scarcely restored order in the Abbey of Yvern before he +learned that the inhabitants of the island of Hoedic, his first catechumens +and the dearest of all to his heart, had returned to paganism, and that they +were hanging crowns of flowers and fillets of wool to the branches of the +sacred fig-tree. + +The boatman who brought this sad news expressed a fear that soon those +misguided men might violently destroy the chapel that had been built on the +shore of their island. + +The holy man resolved forthwith to visit his faithless children, so that he +might lead them back to the faith and prevent them from yielding to such +sacrilege. As he went down to the bay where his stone trough was moored, he +turned his eyes to the sheds, then filled with the noise of saws and of +hammers, which, thirty years before, he had erected on the fringe of that bay +for the purpose of building ships. + +At that moment, the Devil, who never tires, went out from the sheds and, under +the appearance of a monk called Samsok, he approached the holy man and tempted +him thus: + +"Father, the inhabitants of the island of Hoedic commit sins unceasingly. +Every moment that passes removes them farther from God. They are soon going to +use violence towards the chapel that you have raised with your own venerable +hands on the shore of their island. Time is pressing. Do you not think that +your stone trough would carry you more quickly towards them if it were rigged +like a boat and furnished with a rudder, a mast, and a sail, for then you +would be driven by the wind? Your arms are still strong and able to steer a +small craft. It would be a good thing, too, to put a sharp stem in front of +your apostolic trough. You are much too clear-sighted not to have thought of +it already." + +"Truly time is pressing," answered the holy man. "But to do as you say, +Samson, my son, would it not be to make myself like those men of little faith +who do not trust the Lord? Would it not be to despise the gifts of Him who has +sent me this stone vessel without rigging or sail?" + +This question, the Devil, who is a great theologian, answered by another. + +"Father, is it praiseworthy to wait, with our arms folded, until help comes +from on high, and to ask everything from Him who can do all things, instead of +acting by human prudence and helping ourselves? + +"It certainly is not," answered the holy Mael, "and to neglect to act by human +prudence is tempting God." + +"Well," urged the Devil, "is it not prudence in this case to rig the vessel?" + +"It would be prudence if we could not attain our end in any other way." + +"Is your vessel then so very speedy?" + +"It is as speedy as God pleases." + +"What do you know about it? It goes like Abbot Budoc's mule. It is a regular +old tub. Are you forbidden to make it speedier?" + +"My son, clearness adorns your words, but they are unduly over-confident. +Remember that this vessel is miraculous." + +"It is, father. A granite trough that floats on the water like a cork is a +miraculous trough. There is not the slightest doubt about it. What conclusion +do you draw from that?" + +"I am greatly perplexed. Is it right to perfect so miraculous a machine by +human and natural means?" + +"Father, if you lost your right foot and God restored it to you, would not +that foot be miraculous?" + +"Without doubt, my son." + +"Would you put a shoe on it?" + +"Assuredly." + +"Well, then, if you believe that one may cover a miraculous foot with a +natural shoe, you should also believe that we can put natural rigging on a +miraculous boat. That is clear. Alas! Why must the holiest persons have their +moments of weakness and despondency? The most illustrious of the apostles of +Brittany could accomplish works worthy of eternal glory . . . But his spirit +is tardy and his hand is slothful. Farewell then, father! Travel by short and +slow stages and when at last you approach the coast of Hoedic you will see the +smoking ruins of the chapel that was built and consecrated by your own hands. +The pagans will have burned it and with it the deacon you left there. He will +be as thoroughly roasted as a black pudding." + +"My trouble is extreme," said the servant of God, drying with his sleeve the +sweat that gathered upon his brow. "But tell me, Samson, my son, would not +rigging this stone trough be a difficult piece of work? And if we undertook it +might we not lose time instead of gaining it?" + +"Ah! father," exclaimed the Devil, "in one turning of the hour-glass the thing +would be done. We shall find the necessary rigging in this shed that you have +formerly built here on the coast and in those store-houses abundantly stocked +through your care. I will myself regulate all the ship's fittings. Before +being a monk I was a sailor and a carpenter and I have worked at many other +trades as well. Let us to work." + +Immediately he drew the holy man into an outhouse filled with all things +needful for fitting out a boat. + +"That for you, father!" + +And he placed on his shoulders the sail, the mast, the gaff, and the boom. + +Then, himself bearing a stem and a rudder with its screw and tiller, and +seizing a carpenter's bag full of tools, he ran to the shore, dragging the +holy man after him by his habit. The latter was bent, sweating, and +breathless, under the burden of canvas and wood. + + + +IV. ST. MAEL'S NAVIGATION ON THE OCEAN OF ICE + +The Devil, having tucked his clothes up to his arm-pits, dragged the trough on +the sand, and fitted the rigging in less than an hour. + +As soon as the holy Mael had embarked, the vessel, with all its sails set, +cleft through the waters with such speed that the coast was almost immediately +out of sight. The old man steered to the south so as to double the Land's End, +but an irresistible current carried him to the south-west. He went along the +southern coast of Ireland and turned sharply towards the north. In the evening +the wind freshened. In vain did Mael attempt to furl the sail. The vessel flew +distractedly towards the fabulous seas. + +By the light of the moon the immodest sirens of the North came around him with +their hempen-coloured hair, raising their white throats and their rose-tinted +limbs out of the sea; and beating the water into foam with their emerald +tails, they sang in cadence: + + Whither go'st thou, gentle Mael, + In thy trough distracted? + All distended is thy sail + Like the breast of Juno + When from it gushed the Milky Way. + +For a moment their harmonious laughter followed him beneath the stars, but the +vessel fled on, a hundred times more swiftly than the red ship of a Viking. +And the petrels, surprised in their flight, clung with their feet to the hair +of the holy man. + +Soon a tempest arose full of darkness and groanings, and the trough, driven by +a furious wind, flew like a sea-mew through the mist and the surge. + +After a night of three times twenty-four hours the darkness was suddenly rent +and the holy man discovered on the horizon a shore more dazzling than diamond. +The coast rapidly grew larger, and soon by the glacial light of a torpid and +sunken sun, Mael saw, rising above the waves, the silent streets of a white +city, which, vaster than Thebes with its hundred gates, extended as far as the +eye could see the ruins of its forum built of snow, its palaces of frost, its +crystal arches, and its iridescent obelisks. + +The ocean was covered with floating ice-bergs around which swam men of the sea +of a wild yet gentle appearance. And Leviathan passed by hurling a column of +water up to the clouds. + +Moreover, on a block of ice which floated at the same rate as the stone trough +there was seated a white bear holding her little one in her arms, and Mael +heard her murmuring in a low voice this verse of Virgil, Incipe parve puer. + +And full of sadness and trouble, the old man wept. + +The fresh water had frozen and burst the barrel that contained it. And Mael +was sucking pieces of ice to quench his thirst, and his food was bread dipped +in dirty water. His beard and his hair were broken like glass. His habit was +covered with a layer of ice and cut into him at every movement of his limbs. +Huge waves rose up and opened their foaming jaws at the old man. Twenty times +the boat was filled by masses of sea. And the ocean swallowed up the book of +the Holy Gospels which the apostle guarded with extreme care in a purple cover +marked with a golden cross. + +Now on the thirtieth day the sea calmed. And lo! with a frightful clamour of +sky and waters a mountain of dazzling whiteness advanced towards the stone +vessel. Mael steered to avoid it, but the tiller broke in his hands. To lessen +the speed of his progress towards the rock he attempted to reef the sails, but +when he tried to knot the reef-points the wind pulled them away from him and +the rope seared his hands. He saw three demons with wings of black skin having +hooks at their ends, who, hanging from the rigging, were puffing with their +breath against the sails. + +Understanding from this sight that the Enemy had governed him in all these +things, he guarded himself by making the sign of the Cross. Immediately a +furious gust of wind filled with the noise of sobs and howls struck the stone +trough, carried off the mast with all the sails, and tore away the rudder and +the stem. + +The trough was drifting on the sea, which had now grown calm. The holy man +knelt and gave thanks to the Lord who had delivered him from the snares of the +demon. Then he recognised, sitting on a block of ice, the mother bear who had +spoken during the storm. She pressed her beloved child to her bosom, and in +her hand she held a purple book marked with a golden cross. Hailing the +granite trough, she saluted the holy man with these words: + + "Pax tibi Mael" + +And she held out the book to him. + +The holy man recognised his evangelistary, and, full of astonishment, he sang +in the tepid air a hymn to the Creator and His creation. + + + +V. THE BAPTISM OF THE PENGUINS + +After having drifted for an hour the holy man approached a narrow strand, shut +in by steep mountains. He went along the coast for a whole day and a night, +passing around the reef which formed an insuperable barrier. He discovered in +this way that it was a round island in the middle of which rose a mountain +crowned with clouds. He joyfully breathed the fresh breath of the moist air. +Rain fell, and this rain was so pleasant that the holy man said to the Lord: + +"Lord, this is the island of tears, the island of contrition." + +The strand was deserted. Worn out with fatigue and hunger, he sat down on a +rock in the hollow of which there lay some yellow eggs, marked with black +spots, and about as large as those of a swan. But he did not touch them, +saying: + +"Birds are the living praises of God. I should not like a single one of these +praises to be lacking through me." + +And he munched the lichens which he tore from the crannies of the rocks. + +The holy man had gone almost entirely round the island without meeting any +inhabitants, when he came to a vast amphitheatre formed of black and red rocks +whose summits became tinged with blue as they rose towards the clouds, and +they were filled with sonorous cascades. + +The reflection from the polar ice had hurt the old man's eyes, but a feeble +gleam of light still shone through his swollen eyelids. He distinguished +animated forms which filled the rocks, in stages, like a crowd of men on the +tiers of an amphitheatre. And at the same time, his ears, deafened by the +continual noises of the sea, heard a feeble sound of voices. Thinking that +what he saw were men living under the natural law, and that the Lord had sent +him to teach them the Divine law, he preached the gospel to them. + +Mounted on a lofty stone in the midst of the wild circus: + +"Inhabitants of this island," said he, "although you be of small stature, you +look less like a band of fishermen and mariners than like the senate of a +judicious republic. By your gravity, your silence, your tranquil deportment, +you form on this wild rock an assembly comparable to the Conscript Fathers at +Rome deliberating in the temple of Victory, or rather, to the philosophers of +Athens disputing on the benches of the Areopagus. Doubtless you possess +neither their science nor their genius, but perhaps in the sight of God you +are their superiors. I believe that you are simple and good. As I went round +your island I saw no image of murder, no sign of carnage, no enemies' heads or +scalps hung from a lofty pole or nailed to the doors of your villages. You +appear to me to have no arts and not to work in metals. But your hearts are +pure and your hands are innocent, and the truth will easily enter into your +souls." + +Now what he had taken for men of small stature but of grave bearing were +penguins whom the spring had gathered together, and who were ranged in couples +on the natural steps of the rock, erect in the majesty of their large white +bellies. From moment to moment they moved their winglets like arms, and +uttered peaceful cries. They did not fear men, for they did not know them, and +had never received any harm from them; and there was in the monk a certain +gentleness that reassured the most timid animals and that pleased these +penguins extremely. With a friendly curiosity they turned towards him their +little round eyes lengthened in front by a white oval spot that gave something +odd and human to their appearance. + +Touched by their attention, the holy man taught them the Gospel. + +"Inhabitants of this island, the earthly day that has just risen over your +rocks is the image of the heavenly day that rises in your souls. For I bring +you the inner light; I bring you the light and heat of the soul. Just as the +sun melts the ice of your mountains so Jesus Christ will melt the ice of your +hearts." + +Thus the old man spoke. As everywhere throughout nature voice calls to voice, +as all which breathes in the light of day loves alternate strains, these +penguins answered the old man by the sounds of their throats. And their voices +were soft, for it was the season of their loves. + +The holy man, persuaded that they belonged to some idolatrous people and that +in their own language they gave adherence to the Christian faith, invited them +to receive baptism. + +"I think," said he to them, "that you bathe often, for all the hollows of the +rocks are full of pure water, and as I came to your assembly I saw several of +you plunging into these natural baths. Now purity of body is the image of +spiritual purity." + +And he taught them the origin, the nature, and the effects of baptism. + +"Baptism," said he to them, "is Adoption, New Birth, Regeneration, +Illumination." + +And he explained each of these points to them in succession. + +Then, having previously blessed the water that fell from the cascades and +recited the exorcisms, he baptized those whom he had just taught, pouring on +each of their heads a drop of pure water and pronouncing the sacred words. + +And thus for three days and three nights he baptized the birds. + + + +VI. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE + +When the baptism of the penguins was known in Paradise, it caused neither joy +nor sorrow, but an extreme surprise. The Lord himself was embarrassed. He +gathered an assembly of clerics and doctors, and asked them whether they +regarded the baptism as valid. + +"It is void," said St. Patrick. + +"Why is it void?" asked St. Gal, who had evangelized the people of Cornwall +and had trained the holy Mael for his apostolical labours. + +"The sacrament of baptism," answered St. Patrick, "is void when it is given to +birds, just as the sacrament of marriage is void when it is given to a +eunuch." + +But St. Gal replied: + +"What relation do you claim to establish between the baptism of a bird and the +marriage of a eunuch? There is none at all. Marriage is, if I may say so, a +conditional, a contingent sacrament. The priest blesses an event beforehand; +it is evident that if the act is not consummated the benediction remains +without effect. That is obvious. I have known on earth, in the town of Antrim, +a rich man named Sadoc, who, living in concubinage with a woman, caused her to +be the mother of nine children. In his old age, yielding to my reproofs, he +consented to marry her, and I blessed their union. Unfortunately Sadoc's great +age prevented him from consummating the marriage. A short time afterwards he +lost all his property, and Germaine (that was the name of the woman), not +feeling herself able to endure poverty, asked for the annulment of a marriage +which was no reality. The Pope granted her request, for it was just. So much +for marriage. But baptism is conferred without restrictions or reserves of any +kind. There is no doubt about it, what the penguins have received is a +sacrament." + +Called to give his opinion, Pope St. Damascus expressed himself in these +terms: + +"In order to know if a baptism is valid and will produce its result, that is +to say, sanctification, it is necessary to consider who gives it and not who +receives it. In truth, the sanctifying virtue of this sacrament results from +the exterior act by which it is conferred, without the baptized person +cooperating in his own sanctification by any personal act; if it were +otherwise it would not be administered to the newly born. And there is no +need, in order to baptize, to fulfil any special condition; it is not +necessary to be in a state of grace; it is sufficient to have the intention of +doing what the Church does, to pronounce the consecrated words and to observe +the prescribed forms. Now we cannot doubt that the venerable Mael has observed +these conditions. Therefore the penguins are baptized." + +"Do you think so?" asked St. Guenole. "And what then do you believe that +baptism really is? Baptism is the process of regeneration by which man is born +of water and of the spirit, for having entered the water covered with crimes, +he goes out of it a neophyte, a new creature, abounding in the fruits of +righteousness; baptism is the seed of immortality; baptism is the pledge of +the resurrection; baptism is the burying with Christ in His death and +participation in His departure from the sepulchre. That is not a gift to +bestow upon birds. Reverend Fathers, let us consider. Baptism washes away +original sin; now the penguins were not conceived in sin. It removes the +penalty of sin; now the penguins have not sinned. It produces grace and the +gift of virtues, uniting Christians to Jesus Christ, as the members to the +body, and it is obvious to the senses that penguins cannot acquire the virtues +of confessors, of virgins, and of widows, or receive grace and be united to--" + +St. Damascus did not allow him to finish. + +"That proves," said he warmly, "that the baptism was useless; it does not +prove that it was not effective." + +"But by this reasoning," said St. Guenole, "one might baptize in the name of +the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by aspersion or immersion, not +only a bird or a quadruped, but also an inanimate object, a statue, a table, a +chair, etc. That animal would be Christian, that idol, that table would be +Christian! It is absurd!" + +St. Augustine began to speak. There was a great silence. + +"I am going," said the ardent bishop of Hippo, "to show you, by an example, +the power of formulas. It deals, it is true, with a diabolical operation. But +if it be established that formulas taught by the Devil have effect upon +unintelligent animals or even on inanimate objects, how can we longer doubt +that the effect of the sacramental formulas extends to the minds of beasts and +even to inert matter? + +"This is the example. There was during my lifetime in the town of Madaura, the +birthplace of the philosopher Apuleius, a witch who was able to attract men to +her chamber by burning a few of their hairs along with certain herbs upon her +tripod, pronouncing at the same time certain words. Now one day when she +wished by this means to gain the, love of a young man, she was deceived by her +maid, and instead of the young man's hairs, she burned some hairs pulled from +a leather bottle, made out of a goatskin that hung in a tavern. During the +night the leather bottle, full of wine, capered through the town up to the +witch's door. This fact is undoubted. And in sacraments as in enchantments it +is the form which operates. The effect of a divine formula cannot be less in +power and extent than the effect of an infernal formula." + +Having spoken in this fashion the great St. Augustine sat down amidst +applause. + +One of the blessed, of an advanced age and having a melancholy appearance, +asked permission to speak. No one knew him. His name was Probus, and he was +not enrolled in the canon of the saints. + +"I beg the company's pardon," said he, "I have no halo, and I gained eternal +blessedness without any eminent distinction. But after what the great St. +Augustine has just told you I believe it right to impart a cruel experience, +which I had, relative to the conditions necessary for the validity of a +sacrament. The bishop of Hippo is indeed right in what he said. A sacrament +depends on the form; its virtue is in its form; its vice is in its form. +Listen, confessors and pontiffs, to my woeful story. I was a priest in Rome +under the rule of the Emperor Gordianus. Without desiring to recommend myself +to you for any special merit, I may say that I exercised my priesthood with +piety and zeal. For forty years I served the church of St. +Modestus-beyond-the-Walls. My habits were regular. Every Saturday I went to a +tavern-keeper called Barjas, who dwelt with his wine-jars under the Porta +Capena, and from him I bought the wine that I consecrated daily throughout the +week. During that.long space of time I never failed for a single morning to +consecrate the holy sacrifice of the mass. However, I had no joy, and it was +with a heart oppressed by sorrow that, on the steps of the altar I used to +ask, 'Why art thou so heavy, O my soul, and why art thou so disquieted within +me?' The faithful whom I invited to the holy table gave me cause for +affliction, for having, so to speak, the Host that I administered still upon +their tongues, they fell again into sin just as if the sacrament had been +without power or efficacy. At last I reached the end of my earthly trials, and +failing asleep in the Lord, I awoke in this abode of the elect. I learned then +from the mouth of the angel who brought me here, that Barjas, the +tavern-keeper of the Porta Capena, had sold for wine a decoction of roots and +barks in which there was not a single drop of the juice of the grape. I had +been unable to transmute this vile brew into blood, for it was not wine, and +wine alone is changed into the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore all my +consecrations were invalid, and unknown to us, my faithful and myself had for +forty years been deprived of the sacrament and were in fact in a state of +excommunication. This revelation threw me into a stupor which overwhelms me +even to-day in this abode of bliss. I go all through Paradise without ever +meeting a single one of those Christians whom formerly I admitted to the holy +table in the basilica of the blessed Modestus. Deprived of the bread of +angels, they easily gave way to the most abominable vices, and they have all +gone to hell. It gives me some satisfaction to think that Barjas, the +tavern-keeper, is damned. There is in these things a logic worthy of the +author of all logic. Nevertheless my unhappy example proves that it is +sometimes inconvenient that form should prevail over essence in the +sacraments, and I humbly ask, Could not, eternal wisdom remedy this?" + +"No," answered the Lord. "The remedy would be worse than the disease. It would +be the ruin of the priesthood if essence prevailed over form in the laws of +salvation." + +"Alas! Lord," sighed the humble Probus. "Be persuaded by my humble experience; +as long as you reduce your sacraments to formulas your justice will meet with +terrible obstacles." + +"I know that better than you do," replied the Lord. "I see in a single glance +both the actual problems which are difficult, and the future problems which +will not be less difficult. Thus I can foretell that when the sun will have +turned round the earth two hundred and forty times more. + +"Sublime language," exclaimed the angels. + +"And worthy of the creator of the world," answered the pontiffs. + +"It is," resumed the Lord, "a manner of speaking in accordance with my old +cosmogony and one which I cannot give up without losing my immutability. . . . + +"After the sun, then, will have turned another two hundred and forty times +round the earth, there will not be a single cleric left in Rome who knows +Latin. When they sing their litanies in the churches people will invoke +Orichel, Roguel, and Totichel, and, as you know, these are devils and not +angels. Many robbers desiring to make their communions, but fearing that +before obtaining pardon they would be forced to give up the things they had +robbed to the Church, will make their confessions to travelling priests,who, +ignorant of both Italian and Latin, and only speaking the patois of their +village, will go through cities and towns selling the remission of sins for a +base price, often for a bottle of wine. Probably we shall not be +inconvenienced by those absolutions as they will want contrition to make them +valid, but it may be that their baptisms will cause us some embarrassment. The +priests will become so ignorant that they will baptize children in nomine +patria et filia et spirita sancta, as Louis de Potter will take a pleasure in +relating in the third volume of his 'Philosophical, Political, and Critical +History of Christianity.' It will be an arduous question to decide on the +validity of such baptisms; for even if in my sacred writings I tolerate a +Greek less elegant than Plato's and a scarcely Ciceronian Latin, I cannot +possibly admit a piece of pure patois as a liturgical formula. And one +shudders when one thinks that millions of new-born babes will be baptized by +this method. But let us return to our penguins." + +"Your divine words, Lord, have already led us back to them," said St. Gal. "In +the signs of religion and the laws of salvation form necessarily prevails over +essence, and the validity of a sacrament solely depends upon its form. The +whole question is whether the penguins have been baptized with the proper +forms. Now there is no doubt about the answer." + +The fathers and the doctors agreed, and their perplexity became only the more +cruel. + +"The Christian state," said St. Cornelius, "is not without serious +inconveniences for a penguin. In it the birds are obliged to work out their +own salvation. How can they succeed? The habits of birds are, in many points, +contrary to the commandments of the Church, and the penguins have no reason +for changing theirs. I mean that they are not intelligent enough to give up +their present habits and assume better." + +"They cannot," said the Lord; "my decrees prevent them." + +"Nevertheless," resumed St. Cornelius, "in virtue of their baptism their +actions no longer remain indifferent. Henceforth they will be good or bad, +susceptible of merit or of demerit." + +"That is precisely the question we have to deal with," said the Lord. + +"I see only one solution," said St. Augustine. "The penguins will go to hell." + +"But they have no soul," observed St. Irenaeus. + +"It is a pity"" sighed Tertullian. + +"It is indeed," resumed St. Gal. "And I admit that my disciple, the holy Mael, +has, in his blind zeal, created great theological difficulties for the Holy +Spirit and introduced disorder into the economy of mysteries." + +"He is an old blunderer," cried St. Adjutor of Alsace, shrugging his +shoulders. + +But the Lord cast a reproachful look on Adjutor. + +"Allow me to speak," said he; "the holy Mael has not intuitive knowledge like +you, my blessed ones. He does not see me. He is an old man burdened by +infirmities; he is half deaf and three parts blind. You are too severe on him. +However, I recognise that the situation is an embarrassing one." + +"Luckily it is but a passing disorder," said St. Irenaeus. "The penguins are +baptized, but their eggs are not, and the evil will stop with the present +generation." + +"Do not speak thus, Irenaeus my son," said the Lord. "There are exceptions to +the laws that men of science lay down on the earth because they are imperfect +and have not an exact application to nature. But the laws that I establish are +perfect and suffer no exception. We must decide the fate of the baptized +penguins without violating any divine law, and in a manner conformable to the +decalogue as well as to the commandments of my Church." + +"Lord," said St. Gregory Nazianzen, "give them an immortal soul." + +"Alas! Lord, what would they do with it," sighed Lactantius. "They have not +tuneful voices to sing your praises. They would not be able to celebrate your +mysteries." + +"Without doubt," said St. Augustine, "they would not observe the divine law." + +"They could not," said the Lord. + +"They could not," continued St. Augustine. "And if, Lord, in your wisdom, you +pour an immortal soul into them, they will burn eternally in hell in virtue of +your adorable decrees. Thus will the transcendent order, that this old +Welshman has disturbed, be re-established." + +"You propose a correct solution to me, son of Monica," said the Lord, "and one +that accords with my wisdom. But it does not satisfy my mercy. And, although +in my essence I am immutable, the longer I endure, the more I incline to +mildness. This change of character is evident to anyone who reads my two +Testaments." + +As the discussion continued without much light being thrown upon the matter +and as the blessed showed a disposition to keep repeating the same thing, it +was decided to consult St. Catherine of Alexandria. This is what was usually +done in such cases. St. Catherine while on earth had confounded fifty very +learned doctors. She knew Plato's philosophy in addition to the Holy +Scriptures, and she also possessed a knowledge of rhetoric. + + + +VII. AN ASSEMBLY IN PARADISE (Continuation and End) + +St. Catherine entered the assembly, her head encircled by a crown of emeralds, +sapphires, and pearls, and she was clad in a robe of cloth of gold. She +carried at her side a blazing wheel, the image of the one whose fragments had +struck her persecutors. + +The Lord having invited her to speak, she expressed herself in these terms: + +"Lord, in order to solve the problem you deign to submit to me I shall not +study the habits of animals in general nor those of birds in particular. I +shall only remark to the doctors, confessors, and pontiffs gathered in this +assembly that the separation between man and animal is not complete since +there are monsters who proceed from both. Such are chimeras--half nymphs and +half serpents; such are the three Gorgons and the Capripeds; such are the +Scyllas and the Sirens who sing in the sea. These have a woman's breast and a +fish's tail. Such also are the Centaurs, men down to the waist and the +remainder horses. They are a noble race of monsters. One of them, as you know, +was able, guided by the light of reason alone, to direct his steps towards +eternal blessedness, and you sometimes see his heroic bosom prancing on the +clouds. Chiron, the Centaur, deserved for his works on the earth to share the +abode of the blessed; he it was who gave Achilles his education; and that +young hero, when he left the Centaur's hands, lived for two years, dressed as +a young girl, among the daughters of King Lycomedes. He shared their games and +their bed without allowing any suspicion to arise that he was not a young +virgin like them. Chiron, who taught him such good morals, is, with the +Emperor Trajan, the only righteous man who obtained celestial glory by +following the law of nature. And yet he was but half human. + +"I think I have proved by this example that, to reach eternal blessedness, it +is enough to possess some parts of humanity, always on the condition that they +are noble. And what Chiron, the Centaur, could obtain without having been +regenerated by baptism, would not the penguins deserve too, if they became +half penguins and half men? That is why, Lord, I entreat you to give old +Mael's penguins a human head and breast so that they can praise you worthily. +And grant them also an immortal soul--but one of small size." + +Thus Catherine spoke, and the fathers, doctors, confessors, and pontiffs heard +her with a murmur of approbation. + +But St. Anthony, the Hermit, arose and stretching two red and knotty arms +towards the Most High: + +"Do not so, O Lord God," he cried, "in the name of your holy Paraclete, do not +so!" + +He spoke with such vehemence that his long white beard shook on his chin like +the empty nose-bag of a hungry horse. + +"Lord, do not so. Birds with human heads exist already. St. Catherine has told +us nothing new." + +"The imagination groups and compares; it never creates," replied St. Catherine +drily. + +"They exist already," continued St. Antony, who would listen to nothing. "They +are called harpies, and they are the most obscene animals in creation. One day +as I was having supper in the desert with the Abbot St. Paul, I placed the +table outside my cabin under an old sycamore tree. The harpies came and sat in +its branches; they deafened us with their shrill cries and cast their +excrement over all our food. The clamour of the monsters prevented me from +listening to the teaching of the Abbot St. Paul, and we ate birds' dung with +our bread and lettuces. Lord, it is impossible to believe that harpies could +give thee worthy praise. + +"Truly in my temptations I have seen many hybrid beings, not only +women-serpents and women-fishes, but beings still more confusedly formed such +as men whose bodies were made out of a pot, a bell, a clock, a cupboard full +of food and crockery, or even out of a house with doors and windows through +which people engaged in their domestic tasks could be seen. Eternity would not +suffice were I to describe all the monsters that assailed me in my solitude, +from whales rigged like ships to a shower of red insects which changed the +water of my fountain into blood. But none were as disgusting as the harpies +whose offal polluted the leaves of my sycamore." + +"Harpies," observed Lactantius, "are female Monsters with birds' bodies. They +have a woman's head and breast. Their forwardness, their shamelessness, and +their obscenity proceed from their female nature as the poet Virgil +demonstrated in his 'Aeneid.' They share the curse of Eve." + +"Let us not speak of the curse of Eve," said the Lord. "The second Eve has +redeemed the first." + +Paul Orosius, the author of a universal history that Bossuet was to imitate in +later years, arose and prayed to the Lord: + +"Lord, hear my prayer and Anthony's. Do not make any more monsters like the +Centaurs, Sirens, and Fauns, whom the Greeks, those collectors of fables, +loved. You will derive no satisfaction from them. Those species of monsters +have pagan inclinations and their double nature does not dispose them to +purity of morals." + +The bland Lactantius replied in these terms: + +"He who has just spoken is assuredly the best historian in Paradise, for +Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, Cornelius Nepos, +Suetonius, Manetho, Diodorus Siculus, Dion Cassius, and Lampridius are +deprived of the sight of God, and Tacitus suffers in hell the torments that +are reserved for blasphemers. But Paul Orosius does not know heaven as well as +he knows the earth, for he does not seem to bear in mind that the angels, who +proceed from man and bird, are purity itself." + +"We are wandering," said the Eternal. "What have we to do with all those +centaurs, harpies, and angels? We have to deal with penguins." + +"You have spoken to the point, Lord," said the chief of the fifty doctors, +who, during their mortal life had been confounded by the Virgin of Alexandria, +"and I dare express the opinion that, in order to put an end to the scandal by +which heaven is now stirred, old Mael's penguins should, as St. Catherine who +confounded us has proposed, be given half of a human body with an eternal soul +proportioned to that half." + +At this speech there arose in the assembly a great noise of private +conversations and disputes of the doctors. The Greek fathers argued with the +Latins concerning the substance, nature, and dimensions of the soul that +should be given to the penguins. + +"Confessors and pontiffs," exclaimed the Lord, "do not imitate the conclaves +and synods of the earth. And do not bring into the Church Triumphant those +violences that trouble the Church Militant. For it is but too true that in all +the councils held under the inspiration of my spirit, in Europe, in Asia, and +in Africa, fathers have torn the beards and scratched the eyes of other +fathers. Nevertheless they were infallible, for I was with them." + +Order being restored, old Hermas arose and slowly uttered these words: + +"I will praise you, Lord, for that you caused my mother, Saphira, to be born +amidst your people, in the days when the dew of heaven refreshed the earth +which was in travail with its Saviour. And will praise you, Lord, for having +granted to me to see with my mortal eyes the Apostles of your divine Son. And +I will speak in this illustrious assembly because you have willed that truth +should proceed out of the mouths of the humble, and I will say: 'Change these +penguins to men. It is the only determination conformable to your justice and +your mercy.'" + +Several doctors asked permission to speak, others began to do so. No one +listened, and all the confessors were tumultuously shaking their palms and +their crowns. + +The Lord, by a gesture of his right hand, appeased the quarrels of his elect. + +"Let us not deliberate any longer," said he. "The opinion broached by gentle +old Hermas is the only one conformable to my eternal designs. These birds will +be changed into men. I foresee in this several disadvantages. Many of those +men will commit sins they would not have committed as penguins. Truly their +fate through this change will be far less enviable than if they had been +without this baptism and this incorporation into the family of Abraham. But my +foreknowledge must not encroach upon their free will. + +"In order not to impair human liberty, I will be ignorant of what I know, I +will thicken upon my eyes the veils I have pierced, and in my blind +clearsightedness I will let myself be surprised by what I have foreseen." + +And immediately calling the archangel Raphael: + +"Go and find the holy Mael," said he to him; "inform him of his mistake and +tell him, armed with my Name, to change these penguins into men." + + + +VII. METAMORPHOSIS OF THE PENGUINS + +The archangel, having gone down into the Island of the Penguins, found the +holy man asleep in the hollow of a rock surrounded by his new disciples. He +laid his hand on his shoulder and, having waked him, said in a gentle voice: + +"Mael, fear not!" + +The holy man, dazzled by a vivid light, inebriated by a delicious odour, +recognised the angel of the Lord, and prostrated himself with his forehead on +the ground. + +The angel continued: + +"Mael, know thy error, believing that thou wert baptizing children of Adam +thou hast baptized birds; and it is, through thee that penguins have entered +into the Church of God." + +At these words the old man remained stupefied. + +And the angel resumed: + +"Arise, Mael, arm thyself with the mighty Name of the Lord, and say to these +birds, 'Be ye men!'" + +And the holy Mael, having wept and prayed, armed himself with the mighty Name +of the Lord and said to the birds: + +"Be ye men!" + +Immediately the penguins were transformed. Their foreheads enlarged and their +heads grew round like the dome of St. Maria Rotunda in Rome. Their oval eyes +opened more widely on the universe; a fleshy nose clothed the two clefts of +their nostrils; their beaks were changed into mouths, and from their mouths +went forth speech; their necks grew short and thick; their wings became arms +and their claws legs; a restless soul dwelt within the breast of each of them. + +However, there remained with them some traces of their first nature. They were +inclined to look sideways; they balanced themselves on their short thighs; +their bodies were covered with fine down. + +And Mael gave thanks to the Lord, because he had incorporated these penguins +into the family of Abraham. + +But he grieved at the thought that he would soon leave the island to come back +no more, and that perhaps when he was far away the faith of the penguins would +perish for want of care like a young and tender plant. + +And he formed the idea of transporting their island to the coasts of Armorica. + +"I know not the designs of eternal Wisdom," said he to himself. "But if God +wills that this island be transported, who could prevent it?" + +And the holy man made a very fine cord about forty feet long out of the flax +of his stole. He fastened one end of the cord round a point of rock that +jutted up through the sand of the shore and, holding the other end of the cord +in his hand, he entered the stone trough. + +The trough glided over the sea and towed Penguin Island behind it; after nine +days' sailing it approached the Breton coast, bringing the island with it. + + + +BOOK II. THE ANCIENT TIMES + +I. THE FIRST CLOTHES + +One day St. Mael was sitting by the seashore on a warm stone that he found. He +thought it had been warmed by the sun and he gave thanks to God for it, not +knowing that the Devil had been resting on it. The apostle was waiting for the +monks of Yvern who had been commissioned to bring a freight of skins and +fabrics to clothe the inhabitants of the island of Alca. + +Soon he saw a monk called Magis coming ashore and carrying a chest upon his +back. This monk enjoyed a great reputation for holiness. + +When he had drawn near to the old man he laid the chest on the ground and +wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve, he said: + +"Well, father, you wish then to clothe these penguins?" + +"Nothing is more needful, my son," said the old man. "Since they have been +incorporated into the family of Abraham these penguins share the curse of Eve, +and they know that they are naked, a thing of which they were ignorant before. +And it is high time to clothe them, for they are losing the down that remained +on them after their metamorphosis." + +"It is true," said Magis as he cast his eyes over the coast where the penguins +were to be seen looking for shrimps, gathering mussels, singing, or sleeping, +"they are naked. But do you not think, father, that it would be better to +leave them naked? Why clothe them? When they wear clothes and are under the +moral law they will assume an immense pride, a vile hypocrisy, and an +excessive cruelty." + +"Is it possible, my son," sighed the old man, "that you understand so badly +the effects of the moral law to which even the heathen submit?" + +"The moral law," answered Magis, "forces men who are beasts to live otherwise +than beasts, a thine that doubtless puts a constraint upon them, but that also +flatters and reassures them; and as they are proud, cowardly, and covetous of +pleasure, they willingly submit to restraints that tickle their vanity and on +which they found both their present security and the hope of their future +happiness. That is the principle of all morality. . . . But let us not mislead +ourselves. My companions are unloading their cargo of stuffs and skins on the +island. Think, father, while there is still time I To clothe the penguins is a +very serious business. At present when a penguin desires a penguin he knows +precisely what he desires and his lust is limited by an exact knowledge of its +object. At this moment two or three couples of penguins are making love on the +beach. See with what simplicity! No one pays any attention and the actors +themselves do not seem to be greatly preoccupied. But when the female penguins +are clothed, the male penguin will not form so exact a notion of what it is +that attracts him to them. His indeterminate desires will fly out into all +sorts of dreams and illusions; in short, father, he will know love and its mad +torments. And all the time the female penguins will cast down their eyes and +bite their lips, and take on airs as if they kept a treasure under their +clothes! . . . what a pity! + +"The evil will be endurable as long as these people remain rude and poor; but +only wait for a thousand years and you will see, father, with what powerful +weapons you have endowed the daughters of Alca. If you will allow me, I can +give you some idea of it beforehand. I have some old clothes in this chest. +Let us take at hazard one of these female penguins to whom the male penguins +give such little thought, and let us dress her as well as we can. + +"Here is one coming towards us. She is neither more beautiful nor uglier than +the others; she is young. No one looks at her. She strolls indolently along +the shore, scratching her back and with her finger at her nose as she walks. +You cannot help seeing, father, that she has narrow shoulders, clumsy breasts, +a stout figure, and short legs. Her reddish knees pucker at every step she +takes, and there is, at each of her joints, what looks like a little monkey's +head. Her broad and sinewy feet cling to the rock with their four crooked +toes, while the great toes stick up like the heads of two cunning serpents. +She begins to walk, all her muscles are engaged in the task, and, when we see +them working, we think of her as a machine intended for walking rather than as +a machine intended for making love, although visibly she is both, and contains +within herself several other pieces of machinery, besides. Well, venerable +apostle, you will see what I am going to make of her." + +With these words the monk, Magis, reached the female penguin in three bounds, +lifted her up, carried her in his arms with her hair trailing behind her, and +threw her, overcome with fright, at the feet of the holy Mael. + +And whilst she wept and begged him to do her no harm, he took a pair of +sandals out of his chest and commanded her to put them on. + +"Her feet," observed the old man, "will appear smaller when squeezed in by the +woollen cords. The soles, being two fingers high, will give an elegant length +to her legs and the weight they bear will seem magnified." + +As the penguin tied on her sandals she threw a curious look towards the open +coffer, and seeing that it was full of jewels and finery, she smiled through +her tears. + +The monk twisted her hair on the back of her head and covered it with a +chaplet of flowers. He encircled her wrist with golden bracelets and making +her stand upright, he passed a large linen band beneath her breasts, alleging +that her bosom would thereby derive a new dignity and that her sides would be +compressed to the greater glory of her hips. + +He fixed this band with pins, taking them one by one out of his mouth. + +"You can tighten it still more," said the penguin. + +When he had, with much care and study, enclosed the soft parts of her bust in +this way, he covered her whole body with a rose-coloured tunic which gently +followed the lines of her figure. + +"Does it hang well?" asked the penguin. + +And bending forward with her head on one side and her chin on her shoulder, +she kept looking attentively at the appearance of her toilet. + +Magis asked her if she did not think the dress a little long, but she answered +with assurance that it was not--she would hold it up. + +Immediately, taking the back of her skirt in her left hand, she drew it +obliquely across her hips, taking care to disclose a glimpse of her heels. +Then she went away, walking with short steps and swinging her hips. + +She did not turn her head, but as she passed near a stream she glanced out of +the corner of her eye at her own reflection. + +A male penguin, who met her by chance, stopped in surprise, and retracing his +steps began to follow her. As she went along the shore, others coming back +from fishing, went up to her, and after looking at her, walked behind her. +Those who were lying on the sand got up and joined the rest. + +Unceasingly, as she advanced, fresh penguins, descending from the paths of the +mountain, coming out of clefts of the rocks, and emerging from the water, +added to the size of her retinue. + +And all of them, men of ripe age with vigorous shoulders and hairy breasts, +agile youths, old men shaking the multitudinous wrinkles of their rosy, and +white-haired skins, or dragging their legs thinner and drier than the juniper +staff that served them as a third leg, hurried on, panting and emitting an +acrid odour and hoarse gasps. Yet she went on peacefully and seemed to see +nothing. + +"Father," cried Magis, "notice how each one advances with his nose pointed +towards the centre of gravity of that young damsel now that the centre is +covered by a garment. The sphere inspires the meditations of geometers by the +number of its properties. When it proceeds from a physical and living nature +it acquires new qualities, and in order that the interest of that figure might +be fully revealed to the penguins it was necessary that, ceasing to see it +distinctly with their eyes, they should be led to represent it to themselves +in their minds. I myself feel at this moment irresistibly attracted towards +that penguin. Whether it be because her skirt gives more importance to her +hips, and that in its simple magnificence it invests them with a synthetic and +general character and allows only the pure idea, the divine principle, of them +to be seen, whether this be the cause I cannot say, but I feel that if I +embraced her I would hold in my hands the heaven of human pleasure. It is +certain that modesty communicates an invincible attraction to women. My +uneasiness is so great that it would be vain for me to try to conceal it." + +He spoke, and, gathering up his habit, he rushed among the crowd of penguins, +pushing, jostling, trampling, and crushing, until he reached the daughter of +Alca, whom he seized and suddenly carried in his arms into a cave that had +been hollowed out by the sea. + +Then the penguins felt as if the sun had gone out. And the holy Mael knew that +the Devil had taken the features of the monk, Magis, in order that he might +give clothes to the daughter of Alca. He was troubled in spirit, and his soul +was sad. As with slow steps he went towards his hermitage he saw the little +penguins of six and seven years of age tightening their waists with belts made +of sea-weed and walking along the shore to see if anybody would follow them. + + + +II. THE FIRST CLOTHES (Continuation and End) + +The holy Mael felt a profound sadness that the first clothes put upon a +daughter of Alca should have betrayed the penguin modesty instead of helping +it. He persisted, none the less, in his design of giving clothes to the +inhabitants of the miraculous island. Assembling them on the shore, he +distributed to them the garments that the monks of Yvern had brought. The male +penguins received short tunics and breeches, the female penguins long robes. +But these robes were far from creating the effect that the former one had +produced. They were not so beautiful, their shape was uncouth and without art, +and no attention was paid to them since every woman bad one. As they prepared +the meals and worked in the fields they soon had nothing but slovenly bodices +and soiled petticoats. + +The male penguins loaded their unfortunate consorts with work until they +looked like beasts of burden. They knew nothing of the troubles of the heart +and the disorders of passion. Their habits were innocent. Incest, though +frequent, was a sign of rustic simplicity and if drunkenness led a youth to +commit some such crime he thought nothing more about it the day afterwards. + + + +III. SETTING BOUNDS TO THE FIELDS AND THE ORIGIN OF PROPERTY + +The island did not preserve the rugged appearance that it had formerly, when, +in the midst of floating icebergs it sheltered a population of birds within +its rocky amphitheatre. Its snow-clad peak had sunk down into a hill from the +summit of which one could see the coasts of Armorica eternally covered with +mist, and the ocean strewn with sullen reefs like monsters half raised out of +its depths. + +Its coasts were now very extensive and clearly defined and its shape reminded +one of a mulberry leaf. It was suddenly covered with coarse grass, pleasing to +the flocks, and with willows, ancient figtrees, and mighty oaks. This fact is +attested by the Venerable Bede and several other authors worthy of credence. + +To the north the shore formed a deep bay that in after years became one of the +most famous ports in the universe. To the east, along a rocky coast beaten by +a foaming sea, there stretched a deserted and fragrant heath. It was the Beach +of Shadows, and the inhabitants of the island never ventured on it for fear of +the serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest they might +encounter the souls of the dead who resembled livid flames. To the south, +orchards and woods bounded the languid Bay of Divers. On this fortunate shore +old Mael built a wooden church and a monastery. To the west, two streams, the +Clange and the Surelle, watered the fertile valleys of Dalles and Dombes. + +Now one autumn morning, as the blessed Mael was walking in the valley of +Clange in company with a monk of Yvern called Bulloch, he saw bands of +fierce-looking men loaded with stones passing along the roads. At the same +time he heard in all directions cries and complaints mounting up from the +valley towards the tranquil sky. + +And he said to Bulloch: + +"I notice with sadness, my son, that since they became men the inhabitants of +this island act with less wisdom than formerly. When they were birds they only +quarrelled during the season of their love affairs. But now they dispute all +the time; they pick quarrels with each other in summer as well as in winter. +How greatly have they fallen from that peaceful majesty which made the +assembly of the penguins look like the Senate of a wise republic! + +"Look towards Surelle, Bulloch, my son. In yonder pleasant valley a dozen men +penguins are busy knocking each other down with the spades and picks that they +might employ better in tilling the ground. The women, still more cruel than +the men, are tearing their opponents' faces with their nails. Alas! Bulloch, +my son, why are they murdering each other in this way?" + +"From a spirit of fellowship, father, and through forethought for the future," +answered Bulloch. "For man is essentially provident and sociable. Such is his +character and it is impossible to imagine it apart from a certain +appropriation of things. Those penguins whom you see are dividing the ground +among themselves." + +"Could they not divide it with less violence?" asked the aged man. "As they +fight they exchange invectives and threats. I do not distinguish their words, +but they are angry ones, judging from the tone." + +"They are accusing one another of theft and encroachment," answered Bulloch. +"That is the general sense of their speech." + +At that moment the holy Mael clasped his hands and sighed deeply. + +"Do you see, my son," he exclaimed, "that madman who with his teeth is biting +the nose of the adversary he has overthrown and that other one who is pounding +a woman's head with a huge stone?" + +"I see them," said Bulloch. "They are creating law; they are founding +property; they are establishing the principles of civilization, the basis of +society, and the foundations of the State." + +"How is that?" asked old Mael. + +"By setting bounds to their fields. That is the origin of all government. Your +penguins, O Master, are performing the most august of functions. Throughout +the ages their work will be consecrated by lawyers, and magistrates will +confirm it." + +Whilst the monk, Bulloch, was pronouncing these words a big penguin with a +fair skin and red hair went down into the valley carrying a trunk of a tree +upon his shoulder. He went up to a little penguin who was watering his +vegetables in the heat of the sun, and shouted to him: + +"Your field is mine!" + +And having delivered himself of this stout utterance he brought down his club +on the head of the little penguin, who fell dead upon the field that his own +hands had tilled. + +At this sight the holy Mael shuddered through his whole body and poured forth +a flood of tears. + +And in a voice stifled by horror and fear he addressed this prayer to heaven: + +"O Lord, my God, O thou who didst receive young Abel's sacrifices, thou who +didst curse Cain, avenge, O Lord, this innocent penguin sacrificed upon his +own field and make the murderer feel the weight of thy arm. Is there a more +odious crime, is there a graver offence against thy justice, O Lord, than this +murder and this robbery?" + +"Take care, father," said Bulloch gently, "that what you call murder and +robbery may not really be war and conquest, those sacred foundations of +empires, those sources of all human virtues and all human greatness. Reflect, +above all, that in blaming the big penguin you are attacking property in its +origin and in its source. I shall have no trouble in showing you how. To till +the land is one thing, to possess it is another, and these two things must not +be confused; as regards ownership the right of the first occupier is uncertain +and badly founded. The right of conquest, on the other hand, rests on more +solid foundations. It is the only right that receives respect since it is the +only one that makes itself respected. The sole and proud origin of property is +force. It is born and preserved by force. In that it is august and yields only +to a greater force. This is why it is correct to say that he who possesses is +noble. And that big red man, when he knocked down a labourer to get possession +of his field, founded at that moment a very noble house upon this earth. I +congratulate him upon it." + +Having thus spoken, Bulloch approached the big penguin, who was leaning upon +his club as he stood in the blood-stained furrow: + +"Lord Greatauk, dreaded Prince," said he, bowing to the ground, "I come to pay +you the homage due to the founder of legitimate power and hereditary wealth. +The skull of the vile Penguin you have overthrown will, buried in your field, +attest for ever the sacred rights of your posterity over this soil that you +have ennobled. Blessed be your suns and your sons' sons! They shall be +Greatauks, Dukes of Skull, and they shall rule over this island of Alca." + +Then raising his voice and turning towards the holy Mael: + +"Bless Greatauk, father, for all power comes from God." + +Mael remained silent and motionless, with his eyes raised towards heaven; he +felt a painful uncertainty in judging the monk Bulloch's doctrine. It was, +however, the doctrine destined to prevail in epochs of advanced civilization. +Bulloch can be considered as the creator of civil law in Penguinia. + + + +IV. THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE ESTATES OF PENGUINIA + +"Bulloch, my son," said old Mael, "we ought to make a census of the Penguins +and inscribe each of their names in a book." + +"It is a most urgent matter," answered Bulloch, "there can be no good +government without it." + +Forthwith, the apostle, with the help of twelve monks, proceeded to make a +census of the people. + +And old Mael then said: + +"Now that we keep a register of all the inhabitants, we ought, Bulloch, my +son, to levy a just tax so as to provide for public expenses and the +maintenance of the Abbey. Each ought to contribute according to his means. For +this reason, my son, call together the Elders of Alca, and in agreement with +them we shall establish the tax." + +The Elders, being called together, assembled to the number of thirty under the +great sycamore in the courtyard of the wooden monastery. They were the first +Estates of Penguinia. Three-fourths of them were substantial peasants of +Surelle and Clange. Greatauk, as the noblest of the Penguins, sat upon the +highest stone. + +The venerable Mael took his place in the midst of his monks and uttered these +words: + +"Children, the Lord when he pleases grants riches to men and he takes them +away from them. Now I have called you together to levy contributions from the +people so as to provide for public expenses and the maintenance of the monks. +I consider that these contributions ought to be in proportion to the wealth of +each. Therefore he who has a hundred oxen will give ten; he who has ten will +give one." + +When the holy man had spoken, Morio, a, labourer at Anis-on-the-Clange, one of +the richest of the Penguins, rose up and said: + +"O Father Mael, I think it right that each should contribute to the public +expenses and to the support of the Church. or my part I am ready to give up +all that I possess in the interest of my brother Penguins, and if it were +necessary I would even cheerfully part with my shirt. All the elders of the +people are ready, like me, to sacrifice their goods, and no one can doubt +their absolute devotion to their country and their creed. We have, then, only +to consider the public interest and to do what it requires. Now, Father, what +it requires, what it demands, is not to ask much from those who possess much, +for then the rich would be less rich and the poor still poorer. The poor live +on the wealth of the rich and that is the reason why that wealth is sacred. Do +not touch it, to do so would be an uncalled for evil. You will get no great +profit by taking from the rich, for they are very few in number; on the +contrary you will strip yourself of all your resources and plunge the country +into misery. Whereas if you ask a little from each inhabitant without regard +to his wealth, you will collect enough for the public necessities and you will +have no need to enquire into each citizen's resources, a thing that would be +regarded by all as a most vexatious measure. By taxing all equally and easily +you will spare the poor, for you Will leave them the wealth of the rich. And +how could you possibly proportion taxes to wealth? Yesterday I had two hundred +oxen, to-day I have sixty, to-morrow I shall have a hundred. Clunic has three +cows, but they are thin; Nicclu has only two, but they are fat. Which is the +richer, Clunic or Nicclu? The signs of opulence are deceitful. What is certain +is that everyone eats and drinks. Tax people according to what they consume. +That would be wisdom and it would be justice." + +Thus spoke Morio amid the applause of the Elders. + +"I ask that this speech be graven on bronze," cried the monk, Bulloch. "It is +spoken for the future; in fifteen hundred years the best of the Penguins will +not speak otherwise." + +The Elders were still applauding when Greatauk, his hand on the pommel of his +sword, made this brief declaration: + +"Being noble, I shall not contribute; for to contribute is ignoble. It is for +the rabble to pay." + +After this warning the Elders separated in silence. + +As in Rome, a new census was taken every five years; and by this means it was +observed that the population increased rapidly. Although children died in +marvellous abundance and plagues and famines came with perfect regularity to +devastate entire villages, new Penguins, in continually greater numbers, +contributed by their private misery to the public prosperity. + + + +V. THE MARRIAGE OF KRAKEN AND ORBEROSIA + +During these times there lived in the island of Alca a Penguin whose arm was +strong and whose mind was subtle. He was called Kraken, and had his dwelling +on the Beach of Shadows whither the inhabitants never ventured for fear of +serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest they might encounter +the souls of Penguins that had died without baptism. These, in appearance like +livid flames, and uttering doleful groans, wandered night and day along the +deserted beach. For it was generally believed, though without proof, that +among the Penguins that had been changed into men at the blessed Mael's +prayer, several had not received baptism and returned after their death to +lament amid the tempests. Kraken dwelt on this savage coast in an inaccessible +cavern. The only way to it was through a natural tunnel a hundred feet long, +the entrance of which was concealed by a thick wood. One evening as Kraken was +walking through this deserted plain he happened to meet a young and charming +woman Penguin. She was the one that the monk Magis had clothed with his own +hands and thus was the first to have worn the garments of chastity. In +remembrance of the day when the astonished crowd of Penguins had seen her +moving gloriously in her robe tinted like the dawn, this maiden had received +the name of Orberosia.* + +* "Orb, poetically, a globe when speaking of the heavenly bodies. By extension +any species of globular body."--Littre + + +At the sight of Kraken she uttered a cry of alarm and darted forward to escape +from him. But the hero seized her by the garments that floated behind, her, +and addressed her in these words: + +"Damsel, tell me thy name, thy family and thy country." + +But Orberosia kept looking at Kraken with alarm. + +"Is it you, I see, sir," she asked him, trembling, "or is it not rather your +troubled spirit?" + +She spoke in this way because the inhabitants of Alca, having no news of +Kraken since he went to live on the Beach of Shadows, believed that he had +died and descended among the demons of night. + +"Cease to fear, daughter of Alca," answered Kraken. "He who speaks to thee is +not a wandering spirit, but a man full of strength and might. I shall soon +possess great riches." + +And young Orberosia asked: + +"How dost thou think of acquiring great riches, O Kraken, since thou art a +child of Penguins?" + +"By my intelligence," answered Kraken. + +"I know," said Orberosia, "that in the time that thou dwelt among us thou wert +renowned for thy skill in hunting and fishing. No one equalled thee in taking +fishes in a net or in piercing with thy arrows the swift-flying birds." + +"It was but a vulgar and laborious industry, O maiden. I have found a means of +gaining much wealth for myself without fatigue. But tell me who thou art?" + +"I am called Orberosia," answered the young girl. + +"Why art thou so far away from thy dwelling and in the night?" + +"Kraken, it was not without the will of Heaven." + +"What meanest thou, Orberosia?" + +"That Heaven, O Kraken, placed me in thy path, for what reason I know not." + +Kraken beheld her for a long time in silence. + +Then he said with gentleness: + +"Orberosia, come into my house; it is that of the bravest and most ingenious +of the sons of the Penguins. If thou art willing to follow me, I will make +thee my companion." + +Then casting down her eyes, she murmured: + +"I will follow thee, master." + +It is thus that the fair Orberosia became the consort of the hero Kraken. This +marriage was not celebrated with songs and torches because Kraken did not +consent to show himself to the people of the Penguins; but hidden in his cave +he planned great designs. + + + +VI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA + +"We afterwards went to visit the cabinet of natural history. . . . The +care-taker showed us a sort of packet bound in straw that he told us contained +the skeleton of a dragon; a proof, added he, that the dragon is not a fabulous +animal."--Memoirs of Jacques Casanova, Paris, 1843. Vol. IV., pp. 404, 405 + +In the meantime the inhabitants of Alca practised the labours of peace. Those +of the northern coast went in boats to fish or to search for shell-fish. The +labourers of Dombes cultivated oats, rye, and wheat. The rich Penguins of the +valley of Dalles reared domestic animals, while those of the Bay of Divers +cultivated their orchards. Merchants of Port-Alca carried on a trade in salt +fish with Armorica and the gold of the two Britains, which began to be +introduced into the island, facilitated exchange. The Penguin people were +enjoying the fruit of their labours in perfect tranquillity when suddenly a +sinister rumour ran from village to village. It was said everywhere that +frightful dragon had ravaged two farms in the Bay of Divers. + +A few days before, the maiden Orberosia had disappeared. Her absence had at +first caused no uneasiness because on several occasions she had been carried +off by violent men who were consumed with love. And thoughtful people were not +astonished at this, reflecting that the maiden was the most beautiful of the +Penguins. It was even remarked that she sometimes went to meet her ravishers, +for none of us can escape his destiny. But this time, as she did not return, +it was feared that the dragon had devoured her. The more so as the inhabitants +of the valley of Dalles soon knew that the dragon was not a fable told by the +women around the fountains. For one night the monster devoured out of the +village of Anis six hens, a sheep, and a young orphan child called little Elo. +The next morning nothing was to be found either of the animals or of the +child. + +Immediately the Elders of the village assembled in the public place and seated +themselves on the stone bench to take counsel concerning what it was expedient +to do in these terrible circumstances. + +Having called all those Penguins who had seen the dragon during the disastrous +night, they asked them: + +"Have you not noticed his form and his behaviour?" + +And each answered in his turn: + +"He has the claws of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a +serpent." + +"His back bristles with thorny crests." + +"His whole body is covered with yellow scales." + +"His look fascinates and confounds. He vomits flames." + +"He poisons the air with his breath." + +"He has the head of a dragon, the claws of a lion, and the tail of a fish." + +And a woman of Anis, who was regarded as intelligent and of sound judgment and +from whom the dragon had taken three hens, deposed as follows: + +"He is formed like a man. The proof is that I thought he was my husband, and I +said to him, 'Come to bed, you old fool.'" + +Others said: + +"He is formed like a cloud." + +"He looks like a mountain." + +And a little child came and said: + +"I saw the dragon taking off his head in the barn so that he might give a kiss +to my sister Minnie." + +And the Elders also asked the inhabitants: + +"How big is the dragon?" + +And it was answered: + +"As big as an ox." + +"Like the big merchant ships of the Bretons." + +"He is the height of a man." + +"He is higher than the fig-tree under which you are sitting." + +"He is as large as a dog." + +Questioned finally on his colour, the inhabitants said: + +"Red." + +"Green." + +"Blue." + +"Yellow." + +"His head is bright green, his wings are brilliant orange tinged with pink, +his limbs are silver grey, his hind-quarters and his tail are striped with +brown and pink bands, his belly bright yellow spotted with black." + +"His colour? He has no colour." + +"He is the colour of a dragon." + +After hearing this evidence the Elders remained uncertain as to what should be +done. Some advised to watch for him, to surprise him and overthrow him by a +multitude of arrows. Others, thinking it vain to oppose so powerful a monster +by force, counselled that he should be appeased by offerings. + +"Pay him tribute," said one of them who passed for a wise man. "We can render +him propitious to us by giving him agreeable presents, fruits, wine, lambs, a +young virgin." + +Others held for poisoning the fountains where he was accustomed to drink or +for smoking him out of his cavern. + +But none of these counsels prevailed. The dispute was lengthy and the Elders +dispersed without coming to any resolution. + + + +VII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + +During all the month dedicated by the Romans to their false god Mars or +Mavors, the dragon ravaged the farms of Dalles and Dombes. He carried off +fifty sheep, twelve pigs, and three young boys. Every family was in mourning +and the island was full of lamentations. In order to remove the scourge, the +Elders of the unfortunate villages watered by the Clange and the Surelle +resolved to assemble and together go and ask the help of the blessed Mael. + +On the fifth day of the month whose name among the Latins signifies opening, +because it opens the year, they went in procession to the wooden monastery +that had been built on the southern coast of the island. When they were +introduced into the cloister they filled it with their sobs and groans. Moved +by their lamentations, old Mael left the room in which he devoted himself to +the study of astronomy and the meditation of the Scriptures, and went down to +them, leaning on his pastoral staff. At his approach, the Elders, prostrating +themselves, held out to him green branches of trees and some of them burnt +aromatic herbs. + +And the holy man, seating himself beside the cloistral fountain under an +ancient fig-tree, uttered these words: + +"O my sons, offspring of the Penguins, why do you weep and groan? Why do you +hold out those suppliant boughs towards me? Why do you raise towards heaven +the smoke of those herbs? What calamity do you expect that I can avert from +your heads? Why do you beseech me? I am ready to give my life for you. Only +tell your father what it is you hope from him." + +To these questions the chief of the Elders answered: + +"O Mael, father of the sons of Alca, I will speak for all. A horrible dragon +is laying waste our lands, depopulating our cattle-sheds, and carrying off the +flower of our youth. He has devoured the child Elo and seven young boys; he +has mangled the maiden Orberosia, the fairest of the Penguins with his teeth. +There is not a village in which he does not emit his poisoned breath and which +he has not filled with desolation. A prey to this terrible scourge, we come, O +Mael, to pray thee, as the wisest, to advise us concerning the safety of the +inhabitants of this island lest the ancient race of Penguins be extinguished." + +"O chief of the Elders of Alca," replied Mael, "thy words fill me with +profound grief, and I groan at the thought that this island is the prey of a +terrible dragon. But such an occurrence is not unique, for we find in books +several tales of very fierce dragons. The monsters are oftenest found in +caverns, by the brinks of waters, and, in preference, among pagan peoples. +Perhaps there are some among you who, although they have received holy baptism +and been incorporated into the family of Abraham, have yet worshipped idols, +like the ancient Romans, or hung up images, votive tablets, fillets of wool, +and garlands of flowers on the branches of some sacred tree. Or perhaps some +of the women Penguins have danced round a magic stone and drunk water from the +fountains where the nymphs dwell. If it be so, believe, O Penguins, that the +Lord has sent this dragon to punish all for the crimes of some, and to lead +you, O children of the Penguins, to exterminate blasphemy, superstition, and +impiety from amongst you. For this reason I advise, as a remedy against the +great evil from which you suffer, that you carefully search your dwellings for +idolatry, and extirpate it from them. I think it would be also efficacious to +pray and do penance." + +Thus spoke the holy Mael. And the Elders of the Penguin people kissed his feet +and returned to their villages with renewed hope. + + + +VIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + +Following the counsel of the holy Mael the inhabitants of Alca endeavoured to +uproot the superstitions that had sprung up amongst them. They took care to +prevent the girls from dancing with incantations round the fairy tree. Young +mothers were sternly forbidden to rub their children against the stones that +stood upright in the fields so as to make them strong. An old man of Dombes +who foretold the future by shaking grains of barley on a sieve, was thrown +into a well. + +However, each night the monster still raided the poultry-yards and the +cattle-sheds. The frightened peasants barricaded themselves in their houses. A +woman with child who saw the shadow of a dragon on the road through a window +in the moonlight, was so terrified that she was brought to bed before her +time. + +In those days of trial, the holy Mael meditated unceasingly on the nature of +dragons and the means of combating them. After six months of study and prayer +he thought he had found what he sought. One evening as he was walking by the +sea with a young monk called Samuel, he to him in these terms: + +"I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, not to satisfy a +vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the present +circumstances. For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of history. + +"It is an invariable fact that dragons are extremely vigilant. They never +sleep, and for this reason we often find them employed in guarding treasures. +A dragon guarded at Colchis the golden fleece that Jason conquered from him. A +dragon watched over the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides. He was +killed by Hercules and transformed into a star by Juno. This fact is related +in some books, and if it be true, it was done by magic, for the gods of the +pagans are in reality demons. A dragon prevented barbarous and ignorant men +from drinking at the fountain of Castalia. We must also remember the dragon of +Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus. But let us turn from these pagan +fables, in which error is always mixed with truth. We meet dragons in the +histories of the glorious archangel Michael, of St. George, St. Philip, St. +James the Great, St. Patrick, St. Martha, and St. Margaret. And it is in such +writings, since they are worthy of full credence, that we ought to look for +comfort and counsel. + +"The story of the dragon of Silena affords us particularly precious examples. +You must know, my son, that on the banks of a vast pool close to that town +there dwelt a dragon who sometimes approached the walls and poisoned with his +breath all who dwelt in the suburbs. And that they might not be devoured by +the monster, the inhabitants of Silena delivered up to him one of their number +expressed his thought every morning. The victim was chosen by lot, and after a +hundred others, the lot fell upon the king's daughter. + +"Now St. George, who was a military tribune, as he passed through the town of +Silena, learned that the king's daughter had just been given to the fierce +beast. He immediately mounted his horse, and, armed with his lance, rushed to +encounter the dragon, whom he reached just as the monster was about to devour +the royal virgin. And when St. George had overthrown the dragon, the king's +daughter fastened her girdle round the beast's neck and he followed her like a +dog led on a leash. + +"That is an example for us of the power of virgins over dragons. The history +of St. Martha furnishes us with a still more certain proof. Do you know the +story, Samuel, my son?" + +"Yes, father," answered Samuel. + +And the blessed Mael went on: + +"There was in a forest on the banks of the Rhone, between Arles and Avignon, a +dragon half quadruped and half fish, larger than an ox, with sharp teeth like +horns and huge-wings at his shoulders. He sank the boats and devoured their +passengers. Now St. Martha, at the entreaty of the people, approached this +dragon, whom she found devouring a man. She put her girdle round his neck and +led him easily into the town. + +"These two examples lead me to think that we should have recourse to the power +of some virgin so as to conquer the dragon who scatters terror and death +through the island of Alca. + +"For this reason, Samuel thy son, gird up thy loins and go, I pray thee, with +two of thy companions, into all the villages of this island, and proclaim +everywhere that a virgin alone shall be able to deliver the island from the +monster that devastates it. + +"Thou shalt sing psalms and canticles and thou shalt say: + +"'O sons of the Penguins, if there be among you a pure virgin, let her arise +and go, armed with the sign of the cross, to combat the dragon!'" + +Thus the old man spake, and Samuel promised to obey him. The next day he +girded up his loins and set out with two of his companions to proclaim to the +inhabitants of Alca that a virgin alone would be able to deliver the Penguins +from the rage of the dragon. + + + +X. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + +Orberosia loved her husband, but she did not love him alone. At the hour when +Venus lightens in the pale sky, whilst Kraken scattered terror through the +villages, she used to visit in his moving hut, a young shepherd of Dalles +called Marcel, whose pleasing form was invested with inexhaustible vigour. The +fair Orberosia shared the shepherd's aromatic couch with delight, but far from +making herself known to him, she took the name of Bridget, and said that she +was the daughter of a gardener in the Bay of Divers. When regretfully she left +his arms she walked across the smoking fields towards the Coast of Shadows, +and if she happened to meet some belated peasant she immediately spread out +her garments like great wings and cried: + +"Passer by, lower your eyes, that you may not have to say, 'Alas! alas! woe is +me, for I have seen the angel of the Lord.'" + +The villagers tremblingly knelt with their faces to the round. And several of +them used to say that angels, whom it would be death to see, passed along the +roads of the island in the night time. + +Kraken did not know of the loves of Orberosia and Marcel, for he was a hero, +and heroes never discover the secrets of their wives. But though he did not +know of these loves, he reaped the benefit of them. Every night he found his +companion more good-humoured and more beautiful, exhaling pleasure and +perfuming the nuptial bed with a delicious odour of fennel and vervain. She +loved Kraken with a love that never became importunate or anxious, because she +did not rest its whole weight on him alone. + +This lucky infidelity of Orberosia was destined soon to save the hero from a +great peril and to assure his fortune and his glory for ever. For it happened +that she saw passing in the twilight a neatherd from Belmont, who was goading +on his oxen, and she fell more deeply in love with him than she had ever been +with the shepherd Marcel. He was hunch-backed; his shoulders were higher than +his ears; his body was supported by legs of different lengths; his rolling +eyes flashed, from beneath his matted hair. From his throat issued a hoarse +voice and strident laughter; he smelt of the cow-shed. However, to her he was +beautiful. "A plant," as Gnatho says, "has been loved by one, a stream by +another, a beast by a third." + +Now, one day, as she was sighing within the neatherd's arms in a village barn, +suddenly the blasts of a trumpet, with sounds and footsteps, fell upon her +ears; she looked through the window and saw the inhabitants collected in the +marketplace round a young monk, who, standing upon a rock, uttered these words +in a distinct voice: + +"Inhabitants of Belmont, Abbot Mael, our venerable father, informs you through +my mouth that neither by strength nor skill in arms shall you prevail against +the dragon; but the beast shall be overcome by a virgin. If, then, there be +among you a perfectly pure virgin, let her arise and go towards the monster; +and when she meets him let her tie her girdle round his neck and she shall +lead him as easily as if he were a little dog." + +And the young monk, replacing his hood upon his head, departed to carry the +proclamation of the blessed Mael to other villages. + +Orberosia sat in the amorous straw, resting her head in her hand and +supporting her elbow upon her knee, meditating on what she had just heard. + +Although, so far as Kraken was concerned, she feared the power of a virgin +much less than the strength of armed men, she did not feel reassured by the +proclamation of the blessed Mael. A vague but sure instinct ruled her mind and +warned her that Kraken could not henceforth be a dragon with safety. + +She said to the neatherd: + +"My own heart, what do you think about the dragon?" + +The rustic shook his head. + +"It is certain that dragons laid waste the earth in ancient times and some +have been seen as large as mountains. But they come no longer, and I believe +that what has been taken for a dragon is not one at all, but pirates or +merchants who have carried off the fair Orberosia and the best of the children +of Alca in their ships. But if one of those brigands attempts to rob me of my +oxen, I will either by force or craft find a way to prevent him from doing me +any harm." + +This remark of the neatherd increased Orberosia's apprehensions and added to +her solicitude for the husband whom she loved. + + + +X. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + +The days passed by and no maiden arose in the island to combat the monster. +And in the wooden monastery old Mael, seated on a bench in the shade of an old +fig-tree, accompanied by a pious monk called Regimental, kept asking himself +anxiously and sadly how it was that there was not in Alca a single virgin fit +to overthrow the monster. + +He sighed and brother Regimental sighed too. At that moment old Mael called +young Samuel, who happened to pass through the garden, and said to him: + +"I have meditated anew, my son, on the means of destroying the dragon who +devours the flower of our youth, our flocks, and our harvests. In this respect +the story of the dragons of St. Riok and of St. Pol de Leon seems to me +particularly instructive. The dragon of St. Riok was six fathoms long; his +head was derived from the cock and the basilisk, his body from the ox and the +serpent; he ravaged the banks of the Elorn in the time of King Bristocus. St. +Riok, then aged two years, led him by a leash to the sea, in which the monster +drowned himself of his own accord. St. Pol's dragon was sixty feet long and +not less terrible. The blessed apostle of Leon bound him with his stole and +allowed a young noble of great purity of life to lead him. These examples +prove that in the eyes of God a chaste young man is as agreeable as a chaste +girl. Heaven makes no distinction between them. For this reason, my son, if +you believe what I say, we will both go to the Coast of Shadows; when we reach +the dragon's cavern we will call the monster in a loud voice, and when he +comes forth I will tie my stole round his neck and you will lead him to the +sea, where he will not fail to drown himself." + +At the old man's words Samuel cast down his head and did not answer. + +"You seem to hesitate, my son," said Mael. + +Brother Regimental, contrary to his custom, spoke without being addressed. + +"There is at least cause for some hesitation," said he. "St. Riok was only two +years old when he overcame the dragon. Who says that nine or ten years later +he could have done as much? Remember, father, that the dragon who is +devastating our island has devoured little Elo and four or five other young +boys. Brother Samuel is not go presumptuous as to believe that at nineteen +years of age he is more innocent than they were at twelve and fourteen. + +"Alas!" added the monk, with a groan, "who can boast of being chaste in this +world, where everything gives the example and model of love, where all things +in nature, animals, and plants, show us the caresses of love and advise us to +share them? Animals are eager to unite in their own fashion, but the various +marriages of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and reptiles are far from equalling in +lust the nuptials of the trees. The greatest extremes of lewdness that the +pagans have imagined in their fables are outstripped by the simple flowers of +the field, and, if you knew the irregularities of lilies and roses you would +take those chalices of impurity, those vases of scandal, away from your +altars." + +"Do not speak in this way, Brother Regimental," answered old Mael. "Since they +are subject to the law of nature, animals and plants are always innocent. They +have no souls to save, whilst man--" + +"You are right," replied Brother Regimental, "it is quite a different thing. +But do not send young Samuel to the dragon--the dragon might devour him. For +the last five years Samuel is not in a state to show his innocence to +monsters. In the year of the comet, the Devil in order to seduce him, put in +his path a milkmaid, who was lifting up her petticoat to cross a ford. Samuel +was tempted, but he overcame the temptation. The Devil, who never tires, sent +him the image of that young girl in a dream. The shade did what the reality +was unable to accomplish, and Samuel yielded. When he awoke be moistened his +couch with his tears, but alas! repentance did not give him back his +innocence." + +As he listened to this story Samuel asked himself how his secret could be +known, for he was ignorant that the Devil had borrowed the appearance of +Brother Regimental, so as to trouble the hearts of the monks of Alca. + +And old Mael remained deep in thought and kept asking himself in grief: + +"Who will deliver us from the dragon's tooth? Who will preserve us from his +breath? Who will save us from his look?" + +However, the inhabitants of Alca began to take courage. The labourers of +Dombes and the neatherds of Belmont swore that they themselves would be of +more avail than a girl against the ferocious beast, and they exclaimed as they +stroked the muscles on their arms, "Let the dragon come!" Many men and women +had seen him. They did not agree about his form and his figure, but all now +united in saying that he was not as big as they had thought, and that his +height was not much greater than a man's. The defence was organised; towards +nightfall watches were stationed at the entrances of the villages ready to +give the alarm; and during the night companies armed with pitchforks and +scythes protected the paddocks in which the animals were shut up. Indeed, once +in the village of Anis some plucky labourers surprised him as he was scaling +Morio's wall, and, as they had flails, scythes, and pitchforks, they fell upon +him and pressed him hard. One of them, a very quick and courageous man, +thought to have run him through with his pitchfork; but he slipped in a pool +and so let him escape. The others would certainly have caught him had they not +waited to pick up the rabbits and fowls that he dropped in his flight. + +Those labourers declared to the Elders of the village that the monster's form +and proportions appeased to them human enough except for his head and his +tail, which were, in truth, terrifying. + + + +XI. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + +On that day Kraken came back to his cavern sooner than usual. He took from his +head his sealskin helmet with its two bull's horns and its visor trimmed with +terrible hooks. He threw on the table his gloves that ended in horrible +claws--they were the beaks of sea-birds. He unhooked his belt from which hung +a long green tail twisted into many folds. Then he ordered his page, Elo, to +help him off with his boots and, as the child did not succeed in doing this +very quickly, he gave him a kick that sent him to the other end of the grotto. + +Without looking at the fair Orberosia, who was spinning, he seated himself in +front of the fireplace, on which a sheep was roasting, and he muttered: + +"Ignoble Penguins. . . . There is no worse trade than a dragon's." + +"What does my master say?" asked the fair Orberosia. + +"They fear me no longer," continued Kraken. "Formerly everyone fled at my +approach. I carried away hens and rabbits in my bag; I drove sheep and pigs, +cows, and oxen before me. To-day these clod-hoppers keep a good guard; they +sit up at night. Just now I was pursued in the village of Anis by doughty +labourers armed with flails and scythes and pitchforks. I had to drop the hens +and rabbits, put my tail under my arm, and run as fast as I could. Now I ask +you, is it seemly for a dragon of Cappadocia to run away like a robber with +his tail under his arm? Further, incommoded as I was by crests, horns, hooks, +claws, and scales, I barely escaped a brute who ran half an inch of his +pitchfork into my left thigh." + +As he said this he carefully ran his hand over the insulted part, and, after +giving himself up for a few moments to bitter meditation: + +"What idiots those Penguins are! I am tired of blowing flames in the faces of +such imbeciles. Orberosia, do you hear me?" + +Having thus spoken the hero raised his terrible helmet in his hands and gazed +at it for a long time in gloomy silence. Then he pronounced these rapid words: + +"I have made this helmet with my own hands in the shape of a fish's head, +covering it with the skin of a seal. To make it more terrible I have put on it +the horns of a bull and I have given it a boar's jaws; I have hung from it a +horse's tail dyed vermilion. When in the gloomy twilight I threw it over my +shoulders no inhabitant of this island had courage to withstand its sight. +Women and children, young men and old men fled distracted at its approach, and +I carried terror among the whole race of Penguins. By what advice does that +insolent people lose its earlier fears and dare to-day to behold these +horrible jaws and to attack this terrible crest?" + +And throwing his helmet on the rocky soil: + +"Perish, deceitful helmet!" cried Kraken. "I swear by all the demons of Armor +that I will never bear you upon my head again." + +And having uttered this oath he stamped upon his helmet, his gloves, his +boots, and upon his tail with its twisted folds. + +"Kraken," said the fair Orberosia, "will you allow your servant to employ +artifice to save your reputation and your goods? Do not despise a woman's +help. You need it, for all men are imbeciles." + +"Woman," asked Kraken, "what are your plans?" + +And the fair Orberosia informed her husband that the monks were going through +the villages teaching the inhabitants the best way of combating the dragon; +that, according to their instructions, the beast would be overcome by a +virgin, and that if a maid placed her girdle around the dragon's neck she +could lead him as easily as if he were a little dog. + +"How do you know that the monks teach this?" asked Kraken. + +"My friend," answered Orberosia, "do not interrupt a serious subject by +frivolous questions. . . . 'If, then,' added the monks, 'there be in Alca a +pure virgin, let her arise!' Now, Kraken, I have determined to answer their +call. I will go and find the holy Mael and I will say to him: 'I am the virgin +destined by Heaven to overthrow the dragon.'" + +At these words Kraken exclaimed: "How can you be that pure virgin? And why do +you want to overthrow me, Orberosia? Have you lost your reason? Be sure that I +will not allow myself to be conquered by you!" + +"Can you not try and understand me before you get angry?" sighed the fair +Orberosia with deep though gentle contempt. + +And she explained the cunning designs that she had formed. + +As he listened, the hero remained pensive. And when she ceased speaking: + +"Orberosia, your cunning, is deep," said he, "And if your plans are carried +out according to your intentions I shall derive great advantages from them. +But how can you be the virgin destined by heaven?" + +"Don't bother about that," she replied, "and come to bed." + +The next day in the grease-laden atmosphere of the cavern, Kraken plaited a +deformed skeleton out of osier rods and covered it with bristling, scaly, and +filthy skins. To one extremity of the skeleton Orberosia sewed the fierce +crest and the hideous mask that Kraken used to wear in his plundering +expeditions, and to the other end she fastened the tail with twisted folds +which the hero was wont to trail behind him. And when the work was finished +they showed little Elo and the other five children who waited on them how to +get inside this machine, how to make it walk, how to blow horns and burn tow +in it so as to send forth smoke and flames through the dragon's mouth. + + + +XII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation) + +Orberosia, having clothed herself in a robe made of coarse stuff and girt +herself with a thick cord, went to the monastery and asked to speak to the +blessed Mael. And because women were forbidden to enter the enclosure of the +monastery the old man advanced outside the gates, holding his pastoral cross +in his right hand and resting his left on the shoulder of Brother Samuel, the +youngest of his disciples. + +He asked: + +"Woman, who art thou?" + +"I am the maiden Orberosia." + +At this reply Mael raised his trembling arms to heaven. + +"Do you speak truth, woman? It is a certain fact that Orberosia was devoured +by the dragon. And yet I see Orberosia and hear her. Did you not, O my +daughter, while within the dragon's bowels arm yourself with the sign of the +cross and come uninjured out of his throat? That is what seems to me the most +credible explanation." + +"You are not deceived, father," answered Orberosia. "That is precisely what +happened to me. Immediately I came out of the creature's bowels I took refuge +in a hermitage on the Coast of Shadows. I lived there in solitude, giving +myself up to prayer and meditation, and performing unheard of austerities, +until I learnt by a revelation from heaven that a maid alone could overcome +the dragon, and that I was that maid." + +"Show me a sign of your mission," said the old man. + +"I myself am the sign," answered Orberosia. + +"I am not ignorant of the power of those who have placed a seal upon their +flesh," replied the apostle of the Penguins. But are you indeed such as you +say?" + +"You will see by the result," answered Orberosia. + +The monk Regimental drew near: + +"That will," said he, "be the best proof. King Solomon has said: 'Three things +are hard to understand and a fourth is impossible: they are the way of a +serpent on the earth, the way of a bird in the air, the way of a ship in the +sea, and the way of a man with a maid!' I regard such matrons as nothing less +than presumptuous who claim to compare themselves in these matters with the +wisest of kings. Father, if you are led by me you will not consult them in +regard to the pious Orberosia. When they have given their opinion you will not +be a bit farther on than before. Virginity is not less difficult to prove than +to keep. Pliny tells us in his history that its signs are either imaginary or +very uncertain.* One who bears upon her the fourteen signs of corruption may +yet be pure in the eyes of the angels, and, on the contrary, another who has +been pronounced pure by the matrons who inspected her may know that her good +appearance is due to the artifices of a cunning perversity. As for the purity +of this holy girl here, I would put my hand in the fire in witness of it." + +* We have vainly sought for this phrase in Pliny's "Natural History."--Editor. + + +He spoke thus because he was the Devil. But old Mael did not know it. He asked +the pious Orberosia: + +"My daughter, how, would you proceed to conquer so fierce an animal as he who +devoured you?" + +The virgin answered: + +"To-morrow at sunrise, O Mael, you will summon the people together on the hill +in front of the desolate moor that extends to the Coast of Shadows, and you +will take care that no man of the Penguins remains less than five hundred +paces from those rocks so that he may not be poisoned by the monster's breath. +And the dragon will come out of the rocks and I will put my girdle round his +neck and lead him like an obedient dog." + +"Ought you not to be accompanied by a courageous and pious man who will kill +the dragon?" asked Mael. + +"It will be as thou sayest, venerable father. I shall deliver the monster to +Kraken, who will stay him with his flashing sword. For I tell thee that the +noble Kraken, who was believed to be dead, will return among the Penguins and +he shall slay the dragon. And from the creature's belly will come forth the +little children whom he has devoured." + +"What you declare to me, O virgin," cried the apostle, "seems wonderful and +beyond human power." + +"It is," answered the virgin Orberosia. "But learn, O Mael, that I have had a +revelation that as a reward for their deliverance, the Penguin people will pay +to the knight Kraken an annual tribute of three hundred fowls, twelve sheep, +two oxen, three pigs, one thousand eight hundred bushels of corn, and +vegetables according to their season; and that, moreover, the children who +will come out of the dragon's belly will be given and committed to the said +Kraken to serve him and obey him in all things. If the Penguin people fail to +keep their engagements a new dragon will come upon the island more terrible +than the first. I have spoken." + + + +XIII. THE DRAGON OF ALCA (Continuation and End) + +The people of the Penguins were assembled by Mael and they spent the night on +the Coast of Shadows within the bounds which the holy man had prescribed in +order that none among the Penguins should be poisoned by the monster's breath. + +The veil of night still covered the earth when, preceded by a hoarse +bellowing, the dragon showed his indistinct and monstrous form upon the rocky +coast. He crawled like a serpent and his writhing body seemed about fifteen +feet long. At his appearance the crowd drew back in terror. But soon all eyes +were turned towards the Virgin Orberosia, who, in the first light of the dawn, +clothed in white, advanced over the purple heather. With an intrepid though +modest gait she walked towards the beast, who, uttering awful bellowings, +opened his flaming throat. An immense cry of terror and pity arose from the +midst of the Penguins. But the virgin, unloosing her linen girdle, put it +round the dragon's neck and led him on the leash like a faithful dog amid the +acclamations of the spectators. + +She had walked over a long stretch of the heath when Kraken appeared armed +with a flashing sword. The people, who believed him dead, uttered cries of joy +and surprise. The hero rushed towards the beast, turned him over on his back, +and with his sword cut open his belly, from whence came forth in their shirts, +with curling hair and folded hands, little Elo and the five other children +whom the monster had devoured. + +Immediately they threw themselves on their knees before the virgin Orberosia, +who took them in her arms and whispered into their ears: + +"You will go through the villages saying: 'We are the poor little children who +were devoured by the dragon, and we came out of his belly in our shirts.' The +inhabitants will give you abundance of all that you can desire. But if you say +anything else you will get nothing but cuffs and whippings. Go!" + +Several Penguins, seeing the dragon disembowelled, rushed forward to cut him +to pieces, some from a feeling of rage and vengeance, others to get the magic +stone called dragonite, that is engendered in his head. The mothers of the +children who had come back to life ran to embrace their little ones. But the +holy Mael kept them back, saying that none of them were holy enough to +approach a dragon without dying. + +And soon little Elo, and the five other children came towards the people and +said: + +"We are the poor little children who were devoured by the dragon and we came +out of his belly in our shirts." + +And all who heard them kissed them and said: + +"Blessed children, we will give you abundance of all that you can desire." + +And the crowd of people dispersed, full of joy, singing hymns and canticles. + +To commemorate this day on which Providence delivered the people from a cruel +scourge, processions were established in which the effigy of a chained dragon +was led about. + +Kraken levied the tribute and became the richest and most powerful of the +Penguins. As a sign of his victory and so as to inspire a salutary terror, he +wore a dragon's crest upon his head and he had a habit of saying to the +people: + +"Now that the monster is dead I am the dragon." + +For many years Orberosia bestowed her favours upon neatherds and shepherds, +whom she thought equal to the gods. But when she was no longer beautiful she +consecrated herself to the Lord. + +At her death she became the object of public veneration, and was admitted into +the calendar of the saints and adopted as the patron saint of Penguinia. + +Kraken left a son, who, like his father, wore a dragon's crest, and he was for +this reason surnamed Draco. He was the founder of the first royal dynasty of +the Penguins. + + + +BOOK III. THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE + +I. BRIAN THE GOOD AND QUEEN GLAMORGAN + +The kings of Alca were descended from Draco,the son of Kraken,and they wore on +their heads a terrible dragon's crest, as a sacred badge whose appearance +alone inspired the people with veneration, terror, and love. They were +perpetually in conflict either with their own vassals and subjects or with the +princes of the adjoining islands and continents. + +The most ancient of these kings has left but a name. We do not even know how +to pronounce or write it. The first of the Draconides whose history is known +was Brian the Good, renowned for his skill and courage in war and in the +chase. + +He was a Christian and loved learning. He also favoured men who had vowed +themselves to the monastic life. In the hall of his palace where, under the +sooty rafters, there hung the heads, pelts, and horns of wild beasts, he held +feasts to which all the harpers of Alca and of the neighbouring islands were +invited, and he himself used to join in singing the praises of the heroes. He +was just and magnanimous, but inflamed by so ardent a love of glory that he +could not restrain himself from putting to death those who had sung better +than himself. + +The monks of Yvern having been driven out by the pagans who ravaged Brittany, +King Brian summoned them into his kingdom and built a wooden monastery for +them near his palace. Every day he went with Queen Glamorgan, his wife, into +the monastery chapel and was present at the religious ceremonies and joined in +the hymns. + +Now among these monks there was a brother called Oddoul, who, while still in +the flower of his youth, had adorned himself with knowledge and virtue. The +devil entertained a great grudge against him, and attempted several times to +lead him into temptation. He took several shapes and appeared to him in turn +as a war-horse, a young maiden, and a cup of mead. Then he rattled two dice in +a dicebox and said to him: + +"Will you play with me for the kingdoms of, the world against one of the hairs +of your head?" + +But the man of the Lord, armed with the sign of the Cross, repulsed the enemy. +Perceiving that he could not seduce him, the devil thought of an artful plan +to ruin him. One summer night he approached the queen, who slept upon her +couch, showed her an image of the young monk whom she saw every day in the +wooden monastery, and upon this image he placed a spell. Forthwith, like a +subtle poison, love flowed into Glamorgan's veins, and she burned with an +ardent desire to do as she listed with Oddoul. She found unceasing pretexts to +have him near her. Several times she asked him to teach reading and singing to +her children. + +"I entrust them to you," said she to him. "And will follow the lessons you +will give them so that I myself may learn also. You will teach both mother and +sons at the same time." + +But the young monk kept making excuses. At times he would say that he was not +a learned enough teacher, and on other occasions that his state forbade him +all intercourse with women. This refusal inflamed Glamorgan's passion. One day +as she lay pining upon her couch, her malady having become intolerable, she +summoned Oddoul to her chamber. He came in obedience to her orders, but +remained with his eyes cast down towards the threshold of the door. With +impatience and grief she resented his not looking at her. + +"See," said she to him, "I have no more strength, a shadow is on my eyes. My +body is both burning and freezing." + +And as he kept silence and made no movement, she called him in a voice of +entreaty: + +"Come to me, come!" + +With outstretched arms to which passion gave more length, she endeavoured to +seize him and draw him towards her. + +But he fled away, reproaching her for her wantonness. + +Then, incensed with rage and fearing that Oddoul might divulge the shame into +which she had fallen, she determined to ruin him so that he might not ruin +her. + +In a voice of lamentation that resounded throughout all the palace she called +for help, as if, in truth, she were in some great danger. Her servants rushed +up and saw the young monk fleeing and the queen pulling back the sheets upon +her couch. They all cried out together. And when King Brian, attracted by the +noise, entered the chamber, Glamorgan, showing him her dishevelled hair, her +eyes flooded with tears, and her bosom that in the fury of her love she had +torn with her nails, said: + +"My lord and husband, behold the traces of the insults I have undergone. +Driven by an infamous desire Oddoul has approached me and attempted to do me +violence." + +When he heard these complaints and saw the blood, the king, transported with +fury, ordered his guards to seize the young monk and burn him alive before the +palace under the queen's eyes. + +Being told of the affair, the Abbot of Yvern went to the king and said to him: + +"King Brian, know by this example the difference between a Christian woman and +a pagan. Roman Lucretia was the most virtuous of idolatrous princesses, yet +she had not the strength to defend herself against the attacks of an +effeminate youth, and, ashamed of her weakness, she gave way to despair, +whilst Glamorgan has successfully withstood the assaults of a criminal filled +with rage, and possessed by the most terrible of demons." Meanwhile Oddoul, in +the prison of the palace, was waitin for the moment when he should be burned +alive. But God did not suffer an innocent to perish. He sent to him an angel, +who, taking the form of one of the queen's servants called Gudrune, took him +out of his prison and led him into the very room where the woman whose +appearance he had taken dwelt. + +And the angel said to young Oddoul: + +"I love thee because thou art daring." + +And young Oddoul, believing that it was Gudrune herself, answered with +downcast looks: + +"It is by the grace of the Lord that I have resisted the violence of the queen +and braved the anger of that powerful woman." + +And the angel asked: + +"What? Hast thou not done what the queen accuses thee of?" + +"In truth no, I have not done it," answered Oddoul, his hand on his heart. + +"Thou hast not done it?" + +"No, I have not done it. The very thought of such an action fills me with +horror." + +"Then," cried the angel, "what art thou doing here, thou impotent creature?" * + +* The Penguin chronicler who relates the fact employs the expression, Species +inductilis. I have endeavoured to translate it literally. + + +And she opened the door to facilitate the young man's escape. Oddoul felt +himself pushed violently out. Scarcely had he gone down into the street than a +chamber-pot was poured over his head; and he thought: + +"Mysterious are thy designs, O Lord, and thy ways past finding out." + + + +II. DRACO THE GREAT (Translation of the Relics of St. Orberosia) + +The direct posterity of Brian the Good was extinguished about the year 900 in +the person of Collic of the Short Nose. A cousin of that prince, Bosco the +Magnanimous, succeeded him, and took care, in order to assure himself of the +throne, to put to death all his relations. There issued from him a long line +of powerful kings. + +One of them, Draco the Great, attained great renown as a man of war. He was +defeated more frequently than the others. It is by this constancy in defeat +that great captains are recognized. In twenty years he burned down more than a +hundred thousand hamlets, market towns, unwalled towns, villages, walled +towns, cities, and universities. He set fire impartially to his enemies' +territory and to his own domains. And he used to explain his conduct by +saying: + +"War without fire is like tripe without mustard: it is an insipid thing." + +His justice was rigorous. When the peasants whom he made prisoners were unable +to raise the money for their ransoms he had them hanged from a tree, and if +any unhappy woman came to plead for her destitute husband he dragged her by +the hair at his horse's tail. He lived like a soldier without effeminacy. It +is satisfactory to relate that his manner of life was pure. Not only did he +not allow his kingdom to decline from its hereditary glory, but, even in his +reverses he valiantly supported the honour of the Penguin people. + +Draco the Great caused the relics of St. Orberosia to be transferred to Alca. + +The body of the blessed saint had been buried in a grotto on the Coast of +Shadows at the end of a scented heath. The first pilgrims who went to visit it +were the boys and girls from the neighbouring villages. They used to go there +in the evening, by preference in couples, as if their pious desires naturally +sought satisfaction in darkness and solitude. They worshipped the saint with a +fervent and discreet worship whose mystery they seemed jealously to guard, for +they did not like to publish too openly the experiences they felt. But they +were heard to murmur one to another words of love, delight, and rapture with +which they mingled the name of Orberosia. Some would sigh that there they +forgot the world; others would say that they came out of the grotto in peace +and calm; the young girls among them used to recall to each other the joy with +which they had been filled in it. + +Such were the marvels that the virgin of Alca performed in the morning of her +glorious eternity; they had the sweetness and indefiniteness of the dawn. Soon +the mystery of the grotto spread like a perfume throughout the land; it was a +ground of joy and edification for pious souls, and corrupt men endeavoured, +though in vain, by falsehood and calumny, to divert the faithful from the +springs of grace that flowed from the saint's tomb. The Church took measures +so that these graces should not remain reserved for a few children, but should +be diffused throughout all Penguin Christianity. Monks took up their quarters +in the grotto, they built a monastery, a chapel, and a hostelry on the coast, +and pilgrims began to flock thither. + +As if strengthened by a longer sojourn in heaven, the blessed Orberosia now +performed still greater miracles for those who came to lay their offerings on +her tomb. She gave hopes to women who had been hitherto barren, she sent +dreams to reassure jealous old men concerning the fidelity of the young wives +whom they had suspected without cause, and she protected the country from +plagues, murrains, famines, tempests, and dragons of Cappadocia. + +But during the troubles that desolated the kingdom in the time of King Collic +and his successors, the tomb of St. Orberosia was plundered of its wealth, the +monastery burned down, and the monks dispersed. The road that had been so long +trodden by devout pilgrims was overgrown with furze and heather, and the blue +thistles of the sands. For a hundred years the miraculous tomb had been +visited by none save vipers, weasels, and bats, when, one day the saint +appeared to a peasant of the neighbourhood, Momordic by name. + +"I am the virgin Orberosia," said she to him; "I have chosen thee to restore +my sanctuary. Warn the inhabitants of the country that if they allow my memory +to be blotted out, and leave my tomb without honour and wealth, a new dragon +will come and devastate Penguinia." + +Learned churchmen held an inquiry concerning this apparition, and pronounced +it genuine, and not diabolical but truly heavenly, and in later years it was +remarked that in France, in like circumstances, St. Foy and St. Catherine had +acted in the same way and made use of similar language. + +The monastery was restored and pilgrims flocked to it anew. The virgin +Orberosia worked greater and greater miracles. She cured divers hurtful +maladies, particularly club-foot, dropsy, paralysis, and St. Guy's disease. +The monks who kept the tomb were enjoying an enviable opulence, when the +saint, appearing to King Draco the Great, ordered him to recognise her as the +heavenly patron of the kingdom and to transfer her precious remains to the +cathedral of Alca. + +In consequence, the odoriferous relics of that virgin were carried with great +pomp to the metropolitan church and placed in the middle of the choir in a +shrine made of gold and enamel and ornamented with precious stones. + +The chapter kept a record of the miracles wrought by the blessed Orberosia. + +Draco the Great, who had never ceased to defend and exalt the Christian faith, +died fulfilled with the most pious sentiments and bequeathed his great +possessions to the Church. + + + +II. QUEEN CRUCHA + +Terrible disorders followed the death of Draco the Great. That prince's +successors have often been accused of weakness, and it is true that none of +them followed, even from afar, the example of their valiant ancestor. + +His son, Chum, who was lame, failed to increase the territory of the Penguins. +Bolo, the son of Chum, was assassinated by the palace guards at the age of +nine, just as he was ascending the throne. His brother Gun succeeded him. He +was only seven years old and allowed himself to be governed by his mother, +Queen Crucha. + +Crucha was beautiful, learned, and intelligent; but she was unable to curb her +own passions. + +These are the terms in which the venerable Talpa expresses himself in his +chronicle regarding that illustrious queen: + +"In beauty of face and symmetry of figure Queen Crucha yields neither to +Semiramis of Babylon nor to Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons; nor to Salome, +the daughter of Herodias. But she offers in her person certain singularities +that will appear beautiful or uncomely according to the contradictory opinions +of men and the varying judgments of the world. She has on her forehead two +small horns which she conceals in the abundant folds of her golden hair; one +of her eyes is blue and one is black; her neck is bent towards the left side; +and, like Alexander of Macedon, she has six fingers on her right hand, and a +stain like a little monkey's head upon her skin. + +"Her gait is majestic and her manner affable. She is magnificent in her +expenses, but she is not always able to rule desire by reason. + +"One day, having noticed in the palace stables, a young groom of great beauty, +she immediately fell violently in love with him, and entrusted to him the +command of her armies. What one must praise unreservedly in this great queen +is the abundance of gifts that she makes to the churches, monasteries, and +chapels in her kingdom, and especially to the holy house of Beargarden, where, +by the grace of the Lord, I made my profession in my fourteenth year. She has +founded masses for the repose of her soul in such great numbers that every +priest in the Penguin Church is, so to speak, transformed into a taper lighted +in the sight of heaven to draw down the divine mercy upon the august Crucha." + +From these lines and from some others with which have enriched my text the +reader can judge of the historical and literary value of the "Gesta +Penguinorum." Unhappily, that chronicle suddenly comes suddenly to an end at +third year of Draco the Simple, the successor of Gun the Weak. Having reached +that point of my history, I deplore the loss of an agreeable and trustworthy +guide. + +During the two centuries that followed, the Penguins remained plunged in +blood-stained disorder. All the arts perished. In the midst of the general +ignorance, the monks in the shadow of their cloister devoted themselves to +study, and copied the Holy Scriptures with indefatigable zeal. As parchment +was scarce,they scraped the writing off old manuscripts in order to transcribe +upon them the divine word. Thus throughout the breadth of Penguinia Bibles +blossomed forth like roses on a bush. + +A monk of the order of St. Benedict, Ermold the Penguin, had himself alone +defaced four thousand Greek and Latin manuscripts so as to copy out the Gospel +of St. John four thousand times. Thus the masterpieces of ancient poetry and +eloquence were destroyed in great numbers. Historians are unanimous in +recognising that the Penguin convents were the refuge of learning during the +Middle Ages. + +Unending wars between the Penguins and the Porpoises filled the close of this +period. It is extremely difficult to know the truth concerning these wars, not +because accounts are wanting, but because there are so many of them. The +Porpoise Chronicles contradict the Penguin Chronicles at every point. And, +moreover, the Penguins contradict each other as well as the Porpoises. I have +discovered two chronicles that are in agreement, but one has copied from the +other. A single fact is certain, namely, that massacres, rapes, +conflagrations, and plunder succeeded one another without interruption. + +Under the unhappy prince Bosco IX. the kingdom was at the verge of ruin. On +the news that the Porpoise fleet, composed of six hundred great ships, was in +sight of Alca, the bishop ordered a solemn procession. The cathedral chapter, +the elected magistrates, the members of Parliament, and the clerics of the +University entered the Cathedral and, taking up St. Orberosia's shrine, led it +in procession through the town, followed by the entire people singing hymns. +The holy patron of Penguinia was not invoked in vain. Nevertheless, the +Porpoises besieged the town both by land and sea, took it by assault, and for +three days and three nights killed, plundered, violated, and burned, with all +the indifference that habit produces. + +Our astonishment cannot be too great at the fact that, during those iron ages, +the faith was preserved intact among the Penguins. The splendour of the truth +in those times illumined all souls that had not been corrupted by sophisms. +This is the explanation of the unity of belief. A constant practice of the +Church doubtless contributed also to maintain this happy communion of the +faithful--every Penguin who thought differently from the others was +immediately burned at the stake. + + + +IV. LETTERS: JOHANNES TALPA + +During the minority of King Gun, Johannes Talpa, in the monastery of +Beargarden, where at the age of fourteen he had made his profession and from +which he never departed for a single day throughout his life, composed his +celebrated Latin chronicle in twelve books called "De Gestis Penguinorum." + +The monastery of Beargarden lifts its high walls on the summit of an +inaccessible peak. One sees around it only the blue tops of mountains, divided +by the clouds. + +When he began to write his "Gesta Penguinorum," Johannes Talpa was already +old. The good monk has taken care to tell us this in his book: "My head has +long since lost," he says, "its adornment of fair hair, and my scalp resembles +those convex mirrors of metal which the Penguin ladies consult with so much +care and zeal. My stature, naturally small, has with years become diminished +and bent. My white beard gives warmth to my breast." + +With a charming simplicity, Talpa informs us of certain circumstances in his +life and some features in his character. "Descended," he tells us, "from a +noble family, and destined from childhood for the ecclesiastical state, I was +taught grammar and music. I learnt to read under the guidance of a master who +was called Amicus, and who would have been better named Inimicus. As I did not +easily attain to a knowledge of my letters, he beat me violently with rods so +that I can say that he printed the alphabet in strokes upon my back." + +In another passage Talpa confesses his natural inclination towards pleasure. +These are his expressive words: "In my youth the ardour of my senses was such +that in the shadow of the woods I experienced a sensation of boiling in a pot +rather than of breathing the fresh air. I fled from women, but in vain, for +every object recalled them to me." + +While he was writing his chronicle, a terrible war, at once foreign and +domestic, laid waste the Penguin land. The soldiers of Crucha came to defend +the monastery of Beargarden against the Penguin barbarians and established +themselves strongly within its walls. In order to render it impregnable they +pierced loop-holes through the walls and they took the lead off the church +roof to make balls for their slings. At night they lighted huge fires in the +courts and cloisters and on them they roasted whole oxen which they spitted +upon the ancient pine-trees of the mountain. Sitting around the flames, amid +smoke filled with a mingled odour of resin and fat, they broached huge casks +of wine and beer. Their songs, their blasphemies, and the noise of their +quarrels drowned the sound of the morning bells. + +At last the Porpoises, having crossed the defiles, laid siege to the +monastery. They were warriors from the North, clad in copper armour. They +fastened ladders a hundred and fifty fathoms long to the sides of the cliffs +and sometimes in the darkness and storm these broke beneath the weight of men +and arms, and bunches of the besiegers were hurled into the ravines and +precipices. A prolonged wail would be heard going down into the darkness, and +the assault would begin again. The Penguins poured streams of burning wax upon +their assailants, which made them blaze like torches. Sixty times the enraged +Porpoises attempted to scale the monastery and sixty times they were repulsed. + +For six months they had closely invested the monastery, when, on the day of +the Epiphany, a shepherd of the valley showed them a hidden path by which they +climbed the mountain, penetrated into the vaults of the abbey, ran through the +cloisters, the kitchens, the church, the chapter halls, the library, the +laundry, the cells, the refectories, and the dormitories, and burned the +buildings, killing and violating without distinction of age or sex. The +Penguins, awakened unexpectedly, ran to arms, but in the darkness and alarm +they struck at one another, whilst the Porpoises with blows of their axes +disputed the sacred vessels, the censers, the candlesticks, dalmatics, +reliquaries, golden crosses, and precious stones. + +The air was filled with an acrid odour of burnt flesh. Groans and death-cries +arose in the midst of the flames, and on the edges of the crumbling roofs +monks ran in thousands like ants, and fell into the valley. Yet Johannes Talpa +kept on writing his Chronicle. The soldiers of Crucha retreated speedily and +filled up all the issues from the monastery with pieces of rock so as to shut +up the Porpoises in the burning buildings. And to crush the enemy beneath the +ruin they employed the trunks of old oaks as battering-rams. The burning +timbers fell in with a noise like thunder and the lofty arches of the naves +crumbled beneath the shock of these giant trees when moved by six hundred men +together. Soon there was left nothing of the rich and extensive abbey but the +cell of Johannes Talpa, which, by a marvellous chance, hung from the ruin of a +smoking gable. The old chronicler still kept writing. + +This admirable intensity of thought may seem excessive in the case of an +annalist who applies himself to relate the events of his own time. However +abstracted and detached we may be from surrounding things, we nevertheless +resent their influence. I have consulted the original manuscript of Johannes +Talpa in the National Library, where it is preserved (Monumenta Peng., K. L6., +12390 four). It is a parchment manuscript of 628 leaves. The writing is +extremely confused, the letters instead of being in a straight line, stray in +all directions and are mingled together in great disorder, or, more correctly +speaking, in absolute confusion. They are so badly formed that for the most +part it is impossible not merely to say what they are, but even to distinguish +them from the splashes of ink with which they are plentifully interspersed. +Those inestimable pages bear witness in this way to the troubles amid which +they were written. To read them is difficult. On the other hand, the monk of +Beargarden's style shows no trace of emotion. The tone of the "Gesta +Penguinorum" never departs from simplicity. The narration is rapid and of a +conciseness that sometimes approaches dryness. The reflections are rare and, +as a rule, judicious. + + + +V. THE ARTS: THE PRIMITIVES OF PENGUIN PAINTING + +The Penguin critics vie with one another in affirming that Penguin art has +from its origin been distinguished by a powerful and pleasing originality, and +that we may look elsewhere in vain for the qualities of grace and reason that +characterise its earliest works. But the Porpoises claim that their artists +were undoubtedly the instructors and masters of the Penguins. It is difficult +to form an opinion on the matter, because the Penguins, before they began to +admire their primitive painters, destroyed all their works. + +We cannot be too sorry for this loss. For my own part I feel it cruelly, for I +venerate the Penguin antiquities and I adore the primitives. They are +delightful. I do not say the are all alike, for that would be untrue, but they +have common characters that are found in all schools--I mean formulas from +which they never depart--and there is besides something finished in their +work, for what they know they know well. Luckily we can form a notion of the +Penguin primitives from the Italian, Flemish, and Dutch primitives, and from +the French primitives, who are superior to all the rest; as M. Gruyer tells us +they are more logical, logic being a peculiarly French quality. Even if this +is denied it must at least be admitted that to France belongs the credit of +having kept primitives when the other nations knew them no longer. The +Exhibition of French Primitives at the Pavilion Marsan in 1904 contained +several little panels contemporary with the later Valois kings and with Henry +IV. + +I have made many journeys to see the pictures of the brothers Van Eyck, of +Memling, of Roger van der Weyden, of the painter of the death of Mary, of +Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and of the old Umbrian masters. It was, however, neither +Bruges, nor Cologne, nor Sienna, nor Perugia, that completed my initiation; it +was in the little town of Arezzo that I became a conscious adept in primitive +painting. That was ten years ago or even longer. At that period of indigence +and simplicity, the municipal museums, though usually kept shut, were always +opened to foreigners. One evening an old woman with a candle showed me, for +half a lira, the sordid museum of Arezzo, and in it I discovered a painting by +Margaritone, a "St. Francis," the pious sadness of which moved me to tears. I +was deeply touched, and Margaritone,of Arezzo became from that day my dearest +primitive. + +I picture to myself the Penguin primitives in conformity with the works of +that master. It will not therefore be thought superfluous if in this place I +consider his works with some attention, if not in detail, at least under their +more general and, if I dare say so, most representative aspect. + +We possess five or six pictures signed with his hand. His masterpiece, +preserved in the National Gallery of London, represents the Virgin seated on a +throne and holding the infant Jesus in her arms. What strikes one first when +one looks at this figure is the proportion. The body from the neck to the feet +is only twice as long as the head, so that it appears extremely short and +podgy. This work is not less remarkable for its painting than for its drawing. +The great Margaritone had but a limited number of colours in his possession, +and he used them in all their purity without ever modifying the tones. From +this it follows that his colouring has more vivacity than harmony. The cheeks +of the Virgin and those of the Child are of a bright vermilion which the old +master, from a naive preference for clear definitions, has placed on each face +in two circumferences as exact as if they had been traced out by a pair of +compasses. + +A learned critic of the eighteenth century, the Abbe Lanzi, has treated +Margaritone's works with profound disdain. "They are," he says. "merely crude +daubs. In those unfortunate times people could neither draw nor paint." Such +was the common opinion of the connoisseurs of the days of powdered wigs. But +the great Margaritone and his contemporaries were soon to be avenged for this +cruel contempt. There was born in the nineteenth century, in the biblical +villages and reformed cottages of pious England, a multitude of little Samuels +and little St. Johns, with hair curling like lambs, who, about 1840, and 1850, +became spectacled professors and founded the cult of the primitives. + +That eminent theorist of Pre-Raphaelitism, Sir James Tuckett, does not shrink +from placing the Madonna of the National Gallery on a level with the +masterpieces of Christian art. "By giving to the Virgin's head," says Sir +James Tuckett, "a third of the total height of the figure, the old master +attracts the spectator's attention and keeps it directed towards the more +sublime parts of the human figure, and in particular the eyes, which we +ordinarily describe as the spiritual organs. In this picture, colouring and +design conspire to produce an ideal and mystical impression. The vermilion of +the cheeks does not recall the natural appearance of the skin; it rather seems +as if the old master has applied the roses of Paradise to the faces of the +Mother and the Child." + +We see, in such a criticism as this, a shining reflection, so to speak, of the +work which it exalts; yet MacSilly, the seraphic aesthete of Edinburgh, has +expressed in a still more moving and penetrating fashion the impression +produced upon his mind by the sight of this primitive painting. "The Madonna +of Margaritone," says the revered MacSilly, "attains the transcendent end of +art. It inspires its beholders with feelings of innocence and purity; it makes +them like little children. And so true is this, that at the age of sixty-six, +after having had the joy of contemplating it closely for three hours, I felt +myself suddenly transformed into a little child. While my cab was taking me +through Trafalgar Square I kept laughing and prattling and shaking my +spectacle-case as if it were a rattle. And when the maid in my boarding-house +had served my meal I kept pouring spoonfuls of soup into my ear with all the +artlessness of childhood." + +"It is by such results," adds MacSilly, "that the excellence of a work of art +is proved." + +Margaritone, according to Vasari, died at the age of seventy-seven, +"regretting that he had lived to see a new form of art arising and the new +artists crowned with fame." + +These lines, which I translate literally, have inspired Sir James Tuckett with +what are perhaps the finest pages in his work. They form part of his "Breviary +for Aesthetes"; all the Pre-Raphaelites know them by heart. I place them here +as the most precious ornament of this book. You will agree that nothing more +sublime has been written since the days of the Hebrew prophets. + +MARGARITONE'S VISION + +Margaritone, full of years and labours, went one day to visit the studio of a +young painter who had lately settled in the town. He noticed in the studio a +freshly painted Madonna, which, although severe and rigid, nevertheless, by a +certain exactness in the proportions and a devilish mingling of light and +shade, assumed an appearance of relief and life. At this sight the artless and +sublime worker of Arezzo perceived with horror what the future of painting +would be. With his brow clasped in his hands he exclaimed: + +"What things of shame does not this figure show forth! I discern in it the end +of that Christian art which paints the soul and inspires the beholder with an +ardent desire for heaven. Future painters will not restrain themselves as does +this one to portraying on the side of a wall or on a wooden panel the cursed +matter of which our bodies are formed; they will celebrate and glorify it. +They will clothe their figures with dangerous appearances of flesh, and these +figures will seem like real persons. Their bodies will be seen; their forms +will appear through their clothing. St. Magdalen will have a bosom. St. Martha +a belly, St. Barbara hips, St. Agnes buttocks; St. Sebastian will unveil his +youthful beauty, and St. George will display beneath his armour the muscular +wealth of a robust virility; apostles, confessors, doctors, and God the Father +himself will appear as ordinary beings like you and me; the angels will affect +an equivocal, ambiguous, mysterious beauty which will trouble hearts. What +desire for heaven will these representations impart? None; but from them you +will learn to take pleasure in the forms of terrestrial life. Where will +painters stop in their indiscreet inquiries? They will stop nowhere. They will +go so far as to show men and women naked like the idols of the Romans. There +will be a sacred art and a profane art, and the sacred art will not be less +profane than the other." + +"Get ye behind me, demons," exclaimed the old master. For in prophetic vision +he saw the righteous and the saints assuming the appearance of melancholy +athletes. He saw Apollos playing the lute on a flowery hill, in the midst of +the Muses wearing light tunics. He saw Venuses lying under shady myrtles and +the Danae exposing their charming sides to the golden rain. He saw pictures of +Jesus under the pillar's of the temple amidst patricians, fair ladies, +musicians, pages, negroes, dogs, and parrots. He saw in an inextricable +confusion of human limbs, outspread wings, and flying draperies, crowds of +tumultuous Nativities, opulent Holy Families, emphatic Crucifixions. He saw +St. Catherines, St. Barbaras, St. Agneses humiliating patricians by the +sumptuousness of their velvets, their brocades, and their pearls, and by the +splendour of their breasts. He saw Auroras scattering roses, and a multitude +of naked Dianas and Nymphs surprised on the banks of retired streams. And the +great Margaritone died, strangled by so horrible a presentiment of the +Renaissance and the Bolognese School. + + + +VI. MARBODIUS + +We possess a precious monument of the Penguin literature of the fifteenth +century. It is a narrative of a journey to hell undertaken by the monk +Marbodius, of the order of St. Benedict, who professed a fervent admiration +for the poet Virgil. This narrative, written in fairly good Latin, has been +published by M. du Clos des Limes. It is here translated for the first time. I +believe that I am doing a service to my fellow-countrymen in making them +acquainted with these pages, though doubtless they are far from forming a +unique example of this class of mediaeval Latin literature. Among the fictions +that may be compared with them we may mention "The Voyage of St. Brendan," +"The Vision of Albericus," and "St. Patrick's Purgatory," imaginary +descriptions, like Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," of the supposed abode of +the dead. The narrative of Marbodius is one of the latest works dealing with +this theme, but it is not the least singular. + +THE DESCENT OF MARBODIUS INTO HELL + +In the fourteen hundred and fifty-third year of the incarnation of the Son of +God, a few days before the enemies of the Cross entered the city of Helena and +the great Constantine, it was given to me, Brother Marbodius, an unworthy +monk, to see and to hear what none had hitherto seen or heard. I have composed +a faithful narrative of those things so that their memory may not perish with +me, for man's time is short. + +On the first day of May in the aforesaid year, at the hour of vespers, I was +seated in the Abbey of Corrigan on a stone in the cloisters and, as my custom +was, I read the verses of the poet whom I love best of all, Virgil, who has +sung of the labours: of the field, of shepherds, and of heroes. Evening was +hanging its purple folds from the arches of the cloisters and in a voice of +emotion I was murmuring the verses which describe how Dido, the Phoenician +queen, wanders with her ever-bleeding wound beneath the myrtles of hell. At +that moment Brother Hilary happened to pass by, followed by Brother Jacinth, +the porter. + +Brought up in the barbarous ages before the resurrection of the Muses, Brother +Hilary has not been initiated into the wisdom of the ancients; nevertheless, +the poetry of the Mantuan has, like a subtle torch, shed some gleams of light +into his understanding. + +"Brother Marbodius," he asked me, "do those verses that you utter with +swelling breast and sparkling eyes--do they belong to that great 'Aeneid' from +which morning or evening your glances are never withheld?" + +I answered that I was reading in Virgil how the son of Anchises perceived Dido +like a moon behind the foliage.* + +* The text runs + + . . .qualem primo qui syrgere mense + Aut videt aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam. + +Brother Marbodius, by a strange misunderstanding, substitutes an entirely +different image for the one created by the poet. + + +"Brother Marbodius," he replied, "I am certain that on all occasions Virgil +gives expression to wise maxims and profound thoughts. But the songs that he +modulates on his Syracusan flute hold such a lofty meaning and such exalted +doctrine that I am continually puzzled by them." + +"Take care, father," cried Brother Jacinth, in an agitated voice. "Virgil was +a magician who wrought marvels by the help of demons. It is thus he pierced +through a mountain near Naples and fashioned a bronze horse that had power to +heal all the diseases of horses. He was a necromancer, and there is still +shown, in a certain town in Italy, the mirror in which he made the dead +appear. And yet a woman deceived this great sorcerer. A Neapolitan courtesan +invited him to hoist himself up to her window in the basket that was used to +bring the provisions, and she left him all night suspended between two +storeys." + +Brother Hilary did not appear to hear these observations. + +"Virgil is a prophet," he replied, "and a prophet who leaves far behind him +the sibyls with their sacred verses as well as the daughter of King Priam, and +that great diviner of future things, Plato of Athens. You will find in the +fourth of his Syracusan cantos the birth of our Lord foretold in a lancune +that seems of heaven rather than of earth.* In the time of my early studies, +when I read for the first time JAM REDIT ET VIRGO, I felt myself bathed in an +infinite delight, but I immediately experienced intense grief at the thought +that, for ever deprived of the presence of God, the author of this prophetic +verse, the noblest that has come from human lips, was pining among the heathen +in eternal darkness. This cruel thought did not leave me. It pursued me even +in my studies, my prayers, my meditations, and my ascetic labours. Thinkin +that Virgil was deprived of the sight of God and that possibly he might even +be suffering the fate of the reprobate in hell, I could neither enjoy peace +nor rest, and I went so far as to exclaim several times a day with my arms +outstretched to heaven: + +" 'Reveal to me, O Lord, the lot thou hast assigned to him who sang on earth +as the angels sing in heaven!' + +*Three centuries before the epoch in which our Marbodius lived the words-- + Maro, vates gentilium + Da Christo testimonium + Were sung in the churches on Christmas Day. + + +"After some years my anguish ceased when I read in an old book that the great +apostle St. Paul, who called the Gentiles into the Church of Christ, went to +Naples and sanctified with his tears the tomb of the prince of poets.* This +was some ground for believing that Virgil, like the Emperor Trajan, was +admitted to Paradise because even in error he had a presentiment of the truth. +We are not compelled to believe it, but I can easily persuade myself that it +is true." + + *Ad maronis mausoleum + Ductus, fudit super eum + Piae rorem lacrymae. + Quem te, intuit, reddidissem, + Si te vivum invenissem + Poetarum maxime! + + +Having thus spoken, old Hilary wished me the peace of a holy night and went +away with Brother Jacinth. + +I resumed the delightful study of my poet. Book in hand, I meditated upon the +way in which those whom Love destroys with its cruel malady wander through the +secret paths in the depth of the myrtle forest, and, as I meditated, the +quivering reflections of the stars came and mingled with those of the leafless +eglantines in the waters of the cloister fountain. Suddenly the lights and the +perfumes and the stillness of the sky were overwhelmed, a fierce Northwind +charged with storm and darkness burst roaring upon me. It lifted me up and +carried me like a wisp of straw over fields, cities, rivers, and mountains, +and through the midst of thunder-clouds, during a long night composed of a +whole series of nights and days. And when, after this prolonged and cruel +rage, the hurricane was at last stilled, I found myself far from my native +land at the bottom of a valley bordered by cypress trees. Then a woman of wild +beauty, trailing long garments behind her, approached me. She placed her left +hand on my shoulder, and, pointing her right arm to an oak with thick foliage: + +"Look!" said she to me. + +Immediately I recognised the Sibyl who guards the sacred wood of Avernus, and +I discerned the fair Proserpine's beautiful golden twig amongst the tufted +boughs of the tree to which her finger pointed. + +"O prophetic Virgin," I exclaimed, "thou hast comprehended my desire and thou +hast satisfied it in this way. Thou hast revealed to me the tree that bears +the shining twig without which none can enter alive into the dwelling-place of +the dead. And in truth, eagerly did I long to converse with the shade of +Virgil." + +Having said this, I snatched the golden branch from its ancient trunk and I +advanced without fear into the smoking gulf that leads to the miry banks of +the Styx, upon which the shades are tossed about like dead leaves. At sight of +the branch dedicated to Proserpine, Charon took me in his bark, which groaned +beneath my weight, and I alighted on the shores of the dead, and was greeted +by the mute baying of the threefold Cerberus. I pretended to throw the shade +of a stone at him, and the vain monster fled into his cave. There, amidst the +rushes, wandered the souls of those children whose eyes had but opened and +shut to the kindly light of day, and there in a gloomy cavern Minos judges +men. I penetrated into the myrtle wood in which the victims of love wander +languishing, Phaedra, Procris, the sad Eriphyle, Evadne, Pasiphae, Laodamia, +and Cenis, and the Phoenician Dido. Then I went through the dusty plains +reserved for famous warriors. Beyond them open two ways. That to the left +leads to Tartarus, the abode of the wicked. I took that to the right, which +leads to Elysium and to the dwellings of Dis. Having hung the sacred branch at +the goddess's door, I reached pleasant fields flooded with purple light. The +shades of philosophers and poets hold grave converse there. The Graces and the +Muses formed sprightly choirs upon the grass. Old Homer sang, accompanying +himself upon his rustic lyre. His eyes were closed, but divine images shone +upon his lips. I saw Solon, Democritus, and Pythagoras watching the games of +the young men in the meadow, and, through the foliage of an ancient laurel, I +perceived also Hesiod, Orpheus, the melancholy Euripides, and the masculine +Sappho. I passed and recognised, as they sat on the bank of a fresh rivulet, +the poet Horace, Varius, Gallus, and Lycoris. A little apart, leaning against +the trunk of a dark holm-oak, Virgil was gazing pensively at the grove. Of +lofty stature, though spare, he still preserved that swarthy complexion, that +rustic air, that negligent bearing, and unpolished appearance which during his +lifetime concealed his genius. I saluted him piously and remained for a long +time without speech. + +At last when my halting voice could proceed out of my throat: + +"O thou, so dear to the Ausonian Muses, thou honour of the Latin name, +Virgil," cried I, "it is through thee I have known what beauty is, it is +through thee I have known what the tables of the gods and the beds of the +goddesses are like. Suffer the praises of the humblest of thy adorers." + +"Arise, stranger," answered the divine poet. "I perceive that thou art a +living being among the shades, and that thy body treads down the grass in this +eternal evening. Thou art not the first man who has descended before his death +into these dwellings, although all intercourse between us and the living is +difficult. But cease from praise; I do not like eulogies and the confused +sounds of glory have always offended my ears. That is why I fled from Rome, +where I was known to the idle and curious, and laboured in the solitude of my +beloved Parthenope. And then I am not so convinced that the men of thy +generation understand my verses that should be gratified by thy praises. Who +art thou?" + +"I am called Marbodius of the Kingdom of Alca. I made my profession in the +Abbey of Corrigan. I read thy poems by day and I read them by night. It is +thee whom I have come to see in Hell; I was impatient to know what thy fate +was. On earth the learned often dispute about it. Some hold it probable that, +having lived under the power of demons, thou art now burning in +inextinguishable flames; others, more cautious, pronounce no opinion, +believing that all which is said concerning the dead is uncertain and full of +lies; several, though not in truth the ablest, maintain that, because thou +didst elevate the tone of the Sicilian Muses and foretell that a new progeny +would descend from heaven, thou wert admitted, like the Emperor Trajan, to +enjoy eternal blessedness in the Christian heaven." + +"Thou seest that such is not the case," answered the shade, smiling. + +"I meet thee in truth, O Virgil, among the heroes and sages in those Elysian +Fields which thou thyself hast described. Thus, contrary to what several on +earth believe, no one has come to seek thee on the part of Him who reigns on +high? + +After a rather long silence: + +"I will conceal nought from thee. He sent for me; one of his messengers, a +simple man, came to say that I was expected, and that, although I had not been +initiated into their mysteries, in consideration of my prophetic verses, a +place had been reserved for me among those of the new sect. But I refused to +accept that invitation; I had no desire to change my lace. I did so not +because I share the admiration of the Greeks for the Elysian fields, or +because I taste here those joys which caused Proserpine to lose the +remembrance of her mother. I never believed much myself in what I say about +these things in the 'Aeneid.' I was instructed by philosophers and men of +science and I had a correct foreboding of the truth. Life in hell is extremely +attenuated; we feel neither pleasure nor pain; we are as if we were not. The +dead have no existence here except such as the living lend them. Nevertheless +I prefer to remain here." + +"But what reason didst thou give, O Virgil, for so strange a refusal?" + +"I gave excellent ones. I said to the messenger of the god that I did not +deserve the honour he brought me, and that a meaning had been given to my +verses which they did not bear. In truth I have not in my fourth Eclogue +betrayed the faith of my ancestors. Some ignorant Jews alone have interpreted +in favour of a barbarian god a verse which celebrates the return of the golden +age predicted by the Sibylline oracles. I excused myself then on the ground +that I could not occupy a place which was destined for me in error and to +which I recognised that I had no right. Then I alleged my disposition and my +tastes, which do not accord with the customs of the new heavens. + +"'I am not unsociable,' said I to this man. 'I have shown in life a +complaisant and easy disposition, although the extreme simplicity of my habits +caused me to be suspected of avarice. I kept nothing for myself alone. My +library was open to all and I have conformed my conduct to that fine saying of +Euripides, "all ought to be common among friends." Those praises that seemed +obtrusive when I myself received them became agreeable to me when addressed to +Varius or to Macer. But at bottom I am rustic and uncultivated. I take +pleasure in the society of animals; I was so zealous in observing them and +took so much care of them that I was regarded, not altogether wrongly, as a +good veterinary surgeon. I am told that the people of thy sect claim an +immortal soul for themselves, but refuse one to the animals. That is a piece +of nonsense that makes me doubt their judgment. Perhaps I love the flocks and +the shepherds a little too much. That would not seem right amongst you. There +is a maxim to which I endeavour to conform my actions, "Nothing too much." +More even than my feeble health my philosophy teaches me to use things with +measure. I am sober; a lettuce and some olives with a drop of Falernian wine +form all my meals. I have, indeed, to some extent gone with strange women, but +I have not delayed over long in taverns to watch the young Syrians dance to +the sound of the crotalum.* But if I have restrained my desires it was for my +own satisfaction and for the sake of good discipline. To fear pleasure and to +fly from joy appears to me the worst insult that one can offer to nature. I am +assured that during their lives certain of the elect of thy god abstained from +food and avoided women through love of asceticism, and voluntarily exposed +themselves to useless sufferings. I should be afraid of meeting those, +criminals whose frenzy horrifies me. A poet must not be asked to attach +himself too strictly to any scientific or moral doctrine. Moreover, I am a +Roman, and the Romans, unlike the Greeks, are unable to pursue profound +speculations in a subtle manner. If they adopt a philosophy it is above all in +order to derive some practical advantages from it. Siro, who enjoyed great +renown among us, taught me the system of Epicurus and thus freed me from vain +terrors and turned me aside from the cruelties to which religion persuades +ignorant men. I have embraced the views of Pythagoras concerning the souls of +men and animals, both of which are of divine essence; this invites us to look +upon ourselves without pride and without shame. I have learnt from the +Alexandrines how the earth, at first soft and without form, hardened in +proportion as Nereus withdrew himself from it to dig his humid dwellings; I +have learned how things were formed insensibly; in what manner the rains, +falling from the burdened clouds, nourished the silent forests, and by what +progress a few animals at last began to wander over the nameless mountains. I +could not accustom myself to your cosmogony either, for it seems to me fitter +for a camel-driver on the Syrian sands than for a disciple of Aristarchus of +Samos. And what would become of me in the abode of your beatitude if I did not +find there my friends, my ancestors, my masters, and my gods, and if it is not +given to me to see Rhea's noble son, or Venus, mother of Aeneas, with her +winning smile, or Pan, or the young Dryads, or the Sylvans, or old Silenus, +with his face stained by Aegle's purple mulberries.' These are the reasons +which I begged that simple man to plead before the successor of Jupiter." + +* This phrase seems to indicate that, if one is to believe Macrobius, the +"Copa" is by Virgil. + + +"And since then, O great shade, thou hast received no other messages?" + +"I have received none." + +"To console themselves for thy absence, O Virgil, they have three poets, +Commodianus, Prudentius, and Fortunatus, who were all three born in those dark +plays when neither prosody nor grammar were known. But tell me, O Mantuan, +hast thou never received other intelligence of the God whose company thou +didst so deliberately refuse?" + +"Never that I remember." + +"Hast thou not told me that I am not the first who descended alive into these +abodes and presented himself before thee?" + + +"Thou dost remind me of it. A century and a half ago, or so it seems to me (it +is difficult to reckon days and years amid the shades), my profound peace was +intruded upon by a strange visitor. As I was wandering beneath the gloomy +foliage that borders the Styx, I saw rising before me a human form more opaque +and darker than that of the inhabitants of these shores. I recognised a living +person. He was of high stature, thin, with an aquiline nose, sharp chin, and +hollow cheeks. His dark eyes shot forth fire; a red hood girt with a crown of +laurels bound his lean brows. His bones pierced through the tight brown cloak +that descended to his heels. He saluted me with deference, tempered by a sort +of fierce pride, and addressed me in a speech more obscure and incorrect than +that of those Gauls with whom the divine Julius filled both his legions and +the Curia. At last I understood that he had been born near Fiesole, in an +ancient Etruscan colony that Sulla had founded on the banks of the Arno, and +which had prospered; that he had obtained municipal honours, but that he had +thrown himself vehemently into the sanguinary quarrels which arose between the +senate, the knights, and the people, that he had been defeated and banished, +and now he wandered in exile throughout the world. He described Italy to me as +distracted by more wars and discords than in the time of my youth, and as +sighing anew for a second Augustus. I pitied his misfortune, remembering what +I myself had formerly endured. + +"An audacious spirit unceasingly disquieted him, and his mind harboured great +thoughts, but alas! his rudeness and ignorance displayed the triumph of +barbarism. He knew neither poetry, nor science, nor even the tongue of the +Greeks, and he was ignorant, too, of the ancient traditions concerning the +origin of the world and the nature of the gods. He bravely repeated fables +which in my time would have brought smiles to the little children who were not +yet old enough to pay for admission at the baths. The vulgar easily believe in +monsters. The Etruscans especially peopled hell with demons, hideous as a sick +man's dreams. That they have not abandoned their childish imaginings after so +many centuries is explained by the continuation and progress of ignorance and +misery, but that one of their magistrates whose mind is raised above the +common level should share these popular illusions and should be frightened by +the hideous demons that the inhabitants of that country painted on the walls +of their tombs in the time of Porsena--that is something which might sadden +even a sage. My Etruscan visitor repeated verses to me which he had composed +in a new dialect, called by him the vulgar tongue, the sense of which I could +not understand. My ears were more surprised than charmed as I heard him repeat +the same sound three or four times at regular intervals in his efforts to mark +the rhythm. That artifice did not seem ingenious to me; but it is not for the +dead to judge of novelties. + +"But I do not reproach this colonist of Sulla, born in an unhappy time, for +making inharmonious verses or for being, if it be possible, as bad a poet as +Bavius or Maevius. I have grievances against him which touch me more closely. +The thing is monstrous and scarcely credible, but when this man returned to +earth he disseminated the most odious lies about me. He affirmed in several +passages of his barbarous poems that I had served him as a guide in the modern +Tartarus, a place I know nothing of. He insolently proclaimed that I had +spoken of the gods of Rome as false and lying gods, and that I held as the +true God the present successor of Jupiter. Friend, when thou art restored to +the kindly light of day and beholdest again thy native land, contradict those +abominable falsehoods. Say to thy people that the singer of the pious Aeneas +has never worshipped the god of the Jews. I am assured that his power is +declining and that his approaching fall is manifested by undoubted +indications. This news would give me some pleasure if one could rejoice in +these abodes. where we feel neither fears nor desires." + +He spoke, and with a gesture of farewell he went away. I beheld his. shade +gliding over the asphodels without bending their stalks. I saw that it became +fainter and vaguer as it receded farther from me, and it vanished before it +reached the wood of evergreen laurels. Then I understood the meaning of the +words, "The dead have no life, but that which the living lend them," and I +walked slowly through the pale meadow to the gate of horn. + +I affirm that all in this writing is true.* + +* There is in Marbodius's narrative a passage very worthy of notice, viz., +that in which the monk of Corrigan describes Dante Alighieri such as we +picture him to ourselves to-day. The miniatures in a very old manuscript of +the "Divine Comedy," the "Codex Venetianus," represent the poet as a little +fat man clad in a short tunic, the skirts of which fall above his knees. As +for Virgil, he still wears the philosophical beard, in the wood-engravings of +the sixteenth century. + +One would not have thought either that Marbodius, or even Virgil, could have +known the Etruscan tombs of Chiusi and Corneto, where, in fact, there are +horrible and burlesque devils closely resembling those of Orcagna. +Nevertheless, the authenticity of the "Descent of Marbodius into Hell" is +indisputable. M. du Clos des Lunes has firmly established it. To doubt it +would be to doubt palaeography itself. + + + +VII. SIGNS IN THE MOON + +At that time, whilst Penguinia was still plunged in ignorance and barbarism, +Giles Bird-catcher, a Franciscan monk, known by his writings under the name +Aegidius Aucupis, devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to the study of +letters and the sciences. He gave his nights to mathematics and music, which +he called the two adorable sisters, the harmonious daughters of Number and +Imagination. He was versed in medicine and astrology. He was suspected of +practising magic, and it seemed true that he wrought metamorphoses and +discovered hidden things. + +The monks of his convent, finding in his cell Greek books which they could not +read, imagined them to be conjuring-books, and denounced their too learned +brother as a wizard. Aegidius Aucupis fled, and reached the island of Ireland, +where he lived for thirty studious years. He went from monastery to monastery, +searching for and copying the Greek and Latin manuscripts which they +contained. He also studied physics and alchemy. He acquired a universal +knowledge and discovered notable secrets concerning animals, plants, and +stones. He was found one day in the company of a very beautiful woman who sang +to her own accompaniment on the lute, and who was afterwards discovered to be +a machine which he had himself constructed. + +He often crossed the Irish Sea to go into the land of Wales and to visit the +libraries of the monasteries there. During one of these crossings, as he +remained during the night on the bridge of the ship, he saw beneath the waters +two sturgeons swimming side by side. He had very good hearing and he knew the +language of fishes. Now he heard one of the sturgeons say to the other: + +"The man in the moon, whom we have often seen carrying fagots on his +shoulders, has fallen into the sea. + +And the other sturgeon said in its turn: + +"And in the silver disc there will be seen the image of two lovers kissing +each other on the mouth." + +Some years later, having returned to his native country, Aegidius Aucupis +found that ancient learning had been restored. Manners had softened. Men no +longer pursued the nymphs of the fountains, of the woods, and of the mountains +with their insults. They placed images of the Muses and of the modest Graces +in their gardens, and they rendered her former honours to the Goddess with +ambrosial lips, the joy of men and gods. They were becoming reconciled to +nature. They trampled vain terrors beneath their feet and raised their eyes to +heaven without fearing, as they formerly did, to read signs of anger and +threats of damnation in the skies. + +At this spectacle Aegidius Aucupis remembered what the two sturgeons of the +sea of Erin had foretold. + + + +BOOK IV. MODERN TIMES: TRINCO + +I. MOTHER ROUQUIN + +Aegidius Aucupis, the Erasmus of the Penguins, was not mistaken; his age was +an age of free inquiry. But that great man mistook the elegances of the +humanists for softness of manners, and he did not foresee the effects that the +awaking of intelligence would have amongst the Penguins. It brought about the +religious Reformation; Catholics massacred Protestants and Protestants +massacred Catholics. Such were the first results of liberty of thought. The +Catholics prevailed in Penguinia. But the spirit of inquiry had penetrated +among them without their knowing it. They joined reason to faith, and claimed +that religion had been divested of the superstitious practices that +dishonoured it, just as in later days the booths that the cobblers, hucksters, +and dealers in old clothes had built against the walls of the cathedrals were +cleared away. The word, legend, which at first indicated what the faithful +ought to read, soon suggested the idea of pious fables and childish tales. + +The saints had to suffer from this state of mind. An obscure canon called +Princeteau, a very austere and crabbed man, designated so great a number of +them as not worthy of having their days observed, that he was surnamed the +exposer of the saints. He did not think, for instance, that if St. Margaret's +prayer were applied as a poultice to a woman in travail that the pains of +childbirth would be softened. + +Even the venerable patron saint of Penguinia did not escape his rigid +criticism. This is what he says of her in his "Antiquities of Alca": + +"Nothing is more uncertain than the history, or even the existence, of St. +Orberosia. An ancient anonymous annalist, a monk of Dombes, relates that a +woman called Orberosia was possessed by the devil in a cavern where, even down +to his own days, the little boys and girls of the village used to play at a +sort of game representing the devil and the fair Orberosia. He adds that this +woman became the concubine of a horrible dragon, who ravaged the country. Such +a statement is hardly credible, but the history of Orberosia, as it has since +been related, seems hardly more worthy of belief. The life of that saint by +the Abbot Simplicissimus is three hundred years later than the pretended +events which it relates and that author shows himself excessively credulous +and devoid of all critical faculty." + +Suspicion attacked even the supernatural origin of the Penguins. The historian +Ovidius Capito went so far as to deny the miracle of their transformation. He +thus begins his "Annals of Penguinia": + +"A dense obscurity envelopes this history, and it would be no exaggeration to +say that it is a tissue of puerile fables and popular tales. The Penguins +claim that they are descended from birds who were baptized by St. Mael and +whom God changed into men at the intercession of that glorious apostle. They +hold that, situated at first in the frozen ocean, their island, floating like +Delos, was brought to anchor in these heaven-favoured seas, of which it is +to-day the queen. I conclude that this myth is a reminiscence of the ancient +migrations of the Penguins." + +In the following century, which was that of the philosophers, scepticism +became still more acute. No further evidence of it is needed than the +following celebrated passage from the "Moral Essay": + +"Arriving we know not from whence (for indeed their origins are not very +clear), and successively invaded and conquered by four or five peoples from +the north, south, east, and west, miscegenated, interbred, amalgamated, and +commingled, the Penguins boast of the purity of their race, and with justice, +for they have become a pure race. This mixture of all mankind, red, black, +yellow, and white, round-headed and long-headed, as formed in the course of +ages a fairly homogeneous human family, and one which is recognisable by +certain features due to a community of life and customs. + +"This idea that they belong to the best race in the world, and that they are +its finest family, inspires them with noble pride, indomitable courage, and a +hatred for the human race. + +"The life of a people is but a succession of miseries, crimes, and follies. +This is true of the Penguin nation, as of all other nations. Save for this +exception its history is admirable from beginning to end." + +The two classic ages of the Penguins are too well-known for me to lay stress +upon them. But what has not been sufficiently noticed is the way in which the +rationalist theologians such as Canon Princeteau called into existence the +unbelievers of the succeeding age. The former employed their reason to destroy +what did not seem to them, essential to their religion; they only left +untouched the most rigid article of faith. Their intellectual successors, +being taught by them how to make use of science and reason, employed them +against whatever beliefs remained. Thus rational theology engendered natural +philosophy. + +That is why (if I may turn from the Penguins of former days to the Sovereign +Pontiff, who, to-day governs the universal Church) we cannot admire too +greatly the wisdom of Pope Pius X. in condemning the study of exegesis as +contrary to revealed truth, fatal to sound theological doctrine, and deadly to +the faith. Those clerics who maintain the rights of science in opposition to +him are pernicious doctors and pestilent teachers, and the faithful who +approve of them are lacking in either mental or moral ballast. + +At the end of the age of philosophers, the ancient kingdom of Penguinia was +utterly destroyed, the king put to death, the privileges of the nobles +abolished, and a Republic proclaimed in the midst of public misfortunes and +while a terrible war was raging. The assembly which then governed Penguinia +ordered all the metal articles contained in the churches to be melted down. +The patriots even desecrated the tombs of the kings. It is said that when the +tomb of Draco the Great was opened, that king presented an appearance as black +as ebony and so majestic that those who profaned his corpse fled in terror. +According to other accounts, these churlish men insulted him by putting a pipe +in his mouth and derisively offering him a glass of wine. + +On the seventeenth day of the month of Mayflowers, the shrine of St. +Orberosia, which had for five hundred years been exposed to the veneration of +the faithful in the Church of St. Mael, was transported into the town-hall and +submitted to the examination of a jury of experts appointed by the +municipality. It was made of gilded copper in shape like the nave of a church, +entirely covered with enamels and decorated with precious stones, which latter +were perceived to be false. The chapter in its foresight had removed the +rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and great balls of rock-crystal, and had +substituted pieces of glass in their place. It contained only a little dust +and a piece of old linen, which were thrown into a great fire that had been +lighted on the Place de Greve to burn the relics of the saints. The people +danced around it singing patriotic songs. + +From the threshold of their booth, which leant against the town-hall, a man +called Rouquin and his wife were watching this group of madmen. Rouquin +clipped dogs and gelded cats; he also frequented the inns. His wife was a +ragpicker and a bawd, but she had plenty of shrewdness. + +"You see, Rouquin," said she to her man, "they are committing a sacrilege. +They will repent of it." + +"You know nothing about it, wife," answered Rouquin; "they, have become +philosophers, and when one is once a philosopher he is a philosopher for +ever." + +"I tell you, Rouquin, that sooner or later they will regret what they are +doing to-day. They ill-treat the saints because they have not helped them +enough, but for all that the quails won't fall ready cooked into their mouths. +They will soon find themselves as badly off as before, and when they have put +out their tongues for enough they will become pious again. Sooner than people +think the day will come when Penguinia will again begin to honour her blessed +patron. Rouquin, it would be a good thing, in readiness for that day, if we +kept a handful of ashes and some rags and bones in an old pot in our lodgings. +We will say that they are the relics of St. Orberosia and that we have saved +them from the flames at the peril of our lives. I am greatly mistaken if we +don't get honour and profit out of them. That good action might be worth a +place from the Cure to sell tapers and hire chairs in the chapel of St. +Orberosia." + +On that same day Mother Rouquin took home with her a little ashes and some +bones, and put them in an old jam-pot in her cupboard. + + + +II. TRINCO + +The sovereign Nation had taken possession of the lands of the nobility and +clergy to sell them at a low price to the middle classes and the peasants. The +middle classes and the peasants thought that the revolution was a good thing +for acquiring lands and a bad one for retaining them. + +The legislators of the Republic made terrible laws for the defence of +property, and decreed death to anyone who should propose a division of wealth. +But that did not avail the Republic. The peasants who had become proprietors +bethought themselves that though it had made them rich, the Republic had +nevertheless caused a disturbance to wealth, and they desired a system more +respectful of private property and more capable of assuring the permanence of +the new institutions. + +They had not long to wait. The Republic, like Agrippina, bore her destroyer in +her bosom. + +Having great wars to carry on, it created military forces, and these were +destined both to save it and to destroy it. Its legislators thought they could +restrain their generals by the fear of punishment, but if they sometimes cut +off the heads of unlucky soldiers they could not do the same to the fortunate +soldiers who obtained over it the advantages of having saved its existence. + +In the enthusiasm of victory the renovated Penguins delivered themselves up to +a dragon, more terrible than that of their fables, who, like a stork amongst +frogs, devoured them for fourteen years with his insatiable beak. + +Half a century after the reign of the new dragon a young Maharajah of Malay, +called Djambi, desirous, like the Scythian Anacharsis, of instructing himself +by travel, visited Penguinia and wrote an interesting account of his travels. +I transcribe the first page of his account: + +ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF YOUNG DJAMBI IN PENGUINIA + +After a voyage of ninety days I landed at the vast and deserted port of the +Penguins and travelled over untilled fields to their ruined capital. +Surrounded by ramparts and full of barracks and arsenals it had a martial +though desolate appearance. Feeble and crippled men wandered proudly through +the streets, wearing old uniforms and carrying rusty weapons. + +"What do you want?" I was rudely asked at the gate of the city by a soldier +whose moustaches pointed to the skies. + +"Sir," I answered, "I come as an inquirer to visit this island." + +"It is not an island," replied the soldier. + +"What!" I exclaimed, "Penguin Island is not an island?" + +"No, sir, it is an insula. It was formerly called an island, but for a century +it has been decreed that it shall bear the name of insula. It is the only +insula in the whole universe. Have you a passport?" + +"Here it is." + +"Go and get it signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." + +A lame guide who conducted me came to a pause in a vast square. + +"The insula," said he, "has given birth, as you know, to Trinco, the greatest +genius of the universe, whose statue you see before you. That obelisk standing +to your right commemorates Trinco's birth; the column that rises to your left +has Trinco crowned with a diadem upon its summit. You see here the triumphal +arch dedicated to the glory of Trinco and his family." + +"What extraordinary feat has Trinco performed?" I asked. + +"War." + +"That is nothing extraordinary. We Malayans make war constantly." + +"That may be, but Trinco is the greatest warrior of all countries and all +times. There never existed a greater conqueror than he. As you anchored in our +port you saw to the east a volcanic island called Ampelophoria, shaped like a +cone, and of small size, but renowned for its wines. And to the west a larger +island which raises to the sky a long range of sharp teeth; for this reason it +is called the Dog's Jaws. It is rich in copper mines. We possessed both before +Trinco's reign and they were the boundaries of our empire. Trinco extended the +Penguin dominion over the Archipelago of the Turquoises and the Green +Continent, subdued the gloomy Porpoises, and planted his flag amid the +icebergs of the Pole and on the burning sands of the African deserts. He +raised troops in all the countries he conquered, and when his armies marched +past in the wake of our own light infantry, our island grenadiers, our +hussars, our dragoons, our artillery, and our engineers there were to be seen +yellow soldiers looking in their blue armour like crayfish standing on their +tails; red men with parrots' plumes, tattooed with solar and Phallic emblems, +and with quivers of poisoned arrows resounding on their backs; naked blacks +armed only with their teeth and nails; pygmies riding on cranes; gorillas +carrying trunks of trees and led by an old ape who wore upon his hairy breast +the cross of the Legion of Honour. And all those troops, led to Trinco's +banner by the most ardent patriotism, flew on from victory to victory, and in +thirty years of war Trinco conquered half the known world." + +"What!" cried I, "you possess half of the world." + +"Trinco conquered it for us, and Trinco lost it to us. As great in his defeats +as in his victories he surrendered all that he had conquered. He even allowed +those two islands we possessed before his time, Ampelophoria and the Dog's +Jaws, to be taken from us. He left Penguinia impoverished and depopulated. The +flower of the insula perished in his wars. At the time of his fall there were +left in our country none but the hunchbacks and cripples from whom we are +descended. But he gave us glory." + +"He made you pay dearly for it!" + +"Glory never costs too much," replied my guide. + + + +III. THE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR OBNUBILE + +After a succession of amazing vicissitudes, the memory of which is in great +part lost by the wrongs of time and the bad style of historians, the Penguins +established the government of the Penguins by themselves. They elected a diet +or assembly, and invested it with the privilege of naming the Head of the +State. The latter, chosen from among the simple Penguins, wore no formidable +monster's crest upon his head and exercised no absolute authority over the +people. He was himself subject to the laws of the nation. He was not given the +title of king, and no ordinal number followed his name. He bore such names as +Paturle, Janvion, Traffaldin, Coquenhot, and Bredouille. These magistrates did +not make war. They were not suited for that. + +The new state received the name of Public Thing or Republic. Its partisans +were called republicanists or republicans. They were also named Thingmongers +and sometimes Scamps, but this latter name was taken in ill part. + +The Penguin democracy did not itself govern. It obeyed a financial oligarchy +which formed opinion by means of the newspapers, and held in its hands the +representatives, the ministers, and the president. It controlled the finances +of the republic, and directed the foreign affairs of the country as if it were +possessed of sovereign power. + +Empires and kingdoms in those days kept up enormous fleets. Penguinia, +compelled to do as they did, sank under the pressure of her armaments. +Everybody deplored or pretended to deplore so grievous a necessity. However, +the rich, and those engaged in business or affairs, submitted to it with a +good heart through a spirit of patriotism, and because they counted on the +soldiers and sailors to defend their goods at home and to acquire markets and +territories abroad. The great manufacturers encouraged the making of cannons +and ships through a zeal for the national defence and in order to obtain +orders. Among the citizens of middle rank and of the liberal professions some +resigned themselves to this state of affairs without complaining, believing +that it would last for ever; others waited impatiently for its end and thought +they might be able to lead the powers to a simultaneous disarmament. + +The illustrious Professor Obnubile belonged to this latter class. + +"War," said he, "is a barbarity to which the progress of civilization will put +an end. The great democracies are pacific and will soon impose their will upon +the aristocrats." + +Professor Obnubile, who had for sixty years led a solitary and retired life in +his laboratory, whither external noises did not penetrate, resolved to observe +the spirit of the peoples for himself. He began his studies with the greatest +of all democracies and set sail for New Atlantis. + +After a voyage of fifteen days his steamer entered, during the night, the +harbour of Titanport, where thousands of ships were anchored. An iron bridge +thrown across the water and shining with lights, stretched between two piers +so far apart that Professor Obnubile imagined he was sailing on the seas of +Saturn and that he saw the marvellous ring which girds the planet of the Old +Man. And this immense conduit bore upon it more than a quarter of the wealth +of the world. The learned Penguin, having disembarked, was waited on by +automatons in a hotel forty-eight stories high. Then he took the great railway +that led to Gigantopolis, the capital of New Atlantis. In the train there were +restaurants, gaming-rooms, athletic arenas, telegraphic, commercial, and +financial offices, a Protestant Church, and the printing-office of a great +newspaper, which latter the doctor was unable to read, as he did not know the +language of the New Atlantans. The train passed along the banks of great +rivers, through manufacturing cities which concealed the sky with the smoke +from their chimneys, towns black in the day, towns red at night, full of noise +by day and full of noise also by night. + +"Here," thought the doctor, "is a people far too much engaged in industry and +trade to make war. I am already certain that the New Atlantans pursue a policy +of peace. For it is an axiom admitted by all economists that peace without and +peace within are necessary for the progress of commerce and industry." + +As he surveyed Gigantopolis, he was confirmed in this opinion. People went +through the streets so swiftly propelled by hurry that they knocked down all +who were in their way. Obnubile was thrown down several times, but soon +succeeded in learning how to demean himself better; after an hour's walking he +himself knocked down an Atlantan. + +Having reached a great square he saw the portico of a palace in the Classic +style, whose Corinthian columns reared their capitals of arborescent acanthus +seventy metres above the stylobate. + +As he stood with his head thrown back admiring the building, a man of modest +appearance approached him and said in Penguin: + +"I see by your dress that you are from Penguinia. I know your language; I am a +sworn interpreter. This is the Parliament palace. At the present moment the +representatives of the States are in deliberation. Would you like to be +present at the sitting?" + +The doctor was brought into the hall and cast his looks upon the crowd of +legislators who were sitting on cane chairs with their feet upon their desks. + +The president arose and, in the midst of general inattention, muttered rather +than spoke the following formulas which the interpreter immediately translated +to the doctor. + +"The war for the opening of the Mongol markets being ended to the satisfaction +of the States, I propose that the accounts be laid before the finance +committee . . . ." + +"Is there any opposition? . . ." + +"The proposal is carried." + +"The war for the opening of the markets of Third-Zealand being ended to the +satisfaction of the States, I propose that the accounts be laid before the +finance committee. . . ." + +"Is there any opposition? . . ." + +"The proposal is carried." + +"Have I heard aright?" asked Professor Obnubile. "What? you an industrial +people and engaged in all these wars!" + +"Certainly," answered the interpreter, "these are industrial wars. Peoples who +have neither commerce nor industry are not obliged to make war, but a business +people is forced to adopt a policy of conquest. The number of wars necessarily +increases with our productive activity. As soon as one of our industries fails +to find a market for its products a war is necessary to open new outlets. It +is in this way we have had a coal war, a copper war, and a cotton war. In +Third-Zealand we have killed two-thirds of the inhabitants in order to compel +the remainder to buy our umbrellas and braces." + +At that moment a fat man who was sitting in the middle of the assembly +ascended the tribune. + +"I claim," said he, "a war against the Emerald Republic, which insolently +contends with our pigs for the hegemony of hams and sauces in all the markets +of the universe." + +"Who is that legislator?" asked Doctor Obnubile. + +"He is a pig merchant." + +"Is there any opposition?" said the President. "I put the proposition to the +vote." + +The war against the Emerald Republic was voted with uplifted hands by a very +large majority. + +"What?" said Obnubile to the interpreter; "you have voted a war with that +rapidity and that indifference!" + +"Oh! it is an unimportant war which will hardly cost eight million dollars." + +"And men . . ." + +"The men are included in the eight million dollars." + +Then Doctor Obnubile bent his head in bitter reflection. + +"Since wealth and civilization admit of as many causes of wars as poverty and +barbarism, since the folly and wickedness of men are incurable, there remains +but one good action to be done. The wise man will collect enough dynamite to +blow up this planet. When its fragments fly through space an imperceptible +amelioration will be accomplished in the universe and a satisfaction will be +given to the universal conscience. Moreover, this universal conscience does +not exist." + + + +BOOK V. MODERN TIMES: CHATILLON + +I. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE + +Every system of government produces people who are dissatisfied. The Republic +or Public Thing produced them at first from among the nobles who had been +despoiled of their ancient privileges. These looked with regret and hope to +Prince Crucho, the last of the Draconides, a prince adorned both with the +grace of youth and the melancholy of exile. It also produced them from among +the smaller traders, who, owing to profound economic causes, no longer gained +a livelihood. They believed that this was the fault of the republic which they +had at first adored and from which each day they were now becoming more +detached. The financiers, both Christians and Jews, became by their insolence +and their cupidity the scourge of the country, which they plundered and +degraded, as well as the scandal of a government which they never troubled +either to destroy or preserve, so confident were they that they could operate +without hindrance under all governments. Nevertheless, their sympathies +inclined to absolute power as the best protection against the socialists, +their puny but ardent adversaries. And just as they imitated the habits of the +aristocrats, so they imitated their political and religious sentiments. Their +women, in particular, loved the Prince and had dreams of appearing one day at +his Court. + +However, the Republic retained some partisans and defenders. If it was not in +a position to believe in the fidelity of its own officials it could at least +still count on the devotion of the manual labourers, although it had never +relieved their misery. These came forth in crowds from their quarries and +their factories to defend it, and marched in long processions, gloomy, +emaciated, and sinister. They would have died for it because it had given them +hope. + +Now, under the Presidency of Theodore Formose, there lived in a peaceable +suburb of Alca a monk called Agaric, who kept a school and assisted in +arranging marriages. In his school he taught fencing and riding to the sons of +old families, illustrious by their birth, but now as destitute of wealth as of +privilege. And as soon as they were old enough he married them to the +daughters of the opulent and despised caste of financiers. + +Tall, thin, and dark, Agaric used to walk in deep thought, with his breviary +in his hand and his brow loaded with care, through the corridors of the school +and the alleys of the garden. His care was not limited to inculcating in his +pupils abstruse doctrines and mechanical precepts and to endowing them +afterwards with legitimate and rich wives. He entertained political designs +and pursued the realisation of a gigantic plan. His thought of thoughts and +labour of labours was to overthrow the Republic. He was not moved to this by +any personal interest. He believed that a democratic state was opposed to the +holy society to which body and soul he belonged. And all the other monks, his +brethren, thought the same. The Republic was perpetually at strife with the +congregation of monks and the assembly of the faithful. True, to plot the +death of the new government was a difficult and perilous enterprise. Still, +Agaric was in a position to carry on a formidable conspiracy. At that epoch, +when the clergy guided the superior classes of the Penguins, this monk +exercised a tremendous influence over the aristocracy of Alca. + +All the young men whom he had brought up waited only for a favourable moment +to march against the popular power. The sons of the ancient families did not +practise the arts or engage in business. They were almost all soldiers and +served the Republic. They served it, but they did not love it; they regretted +the dragon's crest. And the fair Jewesses shared in these regrets in order +that they might be taken for Christians. + +One July as he was walking in a suburban street which ended in some dusty +fields, Agaric heard groans coming from a moss-grown well that had been +abandoned by the gardeners. And almost immediately he was told by a cobbler of +the neighbourhood that a ragged man who had shouted out "Hurrah for the +Republic!" had been thrown into the well by some cavalry officers who were +passing, and had sunk up to his ears in the mud. Agaric was quite ready to see +a general significance in this particular fact. He inferred a great +fermentation in the whole aristocratic and military caste, and concluded that +it was the moment to act. + +The next day he went to the end of the Wood of Conils to visit the good Father +Cornemuse. He found the monk in his laboratory pouring a golden-coloured +liquor into a still. He was a short, fat, little man, with vermilion-tinted +cheeks and an elaborately polished bald head. His eyes had ruby-coloured +pupils like a guinea-pig's. He graciously saluted his visitor and offered him +a glass of the St. Orberosian liqueur, which he manufactured, and from the +sale of which he gained immense wealth. + +Agaric made a gesture of refusal. Then, standing on his long feet and pressing +his melancholy hat against his stomach, he remained silent. + +"Take a seat," said Cornemuse to him. + +Agaric sat down on a rickety stool, but continued mute. + +Then the monk of Conils inquired: + +"Tell me some news of your young pupils. Have the dear children sound views?" + +"I am very satisfied with them," answered the teacher. "It is everything to be +nurtured in sound principles. It is necessary to have sound views before +having any views at all, for afterwards it is too late. . . . Yes, I have +great grounds for comfort. But we live in a sad age." + +"Alas!" sighed Cornemuse. + +"We are passing through evil days. . . ." + +"Times of trial." + +"Yet, Cornemuse, the mind of the public is not so entirely corrupted as it +seems." + +"Perhaps you are right." + +"The people are tired of a government that ruins them and does nothing for +them. Every day fresh scandals spring up. The Republic is sunk in shame. It is +ruined." + +"May God grant it!" + +"Cornemuse, what do you think of Prince Crucho?" + +"He is an amiable young man and, I dare say, a worthy scion of an august +stock. I pity him for having to endure the pains of exile at so early an age. +Spring has no flowers for the exile, and autumn no fruits. Prince Crucho has +sound views; he respects the clergy; he practises our religion; besides, he +consumes a good deal of my little products." + +"Cornemuse, in many homes, both rich and poor, his return is hoped for. +Believe me, he will come back." + +"May I live to throw my mantle beneath his feet!" sighed Cornemuse. + +Seeing that he held these sentiments, Agaric depicted to him the state of +people's minds such as he himself imagined them. He showed him the nobles and +the rich exasperated against the popular government; the army refusing to +endure fresh insults; the officials willing to betray their chiefs; the people +discontented, riot ready to burst forth, and the enemies of the monks, the +agents of the constituted authority, thrown into the wells of Alca. He +concluded that it was the moment to strike a great blow. + +"We can," he cried, "save the Penguin people, we can deliver it from its +tyrants, deliver it from itself, restore the Dragon's crest, re-establish the +ancient State, the good State, for the honour of the faith and the exaltation +of the Church. We can do this if we will. We possess great wealth and we exert +secret influences; by our evangelistic and outspoken journals we communicate +with all the ecclesiastics in towns and county alike, and we inspire them with +our own eager enthusiasm and our own burning faith. They will kindle their +penitents and their congregations. I can dispose of the chiefs of the army; I +have an understanding with the men of the people. Unknown to them I sway the +minds of umbrella sellers, publicans, shopmen, gutter merchants, newspaper +boys, women of the streets, and police agents. We have more people on our side +than we need. What are we waiting for? Let us act!" + +"What do you think of doing?" asked Cornemuse. + +"Of forming a vast conspiracy and overthrowing the Republic, of +re-establishing Crucho on the throne of the Draconides." + +Cornemuse moistened his lips with his tongue several times. Then he said with +unction: + +"Certainly the restoration of the Draconides is desirable; it is eminently +desirable; and for my part, desire it with all my heart. As for the Republic, +you know what I think of it. . . . But would it not te better to abandon it to +its fate and let it die of the vices of its own constitution? Doubtless, +Agaric, what you propose is noble and generous. It would be a fine thing to +save this great and unhappy country, to re-establish it in its ancient +splendour. But reflect on it, we are Christians before we are Penguins. And we +must take heed not to compromise religion in political enterprises." + +Agaric replied eagerly: + +"Fear nothing. We shall hold all the threads of the plot, but we ourselves +shall remain in the background. We shall not be seen." + +"Like flies in milk," murmured the monk of Conils. + +And turning his keen ruby-coloured eyes towards his brother monk: + +"Take care. Perhaps the Republic is stronger than it seems. Possibly, too, by +dragging it out of the nerveless inertia in which it now rests we may only +consolidate its forces. Its malice is great; if we attack it, it will defend +itself. It makes bad laws which hardly affect us; if it is frightened it will +make terrible ones against us. Let us not lightly engage in an adventure in +which we may get fleeced. You think the opportunity a good one. I don't, and I +am going to tell you why. The present government is not yet known by +everybody, that is to say, it is known by nobody. It proclaims that it is the +Public Thing, the common thing. The populace believes it and remains +democratic and Republican. But patience! This same people will one day demand +that the public thing be the people's thing. I need not tell you how insolent, +unregulated, and contrary to Scriptural polity such claims seem to me. But the +people will make them, and enforce them, and then there will be an end of the +present government. The moment cannot now be far distant; and it is then that +we ought to act in the interests of our august body. Let us wait. What hurries +us? Our existence is not in peril. It has not been rendered absolutely +intolerable to us. The Republic fails in respect and submission to us; it does +not give the priests the honours it owes them. But it lets us live. And such +is the excellence of our position that with us to live is to prosper. The +Republic is hostile to us, but women revere us. President Formose does not +assist at the celebration of our mysteries, but I have seen his wife and +daughters at my feet. They buy my phials by the gross. I have no better +clients even among the aristocracy. Let us say what there is to be said for +it. There is no country in the world as good for priests and monks as +Penguinia. In what other country would you find our virgin wax, our virile +incense, our rosaries, our scapulars, our holy water, and our St. Orberosian +liqueur sold in such great quantities? What other people would, like the +Penguins, give a hundred golden crowns for a wave of our hands, a sound from +our mouths, a movement of our lips? For my part, I gain a thousand times more, +in this pleasant, faithful, and docile Penguinia, by extracting the essence +from a bundle of thyme, than I could make by tiring my lungs with preaching +the remission of sins in the most populous states of Europe and America. +Honestly, would Penguinia be better off if a police officer came to take me +away from here and put me on a steamboat bound for the Islands of Night?" + +Having thus spoken, the monk of Conils got up and led his guest into a huge +shed where hundreds of orphans clothed in blue were packing bottles, nailing +up cases, and gumming tickets. The ear was deafened by the noise of hammers +mingled with the dull rumbling of bales being placed upon the rails. + +"It is from here that consignments are forwarded," said Cornemuse. "I have +obtained from the government a railway through the Wood and a station at my +door. Every three days I fill a truck with my own products. You see that the +Republic has not killed all beliefs." + +Agaric made a last effort to engage the wise distiller in his enterprise. He +pointed him to a prompt, certain, dazzling success. + +"Don't you wish to share in it?" he added. "Don't you wish to bring back your +king from exile?" + +"Exile is pleasant to men of good will," answered the monk of Conils. "If you +are guided by me, my dear Brother Agaric, you will give up your project for +the present. For my own part I have no illusions. Whether or not I belong to +your party, if you lose, I shall have to pay like you." + +Father Agaric took leave of his friend and went back satisfied to his school. +"Cornemuse," thought he, "not being able to prevent the plot, would like to +make it succeed and he will give money." Agaric was not deceived. Such, +indeed, was the solidarity among priests and monks that the acts of a single +one bound them all. That was at once both their strength and their weakness. + + + +V. PRINCE CRUCHO + +Agaric resolved to proceed without delay to Prince Crucho, who honoured him +with his familiarity. In the dusk of the evening he went out of his school by +the side door, disguised as a cattle merchant and took passage on board the +St. Mael. + +The next day he landed in Porpoisea, for it was at Chitterlings Castle on this +hospitable soil that Crucho ate the bitter bread of exile. + +Agaric met the Prince on the road driving in a motor-car with two young ladies +at the rate of a hundred miles an hour. When the monk saw him he shook his red +umbrella and the prince stopped his car. + +"Is it you, Agaric? Get in! There are already three of us, but we can make +room for you. You can take one of these young ladies on your knee." + +The pious Agaric got in. + +"What news, worthy father?" asked the young prince. + +"Great news," answered Agaric. "Can I speak?" + +"You can. I have nothing secret from these two ladies." + +"Sire, Penguinia claims you. You will not be deaf to her call." + +Agaric described the state of feeling and outlined a vast plot. + +"On my first signal," said he, "all your partisans will rise at once. With +cross in hand and habits girded up, your venerable clergy will lead the armed +crowd into Formose's palace. We shall carry terror and death among your +enemies. For a reward of our efforts we only ask of you, Sire, that you will +not render them useless. We entreat you to come and seat yourself on the +throne that we shall prepare." + +The prince returned a simple answer: + +"I shall enter Alca on a green horse." + +Agaric declared that he accepted this manly response. Although, contrary to +his custom, he had a lady on his knee, he adjured the young prince, with a +sublime loftiness of soul, to be faithful to his royal duties. + +"Sire," he cried, with tears in his eyes, "you will live to remember the day +on which you have been restored from exile, given back to your people, +reestablished on the throne of your ancestors by the hands of your monks, and +crowned by them with the august crest of the Dragon. King Crucho, may you +equal the glory of your ancestor Draco the Great!" + +The young prince threw himself with emotion on his restorer and attempted to +embrace him, but he was prevented from reaching him by the girth of the two +ladies, so tightly packed were they all in that historic carriage. + +"Worthy father," said he, "I would like all Penguinia to witness this +embrace." + +"It would be a cheering spectacle," said Agaric. + +In the mean time the motor-car rushed like a tornado through hamlets and +villages, crushing hens, geese, turkeys, ducks, guinea-fowls, cats, dogs, +pigs, children, labourers, and women beneath its insatiable tyres. And the +pious Agaric turned over his great designs in his mind. His voice, coming from +behind one of the ladies, expressed this thought: + +"We must have money, a great deal of money." + +"That is your business," answered the prince. + +But already the park gates were opening to the formidable motor-car. + +The dinner was sumptuous. They toasted the Dragon's crest. Everybody knows +that a closed goblet is a sign of sovereignty; so Prince Crucho and Princess +Gudrune, his wife, drank out of goblets that were covered-over like ciboriums. +The prince had his filled several times with the wines of Penguinia, both +white and red. + +Crucho had received a truly princely education, and he excelled in motoring, +but was not ignorant of history either. He was said to be well versed in the +antiquities and famous deeds of his family; and, indeed, he gave a notable +proof of his knowledge in this respect. As they were speaking of the various +remarkable peculiarities that had been noticed in famous women, + +"It is perfectly true," said he, "that Queen Crucha, whose name I bear, had +the mark of a little monkey's head upon her body." + +During the evening Agaric had a decisive interview with three of the prince's +oldest councillors. It was decided to ask for funds from Crucho's +father-in-law, as he was anxious to have a king for son-in-law, from several +Jewish ladies, who were impatient to become ennobled, and, finally, from the +Prince Regent of the Porpoises, who had promised his aid to the Draconides, +thinking that by Crucho's restoration he would weaken the Penguins, the +hereditary enemies of his people. The three old councillors divided among +themselves the three chief offices of the Court, those of Chamberlain, +Seneschal, and High Steward, and authorised the monk to distribute the other +places to the prince's best advantage. + +"Devotion has to be rewarded," said the three old councillors. + +"And treachery also," said Agaric. + +"It is but too true," replied one of them, the Marquis of Sevenwounds, who had +experience of revolutions. + +There was dancing, and after the ball Princess Gudrune tore up her green robe +to make cockades. With her own hands she sewed a piece of it on the monk's +breast, upon which he shed tears of sensibility and gratitude. + +M. de Plume, the prince's equerry, set out the same evening to look for a +green horse. + + + +III. THE CABAL + +After his return to the capital of Penguinia, the Reverend Father Agaric +disclosed his projects to Prince Adelestan des Boscenos, of whose Draconian +sentiments he was well aware. + +The prince belonged to the highest nobility. The Torticol des Boscenos went +back to Brian the Good, and under the Draconides had held the highest offices +in the kingdom. In 1179, Philip Torticol, High Admiral of Penguinia, a brave, +faithful, and generous, but vindictive man, delivered over the port of La +Crique and the Penguin fleet to the enemies of the kingdom, because he +suspected that Queen Crucha, whose lover he was, had been unfaithful to him +and loved a stable-boy. It was that great queen who gave to the Boscenos the +silver warming-pan which they bear in their arms. As for their motto, it only +goes back to the sixteenth century. The story of its origin is as follows: One +gala night, as he mingled with the crowd of courtiers who were watching the +fire-works in the king's garden, Duke John des Boscenos approached the Duchess +of Skull and put his hand under the petticoat of that lady, who made no +complaint at the gesture. The king, happening to pass, surprised them and +contented himself with saying, "And thus I find you." These four words became +the motto of the Boscenos. + +Prince Adelestan had not degenerated from his ancestors. He preserved an +unalterable fidelity for the race of the Draconides and desired nothing so +much as the restoration of Prince Crucho, an event which was in his eyes to be +the fore-runner of the restoration of his own fortune. He therefore readily +entered into the Reverend Father Agaric's plans. He joined himself at once to +the monk's projects, and hastened to put him into communication with the most +loyal Royalists of his acquaintance, Count Clena, M. de La Trumelle, Viscount +Olive, and M. Bigourd. They met together one night in the Duke of Ampoule's +country house, six miles eastward of Alca, to consider ways and means. + +M. de La Trumelle was in favour of legal action. + +"We ought to keep within the law," said he in substance. "We are for order. It +is by an untiring propaganda that we shall best pursue the realisation of our +hopes. We must change the feeling of the country. Our cause will conquer +because it is just." + +The Prince des Boscenos expressed a contrary opinion. He thought that, in +order to triumph, just causes need force quite as much and even more than +unjust causes require it. + +"In the present situation," said he tranquilly, "three methods of action +present themselves: to hire the butcher boys, to corrupt the ministers, and to +kidnap President Formose." + +"It would be a mistake to kidnap Formose," objected M. de La Trumelle. "The +President is on our side." + +The attitude and sentiments of the President of the Republic are explained by +the fact that one Dracophil proposed to seize Formose while another Dracophil +regarded him as a friend. Formose showed himself favourable to the Royalists, +whose habits he admired and imitated. If he smiled at the mention of the +Dragon's crest it was at the thought of putting it on his own head. He was +envious of sovereign power, not because he felt himself capable of exercising +it, but because he loved to appear so. According to the expression of a +Penguin chronicler, "he was a goose." + +Prince des Boscenos maintained his proposal to march against Formose's palace +and the House of Parliament. + +Count Clena was even still more energetic. + +"Let us begin," said he, "by slaughtering, disembowelling, and braining the +Republicans and all partisans of the government. Afterwards we shall see what +more need be done." + +M. de La Trumelle was a moderate, and moderates are always moderately opposed +to violence. He recognised that Count Clena's policy was inspired by a noble +feeling and that it was high-minded, but he timidly objected that perhaps it +was not conformable to principle, and that it presented certain dangers. At +last he consented to discuss it. + +"I propose," added he, "to draw up an appeal to the people. Let us show who we +are. For my own part I can assure you that I shall not hide my flag in my +pocket." + +M. Bigourd began to speak. + +"Gentlemen, the Penguins are dissatisfied with the new order because it +exists, and it is natural for men to complain of their condition. But at the +same time the Penguins are afraid to change their government because new +things alarm them. They have not known the Dragon's crest and, although they +sometimes say that they regret it, we must not believe them. It is easy to see +that they speak in this way either without thought or because they are in an +ill-temper. Let us not have any illusions about their feelings towards +ourselves. They do not like us. They hate the aristocracy both from a base +envy and from a generous love of equality. And these two united feelings are +very strong in a people. Public opinion is not against us, because it knows +nothing about us. But when it knows what we want it will not follow us. If we +let it be seen that we wish to destroy democratic government and restore the +Dragon's crest, who will be our partisans? Only the butcher-boys and the +little shopkeepers of Alca. And could we even count on them to the end? They +are dissatisfied, but at the bottom of their hearts they are Republicans. They +are more anxious to sell their cursed wares than to see Crucho again. If we +act openly we shall only cause alarm. + +"To make people sympathise with us and follow us we must make them believe +that we want, not to overthrow the Republic, but, on the contrary, to restore +it, to cleanse, to purify, to embellish, to adorn, to beautify, and to +ornament it, to render it, in a word, glorious and attractive. Therefore, we +ought not to act openly ourselves. It is known that we are not favourable to +the present order. We must have recourse to a friend of the Republic, and, if +we are to do what is best, to a defender of this government. We have plenty to +choose from. It would be well to prefer the most popular and, if I dare say +so, the most republican of them. We shall win him over to us by flattery, by +presents, and above all by promises. Promises cost less than presents, and are +worth more. No one gives as much as he who gives hopes. It is not necessary +for the man we choose to be of brilliant intellect. I would even prefer him to +be of no great ability. Stupid people show an inimitable grace in roguery. Be +guided by me, gentlemen, and overthrow the Republic by the agency of a +Republican. Let us be prudent. But prudence does not exclude energy. If you +need me you will find me at your disposal." + +This speech made a great impression upon those who heard it. The mind of the +pious Agaric was particularly impressed. But each of them was anxious to +appoint himself to a position of honour and profit. A secret government was +organised of which all those present were elected active members. The Duke of +Ampoule, who was the great financier of the party, was chosen treasurer and +charged with organising funds for the propaganda. + +The meeting was on the point of coming to an end when a rough voice was heard +singing an old air: + + Boscenos est un gros cochon; + On en va faire des andouilles + Des saucisses et du jambon + Pour le reveillon des pauv' bougres. + +It had, for two hundred years, been a well-known song in the slums of Alca. +Prince Boscenos did not like to hear it. He went down into the street, and, +perceiving that the singer was a workman who was placing some slates on the +roof of a church, he politely asked him to sing something else. + +"I will sing what I like," answered the man. + +"My friend, to please me. . . ." + +"I don't want to please you." + +Prince Boscenos was as a rule good-tempered, but he was easily angered and a +man of great strength. + +"Fellow, come down or I will go up to you," cried he, in a terrible voice. + +As the workman, astride on his coping, showed no sign of budging, the prince +climbed quickly up the staircase of the tower and attacked the singer. He gave +him a blow that broke his jaw-bone and sent him rolling into a water-spout. At +that moment seven or eight carpenters, who were working on the rafters, heard +their companion's cry and looked through the window. Seeing the prince on the +coping they climbed along a ladder that was leaning on the slates and reached +him just as he was slipping into the tower. They sent him, head foremost, down +the one hundred and thirty-seven steps of the spiral staircase. + + + +IV. VISCOUNTESS OLIVE + +The Penguins had the finest army in the world. So had the Porpoises. And it +was the same with the other nations of Europe. The smallest amount of thought +will prevent any surprise at this. For all armies are the finest in the world. +The second finest army, if one could exist, would be in a notoriously inferior +position; it would be certain to be beaten. It ought to be disbanded at once. +Therefore, all armies are the finest in the world. In France the illustrious +Colonel Marchand understood this when, before the passage of the Yalou, being +questioned by some journalists about the Russo-Japanese war, he did not +hesitate to describe the Russian army as the finest in the world, and also the +Japanese. And it should be noticed that even after suffering the most terrible +reverses an army does not fall from its position of being the finest in the +world. For if nations ascribe their victories to the ability of their generals +and the courage of their soldiers, they always attribute their defeats to an +inexplicable fatality. On the other hand, navies are classed according to the +number of their ships. There is a first, a second, a third, and so on. So that +there exists no doubt as to the result of naval wars. + +The Penguins had the finest army and the second navy in the world. This navy +was commanded by the famous Chatillon, who bore the title of Emiralbahr, and +by abbreviation Emiral. It is the same word which, unfortunately in a corrupt +form, is used to-day among several European nations to designate the highest +grade in the naval service. But as there was but one Emiral among the +Penguins, a singular prestige, if I dare say so, was attached to that rank. + +The Emiral did not belong to the nobility. A child of the people, he was loved +by the people. They were flattered to see a man who sprang from their own +ranks holding a position of honour. Chatillon was good-looking and fortune +favoured him. He was not over-addicted to thought. No event ever disturbed his +serene outlook. + +The Reverend Father Agaric, surrendering to M. Bigourd's reasons and +recognising that the existing government could only be destroyed by one of its +defenders, cast his eyes upon Emiral Chatillon. He asked a large sum of money +from his friend, the Reverend Father Cornemuse, which the latter handed him +with a sigh. And with this sum he hired six hundred butcher boys of Alca to +run behind Chatillon's horse and shout, "Hurrah for the Emiral!" Henceforth +Chatillon could not take a single step without being cheered. + +Viscountess Olive asked him for a private interview. He received her at the +Admiralty* in a room decorated with anchors, shells, and grenades. + +* Or better, Emiralty. + + +She was discreetly dressed in greyish blue. A hat trimmed with roses covered +her pretty, fair hair, Behind her veil her eyes shone like sapphires. Although +she came of Jewish origin there was no more fashionable woman in the whole +nobility. She was tall and well shaped; her form was that of the year, her +figure that of the season. + +"Emiral," said she, in a delightful voice, "I cannot conceal my emotion from +you. . . . It is very natural . . . before a hero." + +"You are too kind. But tell me, Viscountess, what brings me the honour of your +visit." + +"For a long time I have been anxious to see you, to speak to you. . . . So I +very willingly undertook to convey a message to you." + +"Please take a seat." + +"How still it is here." + +"Yes, it is quiet enough." + +"You can hear the birds singing." + +"Sit down, then, dear lady." + +And he drew up an arm-chair for her. + +She took a seat with her back to the light. + +"Emiral, I came to bring you a very important message, a message. . ." + +"Explain." + +"Emiral, have you ever seen Prince Crucho?" + +"Never." + +She sighed. + +"It is a great pity. He would be so delighted to see you! He esteems and +appreciates you. He has your portrait on his desk beside his mother's. What a +pity it is he is not better known! He is a charming prince and so grateful for +what is done for him! He will be a great king. For he will be king without +doubt. He will come back and sooner than people think. . . . What I have to +tell you, the message with which I am entrusted, refers precisely to. . ." + +The Emiral stood up. + +"Not a word more, dear lady. I have the esteem, the confidence of the +Republic. I will not betray it. And why should I betray it? I am loaded +honours and dignities." + +"Allow me to tell you, my dear Emiral, that your honours and dignities are far +from equalling what you deserve. If your services were properly rewarded, you +would be Emiralissimo and Generalissimo, Commander-in-chief of the troops both +on land and sea. The Republic is very ungrateful to you." + +"All governments are more or less ungrateful." + +"Yes, but the Republicans are jealous of you. That class of person is always +afraid of his superiors. They cannot endure the Services. Everything that has +to do with the navy and the army is odious to them. They are afraid of you." + +"That is possible." + +"They are wretches; they are ruining the country. Don't you wish to save +Penguinia? + +"In what way?" + +"By sweeping away all the rascals of the Republic, all the Republicans." + +"What a proposal to make to me, dear lady!" + +"It is what will certainly be done, if not by you, then by some one else. The +Generalissimo, to mention him alone, is ready to throw all the ministers, +deputies, and senators into the sea, and to recall Prince Crucho." + +"Oh, the rascal, the scoundrel," exclaimed the Emiral. + +"Do to him what he would do to you. The prince will know how to recognise your +services, He will give you the Constable's sword and a magnificent grant. I am +commissioned, in the mean time, to hand you a pledge of his royal friendship." + +As she said these words she drew a green cockade from her bosom. + +"What is that?" asked the Emiral. + +"It is his colours which Crucho sends you." + +"Be good enough to take them back." + +"So that they may be offered to the Generalissimo who will accept them! . . . +No, Emiral, let me place them on your glorious breast." + +Chatillon gently repelled the lady. But for some minutes he thought her +extremely pretty, and he felt this impression still more when two bare arms +and the rosy palms of two delicate hands touched him lightly. He yielded +almost immediately. Olive was slow in fastening the ribbon. Then when it was +done she made a low courtesy and saluted Chatillon with the title of +Constable. + +"I have been ambitious like my comrades," answered the sailor, "I don't hide +it, and perhaps I am so still; but u on my word of honour, when I look at you, +the only, desire I feel is for a cottage and a heart." + +She turned upon him the charming sapphire glances that flashed from under her +eyelids. + +"That is to be had also . . . what are you doing, Emiral?" + +"I am looking for the heart." + +When she left the Admiralty, the Viscountess went immediately to the Reverend +Father Agaric to give an account of her visit. + +"You must go to him again, dear lady," said that austere monk. + + + +V. THE PRINCE DES BOSCENOS + +Morning and evening the newspapers that had been bought by the Dracophils +proclaimed Chatillon's praises and hurled shame and opprobrium upon the +Ministers of the Republic. Chatillon's portrait was sold through the streets +of Alca. Those young descendants of Remus who carry plaster figures on their +heads, offered busts of Chatillon for sale upon the bridges. + +Every evening Chatillon rode upon his white horse round the Queen's Meadow, a +place frequented by the people of fashion. The Dracophils posted along the +Emiral's route a crowd of needy Penguins who kept shouting: "It is Chatillon +we want." The middle classes of Alca conceived a profound admiration for the +Emiral. Shopwomen murmured: "He is good-looking." Women of fashion slackened +the speed of their motor-cars and kissed hands to him as they passed, amidst +the hurrahs of an enthusiastic populace. + +One day, as he went into a tobacco shop, two Penguins who were putting letters +in the box recognized Chatillon and cried at the top of their voices: "Hurrah +for the Emiral! Down with the Republicans." All those who were passing stopped +in front of the shop. Chatillon lighted his cigar before the eyes of a dense +crowd of frenzied citizens who waved their hats and cheered. The crowd kept +increasing, and the whole town, singing and marching behind its hero, went +back with him to the Admiralty. + +The Emiral had an old comrade in arms, Under-Emiral Vulcanmould, who had +served with great distinction, a man as true as gold and as loyal as his +sword. Vulcanmould plumed himself on his thoroughgoing independence and he +went among the partisans of Crucho and the Minister of the Republic telling +both parties what he thought of them. M. Bigourd maliciously declared that he +told each party what the other party thought of it. In truth he had on several +occasions been guilty of regrettable indiscretions, which were overlooked as +being the freedoms of a soldier who knew nothing of intrigue. Every morning he +went to see Chatillon, whom he treated with the cordial roughness of a brother +in arms. + +"Well, old buffer, so you are popular," said he to him. "Your phiz is sold on +the heads of pipes and on liqueur bottles and every drunkard in Alca spits out +your name as he rolls in the gutter. . . . Chatillon, the hero of the +Penguins! Chatillon, defender of the Penguin glory! . . . Who would have said +it? Who would have thought it?" + +And he laughed with his harsh laugh. Then changing his tone: "But, joking +aside, are you not a bit surprised at what is happening to you?" + +"No, indeed," answered Chatillon. + +And out went the honest Vulcanmould, banging the door behind him. + +In the mean time Chatillon had taken a little flat at number 18 Johannes-Talpa +Street, so that he might receive Viscountess Olive. They met there every day. +He was desperately in love with her. During his martial and neptunian life he +had loved crowds of women, red, black, yellow, and white, and some of them had +been very beautiful. But before he met the Viscountess he did not know what a +woman really was. When the Viscountess Olive called him her darling, her dear +darling, he felt in heaven and it seemed to him that the stars shone in her +hair. + +She would come a little late, and, as she put her ba,q on the table, she would +ask pensively: + +"Let me sit on your knee." + +And then she would talk of subjects suggested by the pious Agaric, +interrupting the conversation with sighs and kisses. She would ask him to +dismiss such and such an officer, to give a command to another, to send the +squadron here or there. And at the right moment she would exclaim: + +"How young you are, my dear!" + +And he did whatever she wished, for he was simple, he was anxious to wear the +Constable's sword, and to receive a large grant; he did not dislike playing a +double part, he had a vague idea of saving Penguinia, and he was in love. + +This delightful woman induced him to remove the troops that were at La Cirque, +the port where Crucho was to land. By this means it was made certain that +there would be no obstacle to prevent the prince from entering Penguinia. + +The pious Agaric organised public meetings so as to keep up the agitation. The +Dracophils held one or two every day in some of the thirty-six districts of +Alca, and preferably in the poorer quarters. They desired to win over the +poor, for they are the most numerous. On the fourth of May a particularly fine +meeting was held in an old cattle-market, situated in the centre of a populous +suburb filled with housewives sitting on the doorsteps and children playing in +the gutters. There were present about two thousand people, in the opinion of +the Republicans, and six thousand according to the reckoning of the +Dracophils. In the audience was to be seen the flower of Penguin society, +including Prince and Princess des Boscenos, Count Clena, M. de La Trumelle, M. +Bigourd, and several rich Jewish ladies. + +The Generalissimo of the national army had come in uniform. He was cheered. + +The committee had been carefully formed. A man of the people, a workman, but a +man of sound principles, M. Rauchin, the secretary of the yellow syndicate, +was asked to preside, supported by Count Clena and M. Michaud, a butcher. + +The government which Penguinia had freely given itself was called by such +names as cesspool and drain in several eloquent speeches. But President +Formose was spared and no mention was made of Crucho or the priests. + +The meeting was not unanimous. A defender of the modern State and of the +Republic, a manual labourer, stood up. + +"Gentlemen," said M. Rauchin, the chairman, "we have told you that this +meeting would not be unanimous. We are not like our opponents, we are honest +men. I allow our opponent to speak. Heaven knows what you are going to hear. +Gentlemen, I beg of you to restrain as long as you can the expression of your +contempt, your disgust, and your indignation." + +"Gentlemen," said the opponent. . . . + +Immediately he was knocked down, trampled beneath the feet of the indignant +crowd, and his unrecognisable remains thrown out of the hall. + +The tumult was still resounding when Count Clena ascended the tribune. Cheers +took the place of groans and when silence was restored the orator uttered +these words: + +"Comrades, we are going to see whether you have blood in your veins. What we +have got to do is to slaughter, disembowel, and brain all the Republicans." + +This speech let loose such a thunder of applause that the old shed rocked with +it, and a cloud of acrid and thick dust fell from its filthy walls and +worm-eaten beams and enveloped the audience. + +A resolution was carried vilifying the government and acclaiming Chatillon. +And the audience departed singing the hymn of the liberator: "It is Chatillon +we want." + +The only way out of the old market was through a muddy alley shut in by +omnibus stables and coal sheds. There was no moon and a cold drizzle was +coming down. The police, who were assembled in great numbers, blocked the +alley and compelled the Dracophils to disperse in little groups. These were +the instructions they had received from their chief, who was anxious to check +the enthusiasm of the excited crowd. + +The Dracophils who were detained in the alley kept marking time and singing, +"It is Chatillon we want." Soon, becoming impatient of the delay, the cause of +which they did not know, they began to push those in front of them. This +movement, propagated along the alley, threw those in front against the broad +chests of the police. The latter had no hatred for the Dracophils. In the +bottom of their hearts they liked Chatillon. But it is natural to resist +aggression and strong men are inclined to make use of their strength. For +these reasons the police kicked the Dracophils with their hob-nailed boots. As +a result there were sudden rushes backwards and forwards. Threats and cries +mingled with the songs. + +"Murder! Murder! . . . It is Chatillon we want! Murder! Murder!" + +And in the gloomy alley the more prudent kept saying, "Don't push." Among +these latter, in the darkness, his lofty figure rising above the moving crowd, +his broad shoulders and robust body noticeable among the trampled limbs and +crushed sides of the rest, stood the Prince des Boscenos, calm, immovable, and +placid. Serenely and indulgently he waited. In the mean time, as the exit was +opened at regular intervals between the ranks of the police, the pressure of +elbows against the chests of those around the prince diminished and people +began to breathe again. + +"You see we shall soon be able to go out," said that kindly giant, with a +pleasant smile. "Time and patience . . ." + +He took a cigar from his case, raised it to his lips and struck a match. +Suddenly, in the light of the match, he saw Princess Anne, his wife, clasped +in Count Clena's arms. At this sight he rushed towards them, striking both +them and those around with his cane. He was disarmed, though not without +difficulty, but he could not be separated from his opponent. And whilst the +fainting princess was lifted from arm to arm to her carriage over the excited +and curious crowd, the two men still fought furiously. Prince des Boscenos +lost his hat, his eye-glass, his cigar, his necktie, and his portfolio full of +private letters and political correspondence; he even lost the miraculous +medals that he had received from the good Father Cornemuse. But he gave his +opponent so terrible a kick in the stomach that the unfortunate Count was +knocked through an iron grating and went, head foremost, through a glass door +and into a coal-shed. + +Attracted by the struggle and the cries of those around, the police rushed +towards the prince, who furiously resisted them. He stretched three of them +gasping at his feet and put seven others to flight, with, respectively, a +broken jaw, a split lip, a nose pouring blood, a fractured skull, a torn ear, +a dislocated collar-bone, and broken ribs. He fell, however, and was dragged +bleeding and disfigured, with his clothes in rags, to the nearest +police-station, where, jumping about and bellowing, he spent the night. + +At daybreak groups of demonstrators went about the town singing, "It is +Chatillon we want," and breaking the windows of the houses in which the +Ministers of the Republic lived. + + + +VI. THE EMIRAL'S FALL + +That night marked the culmination of the Dracophil movement. The Royalists had +no longer any doubt of its triumph. Their chiefs sent congratulations to +Prince Crucho by wireless telegraphy. Their ladies embroidered scarves and +slippers for him. M. de Plume had found the green horse. + +The pious Agaric shared the common hope. But he still worked to win partisans +for the Pretender. They ought, he said, to lay their foundations upon the +bed-rock. + +With this design he had an interview with three Trade Union workmen. + +In these times the artisans no longer lived, as in the days of the Draconides, +under the government of corporations. They were free, but they had no assured +pay. After having remained isolated from each other for a long time, without +help and without support, they had formed themselves into unions. The coffers +of the unions were empty, as it was not the habit of the unionists to pay +their subscriptions. There were unions numbering thirty thousand members, +others with a thousand, five hundred, two hundred, and so forth. Several +numbered two or three members only, or even a few less. But as the lists of +adherents were not published, it was not easy to distinguish the great unions +from the small ones. + +After some dark and indirect steps the pious Agaric was put into communication +in a room in the Moulin de la Galette, with comrades Dagobert, Tronc, and +Balafille, the secretaries of three unions of which the first numbered +fourteen members, the second twenty-four, and the third only one. Agaric +showed extreme cleverness at this interview. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "you and I have not, in most respects, the same +political and social views, but there are points in which we may come to an +understanding. We have a common enemy. The government exploits you and +despises us. Help us to overthrow it; we will supply you with the means so far +as we are able, and you can in addition count on our gratitude." + +"Fork out the tin," said Dagobert. + +The Reverend Father placed on the table a bag which the distiller of Conils +had given him with tears in his eyes. + +"Done!" said the three companions. + +Thus was the solemn compact sealed. + +As soon as the monk had departed, carrying with him the joy of having won over +the masses to his cause, Dagobert, Tronc, and Balafille whistled to their +wives, Amelia, Queenie, and Matilda, who were waiting in the street for the +signal, and all six holding each other's hands, danced around the bag, +singing: + + J'ai du bon pognon, + Tu n'l'auras pas Chatillon! + Hou! Hou! la calotte! + +And they ordered a salad-bowl full of warm wine. + +In the evening all six went through the street from stall to stall singing +their new song. The song became popular, for the detectives reported that +every day showed an increase of the number of workpeople who sang through the +slums: + + J'ai du bon pognon; + Tu n'l'auras pas Chatillon! + Hou! Hou! la calotte! + +The Dracophil agitation made no progress in the provinces. The pious Agaric +sought to find the cause of this, but was unable to discover it until old +Cornemuse revealed it to him. + +"I have proofs," sighed the monk of Conils, "that the Duke of Ampoule, the +treasurer of the Dracophils, has brought property in Porpoisia with the funds +that he received for the propaganda." + +The party wanted money. Prince des Boscenos had lost his portfolio in a brawl +and he was reduced to painful expedients which were repugnant to his impetuous +character. The Viscountess Olive was expensive. Cornemuse advised that the +monthly allowance of that lady should be diminished. + +"She is very useful to us," objected the pious Agaric. + +"Undoubtedly," answered Cornemuse, "but she does us an injury by ruining us." + +A schism divided the Dracophils. Misunderstandings reigned in their councils. +Some wished that in accordance with the policy of M. Bigourd and the pious +Agaric, they should carry on the design of reforming the Republic. Others, +wearied by their long constraint, had resolved to proclaim the Dragon's crest +and swore to conquer beneath that sign. + +The latter urged the advantage of a clear situation and the impossibility of +making a pretence much longer, and in truth, the public began to see whither +the agitation was tending and that the Emiral's partisans wanted to destroy +the very foundations of the Republic. + +A report was spread that the prince was to land at La Cirque and make his +entry into Alca on a green horse. + +These rumours excited the fanatical monks, delighted the poor nobles, +satisfied the rich Jewish ladies, and put hope in the hearts of the small +traders. But very few of them were inclined to purchase these benefits at the +price of a social catastrophe and the overthrow of the public credit; and +there were fewer still who would have risked their money, their peace, their +liberty, or a single hour from their pleasures in the business. On the other +hand, the workmen held themselves ready, as ever, to give a day's work to the +Republic, and a strong resistance was being formed in the suburbs. + +"The people are with us," the pious Agaric used to say. + +However, men, women, and children, when leaving their factories, used to shout +with one voice: + + A bas Chatillon! + Hou! Hou! la calotte! + +As for the government, it showed the weakness, indecision, flabbiness, and +heedlessness common to all governments, and from which none has ever departed +without falling into arbitrariness and violence. In three words it knew +nothing, wanted nothing, and would do nothing. Formose, shut in his +presidential palace, remained blind, dumb, deaf, huge, invisible, wrapped up +in his pride as in an eider-down. + +Count Olive advised the Dracophils to make a last appeal for funds and to +attempt a great stroke while Alca was still in a ferment. + +An executive committee, which he himself had chosen, decided to kidnap the +members of the Chamber of Deputies, and considered ways and means. + +The affair was fixed for the twenty-eighth of July. On that day the sun rose +radiantly over the city. In front of the legislative palace women passed to +market with their baskets; hawkers cried their peaches, pears, and grapes; cab +horses with their noses in their bags munched their hay. Nobody expected +anything, not because the secret had been kept but because it met with nothing +but unbelievers. Nobody believed in a revolution, and from this fact we may +conclude that nobody desired one. About two o'clock the deputies began to +pass, few and unnoticed, through the side-door of the palace. At three o'clock +a few groups of badly dressed men had formed. At half past three black masses +coming from the adjacent streets spread over Revolution Square. This vast +expanse was soon covered by an ocean of soft hats, and the crowd of +demonstrators, continually increased by sight-seers, having crossed the +bridge, struck its dark wave against the walls of the legislative enclosure. +Cries, murmurs, and songs went up to the impassive sky. "It is Chatillon we +want!" "Down with the Deputies!" "Down with the Republicans!" "Death to the +Republicans!" The devoted band of Dracophils, led by Prince des Boscenos, +struck up the august canticle: + + Vive Crucho, + Vaillant et sage, + Plein de courage + Des le berceau! + +Behind the wall silence alone replied. + +This silence and the absence of guards encouraged and at the same time +frightened the crowd. Suddenly a formidable voice cried out: + +"Attack!" + +And Prince des Boscenos was seen raising his gigantic form to the top of the +wall, which was covered with barbs and iron spikes. Behind him rushed his +companions, and the people followed. Some hammered against the wall to make +holes in it; others endeavoured to tear down the spikes and to pull out the +barbs. These defences had given way in places and some of the invaders had +stripped the wall and were sitting astride on the top. Prince des Boscenos was +waving an immense green flag. Suddenly the crowd wavered and from it came a +long cry of terror. The police and the Republican carabineers issuing out of +all the entrances of the palace formed themselves into a column beneath the +wall and in a moment it was cleared of its besiegers. After a long moment of +suspense the noise of arms was heard, and the police charged the crowd with +fixed bayonets. An instant afterwards and on the deserted square strewn with +hats and walking-sticks there reigned a sinister silence. Twice again the +Dracophils attempted to form, twice they were repulsed. The rising was +conquered. But Prince des Boscenos, standing on the wall of the hostile +palace, his flag in his hand, still repelled the attack of a whole brigade. He +knocked down all who approached him. At last he, too, was thrown down, and +fell on an iron spike, to which he remained hooked, still clasping the +standard of the Draconides. + +On the following day the Ministers of the Republic and the Members of +Parliament determined to take energetic measures. In vain, this time, did +President Formose attempt to evade his responsibilities. The government +discussed the question of depriving Chatillon of his rank and dignities and of +indicting him before the High Court as a conspirator, an enemy of the public +good, a traitor, etc. + +At this news the Emiral's old companions in arms, who the very evening before +had beset him with their adulations, made no effort to conceal their joy. But +Chatillon remained popular with the middle classes of Alca and one still heard +the hymn of the liberator sounding in the streets, "It is Chatillon we want." + +The Ministers were embarrassed. They intended to indict Chatillon before the +High Court. But they knew nothing; they remained in that total ignorance +reserved for those who govern men. They were incapable of advancing any grave +charges against Chatillon. They could supply the prosecution with nothing but +the ridiculous lies of their spies. Chatillon's share in the plot and his +relations with Prince Crucho remained the secret of the thirty thousand +Dracophils. The Ministers and the Deputies had suspicions and even +certainties, but they had no proofs. The Public Prosecutor said to the +Minister of justice: "Very little is needed for a political prosecution! but I +have nothing at all and that is not enough." The affair made no progress. The +enemies of the Republic were triumphant. + +On the eighteenth of September the news ran in Alca that Chatillon had taken +flight. Everywhere there was surprise and astonishment. People doubted, for +they could not understand. + +This is what had happened: One day as the brave Under-Emiral Vulcanmould +happened, as if by chance, to go into the office of M. Barbotan, the Minister +of Foreign Affairs, he remarked with his usual frankness: + +"M. Barbotan, your colleagues do not seem to me to be up to much; it is +evident that they have never commanded a ship. That fool Chatillon gives them +a deuced bad fit of the shivers." + +The Minister, in sign of denial, waved his paper-knife in the air above his +desk. + +"Don't deny it," answered Vulcanmould. "You don't know how to get rid of +Chatillon. You do not dare to indict him before the High Court because you are +not sure of being able to bring forward a strong enough charge. Bigourd will +defend him, and Bigourd is a clever advocate. . . . You are right, M. +Barbotan, you are right. It would be a dangerous trial." + +"Ah! my friend," said the Minister, in a careless tone, "if you knew how +satisfied we are. . . . I receive the most reassuring news from my prefects. +The good sense of the Penguins will do justice to the intrigues of this +mutinous soldier. Can you suppose for a moment that a great people, an +intelligent, laborious people, devoted to liberal institutions which. . ." + +Vulcanmould interrupted with a great sigh: + +"Ah! If I had time to do it I would relieve you of your difficulty. I would +juggle away my Chatillon like a nutmeg out of a thimble. I would fillip him +off to Porpoisia." + +The Minister paid close attention. + +"It would not take long," continued the sailor. "I would rid you in a trice of +the creature. . . . But just now I have other fish to fry. . . . I am in a bad +hole. I must find a pretty big sum. But, deuce take it, honour before +everything." + +The Minister and the Under-Emiral looked at each other for a moment in +silence. Then Barbotan said with authority: + +"Under-Emiral Vulcanmould, get rid of this seditious soldier. You will render +a great service to Penguinia, and the Minister of Home Affairs will see that +your gambling debts are paid." + +The same evening Vulcanmould called on Chatillon and looked at him for some +time with an expression of grief and mystery. + +"My do you look like that?" asked the Emiral in an uneasy tone. + +Vulcanmould said to him sadly: + +"Old brother in arms, all is discovered. For the past half-hour the government +knows everything." + +At these words Chatillon sank down overwhelmed. + +Vulcanmould continued: + +"You may be arrested any moment. I advise you to make off." + +And drawing out his watch: + +"Not a minute to lose." + +"Have I time to call on the Viscountess Olive?" + +"It would be mad," said Vulcanmould, handing him a passport and a pair of blue +spectacles, and telling him to have courage. + +"I will," said Chatillon. + +"Good-bye! old chum." + +"Good-bye and thanks! You have saved my life." + +"That is the least I could do." + +A quarter of an hour later the brave Emiral had left the city of Alca. + +He embarked at night on an old cutter at La Cirque and set sail for Porpoisia. +But eight miles from the coast he was captured by a despatch-boat which was +sailing without lights and which was under, the flag of the Queen of the Black +Islands. That Queen had for a long time nourished a fatal passion for +Chatillon. + + + +VII. CONCLUSION + +Nunc est bibendum. Delivered from its fears and pleased at having escaped from +so great a danger, the government resolved to celebrate the anniversary of the +Penguin regeneration and the establishment of the Republic by holding a +general holiday. + +President Formose, the Ministers, and the members of the Chamber and of the +Senate were present at the ceremony. + +The Generalissimo of the Penguin army was present in uniform. He was cheered. + +Preceded by the black flag of misery and the red flag of revolt, deputations +of workmen walked in the procession, their aspect one of grim protection. + +President, Ministers, Deputies, officials, heads of the magistracy and of the +army, each, in their own names and in the name of the sovereign people, +renewed the ancient oath to live in freedom or to die. It was an alternative +upon which they were resolutely determined. But they preferred to live in +freedom. There were games, speeches, and songs. + +After the departure of the representatives of the State the crowd of citizens +separated slowly and peaceably, shouting out, "Hurrah for the Republic!" +"Hurrah for liberty!" "Down with the shaven pates!" + +The newspapers mentioned only one regrettable incident that happened on that +wonderful day. Prince des Boscenos was quietly smoking a cigar in the Queen's +Meadow when the State procession passed by. The prince approached the +Minister's carriage and said in a loud voice: "Death to the Republicans!" He +was immediately apprehended by the police, to whom he offered a most desperate +resistance. He knocked them down in crowds, but he was conquered by numbers, +and, bruised, scratched, swollen, and unrecognisable even to the eyes of. his +wife, he was dragged through the joyous streets into an obscure prison. + +The magistrates carried on the case against Chatillon in a peculiar style. +Letters were found at the Admiralty which revealed the complicity of the +Reverend Father Agaric in the plot. Immediately public opinion was inflamed +against the monks, and Parliament voted, one after the other, a dozen laws +which restrained, diminished, limited, prescribed, suppressed, determined, and +curtailed, their rights, immunities, exemptions, privileges, and benefits, and +created many invalidating disqualifications against them. + +The Reverend Father Agaric steadfastly endured the rigour of the laws which +struck himself personally, as well as the terrible fall of the Emiral of which +he was the chief cause. Far from yielding to evil fortune, he regarded it as +but a bird of passage. He was planning new political designs more audacious +than the first. + +When his projects were sufficiently ripe he went one day to the Wood of +Conils. A thrush sang in a tree and a little hedgehog crossed the stony path +in front of him with awkward steps. Agaric walked with great strides, +muttering fragments of sentences to himself. + +When he reached the door of the laboratory in which, for so many years, the +pious manufacturer bad distilled the golden liqueur of St. Orberosia, he found +the place deserted and the door shut. Having walked around the building he saw +in the backyard the venerable Cornemuse, who, with his habit pinned up, was +climbing a ladder that leant against the wall. + +"Is that you, my dear friend?" said he to him. "What are you doing there?" + +"You can see for yourself," answered the monk of Conils in a feeble voice, +turning a sorrowful look Upon Agaric. "I am going into my house." + +The red pupils of his eyes no longer imitated the triumph and brilliance of +the ruby, they flashed mournful and troubled glances. His countenance had lost +its happy fulness. His shining head was no longer pleasant to the sight; +perspiration and inflamed blotches bad altered its inestimable perfection. + +"I don't understand," said Agaric. + +"It is easy enough to understand. You see the consequences of your plot. +Although a multitude of laws are directed against me I have managed to elude +the greater number of them. Some, however, have struck me. These vindictive +men have closed my laboratories and my shops, and confiscated my bottles, my +stills, and my retorts. They have put seals on my doors and now I am compelled +to go in through the window. I am barely able to extract in secret and from +time to time the juice of a few plants and that with an apparatus which the +humblest labourer would despise." + +"You suffer from the persecution," said Agaric. "It strikes us all." + +The monk of Conils passed his hand over his afflicted brow: + +"I told you so, Brother Agaric; I told you that your enterprise would turn +against ourselves." + +"Our defeat is only momentary," replied Agaric eagerly. "It is due to purely +accidental causes; it results from mere contingencies. Chatillon was a fool; +he has drowned himself in his own ineptitude. Listen to me, Brother Cornemuse. +We have not a moment to lose. We must free the Penguin people, we must deliver +them from their tyrants, save them from themselves, restore the Dragon's +crest, reestablish the ancient State, the good State, for the honour of +religion and the exaltation of the Catholic faith. Chatillon was a bad +instrument; he broke in our hands. Let us take a better instrument to replace +him. I have the man who will destroy this impious democracy. He is a civil +official; his name is Gomoru. The Penguins worship him, He has already +betrayed his party for a plate of rice. There's the man we want!" + +At the beginning of this speech the monk of Conils had climbed into his window +and pulled up the ladder. + +"I foresee," answered he, with his nose through the sash, "that you will not +stop until you have us all expelled from this pleasant, agreeable, and sweet +land of Penguinia. Good night; God keep you!" + +Agaric, standing before the wall, entreated his dearest brother to listen to +him for a moment: + +"Understand your own interest better, Cornemuse! Penguinia is ours. What do we +need to conquer it? just one effort more . . . one more little sacrifice of +money and . . ." + +But without listening further, the monk of Conils drew in his head and closed +his window. + + + +BOOK VI. MODERN TIMES. + +THE AFFAIR OF THE EIGHTY THOUSAND TRUSSES OF HAY + +O Father Zeus, only save thou the sons of the Acheans from the darkness, and +make clear sky and vouchsafe sight to our eyes, and then, so it be but light, +slay us, since such is thy good pleasure. (Iliad, xvii. 645 et seq.) + + +I. GENERAL GREATAUK, DUKE OF SKULL + +A short time after the flight of the Emiral, a middle-class Jew called Pyrot, +desirous of associating with the aristocracy and wishing to serve his country, +entered the Penguin army. The Minister of War, who at the time was Greatauk, +Duke of Skull, could not endure him. He blamed him for his zeal, his hooked +nose, his vanity, his fondness for study, his thick lips, and his exemplary +conduct. Every time the author of any misdeed was looked for, Greatauk used to +say: + +"It must be Pyrot!" + +One morning General Panther, the Chief of the Staff, informed Greatauk of a +serious matter. Eighty thousand trusses of hay intended for the cavalry had +disappeared and not a trace of them was to be found. + +Greatauk exclaimed at once: + +"It must be Pyrot who has stolen them!" + +He remained in thought for some time and said: "The more I think of it the +more I am convinced that Pyrot has stolen those eighty thousand trusses of +hay. And I know it by this: he stole them in order that he might sell them to +our bitter enemies the Porpoises. What an infamous piece of treachery! + +"There is no doubt about it," answered Panther; "it only remains to prove it." + +The same day, as he passed by a cavalry barracks, Prince des Boscenos heard +the troopers as they were sweeping out the yard, singing: + + Boscenos est un gros cochon; + On en va faire des andouilles, + Des saucisses et du jambon + Pour le riveillon des pauy' bougres. + +It seemed to him contrary to all discipline that soldiers should sing this +domestic and revolutionary refrain which on days of riot had been uttered by +the lips of jeering workmen. On this occasion he deplored the moral +degeneration of the army, and thought with a bitter smile that his old comrade +Greatauk, the head of this degenerate army, basely exposed him to the malice +of an unpatriotic government. And he promised himself that he would make an +improvement before long. + +"That scoundrel Greatauk," said he to himself, "will, not remain long a +Minister." + +Prince des Boscenos was the most irreconcilable of the opponents of modem +democracy, free thought, and the government which the Penguins had voluntarily +given themselves. He had a vigorous and undisguised hatred for the Jews, and +he worked in public and in private, night and day, for the restoration of the +line of the Draconides. His ardent royalism was still further excited by the +thought of his private affairs, which were in a bad way and were hourly +growing worse. He had no hope of seeing an end to his pecuniary embarrassments +until the heir of Draco the Great entered the city of Alca. + +When he returned to his house, the prince took out of his safe a bundle of old +letters consisting of a private correspondence of the most secret nature, +which he had obtained from a treacherous secretary. They proved that his old +comrade Greatauk, the Duke of Skull, had been guilty of jobbery regarding the +military stores and had received a present of no great value from a +manufacturer called Maloury. The very smallness of this present deprived the +Minister who had accepted it of all excuse. + +The prince re-read the letters with a bitter satisfaction, put them carefully +back into his safe, and dashed to the Minister of War. He was a man of +resolute character. On being told that the Minister could see no one he +knocked down the ushers, swept aside the orderlies, trampled under foot the +civil and military clerks, burst through the doors, and entered the room of +the astonished Greatauk. + +"I will not say much," said he to him, "but I will speak to the point. You are +a confounded cad. I have asked you to put a flea in the ear of General +Mouchin, the tool of those Republicans, and you would not do it. I have asked +you to give a command to General des Clapiers, who works for the Dracophils, +and who has obliged me personally, and you would not do it. I have asked you +to dismiss General Tandem, the commander of Port Alca, who robbed me of fifty +louis at cards, and who had me handcuffed when I was brought before the High +Court as Emiral Chatillon's accomplice. You would not do it. I asked you for +the hay and bran stores. You would not give them. I asked you to send me on a +secret mission to Porpoisia. You refused. And not satisfied with these +repeated refusals you have designated me to your Government colleagues as a +dangerous person, who ought to be watched, and it is owing to you that I have +been shadowed by the police. You old traitor! I ask nothing more from you and +I have but one word to say to you: Clear out; you have bothered us too long. +Besides, we will force the vile Republic to replace you by one of our own +party. You know that I am a man of my word. If in twenty-four hours you have +not handed in your resignation I will publish the Maloury dossier in the +newspapers." + +But Greatauk calmly and serenely replied: + +"Be quiet, you fool. I am just having a Jew transported. I am handing over +Pyrot to justice as guilty of having stolen eighty thousand trusses of hay." + +Prince Boscenos, whose anger vanished like a dream, smiled. + +"Is that true?" + +"You will see." + +"My congratulations, Greatauk. But as one always needs to take precautions +with you I shall immediately publish the good news. People will read this +evening about Pyrot's arrest in every newspaper in Alca . . . ." + +And he went away muttering: + +"That Pyrot! I suspected he would come to a bad end." + +A moment later General Panther appeared before Greatauk. + +"Sir," said he, "I have just examined the business of the eighty thousand +trusses of hay. There is no evidence against Pyrot." + +"Let it be found," answered Greatauk. "Justice requires it. Have Pyrot +arrested at once." + + + +I. PYROT + +All Penguinia heard with horror of Pyrot's crime; at the same time there was a +sort of satisfaction that this embezzlement combined with treachery and even +bordering on sacrilege, had been committed by a Jew. In order to understand +this feeling it is necessary to be acquainted with the state of public opinion +regarding the Jews both great and small. As we have had occasion to say in +this history, the universally detested and all powerful financial caste was +composed of Christians and of Jews. The Jews who formed part of it and on whom +the people poured all their hatred were the upper-class Jews. They possessed +immense riches and, it was said, held more than a fifth part of the total +property of Penguinia. Outside this formidable caste there was a multitude of +Jews of a mediocre condition, who were not more loved than the others and who +were feared much less. In every ordered State, wealth is a sacred thing: in +democracies it is the only sacred thing. Now the Penguin State was democratic. +Three or four financial companies exercised a more extensive, and above all, +more effective and continuous power, than that of the Ministers of the +Republic. The latter were puppets whom the companies ruled in secret, whom +they compelled by intimidation or corruption to favour themselves at the +expense of the State, and whom they ruined by calumnies in the press if they +remained honest. In spite of the secrecy of the Exchequer, enough appeared to +make the country indignant, but the middle-class Penguins had, from the +greatest to the least of them, been brought up to hold money in great +reverence, and as they all had property, either much or little, they were +strongly impressed with the solidarity of capital and understood that a small +fortune is not safe unless a big one is protected. For these reasons they +conceived a religious respect for the Jews' millions, and self-interest being +stronger with them than aversion, they were as much afraid as they were of +death to touch a single hair of one of the rich Jews whom they detested. +Towards the poorer Jews they felt less ceremonious and when they saw any of +them down they trampled on them. That is why the entire nation learnt with +thorough satisfaction that the traitor was a Jew. They could take vengeance on +all Israel in his person without any fear of compromising the public credit. + +That Pyrot had stolen the eighty thousand trusses of hay nobody hesitated for +a moment to believe. No one doubted because the general ignorance in which +everybody was concerning the affair did not allow of doubt, for doubt is a +thing that demands motives. People do not doubt without reasons in the same +way that people believe without reasons. The thing was not doubted because it +was repeated everywhere and, with the public, to repeat is to prove. It was +not doubted because people wished to believe Pyrot guilty and one believes +what one wishes to believe. Finally, it was not doubted because the faculty of +doubt is rare amongst men; very few minds carry in them its germs and these +are not developed without cultivation. Doubt is singular, exquisite, +philosophic, immoral, transcendent, monstrous, full of malignity, injurious to +persons and to property, contrary to the good order of governments, and to the +prosperity of empires, fatal to humanity, destructive of the gods, held in +horror by heaven and earth. The mass of the Penguins were ignorant of doubt: +it believed in Pyrot's guilt and this conviction immediately became one of its +chief national beliefs and an essential truth in its patriotic creed. + +Pyrot was tried secretly and condemned. + +General Panther immediately went to the Minister of War to tell him the +result. + +"Luckily," said he, "the judges were certain, for they had no proofs." + +"Proofs," muttered Greatauk, "Proofs, what do they prove? There is only one +certain, irrefragable proof--the confession of the guilty person. Has Pyrot +confessed?" + +"No, General." + +"He will confess, he ought to. Panther, we must induce him; tell him it is to +his interest. Promise him that, if he confesses, he will obtain favours, a +reduction of his sentence, full pardon; promise him that if he confesses his +innocence will be admitted, that he will be decorated. Appeal to his good +feelings. Let him confess from patriotism, for the flag, for the sake of +order, from respect for the hierarchy, at the special command of the Minister +of War militarily. . . . But tell me, Panther, has he not confessed already? +There are tacit confessions; silence is a confession." + +"But, General, he is not silent; he keeps on squealing like a pig that he is +innocent." + +"Panther, the confessions of a guilty man sometimes result from the vehemence +of his denials. To deny desperately is to confess. Pyrot has confessed; we +must have witnesses of his confessions, justice requires them." + +There was in Western Penguinia a seaport called La Cirque, formed of three +small bays and formerly greatly frequented by ships, but now solitary and +deserted. Gloomy lagoons stretched along its low coasts exhaling a pestilent +odour, while fever hovered over its sleepy waters. Here, on the borders of the +sea, there was built a high square tower, like the old Campanile at Venice, +from the side of which, close to the summit hung an open cage which was +fastened by a chain to a transverse beam. In the times of the Draconides the +Inquisitors of Alca used to put heretical clergy into this cage. It had been +empty for three hundred years, but now Pirot was imprisoned in it under the +guard of sixty warders, who lived in the tower and did not lose sight of him +night or day, spying on him for confessions that they might afterwards report +to the Minister of War. For Greatauk, careful and prudent, desired confessions +and still further confessions. Greatauk, who was looked upon as a fool, was in +reality a man of great ability and full of rare foresight. + +In the mean time Pyrot, burnt by the sun, eaten by mosquitoes, soaked in the +rain, hail and snow, frozen by the cold, tossed about terribly by the wind, +beset by the sinister croaking of the ravens that perched upon his cage, kept +writing down his innocence on pieces torn off his shirt with a tooth-pick +dipped in blood. These rags were lost in the sea or fell into the hands of the +gaolers. But Pyrot's protests moved nobody because his confessions had been +published. + + + +III. COUNT DE MAUBEC DE LA DENTDULYNX + +The morals of the Jews were not always pure; in most cases they were averse +from none of the vices of Christian civilization, but they retained from the +Patriarchal age a recognition of family, ties and an attachment to the +interests of the tribe. Pyrot's brothers, half-brothers, uncles, great-uncles, +first, second, and third cousins, nephews and great-nephews, relations by +blood and relations by marriage, and all who were related to him to the number +of about seven hundred, were at first overwhelmed by the blow that had struck +their relative, and they shut themselves up in their houses, covering +themselves with ashes and blessing the hand that had chastised them. For forty +days they kept a strict fast. Then they bathed themselves and resolved to +search, without rest, at the cost of any toil and at the risk of eve danger, +for the demonstration of an innocence which they did not doubt. And how could +they have doubted? Pyrot's innocence had been revealed to them in the same way +that his guilt had been revealed to Christian Penguinia's; for these things, +being hidden, assume a mystic character and take on the authority of religious +truths. The seven hundred Pyrotists set to work with as much zeal as prudence, +and made the most thorough inquiries in secret. They were everywhere; they +were seen nowhere. One would have said that, like the pilot of Ulysses, they +wandered freely over the earth. They penetrated into the War Office and +approached, under different disguises, the judges, the registrars, and the +witnesses of the affair. Then Greatauk's cleverness was seen. The witnesses +knew nothing; the judges and registrars knew nothing. Emissaries reached even +Pyrot and anxiously questioned him in his cage amid the prolonged moanings of +the sea and the hoarse croaks of the ravens. It was in vain; the prisoner knew +nothing. The seven hundred Pyrotists could not subvert the proofs of the +accusation because they could not know what they were, and they could not know +what they were because there were none. Pyrot's guilt was indefeasible through +its very nullity. And it was with a legitimate pride that Greatauk, expressing +himself as a true artist, said one day to General Panther: "This case is a +master-piece: it is made out of nothing." The seven hundred Pyrotists +despaired of ever clearing up this dark business, when suddenly they +discovered, from a stolen letter, that the eighty thousand trusses of hay had +never existed, that a most distinguished nobleman, Count de Maubec, had sold +them to the State, that he had received the price but had never delivered +them. Indeed seeing that he was descended from the richest landed proprietors +of ancient Penguinia, the heir of the Maubecs of Dentdulynx, once the +possessors of four duchies, sixty counties, and six hundred and twelve +marquisates, baronies, and viscounties, he did not possess as much land as he +could cover with his hand, and would not have been able to cut a single day'S +mowing of forage off his own domains. As to his getting a single rush from a +land-owner or a merchant, that would have been quite impossible, for everybody +except the Ministers of State and the Government officials knew that it would +be easier to get blood from a stone than a farthing from a Maubec. + +The seven hundred Pyrotists made a minute inquiry concerning the Count Maubec +de la Dentdulynx's financial resources, and they proved that that nobleman was +chiefly supported by a house in which some generous ladies were ready to +furnish all comers with the most lavish hospitality. They publicly proclaimed +that he was guilty of the theft of the eighty thousand trusses of straw for +which an innocent man had been condemned and was now imprisoned in the cage. + +Maubec belonged to an illustrious family which was allied to the Draconides. +There is nothing that a democracy esteems more highly than noble birth. Maubec +had also served in the Penguin army, and since the Penguins were all soldiers, +they loved their army to idolatry. Maubec, on the field of battle, had +received the Cross, which is a sign of honour among the Penguins and which +they valued even more highly than the embraces of their wives. All Penguinia +declared for Maubec, and the voice of the people which began to assume a +threatening tone, demanded severe punishments for the seven hundred +calumniating Pyrotists. + +Maubec was a nobleman; he challenged the seven hundred Pyrotists to combat +with either sword, sabre, pistols, carabines, or sticks. + +"Vile dogs," he wrote to them in a famous letter, "you have crucified my God +and you want my life too; I warn you that I will not be such a duffer as He +was and that I will cut off your fourteen hundred ears. Accept my boot on your +seven hundred behinds." + +The Chief of the Government at the time was a peasant called Robin Mielleux, a +man pleasant to the rich and powerful, but hard towards the poor, a man of +small courage and ignorant of his own interests. In a public declaration he +guaranteed Maubec's innocence and honour, and presented the seven hundred +Pyrotists: to the criminal courts where they were condemned, as libellers, to +imprisonment, to enormous fines, and to all the damages that were claimed by +their innocent victim. + +It seemed as if Pyrot was destined to remain for ever shut in the cage on +which the ravens perched. But all the Penguins being anxious to know and prove +that this Jew was guilty, all the proofs brought forward were found not to be +good, while some of them were also contradictory. The officers of the Staff +showed zeal but lacked prudence. Whilst Greatauk kept an admirable silence, +General Panther made inexhaustible speeches and every morning demonstrated in +the newspapers that the condemned man was guilty. He would have done better, +perhaps, if he had said nothing. The guilt was evident and what is evident +cannot be demonstrated. So much reasoning disturbed people's minds; their +faith, though still alive, became less serene. The more proofs one gives a +crowd the more they ask for. + +Nevertheless the danger of proving too much would not have been great if there +had not been in Penguinia, as there are, indeed, everywhere, minds framed for +free inquiry, capable of studying a difficult question, and inclined to +philosophic doubt. They were few; they were not all inclined to speak, and the +public was by no means inclined to listen to them. Still, they did not always +meet with deaf ears. The great Jews, all the Israelite millionaires of Alca, +when spoken to of Pyrot, said: "We do not know the man"; but they thought of +saving him. They preserved the prudence to which their wealth inclined them +and wished that others would be less timid. Their wish was to be gratified. + + + +V. COLOMBAN + +Some weeks after the conviction of the seven hundred Pyrotists, a little, +gruff, hairy, short-sighted man left his house one morning with a paste-pot, a +ladder, and a bundle of posters and went about the streets pasting placards to +the walls on which might be read in large letters: Pyrot is innocent, Maubec +is guilty. He was not a bill-poster; his name was Colomban, and as the author +of sixty volumes on Penguin sociology he was numbered among the most laborious +and respected writers in Alca. Having given sufficient thought to the matter +and no longer doubting Pyrot's innocence, he proclaimed it in the manner which +he thought would be most sensational. He met with no hindrance while posting +his bills in the quiet streets, but when he came to the populous quarters, +every time he mounted his ladder, inquisitive people crowded round him and, +dumbfounded with surprise and indignation, threw at him threatening looks +which he received with the calm that comes from courage and short-sightedness. +Whilst caretakers and tradespeople tore down the bills he had posted, he kept +on zealously placarding, carrying his tools and followed by little boys who, +with their baskets under their arms or their satchels on their backs, were in +no hurry to reach school. To the mute indignation against him, protests and +murmurs were now added. But Colomban did not condescend to see or hear +anything. As, at the entrance to the Rue St. Orberosia, he was posting one of +his squares of paper bearing the words: Pyrot is innocent, Maubec is guilty, +the riotous crowd showed signs of the most violent anger. They called after +him, "Traitor, thief, rascal, scoundrel." A woman opened a window and emptied +a vase full of filth over his head, a cabby sent his hat flying from one end +of the street to the other by a blow of his whip amid the cheers of the crowd +who now felt themselves avenged. A butcher's boy knocked Colomban with his +paste-pot, his brush, and his posters, from the top of his ladder into the +gutter, and the proud Penguins then felt the greatness of their country. +Colomban stood up,, covered with filth, lame, and with his elbow injured, but +tranquil and resolute. + +"Low brutes," he muttered, shrugging his shoulders. + +Then he went down on all-fours in the gutter to look for his glasses which he +had lost in his fall. t was then seen that his coat was split from the collar +to the tails and that his trousers were in rags. The rancour of the crowd grew +stronger. + +On the other side of the street stretched the big St. Orberosian Stores. The +patriots seized whatever they could lay their hands on from the shop front, +and hurled at Colomban oranges, lemons, pots of jam, pieces of chocolate, +bottles of liqueurs, boxes of sardines, pots of foie gras, hams, fowls, flasks +of oil, and bags of haricots. Covered with the debris of the food, bruised, +tattered, lame, and blind, he took to flight, followed by the shop-boys, +bakers, loafers, citizens, and hooligans whose number increased each moment +and who kept shouting: "Duck him! Death to the traitor! Duck him!" This +torrent of vulgar humanity swept along the streets and rushed into the Rue St. +Mael. The police did their duty. From all the adjacent streets constables +proceeded and, holding their scabbards with their left hands, they went at +full speed in front of the pursuers. They were on the point of grabbing +Colomban in their huge hands when he suddenly escaped them by falling through +an open man-hole to the bottom of a sewer. + +He spent the night there in the darkness, sitting close by the dirty water +amidst the fat and slimy rats. He thought of his task, and his swelling heart +filled with courage and pity. And when the dawn threw a pale ray of light into +the air-hole he got up and said, speaking to himself: + +"I see that the fight will be a stiff one." + +Forthwith he composed a memorandum in which he clearly showed that Pyrot could +not have stolen from the Ministry of War the eighty thousand trusses of hay +which it had never received, for the reason that Maubec had never delivered +them, though he had received the money. Colomban caused this statement to be +distributed in the streets of Alca. The people refused to read it and tore it +up in anger. The shop-keepers shook their fists at the distributers, who made +off, chased by angry women armed with brooms. Feelings grew warm and the +ferment lasted the whole day. In the evening bands of wild and ragged men went +about the streets yelling: "Death to Colomban!" The patriots snatched whole +bundles of the memorandum from the newsboys and burned them in the public +squares, dancing wildly round these bon-fires with girls whose petticoats were +tied up to their waists. + +Some of the more enthusiastic among them went and broke the windows of the +house in which Colomban had lived in perfect tranquillity during his forty +years of work. + +Parliament was roused and asked the Chief of the Government what measures he +proposed to take in order to repel the odious attacks made by Colomban upon +the honour of the National Arm and the safety of Penguinia. Robin Mielleux +denounced Colomban's impious audacity and proclaimed amid the cheers of the +legislators that the man would be summoned before the Courts to answer for his +infamous libel. + +The Minister of War was called to the tribune and appeared in it transfigured. +He had no longer the air, as in former days, of one of the sacred geese of the +Penguin citadels. Now, bristling, with outstretched neck and hooked beak, he +seemed the symbolical vulture fastened to the livers of his country's enemies. + +In the august silence of the assembly he pronounced these words only: + +"I swear that Pyrot is a rascal." + +This speech of Greatauk was reported all over Penguinia and satisfied the +public conscience. + + + +V. THE REVEREND FATHERS AGARIC AND CORNEMUSE + +Colomban bore with meekness and surprise the weight of the general +reprobation. He could not go out without being stoned, so he did not go out. +He remained in his study with a superb obstinacy, writing new memoranda in +favour of the encaged innocent. In the mean time among the few readers that he +found, some, about a dozen, were struck by his reasons and began to doubt +Pyrot's guilt. They broached the subject to their friends and endeavoured to +spread the light that had arisen in their minds. One of them was a friend of +Robin Mielleux and confided to him his perplexities, with the result that he +was no longer received by that Minister. Another demanded explanations in an +open letter to the Minister of War. A third published a terrible pamphlet. The +latter, whose name was Kerdanic, was a formidable controversialist. The public +was unmoved. It was said that these defenders of the traitor had been bribed +by the rich Jews; they were stigmatized by the name of Pyrotists and the +patriots swore to exterminate them. There were only a thousand or twelve +hundred Pyrotists in the whole vast Republic, but it was believed that they +were everywhere. People were afraid of finding them in the promenades, at +meetings, at receptions, in fashionable drawing-rooms, at the dinner-table, +even in the conjugal couch. One half of the population was suspected by the +other half. The discord set all Alca on fire. + +In the mean time Father Agaric, who managed his big school for young nobles, +followed events with anxious attention. The misfortunes of the Penguin Church +had not disheartened him. He remained faithful to Prince Crucho and preserved +the hope of restoring the heir of the Draconides to the Penguin throne. It +appeared to him that the events that were happening or about to happen in the +country, the state of mind of which they were at once the effect and the +cause, and the troubles that necessarily resulted from them might--if they +were directed, guided, and led by the profound wisdom of a monk--overthrow the +Republic and incline the Penguins to restore Prince Crucho, from whose piety +the faithful hoped for so much solace. Wearing his huge black hat, the brims +of which looked like the wings of Night, he walked through the Wood of Conils +towards the factory where his venerable friend, Father Cornemuse, distilled +the hygienic St. Orberosian liqueur, The good monk's industry, so cruelly +affected in the time of Emiral Chatillon, was being restored from its ruins. +One heard goods trains rumbling through the Wood and one saw in the sheds +hundreds of orphans clothed in blue, packing bottles and nailing up cases. + +Agaric found the venerable Cornemuse standing before his stoves and surrounded +by his retorts. The shining pupils of the old man's eyes had again become as +rubies, his skull shone with its former elaborate and careful polish. + +Agaric first congratulated the pious distiller on the restored activity of his +laboratories and workshops. + +"Business is recovering. I thank God for it," answered the old man of Conils. +"Alas! it had fallen into a bad state, Brother Agaric. You raw the desolation +of this establishment. I need say no more." + +Agaric turned away his head. + +"The St. Orberosian liqueur," continued Cornemuse, "is making fresh conquests. +But none the less my industry remains uncertain and precarious. The laws of +ruin and desolation that struck it have not been abrogated, they have only +been suspended." + +And the monk of Conils lifted his ruby eyes to heaven. + +Agaric put his hand on his shoulder. + +"What a sight, Cornemuse, does unhappy Penguinia present to us! Everywhere +disobedience, independence, liberty! We seethe proud, the haughty, the men of +revolt rising up. After having braved the Divine laws they now rear themselves +against human laws, so true is it that in order to be a good citizen a man +must be a good Christian. Colomban is trying to imitate Satan. Numerous +criminals are following his fatal example. They want, in their rage, to put +aside all checks, to throw off all yokes, to free themselves from the most +sacred bonds, to escape from the most salutary restraints. They strike their +country to make it obey them. But they will be overcome by the weight of +public animadversion, vituperation, indignation, fury, execration, and +abomination. That is the abyss to which they have been led by atheism, free +thought, and the monstrous claim to judge for themselves and to form their own +opinions." + +"Doubtless, doubtless," replied Father Cornemuse, shaking his head, "but I +confess that the care of distilling these simples has prevented me from +following public affairs. I only know that people are talking a great deal +about a man called Pyrot. Some maintain that he is guilty, others affirm that +he is innocent, but I do not clearly understand the motives that drive both +parties to mix themselves up in a business that concerns neither of them." + +The pious Agaric asked eagerly: + +"You do not doubt Pyrot's guilt?" + +"I cannot doubt it, dear Agaric," answered the monk of Conils. "That would be +contrary to the laws of my country which we ought to respect as long as they +are not opposed to the Divine laws. Pyrot is guilty, for he has been +convicted. As to saying more for or against his guilt, that would be to erect +my own authority against that of the judges, a thing which I will take good +care not to do. Besides, it is useless, for Pyrot has been convicted. If he +has not been convicted because he is guilty, he is guilty because he has been +convicted; it comes to the same thing. I believe in his guilt as every good +citizen ought to believe in it; and I will believe in it as long as the +established jurisdiction will order me to believe in it, for it is not for a +private person but for a judge to proclaim the innocence of a convicted +person. Human justice is venerable even in the errors inherent in its fallible +and limited nature. These errors are never irreparable; if the judges do not +repair them on earth, God will repair them in Heaven. Besides I have great +confidence in general Greatauk, who, though he certainly does not look it, +seems to me to be an abler man than all those who are attacking him." + +"Dearest Cornemuse," cried the pious Agaric, "the Pyrot affair, if pushed to +the point whither we can lead it by the help of God and the necessary funds, +will produce the greatest benefits. It will lay bare the vices of this +Anti-Christian Republic and will incline the Penguins to restore the throne of +the Draconides and the prerogatives of the Church. But to do that it is +necessary for the people to see the clergy in the front rank of its defenders. +Let us march against the enemies of the army, against those who insult our +heroes, and everybody will follow us." + +"Everybody will be too many," murmured the monk of Conils, shaking his head. +"I see that the Penguins want to quarrel. If we mix ourselves up in their +quarrel they will become reconciled at our expense and we shall have to pay +the cost of the war. That is why, if you are guided by me, dear Agaric, you +will not engage the Church in this adventure." + +"You know my energy; you know my prudence. I will compromise nothing. . . . +Dear Cornemuse, I only want from you the funds necessary for us to begin the +campaign." + +For a long time Cornemuse refused to bear the expenses of what he thought was +a fatal enterprise. Agaric was in turn pathetic and terrible. At last, +yielding to his prayers and threats, Cornemuse, with banging head and swinging +arms, went to the austere cell that concealed his evangelical poverty. In the +whitewashed wall under a branch of blessed box, there was fixed a safe. He +opened it, and with a sigh took out a bundle of bills which, with hesitating +hands, he gave to the pious Agaric. + +"Do not doubt it, dear Cornemuse," said the latter, thrusting the papers into +the pocket of his overcoat, "this Pyrot affair has been sent us by God for the +glory and exaltation of the Church of Penguinia." + +"I pray that you may be right!" sighed the monk of Conils. + +And, left alone in his laboratory, he gazed, through his exquisite eyes, with +an ineffable sadness at his stoves and his retorts. + + + +VI. THE SEVEN HUNDRED PYROTISTS + +The seven hundred Pyrotists inspired the public with an increasing aversion. +Every day two or three of them were beaten to death in the streets. One of +them was publicly whipped, another thrown into the river, a third tarred and +feathered and led through a laughing crowd, a fourth had his nose cut off by a +captain of dragoons. They did not dare to show themselves at their clubs, at +tennis, or at the races; they put on a disguise when they went to the Stock +Exchange. In these circumstances the Prince des Boscenos thought it urgent to +curb their audacity and repress their insolence. For this purpose he joined +with Count Clena, M. de La Trumelle, Viscount Olive, and M. Bigourd in +founding a great anti-Pyrotist association to which citizens in hundreds of +thousands, soldiers in companies, regiments, brigades, divisions, and army +corps, towns, districts, and provinces, all gave their adhesion. + +About this time the Minister of War happening to visit one day his Chief of +Staff, saw with surprise that the large room where General Panther worked, +which was formerly quite bare, had now along each wall from floor to ceiling +in sets of deep pigeon-holes, triple and quadruple rows of paper bundles of +every as form and colour. These sudden and monstrous records had in a few days +reached the dimensions of a pile of archives such as it takes centuries to +accumulate. + +"What is this?" asked the astonished minister. + +"Proofs against Pyrot," answered General Panther with patriotic satisfaction. +"We had not got them when we convicted him, but we have plenty of them now." + +The door was open, and Greatauk saw coming up the stair-case a long file of +porters who were unloading heavy bales of papers in the hall, and he saw the +lift slowly rising heavily loaded with paper packets. + +"What are those others?" said he. + +"They are fresh proofs against Pyrot that are now reaching us," said Panther. +"I have asked for them in every county of Penguinia, in every Staff Office and +in every Court in Europe. I have ordered them in every town in America and in +Australia, and in every factory in Africa, and I am expecting bales of them +from Bremen and a ship-load from Melbourne." And Panther turned towards the +Minister of War the tranquil and radiant look of a hero. However, Greatauk, +his eye-glass in his eye, was looking at the formidable pile of papers with +less satisfaction than uneasiness. + +"Very good," said he, "very good! but I am afraid that this Pyrot business may +lose its beautiful simplicity. It was limpid; like a rock-crystal its value +lay in its transparency. You could have searched it in vain with a +magnifying-glass for a straw, a bend, a blot, for the least fault. When it +left my hands it was as pure as the light. Indeed it was the light. I give you +a pearl and you make a mountain out of it. To tell you the truth I am afraid +that by wishing to do too well you have done less well. Proofs! of course it +is good to have proofs, but perhaps it is better to have none at all. I have +already told you, Panther, there is only one irrefutable proof, the confession +of the guilty person (or if the innocent what matter!). The Pyrot affair, as I +arranged it, left no room for criticism; there was no spot where it could be +touched. It defied assault. t was invulnerable because it was invisible. Now +it gives an enormous handle for discussion. I advise you, Panther, to use your +paper packets with great reserve. I should be particularly grateful if you +would be more sparing of your communications to journalists. You speak well, +but you say too much. Tell me, Panther, are there any forged documents among +these?" + +"There are some adapted ones." + +"That is what I meant. There are some adapted ones. So much the better. As +proofs, forged documents, in general, are better than genuine ones, first of +all because they have been expressly made to suit the needs of the case, to +order and measure, and therefore they are fitting and exact. They are also +preferable because they carry the mind into an ideal world and turn it aside +from the reality which, alas! in this world is never without some alloy. . . . +Nevertheless, I think I should have preferred, Panther, that we had no proofs +at all." + +The first act of the Anti-Pyrotist Association was to ask the Government +immediately to summon the seven hundred Pyrotists and their accomplices before +the High Court of Justice as guilty of high treason. Prince des Boscenos was +charged to speak on behalf of the Association and presented himself before the +Council which had assembled to hear him. He expressed a hope that the +vigilance and firmness of the Government would rise to the height of the +occasion. He shook hands with each of the ministers and as he passed General +Greatauk he whispered in his ear: + +"Behave properly, you ruffian, or I will publish the Maloury dossier!" + +Some days later by a unanimous vote of both Houses, on a motion proposed by +the Government, the Anti-Pyrotist Association was granted a charter +recognising it as beneficial to the public interest. + +The Association immediately sent a deputation to Chitterlings Castle in +Porpoisia, where Crucho was eating the bitter bread of exile, to assure the +prince of the love and devotion of the Anti-Pyrotist members. + +However, the Pyrotists grew in numbers, and now counted ten thousand. They had +their regular cafes on the boulevards. The patriots had theirs also, richer +and bigger, and every evening glasses of beer, saucers, match-stands, jugs, +chairs, and tables were hurled from one to the other. Mirrors were smashed to +bits, and the police ended the struggles by impartially trampling the +combatants of both parties under their hob-nailed shoes. + +On one of these glorious nights, as Prince des Boscenos was leaving a +fashionable cafe in the company of some patriots, M. de La Trumelle pointed +out to him a little, bearded man with glasses, hatless, and having only one +sleeve to his coat, who was painfully dragging himself along the +rubbish-strewn pavement. + +"Look!" said he, "there is Colomban!" + +The prince had gentleness as well as strength; he was exceedingly mild; but at +the name of Colomban his blood boiled. He rushed at the little spectacled man, +and knocked him down with one blow of his fist on the nose. + +M. de La Trumelle then perceived that, misled by an undeserved resemblance, he +had mistaken for Colomban, M. Bazile, a retired lawyer, the secretary of the +Anti-pyrotist Association, and an ardent and generous patriot. Prince des +Boscenos was one of those antique souls who never bend. However, he knew how +to recognise his faults. + +"M. Bazile," said he, raising his hat, "if I have touched your face with my +hand you will excuse me and you will understand me, you will approve of me, +nay, you will compliment me, you will congratulate me and felicitate me, when +you know the cause of that act. I took you for Colomban." + +M. Bazile, wiping his bleeding nostrils with his handkerchief and displaying +an elbow laid bare by the absence of his sleeve: + +"No, sir," answered he drily, "I shall not felicitate you, I shall not +congratulate you, I shall not compliment you, for your action was, at the very +least, superfluous; it was, I will even say, supererogatory. Already this +evening I have been three times mistaken for Colomban and received a +sufficient amount of the treatment he deserves. The patriots have knocked in +my ribs and broken my back, and, sir, I was of opinion that that was enough." + +Scarcely had he finished this speech than a band of Pyrotists appeared, and +misled in their turn by that insidious resemblance, they believed that the +patriots were killing Colomban. They fell on Prince des Boscenos and his +companions with loaded canes and leather thongs, and left them for dead. Then +seizing Bazile they carried him in triumph, and in spite of his protests, +along the boulevards, amid cries of: "Hurrah for Colomban! Hurrah for Pyrot!" +At last the police, who had been sent after them, attacked and defeated them +and dragged them ignominiously to the station, where Bazile, under the name of +Colomban, was trampled on by an innumerable quantity of thick, hob-nailed +shoes. + + + +VII. BIDAULT-COQUILLE AND MANIFLORE, THE SOCIALISTS + +Whilst the wind of anger and hatred blew in Alca, Eugine Bidault- Coquille, +poorest and happiest of astronomers, installed in an old steam-engine of the +time of the Draconides, was observing the heavens through a bad telescope, and +photographing the paths of the meteors upon some damaged photographic plates. +His genius corrected the errors of his instruments and his love of science +triumphed over the worthlessness of his apparatus. With an inextinguishable +ardour he observed aerolites, meteors, and fire-balls, and all the glowing +ruins and blazing sparks which pass through the terrestrial atmosphere with +prodigious speed, and as a reward for is studious vigils he received the +indifference of the public, the ingratitude of the State and the blame of the +learned societies. Engulfed in the celestial spaces he knew not what occurred +upon the surface of the earth. He never read the newspapers, and when he +walked through the town his mind was occupied with the November asteroids, and +more than once he found himself at the bottom of a pond in one of the public +parks or beneath the wheels of a motor omnibus. + +Elevated in stature as in thought he respected himself and others. This was +shown by his cold politeness as well as by a very thin black frock coat and a +tall hat which gave to his person an appearance at once emaciated and sublime. +He took his meals in a little restaurant from which all customers less +intellectual than himself had fled, and thenceforth his napkin bound by its +wooden ring rested alone in the abandoned rack. + +In this cook-shop his eyes fell one evening upon Colomban's memorandum in +favour of Pyrot. He read it as he was cracking some bad nuts and suddenly, +exalted with astonishment, admiration, horror, and pity, he forgot all about +falling meteors and shooting stars and saw nothing but the innocent man +hanging in his cage exposed to the winds of heaven and the ravens perching +upon it. + +That image did not leave him. For a week he had been obsessed by the innocent +convict, when, as he was leaving his cook-shop, he saw a crowd of citizens +entering a public-house in which a public meeting was going on. He went in. +The meeting was disorderly; they were yelling, abusing one another and +knocking one another down in the smoke-laden hall. The Pyrotists and the +Anti-Pyrotists spoke in turn and were alternately cheered and hissed at. An +obscure and confused enthusiasm moved the audience. With the audacity of a +timid and retired man Bidault-Coquille leaped upon the platform and spoke for +three-quarters of an hour. He spoke very quickly, without order, but with +vehemence, and with all the conviction of a mathematical mystic. He was +cheered. When he got down from the platform a big woman of uncertain age, +dressed in red, and wearing an immense hat trimmed with heroic feathers, +throwing herself into his arms, embraced him, and said to him: + +"You are splendid!" + +He thought in his simplicity that there was some truth in the statement. + +She declared to him that henceforth she would live but for Pyrot's defence and +Colomban's glory. He thought her sublime and beautiful. She was Maniflore, a +poor old courtesan, now forgotten and discarded, who had suddenly become a +vehement politician. + +She never left him. They spent glorious hours together in doss-houses and in +lodgings beautified by their love, in newspaper offices, in meeting-halls and +in lecture-halls. As he was an idealist, he persisted in thinking her +beautiful, although she gave him abundant opportunity of seeing that she had +preserved no charm of any kind. From her past beauty she only retained a +confidence in her capacity for pleasing and a lofty assurance in demanding +homage. Still, it must be admitted that this Pyrot affair, so fruitful in +prodigies, invested Maniflore with a sort of civic majesty, and transformed +her, at public meetings, into an august symbol of justice and truth. + +Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore did not kindle the least spark of irony or +amusement in a single Anti-Pyrotist, a single defender of Greatauk, or a +single supporter of the army. The gods, in their anger, had refused to those +men the precious gift of humour. They gravely accused the courtesan and the +astronomer of being spies, of treachery, and of plotting against their +country. Bidault-Coquille and Maniflore grew visibly greater beneath insult, +abuse, and calumny. + +For long months Penguinia had been divided into two camps and, though at first +sight it may appear strange, hitherto the socialists had taken no part in the +contest. Their groups comprised almost all the manual workers in the country, +necessarily scattered, confused, broken up, and divided, but formidable. The +Pyrot affair threw the group leaders into a singular embarrassment. They did +not wish to place themselves either on the side of the financiers or on the +side of the army. They regarded the Jews, both great and small, as their +uncompromising opponents. Their principles were not at stake, nor were their +interests concerned in the affair. Still the greater number felt how difficult +it was growing for them to remain aloof from struggles in which all Penguinia +was engaged. + +Their leaders called a sitting of their federation at the Rue de la +Queue-du-diable-St. Mael, to take into consideration the conduct they ought to +adopt in the present circumstances and in future eventualities. + +Comrade Phoenix was the first to speak. + +"A crime," said he, "the most odious and cowardly of crimes, a judicial crime, +has been committed. Military judges, coerced or misled by their superior +officers, have condemned an innocent man to an infamous and cruel punishment. +Let us not say that the victim is not one of our own party, that he belongs to +a caste which was, and always will be, our enemy. Our party is the party of +social justice; it can look upon no iniquity with indifference. + +"It would be a shame for us if we left it to Kerdanic, a radical, to Colomban, +a member of the middle classes, and to a few moderate Republicans, alone to +proceed against the crimes of the army. If the victim is not one of us, his +executioners are our brothers' executioners, and before Greatauk struck down +this soldier he shot our comrades who were on strike. + +"Comrades, by an intellectual, moral and material effort you must rescue Pyrot +from his torment, and in performing this generous act you are not turning +aside from the liberating and revolutionary task you have undertaken, for +Pyrot his become the symbol of the oppressed and of all the social iniquities +that now exist; by destroying one you make all the others tremble." + +When Phoenix ended, comrade Sapor spoke in these terms: + +"You are advised to abandon your task in order to do something with which you +have no concern. Why throw yourselves into a conflict where, on whatever side +you turn, you will find none but your natural, uncompromising, even necessary +opponents? Are the financiers to be less hated by us than the army? What inept +and criminal generosity is it that hurries you to save those seven hundred +Pyrotists whom you will always find confronting you in the social war? + +"It is proposed that you act the part of the police for your enemies, and that +you are to re-establish for them the order which their own crimes have +disturbed. Magnanimity pushed to this degree changes its name. + +"Comrades, there is a point at which infamy becomes fatal to a society. +Penguin society is being strangled by its infamy, and you are requested to +save it, to give it air that it can breathe. This is simply turning you into +ridicule. + +"Leave is to smother itself and let us gaze at its last convulsions with +joyful contempt, only regretting that it has so entirely corrupted the soil on +which it has been built that we shall find nothing but poisoned mud on which +to lay the foundations of a new society." + +When Sapor had ended his speech comrade Lapersonne pronounced these few words: + +"Phoenix calls us to Pyrot's help for the reason that Pyrot is innocent. It +seems to me that that is a very bad reason. If Pyrot is innocent he has +behaved like a good soldier and has always conscientiously worked at his +trade, which principally consists in shooting the people. That is not a motive +to make the people brave all dangers in his defence. When it is demonstrated +to me that Pyrot is guilty and that he stole the army hay, I shall be on his +side." + +Comrade Larrivee afterwards spoke. + +"I am not of my friend, Phoenix's opinion but I am not with my friend Sapor +either. I do not believe that the party is bound to embrace a cause as soon as +we are told that that cause is just. That, I am afraid, is a grievous abuse of +words and a dangerous equivocation. For social justice is not revolutionary +justice. They are both in perpetual antagonism: to serve the one is to oppose +the other. As for me, my choice is made. I am for revolutionary justice as +against social justice. Still, in the present case I am against abstention. I +say that when a lucky chance brings us an affair like this we should be fools +not to profit by it. + +"How? We are given an opportunity of striking terrible, perhaps fatal, blows +against militarism. And am I to fold my arms? I tell you, comrades, I am not a +fakir, I have never been a fakir, and if there are fakirs here let them not +count on me. To sit in meditation is a policy without results and one which I +shall never adopt. + +"A party like ours ought to be continually asserting itself. It ought to prove +its existence by continual action. We will intervene in the Pyrot affair but +we will intervene in it in a revolutionary manner; we will adopt violent +action. . . . Perhaps you think that violence is old-fashioned and +superannuated, to be scrapped along with diligences, hand-presses and aerial +telegraphy. You are mistaken. To-day as yesterday nothing is obtained except +by violence; it is the one efficient instrument. The only thing necessary is +to know how to use it. You ask what will our action be? I will tell you: it +will be to stir up the governing classes against one another, to put the army +in conflict with the capitalists, the government with the magistracy, the +nobility and clergy with the Jews, and if possible to drive them all to +destroy one another. To do this would be to carry on an agitation which would +weaken government in the same way that fever wears out the sick. + +"The Pyrot affair, little as we know how to turn it to advantage, will put +forward by ten years the growth of the Social party and the emancipation of +the proletariat, by disarmament, the general strike, and revolution." + +The leaders of the party having each expressed a different opinion, the +discussion was continued, not without vivacity. The orators, as always happens +in such a case, reproduced the arguments they had already brought forward, +though with less order and moderation than before. The dispute was prolonged +and none changed his opinion. These opinions, in the final analysis, were +reduced to two: that of Sapor and Lapersonne who advised abstention, and that +of Phoenix and Larrivee, who wanted intervention. Even these two contrary +opinions were united in a common hatred of the heads of the army and of their +justice, and in a common belief in Pyrot's innocence. So that public opinion +was hardly mistaken in regarding all the Socialist leaders as pernicious +Anti-Pyrotists. + +As for the vast masses in whose name they spoke and whom they represented as +far as speech can express the impossible--as for the proletarians whose +thought is difficult to know and who do not know it themselves, it seemed that +the Pyrot affair did not interest them. It was too literary for them, it was +in too classical a style, and had an upper-middle-class and high-finance tone +about it that did not please them much. + + + +VIII. THE COLOMBAN TRIAL + +When the Colomban trial began, the Pyrotists were not many more than thirty +thousand, but they were every where and might be found even among the priests +and millionaires. What injured them most was the sympathy of the rich Jews. On +the other hand they derived valuable advantages from their feeble number. In +the first place there were among them fewer fools than among their opponents, +who were over-burdened with them. Comprising but a feeble minority, they +co-operated easily, acted with harmony, and had no temptation to divide and +thus counteract one another's efforts. Each of them felt the necessity of +doing the best possible and was the more careful of his conduct as he found +himself more in the public eye. Finally, they had every reason to hope that +they would gain fresh adherents, while their opponents, having had everybody +with them at the beginning, could only decrease. + +Summoned before the judges at a public sitting, Colomban immediately perceived +that his judges were not anxious to discover the truth. As soon as he opened +his mouth the President ordered him to be silent in the superior interests of +the State. For the same reason, which is the supreme reason, the witnesses for +the defence were not heard. General Panther, the Chief of the Staff, appeared +in the witness-box, in full uniform and decorated with all his orders. He +deposed as follows: + +"The infamous Colomban states that we have no proofs against Pyrot. He lies; +we have them. I have in my archives seven hundred and thirty-two square yards +of them which at five hundred pounds each make three hundred and sixty-six +thousand pounds." + +That superior officer afterwards gave, with elegance and ease, a summary of +those proofs. + +"They are of all colours and all shades," said he in substance, "they are of +every form--pot, crown, sovereign, grape, dove-cot, grand eagle, etc. The +smallest is less than the hundredth part of a square inch, the largest +measures seventy yards long by ninety yards broad." + +At this revelation the audience shuddered with horror. + +Greatauk came to give evidence in his turn. Simpler, and perhaps greater, he +wore a grey tunic and held his hands joined behind his back. + +"I leave," said he calmly and in a slightly raised voice, "I leave to M. +Colomban the responsibility for an act that has brought our country to the +brink of ruin. The Pyrot affair is secret; it ought to remain secret. If it +were divulged the cruelest ills, wars, pillages, depredations, fires, +massacres, and epidemics would immediately burst upon Penguinia. I should +consider myself guilty of high treason if I uttered another word." + +Some persons known for their political experience, among others M. Bigourd, +considered the evidence of the Minister of War as abler and of greater weight +than that of his Chief of Staff. + +The evidence of Colonel de Boisjoli made a great impression. + +"One evening at the Ministry of War," said that officer, "the attache of a +neighbouring Power told me that while visiting his sovereign's stables he had +once admired some soft and fragrant hay, of a pretty green colour, the finest +hay he had ever seen! 'Where did it come from?' I asked him. He did not +answer, but there seemed to me no doubt about its origin. It was the hay Pyrot +had stolen. Those qualities of verdure, softness, and aroma, are those of our +national hay. The forage of the neighbouring Power is grey and brittle; it +sounds under the fork and smells of dust. One can draw one own conclusions." + +Lieutenant-Colonel Hastaing said in the witness-box, amid hisses, that he did +not believe Pyrot guilty. He was immediately seized by the police and thrown +into the bottom of a dungeon where, amid vipers, toads, and broken glass, he +remained insensible both to promises and threats. + +The usher called: + +"Count Pierre Maubec de la Dentdulynx." + +There was deep silence, and a stately but ill-dressed nobleman, whose +moustaches pointed to the skies and whose dark eyes shot forth flashing +glances, was seen advancing toward the witness-box. + +He approached Colomban and casting upon him a look of ineffable disdain: + +"My evidence," said he, "here it is: you excrement!" + +At these words the entire hall burst into enthusiastic applause and jumped up, +moved by one of those transports that stir men's hearts and rouse them to +extraordinary actions. Without another word Count Maubec de la Dentdulynx +withdrew. + +All those present left the Court and formed a procession behind him. Prostrate +at his feet, Princess des Boscenos held his legs in a close embrace, but he +went on, stern and impassive, beneath a shower of handkerchiefs and flowers. +Viscountess Olive, clinging to his neck, could not be removed, and the calm +hero bore her along with him, floating on his breast like a light scarf. + +When the court resumed its sitting, which it had been compelled to suspend, +the President called the experts. + +Vermillard, the famous expert in handwriting, gave the results of his +researches. + +"Having carefully studied," said he, "the papers found in Pyrot's house, in +particular his account book and his laundry books, I noticed that, though +apparently not out of the common, they formed an impenetrable cryptogram, the +key to which, however, I discovered. The traitor's infamy is to be seen in +every line. In this system of writing the words 'Three glasses of beer and +twenty francs for Adele' mean 'I have delivered thirty thousand trusses of hay +to a neighbouring Power! From these documents I have even been able to +establish the composition of the hay delivered by this officer. The words +waistcoat, drawers, pocket handkerchief, collars, drink, tobacco, cigars, mean +clover, meadowgrass, lucern, burnet, oats, rye-grass, vernal-grass, and common +cat's tail grass. And these are precisely the constituents of the hay +furnished by Count Maubec to the Penguin cavalry. In this way Pyrot mentioned +his crimes in a language that he believed would always remain indecipherable. +One is confounded by so much astuteness and so great a want of conscience." + +Colomban, pronounced guilty without any extenuating circumstances, was +condemned to the severest penalty. The judges immediately signed a warrant +consuming him to solitary confinement. + +In the Place du Palais on the sides of a river whose banks had during the +course of twelve centuries seen so great a history, fifty thousand persons +were tumultuously awaiting the result of the trial. Here were the heads of the +Anti-Pyrotist Association, among whom might be seen Prince des Boscenos, Count +Clena, Viscount Olive, and M. de La Trumelle; here crowded the Reverend Father +Agaric and the teachers of St. Mael College with their pupils; here the monk +Douillard and General Caraguel, embracing each other, formed a sublime group. +The market women and laundry women with spits, shovels, tongs, beetles, and +kettles full of water might be seen running across the Pont-Vieux. On the +steps in front of the bronze gates were assembled all the defenders of Pyrot +in Alca, professors, publicists, workmen, some conservatives, others Radicals +or Revolutionaries, and by their negligent dress and fierce aspect could be +recognised comrades Phoenix, Larrivee, Lapersonne, Dagobert, and Varambille. +Squeezed in his funereal frock-coat and wearing his hat of ceremony, +Bidault-Coquille invoked the sentimental mathematics on behalf of Colomban and +Colonel Hastaing. Maniflore shone smiling and resplendent on the topmost step, +anxious, like Leaena, to deserve a glorious monument, or to be given, like +Epicharis, the praises of history. + +The seven hundred Pyrotists disguised as lemonade sellers, utter-merchants, +collectors of odds and ends, or anti-Pyrotists, wandered round the vast +building. + +When Colomban appeared, so great an uproar burst forth that, struck by the +commotion of air and water, birds fell from the trees and fishes floated on +the surface of the stream. + +On all sides there were yells: + +"Duck Colomban, duck him, duck him!" + +There were some cries of "Justice and truth!" and a voice was even heard +shouting: + +"Down with the Army!" + +This was the signal for a terrible struggle. The combatants fell in thousands, +and their bodies formed howling and moving mounds on top of which fresh +champions gripped each other by the throats. Women, eager, pale, and +dishevelled, with clenched teeth and frantic nails, rushed on the man, in +transports that, in the brilliant light of the public square, gave to their +faces expressions unsurpassed even in the shade of curtains and in the hollows +of pillows. They were going to seize Colomban, to bite him, to strangle, +dismember and rend him, when Maniflore, tall and dignified in her red tunic, +stood forth, serene and terrible, confronting these furies who recoiled from +before her in terror. Colomban seemed to be saved; his partisans succeeded in +clearing a passage for him through the Place du Palais and in putting him into +a cab stationed at the comer of the Pont-Vieux. The horse was already in full +trot when Prince des Boscenos, Count Clena, and M. de La Trumelle knocked the +driver off his seat. Then, making the animal back and pushing the spokes of +the wheels, they ran the vehicle on to the parapet of the bridge, whence they +overturned it into the river amid the cheers of the delirious crowd. With a +resounding splash a jet of water rose upwards, and then nothing but a slight +eddy was to be seen on the surface of the stream. + +Almost immediately comrades Dagobert and Varambille, with the help of the +seven hundred disguised Pyrotists, sent Prince des Boscenos head foremost into +a river-laundry in which he was lamentably swallowed up. + +Serene night descended over the Place du Palais and shed silence and peace +upon the frightful ruins with which it was strewed. In the mean time, +Colomban, three thousand yards down the stream, cowering beside a lame old +horse on a bridge, was meditating on the ignorance and injustice of crowds. + +"The business," said he to himself, "is even more troublesome than I believed. +I foresee fresh difficulties." + +He got up and approached the unhappy animal. + +"What have you, poor friend, done to them?" said he. "It is on my account they +have used you so cruelly." + +He embraced the unfortunate beast and kissed the white star on his forehead. +Then he took him by the bridle and led him, both of them limping, trough the +sleeping city to his house, where sleep soon allowed them to forget mankind. + + + +X. FATHER DOUILLARD + +In their infinite gentleness and at the suggestion of the common father of the +faithful, the bishops, canons, vicars, curates, abbots, and friars of +Penguinia resolved to hold a solemn service in the cathedral of Alca, and to +pray that Divine mercy would deign to put an end to the troubles that +distracted one of the noblest countries in Christendom, and grant to repentant +Penguinia pardon for its crimes against God and the ministers of religion. + +The ceremony took place on the fifteenth of June. General Caraguel, surrounded +by his staff, occupied the churchwarden's pew. The congregation was numerous +and brilliant. According to M. Bigourd's expression it was both crowded and +select. In the front rank was to be seen M. de la Bertheoseille, Chamberlain +to his Highness Prince Crucho. Near the pulpit, which was to be ascended by +the Reverend Father Douillard, of the Order of St. Francis, were gathered, in +an attitude of attention with their hands crossed upon their wands of office, +the great dignitaries of the Anti-Pyrotist association, Viscount Olive, M. de +La Trumelle, Count Clena, the Duke d'Ampoule, and Prince des Boscenos. Father +Agaric was in the apse with the teachers and pupils of St. Mael College. The +right-hand transept and aisle were reserved for officers and soldiers in +uniform, this side being thought the more honourable, since the Lord leaned +his head to the right when he died on the Cross. The ladies of the +aristocracy, and among them Countess Clena, Viscountess Olive, and Princess +des Boscenos, occupied reserved seats. In the immense building and in the +square outside were gathered twenty thousand clergy of all sorts, as well as +thirty thousand of the laity. + +After the expiatory and propitiatory ceremony the Reverend Father Douillard +ascended the pulpit. The sermon had at first been entrusted to the Reverend +Father Agaric, but, in spite of his merits, he was thought unequal to the +occasion in zeal and doctrine, and the eloquent Capuchin friar, who for six +months had gone through the barracks preaching against the enemies of God and +authority, had been chosen in his place. + +The Reverend Father Douillard, taking as his text, "He hath put down the +mighty from their seat," established that all temporal power has God as its +principle and its end, and that it is ruined and destroyed when it turns aside +from the path that Providence has traced out for it and from the end to which +He has directed it. + +Applying these sacred rules to the government of Penguinia, he drew a terrible +picture of the evils that the country's rulers had been unable either to +prevent or to foresee. + +"The first author of all these miseries and degradations, my brethren," said +he, "is only too well known to you. He is a monster whose destiny is +providentially proclaimed by his name, for it is derived from the Greek word, +pyros, which means fire. Eternal wisdom warns us by this etymology that a Jew +was to set ablaze the country that had welcomed him." + +He depicted the country, persecuted by the persecutors of the Church, and +crying in its agony: + +"O woe! O glory! Those who have crucified my God are crucifying me!" + +At these words a prolonged shudder passed through the assembly. + +The powerful orator excited still greater indignation when he described the +proud and crime-stained Colomban, plunged into the stream, all the waters of +which could not cleanse him. He gathered up all the humiliations and all the +perils of the Penguins in order to reproach the President of the Republic and +his Prime Minister with them. + +"That Minister," said he, "having been guilty of degrading cowardice in not +exterminating the seven hundred Pyrotists with their allies and defenders, as +Saul exterminated the Philistines at Gibeah, has rendered himself unworthy of +exercising the power. that God delegated to him, and every good citizen ought +henceforth to insult his contemptible government. Heaven will look favourably +on those who despise him. 'He hath put down the mighty from their seat.' God +will depose these pusillanimous chiefs and will put in their place strong men +who will call upon Him. I tell you, gentlemen, I tell you officers, +non-commissioned officers, and soldiers who listen to me, I tell you General +of the Penguin armies, the hour has come! If you do not obey God's orders, if +in His name you do not depose those now in authority, if you do not establish +a religious and strong government in Penguinia, God will none the less destroy +what He has condemned, He will none the less save His people. He will save +them, but, if you are wanting, He will do so by means of a humble artisan or a +simple corporal. Hasten! The hour will soon be past." + +Excited by this ardent exhortation, the sixty thousand people present rose up +trembling and shouting: "To arms! To arms! Death to the Pyrotists! Hurrah for +Crucho!" and all of them, monks, women, soldiers, noblemen, citizens, and +loafers, who were gathered beneath the superhuman arm uplifted in the pulpit, +struck up the hymn, "Let us save Penguinia! They rushed impetuously from the +basilica and marched along the quays to the Chamber of Deputies. + +Left alone in the deserted nave, the wise Cornemuse, lifting his arms to +heaven, murmured in broken accents: + +"Agnosco fortunam ecclesiae penguicanae! I see but too well whither this will +lead us." + +The attack which the crowd made upon the legislative palace was repulsed. +Vigorously charged by the police and Alcan guards, the assailants were already +fleeing in disorder, when the Socialists, running from the slums and led by +comrades Phoenix, Dagobert, Lapersonne, and Varambille, threw themselves upon +them and completed their discomfiture. MM. de La Trumelle and d'Ampoule were +taken to the police station. Prince des Boscenos, after a valiant struggle, +fell upon the bloody pavement with a fractured skull. + +In the enthusiasm of victory, the comrades, mingled with an innumerable crowd +of paper-sellers and gutter-merchants, ran through the boulevards all night, +carrying, Maniflore in triumph, and breaking the mirrors of the cafes and the +glasses of the street lamps amid cries of "Down with Crucho! Hurrah for the +Social Revolution!" The Anti-Pyrotists in their turn upset the newspaper +kiosks and tore down the hoardings. + +These were spectacles of which cool reason cannot approve and they were fit +causes for grief to the municipal authorities, who desired to preserve the +good order of the roads and streets. But, what was sadder for a man of heart +was the sight or the canting humbugs, who, from fear of blows, kept at an +equal distance from the two camps, and who, although they allowed their +selfishness and cowardice to be visible, claimed admiration for the generosity +of their sentiments and the nobility of their souls. They rubbed their eyes +with onions, gaped like whitings, blew violently into their handkerchiefs, +and, bringing their voices out of the depths of their stomachs, groaned forth: +"O Penguins, cease these fratricidal struggles; cease to rend your mother's +bosom!" As if men could live in society without disputes and without quarrels, +and as if civil discords were not the necessary conditions of national life +and progress. They showed themselves hypocritical cowards by proposing a +compromise between the just and the unjust, offending the just in his +rectitude and the unjust in his courage. One of these creatures, the rich and +powerful Machimel, a champion coward, rose upon the town like a colossus of +grief; his tears formed poisonous lakes at his feet and his sighs capsized the +boats of the fishermen. + +During these stormy nights Bidault-Coquille at the top of his old +steam-engine, under the serene sky, boasted in his heart, while the shooting +stars registered themselves upon his photographic plates. He was fighting for +justice. He loved and was loved with a sublime passion. Insult and calumny +raised him to the clouds. A caricature of him in company with those of +Colomban, Kerdanic, and Colonel Hastaing was to be seen in the newspaper +kiosks. The Anti-Pyrotists proclaimed that he had received fifty thousand +francs from the big Jewish financiers. The reporters of the militarist sheets +held interviews regarding his scientific knowledge with official scholars, who +declared he had no knowledge of the stars, disputed his most solid +observations, denied his most certain discoveries, and condemned his most +ingenious and most fruitful hypotheses. He exulted under these flattering +blows of hatred and envy. + +He contemplated the black immensity pierced by a multitude of lights, without +giving a thought to all the heavy slumbers, cruel insomnias, vain dreams, +spoilt pleasures, and infinitely diverse miseries that a great city contains. + +"It is in this enormous city," said he to himself, "that the just and the +unjust are joining battle." + +And substituting a simple and magnificent poetry for the multiple and vulgar +reality, he represented to himself the Pyrot affair as a struggle between good +and bad angels. He awaited the eternal triumph of the Sons of Light and +congratulated himself on being a Child of the Day confounding the Children of +Night. + + + +X. MR. JUSTICE CHAUSSEPIED + +Hitherto blinded by fear, incautious and stupid before the bands of Friar +Douillard and the partisans of Prince Crucho, the Republicans at last opened +their eyes and grasped the real meaning of the Pyrot affair. The deputies who +had for two years turned pale at the shouts of the patriotic crowds became, +not indeed more courageous, but altered their cowardice and blamed Robin +Mielleux for disorders which their own compliance had encouraged, and the +instigators of which they had several times slavishly congratulated. They +reproached him for having imperilled the Republic by a weakness which was +really theirs and a timidity which they themselves had imposed upon him. Some +of them began to doubt whether it was not to their interest to believe in +Pyrot's innocence rather than in his guilt, and thenceforward they felt a +bitter anguish at the thought that the unhappy man might have been wrongly +convicted and that in his aerial cage he might be expiating another man's +crimes. "I cannot sleep on account of it!" was what several members of +Minister Guillaumette's majority used to say. But these were ambitious to +replace their chief. + +These generous legislators overthrew the cabinet, and the President of the +Republic put in Robin Mielleux's place, a patriarchal Republican with a +flowing beard, La Trinite by name, who, like most of the Penguins, understood +nothing about the affair, but thought that too many monks were mixed up in it. + +General Greatauk before leaving the Ministry of War, gave his final advice to +Pariler, the Chief of the Staff. + +"I go and you remain," said he, as he shook hands with him. "The Pyrot affair +is my daughter; I confide her to you, she is worthy of your love and your +care; she is beautiful. Do not forget that her beauty loves the shade, is +leased with mystery, and likes to remain veiled. Great her modesty with +gentleness. Too many indiscreet looks have already profaned her charms. . . . +Panther, you desired proofs and you obtained them. You have many, perhaps too +many, in your possession. I see that there will be many tiresome interventions +and much dangerous curiosity. If I were in your place I would tear up all +those documents. Believe me, the best of proofs is none at all. That is the +only one which nobody discusses." + +Alas! General Panther did not realise the wisdom of this advice. The future +was only too thoroughly to justify Greatauk's perspicacity. La Trinite +demanded the documents belonging, to the Pyrot affair. Peniche, his Minister +of War, refused them in the superior interests of the national defence, +telling him that the documents under General Panther's care formed the hugest +mass of archives in the world. La Trinite studied the case as well as he +could, and, without penetrating to the bottom of the matter, suspected it of +irregularity. Conformably to his rights and prerogatives he then ordered a +fresh trial to be held. Immediately, Peniche, his Minister of War, accused him +of insulting the army and betraying the country and flung his portfolio at his +head. He was replaced by a second, who did the same. To him succeeded a third, +who imitated these examples, and those after him to the number of seventy +acted like their predecessors, until the venerable La Trinite groaned beneathe +the weight of bellicose portfolios. The seventy-first Minister of War, van +Julep, retained office. Not that he was in disagreement with so many and such +noble colleagues, but he had been commissioned by them generously to betray +his Prime Minister, to cover him with shame and opprobrium, and to convert the +new trial to the glory of Greatauk, the satisfaction of the Anti-Pyrotists, +the profit of the monks, and the restoration of Prince Crucho. + +General van Julep, though endowed with high military virtues, was not +intelligent enough to employ the subtle conduct and exquisite methods of +Greatauk. He thought, like General Panther, that tangible proofs against Pyrot +were necessary, that they could never ave too many of them, that they could +never have even enough. He expressed these' sentiments to his Chief of Staff, +who was only too inclined to agree with them. + +"Panther," said he, "we are at the moment when we need abundant and +superabundant proofs." + +"You have said enough, General," answered Panther, "I will complete my piles +of documents." + +Six months later the proofs against Pyrot filled two storeys of the Ministry +of War. The ceiling fell in beneath the weight of the bundles, and the +avalanche of falling documents crushed two head clerks, fourteen second +clerks, and sixty copying clerks, who were at work upon the ground floor +arranging a change in the fashion of the cavalry gaiters. The walls of the +huge edifice had to be propped. Passers-by saw with amazement enormous beams +and monstrous stanchions which reared themselves obliquely against the noble +front of the building, now tottering and disjointed, and blocked up the +streets, stopped the carriages, and presented to the motor-omnibuses an +obstacle against which they dashed with their loads of passengers. + +The judges who had condemned Pyrot were not, properly speaking, judges but +soldiers. The judges who had condemned Colomban were real judges, but of +inferior rank, wearing seedy black clothes like church vergers, unlucky +wretches of judges, miserable judgelings. Above them were the superior judges +who wore ermine robes over their black gowns. These, renowned for their +knowledge and doctrine, formed a court whose terrible name expressed power. It +was called the Court of Appeal (Cassation) so as to make it clear that it was +the hammer suspended over the judgments and decrees of all other +jurisdictions. + +One of these superior red Judges of the Supreme Court, called Chaussepied, led +a modest and tranquil life in a suburb of Alca. His soul was pure, his heart +honest, his spirit just. When he had finished studying his documents he used +to play the violin and cultivate hyacinths. Every Sunday he dined with his +neighbours the Mesdemoiselles Helbivore. His old age was cheerful and robust +and his friends often praised the amenity of his character. + +For some months, however, he had been irritable and touchy, and when he opened +a newspaper his broad and ruddy face would become covered with dolorous +wrinkles and darkened with an angry purple. Pyrot was the cause of it. Justice +Chaussepied could not understand how an officer could have committed so black +a crime as to hand over eighty thousand trusses of military hay to a +neighbouring and hostile Power. And he could still less conceive how a +scoundrel should have found official defenders in Penguinia. The thought that +there existed in his country a Pyrot, a Colonel Hastaing, a Colomban, a +Kerdanic, a Phoenix, spoilt his hyacinths,his violin, his heaven, and his +earth, all nature, and even his dinner with the Mesdemoiselles Helbivore! + +In the mean time the Pyrot case, having been presented to the Supreme Court by +the Keeper of Seals, it fell to Chaussepied to examine it and cover its +defects, in case any existed. Although as upright and honest as a man can be, +and trained by long habit to exercise his magistracy without fear or favour, +he expected to find in the documents he submitted to him proofs of certain +guilt and obvious criminality. After lengthened difficulties and repeated +refusals on the part of General Julep, Justice Chaussepied was allowed to +examine the documents. Numbered and initialed they ran to the number of +fourteen millions six hundred and twenty-six thousand three hundred and +twelve. As he studied them the judge was at first surprised, then astonished, +then stupefied, amazed, and, if I dare say so, flabbergasted. He found among +the documents prospectuses of new fancy shops, newspapers, fashion-plates, +paper bags, old business letters, exercise books, brown paper, green paper for +rubbing parquet floors, playing cards, diagrams, six thousand copies of the +"Key to Dreams," but not a single document in which any mention was made of +Pyrot. + + + +XI. CONCLUSION + +The appeal was allowed, and Pyrot was brought down from his cage. But the +Anti-Pyrotists did not regard themselves as beaten. The military judges +re-tried Pyrot. Greatauk, in this second affair, surpassed himself. He +obtained a second conviction; he obtained it by declaring that the proofs +communicated to the Supreme Court were worth nothing, and that great care had +been taken to keep back the good ones, since they ought to remain secret. In +the opinion of connoisseurs he had never shown so much address. On leaving the +court, as he passed through the vestibule with a tranquil step, and his hands +behind his back, amidst a crowd of sight-seers, a woman dressed in red and +with her face covered by a black veil rushed at him, brandishing a kitchen +knife. + +"Die, scoundrel!" she cried. It was Maniflore. Before those present could +understand what was happening, the general seized her by the wrist, and with +apparent gentleness, squeezed it so forcibly that the knife fell from her +aching hand. + +Then he picked it up and handed it to Maniflore. + +"Madam," said he with a bow, "you have dropped a household utensil." + +He could not prevent the heroine from being taken to the police-station; but +he had her immediately released and afterwards he employed all his influence +to stop the prosecution. + +The second conviction of Pyrot was Greatauk's last victory. + +Justice Chaussepied, who had formerly liked soldiers so much, and esteemed +their justice so highly,, being now enraged with the military judges, quashed +their judgments as a monkey cracks nuts. He rehabilitated Pyrot a second time; +he would, if necessary, have rehabilitated him five hundred times. + +Furious at having been cowards and at having allowed themselves to be deceived +and made game of, the Republicans turned against the monks and clergy. The +deputies passed laws of expulsion, separation, and spoliation against them. +What Father Cornemuse had foreseen took place. That good monk was driven from +the Wood of Conils. Treasury officers confiscated his retorts and his stills, +and the liquidators divided amongst them his bottles of St. Oberosian liqueur. +The pious distiller lost the annual income of three million five hundred +thousand francs that his products procured for him. Father Agaric went into +exile, abandoning his school into the hands of laymen, who soon allowed it to +fall into decay. Separated from its foster-mother, the State, the Church of +Penguinia withered like a plucked flower. + +The victorious defenders of the innocent man now abused each other and +overwhelmed each other reciprocally with insults and calumnies. The vehement +Kerdanic hurled himself upon Phoenix as if ready to devour him. The wealthy +Jews and the seven hundred Pyrotists turned away with disdain from the +socialist comrades whose aid they had humbly implored in the past. + +"We know you no longer," said they. "To the devil with you and your social +justice. Social justice is the defence of property." + +Having been elected a Deputy and chosen to be the leader of the new majority, +comrade Larrivee was appointed by the Chamber and public opinion to the +Premiership. He showed himself an energetic defender of the military tribunals +that had condemned Pyrot. When his former socialist comrades claimed a little +more justice and liberty for the employes of the State as well as for manual +workers, he opposed their proposals in an eloquent speech. + +"Liberty," said he, "is not licence. Between order and disorder my choice is +made: revolution is impotence. Progress has no more formidable enemy than +violence. Gentlemen, those who, as I am, are anxious for reform, ought to +apply themselves before everything else to cure this agitation which enfeebles +government just as fever exhausts those who are ill. It is time to reassure +honest people." + +This speech was received with applause. The government of the Republic +remained in subjection to the great financial companies, the army was +exclusively devoted to the defence of capital, while the fleet was designed +solely to procure fresh orders for the mine-owners. Since the rich refused to +pay their just share of the taxes, the poor, as in the past, paid for them. + +In the mean time from the height of his old steamline, beneath the crowded +stars of night, Bidault-Coquille gazed sadly at the sleeping city. Maniflore +had left him. Consumed with a desire for fresh devotions and fresh sacrifices, +she had gone in company with a young Bulgarian to bear justice and vengeance +to Sofia. He did not regret her, having perceived after the Affair, that she +was less beautiful in form and in thought than he had at first imagined. His +impressions had been modified in the same direction concerning many other +forms and many other thoughts. And what was cruelest of all to him, he +regarded himself as not so great, not so splendid, as he had believed. + +And he reflected: + +"You considered yourself sublime when you had but candour and good-will. Of +what were you proud, Bidault-Coquille? Of having been one of the first to know +that Pyrot was innocent and Greatauk a scoundrel. But three-fourths of those +who defended Greatauk against the attacks of the seven hundred Pyrotists knew +that better than you. Of what then did you show yourself so proud? Of having +dared to say what you thought? That is civic courage, and, like military +courage, it is a mere result of imprudence. You have been imprudent. So far so +good, but that is no reason for praising yourself beyond measure. Your +imprudence was trifling; it exposed you to trifling perils; you did not risk +your head by it. The Penguins have lost that cruel and sanguinary pride which +formerly gave a tragic grandeur to their revolutions; it is the fatal result +of the weakening of beliefs and character. Ought one to look upon oneself as a +superior spirit for having shown a little more clear-sightedness than the +vulgar? I am very much afraid, on the contrary, Bidault-Coquille, that you +have given proof of a gross misunderstanding of the conditions of the moral +and intellectual development of a people. You imagined that social injustices +were threaded together like pearls and that it would be enough to pull off one +in order to unfasten the whole necklace. That is a very ingenuous conception. +You flattered yourself that at one stroke you were establishing justice in +your own country and in the universe. You were a brave man, an honest +idealist, though without much experimental philosophy. But go home to your own +heart and you will recognise that you had in you a spice of malice and that +our ingenuousness was not without cunning. You believed you were performing a +fine moral action. You said to yourself: 'Here am I, just and courageous once +for all. I can henceforth repose in the public esteem and the praise of +historians.' And now that you have lost your illusions, now that you know how +hard it is to redress wrongs, and that the task must ever be begun afresh, you +are going back to your asteroids. You are right; but go back to them with +modesty, Bidault-Coquille!" + + + +BOOK VII. MODERN TIMES + +MADAME CERES + +"Only extreme things are tolerable." Count Robert de Montesquiou. + +I. MADAME CLARENCE'S DRAWING-ROOM + +Madame Clarence, the widow of an exalted functionary of the Republic, loved to +entertain. Every Thursday she collected together some friends of modest +condition who took pleasure in conversation. The ladies who went to see her, +very different in age and rank, were all without money, and had all suffered +much. There was a duchess who looked like a fortune-teller and a +fortune-teller who looked like a duchess. Madame Clarence was pretty enough to +maintain some old liaisons, but not to form new ones, and she generally +inspired a quiet esteem. She had a very pretty daughter, who, since she had no +dower, caused some alarm among the male guests; for the Penguins were as much +afraid of portionless girls as they were of the devil himself. Eveline +Clarence, noticing their reserve and perceiving its cause, used to hand them +their tea with an air of disdain. Moreover, she seldom appeared at the parties +and talked only to the ladies or the very young people. Her discreet and +retiring presence put no restraint upon the conversation, since those who took +part in it thought either that as she was a young girl she would not +understand it, or that, being twenty-five years old, she might listen to +everything. + +One Thursday therefore, in Madame Clarence's drawing-room, the conversation +turned upon love. The ladies spoke of it with pride, delicacy, and mystery, +the men with discretion and fatuity; everyone took an interest in the +conversation, for each one was interested in what he or she said. A great deal +of wit flowed; brilliant apostrophes were launched forth and keen repartees +were returned. But when Professor Haddi began to speak he overwhelmed +everybody. + +"It is the same with our ideas on love as with our ideas on everything else," +said he, "they rest upon anterior habits whose very memory has been effaced. +In morals, the limitations that have lost their grounds for existing, the most +useless obligations, the cruelest and most injurious restraints, are because +of their profound antiquity and the mystery of their origin, the least +disputed and the least disputable as well as the most respected, and they are +those that cannot be violated without incurring the most severe blame. All +morality relative to the relations of the sexes is founded on this principle: +that a woman once obtained belongs to the man, that she is his property like +his horse or his weapons. And this having ceased to be true, absurdities +result from it, such as the marriage or contract of sale of a woman to a man, +with clauses restricting the right of ownership introduced as a consequence of +the gradual diminution of the claims of the possessor. + +"The obligation imposed on a girl that she should bring her virginity to her +husband comes from the times when girls were married immediately they were of +a marriageable age. It is ridiculous that a girl who marries at twenty-five or +thirty should be subject to that obligation. You will, perhaps, say that it is +a present with which her husband, if she gets one at last, will be gratified; +but every moment we see men wooing married women and showing themselves +perfectly satisfied to take them as they find them. + +"Still, even in our own day, the duty of girls is determined in religious +morality by the old belief that God, the most powerful of warriors, is +polygamous, that he has reserved all maidens for himself, and that men can +only take those whom he has left. This belief, although traces of it exist in +several metaphors of mysticism, is abandoned to-day, by most civilised +peoples. However, it still dominates the education of girls not only among our +believers, but even among our free-thinkers, who, as a rule, think freely for +the reason that they do not think at all. + +"Discretion means ability to separate and discern. We say that a girl is +discreet when she knows nothing at all. We cultivate her ignorance. In spite +of all our care the most discreet know something, for we cannot conceal from +them their own nature and their own sensations. But they know badly, they know +in a wrong way. That is all we obtain by our careful education. . . ." + +"Sir," suddenly said Joseph Boutourle, the High Treasurer of Alca, "believe +me, there are innocent girls, perfectly innocent girls, and it is a great +pity. I have known three. They married, and the result was tragical." + +"I have noticed," Professor Haddock went on, "that Europeans in general and +Penguins in particular occupy themselves, after sport and motoring, with +nothing so much as with love. It is giving a great deal of importance to a +matter that has very little weight." + +"Then, Professor," exclaimed Madame Cremeur in a choking voice, "when a woman +has completely surrendered herself to you, you think it is a matter of no +importance?" + +"No, Madame; it can have its importance," answered Professor Haddock, "but it +is necessary to examine if when she surrenders herself to us she offers us a +delicious fruit-garden or a plot of thistles and dandelions. And then, do we +not misuse words? In love, a woman lends herself rather than gives herself. +Look at the pretty Madame Pensee. . . ." + +"She is my mother," said a tall, fair young man. + +"Sir, I have the greatest respect for her," replied Professor Haddock; "do not +be afraid that I intend to say anything in the least offensive about her. But +allow me to tell you that, as a rule, the opinions of sons about their mothers +are not to be relied on. They do not bear enough in mind that a mother is a +mother only because she loved, and that she can still love. That, however, is +the case, and it would be deplorable were it otherwise. I have noticed, on the +contrary, that daughters do not deceive themselves about their mothers' +faculty for loving or about the use they make of it; they are rivals; they +have their eyes upon them." + +The insupportable Professor spoke a great deal longer, adding indecorum to +awkwardness, and impertinence to incivility, accumulating incongruities, +despising what is respectable, respecting what is despicable; but no one +listened to him further. + +During this time in a room that was simple without grace, a room sad for the +want of love, a room which, like all young girls' rooms, had something of the +cold atmosphere of a place of waiting about it, Eveline Clarence turned over +the pages of club annuals and prospectuses of charities in order to obtain +from them some acquaintance with society. Being convinced that her mother, +shut up in her own intellectual but poor world, could neither bring her out or +push her into prominence, she decided that she herself would seek the best +means of winning a husband. At once calm and obstinate, without dreams or +illusions, and regarding marriage as but a ticket of admission or a passport, +she kept before her mind a clear notion of the hazards, difficulties, and +chances of her enterprise. She had the art of pleasing and a coldness of +temperament that enabled her to turn it to its fullest advantage. Her weakness +lay in the fact that she was dazzled by anything that had an aristocratic air. + +When she was alone with her mother she said: + +"Mamma, we will go to-morrow to Father Douillard's retreat." + + + +II. THE CHARITY OF ST. ORBEROSIA + +Every Friday evening at nine o'clock the choicest of Alcan society assembled +in the aristocratic church of St. Mael for the Reverend Father Douillard's +retreat. Prince and Princess des Boscenos, Viscount and Viscountess Olive, M. +and Madame Bigourd, Monsieur and Madame de La Trumelle were never absent. The +flower of the aristocracy might be seen there, and fair Jewish baronesses also +adorned it by their presence, for the Jewish baronesses of Alca were +Christians. + +This retreat, like all religious retreats, had for its object to procure for +those living in the world opportunities for recollection so that they might +think of their eternal salvation. It was also intended to draw down upon so +man noble and illustrious families the benediction of L. Orberosia, who loves +the Penguins. The Reverend Father Douillard strove for the completion of his +task with a truly apostolical zeal. He hoped to restore the prerogatives of +St. Orberosia as the patron saint of Penguinia and to dedicate to her a +monumental church on one of the hills that dominate the city. His efforts had +been crowned with great success, and for the accomplishing of this national +enterprise he had already united more than a hundred thousand adherents and +collected more than twenty millions of francs. + +It was in the choir of St. Mael's that St. Orberosia's new shrine, shining +with gold, sparkling with precious stones, and surrounded by tapers and +flowers, had been erected. + +The following account may be read in the "History of the Miracles of the +Patron Saint of Alca" by the Abbe Plantain: + +"The ancient shrine had been melted down during the Terror and the precious +relics of the saint thrown into a fire that had been lit on the Place de +Greve; but a poor woman of great piety, named Rouquin, went by night at the +peril of her life to gather up the calcined bones and the ashes of the blessed +saint. She preserved them in a jam-pot, and when religion was again restored, +brought them to the venerable Cure of St. Maels. The woman ended her days +piously as a vendor of tapers and custodian of seats in the saint's chapel." + +It is certain that in the time of Father Douillard, although faith was +declining, the cult of St. Orberosia, which for three hundred years had fallen +under the criticism of Canon Princeteau and the silence of the Doctors of the +Church, recovered, and was surrounded with more pomp, more splendour, and more +fervour than ever. The theologians did not now subtract a single iota from the +legend. They held as certainly established all the facts related by Abbot +Simplicissimus, and in particular declared, on the testimony of that monk, +that the devil, assuming a monk's form had carried off the saint to a cave and +had there striven with her until she overcame him. Neither places nor dates +caused them any embarrassment. They paid no heed to exegesis and took good +care not to grant as much to science as Canon Princeteau had formerly +conceded. They knew too well whither that would lead. + +The church shone with lights and flowers. An operatic tenor sang the famous +canticle of St. Orberosia: + + Virgin of Paradise + Come, come in the dusky night + And on us shed + Thy beams of light. + +Mademoiselle Clarence sat beside her mother and in front of Viscount Clena. +She remained kneeling during a considerable time, for the attitude of prayer +is natural to discreet virgins and it shows off their figures. + +The Reverend Father Douillard ascended the pulpit. He was a powerful orator +and could, at once melt, surprise, and rouse his hearers. Women complained +only that he fulminated against vice with excessive harshness and in crude +terms that made them blush. But they liked him none the less for it. + +He treated in his sermon of the seventh trial of St. Orberosia, who was +tempted by the dragon which she went forth to combat. But she did not yield, +and she disarmed the monster. The orator demonstrated without difficulty that +we, also, by the aid of St. Orberosia, and strong in the virtue which she +inspires, can in our turn overthrow the dragons that dart upon us and are +waiting to devour us, the dragon of doubt, the dragon of impiety, the dragon +of forgetfulness of religious duties. He proved that the charity of St. +Orberosia was a work of social regeneration, and he concluded by an ardent +appeal to the faithful "to become instruments of the Divine mercy, eager +upholders and supporters of the charity of St. Orberosia, and to furnish it +with all the means which it required to take its flight and bear its salutary +fruits." * + +* Cf. J. Ernest Charles in the "Censeur," May-August, 1907, p. 562, col. 2. + + +After the ceremony, the Reverend Father Douillard remained in the sacristy at +the disposal of those of the faithful who desired information concerning the +charity, or who wished to bring their contributions. Mademoiselle Clarence +wished to speak to Father Douillard, so did Viscount Clena. The crowd was +large, and a queue was formed. By chance Viscount Clena and Mademoiselle +Clarence were side by side and possibly they were squeezed a little closely to +each other by the crowd. Eveline had noticed this fashionable young man, who +was almost as well known as his father in the world of sport. Clena had +noticed her, and, as he thought her pretty, he bowed to her, then apologised +and pretended to believe that he had been introduced to the ladies, but could +not remember where. They pretended to believe it also. + +He presented himself the following week at Madame Clarence's, thinking that +her house was a bit fast--a thing not likely to displease him--and when he saw +Eveline again he felt he had not been mistaken and that she was an extremely +pretty girl. + +Viscount Clena had the finest motor-car in Europe. For three months he drove +the Clarences every day over hills and plains, through woods and valleys; they +visited famous sites and went over celebrated castles. He said to Eveline all +that could be said and did all that could be done to overcome her resistance. +She did not conceal from him that she loved him, that she would always love +him, and love no one but him. She remained grave and trembling by his side. To +his devouring passion she opposed the invincible defence of a virtue conscious +of its danger. At the end of three months, after having gone uphill and down +hill, turned sharp corners, and negotiated level crossings, and experienced +innumerable break-downs, he knew her as well as he knew the fly-wheel of his +car, but not much better. He employed surprises, adventures, sudden stoppages +in the depths of forests and before hotels, but he had advanced no farther. He +said to himself that it was absurd; then, taking her again in his car he set +off at fifty miles an hour quite prepared to upset her in a ditch or to smash +himself and her against a tree. + +One day, having come to take her on some excursion, he found her more charming +than ever, and more provoking. He darted upon her as a storm falls upon the +reeds that border a lake. She bent with adorable weakness beneath the breath +of the storm, and twenty times was almost carried away by its strength, but +twenty times she arose, supple and, bowing to the wind. After all these shocks +one would have said that a light breeze had barely touched her charming stem; +she smiled as if ready to be plucked by a bold hand. Then her unhappy +aggressor, desperate, enraged, and three parts mad, fled so as not to kill +her, mistook the door, went into the bedroom of Madame Clarence, whom he found +putting on her hat in front of a wardrobe, seized her, flung her on the bed, +and possessed her before she knew what had happened. + +The same day Eveline, who had been making inquiries, learned that Viscount +Clena had nothing but debts, lived on money given him by an elderly lady, and +promoted the sale of the latest models of a motor-car manufacturer. They +separated with common accord and Eveline began again disdainfully to serve tea +to her mother's guests. + + + +III. HIPPOLYTE CERES + +In Madame Clarence's drawing-room the conversation turned upon love, and many +charming things were said about it. + +"Love is a sacrifice," sighed Madame Cremeur. + +"I agree with you," replied M. Boutourle with animation. + +But Professor Haddock soon displayed his fastidious insolence. + +"It seems to me," said he, "that the Penguin ladies have made a great fuss +since, through St. Mael's agency, they became viviparous. But there is nothing +to be particularly proud of in that, for it is a state they share in common +with cows and pigs, and even with orange and lemon trees, for the seeds of +these plants germinate in the pericarp." + +"The self-importance which the Penguin ladies give themselves does not go so +far back as that," answered M. Boutourle. "It dates from the day when the holy +apostle gave them clothes. But this self-importance was long kept in +restraint, and displayed itself fully only with increased luxury of dress and +in a small section of society. For go only two leagues from Alca into the +country at harvest time, and you will see whether women are over-precise or +self-important." + +On that day M. Hippolyte Ceres paid his first call. He was a Deputy of Alca, +and one of the youngest members of the House. His father was said to have kept +a dram shop, but he himself was a lawyer of robust physique, a good though +prolix speaker, with a self-important air and a reputation for ability. + +"M. Ceres," said the mistress of the house, "your constituency is one of the +finest in Alca." + +"And there are fresh improvements made in it every day, Madame." + +"Unfortunately, it is impossible to take a stroll through it any longer," said +M. Boutourle. + +"Why?" asked M. Ceres. + +"On account of the motors, of course." + +"Do not give them a bad name," answered the Deputy. "They are our great +national industry." + +"I know. The Penguins of to-day make me think of the ancient Egyptians. +According to Clement of Alexandria, Taine tells us--though he misquotes the +text--the Egyptians worshipped the crocodiles that devoured them. The Penguins +to-day worship the motors that crush them. Without a doubt the future belongs +to the metal beast. We are no more likely to go back to cabs than we are to go +back to the diligence. And the long martyrdom of the horse will come to an +end. The motor, which the frenzied cupidity of manufacturers hurls like a +juggernaut's car upon the bewildered people and of which the idle and +fashionable make a foolish though fatal elegance, will soon begin to perform +its true function, and putting its strength at the service of the entire +people, will behave like a docile, toiling monster. But in order that the +motor may cease to be injurious and become beneficent we must build roads +suited to its speed, roads which it cannot tear up with its ferocious tyres, +and from which it will send no clouds of poisonous dust into human lungs. We +ought not to allow slower vehicles or mere animals to go upon those roads, and +we should establish garages upon them and foot-bridges over them, and so +create order and harmony among the means of communication of the future. That +is the wish of every good citizen." + +Madame Clarence led the conversation back to the improvements in M. Ceres' +constituency. M. Ceres showed his enthusiasm for demolitions, tunnelings, +constructions, reconstructions, and all other fruitful operations. + +"We build to-day in an admirable style," said he; "everywhere majestic avenues +are being reared. Was ever anything as fine as our arcaded bridges and our +domed hotels!" + +"You are forgetting that big palace surmounted an immense melon-shaped dome," +grumbled by M. Daniset, an old art amateur, in a voice of restrained rage. "I +am amazed at the degree of ugliness which a modern city can attain. Alca is +becoming Americanised. Everywhere we are destroying all that is free, +unexpected, measured, restrained, human, or traditional among the things that +are left us. Everywhere we are destroying that charming object, a piece of an +old wall that bears up the branches of a tree. Everywhere we are suppressing +some fragment of light and air, some fragment of nature, some fragment of the +associations that still remain with us, some fragment of our fathers, some +fragment of ourselves. And we are putting up frightful, enormous, infamous +houses, surmounted in Viennese style by ridiculous domes, or fashioned after +the models of the 'new art' without mouldings, or having profiles with +sinister corbels and burlesque pinnacles, and such monsters as these +shamelessly peer over the surrounding buildings. We see bulbous protuberances +stuck on the fronts of buildings and we are told they are 'new art' motives. I +have seen the 'new art' in other countries, but it is not so ugly as with us; +it has fancy and it has simplicity. It is only in our own country that by a +sad privilege we may behold the newest and most diverse styles of +architectural ugliness. Not an enviable privilege!" + +"Are you not afraid," asked M. Ceres severely, "are you not afraid that these +bitter criticisms tend to keep out of our capital the foreigners who flow into +it from all arts of the world and who leave millions behind them?" + +"You may set your mind at rest about that," answered M. Daniset. "Foreigners +do not come to admire our buildings; they come to see our courtesans, our +dressmakers, and our dancing saloons." + +"We have one bad habit," sighed M. Ceres, "it is that we calumniate +ourselves." + +Madame Clarence as an accomplished hostess thought it was time to return to +the subject of love and asked M. Jumel his opinion of M. Leon Blum's recent +book in which the author complained. . . . + +". . . That an irrational custom," went on Professor Haddock, "prevents +respectable young ladies from making love, a thing they would enjoy doing, +whilst mercenary girls do it too much and without getting any enjoyment out of +it. It is indeed deplorable. But M. Leon Blum need not fret too much. If the +evil exists, as he says it does, in our middle-class society, I can assure him +that everywhere else he would see a consoling spectacle. Among the people, the +mass of the people through town and country, girls do not deny themselves that +pleasure." + +"It is depravity!" said Madame Cremeur. + +And she praised the innocence of young girls in terms full of modesty and +grace. It was charming to hear her. + +Professor Haddock's views on the same subject were, on the contrary, painful +to listen to. + +"Respectable young girls," said he, "are guarded and watched over. Besides, +men do not, as a rule, pursue them much, either through probity, or from a +fear of grave responsibilities, or because the seduction of a young girl would +not be to their credit. Even then we do not know what really takes place, for +the reason that what is hidden is not seen. This is a condition necessary to +the existence of all society. The scruples of respectable young girls could be +more easily overcome than those of married women if the same pressure were +brought to bear on them, and for this there are two reasons: they have more +illusions, and their curiosity has not been satisfied. Women, for the most +part, have been so disappointed by their husbands that they have not courage +enough to begin again with somebody else. I myself have been met by this +obstacle several times in my attempts at seduction." + +At the moment when Professor Haddock ended his unpleasant remarks, +Mademoiselle Eveline Clarence entered the drawing-room and listlessly handed +about tea with that expression of boredom which gave an oriental charm to her +beauty. + +"For my part," said Hippolyte Ceres, looking at her, "I declare myself the +young ladies' champion." + +"He must be a fool," thought the girl. + +Hippolyte Ceres, who had never set foot outside of his political world of +electors and elected, thought Madame Clarence's drawing-room most select, its +mistress exquisite, and her daughter amazingly beautiful. His visits became +frequent and he paid court to both of them. Madame Clarence, who now liked +attention, thought him agreeable. Eveline showed no friendliness towards him, +and treated him with a hauteur and disdain that he took for aristocratic +behaviour and fashionable manners, and he thought all the more of her on that +account. This busy man taxed his ingenuity to please them, and he sometimes +succeeded. He got them cards for fashionable functions and boxes at the Opera. +He furnished Mademoiselle Clarence with several opportunities of appearing to +great advantage and in particular at a garden party which, although given by a +Minister, was regarded as really fashionable, and gained its first success in +society circles for the Republic. + +At that party Eveline had been much noticed and had attracted the special +attention of a young diplomat called Roger Lambilly who, imagining that she +belonged to a rather fast set, invited her to his bachelor's flat. She thought +him handsome and believed him rich, and she accepted. A little moved, almost +disquieted, she very nearly became the victim of her daring, and only avoided +defeat by an offensive measure audaciously carried out. This was the most +foolish escapade in her unmarried life. + +Being now on friendly terms with Ministers and with the President, Eveline +continued to wear her aristocratic and pious affectations, and these won for +her the sympathy of the chief personages in the anti-clerical and democratic +Republic. M. Hippolyte Ceres, seeing that she was succeeding and doing him +credit, liked her still more. He even went so far as to fall madly in love +with her. + +Henceforth, in spite of everything, she began to observe him with interest, +being curious to see if his passion would increase. He appeared to her without +elegance or grace, and not well bred, but active, clear-sighted, full of +resource, and not too great a bore. She still made fun of him, but he had now +won her interest. + +One day she wished to test him. It was during the elections, when members of +Parliament were, as the phrase runs, requesting a renewal of their mandates. +He had an opponent, who, though not dangerous at first and not much of an +orator, was rich and was reported to be gaining votes every day. Hippolyte +Ceres, banishing both dull security and foolish alarm from his mind, redoubled +his care. His chief method of action was by public meetings at which he spoke +vehemently against the rival candidate. His committee held huge meetings on +Saturday evenings and at three o'clock on Sunday afternoons. One Sunday, as he +called on the Clarences, he found Eveline alone in the drawing-room. He had +been chatting for about twenty or twenty-five minutes, when, taking out his +watch, he saw that it was a quarter to three. The young girl showed herself +amiable, engaging, attractive, and full of promises. Ceres was fascinated, but +he stood up to go. + +"Stay a little longer," said she in a pressing and agreeable voice which made +him promptly sit down again. + +She was full of interest, of abandon, curiosity, and weakness. He blushed, +turned pale, and again got up. + +Then, in order to keep him still longer, she looked at him out of two grey and +melting eyes, and though her bosom was heaving, she did not say another word. +He fell at her feet in distraction,, but once more looking at his watch, he +jumped up with a terrible oath. + +"D--! a quarter to four! I must be off." + +And immediately he rushed down the stairs. + +From that time onwards she had a certain amount of esteem for him. + + + +IV. A POLITICIAN'S MARRIAGE + +She was not quite in love with him, but she wished him to be in love with her. +She was, moreover, very reserved with him, and that not solely from any want +of inclination to be otherwise, since in affairs of love some things are due +to indifference, to inattention, to woman's instinct, to traditional custom +and feeling, to a desire to try one's power, and to satisfaction at seeing its +results. The reason of her prudence was that she knew him to be very much +infatuated and capable of taking advantage of any familiarities she allowed as +well as of reproaching her coarsely afterwards if she discontinued them. + +As he was a professed anti-clerical and free-thinker, she thought it a good +plan to affect an appearance of piety in his presence and to be seen with +prayer-books bound in red morocco, such as Queen Marie Leczinska's or the +Dauphiness Marie Josephine's "The Last Two Weeks of Lent." She lost no +opportunity, either, of showing him the subscriptions that she collected for +the endowment of the national cult of St. Orberosia. Eveline did not act in +this way because she wished to tease him. Nor did it spring from a young +girl's archness, or a spirit of constraint, or even from snobbishness, though +there was more than a suspicion of this latter in her behaviour. It was but +her way of asserting herself, of stamping herself with a definite character, +of increasing her value. To rouse the Deputy's courage she wrapped herself up +in religion, just as Brunhild surrounded herself with flames so as to attract +Sigurd. Her audacity was successful. He thought her still more beautiful thus. +Clericalism was in his eyes a sign of good form. + +Ceres was re-elected by an enormous majority and returned to a House which +showed itself more inclined to the Left, more advanced, and, as it seemed, +more eager for reform than its predecessor. Perceiving at once that so much +zeal was but intended to hide a fear of change, and a sincere desire to do +nothing, he determined to adopt a policy that would satisfy these aspirations. +At the beginning of the session he made a great speech, cleverly thought out +and well arranged, dealing with the idea that all reform ought to be put off +for a long time. He showed himself heated, even fervid; holding the principle +that an orator should recommend moderation with extreme vehemence. He was +applauded by the entire assembly. The Clarences listened to him from the +President's box and Eveline trembled in spite of herself at the solemn sound +of the applause. On the same bench the fair Madame Pensee shivered at the +intonations of his virile voice. + +As soon as he descended from the tribune, Ceres, even while the audience were +still clapping, went without a moment's delay to salute the Clarences in their +box. Eveline saw in him the beauty of success, and as he leaned towards the +ladies, wiping his neck with his handkerchief and receiving their +congratulations with an air of modesty though not without a tinge of +self-conceit, the young girl glanced towards Madame Pensee and saw her, +palpitating and breathless, drinking in the hero's applause with her head +thrown backwards. It seemed as if she were on the point of fainting. Eveline +immediately smiled tenderly on M. Ceres. + +The Alcan deputy's speech had a great vogue. In political "spheres" it was +regarded as extremely able. "We have at last heard an honest pronouncement," +said the chief Moderate journal. "It is a regular programme!" they said in the +House. It was agreed that he was a man of immense talent. + +Hippolyte Ceres had now established himself as leader of the radicals, +socialists, and anti-clericals, and they appointed him President of their +group, which was then the most considerable in the House. He thus found +himself marked out for office in the next ministerial combination. + +After a long hesitation Eveline Clarence accepted the idea of marrying M. +Hippolyte Ceres. The great man was a little common for her taste. Nothing had +yet proved that he would one day reach the point where politics bring in large +sums of money. But she was entering her twenty-seventh year and knew enough of +life to see that she must not be too fastidious or show herself too difficult +to please. + +Hippolyte Ceres was celebrated; Hippolyte Ceres was happy. He was no longer +recognisable; the elegance of his clothes and deportment had increased +tremendously. He wore an undue number of white gloves. Now that he was too +much of a society man, Eveline began to doubt if it was not worse than being +too little of one. Madame Clarence regarded the engagement with favour. She +was reassured concerning her daughter's future and pleased to have flowers +given her every Thursday for her drawing-room. + +The celebration of the marriage raised some difficulties. Eveline was pious +and wished to receive the benediction of the Church. Hippolyte Ceres, tolerant +but a free-thinker, wanted only a civil marriage. There were many discussions +and even some violent scenes upon the subject. The last took place in the +young girl's room at the moment when the invitations were being written. +Eveline declared that if she did not go to church she would not believe +herself married. She spoke of breaking off the engagement, and of going abroad +with her mother, or of retiring into a convent. Then she became tender, weak, +suppliant. She sighed, and everything in her virginal chamber sighed in +chorus, the holy-water font, the palm-branch above her white bed, the books of +devotion on their little shelves, and the blue and white statuette of St. +Orberosia chaining the dragon of Cappadocia, that stood upon the marble +mantelpiece. Hippolyte Ceres was moved, softened, melted. + +Beautiful in her grief, her eyes shining with tears, her wrists girt by a +rosary of lapis lazuli and, so to speak, chained by her faith, she suddenly +flung herself at Hippolyte's feet, and dishevelled, almost dying, she embraced +his knees. + +He nearly yielded. + +"A religious marriage," he muttered, "a marriage in church, I could make my +constituents stand that, but my committee would not swallow the matter so +easily. . . . Still I'll explain it to them . . . toleration, social +necessities . . . . They all send their daughters to Sunday school . . . . But +as for office, my dear I am afraid we are going to drown all hope of that in +your holy water." + +At these words she stood up grave, generous, resigned, conquered also in her +turn. + +"My dear, I insist no longer." + +"Then we won't have a religious marriage. It will be better, much better not." + +"Very well, but be guided by me. I am going to try and arrange everything both +to your satisfaction and mine." + +She sought the Reverend Father Douillard and explained the situation. He +showed himself even more accommodating and yielding than she had hoped. + +"Your husband is an intelligent man, a man of order and reason; he will come +over to us. You will sanctify him. It is not in vain that God has granted him +the blessing of a Christian wife. The Church needs no pomp and ceremonial +display for her benedictions. Now that she is persecuted, the shadow of the +crypts and the recesses of the catacombs are in better accord with her +festivals. Mademoiselle, when you have performed the civil formalities come +here to my private chapel in costume with M. Ceres. I will marry you, a +observe the most absolute discretion. I will obtain the necessary +dispensations from the Archbishop as well as all facilities regarding the +banns, confession-tickets, etc." + +Hippolyte, although he thought the combination a little dangerous, agreed to +it, a good deal flattered, at bottom. + +"I will go in a short coat," he said. + +He went in a frock coat with white gloves and varnished shoes, and he +genuflected. + +"Politeness demands. . . ." + + + +V. THE VISIRE CABINET + +The Ceres household was established with modest decency in a pretty flat +situated in a new building. Ceres loved his wife in a calm and tranquil +fashion. He was often kept late from home by the Commission on the Budget and +he worked more than three nights a week at a report on the postal finances of +which he hoped to make a masterpiece. Eveline thought she could twist him +round her finger, and this did not displease him. The bad side of their +situation was that they had not much money; in truth they had very little. The +servants of the Republic do not grow rich in her service as easily as people +think. Since the sovereign is no longer there to distribute favours, each of +them takes what he can, and his depredations, limited by the depredations of +all the others, are reduced to modest proportions. Hence that austerity of +morals that is noticed in democratic leaders. They can only grow rich during +periods of great business activity and then they find themselves exposed to +the envy of their less favoured colleagues. Hippolyte Ceres had for a long +time foreseen such a period. He was one of those who had made preparations for +its arrival. Whilst waiting for it he endured his poverty with dignity, and +Eveline shared that poverty without suffering as much as one might have +thought. She was in close intimacy with the Reverend Father Douillard and +frequented the chapel of St. Orberosia, where she met with serious society and +people in a position to render her useful services. She knew how to choose +among them and gave her confidence to none but those who deserved it. She had +gained experience since her motor excursions with Viscount Clena, and above +all she had now acquired the value of a married woman. + +The deputy was at first uneasy about these pious practices, which were +ridiculed by the demagogic newspapers, but he was soon reassured, for he saw +all around him democratic leaders joyfully becoming reconciled to the +aristocracy and the Church. + +They found that they had reached one of those periods (which often recur) when +advance had been carried a little too far. Hippolyte Ceres gave a moderate +support to this view. His policy was not a policy of persecution but a policy +of tolerance. He had laid its foundations in his splendid speech on the +preparations for reform. The Prime Minister was looked upon as too advanced. +He proposed schemes which were admitted to be dangerous to capital, and the +great financial companies were opposed to him. Of course it followed that the +papers of all views supported the companies. Seeing the danger increasing, the +Cabinet abandoned its schemes, its programme, and its opinions, but it was too +late. A new administration was already ready. An insidious question by Paul +Visire which was immediately made the subject of a resolution, and a fine +speech by Hippolyte Ceres, overthrew the Cabinet. + +The President of the Republic entrusted the formation of a new Cabinet to this +same Paul Visire, who, though still very young, had been a Minister twice. He +was a charming man, spending much of his time in the green-rooms of theatres, +very artistic, a great society man, of amazing ability and industry. Paul +Visire formed a temporary ministry intended to reassure public feeling which +had taken alarm, and Hippolyte Ceres was invited to hold office in it. + +The new ministry, belonging to all the groups in the majority, represented the +most diverse and contrary opinions, but they were all moderate and convinced +conservatives.* The Minister of Foreign Affairs was retained from the former +cabinet. He was a little dark man called Crombile, who worked fourteen hours a +day with the conviction that he dealt with tremendous questions. He refused to +see even his own diplomatic agents, and was terribly uneasy, though he did not +disturb anybody else, for the want of foresight of peoples is infinite and +that of governments is just as great. + +* As this ministry exercised considerable influence upon the destinies of the +country and of the world, we think it well to give its composition: Minister +of the Interior and Prime Minister, Paul Visire; Minister of Justice, Pierre +Bouc; Foreign Affairs, Victor Crombile; Finance, Terrasson; Education, +Labillette; Commerce, Posts and Telegraphs, Hippolyte Ceres; Agriculture, +Aulac; Public Works, Lapersonne; War, General Debonnaire; Admiralty, Admiral +Vivier des Murenes. + +The office of Public Works was given to a Socialist, Fortune Lapersonne. It +was then a political custom and one of the most solemn, most severe, most +rigorous, and if I may dare say so, the most terrible and cruel of all +political customs, to include a member of the Socialist party in each ministry +intended to oppose Socialism, so that the enemies of wealth and property +should suffer the shame of being attacked by one of their own party, and so +that they could not unite against these forces without turning to some one who +might possibly attack themselves in the future. Nothing but a profound +ignorance of the human heart would permit the belief that it was difficult to +find a Socialist to occupy these functions. Citizen Fortune Lapersonne entered +the Visire cabinet of his own free will and without any constraint; and he +found those who approved of his action even among his former friends, so great +was the fascination that power exercised over the Penguins! + +General Debonnaire went to the War Office. He was looked upon as one of the +ablest generals in the army, but he was ruled by a woman, the Baroness +Bildermann, who, though she had reached the age of intrigue, was still +beautiful. She was in the pay of a neighbouring and hostile Power. + +The new Minister of Marine, the worthy Admiral Vivier des Murenes, was +generally regarded as an excellent seaman. He displayed a piety that would +have seemed excessive in an anti-clerical minister, if the Republic had not +recognised that religion was of great maritime utility. Acting on the +instruction of his spiritual director, the Reverend Father Douillard, the +worthy Admiral had dedicated his fleet to St. Orberosia and directed canticles +in honour of the Alcan Virgin to be composed by Christian bards. These +replaced the national hymn in the music played by the navy. + +Prime Minister Visire declared himself to be distinctly anticlerical but ready +to respect all creeds; he asserted that he was a sober-minded reformer. Paul +Visire and his colleagues desired reforms, and it was in order not to +compromise reform that they proposed none; for they were true politicians and +knew that reforms are compromised the moment they are proposed. The government +was well received, respectable people were reassured, and the funds rose. + +The administration announced that four new ironclads would be put into +commission, that prosecutions would be undertaken against the Socialists, and +it formally declared its intention to have nothing to do with any +inquisitorial income-tax. The choice of Terrasson as Minister of Finance was +warmly approved by the press. Terrasson, an old minister famous for his +financial operations, gave warrant to all the hopes of the financiers and +shadowed forth a period of great business activity. Soon those three udders of +modern nations, monopolies, bill discounting, and fraudulent speculation, were +swollen with the milk of wealth. Already whispers were heard of distant +enterprises, and of planting colonies, and the boldest put forward in the +newspapers the project of a military and financial protectorate over Nigritia. + +Without having yet shown what he was capable of, Hippolyte Ceres was +considered a man of weight. Business people thought highly of him. He was +congratulated on all sides for having broken with the extreme sections, the +dangerous men, and for having realised the responsibilities of government. + +Madame Ceres shone alone amid the Ministers' wives. Crombile withered away in +bachelordom. Paul Visire had married money in the person of Mademoiselle +Blampignon, an accomplished, estimable, and simple lady who was always ill, +and whose feeble health compelled her to stay with her mother in the depths of +a remote province. The other Ministers' wives were not born to charm the +sight, and people smiled when they read that Madame Labillette had appeared at +the Presidency Ball wearing a headdress of birds of paradise. Madame Vivier +des Murenes, a woman of good family, was stout rather than tall, had a face +like a beef-steak and the voice of a newspaper-seller. Madame Debonnaire, +tall, dry, and florid, was devoted to young officers. She ruined herself by +her escapades and crimes and only regained consideration by dint of ugliness +and insolence. + +Madame Ceres was the charm of the Ministry and its tide to consideration. +Young, beautiful, and irreproachable, she charmed alike society and the masses +by her combination of elegant costumes and pleasant smiles. + +Her receptions were thronged by the great Jewish financiers. She gave the most +fashionable garden parties in the Republic. The newspapers described her +dresses and the milliners did not ask her to pay for them. She went to Mass; +she protected the chapel of St. Orberosia from the ill-will of the people; and +she aroused in aristocratic hearts the hope of a fresh Concordat. + +With her golden hair, grey eyes, and supple and slight though rounded figure, +she was indeed pretty. She enjoyed an excellent reputation and she was so +adroit, and calm, so much mistress of herself, that she would have preserved +it intact even if she had been discovered in the very act of ruining it. + +The session ended with a victory for the cabinet which, amid the almost +unanimous applause of the House, defeated a proposal for an inquisitorial tax, +and with a triumph for Madame Ceres who gave parties in honour of three kings +who were at the moment passing through Alca. + + + +VI. THE SOFA OF THE FAVOURITE + +The Prime Minister invited Monsieur and Madame Ceres to spend a couple of +weeks of the holidays in a little villa that he had taken in the mountains, +and in which he lived alone. The deplorable health of Madame Paul Visire did +not allow her to accompany her husband, and she remained with her relatives in +one of the southern provinces. + +The villa had belonged to the mistress of one of the last Kings of Alca: the +drawing-room retained its old furniture, and in it was still to be found the +Sofa of the Favourite. The country was charming; a pretty blue stream, the +Aiselle, flowed at the foot of the hill that dominated the villa. Hippolyte +Ceres loved fishing; when engaged at this monotonous occupation he often +formed his best Parliamentary combinations, and his happiest oratorical +inspirations. Trout swarmed in the Aiselle; he fished it from morning till +evening in a boat that the Prime Minister readily placed at is disposal. + +In the mean time, Eveline and Paul Visire sometimes took a turn together in +the garden, or had a little chat in the drawing-room. Eveline, although she +recognised the attraction that Visire had for women, had hitherto displayed +towards him only an intermittent and superficial coquetry, without any deep +intentions or settled design. He was a connoisseur and saw that she was +pretty. The House and the Opera had deprived him of all leisure, but, in a +little villa, the grey eyes and rounded figure of Eveline took on a value in +his eyes. One day as Hippolyte Ceres was fishing in the Aiselle, he made her +sit beside him on the Sofa of the Favourite. Long rays of gold struck Eveline +like arrows from a hidden Cupid through the chinks of the curtains which +protected her from the heat and glare of a brilliant day. Beneath her white +muslin dress her rounded yet slender form was outlined in its grace and youth. +Her skin was cool and fresh, and had the fragrance of freshly mown hay. Paul +Visire behaved as the occasion warranted, and for her part, she was opposed +neither to the games of chance or of society. She believed it would be nothing +or a trifle; she was mistaken. + +"There was," says the famous German ballad, "on the sunny side of the town +square, beside a wall whereon the creeper grew, a pretty little letter-box, as +blue as the corn-flowers, smiling and tranquil. + +"All day long there came to it, in their heavy shoes, small shop-keepers, rich +farmers, citizens, the tax-collector and the policeman, and they put into it +their business letters, their invoices, their summonses their notices to pay +taxes, the judges' returns, and orders for the recruits to assemble. It +remained smiling and tranquil. + +"With joy, or in anxiety, there advanced towards it workmen and farm servants, +maids and nursemaids, accountants, clerks, and women carrying their little +children in their arms; they put into it notifications of births. marriages, +and deaths, letters between engaged couples, between husbands and wives, from +mothers to their sons, and from sons to their mothers. It remained smiling and +tranquil. + +"At twilight, young lads and young girls slipped furtively to it, and put in +love-letters, some moistened with tears that blotted the ink, others with a +little circle to show the place to kiss, all of them very long. It remained +smiling and tranquil. + +"Rich merchants came themselves through excess of carefulness at the hour of +daybreak, and put into it registered letters, and letters with five red seals, +full of bank notes or cheques on the great financial establishments of the +Empire. It remained smiling and tranquil. + +"But one day, Gaspar, whom it had never seen, and whom it did not know from +Adam, came to put in a letter, of which nothing is known but that it was +folded like a little hat. Immediately the pretty letter-box fell into a swoon. +Henceforth it remains no longer in its place; it runs through streets, fields, +and woods, girdled with ivy, and crowned with roses. It keeps running up hill +and down dale; the country policeman surprises it sometimes, amidst the corn, +in Gaspar's arms kissing him upon the mouth." + +Paul Visire had recovered all his customary nonchalance. Eveline remained +stretched on the Divan of the Favourite in an attitude of delicious +astonishment. + +The Reverend Father Douillard, an excellent moral theologian, and a man who in +the decadence of the Church has preserved his principles, was very right to +teach, in conformity with the doctrine of the Fathers, that while a woman +commits a great sin by giving herself for money, she commits a much greater +one by giving herself for nothing. For, in the first case she acts to support +her life, and that is sometimes not merely excusable but pardonable, and even +worthy of the Divine Grace, for God forbids suicide, and is unwilling that his +creatures should destroy themselves. Besides, in giving herself in order to +live, she remains humble, and derives no pleasure from it a thing which +diminishes the sin. But a woman who gives herself for nothing sins with +pleasure and exults in her fault. The pride and delight with which she burdens +her crime increase its load of moral guilt. + +Madame Hippolyte Ceres' example shows the profundity of these moral truths. +She perceived that she had senses. A second was enough to bring about this +discovery, to change her soul, to alter her whole life. To have learned to +know herself was at first a delight. The {greek here} of the ancient +philosophy is not a precept the moral fulfilment of which procures any +pleasure, since one enjoys little satisfaction from knowing one's soul. It is +not the same with the flesh, for in it sources of pleasure may be revealed to +us. Eveline immediately felt an obligation to her revealer equal to the +benefit she had received, and she imagined that he who had discovered these +heavenly depths was the sole possessor of the key to them. Was this an error, +and might she not be able to find others who also had the golden key? It is +difficult to decide; and Professor Haddock, when the facts were divulged +(which happened without much delay as we shall see), treated the matter from +an experimental point of view, in a scientific review, and concluded that the +chances Madame C-- would have of finding the exact equivalent of M. V-- were +in the proportion of 305 to 975008. This is as much as to say that she would +never find it. Doubtless her instinct told her the same, for she attached +herself distractedly to him. + +I have related these facts with all the circumstances which seemed to me +worthy of attracting the attention of meditative and philosophic minds. The +Sofa of the Favourite is worthy of the majesty of history; on it were decided +the destinies of a great people; nay, on it was accomplished an act whose +renown was to extend over the neighbouring nations both friendly and hostile, +and even over all humanity. Too often events of this nature escape the +superficial minds and shallow spirits who inconsiderately assume the task of +writing history. Thus the secret springs of events remain hidden from us. The +fall of Empires and the transmission of dominions astonish us and remain +incomprehensible to us, because we have not discovered the imperceptible +point, or touched the secret spring which when put in movement has destroyed +and overthrown everything. The author of this great history knows better than +anyone else his faults and his weaknesses, but he can do himself this +justice--that he has always kept the moderation, the seriousness, the +austerity, which an account of affairs of State demands, and that he has never +departed from the gravity which is suitable to a recital of human actions. + + + +VII. THE FIRST CONSEQUENCES + +When Eveline confided to Paul Visire that she had never experienced anything +similar, he did not believe her. He had had a good deal to do with women and +knew that they readily say these things to men in order to make them more in +love with them. Thus his experience, as sometimes happens, made him disregard +the truth. Incredulous, but gratified all the same, he soon felt love and +something more for her. This state at first seemed favourable to his +intellectual faculties. Visire delivered in the chief town of his constituency +a speech full of grace, brilliant and happy, which was considered to be a +masterpiece. + +The re-opening of Parliament was serene. A few isolated jealousies, a few +timid ambitions raised their heads in the House, and that was all. A smile +from the Prime Minister was enough to dissipate these shadows. She and he saw +each other twice a day, and wrote to each other in the interval. He was +accustomed to intimate relationships, was adroit, and knew how to dissimulate; +but Eveline displayed a foolish imprudence: she made herself conspicuous with +him in drawing-rooms, at the theatre, in the House, and at the Embassies; she +wore her love upon her face, upon her whole person, in her moist glances, in +the languishing smile of her lips, in the heaving of her breast, in all her +heightened, agitated, and distracted beauty. Soon the entire country knew of +their intimacy. Foreign Courts were informed of it. The President of the +Republic and Eveline's husband alone remained in ignorance. The President +became acquainted with it in the country, through a misplaced police report +which found its way, it is not known how, into his portmanteau. + +Hippolyte Ceres, without being either very subtle, or very perspicacious, +noticed that there was something different in his home. Eveline, who quite +lately had interested herself in his affairs, and shown, if not tenderness, at +least affection, towards him, displayed henceforth nothing but indifference +and repulsion. She had always had periods of absence, and made prolonged +visits to the Charity of St. Orberosia; now, she went out in the morning, +remained out all day, and sat down to dinner at nine o'clock in the evening +with the face of a somnambulist. Her husband thought it absurd; however, he +might perhaps have never known the reason for this; a profound ignorance of +women, a crass confidence in his own merit, and in his own fortune, might +perhaps have always hidden the truth from him, if the two lovers had not, so +to speak, compelled him to discover it. + +When Paul Visire went to Eveline's house and found her alone, they used to +say, as they embraced each other; "Not here! not here!" and immediately they +affected an extreme reserve. That was their invariable rule. Now, one day, +Paul Visire went to the house of his colleague Ceres, with whom he had an +engagement. It was Eveline who received him, the Minister of Commerce being +delayed by a commission. + +"Not here!" said the lovers, smiling. + +They said it, mouth to mouth, embracing, and clasping each other. They were +still saying it, when Hippolyte Ceres entered the drawing-room. + +Paul Visire did not lose his presence of mind. He declared to Madame Ceres +that he would give up his attempt to take the dust out of her eye. By this +attitude he did not deceive the husband, but he was able to leave the room +with some dignity. + +Hippolyte Ceres was thunderstruck. Eveline's conduct appeared incomprehensible +to him; he asked her what reasons she had for it. + +"Why? why?" he kept repeating continually, "why?" + +She denied everything, not to convince him, for he had seen them, but from +expediency and good taste, and to avoid painful explanations. Hippolyte Ceres +suffered all the tortures of jealousy. He admitted it to himself, he kept +saying inwardly, "I am a strong man; I am clad in armour; but the wound is +underneath, it is in my heart," and turning towards his wife, who looked +beautiful in her guilt, he would say: + +"It ought not to have been with him." + +He was right--Eveline ought not to have loved in government circles. + +He suffered so much that he took up his revolver, exclaiming: "I will go and +kill him!" But he remembered that a Minister of Commerce cannot kill his own +Prime Minister, and he put his revolver back into his drawer. + +The weeks passed without calming his sufferings. Each morning he buckled his +strong man's armour over his wound and sought in work and fame the peace that +fled from him. Every Sunday he inaugurated busts, statues, fountains, artesian +wells, hospitals, dispensaries, railways, canals, public markets, drainage +systems, triumphal arches, and slaughter houses, and delivered moving speeches +on each of these occasions. His fervid activity devoured whole piles of +documents; he changed the colours of the postage stamps fourteen times in one +week. Nevertheless, he gave vent to outbursts of grief and rage that drove him +insane; for whole days his reason abandoned him. If he had been in the +employment of a private administration this would have been noticed +immediately, but it is much more difficult to discover insanity or frenzy in +the conduct of affairs of State. At that moment the government employees were +forming themselves into associations and federations amid a ferment that was +giving alarm both to the Parliament and to public feeling. The postmen were +especially prominent in their enthusiasm for trade unions. + +Hippolyte Ceres informed them in a circular that their action was strictly +legal. The following day he sent out a second circular forbidding all +associations of government employees as illegal. He dismissed one hundred and +eighty postmen, reinstated them, reprimanded them--and awarded them +gratuities. At Cabinet councils he was always on the point of bursting forth. +The presence of the Head of the State scarcely restrained him within the +limits of the decencies, and as he did not dare to attack his rival he +consoled himself by heaping invectives upon General Debonnaire, the respected +Minister of War. The General did not hear them. for he was deaf and occupied +himself in composing verses for the Baroness Bildermann. Hippolyte Ceres +offered an indistinct opposition to everything the Prime Minister proposed. In +a word, he was a madman. One faculty alone escaped the ruin of his intellect: +he retained his Parliamentary sense, his consciousness of the temper of +majorities, his thorough knowledge of groups, and his certainty of the +direction in which affairs were moving. + + + +VIII. FURTHER CONSEQUENCES + +The session ended calmly, and the Ministry saw no dangerous signs upon the +benches where the majority sat. It was visible, however, from certain articles +in the Moderate journals, that the demands of the Jewish and Christian +financiers were increasing daily, that the patriotism of the banks required a +civilizing expedition to Nigritia, and that the steel trusts, eager in the +defence of our coasts and colonies, were crying out for armoured cruisers and +still more armoured cruisers. Rumours of war began to be heard. Such rumours +sprang up every year as regularly as the trade winds; serious people paid no +heed to them and the government usually let them die away from their own +weakness unless they grew stronger and spread. For in that case the country +would be alarmed. The financiers only wanted colonial wars and the people did +not want any wars at all. It loved to see its government proud and even +insolent, but at the least suspicion that a European war was brewing, its +violent emotion would quickly have reached the House. Paul Visire was not +uneasy. The European situation was in his view completely reassuring. He was +only irritated by the maniacal silence of his Minister of Foreign Affairs. +That gnome went to the Cabinet meetings with a portfolio bigger than himself +stuffed full of papers, said nothing, refused to answer all questions, even +those asked him by the respected President of the Republic, and, exhausted by +his obstinate labours, took a few moments' sleep in his arm-chair in which +nothing but the top of his little black head was to be seen above the green +tablecloth. + +In the mean time Hippolyte Ceres became a strong man again. In company with +his colleague Lapersonne he formed numerous intimacies with ladies of the +theatre. They were both to be seen at night entering fashionable restaurants +in the company of ladies whom they over-topped by their lofty stature and +their new hats, and they were soon reckoned amongst the most sympathetic +frequenters of the boulevards. Fortune Lapersonne had his own wound beneath +his armour, His wife, a young milliner whom he carried off from a marquis, had +gone to live with a chauffeur. He loved her still, and could not console +himself for her loss, so that very often in the private room of a restaurant, +in the midst of a group of girls who laughed and ate crayfish, the two +ministers exchanged a look full of their common sorrow and wiped away an +unbidden tear. + +Hippolyte Ceres, although wounded to the heart, did not allow himself to be +beaten. He swore that he would be avenged. + +Madame Paul Visire, whose deplorable health forced her to live with her +relatives in a distant province, received an anonymous letter specifying that +M. Paul Visire, who had not a half-penny when he married her, was spending her +dowry on a married woman, E-- C--, that he gave this woman +thirty-thousand-franc motor-cars, and pearl necklaces costing twenty-five +thousand francs, and that he was going straight to dishonour and ruin. Madame +Paul Visire read the letter, fell into hysterics, and handed it to her father. + +"I am going to box your husband's ears," said M. Blampignon; "he is a +blackguard who will land you both in the workhouse unless we look out. He may +be Prime Minister, but he won't frighten me." + +When he stepped off the train M. Blampignon presented himself at the Ministry +of the Interior, and was immediately received. He entered the Prime Minister's +room in a fury. + +"I have something to say to you, sir!" And he waved the anonymous letter. + +Paul Visire welcomed him smiling. + +"You are welcome, my dear father. I was going to write to you. . . . Yes, to +tell you of your nomination to the rank of officer of the Legion of Honour. I +signed the patent this morning." + +M. Blampignon thanked his son-in-law warmly and threw the anonymous letter +into the fire. + +He returned to his provincial house and found his daughter fretting and +agitated. + +"Well! I saw your husband. He is a delightful fellow. But then, you don't +understand how to deal with him." + +About this time Hippolyte Ceres learned through a little scandalous newspaper +(it is always through the newspapers that ministers are informed of the +affairs of State) that the Prime Minister dined every evening with +Mademoiselle Lysiane of the Folies Dramatiques, whose charm seemed to have +made a great impression on him. Thenceforth Ceres took a gloomy joy in +watching his wife. She came in every evening to dine or dress with an air of +agreeable fatigue and the serenity that comes from enjoyment. + +Thinking that she knew nothing, he sent her anonymous communications. She read +them at the table before him and remained still listless and smiling. + +He then persuaded himself that she gave no heed to these vague reports, and +that in order to disturb her it would be necessary to enable her to verify her +lover's infidelity and treason for herself. There were at the Ministry a +number of trustworthy agents charged with secret inquiries regarding the +national defence. They were then employed in watching the spies of a +neighbouring and hostile Power who had succeeded in entering the Postal and +Telegraphic service. M. Ceres ordered them to suspend their work for the +present and to inquire where, when, and how, the Minister of the Interior saw +Mademoiselle Lysiane. The agents performed their missions faithfully and told +the minister that they had several times seen the Prime Minister with a woman, +but that she was not Mademoiselle Lysiane. Hippolyte Ceres asked them nothing +further. He was right; the loves of Paul Visire and Lysiane were but an alibi +invented by Paul Visire himself, with Eveline's approval, for his fame was +rather inconvenient to her, and she sighed for secrecy and mystery. + +They were not shadowed by the agents of the Ministry of Commerce alone. They +were also followed by those of the Prefect of Police, and even by those of the +Minister of the Interior, who disputed with each other the honour of +protecting their chief. Then there were the emissaries of several royalist, +imperialist, and clerical organisations, those of eight or ten blackmailers, +several amateur detectives, a multitude of reporters, and a crowd of +photographers, who all made their appearance wherever these two took refuge in +their perambulating love affairs, at big hotels, small hotels, town houses, +country houses, private apartments, villas, museums, palaces, hovels. They +kept watch in the streets, from neighbouring houses, trees, walls, +stair-cases, landings, roofs, adjoining rooms, and even chimneys. The Minister +and his friend saw with alarm all round their bed room, gimlets boring through +doors and shutters, and drills making holes in the walls. A photograph of +Madame Ceres in night attire buttoning her boots was the utmost that had been +obtained. + +Paul Visire grew impatient and irritable, and often lost his good humour and +agreeableness. He came to the cabinet meetings in a rage and he, too, poured +invectives upon General Debonnaire--a brave man under fire but a lax +disciplinarian--and launched his sarcasms at against the venerable admiral +Vivier des Murenes whose ships went to the bottom without any apparent reason. + +Fortune Lapersonne listened open-eyed, and grumbled scoffingly between his +teeth: + +"He is not satisfied with robbing Hippolyte Ceres of his wife, but he must go +and rob him of his catchwords too." + +These storms were made known by the indiscretion of some ministers and by the +complaints of the two old warriors, who declared their intention of flinging +their portfolios at the beggar's head, but who did nothing of the sort. These +outbursts, far from injuring the lucky Prime Minister, had an excellent effect +on Parliament and public opinion, who looked on them as signs of a keen +solicitude for the welfare of the national army and navy. The Prime Minister +was the recipient of general approbation. + +To the congratulations of the various groups and of notable personages, he +replied with simple firmness: "Those are my principles!" and he had seven or +eight Socialists put in prison. + +The session ended, and Paul Visire, very exhausted, went to take the waters. +Hippolyte Ceres refused to leave his Ministry, where the trade union of +telephone girls was in tumultuous agitation. He opposed it with an unheard of +violence, for he had now become a woman-hater. On Sundays he went into the +suburbs to fish along with his colleague Lapersonne, wearing the tall hat that +never left him since he had become a Minister. And both of them, forgetting +the fish,, complained of the inconstancy of women and mingled their griefs. + +Hippolyte still loved Eveline and he still suffered. However, hope had slipped +into his heart. She was now separated from her ]over, and, thinking to win her +back, he directed all his efforts to that end. He put forth all his skill, +showed himself sincere, adaptable, affectionate, devoted, even discreet; his +heart taught him the delicacies of feeling. He said charming and touching +things to the faithless one, and, to soften her, he told her all that he had +suffered. + +Crossing the band of his trousers upon his stomach. + +"See," said he, "how thin I have got." + +He promised her everything he thought could gratify a woman, country parties, +hats, jewels. + +Sometimes he thought she would take pity on him. + +She no longer displayed an insolently happy countenance. Being separated from +Paul, her sadness had an air of gentleness. But the moment he made a gesture +to recover her she turned away fiercely and gloomily, girt with her fault as +if with a golden girdle. + +He did not give up, making himself humble, suppliant, lamentable. + +One day he went to Lapersonne and said to him with tears in his eyes: + +"Will you speak to her?" + +Lapersonne excused himself, thinking that his intervention would be useless, +but he gave some advice to his friend. + +"Make her think that you don't care about her, that you love another, and she +will come back to you." + +Hippolyte, adopting this method, inserted in the newspapers that he was always +to be found in the company of Mademoiselle Guinaud of the Opera. He came home +late or did not come home at all, assumed in Eveline's presence an appearance +of inward joy impossible to restrain, took out of his pocket, at dinner, a +letter on scented paper which he pretended to read with delight, and his lips +seemed as in a dream to kiss invisible lips. Nothing happened. Eveline did not +even notice the change. Insensible to all around her, she only came out of her +lethargy to ask for some louis from her husband, and if he did not give them +she threw him a look of contempt, ready to upbraid him with the shame which +she poured upon him in the sight of the whole world. Since she had loved she +spent a great deal on dress. She needed money, and she had only her husband to +secure it for her; she was so far faithful to him. + +He lost patience, became furious, and threatened her with his revolver. He +said one day before her to Madame Clarence: + +"I congratulate you, Madame; you have brought up your daughter to be a wanton +hussy." + +"Take me away, Mamma," exclaimed Eveline. "I will get a divorce!" + +He loved her more ardently than ever. In his jealous rage, suspecting her, not +without probability, of sending and receiving letters, he swore that he would +intercept them, re-established a censorship over the post, threw private +correspondence into confusion, delayed stock-exchange quotations, prevented +assignations, brought about bankruptcies, thwarted passions, and caused +suicides. The independent press gave utterance to the complaints of the public +and indignantly supported them. To justify these arbitrary measures, the +ministerial journals spoke darkly of plots and public dangers, and promoted a +belief in a monarchical conspiracy. The less well-informed sheets gave more +precise information, told of the seizure of fifty thousand guns, and the +landing of Prince Crucho. Feeling grew throughout the country, and the +republican organs called for the immediate meeting of Parliament. Paul Visire +returned to Paris, summoned his colleagues, held an important Cabinet Council, +and proclaimed through his agencies that a plot had been actually formed +against the national representation, but that the Prime Minister held the +threads of it in his hand, and that a judicial inquiry was about to be opened. + +He immediately ordered the arrest of thirty Socialists, and whilst the entire +country was acclaiming him as its saviour, baffling the watchfulness of his +six hundred detectives, he secretly took Eveline to a little house near the +Northern railway station, where they remained until night. After their +departure, the maid of their hotel, as she was putting their room in order, +saw seven little crosses traced by a hairpin on the wall at the head of the +bed. + +That is all that Hippolyte Ceres obtained as a reward of his efforts. + + + +IX. THE FINAL CONSEQUENCES + +Jealousy is a virtue of democracies which preserves them from tyrants. +Deputies began to envy the Prime Minister his golden key. For a year his +domination over the beauteous Madame Ceres had been known to the whole +universe. The provinces, whither news and fashions only arrive after a +complete revolution of the earth round the sun, were at last informed of the +illegitimate loves of the Cabinet. The provinces preserve an austere morality; +women are more virtuous there than they are in the capital. + +Various reasons have been alleged for this: Education, example, simplicity of +life. Professor Haddock asserts that this virtue of provincial ladies is +solely due to the fact that the heels of their shoes are low. "A woman," said +he, in a learned article in the "Anthropological Review", "a woman attracts a +civilized man in proportion as her feet make an angle with the ground. If this +angle is as much as thirty-five degrees, the attraction becomes acute. For the +position of the feet upon the ground determines the whole carriage of the +body, and it results that provincial women, since they wear low heels, are not +very attractive, and preserve their virtue with ease." These conclusions were +not generally accepted. It was objected that under the influence of English +and American fashions, low heels had been introduced generally without +producing the results attributed to them by the learned Professor; moreover, +it was said that the difference he pretended to establish between the morals +of the metropolis and those of the provinces is perhaps illusory, and that if +it exists, it is apparently due to the fact that great cities offer more +advantages and facilities for love than small towns provide. However that may +be, the provinces began to murmur against the Prime Minister, and to raise a +scandal. This was not yet a danger, but there was a possibility that it might +become one. + +For the moment the peril was nowhere and yet everywhere. The majority remained +solid; but the leaders became stiff and exacting. Perhaps Hippolyte Ceres +would never have intentionally sacrificed his interests to his vengeance. But +thinking that he could henceforth, without compromising his own fortune, +secretly damage that of Paul Visire, he devoted himself to the skilful and +careful preparation of difficulties and perils for the Head of the Government. +Though far from equalling his rival in talent, knowledge, and authority, he +greatly surpassed him in his skill as a lobbyist. The most acute +parliamentarians attributed the recent misfortunes of the majority to his +refusal to vote. At committees, by a calculated imprudence, he favoured +motions which he knew the Prime Minister could not accept. One day his +intentional awkwardness provoked a sudden and violent conflict between the +Minister of the Interior, and his departmental Treasurer. Then Ceres became +frightened and went no further. It would have been dangerous for him to +overthrow the ministry too soon. His ingenious hatred found an issue by +circuitous paths. Paul Visire had a poor cousin of easy morals who bore his +name. Ceres, remembering this lady, Celine Visire, brought her into +prominence, arranged that she should become intimate with several foreigners, +and procured her engagements in the music-halls. One summer night, on a stage +in the Champs Elysees before a tumultuous crowd, she performed risky dances to +the sounds of wild music which was audible in the gardens where the President +of the Republic was entertaining Royalty. The name of Visire, associated with +these scandals, covered the walls of the town, filled the newspapers, was +repeated in the cafes and at balls, and blazed forth in letters of fire upon +the boulevards. + +Nobody regarded the Prime Minister as responsible for the scandal of his +relatives, but a bad idea of his family came into existence, and the influence +of the statesman was diminished. + +Almost immediately he was made to feel this in a pretty sharp fashion. One day +in the House, on a simple question, Labillette, the Minister of Religion and +Public Worship, who was suffering from an attack of liver, and beginning to be +exasperated by the intentions and intrigues of the clergy, threatened to close +the Chapel of St. Orberosia, and spoke without respect of the National Virgin. +The entire Right rose up in indignation; the Left appeared to give but a +half-hearted support to the rash Minister. The leaders of the majority did not +care to attack a popular cult which brought thirty millions a year into the +country. The most moderate of the supporters of the Right, M. Bigourd, made +the question the subject of a resolution and endangered the Cabinet. Luckily, +Fortune Lapersonne, the Minister of Public Works, always conscious of the +obligations of power, was able in the Prime Minister's absence to repair the +awkwardness and indecorum of his colleague, the Minister of Public Worship. He +ascended the tribune and bore witness to the respect in which the Government +held the heavenly Patron of the country, the consoler of so many ills which +science admitted its powerlessness to relieve. + +When Paul Visire, snatched at last from Eveline's arms, appeared in the House, +the administration was saved; but the Prime Minister saw himself compelled to +grant important concessions to the upper classes. He proposed in Parliament +that six armoured cruisers should be laid down, and thus won the sympathies of +the Steel Trust; he gave new assurances that the income tax would not be +imposed, and he had eighteen Socialists arrested. + +He was soon to find himself opposed by more formidable obstacles. The +Chancellor of the neighbouring Empire in an ingenious and profound speech upon +the foreign relations of his sovereign, made a sly allusion to the intrigues +that inspired the policy of a great country. This reference, which was receive +with smiles by the Imperial Parliament, was certain to irritate a punctilious +republic. It aroused the national susceptibility, which directed its wrath +against its amorous Minister. The Deputies seized upon a frivolous pretext to +show their dissatisfaction. A ridiculous incident, the fact that the wife of a +subprefect had danced at the Moulin Rouge, forced the minister to face a vote +of censure, and he was within a few votes of being defeated. According to +general opinion, Paul Visire had never been so weak, so vacillating, or so +spiritless, as on that occasion. + +He understood that he could only keep himself in office by a great political +stroke, and he decided on the expedition to Nigritia. This measure was +demanded by the great financial and industrial corporations and was one which +would bring concessions of immense forests to the capitalists, a loan of eight +millions to the banking companies, as well as promotions and decorations to +the naval and military officers. A pretext presented itself; some insult +needed to be avenged, or some debt to be collected. Six battleships, fourteen +cruisers, and eighteen transports sailed up the mouth of the river +Hippopotamus. Six hundred canoes vainly opposed the landing of the troops. +Admiral Vivier des Murenes' cannons produced an appalling effect upon the +blacks, who replied to them with flights of arrows, but in spite of their +fanatical courage they were entirely defeated. Popular enthusiasm was kindled +by the newspapers which the financiers subsidised, and burst into a blaze. +Some Socialists alone protested against this barbarous, doubtful, and +dangerous enterprise. They were at once arrested. + +At that moment when the Minister, supported by wealth, and now beloved by the +poor, seemed unconquerable, the light of hate showed Hippolyte Ceres alone the +danger, and looking with a gloomy joy at his rival, he muttered between his +teeth, "He is wrecked, the brigand!" + +Whilst the country intoxicated itself with glory, the neighbouring Empire +protested against the occupation of Nigritia by a European power, and these +protests following one another at shorter and shorter intervals became more +and more vehement. The newspapers of the interested Republic concealed all +causes for uneasiness; but Hippolyte Ceres heard the growing menace, and +determined at last to risk everything, even the fate of the ministry, in order +to ruin his enemy. He got men whom he could trust to write and insert articles +in several of the official journals, which, seeming to express Paul Visire's +precise views, attributed warlike intentions to the Head of the Government. + +These articles roused a terrible echo abroad, and they alarmed the public +opinion of a nation which, while fond of soldiers, was not fond of war. +Questioned in the House on the foreign policy of his government, Paul Visire +made a re-assuring statement, and promised to maintain a face compatible with +the dignity of a great nation. His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Crombile, read +a declaration which was absolutely unintelligible, for the reason that it was +couched in diplomatic language. The Minister obtained a large majority. + +But the rumours of war did not cease, and in order to avoid a new and +dangerous motion, the Prime Minister distributed eighty thousand acres of +forests in Nigritia among the Deputies, and had fourteen Socialists arrested. +Hippolyte Ceres went gloomily about the lobbies, confiding to the Deputies of +his group that he was endeavouring to induce the Cabinet to adopt a pacific +policy, and that he still hoped to succeed. Day by day the sinister rumours +grew in volume, and penetrating amongst the public, spread uneasiness and +disquiet. Paul Visire himself began to take alarm. What disturbed him most +were the silence and absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Crombile no +longer came to the meetings of the Cabinet. Rising at five o'clock in the +morning, he worked eighteen hours at his desk, and at last fell exhausted into +his waste-paper basket, from whence the registrars removed him, together with +the papers which they were going to sell to the military attaches of the +neighbouring Empire. + +General Debonnaire believed that a campaign was imminent, and prepared for it. +Far from fearing war, he prayed for it, and confided his generous hopes to +Baroness Bildermann, who informed the neighbouring nation, which, acting on +her information, proceeded to a rapid mobilization. + +The Minister of Finance unintentionally precipitated events. At the moment, he +was speculating for a fall, and in order to bring about a panic on the Stock +Exchange, he spread the rumour that war was now inevitable. The neighbouring +Empire, deceived by this action, and expecting to see its territory invaded, +mobilized its troops in all haste. The terrified Chamber overthrew the Visire +ministry by an enormous majority (814 votes to 7, with 28 abstentions). It was +too late. The very day of this fall the neighbouring and hostile nation +recalled its ambassador and flung eight millions of men into Madame Ceres' +country. War became universal, and the whole world was drowned in a torrent of +blood. + + +THE ZENITH OF PENGUIN CIVILIZATION + +Half a century after the events we have just related, Madame Ceres died +surrounded with respect and veneration, in the eighty-ninth year of her age. +She had long been the widow of a statesman whose name she bore with dignity. +Her modest and quiet funeral was followed by the orphans of the parish and the +sisters of the Sacred Compassion. + +The deceased left all her property to the Charity of St. Orberosia. + +"Alas!" sighed M. Monnoyer, a canon of St. Mael, as he received the pious +legacy, "it was high time for a generous benefactor to come to the relief of +our necessities. Rich and poor, learned and ignorant are turning away from us. +And when we try to lead back these misguided souls, neither threats nor +promises, neither gentleness nor violence, nor anything else is now +successful. The Penguin clergy pine in desolation; our country priests, +reduced to following the humblest of trades, are shoeless, and compelled to +live upon such scraps as they can pick up. In our ruined churches the rain of +heaven falls upon the faithful, and during the holy offices they can hear the +noise of stones falling from the arches. The tower of the cathedral is +tottering and will soon fall. St. Orberosia is forgotten by the Penguins, her +devotion abandoned, and her sanctuary deserted. On her shrine, bereft of its +gold and precious stones, the spider silently weaves her web." + +Hearing these lamentations, Pierre Mille, who at the age of ninety-eight years +had lost nothing of his intellectual and moral power, asked, the canon if he +did not think that St. Orberosia would one day rise out of this wrongful +oblivion. + +"I hardly dare to hope so," sighed M. Monnoyer. + +"It is a pity!" answered Pierre Mille. "Orberosia is a charming figure and her +legend is a beautiful one. I discovered the other day by the merest chance, +one of her most delightful miracles, the miracle of Jean Violle. Would you +like to hear it, M. Monnoyer?" + +"I should be very pleased, M. Mille." + +"Here it is, then, just as I found it in a fifteenth-century manuscript + +"Cecile, the wife of Nicolas Gaubert, a jeweller on the Pont-au-Change, after +having led an honest and chaste life for many years, and being now past her +prime, became infatuated with Jean Violle, the Countess de Maubec's page, who +lived at the Hotel du Paon on the Place de Greve. He was not yet eighteen +years old, and his face and figure were attractive. Not being able to conquer +her passion, Cecile resolved to satisfy it. She attracted the page to her +house, loaded him with caresses, supplied him with sweetmeats and finally did +as she wished with him. + +"Now one day, as they were together in the jeweller's bed, Master Nicholas +came home sooner than he was expected. He found the bolt drawn, and heard his +wife on the other side of the door exclaiming, 'My heart! my angel! my love!' +Then suspecting that she was shut up with a gallant, he struck great blows +upon the door and began to shout 'Slut! hussy! wanton! open so that I may cut +off your nose and ears!' In this peril, the jeweller's wife besought St. +Orberosia, and vowed her a large candle if she helped her and the little page, +who was dying of fear beside the bed, out of their difficulty. + +"The saint heard the prayer. She immediately changed Jean Violle into a girl. +Seeing this, Cecile was completely reassured, and began to call out to her +husband: 'Oh! you brutal villain, you jealous wretch! Speak gently if you want +the door to be opened.' And scolding in this way, she ran to the wardrobe and +took out of it an old hood, a pair of stays, and a long grey petticoat, in +which she hastily wrapped the transformed page. Then when this was done, +'Catherine, dear Catherine,' said she, loudly, 'open the door for your uncle; +he is more fool than knave, and won't do you any harm." The boy who had become +a girl, obeyed. Master Nicholas entered the room and found in it a young maid +whom he did not know, and his wife in bed. 'Big booby,' said the latter to +him, 'don't stand gaping at what you see. just as I had come to bed because +had a stomach ache, I received a visit from Catherine, the daughter of my +sister Jeanne de Palaiseau, with whom we quarrelled fifteen years ago. Kiss +your niece. She is well worth the trouble.' The jeweller gave Violle a hug, +and from that moment wanted nothing so much as to be alone with her a moment, +so that he might embrace her as much as he liked. For this reason he led her +without any delay down to the kitchen, under the pretext of giving her some +walnuts and wine, and he was no sooner there with her than he began to caress +her very affectionately. He would not have stopped at that if St. Orberosia +had not inspired his good wife with the idea of seeing what he was about. She +found him with the pretended niece sitting on his knee. She called him a +debauched creature, boxed his ears, and forced him to beg her pardon. The next +day Violle resumed his previous form." + +Having heard this story the venerable Canon Monnoyer thanked Pierre Mille for +having told it, and, taking up his pen, began to write out a list of horses +that would win at the next race meeting. For he was a book-maker's clerk. + +In the mean time Penguinia gloried in its wealth. Those who produced the +things necessary for life, wanted them; those who did not produce them had +more than enough. "But these," as a member of the Institute said, "are +necessary economic fatalities." The great Penguin people had no longer either +traditions, intellectual culture, or arts. The progress of civilisation +manifested itself among them by murderous industry, infamous speculation, and +hideous luxury. Its capital assumed, as did all the great cities of the time, +a cosmopolitan and financial character. An immense and regular ugliness +reigned within it. The country enjoyed perfect tranquillity. It had reached +its zenith. + + +Book VII. FUTURE TIMES + +THE ENDLESS HISTORY + +Alca is becoming Americanised.--M. Daniset. + +And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of +the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.--Genesis xix. 25 + +{greek here](Herodotus, Histories, VII cii.) + +Poverty hast ever been familiar to Greece, but virtue has been acquired, +having been accomplished by wisdom and firm laws.-- Henry Cary's Translation. + +You have not seen angels then.--Liber Terribilis. + +Bqfttfusftpvtuse jufbmmbb b up sjufef tspjtfucftfnqfsfvstbqsftbnpjsqsp +dmbnfuspjtghjttdmjcfsufnbgsbodftftutpbnjtfbeftdpnqb hojtgjobo -- difsftr -- +vjejtqpteoueftsjdifttftevqbzt fuqbsmfn Pzfoevofqsf ttfbdifuffejsjhfboumpqjojno + Voufnpjoxfsiejrvf + +We are now beginning to study a chemistry which will deal with effects +produced by bodies containing a quantity of concentrated energy the like of +which we have not yet had at our disposal.--Sir William Ramsay. + + + +S. I + +The houses were never high enough to satisfy them; they kept on making them +still higher and built them of thirty or forty storeys: with offices, shops, +banks, societies one above another; they dug cellars and tunnels ever deeper +downwards. + +Fifteen millions of men laboured in a giant town by the light of beacons which +shed forth their glare both day and night. No light of heaven pierced through +the smoke of the factories with which the town was girt, but sometimes the red +disk of a rayless sun might be seen riding in the black firmament through +which iron bridges ploughed their way, and from which there descended a +continual shower of soot and cinders. It was the most industrial of all the +cities in the world and the richest. Its organisation seemed perfect. None of +the ancient aristocratic or democratic forms remained; everything was +subordinated to the interests of the trusts. This environment gave rise to +what anthropologists called the multi-millionaire type. The men of this type +were at once energetic and frail, capable of great activity in forming mental +combinations and of prolonged labour in offices, but men whose nervous +irritability suffered from hereditary troubles which increased as time went +on. + +Like all true aristocrats, like the patricians of republican Rome or the +squires of old England, these powerful men affected a great severity in their +habits and customs. They were the ascetics of wealth. At the meetings of the +trusts an observer would have noticed their smooth and puffy faces, their +lantern cheeks, their sunken eyes and wrinkled brows. With bodies more +withered, complexions yellower, lips drier, and eyes filled with a more +burning fanaticism than those of the old Spanish monks, these +multimillionaires gave themselves up with inextinguishable ardour to the +austerities of banking and industry. Several, denying themselves all +happiness, all pleasure, and all rest, spent their miserable lives in rooms +without light or air, furnished only with electrical apparatus, living on eggs +and milk, and sleeping on camp beds. By doing nothing except pressing nickel +buttons with their fingers, these mystics heaped up riches of which they never +even saw the signs, and acquired the vain possibility of gratifying desires +that they never experienced. + +The worship of wealth had its martyrs. One of these multi-millionaires, the +famous Samuel Box, preferred to die rather than surrender the smallest atom of +his property. One of his workmen, the victim of an accident while at work, +being refused any indemnity by his employer, obtained a verdict in the courts, +but repelled by innumerable obstacles of procedure, he fell into the direst +poverty. Being thus reduced to despair, he succeeded by dint of cunning and +audacity in confronting his employer with a loaded revolver in his hand, and +threatened to blow out his brains if he did not give him some assistance. +Samuel Box gave nothing, and let himself be killed for the sake of principle. + +Examples that come from high quarters are followed. Those who possessed some +small capital (and they were necessarily the greater number), affected the +ideas and habits of the multi-millionaires, in order that they might be +classed among them. All passions which injured the increase or the +preservation of wealth, were regarded as dishonourable; neither indolence, nor +idleness, nor the taste for disinterested study, nor love of the arts, nor, +above all, extravagance, was ever forgiven; pity was condemned as a dangerous +weakness. Whilst every inclination to licentiousness excited public +reprobation, the violent and brutal satisfaction of an appetite was, on the +contrary, excused; violence, in truth, was regarded as less injurious to +morality, since it manifested a form of social energy. The State was firmly +based on two great public virtues: respect for the rich and contempt for the +poor. Feeble spirits who were still moved by human suffering had no other +resource than to take refuge in a hypocrisy which it was impossible to blame, +since it contributed to the maintenance of order and the solidity of +institutions. + +Thus, among the rich, all were devoted to their social order, or seemed to be +so; all gave good examples, if all did not follow them. Some felt the gravity +of their position cruelly; but they endured it either from pride or from duty. +Some attempted, in secret and by subterfuge, to escape from it for a moment. +One of these, Edward Martin, the President, of the Steel Trust, sometimes +dressed himself as a poor man, went: forth to beg his bread, and allowed +himself to be jostled by the passers-by. One day, as he asked alms on a +bridge, he engaged in a quarrel with a real beggar, and filled with a fury of +envy, he strangled him. + +As they devoted their whole intelligence to business, they sought no +intellectual pleasures. The theatre, which had formerly been very flourishing +among them, was now reduced to pantomimes and comic dances. Even the pieces in +which women acted were given up; the taste for pretty forms and brilliant +toilettes had been lost; the somersaults of clowns and the music of negroes +were preferred above them, and what roused enthusiasm was the sight of women +upon the stage whose necks were bedizened with diamonds, or processions +carrying golden bars in triumph. Ladies of wealth were as much compelled as +the men to lead a respectable life. According to a tendency common to all +civilizations, public feeling set them up as symbols; they were, by their +austere magnificence, to represent both the splendour of wealth and its +intangible . The old habits of gallantry had been reformed, Tut fashionable +lovers were now secretly replaced by muscular labourers or stray grooms. +Nevertheless, scandals were rare, a foreign journey concealed nearly all of +them, and the Princesses of the Trusts remained objects of universal esteem. + +The rich formed only a small minority, but their collaborators, who composed +the entire people, had been completely won over or completely subjugated by +them. They formed two classes, the agents of commerce or banking, and workers +in the factories. The former contributed an immense amount of work and +received large salaries. Some of them succeeded in founding establishments of +their own; for in the constant increase of the public wealth the more +intelligent and audacious could hope for anything. Doubtless it would have +been possible to find a certain number of discontented and rebellious persons +among the immense crowd of engineers and accountants, but this powerful +society had imprinted its firm discipline even on the minds of its opponents. +The very anarchists were laborious and regular. + +As for the workmen who toiled in the factories that surrounded the town, their +decadence, both physical and moral, was terrible; they were examples of the +type of poverty as it is set forth by anthropology. Although the development +among them of certain muscles, due to the particular nature of their work, +might give a false idea of their strength, they presented sure signs of morbid +debility. Of low stature, with small heads and narrow chests, they were +further distinguished from the comfortable classes by a multitude of +physiological anomalies, and, in particular, by a common want of symmetry +between the head and the limbs. And they were destined to a gradual and +continuous degeneration, for the State made soldiers of the more robust among +them, and the health of these did not long withstand the brothels and the +drink-shops that sprang up around their barracks. The proletarians became more +and more feeble in mind. The continued weakening of their intellectual +faculties was not entirely due to their manner of life; it resulted also from +a methodical selection carried out by the employers. The latter, fearing that +workmen of too great ability might be inclined to put forward legitimate +demands, took care to eliminate them by every possible means, and preferred to +engage ignorant and stupid labourers, who were incapable of defending their +rights, but were yet intelligent enough to perform their toil, which highly +perfected machines rendered extremely simple. Thus the proletarians were +unable to do anything to improve their lot. With difficulty did they succeed +by means of strikes in maintaining the rate of their wages. Even this means +began to fail them. The alternations of production inherent in the capitalist +system caused such cessations of work that, in several branches of industry, +as soon as a strike was declared, the accumulation of products allowed the +employers to dispense with the strikers. In a word, these miserable employees +were plunged in a gloomy apathy that nothing enlightened and nothing +exasperated. They were necessary instruments for the social order and well +adapted to their purpose. + +Upon the whole, this social order seemed the most firmly established that had +yet been seen, at least amon kind, for that of bees and ants is incomparably +more stable. Nothing could foreshadow the ruin of a system founded on what is +strongest in human nature, pride and cupidity. However, keen observers +discovered several grounds for uneasiness. The most certain, although the +least apparent, were of an economic order, and consisted in the continually +increasing amount of over-production, which entailed long and cruel +interruptions of labour, though these were, it is true, utilized by the +manufacturers as a means of breaking the power of the workmen, by facing them +with the prospect of a lock-out. A more obvious peril resulted from the +physiological state of almost the entire population. "The health of the poor +is what it must be," said the experts in hygiene, "but that of the rich leaves +much to be desired." It was not difficult to find the causes of this. The +supply of oxygen necessary for life was insufficient in the city, and men +breathed in an artificial air. The food trusts, by means of the most daring +chemical syntheses, produced artificial wines, meat, milk, fruit, and +vegetables, and the diet thus imposed gave rise to stomach and brain troubles. +The multi-millionaires were bald at the age of eighteen; some showed from time +to time a dangerous weakness of mind. Over-strung and enfeebled, they gave +enormous sums to ignorant charlatans; and it was a common thing for some +bath-attendant or other trumpery who turned healer or prophet, to make a rapid +fortune by the practice of medicine or theology. The number of lunatics +increased continually; suicides multiplied in the world of wealth, and many of +them were accompanied by atrocious and extraordinary circumstances, which bore +witness to an unheard o perversion of intelligence and sensibility. + +Another fatal symptom created a strong impression upon average minds. Terrible +accidents, henceforth periodical and regular, entered into people's +calculations, and kept mounting higher and higher in statistical tables. Every +day, machines burst into fragments, houses fell down, trains laden with +merchandise fell on to the streets, demolishing entire buildings and crushing +hundreds of passers-by. Through the ground, honey-combed with tunnels, two or +three storeys of work-shops would often crash, engulfing all those who worked +in them. + +S. 2 + +In the southwestern district of the city, on an eminence which had preserved +its ancient name of Fort Saint-Michel, there stretched a square where some old +trees still spread their exhausted arms above the greensward. Landscape +gardeners had constructed a cascade, grottos, a torrent, a lake, and an +island, on its northern slope. From this side one could see the whole town +with its streets, its boulevards, its squares, the multitude of its roofs and +domes, its air-passages, and its crowds of men, covered with a veil of +silence, and seemingly enchanted by the distance. This square was the +healthiest place in the capital; here no smoke obscured the sky, and children +were brought here to play. In summer some employees from the neighbouring +offices and laboratories used to resort to it for a moment after their +luncheons, but they did not disturb its solitude and peace. + +It was owing to this custom that, one day in June, about mid-day, a telegraph +clerk, Caroline Meslier, came and sat down on a bench at the end of a terrace. +In order to refresh her eyes by the sight of a little green, she turned her +back to the town. Dark, with brown eyes, robust and placid, Caroline appeared +to be from twenty-five to twenty-eight years of age. Almost immediately, a +clerk in the Electricity Trust, George Clair, took his place beside her. Fair, +thin, and supple, he had features of a feminine delicacy; he was scarcely +older than she, and looked still younger. As they met almost every day in this +place, a comradeship had sprung up between them, and they enjoyed chatting +together. But their conversation had never been tender, affectionate, or even +intimate. Caroline, although it had happened to her in the past to repent of +her confidence, might perhaps have been less reserved had not George Clair +always shown himself extremely restrained in his expressions and behaviour. He +always gave a purely intellectual character to the conversation, keeping it +within the realm of general ideas, and, moreover, expressing himself on all +subjects with the greatest freedom. He spoke frequently of the organization of +society, and the conditions of labour. + +"Wealth," said he, "is one of the means of living happily; but people have +made it the sole end of existence." + +And this state of things seemed monstrous to both of them. + +They returned continually to various scientific subjects with which they were +both familiar. + +On that day they discussed the evolution of chemistry. + +"From the moment," said Clair, "that radium was seen to be transformed into +helium, people ceased to affirm the immutability of simple bodies; in this way +all those old laws about simple relations and about the indestructibility of +matter were abolished." + +"However," said she, "chemical laws exist." + +For, being a woman, she had need of belief. + +He resumed carelessly: + +"Now that we can procure radium in sufficient quantities, science possesses +incomparable means of analysis; even at present we get glimpses, within what +are called simple bodies, of extremely diversified complex ones, and we +discover energies in matter which seem to increase even by reason of its +tenuity." + +As they talked, they threw bits of bread to the birds, and some children +played around them. + +Passing from one subject to another: + +"This hill, in the quaternary epoch," said Clair, "was inhabited by wild +horses. Last year, as they were tunnelling for the water mains, they found a +layer of the bones of primeval horses." + +She was anxious to know whether, at that distant epoch, man had yet appeared. + +He told her that man used to hunt the primeval horse long before he tried to +domesticate him. + +"Man," he added, "was at first a hunter, then he became a shepherd, a +cultivator, a manufacturer . . . and these diverse civilizations succeeded +each other at intervals of time that the mind cannot conceive." + +He took out his watch. + +Caroline asked if it was already time to go back to the office. + +He said it was not, that it was scarcely half-past twelve. + +A little girl was making mud pies at the foot of their bench; a little boy of +seven or eight years was playing in front of them. Whilst his mother was +sewing on an adjoining bench, he played all alone at being a run-away horse, +and with that power of illusion, of which children are capable, he imagined +that he was at the same time the horse, and those who ran after him, and those +who fled in terror before him. He kept struggling with himself and shouting: +"Stop him, Hi! Hi! This is an awful horse, he has got the bit between his +teeth." + +Caroline asked the question: + +"Do you think that men were happy formerly?" + +Her companion answered: + +"They suffered less when they were younger. They acted like that little boy: +they played; they played at arts, at virtues, at vices, at heroism, at +beliefs, at pleasures; they had illusions which entertained them; they made a +noise; they amused themselves. But now. . . ." + +He interrupted himself, and looked again at his watch. + +The child, who was running, struck his foot against the little girl's pail, +and fell his full length on the gravel. He remained a moment stretched out +motionless, then raised himself up on the palms of his hands. His forehead +puckered, his mouth opened, and he burst into tears. His mother ran up, but +Caroline had lifted him from the ground and was wiping his eyes and mouth with +her handkerchief. + +The child kept on sobbing and Clair took him in his arms. + +"Come, don't cry, my little man! I am going to tell you a story. + +"A fisherman once threw his net into the sea and drew out a little, sealed, +copper pot, which he opened with his knife. Smoke came out of it, and as it +mounted up to the clouds the smoke grew thicker and thicker and became a giant +who gave such a terrible yawn that the whole world was blown to dust. + +Clair stopped himself, gave a dry laugh, and handed the child back to his +mother. Then he took out his watch again, and kneeling on the bench with his +elbows resting on its back he gazed at the town. As far as the eye could +reach, the multitude of houses stood out in their tiny immensity. + +Caroline turned her eyes in the same direction. + +"What splendid weather it is!" said she. "The sun's rays change the smoke on +the horizon into gold. The worst thing about civilization is that it deprives +one of the light of day." + +We did not answer; his looks remained fixed on a place in the town. + +After some seconds of silence they saw about half a mile away, in the richer +district on the other side of the river, a sort of tragic fog rearing itself +upwards. A moment afterwards an explosion was heard even where they were +sitting, and an immense tree of smoke mounted towards the pure sky. Little by +little the air was filled with an imperceptible murmur caused by the shouts of +thousands of men. Cries burst forth quite close to the square. + +"What has been blown up?" + +The bewilderment was great, for although accidents were common, such a violent +explosion as this one had never been seen, and everybody perceived that +something terribly strange had happened. + +Attempts were made to locate the place of the accident; districts, streets, +different buildings, clubs, theatres, and shops were mentioned. Information +gradually became more precise and at last the truth was known. + +"The Steel Trust has just been blown up." + +Clair put his watch back into his pocket. + +Caroline looked at him closely and her eyes filled with astonishment. + +At last she whispered in his ear: + +"Did you know it? Were you expecting it? Was it you . . .?" + +He answered very calmly: + +"That town ought to be destroyed." + +She replied in a gentle and thoughtful tone: + +"I think so too." + +And both of them returned quietly to their work. + + +S. 3 + +From that day onward, anarchist attempts followed one another every week +without interruption. The victims were numerous, and almost all of them +belonged to the poorer classes. These crimes roused public resentment. It was +among domestic servants, hotel-keepers, and the employees of such small shops +as the Trusts still allowed to exist, that indignation burst forth most +vehemently. In popular districts women might be heard demanding unusual +punishments for the dynamitards. (They were called by this old name, although +it was hardly appropriate to them, since, to these unknown chemists, dynamite +was an innocent material only fit to destroy ant-hills, and they considered it +mere child's play to explode nitro-glycerine with a cartridge made of +fulminate of mercury.) Business ceased suddenly, and those who were least rich +were the first to feel the effects. They spoke of doing justice themselves to +the anarchists. In the mean time the factory workers remained hostile or +indifferent to violent action. They were threatened, as a result of the +decline of business, with a likelihood of losing their work, or even a +lock-out in all the factories. The Federation of Trade Unions proposed a +general strike as the most powerful means of influencing the employers, and +the best aid that could be given to the revolutionists, but all the trades +with the exception of the gliders refused to cease work. + +The police made numerous arrests. Troops summoned from all parts of the +National Federation protected the offices of the Trusts, the houses of the +multi-millionaires, the public halls, the banks, and the big shops. A +fortnight passed without a single explosion, and it was concluded that the +dynamitards, in all probability but a handful of persons, perhaps even Still +fewer, had all been killed or captured, or that they were in hiding, or had +taken flight. Confidence returned; it returned at first among the poorer +classes. Two or three hundred thousand soldiers, who bad been lodged in the +most closely populated districts, stimulated trade, and people began to cry +out: "Hurrah for the army!" + +The rich, who had not been so quick to take alarm, were reassured more slowly. +But at the Stock Exchange a group of "bulls" spread optimistic rumours and by +a powerful effort put a brake upon the fall in prices. Business improved. +Newspapers with big circulations supported the movement. With patriotic +eloquence they depicted capital as laughing in its impregnable position at the +assaults of a few dastardly criminals, and public wealth maintaining its +serene ascendency in spite of the vain threats made against it. They were +sincere in their attitude, though at the same time they found it benefited +them. Outrages were forgotten or their occurrence denied. On Sundays, at the +race-meetings, the stands were adorned by women covered with pearls and +diamonds. It was observed with joy that the capitalists had not suffered. +Cheers were given for the multi-millionaires in the saddling rooms. + +On the following day the Southern Railway Station, the Petroleum Trust, and +the huge church built at the expense of Thomas Morcellet were all blown up. +Thirty houses were in flames, and the beginning of a fire was discovered at +the docks. The firemen showed amazing intrepidity and zeal. They managed their +tall fire-escapes with automatic precision, and climbed as high as thirty +storeys to rescue the luckless inhabitants from the flames. The soldiers +performed their duties with spirit, and were given a double ration of coffee. +But these fresh casualties started a panic. Millions of people, who wanted to +take their money with them and leave the town at once, crowded the great +banking houses. These establishments, after paying out money for three days, +closed their doors amid mutterings of a riot. A crowd of fugitives, laden with +their baggage, besieged the railway stations and took the town by storm. Many +who were anxious to lay in a stock of provisions and take refuge in the +cellars, attacked the grocery stores, although they were guarded by soldiers +with fixed bayonets. The public authorities displayed energy. Numerous arrests +were made and thousands of warrants issued against suspected persons. + +During the three weeks that followed no outrage was committed. There was a +rumour that bombs had been found in the Opera House, in the cellars of the +Town Hall, and beside one of the Pillars of the Stock Exchange. But it was +soon known that these were boxes of sweets that had been put in those places +by practical jokers or lunatics. One of the accused, when questioned by a +magistrate, declared that he was the chief author of the explosions, and said +that all his accomplices had lost their lives. These confessions were +published by the newspapers and helped to reassure public opinion. It was only +towards the close of the examination that the magistrates saw they had to deal +with a pretender who was in no way connected with any of the crimes. + +The experts chosen by the courts discovered nothing that enabled them to +determine the engine employed in the work of destruction. According to their +conjectures the new explosive emanated from a gas which radium evolves, and it +was supposed that electric waves, produced by a special type of oscillator, +were propagated through space and thus caused the explosion. But even the +ablest chemist could say nothing precise or certain. At last two policemen, +who were passing in front of the Hotel Meyer, found on the pavement, close to +a ventilator, an egg made of white metal and provided with a capsule at each +end. They picked it up carefully, and, on the orders of their chief, carried +it to the municipal laboratory. Scarcely had the experts assembled to examine +it, than the egg burst and blew up the amphitheatre and the dome. All the +experts perished, and with them Collin, the General of Artillery, and the +famous Professor Tigre. + +The capitalist society did not allow itself to be daunted by this fresh +disaster. The great banks re-opened their doors, declaring that they would +meet demands partly in bullion and partly in paper money guaranteed by the +State: The Stock Exchange and the Trade Exchange, in spite of the complete +cessation of business, decided not to suspend their sittings. + +In the mean time the magisterial investigation into the case of those who had +been first accused had come to an end. Perhaps the evidence brought against +them might have appeared insufficient under other circumstances, but the zeal +both of the magistrates and the public made up for this insufficiency. On the +eve of the day fixed for the trial the Courts of justice were blown up and +eight hundred people were killed, the greater number of them being judges and +lawyers. A furious crowd broke into the prison and lynched the prisoners. The +troops sent to restore order were received with showers of stones and revolver +shots; several soldiers being dragged from their horses and trampled +underfoot. The soldiers fired on the mob and many persons were killed. At last +the public authorities succeeded in establishing tranquillity. Next day the +Bank was blown up. + +From that time onwards unheard-of things took place. The factory workers, who +had refused to strike, rushed in crowds into the town and set fire to the +houses. Entire regiments, led by their officers, joined the workmen, went with +them through the town singing revolutionary hymns, and took barrels of +petroleum from the docks with which to feed the fires. Explosions were +continual. One morning a monstrous tree of smoke, like the ghost of a huge +palm tree half a mile in height, rose above the giant Telegraph Hall which +suddenly fell into a complete ruin. + +Whilst half the town was in flames, the other half pursued its accustomed +life. In the mornings, milk pails could be heard jingling in the dairy carts. +In a deserted avenue some old navvy might be seen seated against a wall slowly +eating hunks of bread with perhaps a little meat. Almost all the presidents of +the trusts remained at their posts. Some of them performed their duty with +heroic simplicity. Raphael Box, the son of a martyred multi-millionaire, was +blown up as he was presiding at the general meeting of the Sugar Trust. He was +given a magnificent funeral and the procession on its way to the cemetery had +to climb six times over piles of ruins or cross upon planks over the uprooted +roads. + +The ordinary helpers of the rich, the clerks, employees, brokers, and agents, +preserved an unshaken fidelity. The surviving clerks of the Bank that had been +blown up, made their way along the ruined streets through the midst of smoking +houses to hand in their bills of exchange, and several were swallowed up in +the flames while endeavouring to present their receipts. + +Nevertheless, any illusion concerning the state of affairs was impossible. The +enemy was master of the town. Instead of silence the noise of explosions was +now continuous and produced an insurmountable feeling of horror. The lighting +apparatus having been destroyed, the city was plunged in darkness all through +the night, and appalling crimes were committed. The populous districts alone, +having suffered the least, still preserved measures of protection. The were +paraded by patrols of volunteers who shot the robbers, and at every street +corner one stumbled over a body lying in a pool of blood, the hands bound +behind the back, a handkerchief over the face, and a placard pinned upon the +breast. + +It became impossible to clear away the ruins or to bury the dead. Soon the +stench from the corpses became intolerable. Epidemics raged and caused +innumerable deaths, while they also rendered the survivors feeble and +listless. Famine carried off almost all who were left. A hundred and one days +after the first outrage, whilst six army corps with field artillery and siege +artillery were marching, at night, into the poorest quarter of the city, +Caroline and Clair, holding each other's hands, were watching from the roof a +lofty house, the only one still left standing, but now surrounded by smoke and +flame. joyous songs ascended from the street, where the crowd was dancing in +delirium. + +"To-morrow it will be ended," said the man, "and it will be better." + +The young woman, her hair loosened and her face shining with the reflection of +the flames, gazed with a pious joy at the circle of fire that was growing +closer around them. + +"It will be better," said she also. + +And throwing herself into the destroyer's arms she pressed a passionate kiss +upon his lips. + +S. 4 + +The other towns of the federation also suffered from disturbances and +outbreaks, and then order was restored. Reforms were introduced into +institutions and great changes took place in habits and customs, but the +country never recovered the loss of its capital, and never regained its former +prosperity. Commerce and industry dwindled away, and civilization abandoned +those countries which for so long it bad preferred to all others. They became +insalubrious and sterile; the territory that had supported so many millions of +men became nothing more than a desert. On the hill of Fort St. Michel wild +horses cropped the coarse grass. + +Days flowed by like water from the fountains, and the centuries passed like +drops falling from the ends of stalactites. Hunters came to chase the bears +upon the hills that covered the forgotten city; shepherds led their flocks +upon them; labourers turned up the soil with their ploughs; gardeners +cultivated their lettuces and grafted their pear trees. They were not rich, +and they had no arts. The walls of their cabins were covered with old vines +and roses, A goat-skin clothed their tanned limbs, while their wives dressed +themselves with the wool that they themselves had spun. The goat-herds moulded +little figures of men and animals out of clay, or sang songs about the young +girl who follows her lover through woods or among the browsing goats while the +pine trees whisper together and the water utters its murmuring sound. The +master of the house grew angry with the beetles who devoured his figs; he +planned snares to protect his fowls from the velvet-tailed fox, and he poured +out wine for his neighbours saying: + +"Drink! The flies have not spoilt my vintage; the vines were dry before they +came." + +Then in the course of ages the wealth of the villages and the corn that filled +the fields were pillaged by barbarian invaders. The country changed its +masters several times. The conquerors built castles upon the hills; +cultivation increased; mills, forges) tanneries, and looms were established; +roads were opened through the woods and over the marshes; the river was +covered with boats. The hamlets became large villages and joining together +formed a town which protected itself by deep trenches and lofty walls. Later, +becoming the capital of a great State, it found itself straitened within its +now useless ramparts and it converted them into grass-covered walks. + +It grew very rich and large beyond measure. The houses were never high enough +to satisfy the people; they kept on making them still higher and built them of +thirty or forty storeys, with offices, shops, banks, societies one above +another; they dug cellars and tunnels ever deeper downwards. Fifteen millions +of men laboured in the giant town. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Penguin Island, by Anatole France + |