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diff --git a/23671-0.txt b/23671-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8493f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/23671-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1405 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strange Little Girl, by V. M. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Strange Little Girl + A Story for Children + +Author: V. M. + +Commentator: Katherine Tingley + +Illustrator: N. Roth + +Release Date: December 1, 2007 [EBook #23671] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Markus Brenner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + + + + + + The Strange Little Girl + + + A Story for Children + By V. M. + + + Illustrations by N. Roth + + + _The Aryan Theosophical Press + Point Loma, California_ + + + + COPYRIGHT 1911, BY KATHERINE TINGLEY + + + [Illustration] + + THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL PRESS + Point Loma, California + + +[Illustration: IN THE GARDEN OF DELIGHT] + + + + +The Strange Little Girl + + + + + I + + +Once upon a time there was a beautiful palace where the king’s children +lived as happily as they alone can live. They never wanted anything and +they never knew that there could be others who were not as happy as +they. Sometimes, it is true, they would hear a story which would make +them almost think that perhaps there was a world beyond, which they did +not know, outside the palace of the king and its gardens, but something +would seem to say that after all it was only a fairy story, and they +would forget that it meant anything that might really be true. + +One of the little princesses seemed to think more of these stories of a +world beyond the palace garden than the others, and she would sometimes +find herself gazing at the sun, and wondering if the great world lay +beyond the purple forests where the golden-edged clouds shone like dark +mountains in the distance. And the name of this princess was Eline. + +More and more as she thought of these things she felt sure that there +must be a world where things were very different from the happy life in +the palace garden; and in the stories which the children heard she +thought of many things, which, with the others, she used to pass by +without notice. Once they used to hear of no sorrow, no pain, but only +joy and peace. Now, in thinking, she sometimes noticed that there were +things which were not spoken; that there were things passed by in +silence; that there were things which travelers passing through the +palace kept back, as though they knew of much which the children must +not know, and yet which they would have told had they dared. + +Questions Eline asked, and the answers seldom satisfied her, for they +never seemed to tell her everything. Every time one of the travelers +left the palace to return on his journey there seemed to be a look of +appeal in his eyes, an appeal which only Eline seemed to see, and which +made her wish to follow them for the very love that shone in the kind +faces of these strangers—strangers who told the children stories of +things they loved—of wonderful fairy worlds where they were not as in +the palace; of worlds where Eline seemed to have traveled many times, +long, long ago. + +One day she asked her father, the king: + +“Shall I never go out of the palace, never leave the garden of delight +and see the world that lies beyond the cloud-mountains, beyond the +sunset and the whispering forests?” + +And the king looked intently at Eline. + +“These are strange fancies,” he said. “Are you not happy here in the +garden?” + +“Yes, I am happy,” she said, “happier than I can tell. But you have not +answered me. Is there not a world beyond? Shall I ever see it?” + +“Some traveler must have been telling you forbidden tales,” said the +king. “These things I have said may not be spoken in my garden.” + +“No traveler has told me,” said Eline. “I have seen them looking as +though they would tell me, but could not, of things beyond the garden, +beyond the palace. I have asked them, and they have told me nothing. Yet +I have felt that I long to go with them. I have felt that I remember +strange places, strange sights, things I know not here, when they speak. +Sometimes, even, it seems that I hear a voice like my own repeating a +promise—a promise unfulfilled that must be kept. ‘I will return! I +will! I will!’ it says. And I hear voices calling in the wind, in the +rustling of the leaves, and in the silence of the day, ‘Come back! Come +back!’ And the birds say, ‘Come!’ The pines whisper to me strange +things, and the laughing water in the brooks says ‘Come!’ What does it +mean?” + +“I cannot tell you here,” said the king. “But why do you wish to leave +the palace? You are yet young and there are many, many years of +happiness before you. You may stay in the palace where all things are +good, and put these things out of mind. There is another world, but not +for you—yet!” + +Eline was troubled, or would have been had such a thing been possible in +the palace of the king. + +“May I ever see that land? May I ever leave the palace?” + +“The children of the king are free to come and go,” he said. “I may not +keep them if they will not stay; for I know that they will come again.” + + + + + II + + +Again a traveler came to the palace. He brought with him a harp of seven +strings, on which he played to the children. He sang to them for a while +and then for a space was silent. Eline listened to the strange, +beautiful music. And to her it seemed that there was speech in the +harp—that it spoke. The other children seemed to listen to the music, +but to them it did not seem to speak. To Eline there were echoes of +wonderful things the palace knew not; things that the language of the +king could not tell. The harp spoke in a way that the Princess Eline +knew and understood, although there were no words in its tones. There +were sad and sorrowful notes that told of sorrows the palace never knew. +There were strains of music that sounded harsh to the listening ear, +though to the careless they told of happiness alone. And as she +listened, Eline dreamed. Clearer and more clear she felt that the harp +told of a world of men where sorrow and sadness and strife were not +unknown; where joy should be, and was not; where the people groped their +way through darkness and thought it light. “Return! Return!” called the +harp. + +[Illustration: “I WILL RETURN”] + +And a mighty resolve came to Eline. “I will return! I will! I will!” + +She remembered the king’s saying: “The children of the king are free to +come and go,” he had said. “I may not keep them if they will not stay,” +he had told her. + +She loved him much; but the call came clear, and she dared not seek him +to say farewell, lest she should be persuaded to remain. + +She bowed her head and to the harper spoke: + +“I will go,” she said. “I will return with you.” + +Then the harp sent forth such a melody of joyous music that it echoed +thrilling through the hot discordant notes of the world beyond the +sunset; and for a moment a chord of harmony ran through the life of men: + +“Joy unto you, men of the underworld! Joy unto you, children of sorrow! +Joy unto you, sons of forgetfulness! Joy unto all beings!” + +They passed out of the garden together, the musician and the soul. + +[Illustration: THROUGH PINE FOREST] + + + + + III + + +Westward they traveled, westward, ever westward. The way was dark and +sometimes dreary, and Eline felt like one awakened from a beautiful +dream before it was ended. + +Through the pine forests, over mountains, in deep valleys, and by mighty +streams they traveled. Ever they had the harp to cheer the way, to urge +their footsteps onward. For the path was untrodden where they went. + +“There is a path,” the harper said, “a pleasant path and broad, but the +journey is long and we must hasten on our way. To the setting sun, to +the gleaming sea, we must go; nor may we seek a beaten track lest we be +too late.” + +A river there was in whose waters were reflected pictures of all that +surrounded them—such crystal clear reflections that sometimes it seemed +as if they looked at real things in the water mirrored in the things +around them. + +[Illustration] + +And on the waters grew beautiful lotus-flowers, lilies with cup-shaped +leaves. In the blue and white petals of the lotus also there seemed to +be reflections, so clear were they. The musician plucked one of the +cup-like lily-pads and filled it with the water for Eline. + +The still surface of the water shone like silver in its green cup as +Eline held it. Then the musician played. Soft and low and sweet were the +notes of that wonderful harp. Scarcely they rippled the surface of the +water, and yet they vibrated, trembled, spread, until picture after +picture came to the surface of the water in colors of every hue. + +Scarcely may it be told what Eline saw in the magic cup in the water of +remembrance. She seemed to see herself—and yet another—in picture after +picture. Now she saw herself as part of a golden sea of selves which +made but one self, so lifelike were they, so glorious was their unity. +Then in life after life Eline seemed to see her other selves living and +loving and working, sleeping and suffering and struggling. She saw that +on a day she had made her great resolve to help the world. “I will +return! I will! I will!” + +And now she knew what things they were she had seemed to remember in the +king’s garden of delight. Joyously, eagerly, willingly, she saw that she +had determined to return to earth in body after body, to help the men +of sorrow who struggled and slumbered and suffered. She saw that she had +before so done; that her work remained unfinished, to be begun again +where she had laid it down. There was suffering shown to her in the cup; +there were sorrow and grief and pain. But she saw that it must all be, +and was content. For at other times she had desired just such things +that she might know how others felt them, that she might help them the +more with understanding. Happiness she had taken to give to others, and +she must repay the debt. She saw that all things were just, and when the +musician said in a low voice: + +“Will you yet proceed?” + +“I will!” she said. + +“Then drink the cup,” he said, “Drink!” + +She drained the green cup of the lotus leaf until scarcely a drop +remained, and with that draught she forgot all things that had been—the +garden, the king, the journey and the vision, and the master +harper—all were forgotten. Only there remained a dim remembrance as of a +dream at dawn forgotten. + +[Illustration: DOMES AND SPIRES] + + + + + IV + + +A little ship stood by the shore of the great sea; into this Eline +entered. There were other ships, some better, some worse. But somehow +she knew that just this, and not another, was the ship she wanted, and +none questioned her when she entered. + +So they sailed away towards the setting sun. + +Long was the voyage and lonely; for the seas ran high and all was dark +below in the heart of the ship. Nine months they sailed on the ocean, +until in the time appointed land appeared. Strange dwellings were there, +domes and spires and crowded cities. With wide, wondering eyes Eline +watched them as the ship passed them by in strange procession; for the +men of that land were like none she knew; none of these things could she +remember. For she had forgotten even her name at the river of +forgetfulness, where remembrances are left in the mirror of the waters +until time and their creator bring them back to life. + +It seemed as though one of wise and kindly countenance held her as a +little child in his arms and whispered softly, “Remember! I will return! +I will! I will!” A light of happy recollection came to her and she +smiled in reply. He had spoken in her own language as the harp had +spoken, and strangely, strangely she seemed to see in him the harper +whose music had told her of the sorrowful land beyond the sunset. For +this moment, she remembered, and then the thought departed. + +At first the air seemed heavy and oppressive to the wanderer; but by +degrees she grew accustomed to it and even, in time, scarcely felt +it. Yet ever and again a dim remembrance of brighter, purer skies came +to her. She spoke of this more than once; but others only laughed and +said: “The child is dreaming!” + +[Illustration] + +Because she was no longer dressed in shining garments, they did not know +her for the princess she really was. Indeed, she was no way different +from those around her but that at heart she was still the daughter of +the king. They could not see her heart—this they could not know. And +seeing that they did not understand, she said no more of the thoughts +that came to her. They called it dreaming; but Eline thought that if +this were so, a dream were better than a waking life—unless— + +Could these be thoughts that came to her of the world beyond the water, +the reflection of the real life? She knew not. + +“We must teach this little dreamer what is life!” they said. “She will +not know what life is if we leave her to her dreams.” + +They made her work and made her play: work that never seemed to do +anyone any good, and play that seemed like work. She nearly forgot that +in what they called her dreams she had ever known of another life. + +Sometimes she sang to herself, strange songs that they said sounded sad +and sorrowful, yet of a sweetness all their own. + +“Where does she hear them?” people asked. + +But Eline never told. For the truth was that they came to her in moments +when her thoughts were far away, dreaming. + +“She sings like a bird in a cage that knows of a brighter world +outside,” said one. But he was a poet, so they only smiled as if they +themselves would have made the same remark if it had not been so +fanciful. + +And though men thought her sad and lonely, there was joy to her in the +hum of the bees and the song of the birds and the rustling of the +leaves. The butterflies and the flowers and the brooks were her friends. + +“What a strange child,” people said when they heard her talking to these +friends. They did not know of the stories her friends told her, stories +which reminded her of a wonderful garden of delight where men did not +ever stare and stare in gaping wonder because a little child talked with +the fairies that live in all things beautiful, clothed in robes of +sunlight and rainbow hues. + +They would have taken her away from these friends but for one old man, +her grandfather, who said: + +“The child will be better for the fresh air. Let her live while she +may.” + +So it was that she played and talked with the flowers and sang to the +brooks and listened to the stories of the forest trees that whispered +among themselves. None dared take her away. + +One day she had been for a long ramble by a mighty river, and the sun +had sunk to the westward on its journey; but she turned not to the place +she called her home. Tired and worn out with her play, she lay on a rock +and slept. + +In her sleep it seemed that a touch upon her forehead awakened in her a +vision of things she once had known, but had now almost forgotten. There +was the king’s garden and the palace, and the other wonderful buildings, +tall and stately—mighty buildings which seemed to speak of mighty +builders, noble thoughts and great men’s deeds. Some were even more +stately, some more humble, than the palace. But in all there was a sense +of grander, nobler life than the life those knew who were with her now, +and who, laughing, called her a dreamer. + +And she heard a voice repeating, “I will return! I will! I will!” + +Again she smiled as she recognized the voice. A feeling of intense +happiness and content came to her and she—awoke. More than ever it +seemed as if that other were the real life, and this a heavy dream. + +[Illustration] + + + + + V + + +The twilight glow still lingered in the west and the evening breeze +called her to thoughts of home. + +But she had learned wisdom, and when they asked her where she had been, +Eline said she had fallen asleep in the sunshine on a rock by the great +river. Which was true. + +Of her dream she said nothing to any except to the old man who alone +seemed to understand her a little. He did not laugh, but looked with +thoughtful eyes intent, into the distance, away to the starlit sky, and +it seemed to her that he also was trying to remember a forgotten dream +of life. And seeing this she put her hand in his trustingly, and they +two knew well each other’s thoughts though never a word was spoken. + +It seemed to the old man that the child was leading him along a familiar +road to a home forgotten—after many weary days of wandering. + +“There are some things the heart can say that words can never tell,” he +said to himself when she was gone. “I think we understand one another.” + +As time passed by Eline came to know more and more of that other life +and she longed to tell these things to the people who struggled and +surged in hot strife to win the things of the world they knew, never +thinking that there was a happier, purer, brighter world. Some thought +they knew of such a one; but all except a few made it seem like the one +in which they lived—only they made it a little more bright by day, a +little more dark by night, and with a little more success in the strife +for the things that change and pass away. These she would tell of the +nobler life she knew, but they listened not at all. + +In due time Eline was sent to school to learn. But her teachers found +little that she did not quickly understand. For one thing she remembered +now plainly, how in the garden of delight everything that was done was +well done—were it the telling of a story or the singing of a song or the +watering of the flowers that grew in that fair land. All was done with a +wonderful thoroughness, and Eline now felt that she must do all things +in that way or leave them quite alone. But often they would teach Eline +things about which she seemed to care little and to understand as one in +a dream. Then they would call her attention to the work only to find +that she was learning to understand a great deal more than they +themselves could tell. It was so with numbers. When they asked her what +the numbers were by name, she not only named them all but told them why +they were so named and what each meant. And so with music. With every +chord she seemed to see harmonies of color, like beautiful pictures too +glorious to paint. And when she said that life itself to her was music, +Eline’s teachers did not understand. + +One said: “She has learned these things before in another life.” + +Another declared: “She sees the heart of things where we see only the +outer covering. She sees the soul, we the body.” + +Perhaps they both were right. + +But many gave other reasons for these things and all of them were +gravely discussed. But curiously enough, the two who gave the reasons I +have told, were laughed at and told that such things could not be. So +they said little about their thoughts because, like all those who are +sure that they know the truth, they could afford to wait until their +words were proved to be right. + + + + + VI + + +At first Eline longed to tell the world of better things. She would +gladly have told the world of the glorious masonry of those noble cities +which she saw in her visions—cities where men and women moved like gods; +where sorrow and want and selfishness seemed to be unknown. She longed +to tell them of the harmonies which came to her of music which might +stir a dead world to life, thrilling all nature into blossoms and fruits +in abundance, as the music of a waterfall seems to send life into the +flowers which grow beside. She would have told them of the colors with +which nature loves to paint the sky, the mountains and valleys, sea and +land, when all is ready for the master’s work. For nature paints +wherever the canvas is prepared to receive the picture, and she asks no +price for her work. Eline knew of times in the past—times that will come +again—when man did not ever strive to be rich regardless of his poorer +brothers, but each worked as he was able, all working for the whole +world’s good. And she would have told them how in those times man did +not earn his living by toil unending, by ceaseless pain and sorrow, but +that nature helped him as he helped her, and the earth brought out her +stores of rich fruits for the welfare of her upgrown sons, well knowing +that they in turn with loving service would seek to make nobler and +better that which nature gave to them in charge, birds and beasts, +flowers and trees, plants and stones and all that lives—which is +everything. + +Eline saw how the desire to possess more than enough, for the selfish +pleasure of saying, “It is mine!”—how the growth of selfishness in the +world; the love of killing nature’s younger sons for food and pleasure +increased; how the love of ease and forgetfulness of others and of duty +to mother nature—how all these things had chilled the warmth of the one +great life that is in all things, and crippled the mother’s efforts to +help her wayward sons. + +Others had told these things; others had striven to show the glorious +light of life that shines behind the cold mist of sin and sorrow which +has been cast like a veil over the earth; but all had been rejected. +Some were ill-received; some were stoned; some were killed. + +“How can I raise this humanity which like a great orphan has cut itself +off from its mother and now lies ignorant of the happiness that awaits +its coming?” thought Eline. “I have returned to tell them of the way, +and they will not hear. Others have returned as far as they might and +have been rejected. Others still have boldly plunged deeper yet in the +hot sea of human life and have been lost in its poisonous fumes. Even +so, I will again return, yet lower, if by chance there be a few who will +not reject my message.” + + + + + VII + + +So Eline hid in her heart the things she knew and the things she would +have told, as she had hidden in her soul at the river of forgetfulness +the memory of the king’s garden of delight. And she took her way into +the world with messages of love and of hope, such simple messages as the +children understood, better sometimes than their elders. She told the +children many beautiful fairy stories and they listened eagerly. They +did not know that these were the stories which she had told to the +learned ones of the earth and which were really true, though they had +not believed. + +The children listened, and they said: “It is beautiful. Some day we will +seek out such a beautiful world as that of which the stories tell.” + +[Illustration: SHE TOLD THE CHILDREN STORIES] + +There were houses, too, which they built—little toy houses with toy +bricks. But Eline showed them how to shape the bricks and how to make +each brick fit in its proper place so that never a one should lose its +worth. And Eline showed the children how that behind the building of +beautiful mansions there was the beautiful thought that made the masonry +so noble a work, though it were only toy masonry. And the children +understood. + +In their games they had done each his best and they did well. But Eline +showed them games in which they all acted together, even the little ones +helping and sharing. It was wonderful to them that they had not thought +of this before, because now they found that they could do more than ever +they had done when each worked alone and for himself. + +Near the city where they dwelt was a vast plain full of great boulders, +which they could have made into a great park and a beautiful garden; but +the people of the city cared not for such things and would not help +them. By themselves they knew not how to move the rocks. So it remained +a waste of wild growth, except in those places where the children had +moved one by one, and with great difficulty, the smaller stones. + +Now Eline bid them take a strong rope. “For,” said she, “we will clear +that plain, and it shall be for a dwelling and a garden for all.” She +was thinking of the king’s garden. + +The children looked at her in astonishment as though they wondered if +she meant the thing she said. + +“We have no rope,” they said, “and none will give us any.” + +“There is your rope,” said Eline, pointing out the overgrown plain, +where, amid the rocks in the great patches from which they had slowly +and painfully drawn the smaller stones, grew masses of pale blue +flowers, beautiful, delicate little blossoms, like wind-flowers. + +Again the children looked at her, questioningly; not as the people at +first had done, but trustingly, though they knew not what she would have +them do, but sought to learn her wishes. + +[Illustration] + +So at her bidding they gathered all the ripened stalks of the little +flowers and laid them out in the sun as she directed. + +Almost it seemed a pity to destroy the plants. One little worker asked +Eline of this matter for he loved the flowers and was sorry to see them +gathered and dried. + +“Does it not hurt the flowers to pluck them?” he asked. “Some say that +you can talk with them as with all living things, and you can tell if +the flowers do not suffer in the gathering, although they are old and +ripe.” + +His was a loving heart and Eline saw that he asked this out of no mere +curiosity. Gently she touched his forehead with her finger. + +“Look!” she said. “Look and listen, for I have opened the seeing eye to +you.” + + + + + VIII + + +And the boy looked around in wonderment, amazed, and saw that the whole +great plain was full of teeming life which he had not before seen. +Fairies and elves peeped from every flower, gnomes and earthmen worked +and played and danced among the boulders. And where before was silence +but for the rustling of the leaves in the breeze, there rose a murmur of +many voices, like the humming of bees in the sunshine. The boy listened +and at once he knew what the flowers were whispering. + +“There is a saying that the flax-people are being used for a mighty +work,” said one little blue fairy to another. + +“I heard a bee spreading the news,” said another. “All the flax-people +are asked to give their dresses to help in clearing the plain for a +palace and a garden where kings may dwell—not kings of earth and of +little cities, but kings of wisdom whom nature loves to obey, and we +among her children.” + +“Body after body have I grown,” said the other. “I have struggled and +striven to grow useful in this glorious brotherhood of nature, and my +only success seems to be that I have a pretty head. It is good to be +beautiful, perhaps, but I have always thought that I would sacrifice my +beauty for a chance of sharing in noble deeds.” + +A butterfly that had stopped to listen now spoke to her: + +“You have waited and now you will have your reward. For surely your +body will be taken to help in the work that is going forward. The +flax-people have indeed lived to good purpose.” + +“They certainly do not seem afraid to die,” said the boy to himself. + +And as if in answer to his whispered thought the little flax-fairy said: + +“Of course we are not afraid! I have been told that there are giants of +men who really think that when they leave their worn-out stalks—bodies +they call them—behind, they live no more, or at least are not sure what +becomes of themselves. But it cannot be true—it must be a fairy story!” +laughed the little elf. “They must know, as we know, that all things +sleep awhile and then take new bodies like dresses woven while they +worked in their last awaking which men call life. And then one day we +know that we shall have woven dresses so fine that we shall be free to +leave them as the butterfly leaves his dull-hued robes and spreads his +bright wings for flight into the grand unknown which we all long to +know.” + +“But _how_ do you know that these things are so?” asked the boy. + +“How do I know that I am alive?” answered the flax-fairy in a murmur. +Fainter grew the voices and the vision faded from the boy’s sight. + +He knew not how long it was he stayed there, but after awhile he awoke +with a start to find that Eline was no longer with him, and that he had +slept among the flax in the sunshine. + + + + + IX + + +“It must have been a dream!” he said. But he did not believe it was a +dream—for all his words. And really the flowers seemed to him to bear a +new life after that wonderful vision which came to him when Eline gave +him for an hour the seeing eye. + +Working with the others joyfully and happily without a moment’s pause or +one thought of failure, they saw quickly growing an immense heap of +beautiful fine white thread. The children had helped the flax to grow +and now in turn it aided them to clear more ground. + +For in no long time all was finished and before them they had a mighty +rope growing greater every day under their Leader’s eye. + +One strange thing there was about the rope. For there were golden +threads interwoven which the children did not remember having seen among +the flax. And they wondered. + +But Eline only said “It is golden flax.” + +Whatever it was, it shone brightly in the sun until it looked like a ray +of real sunlight in the rope. + +[Illustration: MAKING ROPE] + +One little child said: + +“It looks like a brother to the sun!” + +“Perhaps it is,” said Eline, and smiled. + +The work grew apace. And the play grew apace, because the children +scarcely knew which was work and which was play. They seemed to have +found something better than both. Stone after stone, rock after rock, +was encircled with the cord and triumphantly drawn by that merry army of +children to the edge of the plain. Clearer and clearer grew the space. +Where before the stones had been, little pools of water formed, while +round them grew masses of beautiful flowers, among which was a new crop +of the little blue flax, stronger and better grown than any that had +been there before. Gradually there grew up a great wall of rock around +the plain where the boulders were drawn by the children, for each was +taken to its nearest boundary, as Eline told them this would be the +simplest way to clear the plain. + +Some mighty rocks yet remained in the center of the plain but the +children had so seen the wisdom of their Leader that they doubted not +that these too would be removed without difficulty, although how this +was to be done they could not tell. + +And as the work was nearing an end they did as their Leader bid them in +perfect trust. Actually they put their ropes around a rock which some +said was like a small mountain. They pulled with a will, but the rock +moved not. + +Still they pulled willingly and with all their might, for now they had +grown strong until they scarcely knew their own powers. + +From the great city, from the mountains, and from the country round +about, came sightseers and inquirers. At first they only laughed and +talked, and helped not at all. But among them came men of strange +countenance, strong men, wise in looks, men of kingly bearing. + +[Illustration: CLEARING THE PLAIN] + +These said: “It is not right that these children should work for ever +alone.” + +And they too, with strong grip of a strange sort, laid hold of the +golden ropes, seeing which, the idlers too came and helped until with a +mighty song of joy the children saw the great rock move, slowly at +first, then faster, faster, until with a run they had placed it in a far +corner of the great plain, standing like a sentinel to the North. + + + + + X + + +Another and yet others followed. East and South and West the unhewn +boulders stood like guardians of the plain. A circle of twelve yet +remained in the center, like giant pillars supporting the sky. But these +Eline said should stand, as also some smaller ones which were placed +across their tops like great beams resting upon a doorway. How this was +done I cannot say; but there is a saying in the city that, in the night +before they were found placed high above the giant circle, the sound of +a great and joyous song, a hymn of power, was heard like the tones of a +great bell shaking the houses with its vibrations and putting men in +fear of the destruction of their city. But at sunset the children had +not returned from the plain, so that they were not in the city when this +happened. And not until the sunrise did the people flock to the doors +and windows for a glimpse of the joyous army that marched in their +streets. Led by the men of kingly bearing the children marched, singing +a song of triumph, with such shining glory in their faces that all the +people marveled. + +Tired they were, and slept; but when in the late noontide the people +asked them what had happened, all seemed like the forgotten glory of a +dream. They could remember little except that they were filled with the +joy of wonderful things which no tongue could tell. + +The work had not taken one day, or two, but many days. Months and even +years had passed since the children played together in the sunshine. +Strong and sturdy lads and lasses were they now. A beautiful temple had +arisen within the giant circle, and all around it was a garden of beauty +like no garden which they had seen. + +But when Eline looked amid the rare flowers and found a little purple +star with heart of gold, she knew that it was a flower from the king’s +garden, and she was glad that it could grow where all was rock before. +There were great purple pansies, too, like thoughts from the palace in +which Eline had lived. + +Now it was that the children came to the temple to learn of Eline, and +she taught them the wonderful truths which she knew; to them she told +the wonderful things that have been and the more wonderful things that +may be, if men will only try to bring them about. + +She taught them things so simple that they often wondered why they had +not already known them without the telling. They did not know that there +was a good reason why it should be so. Eline taught them, too, how by +all working together for the welfare and progress of all, there is no +task we may not overcome. + +“We know it,” said the children, remembering the waste of rocks in the +plain where now the garden stood and the temple. + +“Each by himself can do much, but all working together can move the +world,” she said. “Now I will tell you a strange thing, which is yet +true. For we are not at all separate from any other thing in the world, +but the same nature is in us as in them—in the rocks and the flowers, in +the forests and streams, in city and mountain, in air and fire and +water, just as the rocks and this temple are of the same stone, +although they differ in shape. And if we only will, we can make all our +rocks into beautiful, glorious temples. + +“When the world of men has learned this lesson the earth itself will +become a mighty temple, that the wise teachers of old, whom men call +gods, may come to us again and live with us in peace for evermore. + +“And it shall be known that music is life, for in music is harmony, and +by harmony all things live, each note in its own place, doing its +perfect work, be it great or small. For this too is a brotherhood of +harmony.” + +Because in those days the people listened to the teachings from the +temple and to the great ones who came to dwell therein when it was +finished, and who taught the seekers after truth, through their +messenger Eline, there were happiness and joy and peace in all the land. +Men became nobler as they thought of nobler things than had hitherto +been their custom. + +Seeing the beauty of the temple and the mighty work that comes of +aiding nature, working in unity and harmony, they also built their +houses to be like the temple. Stone they used for brick, beautiful they +built them within and without, and they labored to make their dwellings +fit temples for the gods. For it was said among them that sometimes +strangers would visit their city, and seeking entrance, would dwell with +them awhile where they found a welcome. And it was noticed that always +they came to such dwellings as those where the beauty and harmony of the +building showed beauty and harmony within. And when they left the house, +always there seemed to remain a memory of their presence as a ray of +light at sunset leaves a memory of joyous days and a sense of hope for +brighter days yet to come. + +When this thing happened the neighbors would gather together and it was +said: + +“The Master has built the house.” + +Then the great beam which rested on the pillars of the doors was lifted +and where it had stood was built an arch of stone. And last of all was +dropped in place the keystone which held the arch, and there was great +rejoicing, for the people said: “The house is finished.” Some there were +who would have lifted the beam and built the arch, but unless the Master +had been in the house, always some accident would occur and the house be +destroyed. + +In the center of the arch was placed a great light which was ever kept +burning, for it was fed with oil of gold which never burns away, but +whose smoke ever turns to oil again. Each light was like the greater +light which ever shone from the dome of the temple, a light to lighten +all around, such light as it was said went out to the world from the +temple itself in the knowledge of the laws of life and of all things +good and great and beautiful. Never was the light to be put out, lest +harm should come. Day and night it was held a sacred duty to guard the +light. + +When that light shone there was peace and plenty in the land, for +fellowship made life joyful. Some called that glorious time the Golden +Age; some there are even now among us who will to bring that golden age +again to earth as then, through brotherhood and the joy of life, that +misery shall not always be among us, nor poverty, sorrow, and pain. + + + + + XI + + +But there came a day when messengers from far off lands came over sea a +great journey to the temple. And to Eline they told the despair and want +and the madness of unbrotherliness that men knew in the countries whence +they came, countries where the light shone no longer. Of wars and of +famines they spoke, of poverty, oppression, and crime. + +[Illustration: “GUARD WELL THE TEMPLE”] + +Eline’s great compassion could not be silent to appeal. “From these +things, I say Humanity SHALL be saved!” said she. “I have a duty here, +but there are guardians in the Temple, and the call comes loud to me +from the world beyond. I will go!” + +Those messengers heard with joy of the success of their journey, for +they had traveled far and had overcome many trials and difficulties by +the way. And all the time they had hoped in perfect faith that they +would return with some encouragement to the country whence they came. +And doubtless it was because of the grand faith they showed that Eline +herself answered their call. + +“Guard well the temple while I am away,” Eline charged her people. “I +must travel far, but in no long time I will return!—I will return! Be +watchful, therefore, that the light be burning, that the oil fade not. +None can tell the time of the coming, whether it be by night or day. +With your lives must you guard the light!” + +She spoke somewhat sadly as it seemed to them, and they supposed she +thought of the great misery and need of those she went to succor in +their distress. + +And they answered the more eagerly: + +“We will! We will!” + +For the first time since it had been built the temple was left without +its head—a sacred trust indeed. + +They thought they knew themselves; they thought they knew the evil in +their natures, and the good, did those temple watchers. + +And in their surety of knowing they grew careless, so that in no long +time they lost their caution. Some there were who were faithless, and +these began to tell them of their great success; how they had built the +temple; how their industry and labor had succeeded; how well they had +learned to know themselves. Gently they suggested these things, gently +these sayings took root, almost unperceived. + +“Our temple which we have built is very mighty. It can never fall,” they +said. + +Some few there were who would have spoken for Eline, but they were timid +and afraid of those who talked so boastfully. Wherefore they were +silent. It is true that one or two attempted to recall the noble deeds +of the absent one, and to point out that she had really built the +temple; they had supplied only the labor; yet the fruits of it were +theirs and the world’s. + +“True,” said the wicked and faithless ones, “she had a great mind for +building; but she made mistakes. She herself said so. We have learned by +those mistakes and we know. She would have made the temple teachings too +common altogether. Why, she actually began to turn into a teacher of +virtues of which the world is weary, instead of building as at first. +She had taught all she knew, but we can teach greater things, and better +things; we can teach the world twenty different styles of building in +metals, wood, stone, and marble; of ornaments and decorations enough to +last for a century. Thus we honor her; thus we carry on her work and +make it grow—although she made mistakes.” + +“Indeed she did make mistakes,” said one, “and the greatest mistake of +all was when she chose such faithless craftsmen for the temple work. +Shame on you!” + +“O faithful one!” said they. “Such faith deserves a great reward. To you +we will entrust the duty of finding her. We will give you all you need +for the voyage—a ship and provisions enough for a year!” + +[Illustration: ADRIFT ON THE SEA] + + + + + XII + + +So those treacherous ones cast adrift on the ocean the one who remained +faithful. And those others who would have spoken out for their absent +Teacher were silenced against their own better natures. For those wicked +ones had been great among them, and they were afraid. + +It was thought that in no long time the winds and the waves would +destroy the little ship with its lonely voyager; yet with stout heart, +knowing that he might not return alone, he held on fearless and +determined. Sometimes it seems that those who so follow the voice of +their inner wisdom in dauntless courage are helped by nature, as though +she ever loves such brave hearts. I have heard the story told how the +great Columbus who found a new world was beset by his followers to +return. How nature sent him messages that he was nearing land—birds and +driftwood, branches of trees and floating weed. He read the message +with the eyes of one who loves all nature well, and promised sight of +land to his men in three days, a promise that was fulfilled. + +So it was that the little ship with the one who remained faithful did a +greater work than ever those desired who sent it. + +Slowly, slowly, in the Temple, it came about that the guardians forgot +their duty, forgot that they were there to guard the temple in sacred +trust for humanity; and as the wicked ones among them wished, they +busied themselves about many things; but not the one thing needful, the +welfare and the progress of mankind. + +How can the tale be told? A tale that is new, yet old—old beyond count +of years. + +For the enemies of the world, with whom those wicked ones were leagued, +came suddenly by night, when the sacred lamp which sent rays of hope +over the great ocean was allowed to flicker and to go out. And those +enemies destroyed the temple so that scarcely one stone remained upon +another. And with it were destroyed those weak ones who failed in their +trust. All perished and with them perished for a time the Light of the +World. + + + + + XIII + + +It is said, how truly I know not, that beneath the foundation pillars of +the temple was wisely prepared by Eline a vault, a vast cave wherein +were hidden the most sacred records of the temple and the sacred secret +name which they had forgotten. + +To her over the sea came the knowledge of the faithless guard, and in +her agony she called upon that sacred name if by chance the temple +should be saved. + +In days of old men knew that there is a power in words, a power now +forgotten. Stories there are which tell of city walls falling at a +trumpet blast, of cities rising as if by magic at a word, of mighty +doors thrown open, of nature spellbound by a song, of mighty names the +jinns and genii of the desert obey. + +And this sacred name was such a one as these; for with its whispering a +mighty thrill passed out over the world and the foundations of the sea +were shaken. Vast continents were destroyed, and men said the world was +at an end. Terrible was the time, but Eline knew that it was better so; +for the remnant of the living might one day restore the ancient glory of +that land. But had it been that the land remained, those wicked ones +would have lived and worked to destroy the whole world so that not even +a remnant should be left in the bosom of the waters to re-people the +earth. + +After many days, tossed and beaten by the waves, the little ship with +the outcast faithful one came drifting to the land where Eline was. + +The winds and the sea conspired, as it seemed, to urge the ship on her +voyage, and the dwellers of the ocean pointed the way, watchful ever and +untiring in their duty. Small as it was, and ill-found, Eline chose this +ship for her return, and once again she came to the place where the +temple had stood—she and that faithful one. + +She gazed on the ruins of that sacred spot and sadly looked at the tops +of the mighty pillars just rising above the waves of the sea which at +times filled the arches in between so that no man might pass beneath. + +Unseen guards there were, Eline knew, guards who would keep that spot +free for future generations of a world to come. Water-nymphs, +sea-sprites, and earth-goblins, undines, gnomes, and sylphs dwelt there +as sentinels of a sacred trust, and Eline was content to go. + +“For,” she said, “the secret vault of the sacred name yet stands intact +until these same faithless ones shall come again, purified by many +wanderings and trials, and shall again guard that new-old temple with +me. That time they shall not fail!” + +And a ray of glorious hope shone in her face as she left the ruined +temple. + +“I will return!” she said. “I will return!” + +[Illustration: “I WILL RETURN”] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strange Little Girl, by V. 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